Onion

Few culinary terms are as open to interpretation as “chili sauce,” and when a recipe calls for chili sauce, there is sometimes a huge lot of confusion about what should be added. Chili sauces can be used as a condiment or an ingredient. They can be hot or mild relative to how much chili pepper goes into the sauce. Chili sauce can be categorized as a hot sauce or a tomato-based condiment similar to ketchup or cocktail sauce. Do you see the confusion? The best way to describe Big Mama’s Chili Sauce is as a cross between a tomato-based condiment and a sweet chow-chow. This chunky sauce has a good mix of sweet and spicy, with the heat determined by the type of pepper used. This particular sauce has always been used as a condiment or topping, but I have found it works well as a finishing sauce for ribs, too. Try it in the morning on scrambled eggs or in a breakfast burrito. Use it instead of relish on hot dogs. Add a dose to beans or peas to heighten their flavor.

The perfect complement to all types of barbecued ribs is a large bowl of mixed grilled vegetables. The charred highlights of the multicolored dish make it as appealing to look at as it is to eat. Oil makes the colors of the vegetables glisten, while the balsamic vinegar and honey provide a rich, sweet flavor.

If Big Bob Gibson was nowhere to be found at the restaurant, there was a good chance he would be on the lake or in the woods. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed not only hunting and fishing, but also cooking his catch. He passed this love of the outdoors on to his kids, especially Cotton, who would leave for the family hunting camp in mid-October and return home in February. As word spread of Big Bob’s smoked venison with white sauce, hunters started dropping their fresh deer meat by the restaurant to have it cooked. During hunting season, venison appeared with regularity on the pits. This dish, similar to a large pot roast with chunks of tender vegetables, is a favorite of local hunters. To this day, the rich aroma of venison can sometimes be smelled in the kitchens of Big Bib Gibson Bar-B-Q, especially during the fall and winter months of hunting season.

When barbecuing chicken outdoors, it is sometimes easy to focus on the main course and forget about the side dishes. Bell pepper bundles are an easy side dish that can be dropped on the cooker right along with the birds. Hobo packs—simple aluminum-foil pouches—are a great way to steam vegetables when cooking outdoors. Any vegetables will work with this type of cooking. This red bell pepper, green cabbage, and sweet onion combination not only packs a delicious flavor punch but makes a beautiful presentation. Serve the vegetables right out of the foil for a more rustic look or arrange them on a serving platter.

Sometimes it’s good to buck tradition. This recipe breaks away from the creamy cold potato salad and tests the theory that “everything is better on the outdoor grill.” This recipe, which I originally created for SOUTHERN LIVING magazine in 2009, answers the question with a resounding “Absolutely!” Grilled Potato Salad starts with traditional ingredients such as potatoes, onions, mayonnaise, and mustard but takes an unfamiliar twist by utilizing a complex dry rub, which adds a vibrant punch of flavor. This unique recipe will draw raves served hot off the grill but is also good eatin’ out of the fridge the next day.

Traditionally barbecue involved cooking the toughest and largest cuts of meat—the cuts that nobody else wanted. Often when beef is butchered, scraps of meat are left piled on the cutting board. Some view this pile of discards as waste; others envision dinner. So it is with these beef skewers. For this preparation you can use beef chunks left over from any of the cuts in this chapter: tenderloin tips, top round chunks, tri-tip scraps, and more. By adding vegetables to the skewer, you can stretch a small amount of beef to serve an entire family. The marinade recipe figures prominently and fondly in my memories of the days before I joined the Big Bob Gibson family. When visiting my future in-laws Don McLemore (Big Bob’s grandson) and his wife, Carolyn, I was treated to beef kebabs in this wonderfully balanced marinade. The sweet ginger and soy flavor is as good on veggies as it is on meat. I added the mustard horseradish sauce to take this recipe to the next level.

When it comes to side dishes, Big Bob felt keeping it simple was the way to go. Consequently you won’t find a long list of accompaniments to choose from on our menu, just potato salad, slaw, baked beans, and potato chips. His original vinegar-based coleslaw (see page 176), made from only four ingredients, was the only slaw that was ever used in the restaurant. In 2003, Martha Stewart wanted to feature some of our favorite Southern-style sides on her television show and requested both baked bean and slaw recipes. We happily sent her recipes for half the side dishes on our menu. The next day we learned the show preferred we give them a “customary” mustard-based slaw typical of the Memphis Barbecue Region. I’d never heard of such a slaw, but who can argue with Martha Stewart? Thus was Crisp Spicy Southern Mustard Coleslaw born. The recipe has since been served to raves at the James Beard Foundation in New York City and at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.

Memphis in May is a barbecue competition that takes place the third weekend of May at Tom Lee Park on the Mississippi River. It is the largest pork cookoff in the world and is often called “The Super Bowl of Swine.” The Big Bob Gibson Competition Cooking Team has attended this contest since 1997 and to date we have never finished out of the top ten. We’ve won the pork shoulder category six times, won first place in sauce three times, and won the Grand Championship twice. But it is not our success in the competition that stirs the fondest memories of this event; it is the time spent with friends and family while enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. It is a tradition for us to put on a big feed the Friday night before the most serious part of the competition begins. Our menu changes year to year but almost always includes pork tenderloin, bean salad, homemade pies, and this stacked cornbread vegetable salsa salad. I am not sure where this recipe originally came from, but my mother-in-law, Carolyn McLemore, and her friend Joyce Terry always treat us to a big batch at this annual event. It’s good and it goes really well with smoked pork tenderloin.

This nutty bean purée is inspired by lobio, a marinated bean salad from the Georgian Republic.

We call this Pan-Asian Slaw because the hot oil technique is used all over Asia. The hot oil intensifies and yet mellows the flavor of the scallions.

This simple salad goes with many dishes. Or add some or all of the extras we suggest and make a meal of it.

This salad goes with almost any dish. Make it when tomatoes are at their peak.

Let your oven do the work on this juicy, piquant fish and the succulent red and orange roasted vegetables.

This stovetop method of braising results in moist fish and a flavorful pan sauce to serve over noodles or rice.