Heirloom Market BBQ's location certainly pays homage to BBQ tradition but it's heck to find, particularly if you are driving in from the west. You are looking for this building on Akers Mill Road. The "food mart" next door seems to specialize in liquid foods of the fermented and distilled varieties, just like so many BBQ places, but it serves truly outstanding and original food. The entire place is tiny. The order stand could fit in a shoebox, there are only a couple of small tables and counters, and the kitchen staff isn't any better off for space. I was there in mid-afternoon and didn't have any problems finding a place to sit but I understand that the wait in line at lunch can be very long.
I went for the North Carolina pork sandwich with Korean sweet potatoes. The pork was tender while retaining its texture. It was served on a great egg bun; I consider white bread to be my sole complaint with BBQ culture. I'm not sure what was Korean about the sweet potatoes, which were extremely fresh potato chips, but they were so good that I had to restrain myself. One of the standards sauces is Korean, which I used on my sandwich. The place definitely has a Korean bent, as evidenced by their home-canned cucumber kimchi.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...
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