Elva’s BBQ – GABBY GRAYWHISKERS

Howdy folks, welcome to GABBY’S PLACE. Hey, did you hear about the young man standing on the pier watching the dolphins frolic in the water with an older woman standing nearby sporting a gorgeous sun bonnet? A sudden gust of wind whipped along the shoreline and lifted the woman’s dress above her waist. Unfazed by her exposed underside, she held on adamantly to her sun bonnet.

“Ma’am, don’t you care that everyone can see everything?”

“Young man,” she snapped, “everything down there is 85 years old. I bought this hat just yesterday.”

Oh no, I hear groans out there in the blogosphere. Okay, here’s my BBQ recipe handed down for generations of Pennsylvania Dutch folks in my native community. On Saturdays during the summertime, the premier social event was an estate sale. Household belongings, farm equipment and sometimes real estate were sold to the highest bidder in a lively exchange of camaraderie. Drama was added to this scenario when antique dealers from nearby cities competed for the coveted, centuries-old kitchen utensils and furniture.

Always a local church group, the Boy Scouts or the community Grange would offer a wide variety of food at a make-shift kitchen. For many of us this was the main event. Lemon sponge and shoo-fly pies, homemade bread, cakes, chicken and corn soup, hot dogs and BBQ sandwiches. The menu was not complete without those BBQ sandwiches.

Now, when this Pennsylvania Dutch Yankee moved south and ordered a BBQ sandwich at a local eatery, he was severely disappointed. What is this mass of shredded beef or pork soaked in a tomato sauce and dripping out the bun? Too sweet, too runny, too spicy. Not at all what a good, ole Yankee country boy remembers. And to beat all, some folks actually topped it with cole slaw.