Tennessee · Main
Memphis BBQ Spaghetti
- Intermediate
- 60 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
Leads with wood-smoke running underneath, richness that coats and comforts, with a clean, bright snap.
Ingredients
- 400g spaghetti, cooked PAST al dente: soft is traditional and correct here
- 400g smoked pulled pork (yesterday's, ideally; this dish exists to give it a second act)
- 1 onion + 1 green bell pepper, diced, sweated in butter or drippings
- 400ml barbecue sauce (Memphis-style: tomato and vinegar, sweet-tangy) + 200ml crushed tomatoes
- A shot of the rub from the ribs recipe; hot sauce to taste
The skills inside
Sweating aromatics: soft, never browned
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Sweat onion and pepper in drippings until soft and sweet.
- Sauce, tomatoes and rub in; simmer 15 min to a loose, smoky ragù; fold in the pulled pork. 15 min
- Boil the spaghetti soft; drain and fold into the sauce until stained and glossy.
- Rest 10 minutes: BBQ spaghetti is better once it settles. Serve as a side to ribs (the Memphis way) or a bowl of its own. 10 min
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Sweating aromatics: soft, never browned 198 recipes
- No colour anywhere: tipped under the light the pieces are translucent to pale gold, with no tan edges, no brown tips, and no browned flecks suspended in the fat.
- The pan is quiet: a low steady hiss, not a crackle. A crackle means the moisture has gone and browning has already started.
- The largest piece pressed against the side of the pan collapses without resistance and with no crunch left at its centre.
- The fat is still clear and loose in the pan and the pan floor is clean: nothing caught, nothing browned on to deglaze, because there was never any fond to build.
- It tastes sweet and mild with no raw allium bite at the back of the throat, and none of the roasted sweetness that belongs to the next technique up the heat scale.
Where it goes wrong The heat was too high and nothing covered the pan, so the pieces took colour before they softened; the finished dish carries a roasty sweetness where it wanted a clean one, and the pieces are still firm at the centre under browned edges.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Riesling or Grenache
- Also Right
- Cru Beaujolais
- From the Taps
- Farmhouse saison
- Zero-Proof
- Cloudy apple juice, chilled
Pork loves fruit and gentle sweetness: orchard-note whites and low-tannin reds flatter it where heavy oak flattens.
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