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What Do You Think Of Boiled Peanuts?
I came to know and love boiled peanuts when we moved to the south (eastern NC) almost 40 years ago. You have to start with green peanuts and back then a lot of people grew peanuts so boiled peanut season was early autumn. There's no way to describe what they taste like--but they are delicious and addictive--salty, soggy and luscious. You literally end up "up to your elbows" in them, because the salty water squishes out when you pop them open and runs up your arms when you take them to your mouth! You used to be able to find green peanuts in local stores and make your own--they're harder to find now, but yes indeed if you're lucky you can still find them, usually at roadside stands in rural areas.
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I just wrote a long comment and then hit something wrong and apparently lost the whole thing. So if this is a duplicate, just disregard. We moved to eatern NC in 1973 and shortly thereafter I was invited to a pig-pickin. A pig-pickin is a laid-back social event, a noun/verb combination. A whole hog, split down the middle and laid flat on the grill, is smoked/cooked in a pig-cooker--looks like an oil drum cut in half vertically and hauled around on wheels like a trailer. The pig is basted regularly with a clear vinegar secret recipe sauce and cooked usally overnight. Next day when it's done, the cooker is opened and diners file by to pull (pick) their favorite parts of meat off the pig. Heaven has no food better than tenderloin pulled from the backbone! Then you help yourself to additional vinegar sauce and sides, usually a vinegar/sugar based coleslaw, boiled white potatoes (cooked until they are almost creamy), brunswick stew and hush puppies. That's followed (always!) by banana pudding and sometimes peach cobbler and/or a pig-pickin cake--made with mandarin oranges in the batter and the frosting. I've speculated about the vinegar basting and sauce. Might traditionally have helped as a preservative in the hotter climate? As well as being delicious, it is great for cutting the "greasy" taste of the pork. After the pickin is over, the remains of the pig are chopped and seasoned with additional vinegar sauce and the guests can take home any left-overs. Ideally, these are out-of-doors events but the eating can be done anyplace. There are lots of good BBQ restaurants in eastern NC but pig-pickins, large or small, are purely social events--you'll get only chopped pork in restaurants. Around Raleigh and points west, you come upon tomato based sauces, which I know nothing about, but they are delicious too. My daughter lives in Austin TX and everytime we visit BBQ trips are high on the to-do list--brisket is my favorite, but sausages rate high too. They are BBQ fans too and check out all the places recommended by friends and Texas Monthly! In my memory, though, lingers one of the most delicious BBQ encounters--several years ago, a dry-rub slice of tenderloin at the Rendezvous in Memphis. A final word--BBQ IS a noun! The verb is grilling. Thanks to all the posted recommendations--am I drooling?