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The "Soul Sauce" Story

         “The Soul Sauce”
     Around 30 years ago when I was on my hunt for the best BBQ in America, I was traveling on a back road in rural Mississippi and came across an old black man sitting beside his rusty well worn 55 gallon barrel cooker with smoke leaking from all sides. He was cooking what I soon found out were some of the best tasting pork spare ribs I had ever put in my mouth..  
     His name was Mr Pembroke. As I sat there nibbling on some ribs and dipping them in his sauce, I immediately knew I needed to get the recipe for his sweet, somewhat tangy, sauce.
     I asked about the sauce and Mr Pembroke told me that only one other person, beside himself, had the recipe and knew how to put the ingredients together to get the flavor of this sauce.
     After a couple of hours talking about BBQ and about his growing up on the Mississippi Delta, Mr Pembroke graciously decided to share with me the secret for making his sauce.  Mr Pembroke wrote down the  ingredients, but more importantly the process of cooking and putting the  ingredients together.
     All my family and some of my select friends, thank Mr Pembroke for sharing his BBQ sauce recipe that we now call “The Soul Sauce”
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Comments

  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564
    Great story, do you think he would mind if you were to share his Soul Sauce?
    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564
    Oops, did not see you prior post on your promise not to share.
    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
  • I'm confused.

    In your other thread, you said you promised not to share it with anyone, and you've kept that promise.  In this thread, you say you've shared it with family and select friends.  Soooo, kinda sounds like you broke your promise.  We're not your friends, so you won't share.

    Not sure why you're bragging about it on this forum.  What was your purpose in posting?
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    I'm confused.

    In your other thread, you said you promised not to share it with anyone, and you've kept that promise.  In this thread, you say you've shared it with family and select friends.  Soooo, kinda sounds like you broke your promise.  We're not your friends, so you won't share.

    Not sure why you're bragging about it on this forum.  What was your purpose in posting?
    Perhaps by "shared" he meant that he had shared the sauce after making it since that was what he was doing in the other thread. Confusing, yes.
  • I did not share the recipe, I only share the sauce.

    The reason for sharing this story is, I have found some stories from other people interesting and I thought this story might be interesting to some.

     
  • yogi84
    yogi84 Posts: 189
    Agree with VI seems counter intuitive 
  • BuckeyeBob
    BuckeyeBob Posts: 673
    edited October 2013
    I mentioned I liked the story but would've cared more if you could share the recipe or at least a pic of the sauce. I could take a pic of a pot and tell you I'm cooking. (I've got a secret...)
    Clarendon Hills, IL
  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot Posts: 6,959
    edited October 2013
    I could care less about the recipe.  I have the best BBQ sauce in the world, given to me by an old white man on the side of the road in Texas  (recipe available to anyone).

    I've posted on these forums for 6 or 7 years, and posted hundreds of cooks, and made every recipe available to anyone who wanted it.  If I had a recipe I promised not to share, I would not post a thread about it, because the thread would be totally worthless.

    However, we have many off the wall OT threads, so I guess it @thailandjohn gets a kick out of this, it's OK by me.
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • VI, I would love to have your "best BBQ sauce in the world" recipe.  Please do share!
    Flowery Branch, GA  LBGE
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,662
    maybe when i make a batch of happy pappy sauce we can trade, i cant share that recipe either
    :D
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • You need to share the recipe with the forum.
  • Mross
    Mross Posts: 338
    I liked your story John.

    Duncan, SC
  • VI, I would love to have your "best BBQ sauce in the world" recipe.  Please do share!

    BBQ Sauce

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Recipe By: Bill Cannon

    Ingredients:

    1 28 oz. bottle Hunt's Ketchup

    1 19 oz. bottle Jack Daniel's Honey Smokehouse BBQ Sauce

    1 can Rotel, Mexican Lime & Cilantro

    1 medium Onion , chopped

    2 tablespoons Garlic, minced

    2 cups Brown sugar, or 1 c Splenda Brown 

    1/2 cup Texas BBQ Rub

    2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

    2 tablespoons Mustard, Yellow prepared

    1/4 cup Chili powder

    1/2 cup Pineapple juice

    2 bottles Water, from Empty ketchup bottle

    1 can Water, from empty Rotel can

    1 bottle Water, from empty BBQ sauce bottle

    Directions:

    1. Mix ketchup, BBQ sauce, Rotel and chili powder in a large pot.  Start cooking on the stove at medium temp.  Add the water (you will get out all of the extra sauce from the bottles this way).  Stir in garlic and brown sugar .  Stir in the rub.  Add the chopped onion, worchestershire sauce, and mustard.  Bring sauce to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add pineapple juice.  Let simmer for at least 1 hour (longer is better).  I usually simmer mine for about 2 hours.

    2. Serve as a side dish for those who ask for it.  Use it in the brisket recipe.

    3. Makes about 4 quarts.  You will use some of it to finish off the brisket and the other to serve.  Keeps for days in the frig.

    4. For BBQ sauce for pork, delete the Rotel and put in 1 can of Peach Nectar. 

    Notes:

    Texas BBQ rub can be bought from: http://texasbbqrub.com

    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • VI, thanks!
    Flowery Branch, GA  LBGE
  • bearcat
    bearcat Posts: 41
    I liked the story and want to come over for dinner.... I have dishes that remind me of the people who taught me them. Nice memories.
  • Spaightlabs
    Spaightlabs Posts: 2,349
    TJ - by the looks of your pic you ain't no spring chicken. If Mr. pembroke was old 30 years ago, he has surely passed to the great rib shack in the sky by now, so he won't mind. That, and he probably gave the recipe to every white dude that asked...
  • I personally think that special things in life are a rarity and if I could share that with someone else to make that person happy even for a moment......it would be worth it. Unless your selling the sauce or making some profit/personal gain from it, I dont see why it matters. However, it is not similar to your old fishing hole that someone can fish out...this would not change your life in any way. Now I am speaking this in general and know that you promised not to share so its not directed all at you, but in general in this world we live in. 
    Beaufort, SC
  • If he promised not to share it, then I commend him for keeping his word. The thread about making sauce he can't share the recipe for was unusual.
    Flint, Michigan
  • SeeingSpots
    SeeingSpots Posts: 151
    edited October 2013
    It's a "nice" story, not a "great" story or even a "good" story.  To be "great", it would have to include the recipe, for sure.  To make the story "good", without breaking your promise, all you would have to do is give some detail about how it is made, that makes it unique.  Anything that one can take away from the story as their own and use in some way.  Otherwise, it's just a story about a traveler who met a nice old man and that gave him something, and told him not to share it.

    Now, you may not give a flip about what anyone on this board can "take away" from any given post, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.   But I think most people come to this board to collect and share ideas, not necessarily exact recipes (but in many cases those too!).

    So maybe in the future, when you have a "nice" story to share, you'll include a small morsel of information that will inspire someone to make something completely new and outstanding.  And then, my bets are, they'll come right back to this board and share it.

    I'm pretty sure your old man on the road would have liked that.

    Flowery Branch, GA  LBGE
  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot Posts: 6,959
    edited October 2013
    You're right, Spot.  Since we're not going to get any info on the sauce, we've got to make this a "great story".  The key point in the original story is that it had to be an old black man, and it had to be in the rural South.  A teenage French kid in a suit on the side of the road in The Bronx, NY would not have cut it.

    So, there TJ is talking to the old black man.  On the hill behind them, is the old man's log cabin, with his whole family in rocking chairs and a sofa on the porch and a coon dog sleeping on the steps.  Grandma is playing a banjo and they're all hummin' "Swanee River".  Just as the old man gives TJ the final instruction for the sauce, he has a massive heart attack and falls to the ground.  As TJ leans over him, he pulls TJ's head down close to his, and whispers "don evah gib dat recipe to no one".  TJ clutches his hands and makes the vow.

    And, now you know the rest of the story.
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • Yeah, but is the coon dog buried in the Coon Dog Cemetery? That's what I want to know?

    And, what what's happened to Grandma and the rest of the family?
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot Posts: 6,959
    edited October 2013
    Before "Old Blue" died, she had 30 pups, and they're all living at the log cabin.  Grandma choked on a raccoon bone last spring and died 5 days later.  The old man had been their only source of income by selling his sauce, and when he died, nobody in the family knew how to make it.  They tracked TJ down and asked for the recipe.  He told them to f**k off.  He had made a promise, and besides, if he gave them the recipe, they might go into competition with his company "Thailand Hot Sauce".
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • I like the Forest Gump shrimp boat story better. It has a more positive ending.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • VI, thanks for the true laugh out loud today when I'm supposed to be working.
    Clarendon Hills, IL
  • Yeah, but is the coon dog buried in the Coon Dog Cemetery? That's what I want to know?


    And, what what's happened to Grandma and the rest of the family?
    They're living high on the hog now. Their white son Navin went to the city to seek his fortune. There he invented the Optigrab device and struck it rich! Navin never forgot his family and he sent truckloads of cash home to his family. Now they live on easy street. As a sign of gratitude to their white son, they reveal the family's super secret BBQ sauce recipe only to itinerant white guys.
    Flint, Michigan
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Got a feeling this one is gonna get real funny soon.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Dredger
    Dredger Posts: 1,468
    VI, do you think you can get them to star Morgan Freeman as the old man after you sell your book to movie producers. He was great in Driving Miss Daisy. I think you've got something there.
    Large BGE
    Greenville, SC
  • Are you talking about Navin Johnson?  That guy's a Jerk!  My brother-in-law's eyes are crossed TO THIS DAY!
    Flowery Branch, GA  LBGE
  • I think VI might be correct about competition
  • I think VI might be correct about competition
    You're a good sport, John.  Thanks !
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious