Hash on Rice

A plate of barbecue served anywhere between Columbia, South Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia, likely includes hash on rice. The hash is a melange of pork, sometimes also beef, perhaps including some assorted vegetables, and barbecue sauce (which in this area is likely to be mustard-based) that has been simmered a long time in a great big pot. The final consistency can be like soup, gravy, or stew; and while there are some versions that are as mild as pabulum, it is more common for hash to be, shall we say, pork-forward. Intense. Very, very piggy. That is one reason it is so right atop a great spill of the Palmetto State’s signature grain, rice, which tempers it. Parenthetically, it must be noted that never in the history of food photography has anyone been able to take a picture in which hash on rice looks pretty.