BBQ Spaghetti

Cooks in Memphis like to make all kinds of food into barbecue. Not just ribs, but shrimp, wings, bologna, Cornish hens and -- among side dishes on a majority of the city's BBQ parlors -- spaghetti. It makes culinary sense. Sharply-spiced, smoky meat is best appreciated in concert with soft-flavored carbs; that is why bread that accompanies almost all barbecue is bland and tender. Likewise, to make this dish, you want thick noodles cooked significantly beyond al dente. The quality of barbecue spaghetti has nothing to do with the noodles and everything to do with sauce. Memphis is a saucecentric city, which is why barbecue spaghetti thrives – as another handy way to get that sauce from plate to mouth.