Archive for February, 2009
The Santa Maria Style Barbecue Menu
The traditional cuts of Santa Maria Style Barbecue are top-block sirloin and tri-tip, a triangular bottom sirloin cut that originated in the Santa Maria Valley. The meat is rolled in a mixture of salt, pepper and garlic salt before being barbecued over coals of red oak, a native local oak species that contributes a smoky, hearty flavor.
The classic Santa Maria Style Barbecue menu, which was copyrighted by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce in 1978, also includes fresh salsa, grilled French bread dipped in sweet melted butter, tossed green salad and slow-cooked pinquito beans. Macaroni and cheese is also considered an early staple of the menu.
Pinquitos are small pink beans with a long history in the Santa Maria Valley. No one is quite sure how they first came to the region, but they certainly found a perfect home amid the valley’s fertile soils and mild coastal climate. To this day, pinquito beans are a commercial crop exclusive to California’s Central Coast.
For the most authentic Santa Maria Style Barbecue experience, enjoy your meal with a Pinot Noir, Syrah or other fine wine from the Santa Maria Valley, and finish it off with a dessert featuring fresh, locally grown strawberries.
A Brief History of Santa Maria Style Barbecue
In an age of fickle appetites and culinary fads, Santa Maria Style Barbecue continues to prove that good taste never goes out of style.
The roots of Santa Maria Style Barbecue date back to the mid-1800s, when large ranches occupied the hills of the Santa Maria Valley. Local ranchers would host Spanish-style feasts each spring for their vaqueros, or cowboys, as well as family and friends—barbecuing meat over earthen pits filled with hot coals of red oak, which is native to the valley. The meal would be served with a generous helping of pinquitos, small pink beans that are considered indigenous to the Santa Maria Valley.
According to local barbecue historian R.H. Tesene, “The Santa Maria Barbecue grew out of this tradition and achieved its ‘style’ when local residents began to string cuts of beef on skewers or rods and cook the meat over the hot coals of a red oak fire.”
In 1931, the Santa Maria Club started a “Stag Barbecue,” which was held on the second Wednesday of every month, with up to 700 patrons attending each event. Over the years, the legend of Santa Maria Style Barbecue grew, turning a local treasure into a major attraction.
In those early days, the favored cut was top-block sirloin. Then, as today, the meat was rolled in a mixture of salt, pepper and garlic salt before being barbecued over the red oak coals, which contribute a smoky, hearty flavor. In the 1950s, a local butcher named Bob Schutz perfected the tri-tip, a triangular bottom sirloin cut that quickly joined top-block sirloin as a staple of Santa Maria Style Barbecue.
By the late 1950s, three local restaurants—The Far Western Tavern, Hitching Post and Jocko’s—were on their way to becoming landmarks of Santa Maria Style Barbecue. These restaurants still thrive today, and are joined by Shaw’s Steakhouse, Historic Santa Maria Inn, F. McLintocks, A.J. Spurs and others in serving the homegrown barbecue.
President Ronald Reagan was an avid fan of Santa Maria Style Barbecue. Local barbecue chef Bob Herdman and his “Los Compadres Barbecue Crew” staged several barbecues for President Reagan, including five feasts on the South Lawn of the White House.
The relatively recent emergence of the Santa Maria Valley wine country—which placed two wines on the Wine Spectator’s list of Top 100 Wines of 2008—has further shined the spotlight on the local culinary scene.
In the words of the book Renewing America’s Food Traditions published in 2008, Santa Maria Style barbecue is nothing less than “a mainstay of California’s culinary heritage.” In fact, as more and more people seek regional authenticity in their food, the popularity of Santa Maria Style Barbecue continues to grow. Visitors can enjoy it at a number of local restaurants, or they can just follow the savory smoke along Broadway in downtown Santa Maria.
