Edible Blue Ridge Spring 2013 : Page 9

BARBECUE AIRSTREAM “There’s no short-cut to great barbecue,” says Evan Miller, who opened up his True Q mobile barbecue joint in a converted 1961 Airstream trailer in Lynchburg just last year. Miller offers a variety of meats—beef, pork, salmon—but the most popular is the pork shoulder, which he coats in a Memphis-style dry rub and then slow-roasts for about 10 hours over hickory. It’s fi nished with a tangy, smoky, vinegar-based sauce in the tradition of North Carolina, where he grew up. Miller’s slaws and other sides (green and potato salads, grilled asparagus) incorporate ingredients from the organic urban farm and nonprofi t Lynchburg Grows, in front of which the silvery True Q trailer sets up shop on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (the rest of the time Miller is focused on catering). The location is no accident. Miller and fi ancée Anne Reddy began volunteering at Lynchburg Grows— which reaches out to at-risk youth and people with special needs through its gardening programs—after she suffered a brain injury in a car wreck. “I ended up cooking a lot more,” says Miller. “That was when I fell in love with creating great food. And now we’re starting to sell out almost every week.” Go to trueqbbq.com or fi nd True Q on Facebook for updates on the Airstream’s schedule. —Angel Sands Gunn BEHOLD THE ROE Everyone has his own favorite harbinger of spring. For several generations of Virginians, it’s the sign out front at Anderson’s Carriage Food House in Charlottesville announcing that shad roe is in. The largest herring on the East Coast, the female American shad runs up rivers like the James from early March until mid April to spawn. They’re caught, and the eggs are harvested as a spring delicacy with a cult-like following. The six-week season is fl eeting, but for the devoted shad-roe lover, it’s the time to cook up the briny, organ-meat-esque sacs of fi sh eggs— with a texture akin to grits. “Raw, they look a little bloody, which some people have a problem with,” says Anderson’s seafood manager John Brown. “But I love shad roe.” Brown recommends frying the lobes (intact) using egg wash and a seafood batter, and serv-ing alongside scrambled eggs and coffee. But it can be haute cuisine too: poached or basted in butter with capers, or whipped into mousse. Still, its roots are much more humble, having been a staple among Native Americans and, as legend has it, saving George Washington’s troops at Val-ley Forge from starvation. Prices range from $9 to $13 for a pair of lobes, depending on time of season and demand. WINE CULTURE When Jim Boyle and Kim Denning, bakers at Charlottesville’s BreadWorks, visited their friend and winemaker Gabriele Rausse in autumn of 2000, they had an idea. Why not use the yeast naturally present in the winery’s air to make their bread? After all, yeast seems to have an affi nity for wineries and vineyards, where it’s been known to produce a more robust starter culture. “Because bakers are really scientists, we wanted to see if and how it would work,” says Boyle. So they mixed together fl our and water in a stainless-steel bowl, and stirred it to a soupy con-sistency. Then they covered it with cheesecloth, secured with a rubber band, and left it in Rausse’s wine fermentation room. After a week, the mixture was bubbling and alive. Boyle and Denning added more fl our and water, waited another week, then brought the starter to BreadWorks for continued feeding—and for use still today in the bakery’s open-crumb, rectangular ciabatta loaves. “It gives the bread a creaminess in texture, a richness, and a depth of fl avor,” says Denning. “And when you smell the culture, it smells like wine.” breadworks.org EDIBLE BLUE RIDGE SPRING 2013 | 11 SHAD ROE: CECILIA STOUTE

Barbecue Airstream

BARBECUE AIRSTREAM "There's no short-cut to great barbecue," says Evan Miller, who opened up his True Q mobile barbecue joint in a converted 1961 Airstream trailer in Lynchburg just last year. Miller offers a variety of meats – beef, pork, salmon – but the most popular is the pork shoulder, which he coats in a Memphis-style dry rub and then slow-roasts for about 10 hours over hickory. It's finished with a tangy, smoky, vinegar-based sauce in the tradition of North Carolina, where he grew up. Miller's slaws and other sides (green and potato salads, grilled asparagus) incorporate ingredients from the organic urban farm and nonprofit Lynchburg Grows, in front of which the silvery True Q trailer sets up shop on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (the rest of the time Miller is focused on catering). The location is no accident. Miller and fiancée Anne Reddy began volunteering at Lynchburg Grows – which reaches out to at-risk youth and people with special needs through its gardening programs – after she suffered a brain injury in a car wreck. "I ended up cooking a lot more," says Miller. "That was when I fell in love with creating great food. And now we're starting to sell out almost every week." Go to trueqbbq.com or find True Q on Facebook for updates on the Airstream's schedule. – Angel Sands Gunn

Wine Culture

WINE CULTURE When Jim Boyle and Kim Denning, bakers at Charlottesville's BreadWorks, visited their friend and winemaker Gabriele Rausse in autumn of 2000, they had an idea. Why not use the yeast naturally present in the winery's air to make their bread? After all, yeast seems to have an affinity for wineries and vineyards, where it's been known to produce a more robust starter culture. "Because bakers are really scientists, we wanted to see if and how it would work," says Boyle. So they mixed together flour and water in a stainless-steel bowl, and stirred it to a soupy consistency. Then they covered it with cheesecloth, secured with a rubber band, and left it in Rausse's wine fermentation room. After a week, the mixture was bubbling and alive. Boyle and Denning added more flour and water, waited another week, then brought the starter to BreadWorks for continued feeding – and for use still today in the bakery's open-crumb, rectangular ciabatta loaves. "It gives the bread a creaminess in texture, a richness, and a depth of flavor," says Denning. "And when you smell the culture, it smells like wine." breadworks.org

Behold The Roe

BEHOLD THE ROE Everyone has his own favorite harbinger of spring. For several generations of Virginians, it's the sign out front at Anderson's Carriage Food House in Charlottesville announcing that shad roe is in. The largest herring on the East Coast, the female American shad runs up rivers like the James from early March until mid April to spawn. They're caught, and the eggs are harvested as a spring delicacy with a cult-like following. The six-week season is fleeting, but for the devoted shad-roe lover, it's the time to cook up the briny, organ-meat-esque sacs of fish eggs – with a texture akin to grits. "Raw, they look a little bloody, which some people have a problem with," says Anderson's seafood manager John Brown. "But I love shad roe." Brown recommends frying the lobes (intact) using egg wash and a seafood batter, and serving alongside scrambled eggs and coffee. But it can be haute cuisine too: poached or basted in butter with capers, or whipped into mousse. Still, its roots are much more humble, having been a staple among Native Americans and, as legend has it, saving George Washington's troops at Valley Forge from starvation. Prices range from $9 to $13 for a pair of lobes, depending on time of season and demand.

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