On Sepulveda Boulevard near San Fernando Mission is one of LA’s oldest yet surprisingly little known barbecue houses. Opened shortly after WW II, the Bear Pit is the only Missouri style BBQ joint in southern California. As it states proudly on the sign, it cooks country Missouri Barbecue on an Oak wood fire. For me and many others, this gives their meats a distinctive, deep subtle flavor lacking in most commercial BBQ places. Oak is the wood of choice for great grilling and barbecue. Period.
At the Bear Pit they put on a dry rub, not overly aggressive and then cook the meat in their big brick pit. That’s it. No gooey sauces. They let the oak fire and the rich smoke do the rest. You can taste this most clearly on their chickens. They have rich and subtle flavor under the tangy skin, the oak smoke flavor goes right to the bone very much like real Chinese smoked chicken or duck. They put a bottle of a mild and a medium sauce on each table, a middle of the road tomato, brown sugar, vinegar sauce for those who like and need it, but most of there meats are delectable just as they come on the platter: pulled pork, two kinds of pork ribs, beef ribs, brisket, tri-tip, ham, chicken and hot links. They also slow cook Turkeys and Ducks in their brick BBQ pit, both rarely seen in Southern California. In an old fashioned touch, when you sit down at the Bear Pit you get a bowl of what we call today crudités: Spears of salt cured kosher pickles, carrot sticks, hot little chili peppers and some other vegetables to munch on. This is as authentic a period 1950's touch as the housewives in “Mad Men” stuffing celery ribs with a cream cheese filling of some kind or another. They serve a tart southern style vinegar based cole slaw, not the creamy mayonnaise slaw usually served.
You can plot the dominant BBQ wood on a map, like the maps of Italy where they draw lines across the Boot at various places indicating where butter replaces olive oil as the principal cooking fat or where the pasta shifts from flat kinds to round or tubular ones (i.e. tagliatelle vs. penne, linguine vs. spaghetti). Well in the USA you can do a similar map indicating where and what kind of wood is use for a BBQ.
In California traditionally, but often ignored today, oak wood was fuel of choice in Northern and Central California all the way down to LA County line. It still is the only fuel for a classic Santa Maria Barbecue, the standard for judging any California BBQ. From Los Angeles across the southwest and at least half way across Texas Mesquite is firewood of choice. From somewhere east of Dallas north American hardwoods become the fuel of choice. Moving north into the Ozarks its is Oak like at the Bear Pit but crossing the Mississippi River Hickory becomes the favored wood, some times alone, other times mixed with Oak or other local hardwoods. This is clearly and easily tasted in the flavor of meats just as the material of the aging barrels is in wines. White wines aged in glass tanks have a fresh and strong varietal fruity taste. Redwood aging gives a slight cinnamon edge to red wines and used to be common, especially for Zinfandel's and Petite Syrah’s. White wines aged in American oak have a clear tannic edge and oak in the nose, while French oak barrels impart a more light and subtle oak edge.
Only certain woods burn well and slowly enough and give off the required heat and scented smoke that give character to any serious BBQ. For example, Eucalyptus burns very hot and gives off a very oily smoke that would quickly make anything it touched taste like it marinated in Vic’s Vapor Rub. It is far and way too aggressive. (Australians may strongly disagree if only because Down Under it’s gum tree wood or nothing.) The same heavy handed quality would apply to walnut, orange or other citrus woods which are oily like Eucalyptus and would overpower any meat. Soft woods like Pine are too quick burning and would coat food with a foul taste of pitch and a heavy smell of resin.
In New England maple wood is used to smoke bacon and for BBQ’s while apple wood is used in the upper Midwest. However the principal BBQ fuels are Oak in Central and northern California, Mesquite from LA across the Southwest and then Oak or Oak and Hickory in the lower Midwest and South. Better restaurants often use either Oak charcoal or a blend of Oak, Hickory and other hard woods to fire their grills. This blend of hardwood charcoal is available at many restaurant supply houses, but it comes in 50 pound bags which make it impractical unless you have the necessary storage space or grill a lot of meat.
The Bear Pit
10825 Sepulveda Boulevard
Mission Hills, CA 91345
(818) 365-2509 info@bearpitbbq.com
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