Cherrywood BBQ & Ale House on Kiawah Island, SC and a recipe for Cherrywood Signature BBQ Sauce

And in the end it’s not the barbecues in your life that count. It’s the life in your barbecues. – Abraham Lincoln

A chef originally from Maine making Southern barbecue that is truly outstanding…really?!  We were pleasantly surprised when we visited Cherrywood BBQ & Ale House in the Osprey Point Clubhouse on Kiawah Island in April at Chef Jason Cote’s request.  So surprised in fact, I decided to devote a whole article to the exceptional food created at this restaurant on beautiful Kiawah Island.

We can get pulled pork and baby back ribs all day long living in the South.  The style differs depending on what part of the South you are in.  Wet or dry ribs.  Chopped, sliced or pulled pork.  Sweet, vinegar, tomato, mayonnaise or mustard based sauces are some of the differences between the regions.  Even upscale restaurants offer their version of these Southern favorites.  While BBQ dishes are not something that we choose to order out or prepare at home often, I have a few recipes for some pretty mean pulled pork and baby back ribs that I rely on when the craving for BBQ strikes.

While we were with Chefs Jason Cote and Brian McGowan visiting Ambrose Farm and Cherry Point Seafood, Jason asked us to visit Cherrywood BBQ to experience his food.  Our schedule was tight, but we decided to stop by for a brief visit.  Just a few minutes later we were sampling a platter of some of Cherrywood’s house specialties including mouthwatering Heritage Farms Pork Shoulder, amazingly moist and tender Overnight Beef Brisket, Collard Greens as good as anyone’s Momma makes and Four Cheese Mac that knocked our socks off.  Twice.

It took all of our will power to leave that plate of BBQ to head off to another appointment.   On our dash out the door we yelled back to Jason, “Save that food.  We’ll be back  as soon as possible.”  We made our next meeting but have to confess that Jason’s BBQ was on our mind.  As soon as that meeting was over we immediately headed back to enjoy more of Chef Cote’s impressive BBQ favorites.  This time he included a platter of perfectly smoked pork ribs and a gorgeous Pork Belly Salad with an Asian twist served with Red Beet Eggs and Pickled Vegetable Salad.

A perfect accompaniment to many of these dishes are some of Cherrywood’s house made BBQ sauces: Kiawah Vinegar Sauce, Governor’s Mustard Sauce, Cherrywood Signature BBQ Sauce, Fire Roasted Onion Sauce, Fire Sauce (a hot and spicy BBQ sauce), and Maple Chipotle BBQ sauce for Chef Cote’s version of wet ribs.  Jason makes the hot sauce in house which is the base for their Fire Sauce.  A new addition to the sauce menu is Ghost pepper and Ginger Sauce.  He says, “I like to mix it up and play with the flavors.”

The concept for Cherrywood BBQ replaced the more standard golf clubhouse burger and beer restaurant in this space last year and now people line up for lunch and dinner to enjoy these very special dishes prepared by this guy from Kennebunkport, Maine.  Who knew?!  Of course, burgers are still on the menu and I imagine they are pretty tasty as well.

Jason Cote, the Chef de Cuisine at Cherrywood BBQ & Ale House, has been at Kiawah Island Resort since 2008.  A graduate in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management, Cote has spent 16 years traveling from his hometown of Kennebunkport to South Carolina by way of California where he catered big budget movies.  He went on to work as a private chef on a yacht in Florida.  His resume also includes two impressive local restaurants including Magnolias (Charleston, S.C.) and the Kiawah Island Beach Club.  Not bad gigs if you ask me. 😉

My guess is somewhere between Maine and South Carolina Jason learned the fine art of barbecuing and he does it with finesse.  It definitely takes talent to cook and smoke meats properly and keep them moist at the same time.  Jason has achieved this fine balance.  I think there is also a lot of love for what he does.  You can feel his passion when he talks about his food and Cherrywood BBQ.

There are few places that get us this excited, especially when you mention BBQ.  We were so impressed with Cherrywood BBQ that on our return visit we just enjoyed the food, company and local craft beers and did not take many additional photographs.  It was that good.

Now that we are in summertime full swing, I am sure BBQ grills are cranking up all over the country.  July 4th is just around the corner and everyone is looking for more ways to cook outdoors to keep the kitchen cool on these scorching hot days.  Jason has shared some BBQ grilling tips with me to share with you.  He has also given me his recipe for one of their most popular BBQ sauces at Cherrywood BBQ, Cherrywood’s Signature BBQ Sauce.

The description of this sauce on the menu reads, “Our Signature Sauce would fall into the category of light tomato based sauce. While it is slightly thicker than a traditional “light tomato” based sauce, the addition of pale ale and strong coffee give this sweet garlic sauce a uniquely distinct flavor.”

If you are traveling to Kiawah Island or the Charleston area, I highly recommend having lunch or dinner at Cherrywood BBQ & Ale House.  Be sure to tell Jason we said “hello”.  In the meantime, enjoy the tips and the recipe!

BBQ Tips

The first step to making great ribs is the preparation.  No matter what your preference in ribs, baby backs or St. Louis cut, you need to start off by pulling off the tough skin on the back side of the rib.  This will help make your ribs tender, and if you are smoking them, it will help the smoke to penetrate the meat more evenly.  You can achieve this by starting on one end of the rib and using a dry towel to help assist you in getting a good grip on the skin and then pull it off.  This may take a couple of attempts, but once you get good at it, the skin should come off in one pull.

The next step is to rub your ribs with your favorite BBQ rub and let them sit in the fridge over night in the “dry rub marinade”.  Take them out of the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for about 45 minutes to an hour before you start cooking them.  This will help get you a more accurate cooking time and take some of the “guess work” out of how long to cook them.

Fire up your grill or smoker, and try to maintain a temperature of 250 degrees.  You will want to cook your ribs on indirect heat for about 3 hours while maintaining that constant temperature.  It is also helpful to keep a small pan of water on the heat so as to release a little steam and aid in the cooking process.  This will help keep your ribs moist so there is not too much “dry heat” cooking your ribs.

How to tell if your ribs are done?  There are a few tests you can do to see if your ribs are done.  One is called the bend test.  Hold your ribs on one end with a pair of tongs and look to see how far they bend.  If they are done, they should be pointing 90 degrees downward and they will most likely start to split in a few spots.  Another test you can do, which tends to be a little more accurate than the bend test, is the pull test.  Grab the ends of two bones near the center of the rack (be careful, they’re hot) and try to separate them apart by gently pulling them away from each other; if they pull apart easily your ribs are done!  Enjoy, and remember, if you’re looking, you’re not cooking!

Cheers,

Jason Cote

* This photograph and another in the video were courtesy of Kiawah Island Golf Resort.