Slammin Jammin BBQ - Corning, NY

Slammin Jammin BBQ
37 E Pulteney St
Corning, NY 14830

I recently stopped in to Slammin Jammin BBQ as I was traveling through Corning, NY.  It was late afternoon and I had the place all to myself so I had plenty of time to look over the menu.

They offer Pulled Pork, Sausage, Chicken, Beef Brisket (sliced or chopped), and Ribs.  Each can be served as a sandwich with 1 side, a dinner with 2 sides and choice or bread (Texas Toast or corn muffin), by the pound (for pulled pork and brisket), ribs are either 1/2 rack or full rack, or the family specials that give you 1 lbs, 2 lbs or 3 lbs of meat with 3 sides and choice of bread. Additionally they have a Backyard Burger, Patty Melt and Chicken Tenders.  I have to admit that they give you the ability to get what you want any way you want.  So many places now don't have the 2 or 3 meat tray where you can truly mix and match. The question is...is the meat worth it?

I ordered the 3 item platter with Ribs, Pulled Pork and Brisket. Kernel Corn, Baked Beans and Texas Toast complimented the meat on the plate.  Here they don't put sauce on the meat as they smoke it but they do sauce the meat prior to serving.  I'm not really a fan of this as the customer should be the one to decide how much sauce is required.  It also tends to mask the natural flavor of the meat for me to evaluate.  I will say that the pulled pork was the clearest, purest pork I've seen in a long time.  In fact, it was so clean of any crust or impurities that it was void of flavor.  I'm a big fan of the crust as that's where the smoking spices are with the rub so either they removed it all or there was no rub.  In either case, it left the meat without a lot of flavor.  It was nice and juicy but still lacking.  The brisket was well cooked but again, no real character.  The ribs were not really any different than the other meats.  Just cooked...not filled with the barbecue flavor that I would hope to find.

The veggies were fine but nothing really special.

There was a Sweet and a Spicy sauce options but I found those to be a bit banal as well.

I'm finding that BBQ in Penn and NY state are often very bland...very Midwest in their lack of spices and kick.  I long for the strong smell of paprika, cumin and other spices that waft ceremoniously out of the smokers of the south.

The more we look to the cultural heritage of the south for our barbecue infusion, the happier we will all be.