New York State Claims Its Own BBQ Style At Harvest Smokehouse
The story of barbecue is one of regional identity. Locally specific customs and traditions — types of wood smoke, types of sauces — over time create flavors and styles distinctly Texas or Carolina. New York is usually excluded from this conversation.
Harvest Smokehouse at Golden Harvest Farm in Valatie, New York, headed by accomplished chef Andrew Chase, is making the case that there can be original regionally specific barbecue here that's worth adding to the national story.
When Golden Harvest needed to remove an orchard of apple trees that had grown too old, they found themselves with a surplus of wood. The same industrious family that started the Harvest Spirits distillery as a solution for an excess fruit problem looked for a way to make sure all that wood didn’t go to waste. Chase, a Culinary Institute of America grad, was coming off a successful run as the chef/owner of The Flammerie in Kinderhook and was looking for a new project after selling that restaurant. After a conversation with Doug Grout, whose family has owned the historic farm since 1975, Chase’s love of cooking over wood and the Grout’s abundance of timber made for a fortuitous match.
“We wanted it to taste like the farm,” Chase said of his menu. “There’s as much apple as we can get into it. We are staying true to the concept and the flavor.”
Chase is now smoking all manner of meat over applewood while basting and dressing the meat in sauces made with apple juice, cider and vinegar made on premises. The process creates barbecue that’s restrained and balanced in a way that allows diners to taste the subtler notes from wood and the natural sweetness of the fruit. Chase said they are intentionally not serving beef at Harvest because the meat is too strong in flavor to let the more delicate smoke that applewood imparts shine through.
The hyper-local farm-to-smoker approach is pumping out phenomenal barbecue that doesn’t taste like anywhere else. It tastes like New York, it tastes like the Hudson Valley, it tastes like Golden Harvest Farm.
The smokehouse was a rousing success through COVID with its outdoor seating, and made a name for itself as they were slammed during apple and pumpkin picking season at the popular farm, which gets so busy in October that police have to direct traffic.
“I hope people that come here are getting a unique barbecue experience that tastes different and has a sense of place,” Chase said.
Stop in for lunch for a sandwich: pulled pork with cider slaw on a bun or unsugared cider doughnut ($11), or a bratwurst with kraut and apple mustard ($10). If you need to try it all, the Hogzilla squeezes pulled pork, house susaget, bacon, smoked cheddar, house pimiento cheese, slaw, and pickles and applejack barbecue sauce onto a challah bun ($14).
If you prefer to eat a bird, there’s a TCB Melt with hot smoked turkey, bacon, pimiento cheese, and fixings on Texas toast ($12), and a shredded jerk chicken sandwich with cider slaw and curry mayo.
Before we get into the mains, let’s pause to acknowledge that all the appropriate barbecue sides are represented including kraut, corn, smoked potato salad, and cheddar mac, pit beans, cider-braised greens, pickled vegetables, and hand-cut fries. Also, the selection of sauces is downright drinkable.
But when it comes to the barbecue, the belles of the ball are the St. Louis ribs ($19 for a half-rack, $34 for a full rack) and they do more than pull their weight. Fall off the bone is bad. These don’t. They pull off the bone and have bite and character. You get your own little private moment with them. They are dressed in applejack barbecue sauce but not smothered, so feel free to dip your babies if you need to.
All the meat by the pound is amazing at a picnic table, reheated for a dinner at home or for a party with people you’re looking to impress or show up. Bringi home Harvest pulled pork ($11 for half, $19 for a full pound) or turkey ($12 for half, $19 full), and everyone but the vegetarians will be pumped. There is a smoked mushroom sandwich too, so they won’t feel left out ($11).
There’s actually more on the menu, like smoked wings and pies, but if you want to see it you can just go to their website or stop in. The smokehouse is also connected to a farm stand filled with deserts and fresh produce. And don’t forget the distillery is around back. All this food pairs nicely with a Harvest Spirits cocktail. On nice days you can enjoy both food and drink in the greenhouse.
Harvest Smokehouse isn’t a gimmick apple-themed barbecue joint. It is regionally specific storytelling through food. This land grows apple trees — and the world’s best apples — so it’s only natural that that’s what the flavor of New York’s barbecue story should and will be.
Harvest Smokehouse
3074 U.S. 9, Valatie, NY
Open 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Thursday through Monday
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