Dinner Tonight: Barbecue Spaghetti Recipe

I realize barbecue spaghetti sounds wrong. The authentic pasta lover in me scoffs at the heavy-handed sauce, while my barbecue side can't deal with the meat playing second fiddle to noodles. But while it may be "mutant barbecue," as it is called in the caption in this recipe from Mike Mills's Peace, Love, & Barbecue, that doesn't mean it isn't good. Indeed, as I found on a recent visit to Interstate Barbecue in Memphis, sometimes it can be the best thing on the menu. It's also happens to be one of the best ways to use up leftover pulled pork that I've ever found.

First off, it's not as simple as just mixing barbecue sauce with spaghetti. That would be a disaster. No—this one starts with a base of tomatoes and loads of onions. After that cooks down, it's blended until smooth and then mixed with a barbecue sauce. Though it claims that you can use your favorite barbecue sauce, I'd avoid the vinegary North Carolina-style, as it doesn't work quite as well as the tomato-based kinds.