SLO LIFE Oct/Nov 2020

HIGH ON THE HOG
Like G. Brothers, Oddette Augustus doesn’t sauce her ribs.
“The meat should stand on its own,” she says, and adds: “That
should tell you something because I’m the sauce lady and I’m
saying that.”
Indeed, Miss Oddette’s Creole Kitchen has been pumping out
BBQ sauce for seventeen years on the Central Coast. Based
out of Paso Robles, Augustus is a certified canner as well as
a caterer. Lately, she’s been preparing meal deals to feed four
people, and her ribs are famous, so I got in on that deal. I
pulled up at Haven Properties where she does a little pop-up
in the parking lot every other week to receive a hefty rack of
pork back ribs plus a container of killer creamy potato salad.
I also picked up a jar of her “Special Report” BBQ sauce. She
tells me she learned how to make it from her “Granga,” her
grandma Hazel.
The ribs, she says, are seasoned very simply, then put in the
smoker for four hours. Then she cures each rack in foil before
selling to customers. At home, I unload the rack of ribs, the
potato salad, and the sauce (which I end up using on the ribs
because it’s so delicious) and then I dig in. The combination
is sweet and salty, the magic formula that makes ribs taste so
irresistibly good. SLO LIFE
86 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | OCT/NOV 2020