North Carolina barbecue

Originally from Memphis and for the longest time, I thought I preferred that style with the red sauce. Been here for 25+ years and my palette has changed and i now prefer the Vinegar based sauce. I also make my own BBQ sauce and it's pretty good, similar to Scotts and Georges.

I also remember the Clyde Coopers controversy in Raleigh last year over BBQ. If you missed it, it's worth a laugh.

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Lexington style is my favorite but I generally like them all. There was a place on the edge of downtown Winston called Bibs.....it was incredible, but they closed during COVID.
 
noway2 said:
Surprised no one mentioned Redneck BBQ Labs
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We stopped there Sunday. It was decent but wasn’t “blow you away” good. Meat was cold. Brisket was dry. Macaroni was hard. I can get shitty bbq here at stameys(yuck). But now I can say I’ve been I guess.
 
Burt Gummer said:
We stopped there Sunday. It was decent but wasn’t “blow you away” good. Meat was cold. Brisket was dry. Macaroni was hard. I can get shitty bbq here at stameys(yuck). But now I can say I’ve been I guess.
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When they first opened, they were at the top of my list. They’ve kinda turned into a fast food BBQ joint with the tremendous traffic they get.
 
fieldgrade said:
When they first opened, they were at the top of my list. They’ve kinda turned into a fast food BBQ joint with the tremendous traffic they get.
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This is a sad. Happens to a many great little places who do not know how to handle growth and popularity.
 
Burt Gummer said:
We stopped there Sunday. It was decent but wasn’t “blow you away” good. Meat was cold. Brisket was dry. Macaroni was hard. I can get shitty bbq here at stameys(yuck). But now I can say I’ve been I guess.
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I have had nothing but good experiences there. Sorry to hear you weren't satisfied.
 
GymB said:
Was talking to a guy about BBQ today, he’s planning to make a trip to southern TX to the last place in the US that makes traditional barbacoa. Apparently it involves beef brains cooked in situ in a closed earthen pit. I’m not joining him.

I’ll eat about all of it, but I don’t find mutton bbq to be very enjoyable.

Rudy’s in Austin is a chain, there is better brisket at either Blacks, Franklins, Snows (in Lexington, TX), or anywhere in Lockhart
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I agree Blacks, Franklins, certainly anywhere in Lockhart, my 2 favorites though would have to be, Angelo's in Ft Worth or Goldee's also Ft Worth.
 
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Burt Gummer said:
We stopped there Sunday. It was decent but wasn’t “blow you away” good. Meat was cold. Brisket was dry. Macaroni was hard. I can get shitty bbq here at stameys(yuck). But now I can say I’ve been I guess.
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That was my experience too and I drove 2 hours for it. Sausage was just... sausage at $5 per 4" link. Their sauce in the jar is ok stuff I have a few jars in the closet, I just was not impressed at all for all the awards they had up there.
 
Pack72 said:
Invitations or it didn't happen. ;)
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As Brian said I post an open invite every year in the member section.

We usually pick a Saturday in April. The date changes a little each year and is dependent on the main group of guys who always show up to help cook.

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There is a relatively new BBQ place on Edenton Street in downtown Raleigh, right across from Gringo-A-Go-Go. It is called "Longleaf Swine". Their pulled pork sammich is really good. The place is the new 'bougie' style joint, where everything is sold a la carte, and thus it gets expensive. But their sides are also really good (street corn and roasted sweet potatoes) and it is worth a try, if you find yourself downtown Raleigh and don't want to eat that garbage that Cooper's puts out.
 
East of Here said:
There is a relatively new BBQ place on Edenton Street in downtown Raleigh, right across from Gringo-A-Go-Go. It is called "Longleaf Swine". Their pulled pork sammich is really good. The place is the new 'bougie' style joint, where everything is sold a la carte, and thus it gets expensive. But their sides are also really good (street corn and roasted sweet potatoes) and it is worth a try, if you find yourself downtown Raleigh and don't want to eat that garbage that Cooper's puts out.
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They were good when they had a food truck but kept the food truck prices at the restaurant.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
If you're near Siler City, check out The Broken Spit. They're a hole in the wall that puts the love in the food.
thebrokenspit.com

The Broken Spit - Siler City, NC

thebrokenspit.com thebrokenspit.com
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Ate there today. A lot of good stuff on the menu. They’ve kicked it up a notch since I was there right after they opened. That said, they are proud of it.

$8 for hush puppies.
 
Chdamn said:
As Brian said I post an open invite every year in the member section.

We usually pick a Saturday in April. The date changes a little each year and is dependent on the main group of guys who always show up to help cook.

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The cook (whole hog) is classic eastern NC; Piedmont style is historically just the shoulder. Ain't a damn thing wrong with doing just the butt, but, to me, whole hog intensifies the flavor and texture.
 
There is a BBQ place about 4 miles from me, maybe not that far. For cooking pigs it's expensive. It's OK, but...expensive.

Most of of the older folks in my extended family are getting up there so we don't do this like we used to, but my cousins would do a weekend reunion and cook whole hogs like @Chdamn . Better than the food was the fellowship, just sitting around the cooker drinking beer and visiting. I never learned the art, and wish I had.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
If you're near Siler City, check out The Broken Spit. They're a hole in the wall that puts the love in the food.
thebrokenspit.com

The Broken Spit - Siler City, NC

thebrokenspit.com thebrokenspit.com
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Menu looks good. Except ‘Boneless wings.” No such things. They are tenders or nuggets. They trying to be Applebee’s or something? And do they have a sense of humor if I go there and give them crap?
 
My favorite poem:

Barbecue Service​

I have sought the elusive aroma
Around outlying cornfields, turned corners
Near the site of a Civil War surrender.
The transformation may take place
At a pit no wider than a grave,
Behind a single family’s barn.
These weathered ministers
Preside with the simplest of elements:
Vinegar and pepper, split pig and fire.
Underneath a glistening mountain in air,
Something is converted to a savor: the pig.
Flesh purified by far atmosphere.
Like the slick-sided sensation from last summer,
A fish pulled quick from a creek
By a boy. Like breasts in a motel
With whiskey and twilight
Become a blue smoke in memory.
This smolder draws the soul of our longing.

I want to see all the old home folks,
Ones who may not last another year.
We will rock on porches like chapels
And not say anything, their faces
Impenetrable as different barks of trees.
After the brother who drank has been buried,
The graveplot stunned by sun
In the woods,
We men still living pass the bottle.
We barbecue pigs.
The tin-roofed sheds with embers
Are smoking their blue sacrifice
Across Carolina.

-James Applewhite
James Applewhite: Selected Poems, 2005



Topsail Island​

 
Get Off My Lawn said:
If you're near Siler City, check out The Broken Spit. They're a hole in the wall that puts the love in the food.
thebrokenspit.com

The Broken Spit - Siler City, NC

thebrokenspit.com thebrokenspit.com
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The Broken Spit is some quality Q - $$ but good none the less -

When I was a kid, we moved to Oklahoma - out there people would be like 'we are having a BBQ' we would go and there would only be beef . . .
In my brain, BBQ is pork, always - eastern NC style, with a side of hushpuppies
Every summer, when I would come back here, I would eat as much pork as possible mostly at Wilbur's in Goldsboro
 
Sleipnir said:
I really miss Allen & Sons on highway 86 north of Chapel Hill. They cooked Q over wood. Anything else is less than true Q.
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Growing up in Hillsborough, we'd go there quite a bit. I thought it was better than their shop on 15 between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro.

I also miss A&M Grill in Mebane and Dillard's in Durham.

Edited to add, I don't dislike protein cooked over gas, but I think unless it gets seasoned really well or mopped, it's not as flavorful. I prefer wood or charcoal.
 
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Sleipnir said:
I really miss Allen & Sons on highway 86 north of Chapel Hill. They cooked Q over wood. Anything else is less than true Q.
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I agree about cooking over wood coals. I remember watching a show about barbecue once on either History or Discovery Channel. They had a guy who was talking about folks not using the traditional methods and ingredients, and he said that he called such fake products "faux Q". And he said if anybody offered such stuff to him, he'd tell them "FAUX Q"!
 
Gradys BBQ in Dudley NC get there early, they sell out and close usually. by 1300
 
Am I the only one who prefers the SC low Country BBQ with the BBQ hash and rice. I like all BBQ but every time I get home I try to eat a Dukes BBQ in Walterboro SC
 
I've been going to Danny's in Cary for a while now. There used to be 2 locations in Cary but he closed the one closest to me. I suspect it closed because he's a volatile guy and could have easily rubbed some people the wrong way. There is another location up in RTP/Durham, but I can't say I've frequented it.

I believe he's originally from Florida so I'm not sure if he claims a particular style. They do put 4 different sauces on the table, so something for everybody. I've tried them all except for the mustard one and they were all pretty good Pulled pork sandwiches are served on Texas Toast. Not saying its the best I've ever had, but certainly worth trying.
 
Ate at Steve's in Graham yesterday. Had chopped brisket sammich. It was pretty good especially slathered in his BBQ sauce. Sometimes his meats taste a little creosotey. Was eating pretty regular at the Smoke Pit in Salisbury but their food went down hill when they moved from downtown. There's a joke in there somewhere.
 
Tatershooter said:
Ate at Starlight Inn/Sam Jones BBQ in Ayden about a month ago and I believe it was the best bbq pork I've ever eaten(and that's a lot), including Grady"s.
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I think it's wild how much variety there is in experience there. @jimmyjames8 said it was terrible.

I prefer the safety of chain places since most of the independents I've tried have been disappointing.
 
Chuckman said:
Growing up in Hillsborough, we'd go there quite a bit. I thought it was better than their shop on 15 between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro.

I also miss A&M Grill in Mebane and Dillard's in Durham.

Edited to add, I don't dislike protein cooked over gas, but I think unless it gets seasoned really well or mopped, it's not as flavorful. I prefer wood or charcoal.
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I was in Mebane on Sunday. And thought about A&M. Wish they were still around.
 
CZfool68 said:
Menu looks good. Except ‘Boneless wings.” No such things. They are tenders or nuggets. They trying to be Applebee’s or something? And do they have a sense of humor if I go there and give them crap?
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We went there a couple Friday nights ago. Food had zero taste except for the sausage and ribs. It was the best thing we tried. We tried the sampler they had . $40 and Diana and I split it. They had chicken, turkey, chopped pork, ribs and sausage in the sampler. They give you about 8 different sauces to try.

The meat has to have the sauce to have any flavor. The stuff we tried had zero flavor except for the sauces, not even smoke flavor. Menu looks good and I had wanted to try it for about a year. We finally went, waste of money. Sauce should be a condiment for a meat, not a necessity to be able to eat it
 
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