Monk: Andrew and Bryan look back on their meals and experiences in 2023 (both memorable and not), take stock of the current landscape in barbecue, and outline their plans for 2024.
Description: 2023 was another great year for BBQ and more. Tune in for a rundown on some of our most memorable meals and experiences, discussion on the current and future BBQ landscape, and our plans for 2024!
Monk: We previously featured Food YouTuber Mark Wiens when he traveled to Lexington and Pitt County in eastern NC. For this video, he stops outside of Charleston, SC for a backyard barbecue featuring chicken, pork, ribs, collards, and hash, a South Carolina specialty dish.
Description: CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – We’re just outside Charleston, South Carolina, and on Sunday, I was invited over to my friend John Haney’s (alveronbbqco8462) house for a real deal southern barbecue. It was an incredible experience, watching John and bbq and all of his side dishes including collard greens and the greatest bbq mac n cheese you’ll ever have.
Additionally, in South Carolina is the only place you’ll find hash, a mixture of all the pig bits including the face made into a stew. There’s ketchup based hash and mustard based hash, and we had a full lesson on South Carolina hash.
John Haney (Alveron BBQ) makes the best bbq grills in the United States all hand made – so definitely hit him up: (alveronbbqco8462) and he also one of the greatest legends of American bbq.
Huge thank you to John and his family for hosting my family and I on this amazing Sunday meal.
Monk: While it does have barbecue on the menu, Mama Dip’s Kitchen is more of a soul food restaurant than it is a barbecue one. But it’s an institution, having served Chapel Hill, NC for nearly 50 years after Mama Dip left Bill’s Barbecue to open her own restaurant. But the namesake passed away over 5 years ago and while her daughter Spring Council has kept the restaurant going, she is going to cash in on the land but still keep the brand going in a different business model.
In this episode of the Gravy podcast from the Southern Foodways Alliance, Leoneda Inge visits the restaurant to learn what’s next. She speaks with Spring and Spring’s daughter Erika, who along with many of her sisters are carrying on the Mama Dip’s legacy in slightly different ways from their grandmother.
Monk: I’m posting this a little late for the Thanksgiving holiday but I think its still worth sharing. The Tales from the Pits guys, Andrew and Bryan, share the trends in barbecue that they are thankful for including brick and mortar locations (particularly in the hot Texas summers), barbecue joints expanding into sports arenas, dinner barbecue, and more.
I’m always inspired by the passion for barbecue these guys have, so take a listen and see if you agree with their choices.
Description: There is a lot we’re thankful for right now in barbecue. From the craft pioneers who began expanding the boundaries of what barbecue could be to the new class who keeps pushing the cuisine forward while being mindful of its roots, it’s an amazing time in barbecue filled with immense talent.