The last of the videos from Kevin Pang’s BBQ Road Trip ’10 (Keith Allen here, Wilber Shirley here), here’s a short conversation from Ed Mitchell back when he was still part of The Pit in Raleigh.
And while Wilber Shirley didn’t take Kevin’s bait on eastern vs Lexington-style, Ed Mitchell answers the question by claiming that smoking a whole hog is the “true heart of barbecue,” albeit after diplomatically saying he’s “never had bad barbecue.”
Another video from former Chicago Tribune food writer Kevin Pang during his BBQ Road Trip ’10, this time speaking with Wilber Shirley at Wilber’s Barbecue in Goldsboro. Not the highest audio quality with the background noise of customers and ringing phones, but if you concentrate and focus a little you do get to hear Wilber’s philosophy on whole hog barbecue.
I was glad to see that Shirley doesn’t fan the flames of the Lexington vs eastern NC barbecue wars by diplomatically saying that it really just depends on where you are raised. In these divisive times, it’s good to see people reaching across the aisle when it comes to barbecue.
Kevin Pang, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and now of the AV Club’s food blog The Takeout, took a barbecue road trip from Chicago to the Carolinas and back in 2010 and documented it on the BBQ Roadtrip Tumblr. Here, he interviews Keith Allen of the recently departed Allen and Son Barbecue in Chapel Hill to discuss his philosophy on barbecue.
Side note: I remember devouring this roadtrip blog in on sitting back when we first started our blog. What a cool trip, and I could only wish for someone to pay the Barbecue Bros to take a similar trip.
The co-founder of True Cue joins the Kevin’s BBQ Joints podcast to give a “city guide” for the entire state of NC.
John Shelton Reed, sociologist and essayist, author or editor of twenty books, most of them dealing with the contemporary American South, guides us through North Carolina for BBQ spots in the major cities as well as way off the beaten path for incredible finds.
BBQ Joints discussed:
Lexington Barbecue: http://www.lexbbq.com
Smiley’s Lexington BBQ: https://bit.ly/2GwQajp
Bridges BBQ Lodge: http://www.bridgesbbq.com
Stamey’s Barbecue: http://stameys.com
Skylight Inn BBQ: http://www.skylightinnbbq.com
Sam Jones BBQ: http://www.samjonesbbq.com
B’s Barbecue: https://bit.ly/2Gu7PrN
Wilber’s Barbecue: http://www.wilbersbarbecue.com
Picnic Durham: http://www.picnicdurham.com
Buxton Hall BBQ: http://www.buxtonhall.com
Southern Smoke BBQ: http://southernsmokebbqnc.com
The Campaign for Real Barbecue: http://www.truecue.org
Contact True Cue: http://www.truecue.org/contact
Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue: https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Smoke-Nor…
NC BBQ Society Trail: http://www.ncbbqsociety.com/bbqmap/tr…