Linkdown

Linkdown: 5/13/14

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– North Carolina is #2 on TripAdvisor’s “Top 10 States for BBQ.” Sure, I guess I can buy that. #1 on the list? Georgia…wait, what?

– Speaking of Georgia, here’s an interview with native son Myron Mixon from Conde Nast Traveler

– Statesville has a place that serves both eastern and western NC barbecue

– Another list of barbecue around the world, entitled “From the Philippines to Australia, a Gorgeous Look at BBQ Around the World”

– Eater’s guide to eating brisket in NYC, including Barbecue Bros fave Mighty Quinn’s

– Unfortunately, you need a subscription to read the whole article on barbecue styles in the Houston area, but there are these two fantastic sentences just before the paywall:

There are a lot of different styles in the United States, but the two barbecue heavyweights are North Carolina and Texas. Barbecue folks in Kansas City and Memphis are going to take umbrage at that statement, but that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

– A recap of last week’s Getting Jiggy with the Piggy last weekend in Concord

– The Wide Open Bluegrass Festival, as well as the Whole Hog Barbecue Championship that takes place alongside it, will remain in Raleigh until at least 2018 

– Alton Brown’s favorite barbecue is…North Carolina barbecue (specifically eastern; question and answer is at 2:13 of the linked video). 

– Tacos faced barbecue in this final round of Food Network’s “Regional Foods Face-Off” bracket. Spoiler alert: barbecue won.

Congratulations, barbecue! You are the pride of the South. If you think about it, what’s more American than barbecue? It was born and bred in the United States. And even though there are different types of barbecuing methods, preparations and sauces, which are very often hotly contested between states, at the end of the day it’s easy to bring together a crowd of family and friends when there’s a barbecue nearby. And with summer just around the corner, it’s time to pull out those grills and dust off those barbecue pits because grilling season is ahead!

– Not sure how long it’s been up, but the website for Ed Mitchell’s ‘Que is live and you can take a look at the menu here; full plates include both chopped and pulled eastern Carolina whole hog as well as chopped bbq turkey, brisket, ribs, fried chicken, and bbq half-chickens. The original opening was in April, but hopefully we’ll hear more details soon

Linkdown: 5/7/14

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– It’s spelled “barbecue”

– The “BeerBQ” hotdog from Triple C made with pulled pork and a sauce made with their smoked amber beer was JJ’s Red Hots best selling hot dog in its “brewdogs” series

– No NC festival made this list of barbecue festivals from USA Today (h/t bbqboard)

– This list of five meals you can’t miss in NC includes Luella’s Bar-B-Que in Asheville; more coverage from the Asheville Citizen-Times

At Luella’s, you can get an order of ribs (excellent), beef brisket (also excellent), chopped pork (some of the best I’ve had, and I’m a certified barbecue judge), and tempeh. The tempeh, a locally made soy-based product, is the veggie surprise. The menu says it’s “almost blasphemous, but so good we’ll forgive you.” And whether you’re a vegetarian or not, it’s worth a taste. Served glazed with a sweet-hot sauce and impregnated with hickory smoke, you’ll hardly notice you’re not eating meat. The chef/owner told me that two of his frequent customers are both vegetarians, and they rave about this dish.

– More lists: 12 Bones in Asheville and Hubba Hubba Smokehouse in Flat Rock (30 miles southeast of Asheville) make this list of America’s 35 best ribs

– The Jiggy with the Piggy BBQ Challenge at the Research Center in Kannapolis is this weekend

– The 10th edition of the Texas Pete Twin City RibFest will take place June 5-8 in Winston-Salem and according to the producer of the festival Allen McDavid it distinguishes from other “cook-offs” by the following:

Barbecue festivals like the Texas Pete Twin City RibFest have the requisite competition but that takes a back seat to satisfying the appetites of thousands of festival attendees who appreciate the choice of barbecue from several nationally renowned pitmasters with the necessary equipment necessary to feed thousands of hungry attendees. According to McDavid, “Our BBQ teams generally go through a tractor trailer load of meat every RibFest. If we don’t have rain, it’s more.”

– The Dallas Observer was not thrilled with Texas Ranger pitcher Matt Harrison (originally from Durham) and his preference for NC barbecue

It’s worse because this means that the Texas Rangers let someone from North Carolina answer a barbecue question on their account. Without censoring it. And let me remind you, the tweet is still there. Nobody immediately deleted it. No interns were fired over this.

Linkdown: 4/30/14

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– Two Tar Heels issue the true ‘cue challenge in the News and Observer:

So we are issuing a challenge. We will give a handsome “No Faux ’Cue” apron to the first person to email us at truecue@gmail.com with either (1) a citation to any federal, state, county or municipal statute or regulation that makes it impossible for even one North Carolina barbecue restaurant to cook with wood or charcoal or (2) the name and job title of any federal, state, county, or municipal official who has required an existing North Carolina barbecue restaurant to stop cooking with wood or charcoal, or forbidden a new one to start.

– Thrillist’s 7 ways to spot a fake bbq joint

– The Houston Chronicle has hired a full-time barbecue writer (via)

– Big Wayner had a few photos from this past weekend’s BBQ Capital Cook-off in Lexington

– The Capital Cook-off also helped feed more than 1,200 people through food banks

– The final two barbecue stops on the NC road trip for Marie, Let’s Eat! is Sauceman’s in Charlotte and R.O.’s Bar-B-Q in Gastonia; looking forward to Grant’s next NC roadtrip to the eastern part of the state in November

– Speaking of barbecue roadtrips, the guy behind Barbecue Ranking is looking for suggestions:

– Congrats to Midwood Smokehouse, Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best Voters’ Choice Winner for Barbecue

– And finally, regarding NC vs Texas barbecue, could Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Harrison have settled the debate?

Linkdown: 4/23/14

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– Giving a whole other meaning to barbecue hash, the owner/operator of Smokey’s BBQ in Dallas, NC charged for selling marijuana in and around his restaurant

– The NCAA recently allowed unlimited snacks for “student-athletes” and this article runs down the best advantages gained by schools due to local cuisine (many of which are not coincidentally barbecue)

NC State: The Wolfpack will attempt to turn the ACC’s best prospects away from Tallahassee by offering unlimited whole hog barbecue and vinegar-based sauce from The Pit in Raleigh. The toughest recruiting battles on Tobacco Road will be between NC State and North Carolina, which will attempt to lure recruits with fried chicken-and-cheddar biscuits from Chapel Hill’s Time-Out (available 24 hours a day, of course).

– A Barbecue Bros hometown joint gets a shout out from The Great NC BBQ Map

– Is Durham becoming a barbecue mecca? BBQ Jew thinks so.

– The Barbecue Bros tend to stay out of political debates and focus on barbecue, but this final paragraph in a story about last night’s debate of GOP candidates for Senate in NC caught our eye

In a lightning round at the end of the debate, the candidates were asked to pick their favorite style of North Carolina barbecue. Three picked Lexington, which is built around a vinegar-based red sauce.

“I love it all,” said Tillis, smiling coyly.

– The latest stops on Marie, Let’s Eat!’s epic NC barbecue road trip finds him in Hill’s Lexington Barbecue in Winston-Salem, Deano’s in Mocksville, and Carolina Bar-B-Q in Statesville; gotta say I’ve definitely enjoyed reading about Grant’s NC travels (barbecue-related and not) the past few weeks