barbecue

Friday Find: Munchies BBQ Road Trip: Tennessee

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

From last November, a 19 minute short film from Munchies on Tennessee barbecue.

In the second leg of our BBQ Road Trip – brought to you by Jack Daniel’s – host Tom Wright travels across the Atlantic to Tennessee, the heartland of barbecue. Tom gluts himself in the impressive barbecue joints littered between Nashville and Memphis, and along the way, learns that the finest food often comes out of the most unexpected places. Meeting some good ol’ boys and gals, Tom marinates in a world of cooking techniques, dying artistry, and secret recipes.

-Monk

Green River Bar-B-Q – Saluda, NC

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

IMG_5103
Name: Green River Bar-B-Q
Date: 6/18/16
Address: 131 US-176, Saluda, NC 28773
Order: Pulled pork and brisket combo plate with collards, bbq slaw, and Green Man IPA (link to menu)
Price: $20

Monk: On the trip from Asheville to Charlotte, the place to stop for barbecue is Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby, one of mine and Speedy’s favorite places ever (the readers of Garden and Gun Magazine and Thrillist also  agree). While I certainly would never get sick of stopping there, in the interest of expanding my barbecue horizons I pinpointed a wood smoking joint in Saluda, NC not far off the I-26 on my latest trip. Side note: Mrs. Monk is a G-D saint for going along with a quick barbecue and brewery tour this past Father’s Day, and I am a lucky, lucky man.

First off, downtown Saluda is a charming mountain town on the banks of the Green River near the NC/SC border and though we didn’t get to spend any time walking around it looked quite lovely. Green River Bar-B-Q is just outside of the main strip not a half mile away. On a beautiful late spring day in the mountains, you could do worse than spending some time on their patio.

There is an off-menu pork and brisket combo plate (the one on the menu says pork and chicken I believe) for $14.99 and that’s what I went with. We were seated right behind parties of 6 and 10 but thankfully the wait to get our food wasn’t too too bad. I will say that our server was great and had an unmistakable laugh that came out a few times during our lunch. So a pleasant day in the mountains drinking a local beer on the patio with good service – can’t get too much better than that. Then the food came out.

While both the pork and brisket had a whiff of wood smoke to them, they were both dry to the point that I didn’t finish them. When it came to the pork, I tried out the table sauces and none really helped all that much. The brisket was bland, dry, and beyond saving.

The bbq slaw was passable, but Mrs. Monk didn’t think the collards had been stewed long enough (they were edible but I agree with her). There was nothing special about the hushpuppies either.

While it has a lovely location and setting to it, I just can’t recommend going out of your way for Green River Barbeque.

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3 hogs
Pork – 2 hogs
Brisket – 1 hog
Sides – 2 hogs
Overall – 2 hogs
Green River Barbeque Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Pork and brisket combo platter
Pork and brisket combo platter
Mild, Hot, and Mustard sauces
Mostly NC beer list
Entrance to indoors
Patio

Friday Find: Bon Appétit Magazine Podcast with Sam Jones and Wyatt Dickson

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Ahead of this weekend’s July Fourth festivities, Bon Appétit Magazine talks with Sam Jones of Sam Jones BBQ (duh) and Wyatt Dickson of Picnic to discuss the changing landscape of American barbecue.

The two reminisce about being raised in households where everything down to the greens had pork fat in it. Says Jones: “My grandfather was one of those people who was like, ‘This is the way we cook BBQ, and if you don’t cook it this way you’re going to hell.” Meanwhile, Dickson has been “getting hell” about how his hush puppies are, apparently, “wrong.” And if you believe beer with your BBQ is par for the course, the people of eastern North Carolina have a few words for you—not many of which are nice.

-Monk

Linkdown: 6/29/16

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– Lewis Barbecue finally opened in Charleston yesterday, and here’s a look at the four custom-built smokers that were built in Texas and shipped to SC

– Destination BBQ attended the friends and family event and posted on the experience, which is “unlike what those of us born and raised in SC are accustomed to in a BBQ restaurant”

– Charlotte Five discovers the greatness of The Smoke Pit that we’ve known about for a few months, calling it “worth the wait”

Showing up to The Smoke Pit on Saturday means many guests will be standing in a line that starts at the register and trails out the door where people wait patiently to move forward. Some guests say that on one Saturday, they stood in a line that wrapped around the building. With so many daily visitors, certain items may run out and are then placed on a sign below the menu, which some visitors peer at from the line.

– This Sunday, the Plaza Midwood Pig Pickn’ will be held at the Moo & Brew parking lot

– After Grant’s wholehearted defense of Georgia BBQ last week, Robert Moss weighs in as well

– Speaking of which, Grant makes the rounds to Paradise Country Bar-B-Que in Milledgeville and Andy’s BBQ in Eatonton, which he finds to be “every bit as good” as Allen & Son Barbeque in Chapel Hill (they happen to use a similar vinegar and pepper sauce)

– Destination BBQ continues their SC BBQ roadtrip series with I-20, which passes through three of the four barbecue regions in the state; side note – these entries are incredibly thorough and well worth a read if you haven’t checked them out yet

– From last week, Daniel Vaughn draws parallels between Hawaii’s kalua pig and Texas barbacoa

-Jim Shahin of the Washington Post breaks down the latest barbecue books, including the reprinting of Robb Walsh’s Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook

– The Barbecue Center in Lexington has a new sign to replace the previous one of 55 years