– Nerd alert: the mystery of the smoke ring has been solved:

It turns out that burning organic fuels like wood, charcoal or gas produces a variety of chemicals, including trace amounts of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas. When NO2 gas meets the surface, it dissolves into the meat and picks up a hydrogen molecule, becoming nitrous acid (HNO2), which then gets converted into nitric oxide (NO). NO reacts with myoglobin, and together they form a stable pink molecule that can withstand heat. The thickness of the ring depends on how deep into the meat the NO is able to penetrate before reacting with myoglobin.

– Little Pigs BBQ in Statesville, a restaurant formerly part of a Memphis-style chain, celebrated its 50th anniversary last week

– Two men in Akron who wanted to bring “authentic barbecue” to northeast Ohio have opened a restaurant and naturally called it Old Carolina Barbecue

– Rodney Scott will be presiding pit master to over 30 chefs who will “prepare their personal take on barbecue” in Charleston, SC on 10/26 at the BBQ Perspectives public event

– A piece on Upstate SC barbecue entitled “In the Shadow of the Giant Peachoid”

– An open-faced barbecue sandwich on cornbread named after knuckleballer Phil Niekro is one of the local ballpark delicacies featured in this Garden and Gun blog post

– Lexington Barbecue and barbecue in general get a shout out in a recent list of “9 Southern foods you must try”

– So there’s this: a wine pairing guide to regional barbecue