Chigger Willard

Friday Find: Carolina Whole Hog Barbecue in…Maryland?

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Link to Podcast | Link to Farm BBQ Website

Monk: Farm BBQ is bringing the whole hog gospel by serving eastern Carolina whole hog to Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil Counties in Maryland.  In this episode of The Low and Slow Barbecue Show from last month, Chigger sits down with two of the three guys behind Farm BBQ, Tommy and Will, to learn more about their beginnings in barbecue and how they see it as a way to promote not only whole hog but the local farms that produce the ingredients in their food.

Description: Believe it or not, the Carolinas don’t hold a monopoly on “Carolina barbecue.” In fact, you can even find it in the land of crab cakes. That’s where you’ll meet Farm BBQ, a Maryland-born barbecue pop-up that serves Carolina whole hog barbecue and promotes local family farms. In this episode of The Low & Slow Barbecue Show, we talk to Farm BBQ founders Mark, Tommie, and Will, and find out why they brought our Carolina barbecue traditions to Maryland. We discuss their business strategy focused on local farmers and creating a Carolina craft barbecue experience – 400 miles northeast of Lexington, N.C. Will and Tommie reveal the details about their house barbecue sauce – is it east or west? – and don’t miss their turn in the Low & Slow showdown. Barbecue – verb or noun?

A Thousand Words: The 2024 Carolina BBQ Festival

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Monk: This year’s Carolina BBQ Festival changed locations from Camp North End to Uptown and became part of the Charlotte SHOUT! annual arts and culture festival. And Speedy happened to be in town, so he and I hit up the festival courtesy of new friend of the blog, Chigger Willard of the Low and Slow Barbecue Show. Shout out to him as well as Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ, who puts on the festival every year.

Our favorite bites will be featured in an upcoming issue of The Smoke Sheet, but for now, here were some of the bites we tasted including whole hog from Elliott Moss and pork spare rib from Bryan Furman,.

Plus hash and rice from the recently-named James Beard finalist, Robbie Robinson. I chatted briefly with Robbie and he was understandably excited to have just been named a finalist three days prior. The winners will be announced June 10 at a ceremony in Chicago, which will be livestreamed on Eater.

Some of the faces serving barbecue on the day:

The typical Jon G’s line plus the Lincoln log cabin of beef rib bones.

No seriously, it was a gorgeous day:

Did you make it out to the Carolina BBQ Festival this year?

Pitmaster Brandon Shepard on the Low & Slow Barbecue Show

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Link to web version

Monk: I had the good fortune to meet Low and Slow Barbecue Show host Michael “Chigger” Willard earlier this month at Jon G’s alongside The Smoke Sheet guys as well as Master Blend Family Farms pitmaster Ronald Simmons. Sadly, I had not yet taken the time to listen to his podcast, which is a shame since he’s doing great work to showcase North Carolina pitmasters through interviews. After this listen, I can’t wait to dig into the archives.

In this episode, Chigger sits down with Brandon Shepard of Shepard Barbecue in Emerald Isle, NC to discuss his origin story with barbecue and how he’s become friendly with the mayor himself of Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, Guy Fieri (Shepard recently met back up with Fieri at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami). He also touches on current restaurant fan favorite brisket and whether he will be adding whole hog to the menu in the near future.

Description:  Pitmaster Brandon Shepard joins The Low & Slow Barbecue Show to talk about his business on Emerald Isle, his barbecue experience, and the national spotlight from Diners, Drive-ins & Dives. Listen to this Carolina Pitmasters episode to hear about Brandon’s Eastern-style influence and his experience as the only game in town in a coastal Carolina community where seafood is usually the first choice. Don’t miss Brandon’s tips for preparing a great brisket – perfect for any backyard barbecue enthusiast. Brandon also hints at some outside-the-box thinking that fuels Shepard Barbecue menu items that aren’t your ordinary barbecue fare.