The 8 Best Barbecue Meals Monk Ate in 2022

Monk: 2022 was yet another year of great barbecue. In addition to finally getting to spend some time in the eastern part of the state for whole hog (although still not nearly enough), I tried two of the best new school barbecue at Palmira Barbecue in Charleston and Lawrence Barbecue in Durham. In terms of North Carolina, in the last weeks of the year I ate at two of the best joints in Buxton Hall Barbecue and Stamey’s. Here are the meals in photos listed in alphabetical order.

Whole hog barbecue dinner from B’s Barbecue, Greenville, NC (link)

Whole hog and ribs from Buxton Hall Barbecue in Asheville (re-review coming soon)

Hash and rice from Duke’s Barbecue in Orangeburg, SC (link)

A little bit of everything from Jon G’s Barbecue in Peachland, NC

Pork, brisket, and sticky ribs from Lawrence Barbecue, Durham, NC (link)

Whole hog barbecue, hash and rice from Palmira BBQ, Charleston, NC (link)

Whole hog barbecue from Skylight Inn, Ayden, NC (link)

Chopped barbecue plate with extra brown from Stamey’s Barbecue, Greensboro, NC (re-review coming soon)

Linkdown: 12/7/16

– J.C. Reid of the Houston Chronicle: “The death of North Carolina barbecue has been greatly exaggerated”

– The Matthews location of Mac’s Speed Shop is set to open just after New Year’s

– Charlotte’s Got A Lot has 19 side dishes to order at Charlotte-area barbecue restaurants in this Charlotte Agenda post

– Buxton Hall Barbecue is of course on Atlanta Magazine’s list of places to go in Asheville

– Asheville also nabs Lonely Planet’s best places to visit in the US in 2017 list, and Buxton Hall gets a mention there as well

The South Slope area is quickly emerging as a gastronomic hotspot. Housed in a former skating rink, Buxton Hall (buxtonhall.com) offers a modern take on traditional barbecue in this throwback space. Enjoy plates of impossibly tender pork with vegetables cooked in the meat drippings, surrounded by the faded images of decades-old skating figures still visible on the walls. It also benefits from an in-house pastry chef who turns out superb sweet treats such as banana pudding pie to finish off a hearty, hog-based meal.

– The Daily Meal has the best sandwich in every state and for NC it is a chopped bbq sandwich from Lexington Barbecue

– Grant had a great sandwich Duke’s Bar-B-Que in Orangeburg, SC and found a solid spot in August, GA in Cleve Edmunds Bar-B-Que

– Does Georgia have the most bbq joints per capita? BBQ Hub explores that claim but finds that based on some quick and dirty spreadsheets Lexington, NC probably has the strongest claim to that title 

– NC joints get a shout out from Daniel Vaughn in this piece

Despite the difference in preferred protein, I think the closest style to Texas barbecue is in North Carolina. They cook primarily pork, but they still value cooking with wood just as much as we do in Texas.

Friday Find: Barbecue in America: Orangeburg, SC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0f1pzJkuuA

The second in the series from Made Man and Dhani Jones. He visits Sweatman’s BBQ and Duke’s Bar-B-Que and also meets with Lake High of the SC Barbecue Association.

Think you know the story of smoked meat? In part 2 of BBQ in America, host Dhani Jones heads to legendary Orangeburg, South Carolina, to get educated about mysterious Carolina Gold sauce, meet a BBQ historian, dig into some delicious whole hog and more! Brought to you by Kingsford.