Linkdown: 6/1/16

Take a tour of Central Texas Barbecue with Chef Mark Ladner

– Couple more barbecue stops from Grant: Hawg Heaven BBQ in Hogansville, GA and Mac’s BBQ in Warm Springs, GA

How to identify a good BBQ joint, from Garden & Gun

Barbecue, though, is democratic. If you have a hankering for chopped pork and a few hours to kill, you can find a platter. But how do you know before you order if you’re getting real-deal, barbecue or a slow-cooker surprise? The experts say to look for wood and smoke, of course, but there’s more to the best joints than that.

– The NC Aquarium in Kure Beach is having a Father’s Day barbecue catered by A&G Barbecue down the road

– Bon Appetit weighs in on American barbecue, with bits from Buxton Hall, Sam Jones BBQ, and Picnic

Linkdown: 5/25/16

– Another writeup on Rien Fertel’s latest book, The One True Barbecue, with the tagline “Get to Ayden before it’s too late”…now too late for what, I’m not quite sure

– Speaking of Ayden, this past weekend it became home to the Kings of Q BBQ Cook-off and Festival

– Three questions with The Improper Pig, who started a food truck just in time for the summer

– A very interesting read on how Daniel Vaughn helped Tuffy Stone’s Cool Smoke competition team lose at this month’s Memphis in May

– Vaughn also weighs in with an appreciation of The Salt Lick, which sometimes gets unfairly maligned as “overrated”

– The Wall Street Journal profiles Melissa Cookston, “the most decorated woman in competitive barbecue” (h/t)

– Grant’s latest Georgia barbecue stops: The Butt Hutt in Athens, Tucker’s Bar-B-Q in Macon, Hudson’s BBQ in Roberta, and Piggie Park in Thomaston

– Catching up with Robert Moss’ latest entries for The Daily South: a writeup on The One True Barbecue and the end of a Savannah BBQ legend; here’s an excerpt from the first linked article on whole hog:

Whether the whole hog tradition is dying out or evolving into a new form is left unsettled. By the end of the story, Chris Siler at Siler’s Old Time has switched to pork shoulders after it got too hard to procure whole hogs, and Ricky Parker is gone, dead from liver disease at only 51. At the same time, a new generation of cooks from other walks of life, like Tyson Ho at Arrogant Swine in Brooklyn, NY, and Elliot Moss at Buxton Hall in Asheville, NC, have made the “journey into the madness of whole-hog fanaticism.”

– Always worth revisiting the basics

Linkdown: 5/11/16

– We were fortunate enough to be considered “experts” (shh…don’t tell them) and submitted nominees for 10Best.com’s Best BBQ Pork Sandwich in NC contest. Voting ends June 6 at 12pm ET.

– Some coverage of the 10Best contest from Pitt County, Asheville, and Garland

– Creative Loafing profiles Seoul Food Meat Co.

– Over at Marie, Let’s Eat!, Grant visits the last remaining Old Hickory House, located in Tucker, GA, as well as Big Cove BB-Q in Owens Cross Roads, AL

– Whole-hog Carolina barbecue converts Louisiana-native Rien Fertel

Mr. Fertel locates the birthplace of whole-hog barbecue in eastern North Carolina. In aptly named Pitt County, he visits three whole-hog establishments. The agriculture-and-livestock-rich region, he says, is “a bastion, or pit, as it were, where the nation’s oldest vernacular barbecue tradition has been slowly smoking for nearly two centuries.”

– Matthew Odam recently went on a 16-stop barbecue tour throughout Texas

– Midwood Smokehouse’s crinkle cut fries makes this list of best fries in Charlotte from Charlotte Agenda

– Always worth a link:

Linkdown: 3/30/16

Voting ends tomorrow for Thrillist’s America’s Best BBQ Bracket (vote for Red Bridges!)

– The fast casual concept of Midwood Smokehouse, named Midwood Smokeshack, will open its first location in Matthews

– Charlotte Observer food writer Kathleen Purvis has 5 styles of brisket to try around Charlotte, including the smoked version at Sauceman’s

– Purvis also explores the black/white cornbread divide; loyal readers will know which side I fall on

– Yet another NC barbecue roadtrip list

-The Indy Week out of NC’s triangle has a feature on Picnic:

– Speaking of which, Picnic is now open on Sundays

– Fox Bros. in Atlanta is expanding with a barbecue kiosk at the up-and-coming Armour Yards

– Robert Moss takes a quick trip to Houston and focuses on the boudin sausage

– Red Clay Soul has a Georgia Mild BBQ Sauce Bracket

– The origin story of Heirloom Market’s spicy korean barbecue sandwich