Linkdown: 2/6/19

Little boy found in North Carolina, that is such happy news. But in a tragic twist, he will have to spend his life eating North Carolina barbecue…”

“I welcome your vinegar-stained letters you poor flavor-deprived bastards”

Stephen Colbert

Governor Roy Cooper responded to the Colbert: “Y’all have a mustard problem”

The mayor of Lexington invited him to town for a tasting

As did The Barbecue Center in Lexington

The NC Pork Council reminded everyone of a declaration by former Governor Bob Scott

However, according to D.G. Martin, the real barbecue crisis is not Stephen Colbert slandering the good name of NC barbecue; its the closing of its classic joints

Nevertheless, across NC, a mother and son hunt for the pinnacle of smoked pork

My 31-year-old son and I spent a muggy, buggy summer week driving the Tar Heel State’s highways and back roads to search out its most flavorful pork. Tucking in our napkins at seven spots in six days, we experienced a slice of Americana as thick as the smoke that infused the meat before us, rubbing shoulders with generations of barbecue royalty in the process.

However, if you do want to become a SC Barbecue Association judge, you can learn how this Saturday in Columbia

I think we already saw this but ok!

James Beard-award winning author Adrian Miller, whose forthcoming book Black Smoke will focus on African american contributions to barbecue culture, will be in Charlotte on 2/12

Three words that you don’t hear too often together: “true,” “Miami,” and “barbecue

Barbecue in Miami can be hard to grasp or define. Other than a few places, most of what one might call barbecue here is more a Georgia-style hybrid of grilling and smoking either baby-back ribs or whole chickens. The rare spots that give brisket or pork the dozen-plus hours of pure smoke that’s synonymous with Texas or Carolina barbecue are faithfully trying to replicate an established style. With their Jupiña mop sauce, black-as-night Malta barbecue sauce, and pork belly burnt ends ($10), Briceño and Honore have finally invented a style of barbecue synonymous with Miami.

Now Available: Barbecue Bros “Lexington Legends” T-shirts!

Updated Link (July 2020): Lexington Legends Shirt

Please note: the updated version of the shirt is now available at our General Store.

In the spirit of the pioneers and innovators of our favorite style of barbecue, the Barbecue Bros are pleased to make available our first t-shirt featuring those men in the classic Helvetica list style. We hope that Lexington-style barbecue fans will purchase and wear this acknowledgement of history proudly. The shirts are $24.99 and ship for free if you have an Amazon Prime account.

  • Lightweight, Classic fit, Double-needle sleeve and bottom hem
  • Available in Men’s, Women, and Child sizes S-3XL
  • Solid colors: 100% Cotton; Heather Grey: 90% Cotton, 10% Polyester; All Other Heathers: 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester

Click to purchase

A brief history of Lexington-style Barbecue

In 1919, Sid Weaver set up a tent across the street from the Lexington courthouse and began selling what would later become “Lexington-style” barbecue. He was the first man to sell this style of barbecue.

Weaver later teamed up with Jess Swicegood and those two men perfected Lexington-style barbecue and helped spread the technique across the Piedmont of North Carolina. Lexington-style means pork shoulders are smoked as opposed to whole hogs because shoulders are fattier and more forgiving than the leaner hams and loins found in a whole hog and yield more barbecue. They took the vinegar-pepper sauce of the eastern part of the state and added ketchup to provide sweetness to balance it out while maintaining the tang of the vinegar.

In 1927, Warner Stamey began working under Weaver and Swicegood while in high school, and for me this is where things began to pick up. After a few years under the tutelage of Weaver and Swicegood, Stamey moved 100 miles southwest to Shelby, NC. There, he taught the Lexington-style technique to his brother-in-law Alston Bridges as well as Red Bridges (oddly enough, not related). They, of course, opened their own respective restaurants in 1956 and 1946 respectively, both of which still exist today.

Stamey moved back to Lexington in 1938 and bought Swicegood’s restaurant for $300. It was there that he taught the legendary barbecue man Wayne Monk, who went on to open Lexington Barbecue (aka “The Honeymonk”) in 1962, which just so happens to be the Barbecue Bros’ collective favorite barbecue restaurant ever. Stamey would of course go on to open Stamey’s Barbecue in Greensboro, where his grandson Chip Stamey still owns and operates to this day. Warner Stamey is also widely credited with bringing hush puppies to barbecue restaurants.

Much of the information above was taken from Robert Moss’s seminal book Barbecue: The History of an American Institution. If you want to read more on the history of our favorite food, I highly recommend it.

Linkdown: 10/31/18

– The Barbecue Festival in Lexington continues to grow, and roughly 200,000 people attended last weekend’s festival

– This man is a hero:

– Bay area pitmaster Matt Horn is going to Austin this Friday to collaborate with LeRoy & Lewis

– The New York Times on pork steaks, a spicy barbecue dish found primarily on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee around Tompkinsville, KY

 

– A small update on the progress at Sweet Lew’s BBQ, which is now targeting to open in November

– Hilton Head, SC’s local paper lists the 6 best barbecue restaurants in Columbia

– North Carolina! C’mon and raise up!

Linkdown: 10/24/18

– WSOC Charlotte: Organizers plan to cook more than 14,000 pounds of pork for annual Mallard Creek Barbecue

– This weekend is the Barbecue Festival in Lexington; here’s 10 things you may not have known about barbecue in Lexington

– Jim N Nick’s Bar-B-Q is one of several barbecue restaurants in Birmingham’s Restaurant Hall of Fame

– Next time you are in Atlanta:

 
– Dr. BBQ’s restaurant, Dr. BBQ, opened last week in Tampa

– Robert Stegall began smoking turkeys after he returned from WWI after serving with the 82nd Airborne and passed the family recipe to his kids, who run Rock Store Bar-B-Que and Stegall Smoked Turkey

– Great stuff as always from Kathleen Purvis on Greek immigrants who started restaurants in Charlotte, several of which were barbecue and none were Greek