Monk: Earlier this month, Ryan (aka BBQ Tourist) and Sean (aka NYC BBQ) of The Smoke Sheet invited myself, Ronald Simmons of Master Blend Family Farms, Michael “Chigger” Willard of the Low and Slow Barbecue Show, and Paige Hogan of Barbecued_ to meet up at Jon G’s Barbecue for a Barbecue Saturday while they were in town from Omaha and New Jersey, respectively.
Not to be outdone, Ronald invited his friend and videographer Paul to video the experience, and this is how it turned out. Enjoy!
Description: The floodgates have opened in Peachland, NC. The Master Blend Gang, The Smoke Sheet, Barbecue Bros, Big Chigger, and Barbecued’s Paige all at Jon G’s, maxing out on a barbecue kick. Sean & Ryan, thank you so much for the honor! Tommy, Paige, and Will, it was incredible meeting you guys! Chigger, you are the man!! Thank you to the Jon G Pit crew for showing us such warm hospitality! Let’s get ready to bring the house down at 2024’s Carolina BBQ Festival. All Gas No Brakes 365!!
Monk: Palmira Barbecue’s West Ashley location in Charleston opened its doors early last month. In my latest for The Smoke Sheet published a few weeks back, I recap my experience on the Sunday of opening weekend.
While my experience was fairly smooth (minus a few hiccups at the cash register), it sounds like there have been mixed reviews of Palmira since it opened. Or at least that’s how it appears based on feedback I’ve received on my Best Barbecue Joints in Charleston post.
Have you tried Palmira Barbecue yet? How was your experience?
That article is exclusive to The Smoke Sheet. Want to read the full article? Subscribe over at The Smoke Sheet.
Previous coverage of Palmira, both here as well as from friends of the blog:
Name: Alston Bridges Barbecue Date: 3/1/24 Location: 620 E. Grover St, Shelby, NC 28150 Order: Small chopped barbecue plate (with red slaw, hush puppies), Sun Drop Pricing: $
Monk: While it’s no secret that we are a big fan of Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge here at Barbecue Bros, there is another Bridges restaurant in Shelby (no relation) called Alston Bridges. I had only visited once before, in May of 2013, so I was more than overdue for a return visit. Especially when I have a lot of Shelby natives in my life telling me that Alston’s is their preferred barbecue place and perhaps even the choice of locals. You see, Alston Bridges is tucked into Shelby and not located off a major thoroughfare, so you’ve got to work a little bit to get there. Or, of course, be a local that has been going there for a few decades.
I had even made a pledge last summer to get back to Alston Bridges so on a rainy March 1st, I finally made good on that pledge. On my return trip, I had a very similar order to what I had previously, a chopped plate with a Diet Sun Drop.
A slight diversion on Sun Drop if you will allow, as I recently realized that while North Carolina favorite beverage Cheerwine has expanded beyond its initial cult following perhaps Sun Drop is still a bit of a secret (at least based on the reaction from The Smoke Sheet duo Sean and Ryan at a separate restaurant). The original Sun Drop bottling headquarters was located in nearby Gastonia for 50 years until 2016, and along with Cheerwine I’ve long thought of it as a perfect drink to accompany a Lexington-style barbecue plate. Sun Drop is currently owned by Keurig Dr Pepper and apparently distributes it nationwide so perhaps you’ll see it soon if its not already in your market. Highly recommend, especially if you come across the cherry lemon variant.
As for the barbecue, Alston’s barbecue is very good. It’s tender and moist, with the dip mixed in providing the nice bit of tang to the meat. A small Styrofoam cup comes with some additional hot dip to add in if needed (that wasn’t the case for me). Mix in the chopped red slaw and some Texas Pete to the barbecue and its a very good bite of food.
Unfortunately, the one thing missing is the smoke, which is as a result of Alston moving away from pit smoked to gas some years ago. While I don’t know the reasoning behind the decision and while I also greatly enjoyed my meal, for me it will always be a notch less than a Red Bridges or any place that smokes over wood for that matter. I certainly don’t fault loyal customers for favoring Alston’s over Red as barbecue tribes are formed early on and are hard to break.
That said, I don’t think it will necessarily take another 10+ years before I stop at Alston’ Bridges because as I alluded to above it is a good plate of food. I stop in Shelby enough where I can mix up my visits between the two historic “Bridges” restaurants a little more equitably.
Not that we’re anywhere close to being qualified enough to evaluate books but more so as a public service announcement we will periodically discuss barbecue and barbecue-related books.
Monk: “Let’s be clear from the start: I did not write this book; I assembled it” states author James A. Roller at the beginning of “Going Whole Hog.” And that’s definitely the right way of approaching this book of all things South Carolina Barbecue, subtitled “Mustard, Vinegar, Hash, and Smoke: Celebrating SC BBQ History Traditions, and Flavors.” In it, Roller collects recipes from a variety of sources and intersperses them with interviews and South Carolina barbecue history where he cites sources including Lake High, Robert F. Moss, Adrian Miller, Michael Twitty, and Howard Conyers among several others.
The recipes in “Going Whole Hog” more or less follow what you’d expect from a barbecue recipe book, starting with sauces and rubs before getting into the meats, sides, and ending with desserts. Where it differs from the normal book is there is a full chapter dedicated to over 20 recipes of hash, which is of course South Carolina’s definitive contribution to the barbecue world.
The recipes themselves come from a variety of sources; historic recipes, reader-submitted recipes, and some from pitmasters of current SC barbecue joints including Home Team BBQ, Swig & Swine, Lewis Barbecue, Melvin’s, and Bessinger’s. Each has a story behind it, and this comprises the bulk of the book.
The extensive recipe list in “Going Whole Hog”
The book does start off with a concise history of barbecue in the United States and repeats the claim of fellow South Carolinian Lake High that South Carolina was the birthplace of the foodway (I’ll let others debate whether that is indeed true). It then goes into the role of the black pitmaster during slavery through antebellum times, which Roller states he included at the urging of Howard Conyers among others. I applaud Roller for including this and not avoiding what can oftentimes be an uncomfortable conversation about the historic role of black pitmasters.
In addition to barbecue’s origin story, the book does include sections detailing the history behind two of South Carolina’s founding barbecue families: the Bessingers and the Dukes, who between them formed what many consider the backbone of SC BBQ restaurants. Rounding out the book, it also contains interviews with current pitmasters Rodney Scott, Jackie Hite, John Lewis, Aaron Siegel, and David Bessinger.
James A. Roller, who also runs destination-bbq.com, self-published the book and it truly is a labor of love. He began his site around the same time as us in 2012 and we have traded some messages over the years; he was gracious enough to send me a copy to help spread the word of this book which he is rightly so proud of. Its a hefty tome at nearly 300 pages and contains full color photographs, which I love to see in a barbecue book but must have come at a great initial expense to the author. Nevertheless, “Going Whole Hog” spotlights and helps cement South Carolina’s place in the modern barbecue world, and you should check it out.
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