Our State Magazine’s February issue has a big write up on 26 Essential NC Barbecue Joints
Vote once a day between now and February 25
Steve Raichlen’s upcoming book on brisket comes out in April; here’s a book review
Speaking of Texas barbecue, Daniel Vaughn’s list of the best sausage wraps in Texas (aka #roadsausage)
J.C. Reid on the rise of vertical smokers where space is a little more limited
Relevant Instagram tips for some…
Note: a version of this post was posted in December 2017. It has been updated as of December 2018.
Monk: For those last minute shoppers (whoops, should have posted this a few weeks earlier), here’s some gift ideas for the barbecue lover in your life. Or perhaps you if you want to treat yo’ self. The bolded items are the ones I can personally recommend.
– Just a few more items from the #BrooklynBBQ controversy last week
I talked to @Nicholasgill, author of the infamous Brooklyn BBQ article. He usually writes about conservation & foodways in South America, “but nobody cares about that,” he told me. “They care about barbecue.” https://t.co/IIok4qvZBM
— Daniel Vaughn (@BBQsnob) March 8, 2018
– A Brooklyn paper defends Brooklyn barbecue; so does The Houston Chronicle‘
– Attention Nashville:
Pitmaster Pat Martin’s @HughBabys BBQ & Burger Shop is coming to West End Ave. in April https://t.co/94Z26riPqQ
— Eater Nashville (@EaterNashville) March 13, 2018
– Ribs from Big Bob Gibson was a favorite dish at SoBe Wine and Food Festival in Miami earlier this month
– Evolution of a Filipino Barbecue Cookbook
Help me celebrate my friend @AlexPaman‘s new Filipino Barbecue Cookbook, and learn how to make Basic Filipino Pork Steak Barbecue while you’re at it. Read more here: https://t.co/oMXgW6nUcn
— Steven Raichlen (@sraichlen) March 11, 2018
– [thinking emoji]
The brisket at this gas station in Texas is probably better than the barbecue where you live: https://t.co/ua1Bd754A9 pic.twitter.com/Kwz1r86a7H
— Southern Living (@Southern_Living) March 9, 2018
– Damn, the food in the Bomb-Ass Biscuit Pop-Up at B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque does indeed look bomb-ass
They opened B’s doors at 9 a.m. on those days (the Riverside restaurant usually doesn’t open until 11 a.m.), slinging Council’s biscuits stuffed with country ham and apple butter or Furman’s fried chicken or sausage gravy. “If you come to a barbecue joint looking for a healthy breakfast, you’re in the wrong place,” Furman says. “We do not do gluten-free here!”
At some point, they added brisket hash to the menu. Then, they started selling beignets. And almost every morning, they sold out.
– WSOC-TV, the local ABC affiliate in Charlotte, has an odd “Best and Cheapest Barbecue in Charlotte” list that almost seems to start like an alphabetical list before stopping after 5
– Congrats to Our State Magazine, writer of some of my favorite barbecue articles
Such exciting news from @ourstatemag today. We are now a 100-percent employee-owned company! pic.twitter.com/NiIa1IpCw6
— Elizabeth Hudson (@elizahudson) March 9, 2018
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: Carolina ‘Cue is a collection of articles that appeared in Our State Magazine along with the full color photos that originally accompanied them. The stories move from west to east across the state as you read the book and while the heavy hitters – Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge, Lexington Barbecue, Stamey’s Barbecue, Allen & Son Barbeque, etc – get some coverage in the form of photos between articles, the articles themselves focus on some of the lesser-known joints in the state. And perhaps this makes sense, as the big guys have been covered the most both nationally and locally, so Our State is able to focus on the other places that haven’t had as much exposure.
Each article doesn’t focus on the food so much but rather the story behind the family and the building that makes the food – after all, it is subtitled “the people, places, and plates behind our favorite tradition”. No writer is featured more than twice but there is a cohesive voice and tone from article to article. At just under 100 pages, I breezed through the book in two short sittings but you could easily do it in one.
Carolina ‘Cue was compiled as of 2014 and features 27 restaurants in total (17 in articles, 10 in photos). In the table of contents it states that if you don’t see your favorite then they haven’t gotten there – yet. Here’s hoping a second version of the book can be published in another couple of years to continue the great storytelling project of the state’s favorite food.