Sam Jones

Friday Find: Bon Appétit Magazine Podcast with Sam Jones and Wyatt Dickson

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Ahead of this weekend’s July Fourth festivities, Bon Appétit Magazine talks with Sam Jones of Sam Jones BBQ (duh) and Wyatt Dickson of Picnic to discuss the changing landscape of American barbecue.

The two reminisce about being raised in households where everything down to the greens had pork fat in it. Says Jones: “My grandfather was one of those people who was like, ‘This is the way we cook BBQ, and if you don’t cook it this way you’re going to hell.” Meanwhile, Dickson has been “getting hell” about how his hush puppies are, apparently, “wrong.” And if you believe beer with your BBQ is par for the course, the people of eastern North Carolina have a few words for you—not many of which are nice.

-Monk

Linkdown: 4/27/16

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– NC State University is holding a barbecue camp in June

– Sam Jones and Ed Mitchell are once again part of The Big Apple Barbecue Block Party

– Grant visits Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, AL – home of the white sauce and “perfectly fine, middle-of-the-pack barbecue”

– TMBBQ interviews Laura Loomis, the 28 year old female pitmaster of Two Bros BBQ in San Antonio

– A roundup of barbecue cookbooks out this spring

– Bullock’s Bar-B-Que in Durham will be closed for a few weeks after a fire

– The Barbecue Festival in Lexington is a food festival within driving distance from Charlotte that defines NC cuisine, according to Charlotte Five

– Speaking of Lexington, this blog considers it one of the 14 best places in the world for barbecue and we fully agree (although it mistakenly attributes Stamey’s in Greensboro to Lexington)

– Houston Chronicle BBQ writer JC Reid on the pitfalls of defining true ‘cue

Needless to say, a few pitmasters took umbrage with this definition and compliance method. Pitmaster Carey Bringle of the popular Peg Leg Porker barbecue restaurant in Nashville responded on his Facebook page: “I can assure you that (the True ‘Cue folks) are not experts. First off, they are writers, not pitmasters.”

– Potential “Pitmaster General”?

Linkdown: 3/9/16

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– Friend of the blog Sarah Crosland has a couple of pork and cocktail pairings from Customshop and the Ballantyne Hotel’s Gallery Restaurant included in this list of Charlotte’s top cocktail and food pairings

– A London publication’s view on the 32 best barbecue restaurants in the American South

– Sam Jones gets profiled in the Raleigh News & Observer

It’s not as if more upscale barbecue restaurants don’t exist – look at the Pit in Raleigh and Durham or Ed Mitchell’s former ’Que in Durham or just about any barbecue restaurant in New York or other large cities. (Let’s be clear: it doesn’t take much to step up from the linoleum-floor, vinyl-seat charm of the old-school places.) It’s just that in this part of the world, east of I-95, Sam Jones Barbecue is the outlier. He’s changing the definition of what a whole-hog barbecue restaurant can be in the part of the world most identified by the tradition.

– According to John Lewis

– Home Team BBQ opened its new location in downtown Charleston yesterday and Eater has what you can expect

– Barbecue and whiskey event at Queen City Q’s Ballantyne location

Linkdown: 3/2/16

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– This article on barbecue treats from Robert Moss considers the misleading names of Texas Pete, Cheerwine, and burnt ends

– Sam Jones has partnered with Heinz to create a “Carolina Vinegar Style” barbecue sauce

– John Shelton Reed has a new barbecue cookbook coming – appropriately titled “Barbecue”

– He’s also having an event at the new Durham barbecue restaurant Picnic to celebrate the release of his book

– Midwood Smokehouse is havin a ‘cue and wine pairing at their Ballantyne location on March 16

– Only In Your State has 10 More Restaurants That Serve The Best Barbecue in North Carolina and well, it certainly is a list

– Interview with our friend Johnny Fugitt

– Midwood Smokehouse is asking for votes for Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best Awards 2016