Smokestack Lightning

The Barbecue Bros’ 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

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Monk: For this year’s Gift Guide, we’re continuing with last year’s trend of curation. Hopefully this will give you a sense of the items we truly recommend here at Barbecue Bros, whether it be t-shirts or hats, grill accessories you’ll use in the backyard, or rubs and sauces. What else have we missed? Comment below.

Charlotte-Area Barbecue Gifts

Concord, NC-based SnS Grills recently introduced a new model “MasterKettle” combination charcoal grill and smoker and are also running a sale on grills and accessories on their website. Sweet Lew’s BBQ still has a solid selection of hats as well as shirts, sauces, and rubs available online including the above handsome baseball tee.

North Carolina Barbecue Gifts

Sam Jones has refreshed some of their merch, including this fantastic tie-dyed t-shirt available for both adults and kids and on the opposite end of the color spectrum, a camo patch hat. If you’re looking for more of a pick-me-up, Stamey’s in Greensboro sells their coffee online in addition to bottles of their dip and hot sauce. And Raleigh’s House of Swank has the always controversial “Tomato” vs “Vinegar” t-shirt. I’ve continued to use Carolina Brewery’s Carolina Dry Rub over the past year, and would recommend it as a go-to rub on pork butt, ribs, burgers, turkey, and steak.

You can also get cookbooks from North Carolina authors like Sam Jones’ autographed cookbook, Matthew Register’s “Southern Smoke” cookbook, Elliott Moss’s cookbook under the Buxton Hall Barbecue name, and last year’s release of Ed and Ryan Mitchell’s cookbook.

Books

My favorite barbecue books ever are as follows (in no particular order): Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina BBQ by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed, Barbecue Crossroads: Notes and Recipes from a Southern Odyssey by Robb Walsh, The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Smoke Whole Hog by Rien Fertel, Black Smoke: African Americas and the United States of Barbecue by Adrian Miller, and finally, Smokestack Lighting: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country by Lolis Eric Elie.

Honorable mention goes to Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue by Daniel Vaughn, Robert Moss’ Barbecue: The History of an American Institution, Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America by Jim Auchmutey, Wyatt McSpadden’s two Texas BBQ books of wonderful photography, Aaron Franklin’s Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto, and Hardcore Carnivore by Jess Pryles.

Apparel

Perhaps I’ve missed it, but Franklin Barbecue’s merchandise is new to me and I’m digging the retro vibes, particularly this grey crew neck and this green dad hat. Weathersbeef has a few hats in a couple of designs including one that simply enough says “Beef.” Rodney Scott’s mantra is “Every day is a good day” and he has an updated t-shirt saying exactly that.

Grilling Tools and Accessories

My essential backyard grilling or barbecue instant thermometer is the Thermapen One. You’ll also likely need grill and meat temperature thermometers, and Thermapen has a version as does Inkbird, who created the world’s first 5G thermometer. The Looft Air Lighter X cordless version is once again half off. Grill Armor heat gloves are a good option to keep your hands away from heat sources. Version two of the Drip EZ BBQ Prep Tub is now available and its ingenious collapsible design makes it easy to store. Hardcore Carnivore always has good stuff, whether its butcher paper, high heat gloves, or various knives. Meat Church is another great source and also has an assortment of rubs, injections, t-shirts, and hats as well as a glencairn sipping glass if you like to drink whiskey while you smoke.

Stocking Stuffers

Are your kids sick of stopping for barbecue? Maybe this kids adventure journal from Barbecue Wife will help your cause. Cheshire Pork has a bacon ketchup, bacon jam (both regular and jalapeno), and various jerky available at their “pantry”. Weathersbeef has a combo pack of his “Bird,” “Beef,” and “Pork” rubs available online. Or perhaps a “Pig Out” coffee mug from Lexington Barbecue to pair with the coffee from Stamey’s mentioned above.

Happy Shopping!

The Barbecue Bros’ 2023 Holiday Gift Guide

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Monk: In this year’s revamped Gift Guide, we’re going for more curation and less bullet listing. Hopefully this will give you a sense of the items we truly recommend here at Barbecue Bros, whether it be t-shirts or hats, grill accessories you’ll use in the backyard, or rubs and sauces. What else have we missed? Comment below.

Charlotte-Area Barbecue Gifts

SnS Grills is a Concord-based company and not only has their own, critically acclaimed kettle and kamado smokers, they’ve also got a selection of Weber-specific charcoal baskets, drip pans, and grilling tools. Sweet Lew’s BBQ has a solid selection of hats as well as shirts, sauces, and rubs available online; similarly as does Midwood Smokehouse. Jon G’s BBQ doesn’t have merch available online (only available in person at the store), but they do sell gift cards on their website.

North Carolina Barbecue Gifts

Besides their tasty barbecue, Buxton Hall was the first North Carolina restaurant I thought of when it came to merch. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not plenty of other good options from across North Carolina. Sam Jones BBQ recently released a great Marlboro inspired “Pack of Sam” tee as well as a festive “BBQ Vacay” hat. Durham’s Lawrence BBQ has some great merch including a “Swinehurst” hat and an acid-washed hoodie. You can get hats and shirts from Stamey’s but also bottles of their dip and hot sauce. And Raleigh’s House of Swank has the always controversial “Tomato” vs “Vinegar” t-shirt. I’ve been using Carolina Brewery’s Carolina Dry Rub almost exclusively the past year and their Eastern Carolina Style BBQ Sauce is also pretty legit.

You can also get cookbooks from North Carolina authors like Sam Jones’ autographed cookbook, Matthew Register’s “Southern Smoke” cookbook, Elliott Moss’s cookbook under the Buxton Hall Barbecue name, and the 2023 release of Ed and Ryan Mitchell’s cookbook.

Books

My favorite barbecue books ever are as follows (in no particular order): Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina BBQ by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed, Barbecue Crossroads: Notes and Recipes from a Southern Odyssey by Robb Walsh, The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Smoke Whole Hog by Rien Fertel, Black Smoke: African Americas and the United States of Barbecue by Adrian Miller, and my most recent addition the list Smokestack Lighting: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country by Lolis Eric Elie.

Honorable mention goes to Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue by Daniel Vaughn, Robert Moss’ Barbecue: The History of an American Institution, Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America by Jim Auchmutey, Wyatt McSpadden’s two Texas BBQ books with wonderful photography, and of course Aaron Franklin’s Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto.

Apparel

Fox Bros always has great designs for the shirts and hats, and have been leaning into the Grateful Dead-themed merch lately. Barbecue Wife has long sold out of t-shirts but have new patch snapback hats in. Rodney Scott’s mantra is “Every day is a good day” and you can own a t-shirt saying exactly that. There are still dark grey shirts available for Bryan Furman BBQ as well.

Grilling Tools and Accessories

No backyard cook (or even a regular indoor one) should cook without an instant thermometer and for that, my pick is the Thermapen One. You’ll also likely need grill and meat temperature thermometers, and Thermapen has a version as does Inkbird, who created the world’s first 5G thermometer. As of this writing, the Looft Air Lighter X cordless version is half off. Grill Armor heat gloves are a good option to keep your hands away from heat sources. Mrs. Monk got me this Drip EZ BBQ Prep Tub a few years back and its ingenious design collapses from a prep tub to a cutting board in seconds. Hardcore Carnivore always has good stuff, whether its butcher paper, high heat gloves, or various knives. Meat Church is another great source and also has an assortment of rubs, injections, t-shirts, and hats but also a nice Hedley & Bennett apron.

Stocking Stuffers

Are your kids sick of stopping for barbecue? Maybe this kids adventure journal from Barbecue Wife will help your cause. Cheshire Pork has a bacon ketchup, bacon jam (both regular and jalapeno), and various jerky available at their “pantry”. Weathersbeef has their “Bird,” “Beef,” and “Pork” rubs available online as well as some good looking Imperial “Beef” hats. Are you interested in a white sauce for your poultry? You could do a lot worse than Rodney Scott’s bottled version.

Happy Shopping!

Smokestack Lightning Captures the Simpler, Pre-Barbecue Boom Times in America

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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: In the early 2000’s, a decade or so before the barbecue boom of the 2010’s, Lolis Eric Elie, wrote a hybrid barbecue/great American road trip/recipe book. Subtitled “Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country,” Smokestack Lightning is named after a song by the blues legend Howlin’ Wolf and was released in 2005. It was initially inspired by Elie’s travels with the Wynton Marsalis band where they would always seek out good barbecue while on tour. More specifically, it was inspired by a stop in Wilson, NC where they tasted barbecue and ribs from Bill’s Barbecue. That taste of barbecue sparked this book documenting an epic barbecue odyssey.

Smokestack Lightning is a wandering travelogue through some specific barbecue cities or regions, sometimes with a plan but oftentimes just whatever Elie and his photographer/partner-in-crime Frank Stewart stumble into (the chapter on Chicago in particular) in their vehicle, a Volvo wagon they dubbed the “Living Legend.”

Not only do they explore the restaurants of barbecue hotbeds in Tennessee, Chicago, Texas, Kansas City, and the Carolinas, Elie and Stewart also take a dip into the competition scene at Memphis in May and the Big Pig Jig in Vienna, Georgia. Along the way, they document both the food they taste and the people they meet as sorts of cultural anthropologists. Stewart photographs are sprinkled throughout the book, and while I appreciate the beauty of black and white photography, I can’t help but wish the book was printed in color.

On their travels, Elie and Stewart find a lot of mediocre-to-bad barbecue but there are one or two bright spots everywhere they go that are adhering to the old ways of barbecue smoked over wood – Vera’s Backyard Barbecue in Brownsville, TX, Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart, TX, Lexington Barbecue in Lexington, NC, Cozy Corner in Memphis, to name a few.

Lolis Eric Elie has recently dipped back into the barbecue book world, co-writing Rodney Scott’s barbecue book “Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ” which was released in 2021. I’d love to see him do a sequel to Smokestack Lightning now to see how much the barbecue world has changed 20 years later, for better and for worse. Regardless, “Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in Barbecue Country” is a worthy documentation of the time before America’s barbecue explosion that was to come.

Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in Barbecue Country is available new and used on Amazon

Friday Find: Lolis Eric Elie on The Dave Chang Show

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Lolis Elie, a food writer and critic who wrote the barbecue road trip book Smokestack Lightning, joins David Chang on his podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on food and identity, only a short portion of which discusses barbecue. It’s a good conversation between Chang (who is really coming into his own as a podcaster) and the ever-thoughtful Elie.

People have subjective definitions when it comes to quality, and food is no exception. To compare one genre of food to another often requires nuance and context, making the whole endeavor that much more difficult. Dave speaks to writer and food critic Lolis Elie about how to evaluate food with care and respect.