Monk: Sam Jones and his pitmaster Lindsay Bortle – who can cook a hog just as good as Sam, according to him – take Eater’s Smoke Point through the process at his Sam Jones BBQ restaurant in Raleigh.
Description: Carolina barbecue legend Sam Jones comes from a long legacy of cooking a whole hog, with his grandfather, father, and uncle all coming before him. At his no-frills restaurant, Sam Jones BBQ, he and his team preserve their tradition of cooking whole hog, chicken, turkey, and more.
Monk: Better late than never, here’s all the Charlotte-area barbecue news you may have missed from July through September of this year
7/14 – Noble Smoke makes Axios Charlotte’s 25 best restaurants in Charlotte right now at #25
7/29 – A reintroduction to Garren and Kelly of Jon G’s Barbecue
8/8 – The Runaway Charlotte Longhorn Bull saga began, which I recapped in a linkdown
8/10 – Meet Pit Boss Natasha of Firehawk Brewpub
8/13 – Meet Miss Angie of Sweet Lew’s Barbeque
8/20 – New Charlotte-area barbecue joint Firehawk Brewpub does an explainer on their unique way of doing ribs
8/29 – Slash of Guns N’ Roses is the latest celebrity to stop by Midwood Smokehouse; here he is with pitmaster Matthew Berry
9/9 – Sweet Lew’s Barbeque announced they will be doing “Whole Hog Sundays” during NFL season
9/11 – We published our review of Firehawk Brewpub
9/12 – The Pitmaster Experience at Noble Smoke was announced as coming back
9/15 – The 92nd Annual Mallard Creek Barbecue was officially confirmed as on for 2023 but as drive-through only
Monk: Drew Jackson has done a great job covering barbecue the past few years for the News & Observer, and earlier this month came out with the 2023 edition of his list of the 64 best barbecue restaurants in the state.
Here are the links to the various stories around barbecue from early October, but be warned that they are behind a paywall once you hit a certain number of articles:
Description: Mention barbecue in North Carolina and the conversation quickly becomes divided on its definition and all depends on location, location, location. There’s a west and east BBQ divide. Drew Jackson with the News and Observer explains.
Monk: Quick (and I mean super quick) primer on NC barbecue styles from North Carolina Pork Council CEO Roy Lee Lindsey.
Description: North Carolina Pork Council CEO Roy Lee Lindsey explains the difference between Western and Eastern North Carolina BBQ… which is your preference?