Barbecue reviewers–myself included–almost always feel the need to assign some sort of rating to each joint they review. Alas, ten or so hours of slow-cooking pig gets boiled down to one simple letter, word or symbol. Today’s post takes a look at the different barbecue rating systems we’ve come across. Here’s the universe of NC ‘cue rating systems we’ve unearthed (let us know if we missed any):
- H. Kent Craig’s website uses a simple yet elegant scale of assigning from one to four pigs to each joint. This classic system is easily understood, matches well with people’s concept of four start restaurants, and features a nice little pig image to boot. What are the drawbacks of Craig’s system? Having only four different ratings for the wide range of quality he has encountered seems inadequate. Admittedly, a half-pig might look ugly (especially if it were the back half), but surely Craig could have thrown in some half-pigs (hams? shoulders?) to further distinguish among our state’s many joints.
- Dave Filpus’ NC Barbecue Musings site uses a graphically lacking but Continue reading
Filed under: Porky's Pulpit | Tagged: Odds & ends | 1 Comment »
As a human being, an animal liker and a pork lover, I’d like to say: what a waste. Think of all the barbecue that could have been!
BBQ Jew 
