This site shows what happens when the "Chosen People" choose pork. North Carolina pork barbecue to be specific.
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L'Chaim!
When The Economist, a highly respected and intelligent international news magazine that I read*, takes on the subject of barbecue it is worth a gander. The December 16th issue features an article that explains the predominant styles of barbecue and then delves into barbecue culture. It’s definitely worth a read whether you are a pipe smoking member of the intelligentsia or just an ordinary Joe.
If you don’t have time to read the full article, here is The Economist’s take on North Carolina barbecue: “[The] pork, either whole hog or shoulder, is seasoned minimally if at all. The sauce, applied at table, varies. In the eastern part of the state it is usually nothing more than cider vinegar, salt and red pepper flakes. In the west it may include a bit of tomato. North Carolina barbecue at its best is as austere and perfect as a bowl of properly cooked Japanese rice. As with rice, however, perfection is exceptionally difficult to achieve, whereas mediocrity is easy. Mediocre Carolina pork will bring back memories of school dinners and premonitions of the nursing home.” Well said for a London-based magazine.
*Okay, not very often, but I do enjoy it from time to time.
I recently learned of yet another sad story about an old time BBQ joint closing its doors for the last time. This time it is the 50-year old Glenn’s BBQ of Kannapolis, a place I never dined at but wish I had. A few days before Glenn’s went out of business, the Salisbury Post offered up a beautifully written eulogy-of-sorts. See the full article here.
The Post story is well worth reading for its rich description of Glenn’s and its commentary on the area’s economy. As we all know, it’s been a particularly rough couple of years for the nation’s economy. Yet places like Kannapolis, ravaged by plant closings and jobs moving overseas back when the nation’s economy was “strong”, were already in bad shape before the recession set in. As Glenn’s owner Ken Clanton succinctly puts it: “There’s no place for people to work. The future of Kannapolis doesn’t look bright.”
There are a lot of places like Kannapolis in North Carolina and across the country. If you’re like me and it saddens you to see local businesses like Glenn’s shut down, and to see folks out of work, please do your part by spending your dining dollars on local restaurants.
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year/With the hickory coals smelling/And the pit masters telling you, “Barbecue’s near”/It’s the most wonderful time of the year/It’s the pork-porkiest season of all.” Or at least it could be if you make sure your holiday shopping list includes some of these gifts:
Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue. If you don’t own this book yet, shame on you. You’ll certainly learn more about barbecue reading this book than wasting your time on silly websites like BBQJew.com.
Join “The Fun Tribe”. For 35 tax-deductible dollars a year (less for students & seniors) you can give the gift of membership in the NC Barbecue Society–known to some as The Fun Tribe, for reasons that remain a mystery to me despite being a dues-paying member. NCBS promotes North Carolina’s barbecue culture, sends out a monthly newsletter and offers classes and other special events. As their website says, “It is time we step up as a state and rightfully claim what many of us have known for a long time, that North Carolina originated barbecue (it’s a Noun), we produce the BEST and we are the Barbecue Capital of the World.” Amen!
BBQ Jew Ornaments. Yes, the rumors are true: Hanukkah is over. You may not have even known it was here. But rest assured that these BBQ Jew ornaments are for Christmas trees AND Hanukkah bushes. Phew.
Long distance pork. Do you know any down on their luck folks who, gasp, don’t live in North Carolina and therefore can’t find good barbecue?* If so, send a styrofoam cooler to their doorstep to say, “I care about your health and well-being enough to ship you frozen meat through the mail.” I linked to the website of the NC Barbecue Company, a newcomer to the cutthroat (?) mail-order BBQ world (I’ll be sharing more about them on this site soon). You can also use King’s venerable Oink Express or call your favorite local joint to see if they ship–some do if you ask real nice.
Other BBQ Jew merch. T-shirts, onesies, fridge magnets? Yup, yup, and yup. The BBQ Jew Store has everything your heart desires and quite a few things it does not.
Local pork. Maybe your family and friends are lucky enough to live in North Carolina and smart enough to buy their own ‘cue. But don’t give them too much credit, you know them better than that. Buy them some barbecue in case they don’t have the sense to do it themselves. Better yet, see if your local joint sells whole shoulders. Many joints sell shoulders around the holidays, and nothing says “happy holidays” like a big ol’ hunk of slow-cooked pork.
Sauce. Are the options above too expensive or complicated? Well, if you live in NC, just head down to your local grocery store and buy some North Carolina barbecue sauce. Of the brands that are fairly widely distributed, I highly recommend Scott’s, a classic Eastern-style sauce with serious hot pepper kick to it. (Scott’s is available online too.) And don’t forget a bottle of Texas Pete, the condiment that accompanies the sauce at most barbecue joints throughout the state.
*Texans and residents of Owensboro, Kansas City, Memphis and other such places need not be concerned. I know you good folks have palatable barbecue too, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and other such atrocities notwithstanding.
Just days after joining Twitter I received the below none-too-friendly tweet from my new friends at Dickey’s Barbecue. A shot across the bow indeed!
Dickeys_NC Dickey’s Barbecue “@BBQJew At some point you will be man enough to allow our response and positive customer feedback that was once there . Why do you censor??”
Here’s what I said in response:
BBQJew Porky LeSwine “@Dickeys_NC I have never censored anything on my site other than spam. Assuming your BBQ isn’t spam, I won’t censor your comments either.”
Maybe Dickey’s will respond by commenting on this post… if they are “man enough.” Oh brother. I guess this is how Texans settle their differences when the death penalty is not an option.
I met Thomas Morris, aka Another_Q_Lover, at the Twin City RibFest in Winston-Salem this past summer. As we waited to judge the rib cooking competition, Morris agreed to sit down (well, he was sitting down already so that part didn’t take much convincing) and answer some of my disjointed questions. We talked about his decades of experience eating, cooking, writing about and most recently judging North Carolina barbecue. Morris is originally from Ohio but since moving to the Tar Heel state 30 years ago he’s ingested enough pork to have more than earned his state citizenship and, for what little it’s worth, my respect (he has been eating NC barbecue longer than I have, after all). Without further ado, here’s Another_Q…
Follow this link to read the interview with Thomas Morris/Another_Q_Lover.
A recent poll conducted by Travel + Leisure magazine ranked Memphis the top city in the nation for barbecue. The Bluff City didn’t do so well in other categories, placing last in attractiveness, intelligence and several other unbarbecue categories. Better yet, according to Memphis’ The Commercial Appeal, “In almost all categories, Memphians assigned lower rankings than did visitors.” (There is no word on how Memphis residents ranked their fair city on ‘cue.)
Unfortunately (?), there were no North Carolina cities among Travel + Leisure’s 35 places ranked. That means we didn’t have a chance to win the best barbecue category (competing with BBQ powerhouses like Boston and Santa Fe), but at least we don’t have to look at ourselves in the nation’s mirror each morning…
I’m not sure what to make of this YouTube video by “CoffeehousePorcupine” in which he slowly expounds upon his love for North Carolina barbecue, but I think I love it. Either this guy is completely sincere or he’s a master of deadpan surrealism; regardless, the video is fairly awesome. That said, one could quibble with CoffeehouseP’s summary of North Carolina BBQ: “The barbecue is different in different areas of the state. You have a sort of a brown sauce on the west coast, you have a red sauce on the east. I’ve tried both, I like the brown.”
Perhaps it was inevitable. I have resisted the Land of Twitter for years because it seems an inherently shallow and useless place. But then it hit me like 140 characters worth of bricks: shallow and useless are essential descriptors of BBQJew.com. With my excuses torn to shreds, I’ve decided to dive headfirst into the Twitter pool dip my hooves into the Twitter hog waste lagoon. Follow me @BBQJew and I’ll do the usual quid pro quo and follow you too. Of course, I don’t yet know exactly what any of what I just said really means, but who cares, it’s just Twitter.
Oh, and I should mention that I’ve yet to invite friends to follow me on Twitter so I have exactly zero followers as I write this post. I must say, it was a bit discouraging when I clicked on the Find People link on my Twitter profile and received this message: ” Sorry, we’ve temporarily run out of recommendations for you. We’re out there looking for more right now. Please check back soon!” Run out of recommentations before making any at all? Jeez.
Below is a press release from that ever so dangerously un-North Carolina barbecue chain, Dickey’s. Read it and weep… and then rush out to support your favorite local BBQ joint (even if it happens to be a Smithfield’s!)
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Dickey’s Barbecue Trifecta Takes on North Carolina
The Barbecue Chain Will Hold Three Consecutive Grand Openings in December
Raleigh, NC, November 29, 2010 –(PR.com)– Three of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit’s newest locations in North Carolina will hold Grand Opening events three days in a row. The barbecues Trifecta include locations in Raleigh, Southern Pines, and Winston-Salem. The events will kick off each day at 11 a.m. where patrons can purchase $1 big barbecue sandwiches and also enter to win free barbecue for a year, according to officials.
The Raleigh location will hold their grand opening on December 1st. This Dickey’s is located at 170 East Davie Street. Continue reading →
Need I remind you, my fellow BBQ Jews, that Christmas is just a few weeks away? If you are like me (i.e., a Jew who married a wonderful Christian woman who feels the holidays are not complete without a sap-stained tree dropping needles on the floor) or even if you’re not, it’s time to buy your Christmas tree. And you know what’s cool about Christmas trees? Ornaments, that’s what. But not just any ornaments. I can tell that you’re a pretty cool guy/gal because you are reading this blog. Because of that, I know for a fact that only BBQ Jew ornaments will do your Christmas tree justice.
As luck would have it, you can buy BBQ Jew ornaments here. So what are you waiting for? Break into your piggy bank (no pun intended) and get your money ready to spend on ornaments at the BBQ Jew Store . All major credit cards are accepted and operators are standing by, but Hanukkah gelt is not accepted.
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