“BBQ” Chicken

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night
No, really, it was.  It was a cold, rainy night in mid-March when I found myself in a predicament.  I was craving ‘cue, my wife was 900 miles away, my daughter was asleep for the night in her crib, and I had some near-expired boneless, skinless chicken breast in the fridge.  What was a BBQ Jew to do? 

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
I opened the fridge and took out the chicken.  Next, I opened the pantry where by fate (or mispent divine intervention?) I spotted a half-empty bottle of Eastern-style BBQ sauce.   Problem solved.  And then one more pantry discovery: canned collards waiting patiently but hopelessly to be eaten by my vegetable-averse daughter.  A pseudo-BBQ plate was emerging (alas, sans hush puppies).  I doused the chicken in the BBQ sauce and baked it in the oven; no need to wood cook faux ‘cue, after all.  Once cooked, I chopped the sad-looking bird meat up to resemble barbecue as best it could and drenched it with more sauce.  There was no turning back now.

Moral of the Story
There may be a reason chopped chicken breast with barbecue sauce is not a staple of menus across North Carolina.  Most likely because it has no flavor.  (Interestingly, turkey barbecue is served at some NC restaurants, or so I’ve been told.)  Oh well, at least the chickens of North Carolina can sleep a little easier knowing they are no replacement for hog…

The End.

Tastes as good as it looks, but that's not saying much

Tastes as good as it looks, but that's not saying much

Filed under: Cooking | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

BBQ Jew’s View: Scott’s

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

 

1201 N. William St., Goldsboro, NC
(919) 734-0711
Scott’s Website
BBQ Jew’s Grade: C
Porky Says: “Pay Scott’s your respects, or just buy a bottle of their sauce.”

A Proud History
I’ve been traveling to Goldsboro for work for the past couple years and finally was able to catch the legendary Scott’s on a day when the dining room was open.  The owners had recently recovered from some health problems that had kept them from running the restaurant for several months.  They are now open a couple days a week for lunch.  Although the barbecue was middle of the road at best (alas, it has been years since Scott’s wood-cooked their ‘cue), I am very happy to have made my way through Scott’s doors.

Scott’s has been selling barbecue for over 90 years, which is an amazing feat in itself and makes it one of the oldest barbecue joints around (and likely one of the longest running family-owned businesses in NC). Many people know Scott’s for its sauce, which is the most widely available of NC barbecue sauces, but may be unaware of the restaurant.  It sits in a modest building right next to a large but unassuming bottling facility, where Scott’s peppery hot vinegar

Alas, these days no wood is harmed in Scott's pit

Tree huggers rejoice, it has been years since any wood was harmed by Scott's pit

concoction is made and distributed.

 The history is palpable at Scott’s, especially with the portrait of founder Rev. Adam Scott on the walls and the fact that his grandkids run the place today.  This kind of family legacy is what NC barbecue is all about.  Rev. Scott was an African-American preacher who started selling barbecue out of his home in 1917.  According to Holy Smoke it was not long before Rev. Scott decided to close in his porch and call his home a restaurant.  In the late-1940s, after a Continue reading →

Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: , , , , | 7 Comments »

Porky’s Pulpit: Strange Bedfellows

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

It is a distracting time of year for us North Carolinians, and BBQ Jews are not immune to the fever in the air.  Indeed, March Madness has taken over and leaves precious little time for updating this site.   As you probably know, our state’s reputation for barbecue is perhaps exceeded only by our reputation as a college basketball hotbed (even in a year when, alas, just three NC teams made the NCAA tourney).   But what do barbecue and basketball have to do with one another?  At first glance they may seem to have as little in common as  pork and lingerie, but in fact barbecue 

Sex Sells Pork, or Pork Sells Sex?

Sex Sells Pork, or Pork Sells Sex?

and basketball have much in common.  Below are some similarities I can think of even as I multi-task by writing this post in front of the warm glow of basketball on TV (all while eating some equally warm carry-out ‘cue):

  1. Both barbecue and basketball start with a “b.”  Uncanny, right?
  2. Passion for basketball burns long and slow, much like barbecue cooked over wood coals.
  3. The proverbial Tobacco Road that links Wake Forest to UNC to Duke to NC State covers a large chunk of the territory covered by the NC BBQ Society’s Historic Barbecue Trail.
  4. People argue over the Lexington-style vs. Eastern-style divide just like they argue over Duke vs. UNC (sorry, NC State fans, but your team needs to win a few more games this decade to re-enter the debate).
  5. Politicians and other public figures often refuse to tip their hand about whether they prefer Eastern-style or Lexington-style, UNC or Duke, unless they are pandering.  President Obama covered all bases by playing pick-up hoops with the Tar Heels but having former Duke player Reggie Love on payroll.  Smart guy.
  6. Politicians damn well better at least pretend to enjoy basketball and barbecue if they want to be elected to a statewide office.  If you don’t believe us, just Google “Rufus Edmisten barbecue.”  Lucky for politicians and the general public, most key elections are in the fall and not during prime hoops season, since elections during March would surely mean many political foot-in-mouth incidents, not to mention historically low turnout. 
  7. Barbecue joints almost always have goofy “mascots” in the form of cartoon pig signage, and basketball teams have true mascots.  Sadly, no NC team has a swine-related nickname or mascot.  This fact is disgraceful as a gas-cooked pig drenched with KC Masterpiece.

I could go on, but I am quickly running out of ideas and there’s a close game on TV…

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BBQ & A: John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed

Posted on March 10, 2009 by The Rib Rabbi

[Note: Follow this link–Reeds BBQ&A–for an easier to read .pdf version of the interview.]

Husband and wife writing team John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed have penned the instant classic on NC Barbecue–Holy Smoke. And considering they have a Jewish son-in-law and lived in Israel, we welcome them into the fold as honorary BBQ Jews (We’re an inclusive people).

The ‘cue-loving couple were kind enough to share some swine with us a few weeks ago and to put up with our questions. And so, without further ado…our first BBQ & A:

BBQ Jew: How many plates of barbecue would you estimate you have you eaten?

Dale: We’ve each probably eaten something between 500 and a thousand plates, starting at Turnage’s in Durham in 1961 or so. That works out to – what? – only two or three hundred pounds.

The Reeds

The Reeds (photo by Paul Dagy)

John: Not all that much, compared to some folks we know.

BBQ Jew: John, when you taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, did you find any good barbecue in the Promised Land (perhaps basted with milk and honey)?

John: No barbecue, although we occasionally bought pork chops from a Christian Arab butcher who mostly sold to the embassies.

Dale: Very occasionally, because they were very expensive.

BBQ Jew: What brought you to write Holy Smoke?

John: We were eating barbecue one evening with David Perry, the editor-in-chief at UNC Press, and we discovered that he and I both cooked out of a book called Legends of Texas Barbecue, by a friend of ours named Robb Walsh. Somebody – we really don’t remember who – said, “You know, somebody ought to do something like this for North Carolina.”

Dale: John and I sort of looked at each other and said, “We will!”
Continue reading →

Filed under: BBQ & A | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

BBQ Jew’s View: White Swan Bar-B-Q & Fried Chicken

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

Multiple Locations around Johnston County, NC
Multiple Phone Numbers
One Website 
(with multiple menus, multiple photos, & more)
BBQ Jew’s Grade: B (about the highest we’ll go on gas/electric-cooked)
Porky Says: “Gas-cooked pig at a gas station, but it’s good.” 

Running on Empty
“What kind of idiot stops for barbecue at a gas station?,” I asked myself. And then I answered my own question.

Logo from H. Kent Craig's NC-Style BBQ Site

Logo from H. Kent Craig's NC-Style BBQ Site

I had driven past the two gas station-embedded White Swans alongside Highway 70 between Raleigh and Goldsboro several times before this particular day. I had never before had a good meal at a gas station, and I didn’t see any particular reason to try and change that history. Furthermore, I am skeptical of chain restaurants in general and barbecue chains in particular, and White Swan has six locations (six is a heck of a lot by BBQ standards and is five more than most good joints). Plus, there really is nothing about the White Swans on Highway 70 that stands out. Perhaps if the gas stations that house the White Swans were rustic old service stations with overall-clad mechanics pumping gas from a one handled pump I’d have been more intrigued. But these are just dull, modern, no-service stations. Still, today was different: it was dinner time and my gas tank was desperately low. I decided to order a plate of good old fashioned pork grease biofuel along with my tank of 87 Regular. Continue reading →

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BBQ Jew’s View: The Pit (A Non-Review)

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

328 W. Davie St., Raleigh, NC
919.890.4500
The Pit’s Website
(caution: this website is dangerously slick)
BBQ Jew’s Grade: I for incomplete
Porky Says: “Can’t we leave well enough alone?!” 

Reservations
I just can’t bring myself to go to The Pit.

If barbecue was meant to be upscale it wouldn’t be made of chopped pork. And if folks in Raleigh need cloth napkins and a glass of chardonnay to enjoy barbecue, then perhaps they should just do without and leave the pork for the huddled masses. That said, The Pit’s pitmaster Ed Mitchell is a legend of NC barbecue. He used to own a joint in Wilson that had a stellar reputation, and sadly I never had the good fortune to visit it. That fact alone has almost drawn me to visit The Pit.

Main Course
Unfortunately, The Pit is a far cry from Mitchell’s old place—it is set up as more of a barbecue zoo than a barbecue joint, putting the wild barbecue beast on display for visitors to stare at while keeping a safe distance. The Pit’s website claims the restaurant is “a celebration of all of the great culinary offerings of the Old North State.” Based on the menu, apparently North Carolina’s “great culinary offerings” include Hot Spinach Bacon Dip with Baked Baguette Chips, Meatloaf with Onion Demi and Blue Cheese Crumbles, and Barbecued Tofu. I have never seen tofu slow-cooked over wood coals but I can only imagine tofu lets out a squeal that would scare the vegetarian right out of even the most devout PETA member. If serving tofu at a barbecue restaurant is not a sin in the First Church Synagogue of ‘Que, I am not sure what is.

Judging a book by its cover... (photo by Alaina B via Flickr)

Judging a book by its cover... (photo by Alaina B via Flickr)

Just Desserts
In fairness, The Pit’s menu features some classic whole hog NC barbecue and sides, and I have little doubt that Ed Mitchell is a great pitmaster. Plus, the focus on locally raised organic hogs and local produce is admirable. I just can’t quite bring myself to visit a barbecue zoo when a true barbecue safari can be had within 20 miles in any direction.

Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: , , , , | 17 Comments »

BBQ Jew’s View: Allen & Son Barbeque

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Porky LeSwine
Sign of the Shrine

Sign of the Shrine (photo by drinkerthinker from Creative Commons)

6203 Millhouse Rd., Chapel Hill, NC
919.942.7576
No Website
BBQ Jew’s Grade: A+
Porky Says: “You can take me now, I’ve lived a good life.” 

Preface: It’s no coincidence that we decided to make Allen & Son the subject of our first review. Years ago, Allen’s helped convince the Rib Rabbi and Porky LeSwine to worship at the temple of barbecue and it remains one of our favorite joints.

For The Doubters: Or Why You Shouldn’t Not GoYes, it has a Chapel Hill address. Yes, many Chapel Hill residents wouldn’t know a barbecue pit from a hole in the ground if Bon Appetit didn’t feel the need to explain it to them. Yes, the food is more expensive than most barbecue joints, even very good ones, and the prices keep going up. (Economics 101 teaches us that this is the law of supply and demand, and we are confident the invisible hand will take care of society’s best barbecue interests.) Yes, Allen’s probably gets a lot of press because the national media prefers to spend the night at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill than at the Econo Lodge in Lexington. But Allen & Son deserves every bit of the acclaim it has received; Keith Allen and his crew serve some of the best barbecue in North Carolina. And, at the risk of diving head-first into an empty pool of hyperbole, this means Allen’s serves some of the best barbecue in the world. Continue reading →

Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: , , , , | 12 Comments »

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