BBQ Jew

Late last year Carl Eugene McBride, Jr. provided me with a re-revised history of barbecue in Goldsboro, NC.  Alas, I managed to bury his email in my inbox and just came across it again recently.  With apologies for the delay, here is Mr. McBride, Jr.’s new and improved essay.  As I said when I posted the original version, this document ought to be required reading for public school students in Wayne County!

Filed under: 'Cue Culture | Tagged: Goldsboro, Wayne County | 5 Comments »

A little over a month ago I ran this post about an amateur historian’s take on Goldsboro’s rich barbecue history.  I recently was able to track down the author, Carl Eugene (“Gene”) McBride, Jr.   He not only agreed to allow me to continue to share his magnum opus porkus online but offered a new and improved version.  The revised version corrects a few minor errors and is available here for your reading pleasure: GoldsboroBarbecue. (I also updated the original post to link to this revised document.) It’s a terrific read so please do check it out.

So, who is this mysterious McBride fellow anyway?  A Goldsboro native who now lives in barbecue purgatory on the left coast, it turns out.  As Gene told me over email: “I grew up in Goldsboro until I went off to UNC-Chapel Hill in 1965. Although I now live in Los Angeles, I have visited Goldsboro every year since then. You are correct that Goldsboro is truly a barbecue haven.  I wish I had some of that ‘cue right now!”  If any Tar Heel travelers are planning a journey to the City of Angels, I am confident that Gene would be more than happy to pay your airfare if you simply bring him a plate of his precious ‘cue.

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Goldsboro, a city of a little under 40,000 people in eastern North Carolina, has some of the state’s richest barbecue history.  Thus, I was particularly pleased to receive the below email, written by Johnnie and Peggy Hood, and forward to me by Dave Schiller, all of whom recently attended their 50th Goldsboro High School anniversary.  Better yet, the email included an attached history of Goldsboro barbecue written by Carl Eugene McBride, Jr., whom I am currently trying to track down to be sure he is okay with me including his writing on this site… I sure hope he is because it is excellent and deserves an audience.

“(Goldsboro, NC  10/01/11) —  What started out as a few friends going  to Wilber’s Barbecue for lunch morphed into a GHS class of 1961 reunion family  style luncheon at Wilberdean Shirley’s Barbecue Emporium.  Classmates  feasted on barbecue pork (of course), barbecue chicken, fried chicken, slaw,  potato salad, Brunswick stew, hushpuppies, and biscuits (sopping biscuits like  granny used to make).  For dessert we enjoyed banana pudding that, we were  told, Wilber himself stayed up all night cooking.

Conversation topics ranged from “whatever happened to ole so and so?” to stories  from those no longer living in eastern North Carolina about the putrid and  disgusting things some people put in their barbecue sauce.  Some were  shocked to learn that some well-meaning cooks put catsup, or mustard, or  molasses, or brown sugar, just to name a few things, in the sauce and then serve  it to unsuspecting guests.

It was agreed that the reason that we GHS graduates are so good looking, so  intelligent, and so healthy is probably the Goldsboro barbecue we consumed as  children.  Harriet Taylor Ross removed any doubt by providing a PDF file history of the holy grub from Goldsboro [Editor’s note: This link opens a fascinating, 19-page history of Goldsboro barbecue]… It should be required reading in all Goldsboro Public Schools along with other important stuff that’s no longer taught.

The fiftieth reunion is a once in a lifetime event.  We enjoyed  ours.”

Filed under: 'Cue Culture | Tagged: Goldsboro, Wayne County | 1 Comment »