Eastern Style Barbecue Judged Best in N.C.

WRAL-TV ^ | Oct. 9, 2002 | AP

[Overtaxed]

No hanging chads or lost ballots in this one, but barbecue lovers in western North Carolina are crying foul -- or maybe pork.

A survey conducted by VisitNC.com picked Eastern-style barbecue as the best in the land. With more than 6,000 voters weighing in, 57 percent picked Eastern style and 43 percent chose the Western style.

[Brytani]

Eastern NC BBQ is some of the best anyone will ever taste. There is nowhere I can get it where I live now and have tried my best to do it justice at home. It's close but nowhere near as good.

[kayak]

Having moved from eastern NC to western NC, I can back up what you are saying, Brytani. I miss real BBQ and look forward to our trips back east to enjoy some of the best eating in the world.

[bankwalker]

maybe somebody will post a recipe?

[Overtaxed]

As long as it comes with hush puppies, I can go either way. :)

[MindyW]

Safeway sells eastern style in their stores here in the DC area. It is the best!!

[Overtaxed]

maybe somebody will post a recipe?

I can do a Lexington BBQ but I never measure anything when I'm putting the sauce together. Perhaps CD or PhantomLord will oblige us with their Eastern BBQ recipes.

[Constitution Day]

Greta Lint, executive director of the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau, says when her town entertains 100,000 people for the annual festival later this month, they'll change their minds.

HA! Fat chance.

[stationkeeper]

if you ever get to asheville there used to be a place on patton avenue (at the base of the big hill that a pontiac dealer used be atop of) called the bar-b-que inn or the bar-b-que pig...can't remember which.
anyway, the owner was a transplant from the eastern part of the state and my dad (who grew up in maxton) swore it was the real eastern style. good stuff for sure.

[Constitution Day]

There is nowhere I can get it where I live now and have tried my best to do it justice at home.

This is a service of King's BBQ down in Kinston, but I have never used it, since I live in Eastern NC.

[dubyagee]

HA! Fat chance.

I'd take offense at that, but I don't do barbecue. It raises my blood pressure quicker than Democrats. ; * )

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[Overtaxed]

HA! Fat chance.

Going to Lexington anytime soon?

[dirtboy]

And then there's Texas style BBQ:

This rig's so large it has to travel with a lead and trailer vehicle. Plus it has two beer taps...

[Phantom Lord]

I never divulge my receipes!

[Constitution Day]

Doubt it.
I have been away from home the last several weekends... I need a break!

[Overtaxed]

I never divulge my receipes!

Hehehe....that place in Lexington doesn't either. That's why we had to reconstruct the sauce recipe by taste.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

For the past year or so, I've been using a Kansas City "dry rub" receipe for babyback ribs that's really good. Basically, its paprika, coarse ground pepper and garlic salt.

[gratefulwharffratt]

maybe somebody will post a recipe?

This is a service of King's BBQ down in Kinston, but I have never used it, since I live in Eastern NC.

Well, King's sauce is vinegar based, with some tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, some A-1, a little sugar and lots of crushed red peppers. There may be another ingredient or two that I am forgetting, but those are the main ones.

I can't remember the ratios of the ingredients, but those are the ones that are in it. Cook it at a high simmer for about 30 minutes. Afterwards, if having sinus trouble, just take a nice deep breath of it. Good for what ails ya.

And WESTERN, Lexington style BBQ is MUCH better.

I have eaten at nearly EVERY BBQ place in Kinston, big and small, since they were the competition, and most of the bigger places in other towns Down East, and King's is probably the best of those inferior types. (Except for a little place in Deep Run, run by Earl Garner, an EX-King's kitchen manager. If it is still in existence)

[Hank Kerchief]

I love grits, greens, blackeyed peas, ockra, southern style corn bread, every kind of ham, gravey, cat fish, gumbo, and everything southern, but I have to cover my mouth just thinking about that pre-digested hog-swill they call "barbeque."

Hank

[bert]

To be more specific, Wilson NC BBQ (with Brunswick Stew of course)

[Constitution Day]

I never divulge my receipes!

My dad is the barbecue master in my family.

He never divulges his 'receipes' either.
Or his recipes. ;)

[Phantom Lord]

I am only following the lead of the wise, enlightened, and all knowing Barbra Streisand!

[gratefulwharffratt]

Eastern NC BBQ is some of the best anyone will ever taste. There is nowhere I can get it where I live now and have tried my best to do it justice at home. It's close but nowhere near as good.

At which Lexington style places are you eating?? Many CLAIM to be like that, few actually are.

Also, at which eastern style place were you used to eating "good" BBQ??

[js1138]

Eastern NC BBQ Sauce

[Constitution Day]

I forgot to tell you that the place near Walstonburg you were asking about is closed, according to my co-worker.

[Overtaxed]

with Brunswick Stew of course

Mmmmmmmmm....is it squirrel season yet?

[Constitution Day]

LOL!

Of corse you know that wasnt a personnal attak.

[Sender]

I'll have to try some of the Eastern BBQ, never had it. I like the Western stuff just fine though. I use Hot Bone Suckin' Sauce (yes, it's red) from NC. It's so good I often just dip my finger in the jar, no meat required :)

[Constitution Day]

I'd take offense at that, but I don't do barbecue.

I certainly do it a lot less, and for the same reason... :(

[Overtaxed]

Okay, thanks! But I'm still using a shoulder cooked indirectly over a hickory fire. :)

[spokanite]

I'm not sure if Parker's in Wilson is still there, but they have the best barbeque and brunswick stew. It's been many years since I've been there and I have found nothing beats eastern Carolina barbeque!

[gratefulwharffratt]

I forgot to tell you that the place near Walstonburg you were asking about is closed, according to my co-worker.

Curse the luck!!!!!

Did he have fond memories of it, or was he unimpressed with it??

Also with the BBQ, we used to use 4 shoulders and 1 ham for each 'pan' of it that we made. the hams have more fat, and make the BBQ less dry. If the hams are overly dry, try a 3 shoulders, 2 hams blend.

Also, they did NOT use the sauce on it while in the cooker, they seasoned it just after chopping, while still mighty hot!!

Cooking whole hogs is different, and on catering gigs, they DO season it while cooking.

[Phantom Lord]

You will be hard pressed to find a worse speller then I on FR. I make Barbra look good!

[Overtaxed]

Well....not exactly over a hickory fire. "Indirecty above a hickory fire?

[Phantom Lord]

It's so good I often just dip my finger in the jar, no meat required :)

Thats what my 2nd wife said!

[TexasCajun]

I promise you will never find Eastern Style BBQ in TEXAS!!

[gratefulwharffratt]

I promise you will never find Eastern Style BBQ in TEXAS!!

Thank the Lord for small miracles.

[spokanite]

Southern Living magazine had an article on Carolina barbeque a while back. You might be able to look it up on their website. I believe it's www.southernliving.com

[gratefulwharffratt]

CD, there is a small place just off of HWY 11 between Ayden and Grifton, that has some MIGHTY good BBQ too. I had forgotten about that place.

[Constitution Day]

Oh, trust me, there are much, much worse spellers than you.

Think TLB----

[Constitution Day]

I will have to find it.
I guess I missed the Collard Festival in Ayden. I think I was away.

[gratefulwharffratt]

I guess I missed the Collard Festival in Ayden. I think I was away.

Eat mo shad!!!!!!!!!! (in Grifton)

:-)

It is visible from the HWY, if memory serves me.

[maximus@Nashville]

I used to travel in my job and tried Bar-b-que from all over the South. There were many that were truly great, but my vote goes to a place called "The Bar-b-que Pit" in Moultrie, GA. They slow roast whole shoulders in a brick oven turning on a spit over seasoned hickory wood. The outside of the meat is quickly seared which seals in the juices. It is then put on a deli slicer and sliced paper thin and served piled high. Several different bar-b-que sauses are on the table so that you can try them all. I once took my family on an 80 mile detour on the way to Florida just to eat there. My wife thought I was insane.

[gratefulwharffratt]

I guess I missed the Collard Festival in Ayden.

I would recommend trying to make it to the BBQ festival in Lexington, except that they mix the BBQ from several different sponsoring BBQ places, and sell it by the sandwich. A WASTE of good BBQ!!

And the lines to even buy a SANDWICH are 50 people long, and the whole 8-10 block area is jam-packed with people. It gets to be a pain in the ass.

And there ARE well over 100,000 people there every year. (There are well over 100,000 people in Davidson county alone.)

Maybe we should set-up a kiosk, so that we can BBQ-FReep that poll that is mentioned in the article above. We could take a 100,000 vote lead. :-)

[putupon]

I'm not sure if Parker's in Wilson is still there

Still there, still one the best. I also heard about a place in Greenville thats supposed to be awesome, but I don't know the name. For convience when passing through on I-95 at the Weldon/Roanoke Rapids exit just south of the VA line, about a half mile +/- off the the highway, to the left when heading south, is Ralphs, really good eastern style BBQ (pulled and minced) and well stocked buffet.

Eastern Vinegar Base Rules. Ketchup based sauce, no good. Mustard base, tolerable.

Beef BBQ, no such thing, I don't care what our friends from the Lone Star State say, its just shredded beef w/ ketchup.

[SoDak]

Rendezvous Ribs in Memphis, and Joe Cotton BBQ just outside of Corpus Christi are the two best BBQ joints I've tasted. But then I haven't ever been down east much.

[gratefulwharffratt]

Still there, still one of the best. I also heard about a place in Greenville thats supposed to be awesome

In Greenville, I would wager that the best BBQ would be found on Saturday afternoons in the fall, outside of Dowdy-Ficklen stadium, along about 2 hours before kick-off!!!!

[Overtaxed]

I'm getting hungry.....

[billbears]

You're getting hungry. LOL. I want to know why neither of you pinged me to this thread!!