082 TRAVEL REPORT: NORTH CAROLINA BLEDSOE: ALTHOUGH DENNIS AND I HAVE been grappling over North Carolina’s original styles of barbecue for more than 30 years, each of us clinging devotedly to the ambrosia that brought us to the dance, the truth is that we agree on more than might be expected. First and foremost: It is indeed about the meat. That goes without question. Dennis always has made much ado about sauce. But when he refers to the Lexington style as “tomato-y,” it creates a misleading image of the gooey, overly sweet concoctions found in supermarkets and used in many regions to disguise various cuts of meat as barbecue. These are dominating sauces that thwart genuine barbecue’s reason for being: the wood-smoke flavor. Lexington-style sauce— we call it dip—isn’t like that. It is light, thin and designed to enhance the flavor so deeply imbued over many hours by hickory coals. In reality, the sauces of our two regions are very similar— sometimes almost identical. Both are vinegar based and contain water, salt and sugar. Eastern sauce is often heavy with black pepper, while Lexington style hosts just a hint of crushed cayenne. A splash or two of ketchup adds flavor and a pinkish color to our dip. And although Dennis doesn’t want to admit it, many of the sauces used in the East also contain ketchup. But I do have to disagree with my friend on one thing: The sauce is far more than an afterthought. It’s an exalting addition. And down east, where so few places still cook over wood, it’s often all that’s left to make people think they’re actually eating barbecue. I recommend The Pit in Raleigh and Bar-B-Q- King in Charlotte. Both cook over wood. THE PIT (serves both kinds of barbecue) 328 W Davie St, Raleigh; 919-890-4500; thepit-raleigh.com GO MAGAZINE OCTOBER <strong>2010</strong> THE RESPONSES BAR-B-Q-KING 2900 Wilkinson Blvd, Charlotte; 704-399- 8344; barbqking.com ROGERS: PIG PARTISANS OF THE PIEDMONT can get a mite uppity when they brag that they only cook pork shoulders. The unmistakable inference is there is something suspicious about enjoying the total pig. What they don’t grasp is that it is only when the sundry parts of a pig are brought together in smoky harmony that true barbecue excellence is achieved. Barbecue in eastern North Carolina transcends commercial restaurants. We natives grew up eating around tobacco barns and farmhouses. You get a few friends together, throw a pig on a wood-fired cooker, keep the heat low and cook it slow, and you’ve got a well-fed party. We call it a “pig pickin’”: you eat it standing around the cooker, picking off the tasty bits. Tourists are not likely to get the chance to eat barbecue al fresco, but there are restaurants that will treat you right. Even my esteemed opponent would likely agree that Allen & Son Pit Cooked Bar-B-Que in Chapel Hill is world class. The Pit in Raleigh is more upscale, but once you get past the maître d’, the barbecue makes for some good eats. If you’re looking for the down-home experience, B’s Barbecue near Greenville is the Mother Church for serious pig fanciers. It opens at 10am and closes when it runs out of food a couple of hours later. I’ve enjoyed many a fine feed in the Piedmont’s barbecue joints, but when the dinner bell rings, I look to the East for my swine sustenance. I’m not one for casting aspersions, you understand, but it has been suspected for centuries that tomatoes, members of a deadly botanical family called “nightshade,” are poisonous. That’s probably not the only reason tomatoes are so reviled by eastern North Carolina’s barbecue cooks, but a fellow can’t be too careful. WHOLE HOG Eastern-style barbecue ALLEN & SON PIT COOKED BAR-B-QUE 6203 Millhouse Rd, Chapel Hill; 919-942-7576 B’S BARBECUE 751 B’s Barbecue Rd, Greenville (95 miles from Raleigh/Durham airport); no phone; cash only SIMON GRIFFETH
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