Vinegar based barbecue (Raleigh, Asheville, Lexington: wedding, live, restaurants)

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Although we have lived here for over 10 years the only barbecue we have been able to find is the white, vinegar based kind, not the red, tomato sauce kind similar to Memphis or Bama. Would anyone care to weigh in and explain why this is? I know there are exceptions such as Red Hot & Blue up in Raleigh but that is a Memphis based chain and not of North Carolina heritage. Thanks

[SunnyKayak]

Sounds like you have only had Eastern NC barbecue and not Lexington style.
You need to head further West for "Western" Lexington Style BBQ sounds like you are having Eastern style and good barbecue is not part of a chain restaurant.

What Is North Carolina-Style BBQ?

Here is a good barbecue trail map
The NC Barbecue Society Historic Trail

[ncisgreat]

Sunny said it-- and Eastern style NC BBQ dominates most restaurants-- even toward the mountains! (That's because it is the BEST)

[Asheville Native]

BBQ is like sex, it's all different, and it's all good, quite complaining

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by ncisgreat

Sunny said it-- and Eastern style NC BBQ dominates most restaurants-- even toward the mountains! (That's because it is the BEST)

Well you are wrong, but you are free to enjoy it your way, I prefer western style (WNC that is), and after all, 12 Bones Smokehouse in Asheville, not only earned a spot on the Best Bites Challenge on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” show Sunday, it smoked the competition.

But like sex, and none of it bad, just some is better than the rest.

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

Sounds like you have only had Eastern NC barbecue and not Lexington style.
You need to head further West for "Western" Lexington Style BBQ sounds like you are having Eastern style and good barbecue is not part of a chain restaurant.

What Is North Carolina-Style BBQ?

Here is a good barbecue trail map
The NC Barbecue Society Historic Trail

SunnyKayak: Live and learn they say! I printed the attachment about the two types of barbecue and the map of the Barbecue Trail. Doesn't look like there are any near us so it looks like we'll have to travel west. True, food in any chain restaurant is not as good as it is in small, mom & pop establishments. Once my Wife figures out what is in the Lexington style she will ultimately work to copy it at home. Best red barbecue I ever had was at a small roadside place in Enterprise, Alabama. Now I made myself drool

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by Mikey_NC

Although we have lived here for over 10 years the only barbecue we have been able to find is the white, vinegar based kind, not the red, tomato sauce kind similar to Memphis or Bama. Would anyone care to weigh in and explain why this is? I know there are exceptions such as Red Hot & Blue up in Raleigh but that is a Memphis based chain and not of North Carolina heritage. Thanks

The only good resource I can find is written from the perspective of South Carolina - but I'm sure the reasons you are asking about are the same among both states. Basically, NC and SC BBQ both traditionally used a vinegar base, and I assume it is still that way because the east is older (in terms of settlement) than the west.

BBQ History

The Scottish families who settled primarily in Williamsburg County in present day South Carolina low country are the most famous South Carolina preparers of Vinegar and Pepper barbeque. The most prominent present day Scottish barbeque family is probably the Brown family, but there is also McKenzie, Scott, McCabe and many others who have remained, like the German families, true to their heritage. This simple Vinegar and Pepper sauce is the first, and therefore the oldest, of the South Carolina basting sauces.

South Carolina mustard sauce can be clearly traced to those German settlers and is still in abundant evidence today, even after 250 years, in the names of the families who sell mustard based sauces and mustard based barbecue to the public. The Bessinger family is the most prominent in the mustard based barbeque business, but other German names are legion in the South Carolina barbeque business - Shealy, Hite, Sweatman, Sikes, Price, Lever, Meyer, Kiser, and Zeigler are other examples and there are many more.

The third type of sauce found in the Carolinas, in terms of the evolution of sauces, is Light Tomato sauce. This sauce is (or was) little more than Vinegar and Pepper with tomato ketchup added. This occurred after tomato ketchup became a readily available condiment around the turn of the last century; that is, around 1900. It was a simple thing to take the tried and true Vinegar and Pepper and add some ketchup, which brought a little sweetness and other spices to the mix. That style of sauce is most famous in North Carolina in the Piedmont region of which Lexington, North Carolina, is the acknowledged barbeque center.

The fourth sauce in South Carolina and, for that matter, the rest of the nation, is Heavy Tomato sauce. This sauce has evolved only recently, that is, in the last sixty or so years, and it's the last of the four major types. It has spread rapidly over the majority of the nation due to modern transportation, modern marketing, and the insatiable sweet tooth of the modern American.

For what it's worth, I think most people over-use the sauce in BBQ. I don't like any of the bbq sauces on pulled pork - mustard, tomato, ketchup, or vinegar. Vinegar is especially bad if over-used; it ruins the texture. My favorite BBQ is hickory smoked, pulled right off the hog, with no sauce.

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Originally Posted by anonymous

The only good resource I can find is written from the perspective of South Carolina - but I'm sure the reasons you are asking about are the same among both states. Basically, NC and SC BBQ both traditionally used a vinegar base, and I assume it is still that way because the east is older (in terms of settlement) than the west.



For what it's worth, I think most people over-use the sauce in BBQ. I don't like any of the bbq sauces on pulled pork - mustard, tomato, ketchup, or vinegar. Vinegar is especially bad if over-used; it ruins the texture. My favorite BBQ is hickory smoked, pulled right off the hog, with no sauce.

anonymous: Thanks for the input. I tend to agree with you as we have had it without sauce and ate it right off the hog. This happened when we went to one of our favorite restaurants (near our former home) and found that they were closed for a wedding celebration. The owners saw us wondering why the doors were closed yet people were inside eating and, finally, one came out and invited us in. We not only got to eat pulled pork the way the locals enjoyed it we enjoyed the company of some of the finest people around. I don't think I can name the restaurant for fear of breaking the forum rules, but it is outside of Smithfield, NC.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

BBQ is like sex, it's all different, and it's all good, quite complaining

hahahahahahahahahaha - enough said!

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

hahahahahahahahahaha - enough said!

Yeah, and when you get older it's a miracle and a blessing. Lots of great senses of humor by most posters. Best site of this type I was ever part of!