They put tomatoes in the barbecue sauce in western North Carolina, but in the eastern part of the state you’ll find a thin, peppered, vinegar-based sauce. Ideally, the whole hog is cooked with wood or coals, and then hacked up and doused with some of that sauce for trays and sandwiches. Unfortunately, true, wood-cooked pork is becoming ever more rare in the Tar Heel State. Jared Brumbaugh, reporting for Public Radio East of eastern NC, visits three classic eastern Carolina barbecue pits that still do things the old-fashioned way. Continue reading
Category: Ayden
Pete Jones began smoking hogs over wood in Ayden, NC in 1947. The sorcery that combines hogs with the smoke from oak to produce whole-hog barbecue is still practiced today at Skylight Inn BBQ by three of Pete’s descendents, one of whom is his grandson Sam Jones. Today, there’s also chicken and a couple of sides and desserts but whole-hog Carolina barbecue is what it’s all about. When Sam Jones, who runs the pits at Skylight, became interested in expanding his offerings, he wisely chose not to tamper with Skylight’s success. Instead, he opened Sam Jones BBQ ten minutes away in Winterville. Continue reading