Monk: Jeremy Yoder of Mad Scientist BBQ learns to cook a whole hog with Will Stafford of Sam Jones BBQ during last summer’s Windy City Smokeout in Chicago.
Chicago
Linkdown: 12/1/21
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In a collaboration you simply love to see: Jon G’s is collaborating with Salud Beer Shop to create a series of barbecue-inspired pizzas available until all month until December 24. The Monk clan used to live down the street from Salud when we lived in NoDa and I am a huge supporter of what Jason and his wife Dairelyn have built; what started out as a kickass bottle shop soon expanded to a small brewery and coffee shop upstairs before offering creative pizzas more recently. Its long been my favorite beer bar in Charlotte and all of North Carolina. And you don’t have to take just my word for it; they’ve been voted “Best Beer Bar” in the U.S. three years running.
Put together by mutual friend Stephen Philpott, these pizzas look simply delicious:
The Jon: Brisket, Jalapenos, Pickled Red Onions, Jon G’s Barbecue Sauce, Salt and Vinegar chips, Chives, Smoked Sea Salt, Black Pepper.
The Kelly: Cheesey Tex Sausage Link, Mozzarella, Bacon, Chopped Calabrian Chilies, Ham, Crispy Cajun Onions, House Honey Mustard, Chives.
The Philpott: Cheerwine Sausage, House Chimichurri, Salud Kutless Lager Braised Sweet Onions, Bianco Dinapoli Tomatoes, Mozzarella.
The pizzas are available at Salud and I hope to try at least one but hopefully all three this month.
Native News
Jon G’s will finally be at Rhino Market in Wesley Heights tomorrow
Carolina Smoke, a food truck in Morganton, has opened its brick and mortar dubbed Carolina Smoke Barbeque Grill and Copper Still
Barbecue books from Asheville-area Buxton Hall and 12 Bones make great gifts
The First Pickles, Pigs, & Swigs Festival in Mount Olive looked to be a success
Non-Native News
More on the reopening of Franklin Barbecue indoor dining
Marie, Let’s Eat! makes a stop at the 75-year old Carlile’s BBQ in Birmingham
Dr. BBQ is a spokesman for the National Turkey Federation and recently stopped by WGN Radio
Bringles Smoking Oasis opens this Saturday in Nashville
Zavala’s Barbecue is in expansion mode
Linkdown: 9/9/20
Featured
Food & Wine Magazine released a huge barbecue blitz last week just in time for Labor Day
From writer Caroline Schnapp reflecting on her childhood in Durham at local institution Bullock’s Bar-B-Q to an unassuming barbecue joint in Alabama between a race track and a Bass Pro Shop
…to tips and recipes for the home smoker from the different types of sauces
…what spices to use to make a rub
…to which cuts of meat to smoke. Plus a whole lot more in the original link.
Native News
Raleigh Magazine has the latest on the still-about-to-be-booming Raleigh barbecue scene; the article notes that Ed Mitchell’s new venture The Preserve hopes to finish its kitchen soon for takeout and that Friendship Barbecue is not moving forward
Sam Jones BBQ’s Raleigh location is on track for a November opening
The Gaston Gazette profiles the Webb family of Red Brides Barbecue Lodge in addition to two other non-barbecue families in the area
Behind The Redneck BBQ Lab in Johnston County is a brother/sister duo with some serious competition barbecue pedigree
The last chance to claim your #SummerofCue t-shirt is today by 3pm
Non-Native News
Fresh off the release of Chef’s Table: BBQ, Rodney Scott’s got a book coming out next year titled “Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Every Day Is a Good Day” that is co-written with Lolis Eric Elie; you can pre-order it now (h/t Robert Moss’s The Cue Sheet)
Scott also shares his favorite places to eat in Charleston
The Charleston Post and Courier writes up the SC Midlands barbecue restaurants like Big T Bar-B-Q, True BBQ, and Hite’s BBQ, who were all featured in the Food & Wine 50 states article
RIP Mike Wilson of Saw’s BBQ, who recently passed away unexpectedly; he spent his adult life in the Birmingham area but grew up in Charlotte
Chicago restaurants are also pivoting to barbecue during the pandemic
Birria, a meat stew traditionally made from goat meat, but occasionally made from beef or mutton, is having a moment in San Antonio
I look forward to continuing to follow this story about John T. Edge and how the Southern Foodways Alliance will move forward
Friday Find: Tracing Barbecue from West Africa to Chicago’s South Side on the Sporkful podcast
Food writer Michael Twitty, writer behind The Cooking Gene, explores the origins of barbecue with Sporkful host Dan Pashman.
“They call [BBQ] suya in West Africa,” Michael says. “Suya, dibi, and piri piri are all little parts of what we would consider the barbecuing system in the [American] south.”
Then, in a kind of part 2 from last week’s podcast from Gravy, Pashman heads to the south side of Chicago to explore how that barbecue tradition migrated during the Great Migration out of the American South in the mid 1900’s. There, he speaks with Gary Kennebrew of Uncle John’s BBQ, who still identifies as being southern.
In fact, Garry is originally from Alabama, and he moved to Chicago with his family, when he was nine.
“Alabama will always be my home,” Garry says. “[But] I have grown to like Chicago.”
For more on the Sporkful, check out their previous episodes here. We previously featured a podcast from them on a pitmaster from Centerville, TN who moonlights as a preacher on Sundays.