Linkdown: 10/26/22 – The “Helen Turner, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner” Edition

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Monk: A few highlights from this past weekend’s Southern Foodways Alliance Fall Symposium where the focus was on barbecue: “questions about what barbecue is, who makes it, and how the craft is changing. From sliced beef brisket to pulled pork, from tacos to fire-roasted vegetables, barbecue speaks to the past, present, and future of the South and to the stories of pitmasters—the places they work, the smoke they conjure, and the sauces they stir.”

Texas Monthly Taco Editor Gustavo Arellano was a day one speaker and compared southern barbecue to Mexican barbacoa:

George and David Barber of Fresh Air Barbecue in Jackson, Georgia were named this year’s recipient of the Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award

Jiyeon Lee and Cody Taylor of Atlanta’s Heirloom Market Bar-B-Que treated folks to a Korean-inspired barbecue dinner Friday night

On day two, Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn explained why Texas-style barbecue is becoming the predominant style, both across the US and abroad

Food critic Hanna Raskin on the intersection of barbecue and alcohol

Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller emceed the weekend with stories of black pitmasters

Finally, Helen Turner of Helen’s Bar-B-Q in Brownsville, TN was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award

Native News

The Lexington Barbecue Festival made a triumphant return after taking the last two years off

The Shepard Barbecue episode of Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dives will air on Friday, November 4 at 9pm ET on Food Network

Dampf Good Barbecue has opened for regular hours at Phillis Farm of Cary; they will be serving their Texas-style barbecue Thursdays through Saturdays from 11am-6pm

Non-Native News

The Southern Smoke festival raised a whopping $1.6M this past weekend

The McRib Farewell Tour? Maybe not…

Linkdown: 8/31/22

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Monk: Our prolific friend of the blog John Tanner has been at it again making the rounds in eastern NC recently, so let’s follow along in envy to some of the better places from his recent trip.

Wilber’s BBQ in Goldsboro has been back for a couple of years now but in his first dining room meal in some years, John and co. are wowed

Martelle’s Feed House is a restaurant with a buffet that includes great ribs and fantastic barbecue, located in the tiny town of Englehard (pop. 155), a (according to Wikipedia) “fishing community in Lake Landing Township on the mainland of Hyde County, North Carolina” near the Pimlico Sound

John also tried out Old Colony Smokehouse in Edenton, “a fine addition to eastern North Carolina” where they hold onto old traditions but also incorporate new trends

John passes on the buffet at Captain Bob’s Restaurant and Catering in Hertford for a pork plate but immediately regrets that decision

One of the highlights of his trip was a visit to Sid’s Catering in Beaulaville, a small town in southeast North Carolina

Non-Native News

Things are looking dicey for turkeys this Thanksgiving; this is from Heim BBQ

The BBQuest Eater Heat Map

Dispatches from the Tales from the Pits BBQ + Bourbon road trip

Linkdown: 6/10/20

The Wilber’s Barbecue pits have officially been refired

Congrats to Desiree Robinson of Cozy Corner Restaurant, 2020 BBQ Hall of Fame Inductee and the first African-American woman to be honored with that distinction

Backyard Barbecue Pit is a black-owned restaurant to support in the Triangle of NC

Black-owned barbecue restaurants that ship overnight nationwide: Bludso’s BBQ, Interstate Barbecue, The Bar-B-Q Shop (sauces)

Jones Bar-B-Q is among this list of black owned businesses to support

Greg Gatlin of Gatlin’s BBQ in Houston spoke with Rien Fertel in this oral history for Foodways Texas in 2013

Helen Turner of Helen’s Bar-B-Que was interviewed by the Southern Foodways in 2012

“The Cooking Gene” by Michael Twitty has been on my list and I need to get around to it

Derrick Walker’s of Smoke-A-Holics BBQ in Fort Worth is one of four pitmasters to help the backyard smoker

Lolis Eric Elie remembers David McAtee