A couple of big barbecue books are now available for pre-order. “Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ” by Rodney Scott and Lolis Eric Elie will be released on March 16 and Adrian Miller’s “Black Smoke” from UNC Press will be out on April 27. Both are available for preorder now here and here, and I can’t wait to read both of them to get different perspectives on barbecue. I strongly encourage you to do the same. -Monk
“Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue” by Adrian Miller @soulfoodscholar is available now for preorder wherever books are sold (on sale April 27th) https://t.co/4KZr3y8hKt
You might not associate Illinois with BBQ but 17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro was certifiably 100-Mile-BBQ-worthy — a place you’d drive two hours to experience. RIP Mike Mills, its genial owner and pitmaster. An Illinois culinary legend in every sense. https://t.co/Oi3qQk07se
CM Smokehouse from Cade Mercer gives South Austin a new and promising food truck option
Cade Mercer (formerly of Guess) is slinging BBQ in South Austin at his own truck CM Smokehouse. The usual suspects with a brisket melt and baby back “wings.” The fried ribs are addictive. pic.twitter.com/FBtgkKEKMa
Texas Monthly makes the case for a barbecue tour of the Texoma region north of Dallas
From brown gravy sauce to pecan pie with brisket, joints from Denison to Gainesville provide lots of solid (and surprising) options. https://t.co/FwENaSzUk7
My new year’s resolution: I will finally do pork steak’s in my backyard. Mark my word. Now, just to find a local grocery or butcher shop that has them or will cut them for me. -Monk
Apple City BBQ in Taylorsville introduces a few new menu items for 2021 that have a local bent to them: their hot links will be sourced from Chapman Cattle Company in Alexander County and their grits will be stone ground the old fashioned way at Linney’s Water Mill
Non-Native News
RIP to Mike Mills of 17th Street Barbecue, simply known as “The Legend”
Ribs n Reds is NC-born Chef Bryce Shuman’s pivot to barbecue
With his delivery-only pop-up, Ribs n Reds, Bryce Shuman offers spareribs and fried chicken that are exquisitely rendered while retaining a familiar, unpretentious quality. https://t.co/nJTOhWO4AS
Kevin’s BBQ Joints with a couple of recent posts about the knives and sharpeners that barbecue joints use
Want to know what your knives your favorite BBQ joints are using? I talked to 82 spots(with more to be added) to see what they use for trimming, slicing, etc.https://t.co/J8QZ3v9BDW
NEW: As a logical follow-up to my article on knives, I asked 134 BBQ joints what sharpeners and/or honing tools they use at their restaurants. The responses are at times creative, clever, and altogether very informative.https://t.co/GxnW0s2Znz
This week, Adrian Miller, the James Beard Award-winning author and self-proclaimed “Soul Food Scholar” shared the cover art and preorder link for his forthcoming book entitled “Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue.” As I noted in my recent Barbecue Bros Book Club entry for “North Carolina’s Roadside Eateries” by D.G. Martin, while the John T. Edges and Bob Garners of the world have given us so much in terms of exposing us to places we might never have known about otherwise, it’s well past time to get a different perspective.
I am very much looking forward to reading both this book as well as Rodney Scott’s upcoming book to get just that. “Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue” will be out April 22, 2021 on University of North Carolina Press.
“Black Smoke celebrates the significant contributions that African Americans have made to the American barbecue story. You’ll learn how African Americans honed and popularized a cuisine rooted in Native American culinary tradition, and became its most effective ambassadors. I profile fascinating barbecuers from the past two centuries, look at different aspects of African American barbecue culture, and opine about barbecue’s future.”
The BBQ Review (@BbqRate) is a Twitter account I just found out about
Hubba Hubba Smokehouse, Flat Rock, NC. Cool local village w/bakery, shops, restaurants. Limited menu due to COVID. Excellent texture and flavor, prefer the great mustard sauce to the very sweet red sauce. 8.3 Highly recommend a detour if you’re on I-26. #bbq#NorthCarolinapic.twitter.com/WcZICW3cXe
Horn Barbecue has finally opened in Oakland (finally!)
Seriously. Honestly. Truly. It's happening.
Horn Barbecue is finally opening on Saturday in West Oakland (for real this time). Expect long lines and the best smoked brisket in the Bay Area https://t.co/nKNEgkuRvU
Texas Monthly BBQ Week specials are happening all over the state this week. Click on "Browse Specials" at this link to find where to get beef rib shepherd's pie, bacon ribs, brisket-stuffed chile rellenos, and even BBQ spaghetti: https://t.co/yoLuyGPsZN
As NC moved to phase 2 of its restrictions last Friday at 5pm, BBQ King was among the barbecue restaurants that reopened with reduced capacity
We are excited to announce at 5pm our dining room will be open with certain restrictions🎉. Remember we will still offer call ahead curb service👍. (704-735-1112) pic.twitter.com/DrHbKZeDai
J.C. Reid wonders if online orders are here to stay (in Texas)
One positive thing to come out of the pandemic for BBQ is the shift to online pre-orders, which saves customers time and still allows joints to maintain quality, writes @jcreidtxhttps://t.co/Hb8UCT1cBZ
Midwood Smokehouse pitmasters Matthew Berry and Michael Wagner list out where they dine out in Charlotte (presumably this was produced with Charlotte Agenda before the pandemic)
Robert Moss does some test kitchen-ing on no brine vs dry brine vs wet brine in the following thread and (spoiler alert) comes out on the side of dry brine
The Texas Monthly BBQ Special Edition is on sale now
Our BBQ special edition is out now and available on newsstands and via our General Store.
Your ultimate guide to Texas barbecue, the special edition features 200+ BBQ joints and pro tips for smoking meat at home. Sure to make you drool. https://t.co/P3t4Ru15G9
The Tales from the Pits Podcast celebrates their third birthday; congrats to them!
We launched this show three years ago. It’s been a heck of a ride so far, we can’t wait to see what’s next! Can’t say it enough, thank you to everyone who has been a guest on the show and to all who have listened.
We also celebrated a birthday/anniversary/blog-a-versary recently, our 8th. Thank you for your support and let us know if you have any suggestions for the site!