This is the full guest post from Dan Levine, aka Porky Leswine, the author of the BBQJew blog. We ran a portion of this post earlier but now have the complete post with BBQ chart.
"People who would put ketchup in the sauce they feed to innocent children are capable of most anything... [W]e, the Eastern North Carolina purveyors of pure barbecue, will not be roadkill for our western kin." - Former N&O columnist Dennis Rogers reflecting on a legislative proposal to make Lexington's Barbecue Festival the state's official celebration of BBQ (see more here.)
When Andrea offered me the opportunity to write a couple of guest posts for this blog, I knew I wanted to write something in tribute to Dennis Rogers. It was Rogers who carried on a notorious and always humorous intrastate feud with Jerry Bledsoe, who used to write for the now defunct Greensboro Daily News. Bledsoe extolled the virtues of Western-style barbecue as served in towns like Greensboro, Salisbury, Lexington and other parts of the Piedmont. Rogers, on the other hand, playfully denigrated Western-style 'cue any chance he got, instead singing the praises of the Eastern-style 'cue served in Wilson, Greenville, Goldsboro and elsewhere.
In honor of the N&O's key role in the ongoing feud between Western and Eastern disciples, and because I am a Triangle-native so can claim neutrality on the debate, below is an objective summary of the two styles. First, I should note two things, with sincere apologies to Dennis Rogers: 1) The differences between the styles are truly quite minor outside of the cut of meat used. 2) BBQ joints often incorporate elements of both styles (for example, Allen & Son in Chapel Hill cooks shoulders but serves them with a quintessential Eastern-style sauce), so categorizing a place as Eastern or Western is not as clear-cut as Rogers and Bledsoe suggested.
| Western | Eastern | |
| Geography | Burlington and west | Raleigh and east |
| Origin of Style | Circa 1910s | Colonial Times |
| Meat |
Pork shoulders Chopped, sliced, coarse-chopped |
Whole hog Chopped |
| The Sauce | "Dip" made w/vinegar, hot pepper, salt, other spices, a bit of ketchup | "Sauce" made w/vinegar, hot pepper, salt, other spices, NO ketchup |
| Cooking Method | Traditionally slow-cooked over hickory/oak coals. This method is dying off but is more prevalent than down east. | Traditionally slow-cooked over hickory/oak coals. Gas and electric cookers are far too common but a proud few still cook over wood. |
| Typical Sides | Hush puppies or rolls, red slaw, fries. | Hush puppies or corn bread, white slaw, boiled potatoes, Brunswick stew, greens, more. |
| Beverage | Iced tea (sweet, of course) | Iced tea (sweet, of course) |
| Best Virtue | Orders of "outside brown" are divine |
Whole hog is the original American BBQ |
| Famous Joints | Hursey's, Lexington #1, Stamey's | B's, Skylight Inn, Wilber's |
Traditionally trained as a documentary news photographer, 
Comments
One more example...
Sat, 10/10/2009 - 09:29 — roiI can't believe you left out Bill Ellis BBQ in Wilson- it seriously trumps Wilber's now.