Printed from the Charlotte Observer - www.CharlotteObserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Jul. 26, 2012

Cook up some Carolina flavor when you return home

By Kathleen Purvis
Published in: Visitor's Guide

  • Carolina Barbecue Primer

    There’s an Eastern-style but not a Western-style (that’s called Lexington-style). There are three barbecue sauces, and something called butt that is a shoulder, not a backside. Everybody who comes to the Carolinas wants barbecue, but finding what you want can be confusing. Study up and impress your friends:

    Barbecue: A noun, not a verb. We cook barbecue. We do not barbecue hot dogs.

    Technically, barbecue is pork (hardly ever chicken and never beef), cooked slowly over wood coals, usually hickory. A classic Carolina barbecue restaurant will cook completely over wood, although many now cook over gas or just finish the meat over wood coals. Despite the wood coals, the barbecue shouldn’t taste smoky. Coals produce a low, steady heat but not a lot of smoke. The sauce is mixed into the meat after it’s cooked and more may be added when it’s served.

    Eastern-style: Generally found from Raleigh east toward the coast. True Eastern-style barbecue is made from the whole pig, cooked slowly and then chopped finely and mixed with sauce. The barbecue will have meat from all over the pig.

    Eastern-style sauce: Vinegar with pepper, usually red and black pepper.

    Lexington-style: Centered around Lexington, about 60 miles northeast of Charlotte, to Shelby in the west, about 50 miles from Charlotte. The meat is whole shoulder or Boston butt (part of the shoulder). It’s not always as finely chopped as Eastern-style. Also mixed with sauce as it’s chopped.

    Lexington sauce: Vinegar, pepper and some tomato, usually from ketchup.

    South Carolina: Varies from whole pig to shoulder, although whole pig is more common. Usually more coarsely chopped, and the hard skin is sometimes broken into chunks and served on the side.

    South Carolina sauce: Mustard-based, varying from yellow to more orange or gold. Spicier than vinegar sauces.

    Coleslaw: It’s a condiment, not a side dish, so it’s very finely chopped. The crunch and creamy texture complement the fine, soft pork. It’s usually served on a sandwich, or served side-by-side with barbecue in a cardboard dish or on a barbecue plate. Varies from the red, vinegar-based slaw found in Lexington-style to a yellow slaw, tinted with a little mustard, often found in Eastern N.C.

    -- Kathleen Purvis


    • Related Images

    You can take us with you. When you leave Charlotte, you might want to take these distinctively Carolinas products for cooking souvenirs -- or perhaps give some of them a try while you’re here. We’ll skip barbecue sauces, because the Charlotte 2012 Host Committee already picked a pack of those.

    1. Texas Pete. Not as molten as Tabasco, not as vinegary as Frank’s, it’s a particularly flavorful hot sauce. It’s a native of Winston-Salem and it’s required on everything from collard greens to hot dogs.

    2. Duke’s mayonnaise. Concocted during World War I by Eugenia Duke of Greenville, S.C., it’s the mayonnaise of serious Southern food fans, particularly for things like pimento cheese.

    3. Pimento cheese. What it is? It’s one of the South’s great food inventions, a blend of grated sharp cheese, diced pimentos and mayonnaise. You can use it as a sandwich, a cracker spread, even a celery-stuffer. It’s easy to make, but there are a number of Carolinas brands. Palmetto Cheese, Augusta’s Creations, Penny’s, Ruth’s and Stan’s all have fervent fans.

    4. Southern Biscuit brand flour. Southern flours are lower in protein so they produce less gluten. That’s what you need for tender biscuits, pie crusts and poundcakes. This brand is made by Midstate Mills in Newton and is one of the few state-made flours left.

    5. Moravian cookies. A religious group that settled what became Winston-Salem, the Moravians brought distinctive baked goods. The cookies are rolled so thin, they deliver an incredible snap. They’re usually sold in tubes by a couple of companies, including Salem Baking Co.

    6. Lance Crackers. Everybody from factory workers to school kids used to get through the day with “a pack of nabs,” the Southern nickname for cheese crackers. Lance Crackers come in flavors from peanut butter to cheese. Want to see where they’re made? Take the Lynx line south and you’ll pass right by it.

    7. Grits. Top grits with red-eye gravy, a little of your breakfast eggs, even shrimp. Stir cheese or butter into them. Just don’t put sugar on them -- they’re not Cream of Wheat. If you want the best, skip instant and get true stone-ground grits, such as Anson Mills grits from South Carolina.

    8. Mount Olive pickles. You might be able to find these in your supermarkets at home, but we wanted to point out: They’re made in Mount Olive, N.C., a nice town about 200 miles east of Charlotte.

    9. Cheerwine. Based in Salisbury, Cheerwine isn’t a wine, it’s a cola/cherry soda. Combined with ginger ale and pineapple juice, it makes a great church punch.

    10. Blenheim ginger ale. Made in Dillon, S.C., it is a terrific ginger ale, but our favorite is Old No. 5, the legendary “hot” ginger ale. It really is spicy enough to make your mouth a little numb, and it’s absolutely perfect mixed with bourbon.

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