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@Jmsmith802: No prob; thank you for the great photo!

The REAL Eastern NC Sauce!

It's imperative that you use apple cider vinegar only. Combine vinegar (1 qt.), brown sugar to desired sweetness, you cannot use too much, a tablespoon of mustard, tablespoon of ketchup, for color only, texas pete hot sauce to taste, worchester sauce, crushed red pepper, black pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and I like to add honey. Put all in a pot and heat until everything blends together, let cool and sit for about a month before putting it on you chopped NC pork BBQ!

All of these sauce recipes are way, way off base. Eastern NC born and raised right here. I've been eating eastern NC chopped barbeque since I was old enough to eat meat!!!! Growing up my dad was the cook at every pig pickin' and has always made his own eastern NC barbecue sauce. I'm currently employed at an eastern NC BBQ restaurant!!! Boss Hog's Backyard BBQ in Washington and Greenville, North Carolina if anyone is ever out in our neck of the woods, feel free to come have a taste of real eastern NC chopped BBQ! Grilled chicken and ribs are also amazing (with a thicker, sweeter rib-appropriate sauce if you want it) and both the barbecue and rib sauce are both homemade from a special recipe. If anyone knows their eastern NC barbecue sauce, it's me. It practically runs through my veins. So believe me when I say that NONE of these recipes posted here are even REMOTELY close. Anyone who makes these sauces MIGHT very well enjoy them, but you are NOT eating eastern NC chopped barbecue, kiddos! Trust me!

And as for the tomato dispute, Lexington-style barbecue sauce is a thick, heavily tomato-based sauce that 90% of the population of eastern NC will agree is disgusting. On a less biased note, it's EXTREMELY different from eastern NC barbecue sauce. BUT to dispute a few previously made comments, eastern-NC-style barbecue sauce absolutely DOES contain some tomato. Ketchup, of all things, actually. Not a lot. It's a very, very runny practically watery sauce, and the list of ingredients has several (very important!) ingredients that none of these recipes listed here seem to cover. Sugar, hot sauce and a few other things being among the forgotten ingredients.

Sadly, I'm not willing to part with the recipe. As a true eastern North Carolinian, I'd just invite all of y'all over for a pig pickin' but alas, no can do.

Best of luck finding that true eastern NC barbecue experience. Just a heads up, you aren't going to find real eastern NC barbecue anywhere west of Raleigh (and that landmark is a generous one.) If you want real eastern NC barbecue, come to the coast!

Add another vote for Petsi Pies. The owner, Renee, is one of the kindest individuals you will ever meet, all business aside. She just happens to make some of the finest baked goods in the area, as well. It is one of my personal joys to go to this shop and see what they have that day. My favorites are the peach blackberry pie in the summer, and the apple, pear, cranberry pie with walnut streusel topping in the fall. The menu changes with the season - I highly recommend visiting!

Great post, so nice to see all of the rules lined up in a row, on one easy to digest (and print) page. Thanks!

4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims."

Wouldn't sushi and the raw bar be included in this?

I've read all of Michael Pollan's book and this is considered more guideline than commandments. The first one is just the first general step. He's referring to, say, Go-Gurt. She wouldn't know what to do with it - brush her teeth? As for eating healthy - I'm a busy college student but I make it a conscious decision to eat right since I've done enough reading to know that poor diet high in animal-based proteins and fats is what is driving the obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even cancer in our country. Don't eat organic - it is often shipped from very far away so it's not always that good for you since it's not fresh and has a high carbon footprint due to transportation. I go to the grocery store twice a week and spend about $30 ($60/wk) on fruits and vegetables and seeds/nuts mostly. It would be convenient for me to just eat at fast food restaurants and get my quick heavy fix of calories, but if i ate twice a day at Taco John's, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.. it would cost me about ten dollars a day ($70/wk). Or even eating on campus costs about $50-60 so it's looks like it's better to just make my own food at home. And it's MUCH cheaper to make your OWN pizzas instead of ordering them out all the time. It's just less convenient. I actually love the time I spend making my food... cutting the vegetables. It creates so much anticipation for what you're about to eat you're about to explode by the time you finally get to eat it.

The problem with corn-fed beef is that the cattle are literally sick when slaughtered. A grass fed cow reaches slaughter weight around 4 years (~48 months), but a corn fed cow is grass fed for 6 months and then sent to a feedlot where they are fed a corn/grain based diet until slaughtered at 14-16 months (about 8 months to reach 48 month equivalent). The grain, that their digestive tracks aren't meant to digest, can make them very sick. The biggest health problem seen on feedlots is bloat from all the grain that they're systems just can't properly break down which creates large amounts of gas (leading to methane that gets in the air). Because the corn makes them so sick, they are injected with antibiotics (which you then eat). Your food is only as good as what your food ate. Of course the beef tastes different - corn is the basis of almost our whole diets by sweetening up this or that or making foods more appealing. But the meat tastes so empty compared to properly prepared grass-fed beef. It's not really the humanity of these operations that keeps me from eating beef, it's knowing that the food I'm eating would have died within a few months after if not slaughtered at 14 months from health complications due to force fed corn.

You find once you care about what you eat and where it's coming from, all of these guidelines are pretty much common sense and come pretty easy to follow. Most of the rest of the world consider food always near the top of the priority list - and they don't have the rates of disease as we see in this country. Wonder why?

@ intheyearofthepig

That was a great post!!!

I must say though, that even what some of us call "bad BBQ", is still more often than not, better than a lot of other options out there. It makes me wonder, is there a such thing as bad BBQ?

@ roxi

That sounds like a tastey idea. I've used Coke as a marinade before, but never thought of putting in a Carolina style sauce.

Thanks for the idea!

Enjoying all the comments. Am I the only one who adds a can of Coke to my N.C. BBQ?

@ efreehling

I hope I didn't come across harsh. If so, I am sorry.

Va. BBQ originated in Fredericksburg. From what have gathered, they smoke their meat there, and ship it out to their stores, which doesn't make things any better. To me, good BBQ must be made on site. I know the one near me heats their Q up in a microwave, which really turned me off. It wasn't bad, but you could tell it wasn't fresh, so I avoid the place.

There is a pretty good place in Williamsburg, called Pierces, but sadly they decided to expand outwards, and the stores not located in "the Burg", have their Q sent to them, and not smoked on site. Such a shame, as that can lead to them getting a bad name. Many consider them the best in that area, but I found that a place called Hog Wild is much better. Not only do they have great Q, you can choose from different sauce, or have none at all. They also have good Cajun dishes there as well.

@ efreehling

How is a place calling itself Virginia Barbecue an oxymoron? It is in Virginia obviously. I guess you could say the "oxymoron" is that they aren't doing anything different to their Q to call themselvs as such. To be honest, your not missing a thing. There are a lot of great BBQ joints in Va., many even better than Carolinas more popular establishments, but that isn't one of them(or should I say, they, as there are several locations across the state). My local Va. BBQ doesn't even smoke their meat on site. What the... ?

@ stike

Good point. "Grilling" and "barbecuing" are methods of cooking. When one "barbecues", it means they are cooking slow and low. I get a good laugh from those who say they're cranking up the BBQ, then grill burgers and hot dogs. I find this most with my friends and family from the northeast and northwest.

One thing I would like ot point out, is when it comes to Eastern Carolina style BBQ, you do not smoke your shoulder with hickory, or any other woods to flavor it. A heavy wood induced flavor will overpower the vinegar sauce. At least that's how I came to know it.

If you do smoke your meat, it should taste great with no sauce at all. Sauce is just an added pleasure.

I'm just glad to hear that some people realize where the real "Q" is. I love it all, but I find that the Carolinas, and Tennessee have it down to a science. I even enjoy the South Carolina mustard based sauce. It sounds crazy, but it's damn good stuff. Don't get me wrong though, you can find great "Q" in Virginia, but it's all based on the regions around it.

@Southern_bella: I admit, I don't have much to compare to, I did mention it was my first trip to Eastern NC and the first vinegar sauce I made :)

It appears that I've seen the light, but need some schoolin'...