Carolina BBQ tour
This Okie goes on an epic whole hog journey.
Whole hog barbecue is both a spectacle and a delicacy that can be hard to find. While most regional barbecue styles have successfully migrated across the country, whole hog is largely confined to the Carolinas. To find this unique BBQ brand at its peak, you really need to hit the backroads of North and South Carolina, where the style has been perfected over generations at joints often found off country highways or tucked into quaint neighborhoods.
Last week, my longtime friend Graham and I ventured on a nearly 1,200-mile clockwise pilgrimage through northwest South Carolina, across North Carolina and down the coast of the Low Country.
Somewhat ironically, our trip began at Lewis Barbecue in Greenville, South Carolina, the Central Texas-style joint opened in 2015 by John Lewis. This would be our only non-Carolina-style stop, but it was one of the best. The sliced brisket was as good as it gets. I ordered a pound of both fatty and lean slices that featured perfect bark and savory meat.
Graham and I shared a link of the Texas Hot Guts sausage, which was a beef and pork mix that had a sharp kick of heat. However, Lewis also helped us start off our pork journey in style as the ribs were smoked and glazed to perfection.
An hour up the road in Shelby, North Carolina, is Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge. This diner-like joint has been smoking pork shoulders since 1946. Served on styrofoam plates with baked beans, red slaw and fries, the restaurant had a down-home feel.
The pork was solid but not at the level of the whole hog restaurants that awaited. The best thing on the menu may have been the finger-shaped hushpuppies that I couldn’t stop eating even after being full on two barbecue dinners within a couple of hours.
Picnic Barbecue in Durham was the first whole hog joint of the trip. The pork had a mild white oak smokiness but was a tad dry. Picnic’s Pig Whistle sauce was billed as the “Great Carolina Compromise” as it aimed for an East meets West style. It had a little kick, which I liked, but felt like competing flavors. I did dig the fried okra, mac and cheese, hushpuppies and chocolate chess pie.
Skylight Inn Barbecue in Ayden, North Carolina, was the star of the trip. This historic whole hog joint has long been at the top of the Carolina barbecue world, and the hype lived up. Once the doors were opened at 10 a.m., we entered to find pork being chopped on a wooden block behind the counter. My dish was complex and flavorful. Crispy skin bits were found throughout, including one large magical piece.
Like a burnt end from Joe’s in Kansas City, or sliced brisket from Franklin’s in Austin, this large, crispy bite on top of a forkful of pork immediately made my BBQ Mount Rushmore.
Ten minutes up the road in Winterville is Sam Jones Barbecue, founded in 2015 by the grandson of Skylight’s founder. If Sam Jones had just been a replica of Skylight, it would have been worth a visit. However, I was pleased to see a slightly different flavor profile. I lean towards Skylight’s pork, but my helping at Sam Jones was nearly as tasty with skin crips throughout.
The ribs were the best on the trip. Large, yet a consistent texture throughout, the meat was the perfect amount of tenderness.
The road trip ended back in South Carolina at Rodney Scott’s BBQ in Charleston. I visited his Birmingham location two years ago and found a solid meal. But the flagship joint was stellar.
Located in a residential neighborhood, Rodney Scott’s smoked pork first hit our noses a couple of blocks away. The pork was juicy and too good to be hidden on a sandwich. The ribs were solid, but I was most impressed by the moist and tender chicken that may have been the best I had ever tasted.
The final three stops — Skylight, Sam Jones and Rodney Scott’s — proved to be the pinnacle of Carolina whole hog barbecue. Each offered the symphony of flavors you want in a helping of pork that includes portions from throughout the hog. The crispy skins provide added flavor and texture.
Whole hog is a spectacle unlike anything else in the barbecue world, and I was fortunate enough to have several pitmasters invite me back to see the cooks in action. There was something spiritual about watching split hogs dripping juices onto burning coals that released the hog-flavored smoke back to the animal.
That style, which combines meat and skin, is well worth the journey.
Upon returning home, I was rereading Sam Jones’ book, “Whole Hog BBQ,” and loved this description: “If whole hog is the old testament of barbecue, it’s that shatteringly crisp skin that is the gospel according to the Jones family.”
I couldn’t agree more.
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That crisp skin is the piece de resistance at Skylight Inn. Was doing work a few years ago in Jacksonville but had a day to road trip up there and to Sam Jones BBQ as well. Very much worth the drive.
Looks EPIC <3