Charlotte Magazine – July 2019

60 C 9

SLAW

Whether you prefer your cabbage shredded or diced and scooped like

ice cream, the dressing is what polarizes barbecue eaters. Choose your

meat first, then slaw to match. I think a creamy, mayonnaise-based slaw

goes well with smoked chicken, but I prefer a vinegary, brown (OK, ugly)

slaw with my brisket or smoked pork. Celery seeds are also a must—and

so is dental floss after eating them.

SAUCE

Easterners will tell you to “git” at the first sign of a Heinz bottle, but

loading up on the tomato-based sauce at Stamey’s in Greensboro

or “The Monk” (one of the local monikers for Lexington Barbecue) in

Lexington will earn you respect amongst regulars. I prefer my whole hog

almost pickled with lightly sweetened apple cider and white vinegars

and lots of cracked black pepper. All other flavors besides hickory smoke

and residual bourbon from the night before are wholly unwelcome.

Slaw, Sauce,

and Sins

Respect your barbecue with these essential

sides—and avoid these crimes against the ’cue

SINS

1 Don’t put sauce on anything before you taste it.

2 Eating ribs with a fork is just wrong.

3 Eat barbecue with your hands (see above), but resist licking

your sticky ˜ ngers. That’s what paper towels are for.

4 If there’s no sign of smoking wood or the smell of hickory,

pecan, or oak in the air, it’s not barbecue. Don’t trust anyone

who tells you otherwise. —Ben Jarrell

60 CHARLOTTEMAGAZINE.COM // JUNE 2019

(Clockwise from

top) Lexington-

style tomato-

based sauce;

eastern-style

vinegar sauce;

red slaw from

Gary’s Barbecue;

mustard-based

slaw from

Bill Spoon’s

Barbecue.