You say to never get in an argument about NC BBQ but you mischarecterized eastern versus western! Eastern is what is swimming in sauce.
the real dividing line on BBQ is what is cooked using gas versus coals.
.
Well, I don’t know where you are eating your Q, but I have NEVER seen Q swimming in anything resembling a sauce east of Greensboro. I have eaten Q all over the eastern part of the state (wife is from Wilson County and MIL lives in Johnston) for well over 30 years and not once have I seen anyone douse their Q with sauce.
Lived in Charlotte for a while and couldn’t find decent Q. Everything was served in one of those paper rectangular “bowls” with the meat covered in sauce. I tried to eat Q in Asheville once (WCU grad, so I have spent many years in the mountains as well) and it was served the same way.
I will grant you that most Q east of the Triad is cooked over gas and most joints in the piedmont are wood fired joints, with exceptions in both areas. But sauce is like a four letter word in eastern Q joints.
Oh, NOW you’ve done it.
“the real dividing line on BBQ is what is cooked using gas versus coals.”
.......finally!! somebody who knows what the hell he’s talking about...gas cooked hog is little more than baked pork....it’s not BBQ at all....it’s the lazy man’s way of doing things....real BBQ is cooked over hard wood coals and takes more effort....it also takes a lot of wood and reliable suppliers become harder to find as NC becomes more urban...that’s another reason why guys went to gas....I hear B.S. all the time with guys bragging on this place or that....but for me, I want to see a wood pile when I get out of the truck.
“the real dividing line on BBQ is what is cooked using gas versus coals.”
.......finally!! somebody who knows what the hell he’s talking about...gas cooked hog is little more than baked pork....it’s not BBQ at all....it’s the lazy man’s way of doing things....real BBQ is cooked over hard wood coals and takes more effort....it also takes a lot of wood and reliable suppliers become harder to find as NC becomes more urban...that’s another reason why guys went to gas....I hear B.S. all the time with guys bragging on this BBQ place or that....but for me, I want to see a wood pile when I get out of the truck.