Duke vs Kentucky

[roywhite]

Any decent/good/great BBQ places in Charlotte for this weekend? Please help. Thanks in advance.

Can't speak with any personal experience about Charlotte BBQ, but have recently come across an interesting web-site that features local restaurants..
roadfood.com For example, if you search North Carolina restaurants, it comes up with about 30 places, many of which naturally turn out to be BBQ joints. It's also a good resource for travelling and looking for places to eat other than national chains.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Any decent/good/great BBQ places in Charlotte for this weekend? Please help. Thanks in advance.

Alas, no Smithfield's Chicken & BBQ in Charlotte but I'm sure you'll find some good "western NC style" Q there.

[BCGroup]

No personal recommendations, but here are some links:

http://www.practical-barbecue-grill-...charlotte.html
http://charlotte.citysearch.com/best.../barbecue_food
http://cityguide.aol.com/charlotte/bestbarbecue

[hokieDEVIL83]

My first post and it involves BBQ and a Kentucky fan of all things, WOW!

As a born and raised resident of Charlotte, I feel like I could recomend a ton of places. However, I will only tell you the one place you HAVE to try (IMO).

Macs Speedshop (on South Blvd)

heres the link: http://www.macspeedshop.com/

And might I HIGHLY recomend the beef brisket sandwhich w/ mac & cheese!

Good luck, let me know what you think!

[CLT Devil]

I concur with HokieDevil. Mac's Speed Shop on S. Blvd is the best Charlotte has to offer. They slow cook the meat and serve it a couple of styles. I ate Lexingon BBQ on the way to the game last Sat, hard to beat that. Make sure you try the green bean carrerole and the mac-n-cheese at Mac's.

If you're looking for some good home cooking try the Coffee Cup, The Dish or Mert's.

[Indoor66]

Take the time to drive to Lexington - a little ways up I-85. Go to Stamey's of to the Courthouse Cafe. Learn to live large!

[ricks68]

Ha Ha. Beat everyone else to it!!!! Nothing else to say about it. In fact, don't even really want to talk about it. But had to be the first since the season is now done. Now I will return to lurking mode.

ricks

[Johnboy]

Funny you should bring this up. I had some of the best 'cue I've ever had at a private party/pig pickin' last weekend. Homemade sauce with the pig laid out on the grill. It had been prepared over gas, but he'd added hickory smoking chips that actually seemed to work well. The sauce was the stuff, though - just the right combination of vinegar, spiciness and sweetness. Good pig.

[weezie]

Ozzie's brisket recipe was superb!

[DukieInKansas]

Ozzie's brisket recipe was superb!

Can you share it? I'm a heathen who has actually never cooked a brisket. I just get others to do it for me.

[DukeUsul]

We recently moved to SW Durham from Cary. I finally made it over to Allen & Son in Chappa Heeya. Excellent. I am very impressed. The smoke flavor comes right through and the sauce was excellent. Loved the brunswick stew. My wife loves the Friday night special banana pudding.

Is it good or bad that we're only about 5 miles away?

[allenmurray]

We recently moved to SW Durham from Cary. I finally made it over to Allen & Son in Chappa Heeya. Excellent. I am very impressed. The smoke flavor comes right through and the sauce was excellent. Loved the brunswick stew. My wife loves the Friday night special banana pudding.

Is it good or bad that we're only about 5 miles away?

The ribs are great as well, though they only have them certain nights.

Given that you are only five miles away I would reccomend getting your cholesterol checked regularly (like maybe 4 times a week). Go ahead and have your doc put you on blood pressure medication now, as a precautionary measure, even if you do not have high blood pressure.

Allen & Son BBQ rocks!

[superdave]

Has anyone tried the BBQ Joint lately? Had some the other day it's quite good.

I'd be interested in a good brisket recipe as well!

[jjasper0729]

I'm going to claim East Coast Bias. 'Ole Time on Western in Raleigh is the best that I can find so far (short of my cousin doing his own on his cooker all day before the pig-pickin' starts)

[DukeUsul]

The ribs are great as well, though they only have them certain nights.

Given that you are only five miles away I would reccomend getting your cholesterol checked regularly (like maybe 4 times a week). Go ahead and have your doc put you on blood pressure medication now, as a precautionary measure, even if you do not have high blood pressure.

Allen & Son BBQ rocks!

Agreed on the ribs. I had them the last time I went. They are very tangy and spicy. Their rib sauce is a lot like the pork bbq sauce, except it does have some tomato base in it - but it's still got a ton of vinegar. It was nice that it wasn't overly sweet like you get at most chain restaurants these days.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Ozzie's brisket recipe was superb!

Thanks Weezie. I'll tell my mom that you liked it!

Since someone has asked, I'll copy the recipe here. Oh, this is for beef brisket, just to eliminate any question about that. I find it funny that it is on the main board in the Duke-Kentucky thread.

Val's Brisket:
Have butcher cut off excess fat when you buy the meat.
Rinse with cold water
Take one package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix and smear it over one side of meat.
Open another package and spread it over the other side.
Lay in pan fat side down.
Add water to pan until there is approx. 1/8 inch in pan
Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Cook at 350 for 3 hours.
Open carefully to avoid steam, stick fork into meat. If tender, remove from oven. If not tender, cook another 30 minutes and check again.
When done, open up and let steam out.
Take meat out of pan and put it in a container. We use a Tupperware type plastic container.
Add water to pan to make gravy - all that onion soup mix, meat drippings and bits and pieces of brisket make the gravy!
Pour a little gravy over the meat, cover it and place in the refrigerator overnight to cool. Put the rest of the gravy in a separate container and put that in the refrigerator too.
Slice the meat when cool. I use an electric slicer. Slices should be ~3/16" thick (no more than 1/4 "). You must slice the meat across the grain. If you slice it with the grain it will be tough and stringy - you won't like it and all your effort is wasted.
After slicing, put the meat back in a pan, pour the rest of the gravy over it, and heat in oven at 350 until hot.
Serve and enjoy!
We like white rice with the brisket. Be sure to pour the onion soup gravy over the rice too!

[devildeac]

Thanks Weezie. I'll tell my mom that you liked it!

Since someone has asked, I'll copy the recipe here. Oh, this is for beef brisket, just to eliminate any question about that. I find it funny that it is on the main board in the Duke-Kentucky thread.

Think Ed Mitchell (aka The Pitmaster) would be interested in this recipe ? If you don't get the AD job, you could always help him out in the kitchen .

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Think Ed Mitchell (aka The Pitmaster) would be interested in this recipe ? If you don't get the AD job, you could always help him out in the kitchen .

No no no. The restaurant business is far too tough for me! He might like the recipe, although as you can see, there is nothing magic about it, unless you have "stock" in Lipton Soup!

[g4orce]

With all respect to Ozzie, since I havent had his, the best brisket that has passed these lips comes from a joint over in Raleigh, about 1 mile off the beltline on Tryon Rd. The guys who run the place are Texas natives, with the head chef having worked the pit for a BBQ place in San Antonio and is also culinarily trained from J&W.

Anyway, once you go you will be hooked. The name is Holy Smokes, and as the name suggests, all the meats are smoked slow good. Here is the link if anyone is interested http://www.holysmokesnc.com/

I'm an eastern NC kinda guy, in terms of BBQ, but this is heavenly.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

With all respect to Ozzie, since I havent had his

It's not mine, it is my mother's recipe. And it's not so much in the super secret ingredient (onion soup), but the cooking, cooling and reheating that is the secret to great brisket. And leftovers, if there are any, are great the next day (even for lunch in a sandwhich, just nuke it first!)