Good ol North Carolina BBQ

Last week we decided to try some North Carolina barbecue for our date night. We've been wanting to find a good BBQ place to take friends when they visit and many people had suggested "The Pit," located in downtown Raleigh, for authentic eats. The restaurant has been featured on The Food Network and other TV programs.

We debated ordering some appetizers, but I'm glad we did not because they brought us some hush puppies and cornbread shortly after we ordered our meals. Wikipedia provides a detailed history of hush puppies, or deep fried cornmeal balls, if you are interested in reading up on them. Personally, I prefer regular cornbread to hush puppies.

Hush puppies and biscuits for the table.

I ordered a "Western NC BBQ" entree consisting of a half rack of ribs and Colin opted for the "Eastern NC BBQ" in the form of pulled pork. We also tried ordering sides that would be consistent with our North Carolina BBQ meal.

Eastern North Carolina barbecue pulled pork, collard greens, and mac n cheese 

Apparently, there is a whole science to BBQ in North Carolina. "Eastern-NC-Style BBQ is plain whole-hog pork meat, with just the tiniest bit of vinegar-based "sauce" which isn't a sauce at all, applied as a moistening agent." It also includes bare traces of hot pepper and a minimum amount of additional flavorings. I've had it a few times, never expecting it to taste good, but it always surprises me with its delicious flavor. Thankfully, I've been steered in the right direction on all 3 occasions where I've eaten Eastern NC BBQ (the state fair, Doug Sauls near Nashville, NC, and now The Pit in Raleigh).

I have always loved sweet barbecue sauces, which is why I chose the Western NC BBQ. This BBQ (also know as "Lexington"-style) differs from Eastern style in two distinct ways: 1) it's always made from pork shoulders only, and 2) it uses a real sauce, of which heavy doses of ketchup are added to the vinegar base universally, and often a small amount of sugar is added as well. My ribs in this Western sauce were delicious!

Western North Carolina half rack of ribs, black eyed peas, and broccoli salad 

Both meats were very tasty. I've read that Eastern NC BBQ either tastes delicious or is horrible and is a difficult process to master. Since Colin and I both enjoyed it, I would feel confident recommending "The Pit" for people wanting to experience either style of NC BBQ. While the meat was good, I give our sides mixed reviews. The mac and cheese was the highlight of the side dishes, with its great flavor and a perfectly baked consistency. The black eyed peas were the worst, completely lacking in flavor (though the consistency was good). The collards were okay, leaving me wishing for a little more flavor. And lastly, the broccoli salad was also okay. The flavor tasted okay, but it just seemed like they doused vegetables in a creamy ranch-type sauce.

We knew we had to save some room for dessert, since The Pit's signature dessert, the banana pudding, came highly recommended. Since we ate the hush puppies and cornbread, we saved some of our entrees to take home. The dessert was good, but I would definitely not say amazing. The presentation of the dish was wonderful, the bananas in the dish were plentiful, but I expected more consistency than just bananas, pudding and whipped cream. A little graham cracker, wafers, or pie crust would have likely made me love it.

Banana pudding for dessert 

Last week I posted about eating vegetarian and trying to choose sustainable meat. This week I put all of that to the side to enjoy some North Carolina barbecue. I didn't ask where the meat came from because I was afraid of the answer. And Colin and I wanted to find a good North Carolina barbecue place where we could take friends who come to visit. Thankfully, I can feel better about the meat I ate after looking at The Pit's website, which tells me their "pigs are all raised in North Carolina using free-range farming practices, and the freshest of the state's bountiful produce is featured in the starters, sides and desserts." While the produce is most likely not organic, I love that they get their produce from local sources.

By no means would I consider our meals healthy. The healthiest things on our plates were the black eyed peas - and they had no flavor. By limiting ourselves to one night where we go out to eat, we are limiting the excess calories, fat, and sodium we eat. Most of the days of the week, we eat healthy foods like plain oatmeal, eggs (with veggies), soups, vegetables, fruits, and entrees that include lots of vegetables. We are suckers for salty snacks (like tortilla chips and sesame sticks), but for the most part the rest of our foods are fresh.

I've done a fair amount of travel for work this week, so we didn't do our usual date night early in the week. Plus, it's my birthday today, so we might go out to celebrate with dinner this weekend. But, since the weather's been so nice, I'd prefer to have a nice meal cooked at home (hopefully complements of chef Colin!) and enjoyed out on the patio! I'll keep you posted!!

How do celebrate your birthday?