Historic NC Barbecue Trail Road Trip! | Barbecue Center | Lexington, NC | 6th Stop | theendorsement

Today is the 6th stop on the Historic North Carolina Barbecue Trail! Recently, Rhody Foody and myself took a road trip to North Carolina and reviewed 6 of the remaining 13 BBQ Restaurants that are recognized on the Historic NC BBQ Trail! Up until about 3-4 years ago there were 23 BBQ joints represented on the trail. That number recently has sadly been reduced to 13. We tried to hit as many as possible during a 4 day trip through NC!

6th STOP is The Barbecue Center in Lexington, North Carolina!

Barbecue Center INFO -

“The Barbecue Center, Inc. is the oldest barbecue establishment in downtown Lexington that still cooks on pits. It has been featured in Southern Living magazine, on the TV show “Good Morning America” and in any number of newspapers. This bastion of Lexington-style barbecue started years ago across the street from its current site as a dairy center serving ice cream. They built a small barbecue pit to have something to sell in the winter when the ice cream business slowed. They moved in the late 1950s but they still sell a lot of ice cream.

The Center separates its light and dark meat for slicing. Some people want extra outside brown, some want white, some want extra fat and some want no fat. The barbecue is served custom-made to the customer’s order.

The chopped barbecue is moist, tender, medium chopped, tomatoey and peppery. It’s generously sauced in the kitchen with a hint of vinegar and a hint of sugar. It’s tasty - slightly tangy, not too tart. It has a good finish with no heavy aftertaste. The coarse chopped barbecue is very, very tender with a good, smoky flavor. It holds hands nicely with the dip. The sliced barbecue is very tender with a great smoky flavor and outside brown. This is the ticket. The chopped barbecue with the red slaw, which is slightly tart (ketchup, vinegar, pepper, salt, sugar and crisp cabbage) works well together. The slaw does not fight or overwhelm the flavor of the meat.

The light brown, vinegar-base sauce is comprised of ketchup, pepper, salt, water and hot peppers. It’s very tangy alone but calms down on the meat.”


NC HISTORIC BARBECUE TRAIL INFO :

NCBS (North Carolina Barbecue Society) has designed a barbecue trail from Eastern North Carolina to Tennessee. The trail will meander across the state with stops at 24 NCBS
Historic Barbecue Pits. These pits were carefully and selectively chosen
by the NCBS board as representatives of the distinctive methods and
barbecue cooking styles that have made North Carolina the Barbecue
Capital of the World. Each NCBS Historic Barbecue Pit still cooks the
old fashioned pit cooked method. And each NCBS Historic Barbecue Pit
will proudly display a specially designed emblem depicting old style
barbecue cooking that is part of the tradition, heritage and culture
that NCBS seeks to preserve.

Criteria for selection to the NCBS Historic Barbecue Trail included,
among other things, that the NCBS Historic Barbecue Pit cook their meat
product on pits fueled by wood or charcoal, make their own sauce, that
the pit had operated continuously for fifteen or more years, that the
end product was a good offering and representative of North Carolina
Barbecue and that the pit had earned and enjoyed the high esteem of its
community, the barbecue industry and barbecue aficionados. The board
decided to only include pits that provide a sit down dining experience
for the public and to limit the number of pits on the trail to two per
town/city.
The establishment of the NCBS Historic Barbecue Trail will afford
visitors to the Old North State an opportunity to sample North Carolina
barbecue cooked in the traditional fashion and served by some of the
nicest people one could ever hope to meet.

How well did we enjoy the 6th stop? Please watch and find out.

But do I ENDORSE it? Please watch and find out.

As always - Please LIKE / COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE! ~ Thank You

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