Pit Cooked Barbecue... My father was an expert, no longer living, I live in eastern KS, THEY DON'T KNOW GOOD EATING LIKE THIS! Advise procedure, along with the hush puppies of course.

You're right... there's nothing quite like southern style barbecue! There is no debate in NC that barbecue should be pit-cooked and pork . There is, however, is great disagreement about which parts of the pigs should be barbecued and whether tomatoes should be any part of the finishing sauce. Down east, the whole hog, split down the middle, is barbecued . The finishing sauce is a sharp, tomato-free vinegar-and-pepper concoction (recipe below). In some parts of the state, only the shoulders are barbecued, and the milder finishing sauce contains a touch of tomato. Which is better? That most likely depends on which pig-pickin' you happen to be in at the moment!

At a Pig Pickin', the barbecue is likely going to be pulled from the bone and served in chunks. This "pulled pork" barbecue is mighty hard to beat. Plunk it between a soft bun of white bread or eat it plain. The barbecue served in a joint is usually chopped. If you decide to go the chopped route, be sure to remember that chopped and pureed ain't the same! Properly cooked barbecue is very tender and slicing is a tricky business when it is warm. Allow the barbecue to cool somewhat for consistent success.

Ask a half dozen folks how to make barbecue and you will likely get seven answers. And, they may all be right! Barbecue cookery is not a science. There is no absolutely right way and no totally wrong way. Here are some of the most common ways to cook a pig... southern-style, of course.

The Southern barbecue purist digs a hole in the ground, tosses in the wood, burns it down to coals, and places a contraption of some sort above the coals to hold the meat. Such traditional pits are tricky! The barbecue joints are somewhat more sophisticated. Most have hearths for burning the wood to coals and separate above-ground "pits" with block, bricks, rocks, or metal sides. These "open" pits generally have a door of some sorts for shoveling in the coals. The meat is held above the coals by metal bars or grills. The proper distance for suspending the meat above the coals is the subject of great debate, but heights in the range of 18 to 36 inches are common. A metal or cardboard cover laying directly on, or held immediately above, the meat helps to concentrate the smoke and prevent ashes from falling on the barbecue as it is cooked.

An "open" pit can be constructed in your backyard by simply stacking up some concrete block, laying an expanded metal grill on top, and using a piece of sheet metal roofing to lay over the whole thing. It ain't pretty to look at, but it will get the job done.

A manufactured metal cooker is a more realistic "pit" for the backyard barbecuist. These devices generally have an offset fire box at one end and a chimney at the other end of a central cooking chamber. By adjusting the damper on the firebox door and the lid on the chimney, the temperature in the cooking chamber can be easily controlled.

NC Barbecue Sauce
1 gallon cider vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoon red pepper
3 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

Hushpuppies
2 cups of white cornmeal
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of flour

Procedure: In a deep fryer place three inches of corn oil and heat. In a bowl, mix all of the above ingredients until the consistency is smooth, but not runny. With a spoon, take a glob of the mixture and drop it into the boiling oil. It should curl up and look like a dumpling. Cook until brown. Place on paper towel to drain excess oil when cooked.