Pig Pickin's615 Deacon Boulevard Winston-Salem, N.C. 27105 (910) 777-0105 |
| One of the things we wanted to accomplish this trip was to check out the Carolina style portable pig cookers made from home heating oil tanks. According to Bob Garner, in his book North Carolina Barbecue, there are any number of places to rent these units. We looked and looked and not one was sighted. While talking to Kevin Thompson at Mr. Barbecue he told us of a place in Winston Salem that rented these units. We decided to drive back there and visit the remaining two log burners on our list and check out the cookers. We headed back to Winston Salem. Pig Pickins has a rather unique interior decor. It is decorated in a south western motif. The barbecue here is cooked on an electric pit and then smoked to give it a barbecue flavor. The brisket is par boiled in a broth and then smoked for a barbecue like finish. Ribs are done in a similar manner. The owners were very friendly and were happy to give a tour of the kitchen and the electric pits as well as the smoke unit where the chopped meat was smoked for a finish. Smoking the chopped meat was a unique technique peculiar to Pig Pickens. This did give the meat a nice mild smoke flavor. It was interesting that two of the three log burners on the list for Winston Salem had switched to a more convenient method of cooking. |
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There was only one place left on the list of log burners in Winston Salem, so we decided to check them out as well. Hogs Wild is tucked in behind the roadside businesses and took a bit of looking to find. We had missed it and drove by it twice in our first attempt. It was only with street numbers that we were able to find it. Maybe we should have worked less hard to find it as |
| it turned out to be the only stop we regretted on the entire trip, or previous trips for that matter. We walked into the dining room and took a seat at a table. The waitress came over quickly and took our drink order. Returning with the teas she took our order for sliced chopped brown. We asked her if we could speak to the owner and she did not appear to hold out much hope but said she’d ask. She brought our order after a short wait, but said nothing about speaking to the owner. I noticed, as in most places, the check was to be carried to the register for payment, so decided I’d ask to speak to the owner at the cash register. We opened our sandwiches and tried the meat. It was not very good. It reminded us of the roast pork qualities of the meat first served us at Mr. Barbecue, and you know how that was cooked! We left a tip and went to the cash register where we asked to speak to the owner. He came over to the register and we explained our mission and asked to be shown the pits. He responded with two words: No….Sorry….and turned and walked away. This was the first time we were greeted in this manner by any barbecue owner or manager in all the time we have been involved with anything to do with barbecue! As a result I can’t say for certain how the meat is cooked at Hogs Wild, but I can assure you it is not worth the effort to go there regardless of how it is prepared. The meat isn’t very good and the owner is not at all friendly! In my humble opinion there are no all log burners in Winston Salem. You can still get some good eats at Mr. Barbecue and Pig Pickins, but you won’t find any true to the 300 year old barbecue tradition we were looking for. With so few traditional places left it isn’t hardly worth the effort, now is it? We got in the car and continued on our safari. |
| We looked for the place that we were told rented portable pig cookers. It was called Eater’s Choice. We drove around for what seemed to be an eternity trying to find it. It turned out to have a sign the size of a post card on the front porch and nothing else to identify the place. What made it hard was there was not one cooker on the property. With no one home we knew no more when we left than when we started. Things were not looking good on the pig cooker front! Hey, Mr. Garner, where were all the innumerable places one could rent this item? We would have been happy to be able to measure up one to be able to make one when we returned home! |
 A small goat peers out as we slow down for a closer look. Not to worry little guy, bbq pig is on our minds!!! |
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Smoky Hollow Products Ltd.
4846A South 28th Street
Arlington, Va 22206
(703) 845-8125
USA smoky@smokyhollow.com