9.10.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcomes to Women's World on RADIOI. As a reminder,
radiois a reading service intended for people who are blind
or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
printed material. Today I will be reading from Southern Living
Magazine dated August twenty twenty five and other publications as

(00:22):
time allows. Your host today is Rosebery newspaper and magazine
articles presented in Women's World or for general information only.
RADIOI does not endorse or recommend any of the subjects mentioned.
We'll start with the best of barbecue here in the South.

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There are plenty of towns with great barbecue, but only
a few great barbecue towns. What makes the difference. Having
more than one high quality joint is just the starting point.
Its also have a style all of its own, one
that is imitated elsewhere but never quite equal, one that

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smoked meat aficionados will drive hundreds of miles to experience.
Lots of Southern municipalities may lay claim to such a title,
but for our money, these three destinations stand out from
the rest. First, Lexington, North Carolina. Throughout the North Carolina

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Piedmond restaurant signs boast of serving Lexington style barbecue. The
term is truly a testament to the influence of a
single small town on the region's long and storagede culinary traditions.
This place has lost a few notable joints in the
past few years. Rest in peace, Miley, Lexington Barbecue and

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Cook's Barb. But there's still nowhere else in the South
as densely populated with establishments touting genuine wood cooked offerings.
You'll find seven of them in Lexington proper by my
last count, or roughly one for every twenty eight hundred residents.

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Local diners in visiting pilgrims may argue over which has
the best pork or sauce, but the differences are really
quite subtle. Perhaps the best known takes its name from
the town itself, Lexington Barbecue. It's meat is chopped fine
and amply, dressed in a tangy vinegar sauce dappled with

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red pepper flakes, making it delightfully juicy with a slight
infusion of hickory smoke. We should make it clear that
in Lexington barbecue means only one thing, and one thing
only pork. Specifically, it's pork shoulder cooked low and slow

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over hardwood coals on closed brick pits. The wood is
burned down to embers in a separate fireplace, so most
of the smoke never enters the pit. Instead, glowing orange
coals are shoveled directly under the shoulders as they cook
on the racks above, with the juice dripping down on

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the hot coals and rising back up to baste the
meat in the fragrance steam and just a kiss of smoke.
A few local spots like Jimmy's Smokehouse, Barbecue Center, and
Tar Hill Que serve chicken or turkey alongside their pork

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one or two days a week. Smoky Joe's Barbecue and
Speedy Lower's Barbecue offer baby back ribs. It's even rumored
that Backcountry Barbecue cooks a brisket every now and then,
though I've been unwilling to let that secret out by
substantiating it. There's almost a template to the Lexington format

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and a distinctive vocabulary too. You can order your pork sliced, chopped,
or course chopped, which in the local parlancece means cut
into inch thick chunks. Dip refers to sauce, and in
Lexington it's uniformly a thin blend of vinegar and tomato,

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with a little red pepper for zip. You can get
your meal as a sandwich, tray or plate. A tray
delivers a small cardboard boat filled with barbecue slaw and
either dinner rolls or crisp fried hushpuppies. The slaw is

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red because, like the sauce, it's tinged with tomato. The
addition of French fries, generally crinkle cut, upgrades a tray
to a plate and our present era of craft barbecue
with those bemoaning platters, groaning platters of smoked, soaked beef
and sticky slabs of ribs, there's something reassuring about the

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modest Lexington style. It's a throwback to a time of calm, moderation,
and there just isn't any other barbecue town quite like it.
Next Lockhart, Texas. There was a time when you could
park your car on the Lockhart town square, take a

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half a mile, stroll around the courthouse down Commer Street,
and eat at three internationally acclaimed barbecue joints along the way.
Now you can take the same route and eat at four,
plus add a fifth one before you pass the city limits.
Lockhart has managed to pull off a rare feet for

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historic barbecue town. Its scene has actually expanded in recent years.
Lockhart's beloved beef smoking tradition dates back to eighteen seventy five,
when Jesse Sweerringen opened the town's first meet market. In
nineteen hundred, he sold the business to Charles Cruz, who

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renamed it Cruz Market. Then in nineteen twenty five, Cruz
replaced the original metal building with a two story brick
structure that still stands today. It houses a barbecue restaurant I,
though it's not the one called CRU's Market Edgar Schmidt

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bought the property in nineteen forty eight and ended up
closing the grocery section to focus on smoked meats. When
Schmidt retired in nineteen eighty four, he sold the operation
to his sons Rick and Don, but he left the
building to his daughter Nina in his will. Things got

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a little messy for a few years, but by nineteen
ninety nine Rick was the sole owner, and he moved
Cruz Market a few blocks north into a cavernous new building.
Pittmaster Roy Perez ceremoniously dragged a metal tub of hot
coals up Commer Street to transfer the fire from the

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old pit to the new ones. Nina in turn launched
Smitty's Market in the era original Cruise Building. Guests can
still stand among the brick walls stained black with a
century of smoke and order, sliced brisket and hot links,
just feet from the blazing logs of an open hit.

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But the Schmid clan doesn't have a monopoly on family
barbecue drama. Black's Barbecue was founded by Edgar Black in
nineteen thirty two, and like Cruise Market, it started off
as a meat market and grocery. Black son Edgar Junior,
converted it into a full time restaurant and over the

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years it became famous for serving smoked beef sausage rings
on butcher paper with saltines on the side. After Egner
Junior stepped back from a day to day operations, his
sons Kent, a lawyer by trade, and Terry, an accountant,
got more involved in the restaurant than in twenty thirteen. Well,

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it gets complicated, but basically Kent ended up owing owning
Black's Barbecue. Terry went back to his accounting office across
the street while his family was cooking up something all
of their own Terry and his children, Christina, Mike, and

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Mark opened Terry's Black's Barbecue in Austin in twenty fourteen,
naming the place in honor of the matriarch. It proved
a quick success and eventually expanded to Dallas, Waco, Fort Worth,
and even Lockhart. With the siblings and their father made

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the return to their home turf. They acquired a plot
of land just north of north of downtown and erected
a large brick lay restaurant with a white pit house
and a sprawling patio. The Lockhart incarnation of Terry Black's
opening in September twenty twenty two, bringing a new big

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city style to this traditional barbecue town. Instead of aged
masonry pits, thousand gallon moburg offset smokers turned out brisket ribs,
turkey and sausage links, which are carved to order at
a gleaming, stainless still counter. The town got yet another

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infusion of youthful energy the following year when twenty something
Chuck Carnick Chart, who honed her skills at the acclaimed
Goldies Barbecue in Fort Worth, opened her own eatery Barbes
Bque on Market Street, directly across away from the Courthouse.

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The menu include standout versions of the expected Texas class
slow smoked brisket, beef ribs, and turkey, along with few
vibrant twists like the Zesti Molotov pork ribs and the
herb encrusted smoked lamb chops. Charnet charts. Green spaghetti long

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tangles of noodles in a verdant cream of poblano sauce
has become the restaurant's signature side. For decades, Lockhart's old
school Meat markets made in an essential stop and any
barbecue lover's Texas tour. The craft barbecue boom of the
twenty tens shifted the spotlight to big cities like Austin

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in Dallas, but now Lockhart has stepped back up to
reclaim its title as the barbecue capital of Texas. Next Owensboro,
Kentucky the Bluegrass. It is renowned for barbecue mutton and
slow simmered burgoo, but there's no better place to try

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them both than Owensborough. Mutton is the meat from a
sheep that's at least two years old. If it's any younger,
it's called lamb. The flavor is strong and pungent. Some
might say even gamey, but don't let that discourage you.

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The sharpness is mellowed by cooking it long and slow
over hickory coals, plus regular basting with a salty vinegar
mop This method transforms what could be a tough cut
of meat into a tangy tender bite. Button is also
prominent in Burgo, one of the South's iconic barbecue stews.

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Most versions start with some combination of mutton, beef, pork,
and or chicken, along withdgies like onion, potatoes, corn, tomatoes,
and maybe even ochre or cabbage. Letting it simmer allows
the components to merge into a thick, reddish brown mixture

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that's savory and very satisfying. The usual accompaniments for mutton,
raw onions, dill, pickles, and sliced rye bread are simple,
but this is hardly a spartan affair. All three of
the town's barbecue restaurants are open seven days a week,
and there are large scale operations. Full table service is

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offered in broad dining rooms with sturdy chairs and vinyl
tablecloths for those who aren't feeling sheepish. The menus include
smoked pork and often beef and chicken too. There are
also plenty of comfort food staples such as green beans,

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fried okra, and mashed potatoes, and two of the three
restaurants have all you can eat buffets. One of those
is Moonlight Barbecue, in the most recognizable of the town's
mutton houses. Its custom hickory fired pits turn out thousands

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of pounds of this meat each week, not to mention
an incredible volume of smoked beef, pork, and chicken. Two
long buffets in the dining room brim with pans of
mac and cheese, stewed apples, sweet corn muffins, and so
much more. Less than three miles away, the Foreman family

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has been cooking mutton and pork for more than a
century on old fashioned brick pits with sliding metal doors.
Over the years, the business has grown from a small
stand adjoining Charles Happy Foreman's Blackshopsmith into a full service
restaurant with two large dining rooms. You can order the

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meat chopped or sliced, and you'll find mutton ribs and
mutton loin too, all dressed with thin Worcestershire laced dip.
The rich burgoo at Old Hickory Barbecue is as good
a version as you can eat in all of Kentucky.

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Over the east side of town, Old South Barbecue is
still the new kid on the block, having only been
in operation since nineteen ninety five. Brisket, pork, chicken, and
turkey are served alongside the rest. Mutton and fried chicken
is featured on the lunch and dinner buffets. Old South

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serves breakfast each day too, though there's no mutton included
on the morning menu. Lots of writers have grasped at
historical straws when trying to explain how western Kentucky became
such a hotbed for mutton. Many chalkoled up to the
demographics of the immigrants who settled in the region, noting

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that a large proportion were Catholic, Welsh, Scotch, Irish or Dutch.
Though what any of this has to do with mutton
eating escapes me Barbecuing sheep was just common across the
entire region, not just in Kentucky. The meat appears regularly
in accounts of massive cookouts in the nineteenth century, and

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smoked lamb or mutton was a favorite at Southern barbecue
restaurants until just after World War Two, when the consumption
of sheep plummeted nationwide. The real mystery is not why
folks in western Kentucky started barbecuing mutton, but why they've

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kept on doing it. We should certainly be glad for
that smoked button is a unique Southern delicacy, and if
you're not yet experienced it, you really owe it to
yourself to swing through Owensboro for a bite, but be
sure to order a hardy cup of burgoo as your

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side to. In addition, there are four cities gaining heat Charleston,
South Carolina. Over the past decade, various regional offerings have
converged in the Holy City to create a vibrant barbecue scene.

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There's orangeburg Country style mustard sauce at Melvin's Barbecue and
Messenger's Barbecue, and p D style whole hog at Rodney's
Scott's Barbecue. Texas Transplant Lewis Barbecue has prime smoked brisket,
while the classically trained cooks at Home Team Barbecue shift

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things up with smoked wings and brisket chili. Newcomers Palmyra
Barbecue and King Barbecue continue the fusion, combining Carolina elements
with influences from Puerto Rico and New York's Chinatown, respectively,

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next fort Worth, Texas. Lately, fort Worth has stepped out
of the shadow of its sister city Dallas as a
hotbed of serious Q. Goldie's Barbecue, Dan's Craft Barbecue, and
He and Barbecue all turn out carefully prepared versions of

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the Texas standards, and there's a wealth of contemporary options
like pork belly paupers at Panther City Barbecue and big
red braised Barbicoa tostadas at Hertato Barbecue. Next to Houston, Texas,
this city has blossomed as a cross cultural barbecue melting pot,

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blending the slow smoked ways of East and Central Texas
with plenty of global accents, from the pristine brisket at
Truth Barbecue and the sausage links to House Chocolate and Barbecue,
to the gold of Jane glazed ribs at Blood Brothers Barbecue,

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and the sliced beef atop Jasmine rice at Brisket and Rice.
Houston offers a remarkable world of flavor. And then the
fourth is Raleigh Durham, North Carolina. The North Carolina Triangle
region is quickly becoming the state's barbecue triangle. iiO. Relatively

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recent arrivals like Picnic, long Leaf Swine and Sam Jones
Barbecue carry on the area's wood cooked whole hog traditions
with ambitious spots like Prime Barbecue and Lawrence Barbecue have
innovative mash ups. Also towns Worth talking about Aiden, North Carolina.

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This is the home of two legendary Eastern North Carolina joints,
Bums Restaurant and skylight In Barbecue. Bums's cafeteria style with
fried chicken and pork chops as well as a dozen
country style sides, while skylight In is an understated stand

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offering counter service and a slim menu, both specialized in
whole hogs cooked over hardwood coals. Next Blitheville, Arkansas. The
pick Sandwich is the name of the game. Blythville. Get
one dress with superbly minimalistic slaw at the Dixie Pig,

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which has been around since nineteen twenty three, or with
fries plus soft serve at cream Castle. Seguin, Texas. In
a state known for century old establishments, Seguin is something
of an up and comer. The Villa's Barbecue, which opened

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in nineteen fifty nine, has long set the pace with
mesquite smoked brisket, lamb ribs and beef links. Five years ago,
Ernest Servantes and Dave Kirkland began wowing customers with brisket
ribs and bone and pork chops at Burnt Bean Company.

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Then Schultz's Pit Room joined the scene in twenty twenty three.
Next Tompkinsville, Kentucky. Owensboro has its smoked mutton, but Monroe
County has a specialty all its own called shoulder. It's
Boston butt, sliced an inch thick, cooked fast over hickory coals,

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and finished with a peppery vinegar dip. You can get
it at RNs Barbecue, Barbecue, Barn Hog Wild Barbecue, and
Backyard Barbecue. Finally, West Columbia, South Carolina. To sample the
style that made the Midlands famous, head to West Columbia.

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Try the chopped whole hog at Heights Barbecue, a Big
Joe sandwich at Maurice's Piggy Park Barbecue, or the ribs
at True Barbecue. Most impressive are the spare ribs that
are cooked over direct coals at City Limits Barbecue. Rest
assured that you will find a bright yellow mustard sauce

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and savory hash and rice at all of them. Next
over easy good to go today egg sandwiches for company.
Here's the recipe for big batch English muffin breakfast sandwiches.
Active time fifteen minutes. Total time for the recipe one

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hour and fifteen minutes. The recipe makes twelve sandwiches. The
ingredients are eighteen large eggs, one cup whole milk, two
teaspoons kosher salt, one teaspoon black pepper, two cups hot water,

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twelve English muffin split, twenty four sharp cheddar cheese slices,
twelve thick cut bacon slices, cooked and cut in half.
Pre Heat oven to three hundred and twenty five degrees
with racks in upple third, upper third and lower third positions.

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Generously coat a thirteen by nine inch baking dish with
cooking spray. Place dish on a large rimmed baking sheet.
Whisk eggs in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk, salt,
and pepper. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Place an

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oven on lower rack. Carefully pour hot water around dish
on baking sheet to create a water bath. Bake until
eggs are just set thirty to thirty five minutes. Carefully
remove baking dish from the baking sheet and let cool
five minutes. Run a knife around edges of the baking

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dish to loosen the egg mixture. Cut into twelve even
portions about two and one half by three inch each.
Pre Heat oven to broil. Place muffin halves on a
baking sheet, cut sides up. Top each of twelve muffin

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halves with one slice of cheese. Broil until cheese is
melted about one minute. Transfer untopped muffin halves to a
plate and set aside. Using a spatula. Place an egg
portion on each cheese topped muffin half. Cover with another
slice of cheese. Broil until cheese is melted about one minute.

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Remove the oven, top with bacon and reserved muffin halves.
That was the recipe for big batch English muffin breakfast sandwiches.
At the bottom of the page. There are freezing pointers
to the recipe. Prepare the recipe through step three, emitting

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the cheese amid step four to assemble. Top each of
the twelve muffin halves with one sliced cheese, one egg portion,
another cheese slice, and two bacon pieces. Cover with remaining
muffin halves. Wrap each sandwich and foil. Transfer to a
zip lock plastic freezer bag. Freeze up to two months.

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To reheat, remove foil wrap in a paper towel. Microwave
on high till hot about one minute and thirty seconds.
Additional toppings for the muffins. The options are endless, but
here are three ways to mix it up. Spicy Texmex.

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Replace the cheddar with slices of pepper jack cheese, omit
the bacon, and top each sandwich with salsa and sliced avocado.
The ultimate veggie omit the cheddar spread, goat cheese on
the bottom muffin half and on the top of the egg.
Replace the bacon with sauteed mushrooms and spinach and Daly style.

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Omit the cheddar and bacon spread. Cream cheese on the
bottom muff and half, top with egg, thinly sliced red onion,
smoked salmon, and arugula. This concludes Women's World for today.
Your reader has been Rosemary. If you have any questions, comments,

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or suggestions about this program, please call us in our
Lexington Studios at eight five nine four two two six
three nine zero. Thank you for listening, and please stay
tuned for continued programming here on Radio I