Barbecue Beef: Who’s Better, Texas Or The Carolinas?

The nation’s only two barbecue editors brawl over whether which barbecue capital is king.

By Casey CheekJune 15, 2017 1:08 pm,

If there were ever a way to ruin a family reunion it might be this: two distant relatives from two different states arguing about barbecue. If a so-called barbecue expert from South Carolina wants to pick a fight, you can bet Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn won’t shirk from a proper defense, especially if that person happens to be a fellow barbecue editor.

“Often you hear somebody describe my job as the only barbecue editor in the country, however Robert Moss is the barbecue editor at Southern Living Magazine,” Vaughn says. “We are the only two barbecue editors – of course I was first.”

Vaughn took issue with an April article Moss wrote called “The Tyranny of Texas BBQ.” The article listed five “rules and strictures” of Texas barbecue that new barbecue joints across the South, and the country, are adopting.

“Basically, as he sees it, is that Texas barbecue has made its way across the country as the preferred style as far as the expansion of barbecue, and it is certainly usurping the popularity of South Carolina and North Carolina barbecue,” Vaughn says.

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– Why the nation’s two barbecue editors are in a friendly feud

– How Texas is influencing changes in Southern barbecue culture

– Why outsiders’ views of Texas barbecue are often wrong

 

Written by Molly Smith.