Carolina Curious: What is the history of Lexington barbecue?

Lexington has a famous way of preparing barbecue, slowly pit-cooked over wood coals, served with a tangy vinegar-based “dip” instead of a thick barbecue sauce.

For this week's Carolina Curious, listener Tyler Foster wanted to know how this tradition got started. So, WFDD's Paul Garber takes a delicious dive into Piedmont barbecue’s origin story. 

When this Curious question rolled in, I knew my first call would be to John Shelton Reed. He’s written numerous books, most of which are about the American South. Among them: Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue, which he co-authored with his wife, Dale.

Reed says it all began around World War I with pop-up barbecue stands in places where people would gather, like the Lexington courthouse square. The stands had something in common: cooks with German family roots.

“Where you have this Piedmont-style barbecue is basically where you find Lutherans,” he says. “Put the two maps together, and they overlap to a great extent.”

He says these were innovative cooks willing to depart from some of the traditions of eastern pitmasters.

For one, Lexington locals used just the shoulder, not the whole hog. And they tweaked the sauce.

“People talk about Piedmont sauce as being tomato-based. It's not,” he says. “It's a vinegar-based sauce. It's basically Eastern sauce with a little bit of tomato ketchup, usually some sort of tomato in it — turns a little redder, little sweeter, gives it a little more umami.” 

Hush puppies were a more recent addition, starting around the 1950s. Reed says that previously, they had been associated with fish restaurants.

It all led to a style that’s now closely tied to Lexington. “It's so local. You know, the nearest thing we've got in this country to Europe's wine and cheeses. You drive 100 miles and the barbecue changes.”

And Reed says that’s something worth celebrating.

“People always ask me what my favorite kind of barbecue is. I'd say whatever's indigenous to where I am. Piedmont barbecue, basically, it's very localized. You're eating it, you know where you are." 

Lexington’s style attracts tens of thousands of devotees to the city for the annual barbecue festival in the fall. 

There’s also a wall of fame next to City Hall commemorating the early pitmasters and supporters of Lexington’s signature dish.