Carolina Barbecue

North Carolina barbecue means pork and it divides at roughly the middle of the state. In the east the whole hog is cooked and chopped together, dressed with a thin sauce of vinegar, salt and red pepper - no tomato at all. In the Piedmont, around Lexington, only the shoulder is cooked and the sauce is vinegar with a little ketchup and sugar, called a dip, and the slaw is reddened with the same. The argument between the two is genuine and long-running. The other split is fuel: a shrinking number of pits still burn wood down to coals and shovel them under the meat, which takes all night, while many have moved to gas or electric.

What to look for

• Whole hog in the east - chopped together, vinegar and pepper only.
• Shoulder in the Piedmont - vinegar with ketchup, and red slaw.
• Wood-burning pits - a shrinking number still shovel coals.
• A real regional argument - which sauce belongs is not settled.

When to go

Year round. A meal.

Things to know

The best pits keep short hours and close when the meat runs out, often by early afternoon. Several are shut on Sundays. Wood-cooked places are fewer every year. Portions and sides vary enormously.

Nearby

Ayden and Goldsboro are eastern strongholds; Lexington is the Piedmont centre.