The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-07-28
NOJOY IN EDGECOMBE.

| 1t was in Edgecombe county, North
Lamb incorrectly states that people first
came to eat and love roast pig, known as
barbecue 1t is usually a rare day in
July and August when there is not bar
beeue in Edgecombe, and folks who have
| tasted that succulent crisp pig anywhere
else do not know how delicious is a piece
of Edgecombe barbecue Barbecuing is
science there. Men have to be trained
| to barbecue just as they have to be
| trained in any other work of art.
1 At present Wood Winborne is the most
distinguished barbecuer in Eastern North
Carolina, and there are epicures who will
not taste the toothsome meat unless the
pig. In his day, the late Henry w. Peel,
of Wilson, The was born in that section
of Wilson that once belonged to Edge
combe) held the palm as the best bar
becuer in Eastern North Carolina. When
he went to the better land, his mantle
fell on the shoulders of Wood Winborne,
not greatly mistaken.
But there is deep GLOOM all over
Edgecombe, from Jesse Brakes to Elias
| Carr's plantations. The Tarboro South
erner voices the cause of this gloom
when it says: at is now a most diff
cult matterto obtain a pig for an occas-
the gloom can only be understood by those
who have attended a barbecue in Edge
combe or that section of Wilson cut off
from Edgecombe when the county was
formed. Rains may destroy the cotton,
| droughts may cut off the corn, frosts
| may kill the early truck. murrain may
swim down stream, lightning may kill
the horse ploughing in the fields, the dis
pensary may drive out the bar rooms,
| chills may make the people on the river
| shake, and the Tarboro base ball team
may suffer defeat-the average Edge
combe man, who is a philosopher and
| generally colonist, can stand either of
| these calamities with fortitude. But
when it is "a most difficult matter to OBJ
/ tain a pig for an occasional barbecue"
/ there is no Joy in Edgecombe, the lights
are out. the flowers withered. laughter
gives place to tears, gloom settles like a
pail upon the whole county, and there
is nothing that can induce native born
| Edgecombe man to believe that life is
/ worth living without his occasional bar
becue."
People living in other parts of the
State, who have no appreciation Of
the fact that it takes genius to barbecue
a shoat, and that the average cook would
barbecue, often are puzzled because they
cannot have as delicious barbecue as the
| Edgecombe farmers. 1t cannot be ex-
planned any more than you can explain
why in Brassfields, in Granville county,
you can raise the finest yellow tobacco
and in New Light, in Wake county, you
cannot. Barbecuing pig is like making
beaten biscuit-you know when it is well
done, but the best cook cannot give direc-
tions that will enable another to make a
success. Howard Weeden has written in
rhyme the answer of an old time cook
| who was asked to give receipt for
making beaten biscuit" 1t is so good
and answers so well the question for
receipt to barbecue lust like they have it
in Edgecombe"- We give it in full:
| "Of course I'll gladly give de rule,
/ meks beat-biscuit by,
Dough | amt sure dat you will mex
| Dat bread de same as I.
| Case eooking's like religion is
| Some's 'lected, an some amt,
An rules don't no more mex a cook,
| Den sermons mex Saint
| Well, bout de 'grediances required
| l needn't mention dem,
OF course you knows of flour an things,
| How much to put. an when;
But soon as you is got dat dough
| Mixed up all smooye and neat,
Den when your genius gwine to show, l. &
To get them biscuit beat!
| Two hundred ticks is what l gives
For home folks, never fewer,
An if I'm 'spectin' company in,
| gives five hundred sure!'
~.
If McLaurin will resign he will miss
his $416.66 2-3 monthly salary but he will
have clear conscience that he no longer
misrepresents the people who elected him.