There's no shortage of battles in the war between Texas and North Carolina barbecue. Today, we're going to settle as many of those as we can. My name's Tray Crouter. As a stand-up, I spend most of my weekends on the road. I spend most of that time listening to folks tell me that their regional cuisine is the best in the world. The object of this show is to settle these debates once and for all. Welcome to Grubben. We have chefs representing two of the most cute, crazy states in our union. Representing Texas barbecue, we've got Bart Beckman, chef and owner of LA's Slab barbecue. I went to Texas for a real estate related conference. I ended up not going into the conference just eating some barbecue and just going on a path. I think Texas is the best because still evolving, where it seems to me that North Carolina stays where it is. And in the North Carolina corner, we've got Dennis Boyce, the man behind LA's Boyce barbecue. I can remember very vividly the first time I ate pullpork. And I just remember this big black steel trailer and smoker with an entire pig on it. First bite, blew my little boy brain. To me, NC barbecue is the OG barbecue. We've been doing barbecue longer than Texas have been in the state. So let's talk a little history. Barbecue can be traced back to the Spanish or Haitian word barbacoa, which means a framework for grilling meat and fish. Texas, which is a big date, has a few different barbacoa traditions. Probably what most people think of when they think about Texas barbecue is the central Texas style. This came from German and Czech immigrants who owned butcher shops, and they would cook their leftover cuts of beef slow and low and a smoker to preserve them. It's a 16, 18, 24 hour commitment. Let's talk North Carolina. For starters, while Texas barbecue is going to be largely associated with beef, North Carolina is all about pork. Folks in the east, say North Carolina barbacoa, you've got to be whole hog. And it's got to be a simple vinegar-based sauce. Folks in the west, they focus on the shoulder and use a slightly sweeter sauce that might include tomato in it. I'm a fundamentalist. I'm an Eastern sauce guy, and that is strictly just vinegar, pepper, and some spice. All right, we've covered the basics. I wanted to bake the finer details now, lightning round style. Sauce versus rub. You know, when you're cooking a whole hog, that vinegar is going to mix in with the meat and the juices within the pig. And once it drips down onto the coals, it creates just this really flavorful smoke that imparts all that flavor. You know, a lot of times somebody will tell you that they have a secret family recipe or whatever nobody cares. So you have rubs all over the place. Salt and pepper and smoke, that's all you need. Pour versus beef. I would say that the best part about whole hog barbecue is that you're getting the entire pig on a plate instead of just like different parts like brisket or ribs. When you're mixing everything together, you basically have different flavors across the entire pig, some parts of the pig, a little more ham flavored, some more, or that dark meat, where it's kind of more flavorful. The profiles in such a fatty-rich beef cut is great as different flavors as you would in a pig. Brisket, again, is very deep. If you have the clean smoke and you have the ripe rub and you wrapped it, let it rest for the right amount of time. You can find a lot of amazing things. Shides. Coastlaw and hush puppy. What about you, Bert? Mac, greens, slaw. Inpatients, you have to get your brisket to 203 degrees. When somebody becomes impatient and will pull it out at 200s, and that can make a big difference. People try to fuss too much with the barbecue. They either try to... Too expensive to try to make it too fancy, or they take themselves too seriously with it. You know, barbecue is communal, it's celebratory. Willatham is, you don't take yourself or your barbecue too seriously. All right, after a spirited debate, we've tallied up all the points and wouldn't you know it once again? We've got ourselves a tie. It looks like we got to give our guests one more chance to state their case. Bert, I want you to imagine that that camera out there is the most stereotypical, like hardcore North Carolina barbecue advocate you've ever met. Try to make your case to that guy. It's hard to argue with them, though. I got to tell you because the guys that I know, it's hard for me to understand them. They grow so much hog, they even sound like them, where they're just speaking in grunts. There's more to life than a sandwich of pork and some crackling. Close your eyes. Pretend that you are in Texas. Listen to some George Straits. Try some brisket, some beef ribs, some sausage, some of that mac and cheese, and life will be all right. Love it. All right, dinner's the same thing, but obviously in reverse. That's hard. Yeah. You know what I'm trying to get in there. You know what I'm trying to get in there. No, it's not to f*** with Texas. Yeah. You got to get into a pit. You got to breathe in the smoke. You got to eat the full part of the pig. You got to combine it all together. Chop it up on your plate. Pah, pah, pah, pah. Don't be afraid to maybe chop up some of that crispy skin too. In fact, we encourage that. Take a bite of the vinegar barbecue port. Let it explode in your mouth and enjoy yourself, man. Thank you, dark guests, for sharing your expertise with us. Hopefully, we inspired folks to try some new grub and taught them a thing or two in the process. Y'all keep the conversation going in the comments and keep it spicy, but, you know, respectful. If you like what you saw, subscribe to the Attention YouTube channel. Continue your culinary education and check out dish history. Get your mind right with free therapy or hey, spend some more time with your boy and watch my show South and Off.