How to order barbecue in North Carolina: trays, sandwiches and sides

Walk into a North Carolina barbecue place for the first time and you may be handed a short menu or none at all, a tray, a bun or a pile of chopped pork on a paper plate. The staff will not slow down to explain, and the regulars order in a kind of shorthand. Here is the vocabulary so you can order with confidence at a counter, a buffet or a table.

What does barbecue mean in North Carolina?

In the state, barbecue is pork, cooked slowly over wood or coals, then chopped, pulled or sliced and served with a vinegar-based sauce. Beef brisket, ribs and chicken exist, but they are not what people mean when they say "barbecue" here. The verb is to barbecue, and the noun is the pork itself. If you ask for barbecue, you will get pork. Other meats usually appear as separate items, such as barbecue chicken, and some places do not serve them at all.

What are the common orders?

A sandwich is a bun with chopped pork and slaw, often spooned on top of the meat. A tray, sometimes called a plate, is a portion of pork with slaw, hushpuppies and one or two sides. A pound or a half pound of pork by weight is sold for taking home. At many places you can order by the portion, small, regular or large, and ask for a drink and a dessert. If a menu lists "chopped" and "sliced" or "coarse" and "fine," choose chopped for the traditional texture, or sliced for a firmer bite.

If you are feeding a group, ask whether the place sells by the pound with buns and slaw on the side, which is usually cheaper than ordering individual trays. A family tray often includes enough pork for four people, plus pints of slaw and baked beans and a dozen hushpuppies. Ask how long the pork will stay good in your cooler and how to keep it warm in the oven at home. At a counter with a long line, decide before you reach the front, since the staff will move quickly.

What is outside brown?

Outside brown is the crispy bark from the surface of the meat. At many places, you can ask for it mixed into the chopped pork, and it adds a stronger smoky flavor and a firmer texture. Ask for "some outside" or "mostly outside" if you like it. The default mix is usually mostly inside meat, which is tender and mild.

What are the sides?

Slaw is cabbage, either red with the dip or white with mayonnaise, depending on the region, and it is often eaten on the sandwich. Hushpuppies are fried balls of cornmeal batter, sometimes with onion. Boiled potatoes, collard greens, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, Brunswick stew and fried okra appear at different places. Banana pudding, peach cobbler and pies are the usual desserts. Sweet tea is the default drink, served over ice, and unsweet tea is offered if you ask.

How do you use the sauce?

Sauce is on the table in a squeeze bottle or a pitcher. Eastern sauce is thin, with vinegar and red pepper, and it soaks into the meat. Lexington dip adds tomato and a little sugar. Add sauce a little at a time, because the meat has been seasoned already. Some traditionalists add none until they have tasted the pork alone.

Regional sauces differ more than first-time visitors expect. The eastern sauce is sharp and peppery, and some people find it thin. Lexington dip has a rounder, sweeter note from the tomato. Across the border in South Carolina, you may meet a mustard-based sauce, which is a different tradition again. Ask for a small cup of each sauce if you want to compare, and bring home a bottle of whichever you liked. Check the label for allergens such as celery and mustard.

How does payment work?

Many old smokehouses take cash only or add a fee for cards, and some have a counter where you pay as you order. Ask before you eat. If the place is a sit-down restaurant, tip as you would at any table-service place, at 18 to 20 percent. At a counter with no table service, tipping is optional, and a dollar or two in a jar is common if you have received good service.

What about buffets and takeout?

Some barbecue places and their cousins, the country buffets, charge a flat price for all you can eat, with a steam table of meats and vegetables. Takeout is common, and the staff will pack pork, slaw and sauce in separate containers so the bun does not turn soggy. Ask for extra napkins. If you buy a pound to take home, ask how to reheat it, and keep it cold on the way.

How do you order if you have dietary needs?

Pork is the center of the menu, so vegetarians and halal or kosher diners should ask first. Slaw and sides may contain meat fat or mayonnaise, hushpuppies are fried and baked beans often contain bacon. For allergies, ask about the fryer and the sauce. Many places can offer a plate of vegetable sides.

How do you remember what you ordered and liked at a barbecue place?

Next time you will want to say "chopped, some outside, red slaw" without thinking, and your memory of the order matters as much as the place. Mosey is a food app for finding, rating and sharing places to eat, and it rates by the dish, so a tray with your exact order can carry a tag that spells it out.

Put your favorite orders in a list, share its invite link with a first-timer and follow friends who know the local style. Their tags are a crash course in the vocabulary above.

Rate your next barbecue tray in the Mosey app.

More guides to read next:

• Where to eat in Chapel Hill and Carrboro: Franklin Street and the market
• North Carolina Barbecue Trail and the Lexington Barbecue Festival
• Livermush, Cheerwine and sweet potatoes: North Carolina food words

More in the US food guides and the ranked lists of places.