How do you spell "BBQ"?

Honestly, whether you spell it BBQ, Bar-B-Que or barbecue it all means the same thing. Good times and Good food! 

Lexington North Carolina is the barbecue capital of the world. October is national rib month and Lexington celebrates this with a huge bbq festival.

What is BBQ-ing?

Barbecuing means cooking food slowly via indirect heat and smoke. Grilling involves placing the food directly over the heat source, be it coals , gas fired flames, wood or what ever. Riverview Grill cooks barbecue style, slow cooking with indirect heat and lots of smoke.

What are ribs and how do they differ?

Ribs, ribs ribs –pork ribs come from pigs. Butchers cut slab ribs in 3 distinct styles. Spare ribs are cut from the under belly of the animal. These ribs are the largest ones and average about 4 pounds per slab. In blind taste tests they generally score the highest in flavor, due to its fat content.

The next style is smaller and is called the St. Louis Style rib. The butcher starts with the spare rib and cuts off the rib tip, the skirt and the flap. . Riverview Grill serves this cut of ribs. Our average slab weighs 2.85 pounds per slab. We choose this cut because we like the meatier rib and we want to be a little different than the norm.

The next style rib is called the Baby Back rib or the Loin Back rib. This style is most often served in our area. It is a narrow cut of rib from the back of the animal. These ribs have more of a curve than the 2 other styles and is the leanest . The average baby back rib weighs 1.75 pounds.

There is also the country style rib. These are not cut in full slabs. They are cut from the first 2 ribs closest to the shoulder.. They are meatier than the ribs that come from the back side of the animal. These look more like pork chops than ribs.

How many ribs are in a slab?

The typical slab of ribs has 12 bones, but 13 is not uncommon.

What kinds of wood do you recommend and how are they different?

The flavor of smoked meats change with the type of wood burned to smoke the meat.
• Apple wood - slightly sweet, dense fruity flavor great for smoking ham
• Cherry wood - sweet and light fruity flavor
• Hickory wood - pungent smoky, bacon like flavor most popular wood used to smoke food
(Riverview Grill uses aged hickory wood to smoke all our meats)
• Maple wood - mildly smoky and somewhat sweet flavor great for all poultry
• Mesquite wood - strong earthy flavor cooks quickly and produces high heat
• Oak wood - very heavy smoke flavor excellent for heavy game and red meat
• Pecan wood - most similar to hickory, but not as strong perfect for turkey

Where does the meat that you eat on a pork sandwich come from?

Both pork butts, also called a Boston butt and pork shoulder are most often used by restaurants to smoke for sandwiches and bbq plates. Riverview grill prefers the flavor and the texture to the Boston butt, so we smoke it exclusively. The average butt is 8 pounds. We yield an average of 4 pounds of finished product per butt. A pound of pulled pork makes 4 nice size or 5 small sandwiches, or 3 dinner plates. 

Are there any secrets to BBQ-ing?

If you add sauce to meat while it is smoking it will usually burn the meat. Most sauces have sugar in them and it burns easily and leaves black marks in the outside of the meat. Riverview Grill never uses sauce or direct heat while smoking our meat.

Turn don’t stab your meat. Use tongs or a spatula, never stab with a carving fork of knife.

Pork Butts can be sliced, chopped or pulled to get a finished product. Riverview grill hand pulls the meat to insure a quality product. It allows us to pick the fat and bone and cartilage out of the meat. Automation is a wonderful invention, however we believe the old fashion way is the best method for bbq.