Introduction

This book was born under a giant sycamore tree on a warm summer night in Pittsboro, North Carolina. The place was an elegant country inn called the Fearrington House. I’d been invited there to do what I love best: talk about barbecue and demonstrate grilling. As I do whenever I teach, I opened the floor to questions. For a moment, I feared I was bringing coals to Newcastle. Here I was in the heart of North Carolina barbecue country. What could I possibly teach people who’d been pit roasting pigs and savoring pulled pork since they were old enough to eat solid food?