Southern-style barbecue requires sweet tea

When indulging in traditional Southern-style barbecue, there is only one drink that goes with the finger-licking feast: sweet tea.

This simple beverage is a popular tradition in the South, where the grill is referred to as the barbecue, the sauce is "dip," and the meat of choice is pig.

In Lexington, N.C. - the self-proclaimed barbecue capital of the world with 20 barbecue restaurants for 19,000 residents - sweet tea tops the menu.

"A lot of barbecue is a smoky flavor over open coals," says Cecil Conrad, whose family has owned the Barbecue Center in Lexington since the '60s. "The sauce, or dip as we call it here, is made with vinegar, pepper and ketchup. And the slaw has pepper, cabbage and vinegar. You want a drink to balance that, and sweet tea is the natural complement."

Conrad makes his sweet tea five gallons at a time using a traditional ratio of 1 pound of sugar for every gallon of unsweetened tea, then serves it over plenty of ice. "It's definitely sweet," he says.

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