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ingredients top pitmasters 64 best bbq joints 68 tastiest sauces 71 winning sides 72

Welcome to ’Cue Country. Down here, is a ritual, a celebration, a testament to all that’s right. In our first-ever ’Cue Awards, we salute the

STORYPRODUCED JENNIFER BY COLE; V. RALPH ANDERSON; PROP STYLING; HEATHER CHADDUCK; STYLING: VANESSA MCNEIL ROCCHIO; PAPER: JENNIFER DAVICK people, places, and recipes that keep our home fires burning Aaron Franklin Austin, TX

Rodney Scott Hemingway, SC

Francisca Andrin Chamblee, GA

Sam Jones Ayden, NC

that Rodney’s never been tempted to proclaim her to be Dekalb County’s Aaron Franklin more affordable avocation. There tweak. His adherence to tradition has most tender. oldbrickpitbbq.com FRANKLIN BARBECUE aren’t any tables or chairs in the vinyl- won him the respect of fellow Southern Austin, Texas sided hut known as Marion Pit Bar-B-Q, chefs, such as Husk’s Sean Brock, who Sam Jones but out back there’s a hickory-fired pit THE SKYLIGHT INN Hundreds of people line up every day rates Scott’s as his “most favorite place to sample brisket from Aaron Franklin, in which Jack smokes for 17 Ayden, North Carolina to eat in the entire world.” Rodney says a young Austinite who’s nursed pit- unhurried hours. When the shoulders trading secrets with Sean and cooking Sam Jones, 31, says he doesn’t intend to master dreams since age 12. But Aaron’s are quivering on the cusp of fracture, with other pitmasters have solidified change anything at the restaurant his popularity hasn’t left him assuming he pulls them apart and soaks the meat his passion for a hard, greasy job. “We grandfather Pete Jones opened in 1947. there’s nothing left to learn. “Anybody with an exceptional tomato-based have different styles, but we all have “My granddaddy would turn over in his who thinks they’ve perfected , orange as a robin’s breast. “The love for pork,” he says. thescottsbbq.com casket two times,” he says. In fact, should probably reassess,” he says. His main thing for me is the sauce,” says Sam, heir to a 180-year-old family distinctive meat—heralded for its Jack, who refuses to disclose ingredi- Francisca Andrin tradition of selling whole-hog barbecue, slinky marbling, flavorful bark, and ents. “It’s a little bit ketchup, a little bit Rodney Scott OLD BRICK PIT BARBEQUE The people behind the is working on a Skylight Inn T-shirt whiff of white-oak smoke—keeps everything else. So far everybody pretty SCOTT’S BAR-B-QUE pits are often as compelling Chamblee, Georgia whose design features a meat cleaver Aaron tied to the pit. He firmly believes well likes it.” 270/965-3318 Hemingway, South Carolina Francisca Andrin—who’s in charge of and the phrase “Our idea of cutting the pitmaster adds to the flavor. “An old as the meat that emerges “Charcoal is good if you’re lazy,” says the pit at this barn-shaped joint in edge.” He became an apprentice after dude hands off the reins and it’s never Will Fleischman LOCKHART SMOKEHOUSE from them. We give you whole-hog maestro Rodney Scott, who north Atlanta—isn’t the obvious trying to shortcut his way through a the same,” he says. “It’s safe to say I’m started working his family’s pits when choice to safeguard the city’s dwin- college research paper by writing about stuck.” franklinbarbecue.com Dallas, Texas 10 OF THE SOUTH’S he was 11. Rodney isn’t lazy. He and his dling vinegar tradition. She grew up in barbecue. “That’s when I put on a Will Fleischman has studied literature father cut trees weekly, salvaging Indonesia, where the cuisine-defining different set of spectacles as to how I Jack Easley and worked as a chef in China, but BEST PITMASTERS, MARION PIT BAR-B-Q the cords of hickory, oak, and pecan meat dish is slathered with molasses look at it.” He recalls long hours spent nothing daunts him like a brisket near- a diverse group united by needed to power and perfume their and brown sugar. But she’s shelved her learning how to cook split hogs and Marion, Kentucky ing the end of its run in a smoker. “The a smoky passion concrete bunker pits. Those pits yield sweet meat instincts and produces ’cue hand chop meat and skin. “At 75, he Nearly 40 years ago, Jack Easley was question of ‘How do you know when gorgeously crisp-skinned meat, true to a local vinegar style that’s lately would work me in the ground,” Sam paying too much rent on his sit-down it’s done?’ is where insecurity lives,” he

mopped with a vinegar-pepper sauce been roughed up by ketchup. Acolytes PORTRAITS:ROBBIE CAPONETTO; PAPER AND SAUCE: JENNIFER DAVICK, FOOD STYLING: MARIAN COOPER CAIRNS says of Skylight’s patriarch. 252/746-4113 restaurant, so he went looking for a says. “You want the wood to speak to

JUNE 2012 SOUTHERN LIVING 65 you, but the meat sits there in mute lured him out of Decatur: “My passion Ed Mitchell defiance.” Will rejects the “cowboy is in the pits,” he says. “You’ll still find Raleigh, NC wisdom” equating pounds and cook me there, taking a turn.” time: “That’s like making a sweeping bigbobgibson.com generalization about all redheads.” Instead, he relies on instincts he’s honed Ed Mitchell “THE PITMASTER” under the tutelage of a cattle rancher who sold to Leavenworth prison Raleigh, North Carolina and a 350-pound man known as Pappy. The gray beard of whole-hog cooking, “People need to humble themselves Ed Mitchell was a relatively late arrival to the experience,” he says. “Success to the barbecue business. After a depends on how many mistakes you’re lifetime of pig pickings at family HOW THEY DO IT Avery Payne willing to make.” lockhartsmokehouse.com Lexington, NC gatherings, Ed inadvertently became a WAY DOWN SOUTH professional at 44 when his mother, a Helen Turner If you think Southerners are Wilson County grocer, asked him to obsessed with cooking meat over HELEN’S BBQ smoke a pig for supper. She sold the fire, you should spend some time Brownsville, Tennessee leftovers at her corner store, which was down south— that Helen Turner’s gotten used to customers soon after reinvented as Mitchell’s is. That’s just what 10 members of poking around her modest barbecue Barbecue. These days, in a field that’s the Fatback Collective, a group of Southern “hambassadors” led Will Fleischman shack looking for the man who runs made a mantra of low and slow, Ed by Nick Pihakis of Jim ‘N Nick’s Dallas, TX the place. But she’s been stacking cooks hot and fast, a technique he Bar-B-Q (page 68), did this past hickory and hoisting pork shoulders believes loosens the pig’s juices. He’s December, traveling to , since 1995. Customers who aren’t now plotting to open a chain of a country where every house has diverted by the idea of a female-run restaurants showcasing his signature an asado pit and even potato chips barbecue joint are often equally struck whole-hog style. “I’ve tried ribs and come in such flavors as beef ten- by the thick smoke that clouds the butts, but you’re missing about derloin. At a ranch called Estancia interior of Helen’s BBQ. She tried three-quarters of the flavors the Belcampo, asadors (imagine installing fans to clear the air, but the animal can provide,” he says. pitmasters) shared techniques with pit’s heat melted them. “Some people thepitmasteredmitchell.com folks such as Rodney Scott (page 64) and chef Donald Link of New say sauce makes it special, but the Orleans. On the surface, with both smoke is what makes the flavor,” Helen Avery Payne COOK’S BARBECUE sides cooking for one another, it Jack Easley says. 731/779-3255 was as simple as I’ll-try-yours, Marion, KY Lexington, North Carolina you-try-mine: Rodney’s fiery, Chris Lilly In 1984, when Avery Payne’s parents vinegar-based sauce versus the BIG BOB GIBSON BAR-B-Q purchased Cook’s Barbecue from a garlicky Uruguayan . Decatur, Alabama childhood friend, millions of American Appetizer bites of Donald’s Cajun When Amy McLemore, great-grand- boys were busy slipping quarters into boudin versus fire-searedmatambre (fatty flank ) with beef-tallow daughter of Alabama barbecue legend Pac-Man machines. Avery, at 12, was crackers. But something deeper set Big Bob Gibson, looked at fellow working at Cook’s. He recalls starting in. You see, in Uruguay, organic, Helen Turner University of North Alabama student a few inadvertent fires that first week pastured meats aren’t a trend— Brownsville, TN Chris Lilly, she saw a husband. Her he learned to cook on the pit. Now they’re practically a birthright. As father saw a solution to a long-standing more cautious, he is one of two Nick points out, farms such as business problem. “My father-in-law Lexington-style pitmasters who mess Belcampo are “taking good-quality hired me because he wanted to open a with brisket. Cook’s “went down to food and bringing it to all the people, second location,” says Chris, who’d Texas and fell in love with it,” he says. not just the elite.” And it’s that never before minded a pit. He has since And the beef affair was no mere fling. lesson the crew has brought back. Through the Fatback Pig Project clinched the art of superlative ’cue— “We thought we’d marry it and bring it they are working with local farmers “It’s just dry rub, patience, and sauce on back.” What the Paynes didn’t bring to raise Mangalitsa stock for their the side,” he says—and become a legend home was the Texan skepticism of restaurants. The end goal? Heritage on the competition circuit. Unlike sauce: “Sauce makes it good,” says hog—usually a fine-dining staple— many professional pitmasters, Chris Avery, who builds his from ketchup, on an $8 sandwich. Now doesn’t sneer at the prospect of vinegar, and crushed red pepper. “Only that’s a delicious exchange. For a slide for prizes: He’s won more than 10 World way I can eat barbecue without sauce show of Fatback’s asado adventure, BBQ Championship titles, including is off the chopping block or the pit.” go to southernliving.com/BBQ. three Grand Champ- cooksbbq.com

OPPOSITE:ROBBIE CAPONETTO; THIS PAGE: SIDEBAR JENNIFER BY COLE, V. ILLUSTRATION: BEPPE GIACOBBE; SAUCE: JENNIFER DAVICK, FOOD STYLING: MARIAN COOPER CAIRNS ionships. Becoming a celebrity hasn’t ~HANNA RASKIN Chris Lilly Decatur, AL JUNE 2012 SOUTHERN LIVING 67 THE SOUTHERN LIVING PULLED PORK SANDWICH Our Test Kitchen took cues from the pros to bring pit-barbecue flavor to the backyard. Here’s the breakdown. Definitely try it at home

THE SAUCE (PAGE 75) This tomato-based sauce perfectly balances heat, CHOPPED, PULLED, SHREDDED, OR SLICED, spice, and sweet, letting the meat shine. We love the THE BUN dark molasses for that extra depth of flavor and the Forget fancy. There’s nothing we like there’s nothing like a pork sandwich from the pit. And everyone’s got an opinion on which kick from the chili powder and black pepper. better than a pillowy eight-pack of white-bread buns—soft and pliable one is boss hog. One thing’s for sure: These 20 BARBECUE JOINTS do it right and perfect for sopping up sauce. Sesame seeds are dealer’s choice.

THE MEAT A&R Bar-B-Que The Bar-B-Q Shop succulent pulled pork, slathered with A juicy pork butt Memphis, Tennessee Memphis, Tennessee a thick tomato sauce. brickpit.com rubbed with salt, cumin, ginger, A&R serves tamales, bologna, and It’s not hard to find an expertly smoked Bunn’s Barbecue garlic, and sugar barbecue spaghetti, but the star is the pork shoulder in Memphis, but this Windsor, North Carolina and scented with hickory smoke sloppy chopped-pork sandwich, twitch- sandwich has won accolades for its equals hog heaven. CHOWCHOW Sandwiched between two flaps of crisp (PAGE 75) ing with tangy slaw and bathed in a accoutrements, including a mustard- cornbread, Bunn’s minced Boston butt Pitmaster bonus: a crisp layer of bark. This tangy confetti sauce that doesn’t obscure the robust tinged sauce, a fiery hot sauce, and is so good it may explain why the of cabbage, green aandrbbq.com dancingpigs.com smokiness of the meat. sturdy Texas toast. Russell family rebuilds every time the tomatoes, and peppers gives a Allen & Son BBQ BBQ Barn coastal restaurant suffers a hurricane- fresh crunch—way Chapel Hill, North Carolina North Augusta, South Carolina inflicted flood.252/794-2274 better than plain ol’ potato chips. If a foreigner was studying for a South Carolina is the only state with Georgia Pig Bar-B-Que barbecue exam, the Allen & Son flash four distinct sauce regions, and BBQ Fort Lauderdale, Florida card would surely get a workout. Keith Barn offers them all, including the thick Wayne Anderson chops oak-smoked Allen’s restaurant straddles the dividing mustard variety rarely found beyond meat and crunchy bits of bark before line between western and eastern Palmetto State borders. 803/278-7202 saucing with his tangy original sauce. Carolina ’cue, and idiosyncratically Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Q 954/587-4420 borrows from both traditions. They use Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q a thin, vinegar-based sauce, the same as Mason, Tennessee Multiple locations across the South Eastern pitmasters, but cook only Bozo’s had a bit part in Walk the Line, shoulders, considered the Piedmont’s the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic, but the A multiunit chain might provoke domain. 919/942-7576 western Tennessee restaurant has long skepticism from purists, but Jim ‘N been famed for its treat- Nick’s produces a phenomenal pork ment of pork shoulders, shoulder with traditional methods which emerge moist and many have written off as too time- ~From Our Test Kitchen tender from the pit, bear- consuming. Committed to freshness ~ Smoked Pork Butt: and sustainability, the restaurant just Trim 1 (4- to 5-lb.) bone-in Boston butt pork ing the faintest trace of roast . Rinse and pat dry. Sprinkle with 1 smoke. 901/294-3400 launched its own heritage pork-raising Rub (page 14); let stand at room temperature⁄4 cup Smoky-Sweet 30 minutes. Bring BBQ The Brick Pit program, and none of the 28 locations internal temperature of smoker to 225° to 250° according to even has a freezer. jimnnicks.com manufacturer’s directions, and maintain temperature 15 to 20 Mobile, Alabama Jimmy’s BBQ minutes. Place pork, fattier side up, on cooking grate directly On its website, The Brick over coals in center of smoker. Cover with lid, and adjust Lexington, North Carolina Pit features testimonials ventilation to maintain temperature between 225° and 250°. from a car dealer, a banker, A prickly, tops the pork GET MORE ’CUE Smoke, covered with lid and maintaining temperature, 5 hours; and a bonsai artist. But it shoulder at Jimmy’s, a Lexington Find ’cue-pons for special deals from turn pork, fattier side down, and smoke 2 to 3 more hours or our favorite joints, and answer our doesn’t take a professional mainstay that specializes in chewy, until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers Saucy's Walk-up Bar.B.Q. quiz to see if you can take the heat 195°. Transfer to a cutting board; cool 15 minutes. Shred pork.

palate to appreciate their hickory-scented meat. 336/357-2311 THISPAGE: PAPER AND SAUCE: JENNIFER DAVICK, FOOD STYLING: MARIAN COOPER CAIRNS SAUCY'S, WALK-UP BAR.B.Q.: KIERAN WAGNER; OPPOSITE: JENNIFER DAVICK, PROP STYLING: CAROLINE M. CUNNINGHAM, FOOD STYLING: MARIAN COOPER CAIRNS as pitmaster: southernliving.com/BBQ For more details on this recipe, as well as a slow-cooker version, visit southernliving.com/BBQ 68 SOUTHERN LIVING JUNE 2012 . Bunn’s Barbecue 1 Leigh’s Barbecue Payne’s Bar-B-Q 2 Kevil, Kentucky Memphis, Tennessee 13 There aren’t any pretensions at Leigh’s, Arguments rage over the best barbecue where the terrific hickory-kissed pork in Memphis, but the field narrows when shoulder is chopped to order and you talk sandwiches. At Payne’s, where sauced with vinegar. 270/488-3434 lunch is so popular it’s punctuated by Lexington Barbecue the nonstop slap of a cleaver on the 12 chopping block, the pork sandwich is 3 Lexington, North Carolina graced with smoke-tinged bark, a robe The defining Piedmont barbecue of tomato-based sauce, and mustard joint—known locally as The Monk’s slaw yellow as a buttercup. 901/272-1523 Place—chops its shoulders and slaw into Pecan Lodge an extraordinary mixture of sweetness and smoke. 336/249-9814 Dallas, Texas Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint In a state known for barbecue, Dallas is 11 Nolensville, Tennessee rarely a player. But Pecan Lodge has 4 reset ’cue expectations with killer pulled Patrick Martin’s open- Gettin’ pork developed to satisfy the owners’ Papa Kayjoe’s faced sandwich, what Carolina nostalgia. pecanlodge.com he calls a Redneck Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge Saucy Taco, piles hickory- smoked pork, slaw, and Shelby, North Carolina Piedmont-style tomato Longtime customers know to request sauce atop a plate-size 10 their sandwiches with “outside brown,” hoecake. martinsbbqjoint.com the dark, chewy bark that lends Neely’s textural zing and a woodsy demeanor 5 Marshall, Texas to chopped meat. bridgesbbq.com Marooned in beef territory, Neely’s is Saucy’s Walk-up Bar.B.Q. known by locals as The Brown Pig. Petersburg, Virginia The 85-year-old restaurant crowns The reclaimed shipping container that ground smoked shoulder with mayon- houses Saucy’s may be the ultimate 9 naise, lettuce, and the signature sauce 6 on a bun. 903/935-9040 21st-century symbol. But the meat served from within is smoked according Papa Kayjoe’s Pecan Lodge to long-standing low-and-slow tradi- 7 Centerville, Tennessee tions, then swabbed with sauces such 8 The flat disks of cornbread that book- as mustard-jalapeño. saucysbbq.com end Papa Kayjoe’s pork sandwich are Sims Bar-B-Que fried to order in lard, in keeping with Little Rock, Arkansas Armed with loaves of white bread, pulled pork, and antacids, our Food staff sampled nearly 100 bottles pitmaster Devin Pickard’s philosophy of BARBECUE SAUCE to distill the pack down to this sweet, smoky, vinegary baker’s dozen that barbecue ought to be a celebration In 1937, Allen Sims and his wife, Amelia, of swine fat. “I know when folks think opened a cafe, and quickly became 1 NIGHT OF THE LIVING 4 OKIE STEAK HOUSE 7 SAW’S SAUCE Birmingham, 11 HAROLD’S HOG WASH of grease they think of unhealthy,” he known for great barbecue and their BAR-B-Q SAUCE BARBECUE SAUCE AL. Just right: not too sweet, hot, Fayetteville, TN. A clove-tinged, tangy, brown Sims Sauce, which they Kansas City, KS. For chipotle Stroud, OK. Sweet and thick or vinegary; $5.50. sawsbbq.com authoritative mustard; $6. famously told a Southern Foodways fans: fiery yet sweet; $4. with a chili powder kick; $5. haroldshogwash.com 8 WHOLE HOG CAFE Alliance oral historian in 2008. “But apply to every serving of chopped pork. oklahomajoesbbq.com okiesteakhouse.com simsbarbeque-ar.com SAUCE #2 Little Rock, AR. 12 JIM’S OWN MILD the key to good barbecue is grease.” 2 LAMBERT’S SWEET 5 BBQ FIGHT CLUB Lightly smoky tomato-vinegar BARBECUE SAUCE 931/729-2131 ~HANNA RASKIN SAUCE O’MINE ORIGINAL KICKIN’ CHICKEN with a warm finish; $7. Cary, NC. Sweet, peppery Olive Branch, MS. Honeyed WHITE SAUCE wholehogcafe.com tomato with subtle floral notes; tomato with a touch of apricot; Nashville, TN. A peppery 9 HOG HEAVEN BARBECUE $6. jimsownsauce.com $3.50. ssomd.com come-back sauce; $9. SAUCE East Brewton, AL. READERS’ PICKS You voted on Facebook (and were pretty nice to each other). Here, your top pork sandwiches: 615/329-1234 13 WADMALAW ISLAND 3 KING’S FAMOUS NO. 2 Sweet and balanced; $4. BARBEQUE SAUCE 1 JIM ‘N NICK’S BAR-B-Q, Birmingham, AL; jimnnicks.com • 2 SOUTHERN SOUL BARBEQUE, St. Simons Island, GA; southernsoulbbq.com BARBECUE SAUCE 6 HILLSDALE BANK 800/865-2262 Wadmalaw Island, SC. 3 MEMPHIS BARBECUE CO., Horn Lake, MS; memphisbbqco.com • 4 FOX BROS. BAR-B-Q, Atlanta, GA; foxbrosbbq.com • 5 MARTIN’S Petersburg, VA. A tart, BAR B.Q. THE SAUCE (HOT) 10 ABE’S BAR-B-Q SAUCE A bright and peppery BAR-B-QUE JOINT, Nolensville, TN; martinsbbqjoint.com • 6 THE SHED BARBEQUE & BLUES JOINT, Ocean Springs, MS; theshedbbq.com assertive blend of mustard, Hillsdale, KS. Thick, sweet, Clarksdale, MS. Zippy with a twist on a classic mustard 7 THE SKYLIGHT INN, Ayden, NC; 252/746-4113 • 8 HOME TEAM BBQ, Charleston, SC; hometeambbq.com • 9 PAPA BUCK’S BBQ, tomato, and vinegar; $4. and smoky; $4. hillsdalebank punch of Worcestershire; $23 sauce; $5. wadmalaw

Metter, GA; papabucks.com • 10 MOE’S ORIGINAL BAR B QUE, Huntsville, AL; moesoriginalbbq.com THISBOTTOM:TOPPAGE TO PETER FRANK EDWARDS/REDUX PICTURES, MARK SANDLIN, ARTMERIPOL(2); OPPOSITE: JENNIFER DAVICK; PROP STYLING: CAROLINE M. CUNNINGHAM, FOOD STYLING: MARIAN COOPER CAIRNS kingsfamousbarbecue.com barbq.com for 3 pt. abesbbq.com islandbbq.com

70 SOUTHERN LIVING JUNE 2012