MARCE MILLA PRIYANKA SARAWGI

ANDREW MARCO

IDUS 711 • FALL 2014

“The Culture of BBQ in Savannah”

SPECIALS

PREPERATION - SECONDARY RESEARCH MODELS Trends Expert Interview • Eras Map • Analogous Models Trends Matrix • Culture, Activity, Offering Map

TIME TO COOK - OBSERVATION Angel’s BBQ • Trick’s BBQ • Wall’s BBQ Wiley’s Championship BBQ • Sandfly BBQ

SMOKE IT UP - SHADOWING Angel’s BBQ • Kimberly’s Homemade Ribs

KEEPING AN EYE OUT - INTERVIEWS Teresa Weston (Wall’s BBQ) • Cyrus Hunter (Trick’s BBQ) • Marc Sylvester • Matt Britton• Kimberly Powell • Shawn & Sallie • Owen Foster • Billy Nisbet • Andrew Trice (Angel’s BBQ)

PULLING IT APART - SYNTHESIS

TIME TO EAT - INSIGHTS & OPPORTUNITIES

APPENDIX - FULL TRANSCRIPTS

HEATING IT UP - “THE PLAN”

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Meat on the plateGlossary

“BBQERS:”A term used to describe any individual involved in BBQ, weather they be a pit-master, a restaurant owner, or an aficionado.

CHAR BARK:The outside crust created by the caramelization of seasonings and sugar during the cooking process. Typically black in color.

GRILLING: A method of cooking meat at temperatures of 375° directly exposing the food to the heat source (Usually an open flame)

HARD WOODS: Dense woods such as live oak and hickory that are used in barbecuing because of the amount of time they take to burn. Because BBQing is a long process, hard woods are preferred because they burn longer.

“Let it Rest:”A saying used in barbecuing meaning giving the cooked meat time to settle before cutting or pulling it apart, allowing the juices to settle and the meat to finish cooking.

PIT:A sizable hole dug into the ground where wood or charcoal is burned over which the meat is barbecued.

PITMASTER:One who operates a barbecue pit. Often used as a term of respect for someone who is skilled at barbecuing.

“PULLED:”The process of separating the cooked meat with one´s hands or tongs. Literally pulling the meat apart.

SMOKING:A method used to impart flavor of specific wood varieties into the meat through the process of slow cooking

SMOKE RING:One of the most sought after properties of smoked meats, a pinkish ring just under the surface crust (bark). The smoke ring is caused by a chemical reaction between the smoke and the meat.

TRADITIONAL BBQ:A slow cooking process using hard wood at temperatures between 225-250° until reaching an internal temperature of 195°

Preparation

SECONDARY RESEARCHSecondary research data was organized through a series of modes with the intention to create a visual summaries of our findings. Each mode approached the data in different ways in order to later compare them and identify the players, relationships between stakeholders, trends and other key factors influencing the BBQ culture in Savannah.

The 5 modes used to organize and compare our secondary data were based on Vijay Kumar’s 101 Design Methods:

Trends Experts InterviewsKey informants were selected to discuss in an unstructured and informal manner about their knowledge of BBQ as a whole to have a broader context on the topic from experts’ points of view.

Eras MapThis mode compiled data from books, articles, and other bibliographical sources with respect of how BBQ initiated and how it has changed over the years.

Analogous ModelsAnalogous models were studied to analyze the concepts of competition, smoking techniques in different cultures and media influence on the BBQ culture.

Trends Matrix Past and present world trends were layed out as to foresee which trends were constant, which are changing, and which might be pushing towards the future. Trends in technology, culture, and process were used to create a matrix divided in past, present and future.

Culture Activity MapWe used this method to map out which activities and cultures were present in the BBQ culture and how they related to each other, in search for trends and possible opportunities.

After addressing each mode independently, overlapping call outs were identified and color coded to create a more holistic interpretation of the data.

Secondary Research Process

Heating it Up

THE PLANRESEARCH QUESTIONS:After secondary research had been conducted, research questions were generated through brainstorming, considering all the areas previously explored and analyzed.

Broad questions were initially formulated to later generate more descriptive, specific questions for the Research Plan. Initial Questions:What is BBQ? What is the culture around BBQ? Who are the players for BBQ in Savannah? Where are the BBQ hubs in Savannah located? How do you grow a BBQ culture? Why do people BBQ?

WHAT IS BBQ?

WHAT IS THE CULTURE AROUND BBQ?

WHO ARE THE PLAYERS?

HOW DO YOU GROW A BBQ CULTURE?

WHY DO PEOPLE BBQ?

WHERE ARE THE BBQ HUBS?

The Plan Process

Time to Cook

OBSERVATIONWe adopted the Participation Observation method to gather data about the players in the BBQ industry. This method allowed us to learn about the individuals while observing them in their natural environment. It enabled us to get an intuitive and intellectual grasp of them and capture qualitative data on processes, and interactions between them. We used various tools to capture who, when, where, what, why, and how people cook, eat, or commercialize BBQ. Observation helped us distinguish between what people do and what they say they do. We categorize our observations through the lenses of activities, environments, interactions, objects and users. We categorized our observations through the lenses of Activities, environment, interaction, object and users. (A,E,I,O,U).

Ricky Walker, who spent many years at Gulfstream building jet engines, was a well-known host of the ultimate BBQ feast in his neighborhood. He started fixing BBQ for my family and a few friends on the weekends, then “the parties just got bigger & bigger.”

November 2012 saw a business expansion, the news of which had already set mouths watering for months: Trick’s BBQ opened on a little corner between Bull and Victory as a companion to the car detailing business.

Tricks BBQ is well known for its ribs amongst locals and tourists. They cook over a dozen cases of fresh ribs a day, served with their signature, home-made BBQ sauce which secret recepe keeps customers continuously returning for more.already set mouths watering for months: Trick’s BBQ opened on a little corner between Bull and Victory as a companion to the car detailing biz.

The “Tricks” logo is hand painted on its building, but it’s the handmade smoking tanks that are visible from a block away as well as the fresh smoked BBQ aroma which makes passerbys stream into the parking lot and line up under the tent where orders are taken.

All the meat preparation and serving is done secretely under closed doors. All meals are served to go and clients wait in line under the sun for around 10-15 minutes for their order to come out.

Andrew Trice and his wife Aileen opened Angel’s BBQ more than 8 years ago. Andrew had been in the fine dining industry for 14 years and wanted to do something more real. They found a location that was affordable and the rest is history. Angel’s, named after Andy’s nickname for his wife, is now one of the most visited BBQ restaurants in Savannah by both locals and tourists.

The best selling dishes include the Angel’s Special (pulled pork sandwich with mustard coleslaw on top), Peanuts & Greens (collard greens with peanuts) and their BBQ unique house sauces.

Angel’s is the literal “hole in the wall” restaurant. It is based on a pirate theme, with pirate flags and posters decorating it’s walls. It is a small, cozy place with an open small kitchen and outside seating.

With 51 years in the business, Teresa Weston juggled a teaching job along with her BBQ restaurant business. Wall’s BBQ, named after Teresa’s grandfather’s last name, is a small BBQ joint located in an alley in York Ln that has witnessed the BBQ industry in Savannah from its beginning. This “aggressively casual” restaurant, as defined by the New York Times back in the day, is one of the most acclaimed attractions for both locals and tourists in Savannah.

Ribs, ribs and ribs is what Wall’s BBQ customer’s are keen to dig into when visiting this restaurant. Their traditional mustard based BBQ sauce is a family secret passed down through generations that combines perfectly with the moist texture of their ribs. Some collard greens to top that off and it’s a masterpiece!

Wall’s BBQ has a homey, warm feeling like no other BBQ restaurant in Savannah. Furniture, decoration, music and service all combine perfectly to provide customers with the down to earth, home-style experience they crave.

Johnny Harris opened its doors in 1924 as a roadside BBQ shack. Currently, the restaurant has grown to become one of the largest and most popular full service restaurants in the city of Savannah. Additionally, since 1950, the official Johnny Harris Famous Bar-B-Que Sauce Company was founded and can now be found in every local grocery store.

Customers incline to the pulled pork topped with their signature Johnny Harris BBQ sauce and their unique coleslaw recipe.

Johnny Harris is the largest BBQ restaurant in Savannah, divided in two wings: a west wing for casual dining with comfortable booths and individual tables, and an east wing for take out orders to be placed and a large bar. The yellow lighting and wood walls and furniture create a cozy and casual ambience despite the restaurant’s vast dimensions.

Sandfly has become one of the most well reviewed BBQ locations in Savannah through Trip Advisor and Urban Spoon. This casual BBQ joint is a popular must for locals and tourists who wish to engage in the authentic BBQ experience.

Sandfly features North Carolina style home made sauces that combine in symphony with their famous brisket and pork sandwiches. The most popular side dishes are Brunswick stew and Mac and Cheese.

It’s a small place located at a strip mall, with a few picnic tables outside and booths on the inside. Food is ordered at the counter and delivered at your table, so waiting is conveniently done sitting down while enjoy-ing the eclectic decoration on the walls.

As its name suggests, Wiley’s Championship BBQ is a multiple award winning BBQ restaurant that has won its way into local and tourist customers’ top of mind. Barbecue caterer and champion, Wiley McCrary began his first catering business in Atlanta in ‘83 producing large and small special events.

Wiley’s has several finger-liking savory BBQ options on its menu, but brisket is by far the most acclaimed of them all. This special dish has attracted not only customers but the media in general to showcase Wiley’s as a Savannah’s must-see and won them several of their awards.

The ambience is casual, ideal for family or friends to dine in. Service is fast and waiters make it their task to keep you comfortable and well served. The walls are filled with their many awards and recognitions from various BBQ championship events as well as articles and publications on their business’ success.

The War Wall

Smoke it Up

SHADOWINGWe used shadowing as an observation method to better understand the daily routine of pitmaster Andrew Trice while he goes through his BBQ cooking process. We noted and documented the environment he cooks in, activities he engages in and the technology (tools) he interacted with. A photo log and video were recorded with the consent of the participant providing us with a comprehensive data set about the patterns of actions, interdependence and behaviors between Andrew and his context. We closely followed this experienced individual over a period of 40 minutes and took field notes of the process. Frequent questions were asked for clarification regarding the process of BBQ which prompted the participant to give a simultaneous description on his or her actions and choices.

Shadowing Process

Keeping an Eye Out

INTERVIEWS

This section provides a snapshot of the interviews that we conducted for the project. Full transcripts can be found in the appendix at the end.

We conducted semi-structured interviews to key players in the BBQ industry, which gave us in-depth understanding about specific areas of interest we detected during the observation. Key individuals were selected varying from restaurant owners and BBQ aficionados to championship participants and faithful BBQ customers. Interviews helped us explore our topic in detail and deepen our knowledge about the culture of BBQ in Savannah with individuals of different background, which led us to learn about domains of BBQ that we knew very, little about which became critical for our data collection. An open-ended interview gave us the flexibility to explore certain aspects of BBQ in depth and cover new topics as they aroused.

BIO: Retired teacher and owner of Wall’s BBQ, Teresa has dedicated 51 years of her life to the BBQ business, keeping alive her family tradition.

CHEF AND OWNER | WALL’S BBQ | SAVANNAH, GA

TERESA WESTON

“I don’t know what people’s fascination with ribs are, I’ve been around them so

long that i barely eat them but that has always been a draw”

“I don’t know why he chose BBQ restaurant, it may be have been.... because he is actually

from South Carolina he was born and raised on a farm so maybe that had something to do

with his decision.”

“My grandmother retired in 79, gave it onto my mother, and after i went off to college

& came back I always thought it was a very good business and a definitely guaranteed

employment.”

“Some people think BBQ as a smoking aspect and some people think its the sauce. You throw sauce on it and its BBQ so it kinda meld that together so its not like what people would traditionally think of BBQ being like a pit BBQ”

“Everything we do is centered around the grill. there is no wood chips, no open...no anything...”

“BBQ used to be thought as something that you would pull on the side of the road, its gotten

more mainstream and more accepted”

“About 85% of the people that come in here are actually tourists.”

One customer came in

AND SHEBECAUSE SHE SAID SHEhad not had food likethis since her grandmother was alive

CRIED

“The New York Times said that the decor was ‘aggressively casual’ and I like that because I want

people to come in and feel like this is their home and this is their dinning room, they can sit as

long as they want.”

“Smoking meat took way too long and it dint make an appreciable difference in taste so I just put it in the oven.”

BIO:The pitmaster of Trick’s BBQ, Cyruss has been cooking for the past 16 years, famous for his signature mustard based BBQ sauce and delicious ribs.

PIT MASTER | TRICKS’S BBQ | SAVANNAH, GA

CYRUSS HUNTER

“I guess Savannah has a little for everyone but we haven’t got surface with BBQ yet.”

“Usually from savannah, a lot of people that move away they come to tricks when

they come to town.”

“No I got that from my older lady, she passed now but that was my old lady’s, I don’t even

know if that was her original recipe, but that’s what I got it from”

“We were doing a catering job for the former Mayor which was Odious Johnson” (referring to his fondest memory regarding BBQ)

“So personally, I don’t eat a lot of BBQ, I cook it so much that I don’t eat it.”

“Some of my commons they say ‘you know what I want’”

“Well it starts with the grills, the person and the process that will grill, but most important are those

grills. If we don’t have those grills or the grills aren’t in condition then we can’t fulfill our jobs.”

“Some people like lots of sauce, others less sauce and some people just want it on the side. So we give them the variety of choices so it’s up to the customer what they prefer”

The business accommodates

or a person that is wealthy andcan come get WHATEVER he wants.

A PERSON THAT MAY HAVE$3 IN THEIR POCKET,

EVERYONE,

BIO:BBQ championship participant and BBQ aficionado, Marc is currently an Industrial Design graduate student at Savannah College of Art and Design

BBQ AFICIONADO | STUDENT | SAVANNAH, GA

MARC SYLVESTER

“I think about sitting for hours cooking food and having beer with friends over...”

“Being very caught up checking the temperature n everything not stressful and relaxed and there is good food after that...”

“I think bbq as a smoker and grill is grilling”

“Part of the system I use, requires wrapping the meat in thick aluminum and

couple layers of that.”

“I try to find good places around here, and Savannah is really not known for its

food, and especially BBQ.”

“I cook alone most of the time, it’s fun when other come and help me out,

recently, my friend who I used to BBQ with moved away, so I don’t fire up smoker

all the time, since it’s a long process.”

I started making my

to see what is the

and using differentOWN SAUCES

BEST FOR METYPES OF WOOD

“In the United States there are different tastes of BBQ and like Texas is beef, in the south it’s pork and there is different BBQ sauce that go with each one...”

“It isn’t really the place you would want to hang around, there is no place to sit

and eat, you can’t get any drinks there. but they just want you to get some food

there and leave and go somewhere else.“ (Referring to a to-go only BBQ joint)

BIO:Husband and devoted high school teacher, cooks traditional BBQ by using creative solutions to work around traditional equipment.

TEACHER | SAVANNAH, GA

MATT BRITON

“I think BBQ is crazy, you can’t limit yourself to one thing.”

“I was very cold that day because its Kansas .And there was a line out of the door and so like

we finally got in and we waited in the line and we got near the front we had to go all the way

back in the line because my friend was not there yet and then we got near the front and then

we had to go back again, third time he finally came.”

“Ribs are little more expensive, I tend to stay away from that, just because of the expense”

“If you order pulled pork and its terrible then it’s not a BBQ restaurant, they’re not going

to be in business. “

“Its weird because a lot of people just get chicken and grill it in your backyard and call it

BBQ, but to me BBQ is actually like a process, it takes a while to do that, it’s just not like

grilling steaks, because that’s not BBQ.”

“I wanted to kind of emulate a BBQ of a restaurant and still not pay so much.”

That is the nice part of BBQ,

but you don’t have to

HAVE ALL THESEMAJOR TOOLS,you don’t have to,THEY ARE NICE,

YOU NEED NOT

“Kansas city is really into their sauce, I’m used to thick tomato sauce, and here there are like watery mustard sauce!”

“Most BBQ places always have a line, the good ones always have a line.”

“If you want really good brisket though you have to go to Texas I think in my opinion that

is the place to get consistently good brisket.”

“Sometimes I have to get up at the middle of the night to get the meat out of the refrigerator to let it rest so that it is the right temperature when you put it in the smoker.”

“I fell in love with the food on my plate.”

“I fell in love with all types of bbq and sort of developed an appreciation for the different regionality aspects of BBQ.”

“It’s not like a lot of things you an cook and actually have some sense of stability on what your outcome is going to be.”

“ ‘Death by BBQ’ what we called it because we went to 4 BBQ places in a day.”

“It’s weird because a lot of people just get chicken and grill it in your backyard and call it

BBQ, but to me BBQ is actually like a process, it takes a while to do that, it’s just not like

grilling steaks, because that’s not BBQ.”

BIO:Lawyer, mother, spouse and currently graduate student at Savannah College of Art and Design, her passion for BBQ led her to be a talented, self-taught, aficionado.

BBQ AFICIONADO | STUDENT | SAVANNAH, GA

KIM POWELL

“James of course (the husband) did the typical ‘Huh… not bad, these are decent’ haha... It’s just our little competition” (Referring to her cooking BBQ ribs)

“So I guess growing up in Alabama I always ate BBQ I don’t really remember liking in

one way or another…”

FAMILY and then a

an inner COMPETITIONCHALLENGEWITH ME

BIO:BBQ aficionado, Shawn cooks for friends and family. He has recently started bottling his own sauce for sale in local stores throughout Georgia.

SAUCE MAKER | SOGGY BOTTOM | SAVANNAH, GA

SHAWN & SALLIE

“We just, a friend of ours just got married over this past week and we had the reception in our house Friday night and we supplied the BBQ.”

“We cook at home and I just decided one day I was ready to get serious about smoking, so I

built a smoke house... it’s just one of those things that kind of evolved into something greater

out of our need.”

“We just, a friend of ours just got married over this past week and we had the reception in

our house Friday night and we supplied the BBQ.”

“‘Cause there is a difference, there is BBQ, and then there is grilling, and there’s smoking, those are 3 totally different ways to cook; totally different heat.”

I usually start cooking

and it’ll cook from probablyIN THE MORNING10 TO 15 HOURS

FROM 4 TO 5

“It came from liking to cook and friends and family telling me that I should put it in a bottle

and sell it, and you know that’s friends and family, that’s what they’re supposed to say, but it

started to getting shared with other people and we finally just decided to go for it and give it

a try and see what happened and so far we’ve had a good feedback on it.”

“Yeah, in the restaurants people will like to put sauce on it to try to hide the dryness, but if

you put sauce on it, most of the time, all you taste is sauce, you don’t taste the meat.”

BIO: Adventurer, hunter, and BBQ aficionado, Owen is currently the Chair of Industrial design at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

BBQ AFICIONADO | SCAD | SAVANNAH, GA

OWEN FOSTER

“It tends to be a family meal, we would bring more people together.”

“Probably being a kid and being able to sit around with adults hearing the stories when we

are putting the pig in and know that we are sitting and talking and people are checking and

stuff like that.”

“They (people who cook BBQ) understand BBQ as a plate and they still say they are BBQing

this weekend and it’s generally grilling and some BBQ say they are grilling when it’s actually

BBQing. While true BBQ is slow. That’s why I like cooking mine slow.”

“Well some people call BBQing, Grilling and grilling BBQing, it is just a cultural difference.”

“Well, Yes and No, they would let us play but we were not a really big part. We got to rub

things on it and help wrap it so yes we were part of it, but they didn’t need it.”

“Just as kids, It was given to us.”

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BIO: South Carolina native, Savannah resident, Furniture designer and BBQ lover who treats himself to great BBQ whenever possible.

BBQ LOVER | SAVANNAH, GA

BILLY NISBET

“On special occasions we hit the BBQ joint (referring to his granfather’s 100th birthday).”

“More important to me in this type of food is the preparation style, it doesn’t really matter

how it looks.”

“Because you know it was smoked over an open flame. Has a bit of authenticity to it. OK . And

I mean thats the smoked flavor .”

“It was something that was put downtown to make money, where I feel like a place like this the cooking style probably goes back generations and the restaurant grew out of that.”

“It’s pricy so I don’t eat it too often, but it is a treat when I do go... another reason why I don’t

go is most places don’t have vinegar based, which is my preference.”

“I don’t because I dont have a somker, but i have improvised before and used a crockpot haha.”

What I love about this,

That’s what’s up!

YOU SEE THAT

CHAR?

“Uhm, okay one thing that gets on my nerves is that when people say that they are going to

go and BBQ and they mean that they’re going to grill, a grill is not a BBQ.”

“That it’s not your stereotypical image of BBQ culture... It’s as far away from corporate as you

could get.”

BIO:Owner of Angel’s BBQ in Historic Downtown Savannah and creator of the famous ghost pepper BBQ sauce which landed him an episode on “Man vs Food.”

PIT MASTER | ANGEL’S BBQ | SAVANNAH, GA

ANDREW TRICE

“Live oak is super dense and thus great for bbq, because it takes forever to burn!”

“The best is what is available and cheap and what is affordable, and that is what makes BBQ. What

is around us is oak, so we use that. North Carolina nut wood, pecan because that is cheaper.”

“BBQ hates... hates hates hates sleeping on the steam table.”

“There is White bbq and there is Black bbq. Black bbq is mainly ribs and chicken , thats all they do!. They like meat on the bone! and in White bbq they will do pulled pork and they will go for different cut.”

“A whole hog takes 24hours, shoulder needs 12hour, time varies with the type of meat.”

“It’s magical in BBQ competition scenario because it comes all glistening with all natural juices

and all ready to go and that is what you want.”

slow cooking process using wood at temperatures

until reaching an internalBETWEEN 225-250°

TEMPERATURE OF 195°

BARBECUE IS A

“You have the weird ignorance factor, where people come in and ask for ribs, so I say we don’t do ribs, we do pulled pork, and he would be like but i don’t eat pork... so I’m thinking where do you think ribs are from?”

“Ideally! That’s the way it is suppose to be. Ideally!! But we can’t, this is restaurant BBQ, we

just put it on our steam table and wait for customers.”

“Certain cowboys say, we use only left brisket because it is more tender, because most cow

is right handed!”

Pulling it Apart

AFFINITIZINGAffinityzing helped us divide our collected information into specific data points and re-organize them into groups that shared common, deeper meanings. Our first task was to identify categories, concepts and/or themes that emerged from the gathered information from both observation and interviewing.

Prior to that synthesis process we linked these concepts to substantive and formal theories. Analysis started by producing transcripts of the interviews we conducted and further pulling data from those categories, compare them and analyze how they are related. This process was key to initiate building insights.

Affinitizing Process

Meat on the plateTime to Eat

INSIGHTSInsights is where we take all of the data we have gathered throughout our study and the points from our affinity map and use these as fuel for opportunities for design. Each insight contains a catchy name, a description of the overall idea, an opportunity statement, and “how might we” statements that allude to possible design solutions. The idea is that in-depth research will give way to designs that truly resonate with the intended population, rather than addressing perceived wants and needs.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE“Cooking traditional BBQ is a very time consuming process with a lot of down time. Consequently, customers looking for BBQ often wait a considerable amount of time to obtain their meals. Patience is a part of the process that requires dedication on both sides of the counter.”

There is an opportunity: to make the BBQ experience more enjoyable for both the BBQers cooking or consuming.

How might we: -Design experiences that make the process and waiting more enjoyable?-Streamline this process as much as possible?-Show BBQers that patience pays off

Concept:Creating a BBQ app in which BBQers share their common passion of BBQ by accompanying each other through the cooking process. The platform will allow the users to upload and share pictures, short videos and short messages related to their cooking process as to create a sense of companionship through a virtual portal, connecting people from different regions and opening a gateway that encourages setting up cook-offs, sharing techniques and creating a BBQ-centered community.

To engage customers while waiting in line, customers will have the oppor-tunity to pin the meal they intend to order on the correct part of the animal it came from. She will receive a pin labeled with her meal. After she will be blindfolded and spun around, then attempt to pin the meal in the correct position. If she is successful the customer will receive a small prize, and possibly a small discount.

SAVANNAH’S HIDDEN TREASURE“Savannah is known as one of the most popular historical tourist destination in the U.S. At the moment, only Wall’s BBQ is part of a food tour within Savannah.”

There is an opportunity: to harness Savannah’s current tourism and introduce BBQ as a tourist attraction.

How might we:-Make BBQ an appealing tourist attraction?-Grow a positive BBQ reputation amongst tourists?-Create more BBQ centered events in Savannah?-Incorporate BBQ into already existing events and tours?-Build BBQ awareness amongst tourists and locals?

Concept:Creating a digital platform that allows customers to upload photos of their meals and share their first experience at that BBQ restaurant. At each new BBQ restaurant customers visit and show the uploaded photo of their experience, they get a badge with that restaurant’s logo. Once the customer has visited all affiliated BBQ restaurants in Savannah and completed his badge collection, they receive a “City BBQ Badge.” This platform can be replicated in other cities in the state of Georgia and expand nationally, incentivizing BBQ-oriented tourism and strengthening the BBQ culture.

Angel’s

BBQ

Sandfly

BBQ

BBQ

Wiley’s

Champ

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS“People gravitate towards warm, cozy environments that take them back to memories of home. They feel comfortable in places where they can be casual and engage in informal conversations while interacting with others.”

There is an opportunity: to replicate experiences that evoke the emotions associated with BBQ in a familiar setting.

How might we:-Create an environment that engages personal interaction and conversation?-Recreate the ambience of “home” in BBQ restaurants?-Create approachable businesses?

Concept:Creating a “family style” atmosphere that would have different groups of people sit with each other at large tables promoting interaction and a sense of community. Customers could share stories about BBQ and there favorite styles. After completing their meal, the waiter will snap a photo of the group and it will be displayed on a slideshow in the waiting area of the restaurant.

BOLD, FEARLESS, BBQWe base our views about BBQ upon our past experiences and backgrounds. Every individual adjusts his/her uniqueness to any part of the process of cooking BBQ by making the best out of the equipment, materials, time and demand that they may have. They always find a workaround to whichever circumstance that gets in the way of their BBQ process and are ready to experiment and create solutions with what is available to them.

There is an opportunity: to showcase the different ways BBQers work around the cooking process to fit their needs.

How might we: -Encourage people to cook BBQ more frequently?-Create more group activities that incentivize interaction?-Share, practice and create a less intimidating mentality towards the BBQ cooking process?-Celebrate failure to encourage learning new things through a trial and error method?

Concept:Creating a delivery system to which users can subscribe to receive a monthly supply of unusual cooking ingredients and tools from different cultures with which they are challenged to push their creative cooking abilities to create a unique, out of the box, BBQ meal.

FOOD SPEAKS FOR ITSELFRestaurant perspective: We don’t need to seduce or work at bringing people in. The power is in the food. Customers’ perspective: We don’t care about the bells and whistles, they are not what speaks to us, it’s what’s on the plate that calls us back again and again propelled by our cravings, not the posters or ads on the wall. Food is what calls us.

There is an opportunity: to maximize the current viral reality and encourage effective means of employment to create positive word of mouth and making it all about the food.

How might we: -Create a space to stimulate customers to express their BBQ experiences?-Educate businesses about effective means of viralization to promote their restaurants?-Reach a broader audience to increase BBQ’s popularity?-How do we make BBQ a hero?

Concept: Postcards featuring the restaurant’s signature dish with the activity’s instructions on the back will be set on the tables. Customer’s will then snap a photo of themselves taking the first bite of their BBQ meal, upload it to a digital platform and tag the BBQ restaurant they’re visiting. A selection of the best photos will then be showcased on billboards with the phrase “Awesome BBQ” and the restaurant’s name and address. This will encourage customers to share their BBQ experiences while increasing word of mouth and advertising individual brands in a cohesive campaign to raise BBQ awareness. Additionally, all photos will we posted on the campaign’s blog where restaurants will have links to their own webpages.

OFF THE BEATEN PATHBBQers often seek new underground places, ingredients and processes to discover new flavors and experiences.

There is an opportunity: to stimulate an exchange of information of BBQers latest adventures while cooking or searching for BBQ.

How might we:-Create an opportunity to connect people with a sense of adventure for BBQ?-Help people discover new BBQ related places?-Encourage people to seek out adventure?

Concept:Creating a digital map that users can navigate in and post locations where they have had a positive BBQ experience. Users will be able to label and categorize locations by placing an icon on the map that identifies the location as a restaurant, shop, or event. Users may see the post of others and inform themselves of ongoing and upcoming BBQ-related events as well as of new or underground BBQ equipment shops or restaurants.

THE SECRET TO GREATBBQ IS KEEPING IT SECRET

Many BBQers, amateur and professional alike, tend to be very secretive about their recipes because they’re vital to their success. Their recipes make BBQers unique amongst each other, therefore giving them a sense of identity.

There is an opportunity: to strengthen the trust between BBQers while maintaining a healthy competition.

How might we:-Motivate BBQers to interact with each other?-Create a trustworthy environment within the BBQ community?-Build loyalty within the BBQ community?-Create a “Code of conduct” for the BBQ community -How do we create a profitable bond between BBQers while still maintaining their identity?

Concept: Compile a “Secret BBQ cookbook” where aficionados’ recipes get published. The recipes would not be completely revealed, allowing the BBQ aficionado to pick which part of the process or ingredients to be left out. The cookbook would be designed to digitally blur, scratch, stain or rip out a piece of each page, as to hide the most secret part of the recipe.

-Sense of acknowledgement-Creates curiosity and promotes experimentation

ANYTHING YOU BBQ,I CAN BBQ BETTER

BBQers have a high sense of confidence in their BBQ skills and believe that their BBQ is the best. Competitiveness incentivizes a continuous effort to “better their best”.

There is an opportunity: to facilitate a space to express competitiveness and increase profitability.

How might we:-Bring competition to the pitmasters?-Use the competition as a means to increase profitability?-Encourage restaurant pitmasters to participate?

Concept:Creating a “BBQ Month” in Savannah, much like a restaurant week, to build awareness and increase profitability for the BBQ restaurants. This will be a joint venture between all BBQ restaurants in Savannah to promote the industry as a whole and therefore increase their sales.

Throughout the BBQ month, customers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite restaurants and dishes within the greater Savannah area. T-shirts will be designed for customers to purchase and identify themselves with their favorite BBQ restaurant and increase word of mouth. The overall winners will receive a “Best of Savannah BBQ Month” trophy to display in their establishment for an entire year and will be featured in blogs and local magazines.

MAY- BEST OF SAV BBQ MONTHWILEY’S

TRICK’S

ANGEL’S

SANDFLY

ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGEBBQ can be acquired at a young age by children who were born into it. BBQ is a tradition that is passed down through generations. By default, it becomes a part of their routine, even if they aren’t involved in the cooking process. Therefore, their relationship with the BBQ culture is adopted seamlessly.

There is an opportunity: to involve young “enthusiasts” in activities that allow them to learn and positions them for success in the future.

How might we:-Involve young talent in the BBQ culture?-Encourage young talent to pursue a future in BBQ?-Apply the principles of BBQ in molding children into young adults?-Provide them an opportunity to use BBQ as a way to teach them about problem solving?-Maintain kids interest/curiosity on BBQ?

Concept:Creating a BBQ children’s foundation with the support of all local BBQ restaurants using the cooking process to teach them life lessons. The foundation will provide a space for children to engage in after school activities and facilitate them with computer access.

Restaurants will be able to donate by catering weekend events for the children to participate in and interact with their BBQ customers. Restaurants will be able to promote these events to their customers by inviting them to donate money and/or volunteer for the weekend activities.

EASY? NO... WORTH IT? ABSOLUTELY!

BBQ cooks often put in extra effort and sacrifice time and resources to create delicious BBQ meals for others. They challenge themselves and commit to the hard work in order to please others.

There is an opportunity: to acknowledge the efforts of the cooks and show them appreciation in return for their commitment.

How might we:-Create a space to deliver feedback?-Keep them motivated?-Create awareness in the consumer of the efforts of cooks?-Reciprocate their dedication?-Say “thank you” through actions?

Concept:Providing customers with different means to become aware of the extra effort the BBQ cooking process requires by enabling them to participate in a “saying thank you” culture. Customers will show their appreciation to pitmasters behind the counter by ringing a bell that will be located in restaurants’ main entrance to let the pit masters know they loved their meal.

Restaurants will neatly package sandwiches in a way that it allows customers to eat their meal more easily. This will instill the idea that the restaurants is going the extra mile to cater to the customer and make the most of his experience, thus encouraging the customer to recipro-cate by one of the previous mentioned activities or leaving a higher tip.

Appendix - Full Transcripts

SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.01.14 INTERVIEWEE: Matt and Amanda Luiso LOCATION: Sandfly, Savannah, GA

) When and where do you usually eat BBQ?We just moved to savannah...So we have not found any yet. But I have made BBQ thrice in savannah. When I was in Charleston, we got it!... there were couple of places we went. Whenever I went back home, in Kansas, we have it very often....Ya when we go home we have it pretty much every single daylast Christmas we had BBQ four timesWe were only there for a week! We were only there for a week. It was like BBQ every night. It was great! Which are the places you have been in savannah?Well here, that’s it!we have been making it at home over hereYa at home

3) Which is your favourite BBQ dish?I don’t know man!... I like it all 4) Any meat you like in partcular?It just depends. I think BBQ is crazy, you can’t limit yourself to one thing. You have pulled pork, you got ribs and some place you get turkey sausage and chicken. you can’t really limit yourself to one dish. And that’s nice about BBQ. one place might specialize in ribs, another in sauce....what not. If you go to places that specialize in sauces you should get pulled pork, if you have a place that specialize in rib, then have rib.

5) What do you usually order at a BBQ restaurant?Generally words get out. But if you are going first time there then pulled pork is really hard to mess up on. You can’t mess with pulled pork, If you order pulled pork and its terrible then it’s not BBQ restaurant, they’re not going to be in business. Ribs are little more expensive, I tend to stay away from that, just because of the expense, and ribs vary from location to location, so play it safe first time and then go up. I would like to interrupt and suggest you to go to tricks, it is insanely good, you pay under 10 bucks for a huge amount of ribs and they were unbelievable!.Oh I love ribs but you usually don’t find good onesAt least for what I have had, and even Andrew thinks , it’s really good. You get them only to go, may be that’s why they are cheaper.I love ribs ill definitely try.Waitress brings in everybody’s food.Here is Brunswick stew and the fried okra. Who got the pork sandwich with coleslaw and friesI dint order any fries, just coleslaw.

Here are your fries and here is sandwich with Mac and cheese.Oh those are my friesswitch the containers.

6) Which is your favorite sauce among the three?I don’t know, depends on the day I thinkDo you see how that is, that’s what I’m sayingI always like the sweet ones for some reason, vinegar based ones I don’t love much, mustard base is good.Kansas city is really into their sauce, I’m used to thick tomato sauce, and here there are like watery mustard sauce!.these are weird to mewhat is that?these are fried okra

7)Do you recall last time you had BBQ?They weren’t that good!.Oh no!.. I take that back. It was last time I went to Kansas, this past December, I had four things of BBQing in five days , It was good.

8) Can you describe your entire experience of the last time you had BBQ? Whom you were with? where you were?It was with my friend Joe and his girlfriend , and it was really coldAnd MEOh ya my wifeI was very cold that day because its Kansas .And there was a line out of the door and so like we finally got in and we waited in the line and we got near the front we had to go all the way back in the line because my friend was not there yet and then we got near the front and then we had to go back again, third time he finally came.We dint want to order until he got there exactly, because if they had got the food out before, it would just have become cold. But that line was a good 45 minutes long no no, not 45 minutes, 30 minutes long

9) What did you do in the time you’ll were waiting?We were just talking about random stuff It was a lot like this place, with all these things around(pointing at the paintings and poster), so you could check out the decor and .... well that gets old after a time, to be honest we just talk about stuff...... Most BBQ places always have a line, the good ones always have a line. Like even this one. This one has a line. With generally at least two or three people.

10) Do you know about any BBQ places in savannah?I want to check out Wileys. I go on trip advisor, that like number one ranked BBQ place in savannah. It’s probably because more people know about it. and I think this place is number 2. Other ones might not get ranked because they are so low or people just not vote.

11) Trip advisor is the only place you look at or any other website you refer?Oh ya ya, probably urban spoon!.Urban spoon I’m not a big fan of... because if it’s like 88% rating, it sounds good but if only 4 people review, then it’s like well!.... I don’t know. I kind of look at all and see the rating over all. Be-cause when you look, its weird because they all already have Google star. I’ve always found the process of logging on Google and rating stuff very tedious and I tend to not even look at that.

12) Why do you pick up a specific restaurant for BBQ?What’s your criteria?Well generally I try not to get a place too expensive. I mean, as you guys know BBQ is like... u have $35 some-times for a plate. For me that’s like too much. I kind of like to go for the cheaper stuff. Sometimes it’s about con-venience too!.I mean in my hometown I used to live like 5 maybe 8 block away, so I used to just walk down.

13) So what does BBQ mean to you?Oh man!. Its weird because a lot of people just get chicken and grill it in your backyard and call it BBQ, but to me BBQ is actually like a process, it takes a while to do that, it’s just not like grilling steaks, because that’s not BBQ. BBQ to me is like pig and cow, slow cooking and taking the time, and really making it look nice and awesome.

14)Do you know how to cook BBQ?Well I’m trying, I’m trying.. some people say it’s really good but it’s not as good as these restaurants. I’m working on pulled pork .

15) What is the process you usually follow to cook a BBQ?At home?. The first thing I do, generally the night before, is make my rub! that generally includes like brown sugar, cayenne pepper, salt, some cumin, some coriander , I mix it all up in a zip lock bag, so that’s the night before. Next day morning I have to get up early because you need to cook pulled pork at 225 degrees for at least 8 hours , so you got to get it on early, in order for it to cook in time. So I buy pork shoulders, So what I do is 30 minutes before I put it on and rub it in into the meat, so I let it sit there so that the meat gets rubbed in for like 30 minutes, so that is when the grill is getting on to the temperature. then I will just throw it on the grill and like check it every hour and after that ill it gets around 225 inside, no no sorry till it gets 180 degree inside , then I will bring it in and let it rest for about 30 minutes and start pulling it with 2 forks , that’s it. It’s not perfect!... but I’m getting there. It’s not perfect because we are doing it on a grill so its not really made for that, so we have to turn the gas down to low I have to turn the gas down to almost when it barely spits out propane and then we have to crack the lid just to get it to 225 and maintain the temperature and all of a sudden the burner is low setting and it’s a real pain, smoker is what you really need. Ribs are really tough to cook I can’t cook them you have tried that, it just doesn’t really work! Ya it doesn’t work, it comes out really too stringy Pork butt has too much fat on it so it keeps it soft and moist

16 )How did you get into cooking BBQ?I like it, I can’t afford it. I do think about it. a buck 99 for a pound of meat is really cheap and to be honest you get pork shoulders for a buck 99, it’s a cheaper quality meat, and that’s nice about BBQ that it’s a cheap meat and yet you can make it really good. So... I guess I’m cheap, but I like it, I wanted to kind of emulate a BBQ of a restau-

rant and still not pay so much.

17)What about the sauces? do you make them? or buy them?I buy them. Sauces are different thing. A lot of people don’t realize it how big the animal is , because just perfect-ing the meat is just half the battle then all of a sudden if you are a sauce person, there are thousands of sauces out there and they are just more, more and more. Like my wife’s family makes their own sauce . It’s like champion-ship sauce . There is a BBQ championship that grade you on the taste but there is also another championship where they grade you on the sauce.

18)Where do you generally buy your sauces from?Generally I’ll go to Kroger, I try not to buy like the cheap sauces though, I’ll try to buy more of a specialty. Which is interesting because Kroger is doing that more and more, they are actually getting into the specialty sauces .

19) Where do you buy your meat from?I buy that from Kroger as well. You know like sometimes on a special in Kroger you get pork shoulder at a buck 99 so I just bought a big 15 pound of pork shoulder and we still have it left at home. And that will be there for a while.

20)What are the other tools you use to BBQ?I don’t think you need and specialized tool for BBQ, Smoker would be nice.Meat thermometer, that’s the key. Ya meat thermometer , that’s about it. And that nice, that is what BBQ is all about, I mean we are from Kansas. BBQ was there because the slaughter yards were there so they used to slaughter the cows there, while the work-ers could not afford the strips and the nice pieces of meat, so they used to buy the terrible things. And they dint have money to buy tools and everything. still they made really nice meat even after having terrible cuts. So that is the nice part of BBq you need not have all these major tools, you don’t have to, they are nice, but you don’t have to.

21) Which is your fondest memory with respect to BBQ?One of my birthdays, I wanted to negro hall of fame in kansas city and i went to opening day royals game....He is a big baseball fan ya.. I’m a big baseball fan, and then after all that we went to this BBQ restaurant in this rough neighborhood in Kansas city, it’s just like awesome. It’s called the Arthur Bryant’s. It’s like one of the oldest places. I’ll be honest you go in there and they will be like screaming at you and will be like” what do you want” and your kind of spoofed and you don’t want to irritate him and keep your money ready. but that was great because it was just the combination of the entire day . Like everything that was good about the city to hit it like boom boom boom and that was my fondest memory.But when I first went into this restaurant. They yell are you, they are like NEXT and you are like be ready with what-ever you want and I was like quiet and shy person and there are 10 people down the line and you have to yell

from up here to down there and they were like super intimidating and I dint go there for long. It was loud with the fan running and music going.

22) Describe your favourite day off, what would it look like? activities? location? company? weather?My favourite day off is just lounging and relaxing. If I just dint have to get off the bed. Make some coffee and just sit there and watch some sport. I like to be inside and relaxing.If you had to describe BBQ in three words what would it like to be?Awesome..... I would hate to say awesome awesome awesome but I would say Tasty, hard, like hard to make and complex. Because I think there is so much stuff to it, like you can put the rub on it, you can put sauce.

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SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 10.30.14 INTERVIEWEE: Billy Nisbet LOCATION: Sandfly BBQ, Savannah, GA

(Andrew) Billy, today we are going to be conducting an interview with you on The Culture of BBQ in Savannah. We will be using audio, video, and taking pictures to help document your answers. This interview will last close to an hour and will involve travelling to a BBQ restaurant of your choosing. Is all of this okay with you?

(Billy) Yep, no problem.

Great, ready to begin? Let’s do this...

OK, Well we’ll start here at your apartment and we would like you to pick the BBQ restaurant you would like to go to and if you could, verbal-ize what your thoughts are and what your process might be.

OK... well if I am going to a new place to eat I usually spend some time on my phone and look up places using Google and Urban Spoon, I like to read reviews and look at the kind of food they serve... (talks into phone) Best Barbecue places in Savannah... (Phone) Here are the results for best BBQ places in Savannah... Alright we got Blowin Smoke, and Smokehouse, been there so I gonna look at Willey’s... It’s got some good stars going... Shit looks bangin Um! Im gonna go to Urban Spoon... they have a better than sex sauce, interesting... not a lot of info... I’d be interested in going to Wiley’s because it was the top hit and I’ve never been there and don’t know where it is... Alright... So let me look at two other options... Alright.... Ok, so sandfly, also hadn’t been there, also rated very highly... go to the website .The logo is a pig that’s flying like a sandfly, that’s cute they might have got-ten me right there... and there is no information on how they cook it... they have Brunswick Stew which leads me to believe they have Vinegar based because that is a North Carolina stew so I’m gonna go with sandfly.

Alright, lets do it... (Drive to Sanfly BBQ).... Pick up ordering food at Sandfly... (Cashier) Y’all ready? I’m gonna need

a minute.. Oh, Ok I’m gonna go ahead and take this phone call then

Go ahead that’s fine (Talking to Andrew, while waitress is taking phone order, points at pulled pork plater on menu) That’s probably what I’m gonna get, two sides, Okra, oh baby!... Should I drool... It smells so good in here... (Or-ders) I’m gonna do the pulled pork plate um... are the special sides extra? Yes, 75 cents extra

I’ll do collards and mac ‘n cheese Would you like something to drink? Just an ice water please Um... I’ll do the pulled pork plate as well, and I will do mac ‘n cheese and fries and a regular drink as well Is this for here Yes ma’am, Marce are you going to get anything? (Marce) Yeah, I’ll have just onion rings please, large $27.83 please, would you like a copy of your reciept? Yeah, sure Okay, if you could sign that for me... Thank you! Thank you! We’ll bring it right out to y’all (Seated at table) (Trying Sauces) Tangy!... Dude, that’d be good on some ribs... Sweet tangy BBQ! (Singing with audio) Yeahhhh, you really got me goin... really got me... really got me... OK, are you ready Billy, ready to start this? Yeah Alright, Um... So how often do you eat BBQ? Um... 3 times a years 3 times a year... Is there a reason why, specifically 3 times a year? when and where do you usually eat it? I’d go with 4, I’d go with 4 actually, no I just uh... it’s pricey so I don’t eat it too often, but it is a treat when I do go... another reason why I don’t go is most places don’t have vinegar based, which is my preference

So when and where do you usually eat BBQ?When I am in North Carolina visiting family

Do you visit family, is that 3 to 4 times a year that you visit family? Do you make a BBQ trip? Yeah we always go, Smithfields. I

s that all year long? Just everytime you go up? Yep, it’s not seasonal, just when it’s available.

So... what is your favorite BBQ dish? What do you usually order when you go to a BBQ restuarant? BBQ sandwhich... Coleslaw, BBQ, Bread

Is there a certain type of meat that you prefer? Pulled Pork Is there a reason why you prefer it, other than you just do? Uh, texture is better to me, its like more tender, flavor. Ok, um... do you remember the last time you had BBQ? other than today? Y eah, it was in North Carolina

Can you describe that experience to us? Where were you? Who were you with? and what you ate? It was at smithfields restaurant which is a chain, In North Carolina, I think they are only in North Carolina, Vinegar based BBQ, North Carolina style BBQ, um... also they have really good fried chicken, but I always get the BBQ. My grandfather and I went

after I took him out thrift shopping, he’s turning 100 next month, and yeah we both got pulled pork sandwiches and split a fry... it was delicious. (Server) Onion rings? Fries and Mac? Mac and Collards? Thank You! Oh my! Ok um, yeah I think that’s probably it. We both got sandwiches, coleslaw... coleslaw on the sandwiches.

So you mentioned your grandfather, and that he is 100, is that a special occasion for you? I don’t know how often you get to see him.. Do you get to see him very often? and is going to get BBQ a typical journey or activity that you do with him? Yeah, Yeah it’s either that or McDonalds haha but on special occasions we hit the BBQ joint. Spending time with my grandfather is special, he’s one of my favorite people... (Talking about BBQ) One thing I judge my BBQ joint by is if they have this (Pepper Sauce) Because you can’t have collards without having that. Interesting... So am I your first interview?

Uh Hm... so tell me why Texas Peete Pepper Sacue is sp pertinant to you and collards? I guess I have a thing for vinegar, because it is a vinegar based sauce, and it’s just marinated peppers in it. It gives it a little more kick, al little more flavor. Collards on their own are great but they don’t have a ton of flavor.

Is that something you discovered on your own? My aunt, she makes collards on New years day. Black eyed peas, collards and fried chicken every day on new years day and the whole family gets together and we go over. we go through like ten bottles of that stuff... Family events on my mothers side a lot of times one of my uncles will do a pig, a grilled pig. It’s usually more often fried turkey, but sometimes roasted pig. Which kinds of family get togethers? Christmas, Thanksgiving... We have a large family so thats the only time everybody gets together. Oh my god, that mac ‘n cheese might be the best I’ve ever had... Have you tried it?

Yeah, I had it here last time Oh my god, I’m moving to sandfly. Like I would say this is the first good BBQ I’ve had in Savannah

Really? Well that kind of leads into our next question, do you know of any BBQ places in Savannah? Yeah, Blowin Smoke, uh... there was one where Blowin Smoke used to be, I don’t remember the name... uh, Sticky Fingers, I’ve eaten at that Smoke Station. What I love about this, you see that char (Pointing to a specific area on his BBQ Plate) that’s what’s up.

And why is that important to you when you’re eating BBQ? Because you know it was smoked over an open flame. Has a bit of authenticity to it. OK . And I mean thats the smoked flavor

So what was your experience like at the places you mentioned before? Uhmm... The pork on its own didnt have a lot of flavor, unlike this, the flavor was based upon their sauce recipe, which this I probably won’t even put sauce on it. and this... for me there is two distinctions... this isn’t anything like Smithfields, they are two completely different types of BBQ, where Smithfields isn’t pit smoked, uh its just cooked in the vinegar to break it down, so it’s just two completely different styles but I like not having to put sauce on it.

That’s great... Alright, you kind of harped on this a little earlier when you where picking which restuarant you were going to g o to since

it is your interview, but just to reiterate, why did you pick this specific restuarant to go to? and kinda tell us about your selection process for this and how you would go about picking a place to eat. Well I had not been satisfied by the three places i’d been to in town, um, so this is one I hadnt tried, like I said i saw the frogmore stew, or whatever the stew was, and thats a North Carolina specialty The Brunswick Stew, Brunswick, so based on that I thought it would be a vinegar based BBQ, a North Carolina style BBQ which is my preference.... and the flying piggy, that did it.Haha so we noticed you used your phone to help you make your decision. is that something that you often do? Yeah I read connect every week so a lot of my food decisions are based on what I see in there or in the newspa-per, but something like this, in looking for something new and I don’t have a frame of reference uh I would go to google and use urban spoon to see others reviews and to learn more about about the restaurant before I make the drive. Are pictures of the food and restuarant important in the process as well? It can be, I didn’t look at any on that one, more important to me in this type of food is the preparation style, it doesn’t really matter how it looks. So really what sold you here was mainly the name Brunswick in the Brunswick Stew. Yeah, Yeah And your prior knowledge (about loctaion of Brunswick) Yeah... and the fact that it’s not a chain Yeah, would you describe those other restuarants that you mentioned before as chains, or as different places? Uh, smithfields is a chain, but they were based off of a Mom and Pop operation and then they just expanded that same recipe uh, blowin smoke, i don’t think it was a chain, but it wasn’t an established old business, it was some-thing that was put downtown to make money, where I feel like a place like this the cooking style probably goes back generations and the restaurant grew out of that. Um and then sticky fingers chain, nothing really special about that... and I think Smoke Station might be a chain. and I did just see some pepper flakes in here... In this instance have you ever seen how they make it?

Well we kinda watched a process, but were still new to this... You take a whole pig, lay him upside down, spread him out so his legs are like splayed out, leave the skin on, poor in the vinegar pepper sauce... so basically my favorite sauce is the pepper flakes, soak it in vinegar for two weeks and they disintegrate, the vinegar disintegrates the pepper flakes so its infused into the vinegar, then while its over the open pit you poor it over the pig and the skin keeps the juices in so its like a container and bits of those skin is where it’s at too. I’ve had it like that too.. The ear, the cheek... Um... Texas Toast! I am defiantly coming back here!

So what is BBQ mean to you Billy? The word? Just in general? Um, okay one thing that gets on my nerves is that when people say that they are going to go and BBQ and they mean that they’re going to grill, a grill is not a BBQ, hahahaha... BBQ means a smoker Okay great, so that leads us right into the next question... so obviously you do have some knowledge of how BBQ is cooked.

Do you cook BBQ? and if so what process do you go through when preparing, and cooking BBQ. I don’t because I dont have a somker, but i have improvised before and used a crockpot haha... just to see if I could do it, and I used a a leftover pig leg

from BBQ my uncle made, so I had some vinegar sauce I had made and I slow cooked it in there for 6 hours so it was after it was grilled or smoked. Um and then just infused it with that sauce.

So you mentioned the vinegar sauce that you did with it, do you make any other sauces or rubs? I try to cook everything from scratch that I cook, uh... sometimes I’ll by seasoning blends but not usually, usually I’ll buy individual ingrediants but I don’t use rubs very much becuase I don’t have a grill. Which we plan on changing but we can’t agree on a format. Here is something completely different...

If you could describe your favorite day off, so your favorite free day, what would it look like? Activities, locations, alone or company, the weather? Everything... Today is my day off, I am doing everything exactly what I wan’t to be doing Is this your perfect day off? I would have liked to have gotten up earlier, I got up at 9, eh so I dont know. I read the news for like an hour haha... got trapped on youtube for a little bit... had planned on coming to get lunch, which is a special thing for me, you wouldn’t know (talking to Marce) but usually I eat at home, I usually make all my food and never go out to eat, um... and then football game tonight, but during the day I either wanted to play soccer or golf and then go to the gym, after that football, eat more copious amounts of bad, unhealthy food, and then go into a diabetic coma... uh around 11 hahaha I’m loosening my belt as we speak... would you like some more water? Yes please I’m good, but thanks

So as you look around the BBQ restuarant that we are in right now, how does this surrounding feel to you? Is this what you imagine when you think of BBQ? I love the beer bottle tops, uh... Theres a place back in Pualy’s Island that I loved called The Pit, Pualy’s Island Tavern, its like real dark and not grungy but there were dollar bills stapled all to the walls and al to the cielings and it doesn’t look anything like this but there is something similar in that it is unique in the eclectic suroundings, in that it is not traditional, you got that thing (points to hanging beads, skull beads that you walk through, old signs, got the almond brothers right there, cool beer signs, I dont know its just neat, even the color pallete like this green that red, bright, vibrant, not boring... those chairs are hidieous.

So when you think of BBQ is this... its not what I would think of... It isn’t?OK... But you’re saying that you enjoy it... I would not expect to see a Rolling Stones poster in a BBQ joint you know? I think mor country western, or down south old wood not painted um.. old wood floors where this is like we got rock ‘n roll playing um... its different, best BBQ I’ve had here... And you’re saying you enjoy it... But I love it, yeah I like it, it’s different but I think thats what I like about it. It’s got character. It’s almost as if that youre trying to say that it has character, that it is authentic, that its not your stereotypical image of BBQ culture... Its as far away from corporate as you could get. Exposed timber, you know...

Do you think that speaks to the quality of BBQ that you would expect to get here, maybe? I don’t know, I am not trying to put words in your mouth... Yeah, Yeah i think that it says that the BBQ sells itself, they dont have to try to sell the BBQ image, they have their image, let the food speak for the food. Cool, Great. Ok

If you could describe BBQ in 3 words, what would they be? Like.... It doesn’t have to be a sentance, it can be 3 random words... Yeah... Pig.... Smoke...... Smile Smile...

I don’t think I’ve ever had BBQ and not been happy. That’d be a cool BBQ joint though... Pig, Smike, Smile... Hahahaha

Just for reference, or just for us, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I was born on the beaches of Normandy.... Nooo I really wasn’t, I’m from Mrytle Beach, South Carolina...Ok, uhhh, I worked in a lot of restaurants... Um... Studied furniture design at SCAD, Played on the Golf Team... Um, 31, generally awesome... I don’t know, and with food I think I have a good palate, good taste for food, been aroud it a lot, I like to cook, love to eat... copious amounts of food... Um Yeah. Ok Great, well you finsih eating and well do one last thing... I can keep going... You have to write stuff down so I dont want you food to get cold, take your time. I think Im gonna take the rest home... I want more for later, dont want to throw it up at the gym... Soccer is in danger... I’m not lying I think that is the best mac ‘n cheese I’ve ever had... I wonder how they get that texture, you like mac ‘n cheese? Yeah, I don’t super love it, like its not something that we do that much, didn’t I try it last time? I think I did I’m gonna get a box... Oh my god that was good (takes deep breath) and theres the smile, theres the smile! hahaha

Ok so what do I do here (Looking at postcard) Ok, so what we have here is a cute little postcard form the Bar•Be•Crew, what we would like you to do is write someone special and tell them about your fondest memory involving BBQ... Did you make this up? Ever? Ever! Fondest memory you have with barbeque... (jokingly) wrapping up this interveiw, with a full stomach of barbeque is my fondest memory... Um... Write to someone special... is it a particular person? Yeah, it could be... (Writes down memory on postcard) This pen sucks (jokingly)...

(Pen Dros) Thank you, Sir! Uh huh... Fantastic, it was great... It was great... Alright Billy, thank you for your time, we really appreciate it, is there anything else you would like to add before we conclude this interview? I think that’s it, thank y’all for the BBQ, and thank Sandfly BBQ for the best BBQ I have ever had.

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SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.3.14 INTERVIEWEE: Owen Foster LOCATION: Gulfstream Center for Design, Savannah, GA

(priyanka)How often do you eat BBQ?(Owen)Generally twice a month

When and where do you usually eat BBQ?Here in savannah or where. In general? In a restaurant? If I’m at home I eat with family

In savannah where do you generally go?In savannah I have tried all of them because each one of them has a different characteristic and especially with the sauces.

(Andrew)Do you have any specific example?Oh say like blowing smoke , they have a little bit different….. its not as traditional and then they tend to make their own sauce. Blowing smoke tries to be fancy with their and some are hole in the wall, what I would call them traditional BBQ pits tend to use an old recipe and then come through and of course you know different regions in south has different mustard and vinegar

What are the places you know in savannah that serve BBQ?I don’t know by name, but probably there are five to six different locations in savannah.

Do you remember any particular one that you think is the best?Ummmm…. I don’t think I have a best.

Can you share any experience with us?The last one I wen to for blowing smoke, we’ll talk about that .I ordered the BBQ plate and things like that , and where I’m from Alabama ,coleslaw and all that came with it, but here its not like that much, there is just some fancy slaw in the side. So….. Its more of a…. upscale place ….bowing smoke than a traditional where they have a big cooker out pack and you just pull it out off just like that

What is your favorite BBQ dish, or what do you generally order in a BBQ restaurant?I normally get the large sandwich, tend to go, with a little hot or sweet taste, I love coleslaw on it. Traditionally when I grew up we put mayonnaise on it. Some slaw already have mayonnaise in it and some are vinegar based, so it depends on what they have. Fries tend to come along with it but I prefer baked beans and corn on the cob.

Any meat you prefer the most among all of them?No, I tend to like shredded meat than the full big slices. Because for me it tends to get messy, so the smaller it is the easier it to consume the rest of the stuff with it.

Do you prefer pork or beef? Or something like that?No, but I tend to eat pork more rather than beef but to me it’s either or.

There is no reason you prefer one over the other?No traditionally people do pork more than they do beef. but beef is fine with me too.

What does BBQ mean to you?I would say it’s more of traditional family meal. we used to cook 4 pigs and make our own BBQ. we do them on ground pits and we also have 20 feet smoker so we cook chickens and porks and rib, all at the same time. It tends to be a family meal, we would bring more people together.

Was it a weekend thing?Sometimes it was every weekend.

Why do you select a particular restaurant?I tend to go... wait, Just BBQ, I’m adventurous, so I would go to traditional places where everyone else is going, but I love finding the people who hand a shanty shack, the big grill outside and they have the swinging gig for the door. and you go in and health rating and people would freak out, just because the way it looks but they have good food so that’s the one I would typically go to.

Can you explain the process of How BBQ is cooked?Okay so.....traditional BBQ or?? because there are 2 different ways.

Describe your method?Oh so let’s go traditional. You go find a hog, you kill the hog and then you clean it and cut it and stuff and then when you dig a pit, we start a huge fire and we let it go down to ash and the we will cover it little with dirt and rap the pig up and soak it down, put it in the ground and bury it. so after a day or 2 days, we pull it out, it is com-pletely cooked and we put it up on the table, full pig and we start tearing it apart because it is still soft and then we start pulling it into hunks of meat, then we start chopping it or peeling it, whichever way we do it, put in into big pots where everybody can just come and grab it. we will have our slaw being made, which we tends to make a vinegar based slaw, so we’ll have that processed up, huge bags of beans, so we have that. Corn on the cob we usually do it on the grill, with the smoker that is going, so that it will keep and hot and we this huge tray and we have a hamburger patty and buns to put it on. then we have the toppings. We usually have a mild medium and hot and then we have a sweet sauce so you can mix and pour all those things and then the mayonnaise and then a couple of different things and some extras. We will have some fruit salads and then we will also have dessert. If we go make to time my grandmother was alive . We would have sweet potatoes. we would have banana pudding, we would have had a couple of different pies, apple peach, whatever. and that was a huge spread. and everybody would just cut peal and eat.

Is there whole family?yes whole family!

You mentioned the sauces, is that something you buy from store or you make it?we do buy some, we also have a recipe from an older man from Memphis that used to cook , so we will make our own sweet and spicy. but other ones are typically bought

Where do you buy your sauce from?Any store

Do you think sauces are really important for BBQ?Yes. I think sauce can also dictate a restaurant. Certain restaurants have their own characteristics of sauce and how they cook it within the meat and how they season and things like that and that can be the characteristics.

Is there any particular tool that you use while cooking BBQ?

A Gun, a knife, going back to the process, A shovel. When we pull it out its generally with a big knife and prongs, so we just cut chunks of meat and then we will take another knife and then just start slicing it up and then chop-ping it and putting it in the over. Then we mix some sauce but if we have rubbed it down before it hits a ground then it already has been seasoned or we can season it when it comes out of the ground, either way.

Do you use a temperature gauge to check the meat?no, I just do it the traditional way.

Do you have your own recipe for the rub?It depends on you is making the rub. we do have certain ones that we do like to use and then other people want to try something different, so we will try out something different. a lot of times it tends to have things that we don’t know is in it. because whoever is around may pour something in it that should not be added.

Do you follow any traditional family recipes?Oh not really

Can you describe your fondest memory involving BBQ?Probably being a kid and being able to sit around with adults hearing the stories when we are putting the pig in and know that we are sitting and talking and people are checking and stuff like that. I think it’s your first passage of being around adult and being around food. that would be my fondest memory

Did you help out in actually cooking it?well, Yes and No, they would let us play but we were not a really big part. We got to rub things on it and help wrap it so yes we were part of it, but they dint need it.

What would your favorite day off look like? activities, location, company, weather?If I had a day off, I would load up my jeep, go and find a place in wilderness that has running water build a fire, throw a hammock up and sit there.

Is there anything you would bring with you?Hammock, tools, food, but depending on how long I was going to be there, If I was packing quickly I would have it with me. If not I’m going to hunt. Go kill something and eat it..

If you had to describe BBQ in three words what would it be?TraditionalfamilyQuantity... because we have tons of it.

Do you cook BBQ in Savannah in Particular?I will, But I don’t kill the pig here, But yes I buy the meat.

Where do you get your meat?

Grocery store and then there is this butcher, where you can get some meat.

Do you have a smoker in Savannah?No I don’t, I just take the meat, cut it out and put it in the oven. that not traditional BBQ!

Does that give you the same taste?yup... good enough

How long do you cook it in the oven? and at what temperature?Depending on how raw or how cold it is you can just dice it up flip it and put some sauce on it, so an hour or so and if it’s a large portion of meat, then ill cook it over night and you can do a turkey, do whatever you want to and then steam it . At 10 a clock put your oven at 500 degree. once it heats 500 degree you put your meat in it and then depending on how big it is you estimate the time it will take, say an hour or two. cut it off. Don’t open it back up, what it does it steams because you put liquid and you have surrounded it with aluminum foil. It’s almost like smoking it and keeps it really moist. And you can mix like, vegetables , I have added beer, I have also added whisky, duck pepper.

When you go to a restaurant, whom do you generally go with?just friends...

How did you start having BBQ?Just as kids, It was given to us

You mentioned you have been in a lot of places in savannah, how would you rate your experience with respect to BBQ in savannah ?It’s not bad, but I come from only 2 hours away from Memphis. And they have incredible BBQ. So, I would prob-ably give it a overall 7. But I’m also not picky.

So you don’t particularly have a favorite BBQ restaurant in savannah?It depends on whom I’m with. Because I’m not very picky I let the opposite person chose.

What is the craziest thing you have ever BBQed?I did a pony!. We BBQed a pony. It wasn’t planned. it just happened

How did you manage to kill a pony?It was an accident, but really not an accident. so we were needing something to eat. It was a big family. So we were thinking of pig, goat, something to BBQ. We BBQ goat also. Goat to good to me! we could not find one. So we saw pony for sale, we drove up to him. I asked...hey you still have the pony he said... yeahhhI said... can we buy it from youhe said... yeahhe said... u will come back after sometime

we were like nah, we will take him now... shot him... put him in the trunk ... take him back.. clean him. BBQ him.

Was it good?yeah, it wasn’t bad.

What all the different meat that you have cooked?

Okay...traditional, chicken, beef, porkPony, rattlesnake, ground hog, squirrel, rabbit, goat, wild boar, turtle, fish of all sorts...

Turtle is illegal?Not all of them, not in Alabama.

You cannot serve in restaurant!No you cant... frog, turkey. That’s I think all of it in Alabama.

Have you killed all of those animal?Ya most of them, that is definitely part of the BBQ process, getting the meat.

We have a lot of hunters that want to eat deer because they killed it, but they can’t taste the game taste. do you know what game taste is?No, Okay a wild animal when you shoot it , has a stronger taste in it, because it still has the testosterone, because he has never been marinated, so we call this wild taste game taste. The hunters can’t handle it because they are used to pampered meat. So she marinates it for a day or two. she can cook deer meat in anything, in spaghetti, she does little deer nugget things, so pulled deer meat. Deer meat does not have fat, so you can’t really make Patty’s and all.

It will be nice to BBQ it though, because it is a tougher meat?Ya its like goat. It depends on what you call BBQ, because it varies from different ethnic background you come from. The Idea is basically the same! Well some people call BBQing, Grilling and grilling BBQing, it is just a cul-tural different. be careful when you ask people.

A lot of people perceive BBQ as grilling, what do you think about it?they understand BBQ as a plate and they still say they are BBQing this weekend and its generally grilling. and some BBQ say they are grilling when its actually BBQing. while true BBQ is slow. that why I like cooking mine slow. BBQ should have smoky flavor to it. some people use only some type of wood to BBQ. It is no different from whisky. whisky barrel depend on how long you burn them.

Which wood do you generally use when you BBQ?I generally use hardwood, because we own so much land, so we just cut some hardwood and use that.

What is the native in Alabama?you got oak, you got sycamore, pines, a lot of nut bearing trees. poplars, magnolias, that the major ones. we have

white oak.

Which wood do you think is the best for BBQing?I don’t know, me personally, I can’t tell the difference as much because I don’t have a sophisticated palate. we like the hardwood because it burns slower. soft wood burns too fast.

Could you tell us something about yourself?I come from a farm in Alabama, we farmed 2000 acre of cotton growing up. So I got a background in agriculture., construction, landscape architect environmental designer, industrial designer. Worked on projects with construc-tion with NASA to garden in china. Went to auburn for school.

What would your perfect BBQ restaurant look like?Like again, a shack with a big huge oven, where they are putting fire in and you can see it. I love seeing them cook. Old picnic tables, wooden floor, which squeaks when u walk across it. an older gentlemen there, who tell you stories. small community place, i don’t like commercial places. Actually get to talk to him or her and how she grew up and it’s a family run thing. and that’s a perfect BBQ place. BBQ is BBQ at the end of the day... its jus food!. but it’s the story behind the BBQ and the people that cook it that make it so interesting. that’s the differ-ence between BBQ and most of the other dishes because it takes time to cook it. it’s not just a hamburger where you flip it and turn over and send it out but it’s about the people who spend the time cooking it, bringing in old recipes. that is what makes a BBQ place BBQ

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SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.3.14 INTERVIEWEE Kim Till PowellLOCATION: Gulfstream Center for Design, Savannah, GA

How often do you eat BBQ and where

At least once a week and yeah at least once a week when in Birmingham either in mu house or someone in my family that cooks who also lives in town. Or if I’m gonna go out to a restaurant I will usually go to SAW, although I will try any new BBQ restaurant that opens in Birmingham but Saw is the usual place that I go to, they have the best BBQ, other than in my house, in town.

So what is your favorite BBQ dish and what will you usually order and why might you order that?

Ribs, well I really like brisket too but it’s really difficult to find good brisket, so you end up eating up a lot of bad brisket to get your way through good brisket. Ill try it pretty much everywhere I go, if you want really good brisket

though you have to go to Texas I think in my opinion that is the place to get consistently good brisket. But my favorite order BBQ wise is ribs and that’s when I go to Saws obviously is for the ribs. And most BBQ places have a sampler, plates and options and someone in the table will order that and I will of course try that and the different kinds of meat but I’m gonna order ribs. I’m gonna have a slab of ribs.

So is that something that had always been this way or as you pursued BBQ it kind of became your favorite?

So I guess growing up in Alabama I always ate BBQ I don’t really remember liking in one way or another… When I started practicing law it seemed like a lot of the recruiting events had a lot of BBQ an I wasn’t excited about it, I got bored of it, I went through a phase when I was vegetarian and obviously not eating BBQ then, but then it was sort of the only option and started eating it again at these recruiting events at the law firm. Really I guess when I met my husband he’s such a great cook and chef and he loved to smoke meat it was either we were goig to the lake for the weekend, and then the accumulation of smokers in the house… I didn´t really understand why we had to get another smoker every time , but what he cooked in it was always really really good. In terms of all of a sud-den falling in love with BBQ a couple of years ago I had BBQ with one of my uncles in North Carolina, he’s a big BBQ person, Broadus Brannon, and I fell in love with the food on my plate, I mean it was the best I had tasted in a really long time and I always wanted to have that experience with BBQ from that point on. And that’s when I really started instead of someone else deciding where we where gonna have BBQ and me tagging along, it was me kind of pushing to go certain places, “let’s go try this place out”…. And then I had a great aunt that lived in Texas I visited her at least once a quarter and of course being In Texas your in the middle of bbq country all the time, and brisket country and sausage country…and smoking sausages so I fell in love with all types of bbq and sort of developed an appreciation for the diff regionality aspects of bbq

Do you recall the last time you had bbq?

On Saturday I cooked it for u guys but couldn’t bring it! Birmingham at my house cooked it myself, having one of my former colleges and his wife, and I always keep a Journal whenever we are having people over that we are entertaining; what they like, what they don’t like, their allergies… Just when they leave I’ll right down whatever we cooked, partially because I don’t wanna serve the same thing twice to my guests but also to make sure to be aware of allergies or “I hate garlic” type of things, or “chocolate is the best thing in the world” I’ll right it down so then next time I’ll serve chocolate. And the last time we had them over it was probably… it had to be over a year ago and we typically have them over at the lake but we had never BBQ for them , for whatever reason we were talking about it and they said “Well you never cook bbq for us” and by that time I was only still getting my feet wet in cooking, but I wrote that down and that was when we decided that we were having them over for dinner and then I was thinking “I need to squeeze in a trip to SAW’s so that I can share it with you guys”, but then I was like “no, I’ll cook it!”. So I literally decided it by noon… My husband already had a full menu planned, making tuna in this fabulous setting with Asoka, all Mediterranean style, and I was like “you know what? We’re gonna have ribs as an appetizer!” hahaha so at noon I got into my car, drove to Piggly Wiggly, it’s only 10 minutes from my house so this will get into the process part of it. So that answers who I was with. My other “who I was with” was my daughter and her favorite friend, she’s has lots of favorite friend but this one in particular, Eleanor, she’s a foodie if you wanna put it that way, she is 9 years old like my daughter and she loves my ribs, so.. it was kinda like I know they will eat my ribs and so it was like a done deal, you know it was noon, I had to calculate the time to cook

and prepare, let the meat rest, get done early cuz we were going to be watching the Alborg game.

Right, so right to the next question about process, what do you go through to prepare, cook and serve BBQ, what do you cook, what tools do you use, sauces or rubs??

Go to the store, I look for a certain size I look for when was it cut, you can tell if the meat gets expired within the next 2 weeks you know its not fresh and you can ask for them to get it out of the back for you, so you know it’s fresh… it always take me a while to get through what’s there. After I look at dates, then I look at sized because I cook multiple slabs at the same time and I want them to cook uniformly you can do certain adjustments as to where to stack it in the smoker, Closer to the heat box if it’s a little wider you can position it in some areas, uhm I still want them to be them all in the same weight range. Even after I have trimmed the fat off I will weigh them again in order to see where I’m going to put them in the smoker… It’s the more scientific part of it at that point that take time, but you know I wash the meat, if you’re cooking ribs you remove the membrane off, I sent you a picture of that… Obviosuly I try to get out a lot of the fat off, a lot of people in BBQ say that you should leave it on in order to get the flavor and the moisture in it, but I pull off all of the fat if it’s at the top, if it’s at the bottom it doesn’t matter ‘cause I cook mine bones down so it will drip off anyway. Then I put olive oil on it and I do use a very small bit of a dry rub uhm I usually make my own you know paprika, pepper, coffee grinds kind of rub what-ever I feel to putting on it, or garlic… just a mix of different things, different spices. Here is some really good ones that you can buy though, One of the bbq places now sell their rub so if there is a particular flavor that you love you can now buy that. There is one particular flavor, it’s called sweet Melissa’s that I like to use sometimes when I don’t have the time to make my own and the after that I let the meat rest and come to room temperature and since I was cooking for dinner it was OK, ‘cause you know, sometimes I have to get up at the middle of the night to get the meat out of the refrig-erator to let it rest so that it is the right temperature when you put it in the smoker. Sometimes the smoker has the right heat but if your meat is too cold then it takes up the heat up too fast and you wanna kind of like get a lot of the smoke on the front end, you want it to build up.

So as far as toosl and equipment we have a fast cook shack smoker (picture of the information) it looks like a refrigerator when you go past it, it has the fire box in the back, and its pellet fed form the side and there is a drip pan in the bottom but when you open it up it has two things, opening it up is the hardest part, you kind of to like.. it’s a jeavy door and it’s a bulky process but once you open it it looks like a refrigerator, it has shelves and you can adjust the height of the racks. So I put my meat in I set the timer and set it for a certain temperature but I sort of jerry rig the smoker where it will have a very hot temperature with a lot of smoke at the beginning, and then I open the door after about 30 minutes to let the smoke kind of air out, ‘cause then you’ve got like a good seal on it and the I let it smoke and then I will re smoke it about half way through the cooking process. So I don’t just leave it but have to manually adjust it to get what I’m looking for which is what I actually got on Saturday, which was the perfect smoke ring on ribs! I mean, in my opinion they were the best ribs I’ve ever smoked, my guests which had never had my ribs before said they were the best ribs they’d had and never intended to eat them anywhere else than my house and just it was on and on and on about how great they were. James of course (the husband) did the typical “Huh… not bad, these are decent” haha It’s just our little competition… Anyway that is I guess… I’m trying to think tools I may use…

Not really, paper towel maybe to pull the membrane off, that’s not a trick but it helps ‘cause it’s so slippery and if you leave some of it it is terrible.

You said before about how you trim the fat of and how some people say you are supposed to leave it for the flavor, was that something you did on your own or was ot something that you picked up from someone else? Broadus, Broadus gave me that advice

Uhm, alright.. so back to Savannah, do you know any BBQ places in Savannah?Just the ones that you guys have told me about, and if I wasn’t so preoccupied with my restaurant project I would have been to them by now.

So you haven’t been to any of them?No not yet.

Ok Blowing Smoke but I wouldn’t know if that is a BBQ place perse

Have you been there?Yeah, yeah, I’ve been there

What was your impression?I mean I got tacos, so I wasn’t there for the BBQ, hahah so we don’t have to talk about that one. Within the next two weeks I will go to a BBQ place in Savannah though and give you comments on that.

Uhm ok so here is a broad question, what does bbq mean to you?Uhm interesting… I guess the first word is obviously family, I mean obviously is a food but its not such an easy food to cook well or to master, so I think that s part of the reason I really like it. It’s kind of like golf, you can’t perfect it, you know you’re gonna be out there until you’re 90 and you’re never gonna have the perfect game, but you know you are going to spend your whole life trying. BBQ for me is similar to the times I’ve tried to play golf, ts just gonna be this exercise in this kind of just, it’s physics, it’s physics of food, its not like a lot of things you an cook and actually have some sense of stability on what your outcome is going to be. So I think it’s kind of an art, but you know… Family, and then, a challenge, an inner competition with me. Like now I’ve gotten the perfect smoke ring one thing I left out is the whole sauce question, I always put a couple od diff sauces out with my meat, but my theory is “are people going to actually use them?” and I typically after I get the meat out I let the meat rest, wrap it in tin foil and then I wrap it in newspaper and put it in a cooler and set it aside for at least 30 min or an hour and just let it rest, and it continues to sort of cook but it also traps the moisture in and there’s something about the newspaper that is an old trick which I think it works. But when I take it out to slice it, or pull it apart depending on what BBQ it is I always give a little to the people to sort of “try this, taste a little bite” and you know right then if they are going to use sauce with it because typically the reaction is “it’s the best thing I’ve ever had” and its typically followed with a “I wouldn’t even put sauce on it” or “it doesn’t even need the sauce” that’s like the natural next comment so that is my purpose now. People see me opening the meat, they have it fresh out

before it’s even in a serving platter and that’s the reaction, so I have the sauce sitting out but nobody uses it.

Do you buy the sauces or make them yourself?I’ve made them before but we have very good sauces available in the south, I feel like always as long as I’m not flying, if I’m driving, I will pick up any local BBQ sauce on the road. I will go into the small grocery store chain and buy whatever is labeled in terms of a BBQ sauce, although I end up putting them on the eggs haha you know… but Birmingham we have really great sauces, you know we have Dreamland BBQ which is an old family owned place…

Could you tell us about your fondest memory on BBQ?It’s that same moment where I talked about you about Broadus before, where I had these ribs a couple of years ago and that was kind of my turning point when I fell in love with BBQ, again something that I had interacted with a lot my whole life, and I ate it a lot, but it was not until that one taste of ribs that I absolutely fell in love with it.

My second fondest memory, was with Broadus again, and his wife, we went to Texas to spend a week, and it was the “Death by BBW” what we called it because we went to 4 BBQ places in a day, basically did it 4 days took a day off and did like another day or 2 and the waved the white flag… But it was really fun! We had charted out like these places and we would literally drive all day through Austin or the perimeter, through the hill country, and it was literally just hitting all the best BBQ places and doing tasting, so that was really, really, really fun! A fun family experience...!

So this is completely not BBQ related, and I know this probably sounds great right now… If you could describe your perfect day off, what would it look like (activities, locations, company, etc)? My favorite day off would be with my daughter just doing anything or nothing at all, you know, just with her. Before I had a child, my answer sure would have been completely different, buts its funny once you have a child it kind of changes everything, so I guess the perfect day off would just be with her doing whatever she wanted to do.

Now that you mention your daughter, what does she do while you’re cooking your BBQ? Does she get involved in any way?The eating part of it she loves, the cooking got so much in terms of helping, she will be in and out of the kitchen and she’ll ask what I’m doing but..

Is she old enough to help?Yeah, she is, she has been involved in the kitchen for a very long time but for her showing any interest in BBQ preparation, no.

She is interested in the way that she knows when I’m cooking even if she doesn’t sees, she smells the smoke and so she’ll be all excited about the smell and all but not involved in the cooking process though.

Ok, uhm so if you could describe BBQ in 3 words…Interesting… just 3… like I wanna through sentences out…

I hate to use the word challenge because we’ve just used it but BBQ to me is a challenge… There is so much bad BBQ and commercial BBQ that I think as a whole, people’s initial reaction to it in general is probably negativity… is the wrong world but… it’s not a food that everyone is gonna love because I think that so many people have had a mediocre experience, so maybe mediocre… So maybe the last one would have to be some combination of like history and family like that aspect of it, because I think at the end the roots of BBQ are in you know a whole family coming together. I mean lets be honest, my smoker is like fairly nice and it’s easy to operate and it keeps the temperature fairly consistent within a certain range, but how BBQ originated and how people started cooking with these really tough cuts of meat, it was a really difficult challenging thing, and they did it a lot of times be-cause they had to, because they couldn’t afford to eat, and so I think that that aspect of providing for your family under difficult circumstances and making it work, but in the end creating something that was not expected but, absolutely amazing. I know that wasn’t 1 word but… hahaha

Ok so, obviously we are not in a BBQ restaurant right now, but that’s ok, but let’s say that you can imagine the effect BBQ place in your head, what would it look like? Music, décor?Dark floors, picnic tables, newspaper on the table, paper towels or some other form of napkin, no utensils, and… I don’t really care about the sides on BBQ, I’m never gonna order them… If someone else at the table gets some mac n cheese I will through my fork in it but I’m just gonna order the meat, s I think all of that other stuff is just really unnecessary so I wouldn’t even have utensils… the music I sort of just picture BBQ o be this like social, interactive event that I don’t ever notice weather there is music playing… maybe a football game playing in the background but maybe because of how I was raised…

And finally would you tell us a little bit about yourself…Yes I am from Birmingham Alabama, uhm I grew up in a farm, went to undergrad at Wake Forest, studied political science. My roommate and I were the only two women against all odds, and got put in the men team gulf hall… then I went back to BBQ land and game day, started practicing law and then BBQ at least once a week, maybe 2, and then in the recruiting season maybe 3 or 4 a week, and then retired from practicing law and now I’m here.

And you know all of the idea of event driven food, BBQ works really well for that since you can make it in large quantities, and the price point is descent for a crowd. My thing about eating now at any sporting event is that I know when it was cooked, so I’m probably not gonna be eating it because it’s just not the same as when it comes out of the smoker, haha, in certain respects it’s kinda spoiled me…

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SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.02.14 INTERVIEWEE: Shawn and Sallie Scott LOCATION: Daffin Park’s Savannah Food Fest, Savannah, GA

Shawn: We just have one flavor of sauce right now, which is the sweet heat,we have another flavor that’s in devel-opment, by developing I mean we are getting everything straight with the department of agriculture so I can put it in a bottle and sell it to the public

Andrés:OkShawn:It’s a very long process to do that, I mean you can, but you’re not allowed to make it in your kitchen and sell it to the public… It CAN be done, people do it all the time, but to make it right and legal and everything is a long process to get it in a bottle and have the nutrition information and the barcode that is required by law and the grocery store or really just about any place now is not gonna take your product if it doesn’t have the barcode and the nutrition labels required by law by the department of agriculture so…

Andrés:Right, so how long did it take you from start to finish to get this into a bottle?Shawn: About a year to get it into a bottle and sell it to the general public, it is a very lengthy process.

Andrés:Do you mind if I take a picture of the sauces? Shawn: Sure, go right ahead!

Marce:Did this come out from like a hobby or…Shawn: It came from liking to cook and friends and family telling me that I should put it in a bottle and sell it, and you know that’s friends and family, that’s what they’re supposed to say, but it started to getting shared with other people and we finally just decided to go for it and give it a try and see what happened and so far weve had a good feedback on it

Priyanka: How did you get started with bbqing?

I like to eat meat, really in simplest forms I like to eat meat and uhmm a lot of times you go somewhere to eat bbq and it’s always really dry because they’ve cooked it too long or they’ve let it sit out too long

Andrés: Yes, especially restaurantsShawn: Yeah, in the restaurants people will like to put sauce on it to try to hide the dryness, but if you put sauce on it, most of the time, all you taste is sauce, you don’t taste the meat. So our sauce, is a lot of honey and it’s real sweet in the front, then the heat comes on in the end, but in the middle it lets the flavor of the meat or what-ever it is you’ve put it on, come through, it doesn’t drown it out… and then all those flavors get mixed and marry together. Where we live it’s a smaller community…Sallie: We don’t wanna drive to Savannah all the time…Shawn: Right, you get tired to go eating in the same 4 or 5 places all the time outside of fast food..Sallie: So we just cook at homeShawn: We cook at home and I just decided one day I was ready to get serious about smoking, so I built a smoke house

Andrés: So you built it yourself?Shawn: Yeah I built it myself, my own smokehouse right… and uhm…

Marce: Yeah, I was wondering how you did all those 50 pounds of meat in a weekend if you didn’t have one Shawn: Honestly my smokehouse looks like an out house, I’ve had a couple people say “Hey is that an out

house?” “No, that’s a smoke house” but I got built the smoke house and I put racks in it that I built, it’s got racks that I can raise or lower depending on how close to the fire or how far away I want it to be.

Andrés: So is it an open flame in there or is it a pit that you’ve dug..?Shawn: It is open flame, no my actually is gas fired, mine is gas fired with wood on it

Andrés: What kind of wood do you use?Shawn: Oak, hickory, pecan, depends on what flavor I’m trying to get out of the meat. You want it a lot sweeter you use a lot more pecan, you want that more traditional you gotta use oak and hickory combined, about a 50-50 mixture on that

Andrés: Do you chop your own wood? Shawn: No, I don’t simply because hickory and pecan are hard to come around, they’re hard to come around by near here. Oak, not so much, but the specialty woods…

Andrés: Yeah I’m from North Carolina so that’s more…Shawn: Right, not a lot of Hickory trees around here again, you know, get harvested, so stuff like that, specially wood I do buy from a supplier but the oak is from local guys that go out and get it

Andrés: Right Shawn: I just, It’s starting to turn into a thing where I, I can’t do everything… I can’t go get the wood and get the meat and all that and make it all happen in a reasonable amount of time, we have to divide you know a few things and I try to use local products, local pork and thing like that

Andrés: You go to a butcher to do that?Shawn: Sometimes I do, it just depends on what the market is right then and when I need the meat. Generally I cook on Fridays but last week I cooked on Thursday, this week coming up I’ll cook on Thursday again, just be-cause of when I need the meat and how long I cook it I can’t cook it on the same day and eat it or provide it to someone else in the same day because it’s such a long process of all the cook time and then it’s gotta rest for a while before you pull it apart, so…

Marce: So are you like in the catering business too?Shawn: No, no, don’t right that down!

Marce: Haha don’t worry, I won’tSallie: It’s just for friends and family Shawn: I’m not, but I am if that makes sense I just cook for friends and family but I’m not a caterer. I guess I just like to cook BBQ

Andrés: So you’re not commercial Shawn: That’s right, I’m not commercial, that’s a good way

Marce: Not yet at least!Shawn: Yeah, not yet!Sallie: Yeah like sometimes we have parties and we’ll have a BBQ and take it down to their house

Marce: So how often do you get into these gathering with friends and family?Shawn: Uhm, lately it’s been going on for about 2 months now, every week I cook

Marce: Wow! Ok.Shawn: We just, a friend of ours just got married over this past week and we had the reception in our house Friday night and we supplied the BBQ

Andrés: Ok, so cook every week BBQ for yourselves or is this…Shawn: Yeah, I do now!

Andrés: Was it before strictly for family gatherings? Shawn: Well before, it started out just for us and hanging out on the back deck and having a few beers and just we like to be out a lot and the smoke rolling out of the smoker I had a separate smoker and then a grill for cook-ing hamburgers and hot dogs and what not, and I just liked that smoke and that smoker wasn’t quite doing what I wanted it to do I was having trouble controlling the heat which is a big deal when it comes to cooking BBQ yeah ‘cause there is a difference, there is BBQ, and then there is grilling, and there’s smoking, those are 3 totally differ-ent ways to cook; totally different heat and it’s just one of those things that kind of evolved into something greater out of our need. For being able to cook it, we needed to produce it since I needed to control it better. Cooking one butt is fine for 4 or 5 people but you know, when I’m feeding 30 people I’ve gotta cook 50 or 60 pounds of meat.

Priyanka: Ok so what is your fondest memory about BBQ, the memory that comes out in your mind when I say BBQ Marce: He has to many I think!Shawn; I don’t know, food that tastes really good! I mean that’s the best thing I can say, it just seems like when I taste, and I’m a worse critic, but when I taste food and I say “Oh my God that is the best thing I’ve ever cooked”, and not to brag but it seems like I get a little bit better every once in a while it might not seem that great, but I cooked Thursday, and I say that is the best BBQ I’ve ever cooked! And of course it helped that I had 30-40 people coming to eat that as well! I’d hate to cook it and it not taste good. Because I’ve had before cooked stuff and we’re already to eat and going “we’re not eating this it’s not good” and to find something else

Marce: And do you ever go to BBQ restaurants here in Savannah?Shawn: No, not really, I’m biased, I like my own. Yeah, I’m very biased, We have but…Sallie: They’re not the best

Marce: Do you remember which ones you’ve visited before?Shawn: Yeah, but I don’t wanna ruin someone else’s business

Marce: We have been to most of them so…

Priyanka: So yeah, we can share the same feelings Shawn: Oh you have? So which ones did you dislike?

Marce: Well actually…Andrés: Well it’s funny cause it’s gotten progressively better, in our opinion the best that we’ve had is Wiley’s Championship BBQ Sallie: Yeah, we’ve heard comments on that one

Andrés: …and Sandfly BBQShawn: Yeah I’ve heard those are really good, I’ve never eaten at either one of those places

Marce: So there is another couple we’ve, the first times those couple ones we were like “Oh this is really good!” but then comparing to other ones they were not that good at all so we’ve kind of learned to figure out the difference between the really good ones and the more commercial ones Shawn: With BBQ, and the thing with BBQ is I think a lot of that is bc the cooking is so it has to be so over the money when you cook it, you can’t cook it too little but you can’t cook it too much either. Cause I’ve made that mistake. I mean, oh well, the meat tells me that it’s ready but I’m gonna cook it longer, I think it should go further. Even though I think the meat is ready, if you cook a little bit more, then it dries it out.

Priyanka: So if you have to describe BBQ in 3 words what would they be?Shawn: I have to describe bbq in 3 words, oh man!

Marce: It can be 3 random words, not a phrase or anything like thatShawn: Sweet, uhm, moist, and uhm, smokey. Sallie: Delicious!Shawn: I like my BBQ smokey, I like to taste that smoke in it! Yeah, write delicious!

Andrés: Can I actually try some of that sauce? Sallie: Sure!

Marce: So how long does it usually take you to do your whole BBQ process?Shawn: Well it depends, uhm, I usually prep the meat the day before, I usually start cooking from 4 or 5 in the morning is when I actually start cooking the meat and it’ll cook from anwhere from probably 10 to 15 hours. But there’s a lot more to it than that. There is a lot of getting it ready, you’ve gotta get the meat, and then prep the meat and, I have a couple little trick that I do that I don’t wanna give away how I do you know… You have to watch the temperature, and know when to add wood and things like that. It’s not one of those things that you can let it start cooking and walk away from it. You got to constantly check it. And you can leave it for around 30 min-utes, maybe an hour but you’ve got to go back and check it and watch your temperature and watch your smoke and make sure you have smoke rolling for a long enough time

Andrés: Do you have any gages to see the temperature?Shawn: I have a temperature gage but until the point I can look at it and I can know about how much more it need to go, about how more it need to cook. There’s some thing I need to look at, like the cut of the meat, how big it

is, how small it is, things like that. With BBQ you just have to learn over time. I don’t know anybody that started cooking BBQ and it was good the first time. Most times the first time it’s undercooked, ‘cause you think “oh it looks good!” ?cause its black on the outside and you think that but that was because of the smoke that’s been rolling across it. I mean, the first times that I did it, it was like leather inside. It was tough, ‘cause I cooked it too long thinking “ I have to get it good and done cause it’s a piece of pork and you know you gotta cook pork a long time, you gotta make sure it’s done.

Marce: And do you usually do like the meat portions or do you like a whole hog or something like this? Shawn: No, mainly butt, the shoulder butt, the butt of the shoulder

Andrés: Is it pork? Do you ever don any brisket?Shawn: I do do brisket, yeah, brisket is a whole other cooking than pork. Sallie: And it’s expensiveShawn: It is expensive, it is like 4 times more expensive than pork is right now and pork is expensive because they have a lot of problems with hogs out west last year and they had to put down several hundred thousand hogs so pork prices are way up right now

Andrés: but pork s also local hereShawn: The pork is local, there is several forms you can get it from locally unless other wise going to the grocery stores, as a matter of fact there is A Hundred Cattle you can get it from them that is right outside Statesboro, and then there is Savannah River Farms which is in Sylvania , I know those guys… and there is a couple of local butch-ers you can go and get it but sometimes they get it local, sometimes they get it outsourced simply because of the market price, you know, it sometimes can be through the roof.

Marce: And do you guys cook together or do you usually do this on your own?Shawn: It’s usually meSallie: It’s usually him, I work in Savannah, and have a full time job and we’ve got kids so it usually ends up being him. Shawn: I mean she does help out but for the most part it’s me. Sallie: He cooked it all day long Thursday, I pulled it Thursday night, I got home from work…Shawn: ‘Cause pulling it, it’s a whole job in itself as well Sallie: What.. like 2 and a half hours maybe?Shawn: For like 50 pound yeah… but we pull ours, we reaaally pull ours.

Andrés: So how exactly do you pull your BBQ? Marce: What do you use to do this? Sallie and Shawn: Our hands!Shawn: Yeah, 2 hands! 2 hands is the best tool for pulling! Sallie: We bought little claw things and yeah… they didn’t really…Shawn: They didn’t really work, they seem like a good idea, but you get in there with your hands and they work the best it just pulls it apart. Some people pull it in big pieces, we ull ours real small. To me, pulling it small you get more of the fat mixed into the meat when you pull it, because the fat’s on the food but then you’ve got fat

that’s on the outside, so once you pull all of that bark out, there’s some of that bark in there but you need some of that bark as well and your fingers just kind of mix it all

Andrés: And the bark refers to the…?Shawn and sally: The crustShawn: That black part on the outside, right, what we call the bark and that’s where I will put the rub on, let it sit, and like, my rub has a lot of sugar in it… and most rubs will have high sugar content. You have to have that sugar because you need that sugar to melt and crystalize and then lock on to the meat and the other spices that are mixed with it, and it helps create that crust or bark on the outside that helps hold some of the juices in.

Andrés: That makes sense…Shawn: Cooking at a low temperature for a long time with smoke going, smoke will dry the meat out, so you need that crust to hold the moisture in

Priyanka: So which is your favorite BBQ meat? Like, what meat do you like?Shawn: The best? Brisket. Beef brisket, but brisket is even harder to cook than pork is.

Marce: Do you ever do ribs?Shawn: Occasionally, don’t do a lot of ribs… Uhm just because the market value, the cost of it is extremely high right now, extremely, and you know you gotta.. there is not that much meat in ribs to begin with so you gotta have a lot of ribs to make a meal so.. but we do do ribs from time to time; but predominantly, pork. Boston butt, or pork butt.

Marce: We should get some for KimAndrés: Yeah I wana get some of this sauceShawn: Ok!

Andrés: Do you have any cash?Priyanka: I doSallie: Would you guys like tyo try it too?

Marce: I would, yeahPriyanka: Can I eat this?Andrés: Yeah, I think so. There is no meat products in this right? She’s a vegetarian so she can’t eat meat. Shawn: It’s all natural, you can pronounce everything that is in the ingredients. No meat products, nothing like that.

Andrés: Ok, just making sureShawn: So you’re doing a project on meat?

Priyanka: Yes!Marce: So we’ve been eating a lot of BBQ these days

Priyanka: Wow, this is so good! (referring to the sauce) It’s the yummiest I’ve ever had!Marce: It’s really sweet at the start and then it’s really spicy. It’s very different from everything we’ve had. Shawn: Good! That’s one thing that it is very different from anything out there. He market on BBQ sauces is satu-rated. There are a lot of BBQ sauce out there, but to me, they all taste very very similar

Priyanka and Marce: YeahAndrés:You mind if we took a picture of you 2 together?Shawn: No, that’s fine, we take terrible pictures

Andrés: Just to prove we didn’t make this up hahaSally: Sure haha

Marce: Thank you so much for your time!Shawn: Sure, you’re welcome! You got us in there? Did I move?

Andrés: Yeah, one more..!Priyanka: Can I get your card or something?Shawn: Sure, sure!

Marce: Where else can we get your sauces if we ever want them afterwards? Do we call you and contact you?Shawn: You can call us and contact us yes, the info is on the bottom (of the sauce bottle) as well. We are also at the Salt Table which is down at Broughton St, we are at true Grit which is at River St, we are at a butcher shop called The Butcher Block which is at Bloomingdales and that’s it. We are also in ATL.

Marce: So you are producing in very like quantities now?Shawn: Yeah

Andrés: Did we get a card with your names on it?Priyanka: Yeah we got itShawn: I am Shawn and this is Sally

Marce: We are Andrew, Priyanka and Marcela. Thank you very much for your time, we appreciate it!

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SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.4.14 INTERVIEWEE: Marc SylvesterLOCATION: Gulfstream Center for Design, Savannah, GA

How often do you eat BBQ?I eat BBQ once a week.

When and where do you usually eat BBQ?I try to find good places around here, and Savannah is really not known for its food, and specially BBQ. So ill eat... the one place is blowing smoke. and it is really good BBQ and it has good range of tastes of BBQ, so it’s like, in the united states there are different tastes of BBQ and like Texas is beef, in south its pork and there is different BBQ sauce that go with each one, and I feel this one restaurants has one good blend of all of these.

Could you name some BBQ restaurants in savannah that you have visited?Besides blowing smoke!in addition to blowing smoke, there is the location that blowing smoke used to be which is on MLK and I can’t remember the name of it, I think it’s called the ‘Que’ actually and one of the best places in savannah to go, it’s not actually a restaurant, it’s up on bull street , just north of Victory and it’s a little tiny thing.

Oh! ya... Tricks?ya... that’s the one.

Oh I love that place tooIt’s like the best place you can go here, they do good pork and their Beef is amazing. they have beef ribs, which you never find in south. Usually here, I don’t know, generally hard to come by.

Which is the place you visit on regular basis for BBQ?I go to blowing smoke, tricks isn’t really the place you would want to hang around, there is no place to sit and eat, you can’t get any drinks there. but they just want you to get some food there and leave and go somewhere else. Usually we really dont go there and even the hours are not very conducive for when I want to eat, other than that, I eat BBQ regularly downtown. I work at a rail which is a bar at congress street, and 2 doors down there is social club and we kind of have an open grill. It opens at certain part of the night, at 10 or 11 it opens and it runs till 3 in the morning and then they close the bar, and they have BBQ that you can get right there, so you can get a pulled pork sandwich, which a lot of the time, me and the other guys get a bunch of these sandwiches and have some-thing to eat while we are bar tending.

Could you describe your overall experience when you go to a BBQ restaurant?Sometimes when I go, I know what i like, I know what i want and ill order it, sometimes it doesn’t come out right, one of the things i do at BBQ restaurants is that I look for their smokers and where blowing smoke used to be at MLK, it used to have a chest smoker, which was electric and you would put a piece of wood in there and leave it over night and it would slowly steam everything, that’s not the good kind of BBQ, you want the stuff like trick has, where somebody sits there and cooks something in the smoker for hours and hours, as slow as you can. Every-thing falls off the bonds, so that’s what I would look for in a restaurant and then, all the time that doesn’t happen, and you end up with mismatched food, you go and order one thing and something else comes back and it just not good to overall experience, but I know what I like and I stick to it.

What is your favorite BBQ dish, or what do you generally order in a BBQ restaurant?I always order pulled pork.

Why?Okay, so the first time that I every tried pulled pork , I was living in north Carolina, which is different style of BBQ from here, so its vinegar based, only vinegar, it’s not like a sweet sauce. It’s just tangy and it stinks!, and it smells really bad and I went to a block party, with our family in the neighborhood. and there was plates getting passed around in the center, and there was all this big Tupperware containers and they were full of pork, and they had this stuff and it smelled really gross, by then it was like my most favorite thing ever. anything else that I get after that is just a bonus. Anything in addition to the pulled pork, so if they have like a combination plate, sometimes I go for that..

How about brisket or...I like brisket a lot but I always order pork and if I get brisket in it or some smoked sausage or something I get go for that...

What is your usual order like?My usual order is like.... when I order pulled pork, it come with half a pint of pork usually and there are two sides, I always get coleslaw and potato salad and if available Brunswick stew which is also pork based

What does BBQ mean to you?It means.... to me.. ..when I think about BBQ, I think about sitting for hours cooking food and having beer with friends over..... and being very caught up checking the temperature n everything not stressful and relaxed and there is good food after that...

Do you cook BBQ yourself? and how often do you cook it?yes, not very regularly, I used to be on a BBQ competition team with my friends and we travelled to south Caro-lina and competed with tons of other people that were there and it was a lot of fun.

How was the experience of competing? Whom do you compete against? where people came from?Some people worked at a restaurant, some people had their own trailer smoker, people came from all over. Usu-ally there is southern conference. People from southern region, just like how sport has different conferences and then come together and then compete against one another, and the best from there move on, something similar to that. My team have won alot of awards but not when I was there, we dint get any....since BBQ takes a lot of time, so there is a lot of hanging out you do with everyone around....

What s the ambience like? or the place like?sometimes it’s like fairground, or parking lot, different area all over

Is there any competition in savannah?no, one in Hardeeville that’s the closest one that happens, which is like 30 minutes away.

So the name of competition you have taken part in?smoke on the harbor, and Charleston, that was with my buddy, and he used to go to Hardee and around to Ken

tucky and places like that.

when you cook BBQ for championship or at home, do you cook alone or you cook with someone else?I cook alone most of the time, it’s fun when other come and help me out, recently ,my friend who I used to BBQ with moved away, so I don’t fire up smoker all the time, since it’s a long process. last time I did was 3 months ago. I made bunch of chicken and pork and all kind of stuff and it was mainly me just sitting around and checking tem-perature in dark. I started really late at night so that it would be done by morning or afternoon.

Do you have a smoker here? A full BBQ setup?Yes

Could you explain your process of cooking BBQ?There is a lot of things you need to prepare. With the meat itself, after you get all the ingredient. then you bring the meat temperature down to room temperature and set it up with flavor the night before and then you let it marinated it in juices and also add rub on it. Then you trim it before you cook it. Fire itself takes about 30 minutes to set up. You need to start coals. You can do different ways. You can do it with lighter fluid, i like to use natural lighter, which is chimney , so you can start it with the fire instead of pouring like kerosene or gas, liquid lighter fluid all over it. And then after you insert that into the smoker you have to wait till the smoker reaches correct tem-perature and that is after you have put all the wood on and everything is like that...... after that happens you throw the meat on and try not to open the box until you have to, usually whenever you open the lid, it’s like adding another hour to the cooking process. You try not to do that as much as possible and you do that wireless tem-perature probes or wired one resistant to heat. You can check temperature outside of box. There are many types of smoker, some take longer than other

When you cook do you usually cook pork because it’s your preferred type of meat?yes, i do

What are the tools you use when you cook BBQ?I generally wear an apron first. I use a chef thermometer in addition to other things because i feel it’s more precise than a digital, it’s always easier you just open it up and read temperature and you can’t see everything going on. I don’t like using tongs because you can potentially drop stuff when you’re using them so i use thick rubber temperature resistant glove which you can just open up the box and flip the meat over and keep a check on it. we use aluminum pan thick heavy duty aluminum foil. Part of the system I use, requires wrapping the meat in thick aluminum and couple layers of that. it’s just the part of process i use and then obviously i feel like part of your tools is like the chimney, smoker you are using since there are so many different types of smoker and thats about it really....

In what wood do you prefer to cook BBQ?So i use pecan, cherry and oak, and the oak that i use is the one I have been using recently, it’s the barrels oak which is like , old whisky barrels, wine barrels, you can get them from the shop and then you can use that and get a little oaky and winesh smell that permeate the meat a little more. if I have nothing else, I use pecan and cherry.

Why do you choose a particular type of wood?Based on the scent, the flavor and then how well the flavor permeates into the meat

And going back to the championship you were talking about? how did you get into a team?My friends team was missing 1 spot

Did you know BBQ from before or did you learn it from your friend?No i have been BBQing since a very long time. i would say.... when i was probably 17 yrs old, my dad gave me my own smoker and it was propane , so you have a little square chest rectangle thing, you had to set up your stuff in a different way, made awesome food and i wanted to learn more and more about it, and then i started making my own sauces and using different type wood and see what is the best for me.

How come your father gave you this present? Was it something that was passed down? or a family tradition?Sometime my dad cooked BBQ, but now he has the same type of smoker as i do which is the barrel smoker and it has a side fire block, which is indirect heat smoker and he probably got that, and then thought... i don’t need this anymore and he gave it to me. it wasn’t something that we always did at home, because i dint learn it from him. i might have learnt how to cook burgers but that is really not BBQ to me, it’s just grilling burger so...

So the competition you participated in, was it all about the meat, or was sauce also a part of it?Well actually our team was sponsored by a sauce team so we had to use their sauce, and we changed it slightly, to make it to our taste for what we were trying to do there, basically it was on the flavor on the meat, the way it looks and whatever the judges criteria of that day. Maybe it can be if it is falling off the bone correctly or something. Sometimes they also have the sauce.

Is there any criteria in an competition, just to enter the competition?They taste all the food, they basically give you some Tupperware no, sorry..Styrofoam container, and you need to put certain amount of whatever or whatever they are judging on that day at that particular time. It can’t be any writing on it, to give judge any indication as to where they were from, it’s just has to be a blank box, with your meat in it that’s it, maybe sauce. but that it

How long do these competitions last?like 2 or 3 days, because the meat take so much time to cook. Usually you don’t have competitions that require you to cook only 1 type of meat... they want you to get there set up your stuff and then start cooking something and then you will send something that day, at night you start cooking pork and then by morning it will cook and you can submit that...after that you would be cooking ribs or beef or something..

When you cook at home, do you make your own sauce or do you buy it?I used to make my own sauce, but that’s just like another thing that i have to do now, the way i was thinking of my sauce before was with a lot of fresh ingredients , its like including the peppers i was using, i used to grow peppers earlier, but i haven’t grown pepper recently at my new place. So i stopped making me own sauce so i go to the store and sometime i will find vinegar sauce that is something i always want to use, and sometimes am in the right mood i will buy some vinegar and pepper and make my own, but that is rare.

what is your favorite type of sauce?it is the vinegar based sauce it’s the Carolina vinegar, in north Carolina there is 2 different types of Carolina BBQ, mustard base style and there is vu=vinegar base i definitely like the vinegar side.

Do you think there are any opportunity of BBQ in savannah, when someone comes here from outside, your friend or someone else, what would you recommend?when my folks jus came in they were here for a week so i just took them to blowing smoke , there is too much work for me to do while am trying to hang out with them and with school work but same time i don’t want to take them to tricks BBQ, i mean right now with few number of restaurant there isn’t whole lot to chose from, ill rather just go to blowing smoke which is set out there they can pick and chose and the variety of thing they can order what they like.

What do you think of mainstream restaurants like Johnny Harris or...?I don’t even want to walk into that place, I’ve never been in carey hilliard.... i thinki have tried wings from there before, which is like not impressed. the way i think about such restaurants is that they are for rich people who like live in savannah their whole life and who live on skidaway and they go to such places on Sundays after church.

I dint like Johnny harris either!Wileys was good though oh ya wileys is kind of down where i live, they are pretty good but it takes a little longer for me to get food out of there its just a small restaurant, if they expanded and moved down town they would probably do as well blowing smoke

Could you describe the last time you had BBQ? your experience?i was with my parents, i got pulled pork, my dad got the Flintstone rib from blowing smoke. Flintstone rib is a beef rib, it’s like foot long each, just rib is considered half a rack and then the full rack is 2 rib and then we go the whole rack and so much meat and everything was falling off the bone. And they put their own sauce on it and what i noticed that they had their own blended apple kind of bbq sauce, its almost as thick as a chutney on top, so it had a little bit of sweetness from that and it had like vinegar and it was spicy, so that was interesting, because i have never had thick heavy blended bbq sauce before but i it was interesting, and then i was with my brother and his fiancée and my girlfriend and family friend and everybody seem to enjoy it, we all left with a lot of food.

Could you tell us about you fondest memory involving BBQ?I remember we went to a party with my parents and it was like in some kind of park somewhere, we walked over there and there was a big trailer smoker and thatthe size of a 500 gallon size oil drum so it was pretty large and it was attached to a trunk , just like a big smoker seating in this part and it was blowing smoke out and we got up to it and this guy opens to up and it was full hog inside and they had pork ribs too and you go break your meat off, and it was awesome, it was really good and fresh and when u get good cut of meat, specially like a young pig delivered or hog or whatever it is and cook that up and eat. it is really really tasty

What are the different meat you have cooked in your BBQ?pork, chicken, beef...... lamb and i think that’s it.

Could you describe your favorite day off? how would it look like?This is just to get to know you a little better my days off i will go to the beach with my girlfriend and have some drinks off the beach, to north tybee where there are less people, drive my jeep with no roof no doors....

If you had to describe BBQ in 3 words, what would it be?friends, meat sauce, pork

Do you have a picture of the smoker you use?yes, let me see... the kind of smokers we have is not as the same kind of smoker we use in competition, we use Japanese style smoker, you would have probably seen it. Ceramic heats really well. part of BBQing is being able to control your temperature very well over long period of time. that really do that chimney that i let it with and side box smoker that’s where you start your fire. I smoked all night i did pork butt and chicken i did fish this time too, but its not expensive, you can get it at home depot for under 150 dollar for this smoker. they rot out after about 2 and 3 year i would say....fire blocks rots out because its under so much heat, it cooks off all paint and then it rust, so over time you have to replace it and buy a new one

Are you planning to BBQ any time soon?Am I? probably not, my smoker box is starting to rot out so much now that i have to place aluminum to hold pole inside last time i was BBQing coal was falling randomly, perfect before that , metal became so thin that coal started dropping,

Do you generally keep it in the backyard?ya... we used to keep cover, but cover attract wasp so we removed it off and then it just rots, so...

People generally have this misconception that BBQ is grilling and grilling is BBQing, what do you think about that?There is definitely lots of misconception. obviously Korean BBQ, you cook all your meat in this thing in front of you. it’s just grilling meat nothing else. I think bbq as a smoker and grill is grilling.

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SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.2.14 INTERVIEWEE: Cyruss HunterLOCATION: The Florence Coffee Shop, Savannah, GA

Alright so we have about 12 questions here, it will probably take around 30, 35 minutes. So how long have you been in the BBQ industry and how did you begin?

Well about 16 years we had one location that was on Bay St and I saw the clientele there, and I was good on the

grill, I knew how to cook so I decided that.. yeah well…

So yeah what is what inspired you to BBQ?The cooking, yeah I like cooking, you know I’ve worked in some hotels, and at home I do a lot of cooking and the biggest thing that I do is I like to create so I’m killer with my BBQ sauce which everybody loves, and I do my own wing sauce…

So what else do you like to cook, ‘cause you said you like to cook?Uhm I cook collard greens, I’m not good at baking but anything from scratch I cook.

So what is BBQ to you style and influencesMy style I think it is that the business accommodates everyone, a person that my have 2-3$ in their pocket, or a persona that is wealthy and can come get whatever he wants, so I guess my style is just being able to accommo-date to everybody’s needs. If you got 2$ you can get 2 legs, 2 chicken legs, if he has 5$ he can get a BBQ plate, 5$, so I guess that’s more important, that people can afford it!

Ok uhm so if you could describe the process u prepare, cook and serve BBQ?

Well it starts with the grills, the person and the process that will grill, but most important are those grills. If we don’t have those grill or the grills aren’t in condition then we can’t fulfill our jobs. So the grills are the most impor-tant part and we keep them clean by pressure washing them at least twice a month, and then it’s the black lacquer to keep them looking nice, uhm and of course we use charcoal and flavored wood, different kinds of flavored woods, they have apple, cinnamon, that’s the most important part of the process and of course meeting the de-mands of.. like a lot of times we go to Sam’s and they don’t have ribs, so I guess that’s where it started yeah, at the grills.

So what do you cook, what kinds of meats?Pork, beef, lamb, chicken, and beef ribs. And another thing that you’re not aware of, every Thanksgiving, we do Turkeys and we have a great demand for grilled turkeys. And what I do with turkeys is that I take a Heineken bottle and a beer can and insert it inside of the turkey and it gives it a lot of flavor. You can stick in a knife and it will fall of the knife, that’s how tender it gets yeah, so…

I haven’t heard of that one before!Yeah, a lot of people haven’t…! Last time I made about 60 turkeys, with 3 grills you get about 60 turkeys, and that said maybe 50 dollars of turkey, so that’s really good profit.

So you mentioned the grill, so what other tools do you use?Our knifes are important because what makes our business is like, the slab is 20 dollars, if I can get 25 dollars out of each slab, and sometimes if the slices are big I might get 30 or 35, so that gets me 10 to 15 dollars out of each slab, so yeah knifes are important uhm our cost being reasonable for our customers, that’s very important… cook-ing everything fresh its not something that you might buy the ribs and cook it over night like you said, everything we cook, we cook that same day. We also serve complementary sides, like beans, potato salad, red rice and these

are complementary that goes along with the meal, sea food pasta we make and that’s 3$ and 5$ and those we made from scratch, everything’s made from scratch,

We saw uhm obviously you cook it out in the grill and then…We have a steam table in the inside to keep the warm and fresh so we transport them to the inside and we trans-port it in a cooler, but a lot of time I try to keep them in pans because in the cooler with the lid on and it still being so hot it tends to keep cooking the meat, so in a pan it wont so I try to keep it in a pan, the pan is important, coolers are important, uhm, also a big cooler in the inside that when we season the meat and everything you put it inside the cooler bc chicken is kind of a delicate meat and you wouldn’t let chicken just sit out in the heat, and uhm so..

So do you season it before you put it on the grill or is this after?Uhm, on a good day, we can get a the ribs from Sam, let’s say that we finish today, we are ready to finish now and we’ll season and let it stay in the cooler over night, cuz anytime u cooking meat and you season it a day in ad-vance, ohh.. say you’re cooking uhm say you’re cooking, what’s your favorite meat?

Chicken, I eat chicken.. She doesn’t eat meat! She’s vegetarianBut do you eat fish?

Noo… Fish is not vegetarian, Fish is good meat, some vegetarians eat fish!

Anyway you say u like chicken, lets say you want chicken for tomorrow, so you’ll season for the night, let it sit real good until it marinates, and you’d be surprised how good that chicken tastes and how tender it will be…

How long does it take for you to cook your meals?Uhm when I’m grilling, Yeah lets say for the ribs...Say I start cooking at9 o clock, then I got 3 grills and it 3 6 9 12, each grill can hold 12 slabs, 12 and 12 is 24 an one other grill we have only for just chicken and lamb and beef, cuz you don’t wanna cook pork with you chicken and lamb and beef, cuz everyone will eat pork so you try to keep one grill separate, but I say that if I start by 9 o clock by 11 o clock I’m ready to serve, so I say about 2 hours,

Uhm and you mention hard wood flavored wood, and does that mix in directly with the charcoal? Oh yes yes, once you get started with the charcoal, you ignite it from the charcoal and all it does when it comes up it adds flavor to the smoke.

So which wood do you prefer the most?I like apple.

Ok so what is your most popular order at tricks and then you believe there is a reason why?Well they love the ribs but we have a lot of people that love the lamb. So of course we sell a lot of ribs, like on Fridays we might sell 12 cases of ribs, sat might be 14 or 15 so people love the ribs, one of the main reasons they love the ribs is because they love the fresh homemade BBQ sauce, they just love the sauce, all you hear is “it’s

the sauce, it’s the sauce”So I would say the ribs and the sauce

So back to the sauce, I know you said it’s a secret recipe, but did you come up to that sauce yourself?No I got that from my older lady, she passed now but that was my old lady’s, I don’t even know if that was her original recipe, but that’s what I got it from

Is there more of a story behind that? I know you can’t get into details but…No just that I got it through a family member and I used to go to the house a lot and I would get a lot into the kitchen, of course I love to cook so wen she was in the kitchen cooking and things like that I called on to, of course she had a BBQ sauce and I tasted a few times, and for a long time she wouldn’t tell me how it was done, and after some time she told me and I’ve been using it ever since. But I don’t think I’ve been doing enough with it, it should be in the stores, it should be in the internet,

It should be, I have heard so much of Tricks, I know they would love to have your sauce on a shelf!Uhm so the reason why people gravitate towards probably to the ribs id bc of the sauce?Yeah, bc of the sauce and everything cooked up fresh, the same day

Do you put the sauce in the lamb? Cause you talked about the lamb as well….A lot of people prefer on and off…. Some people like lots of sauce, others less sauce and some people just want it on the side. So we give them the variety od choices so its up to the customer what they prefer

When is the best time for BBQSummer

Is that the time when u get the most customers also’Wll I keep a pattern running year to year and we get a lot of customers in the summer, I think its due to the weather and lots of people walking around and moving around, because it warm, it’s hot, and in the winter we do good but it’s always better in the summertime. I thinks its bc of the climate.

Could you describe your typical customer where they from , what they might wear, male or female, if alone or in a group?Haha that’s funny cuz you’s be surprise of the customers that come up there.

So you are talking about a regular customer? Yeah, maybe let’s do two, like your typical customer and maybe someone for the first time…A typical customer is just like if u work in this bar u would know who they are and exactly what customer drinks, and uhm you would have someone for the first time and you would have to ask what they want to drink. You have the regular clientele that they either want the beef and potato salad, even if you don’t ask, and some of my com-mons they say “you know what I want”. And then sometimes you have people come for the first time and they are inquired of what we have en of course then we have new people who started coming and they prefer the dinners, cuz they want the complimentary sides, specially the potato salad.

And uhm now they fallen in love with the red rice, so di I answer your question?Yeah you’re getting there but, yeah, for the typical customer where were they be from male or female, Usually from savannah, a lot of people that move away they come to tricks when they come to town, common casual clothes, in summertime might be t-shirts or whatever and then different types, tennis shoes, flip flops, then the older clientele that might wear a suit and tie, a dress shirt and we have both male and female, we don’t have one that outnumbers the other ones but some days u might see lots of women, some day both, some day a lot of guys. But we have people that come one day and come back tomorrow.

So personally, I don’t eat a lot of BBQ, I cook it so much that I don’t eat it, I mean I might have a taste or a piece, so im like a bartender in that way…. I don’t eat a lot of it. I eat a lot of fish I like the lamb you know lamb is a deli-cate meat I like the lamb, and I like a lot of bacon broth food…

What is the most busy hours in the day?Lunchtime from 11 up to 2 o’clock

The day that we came there it was packed, and the way that you manage such a big crowd, you serve so fast! Well what it is that once the order is taken, the order is given to the cutter the cutter cuts the plate, then you have a person that takes the plate to the table they put the sides on it they put the utensils and napkins and everything, and out the door. So it’s like a system… it goes from one person to another person to another… and comes back out the door and its pretty fast.

Uhm could you tell us where the name tricks BBQ came form Nickname childhood nickname it was that they called me I’d say “My name is Tricks”

Is there a story a good story around it?Well the only story was uh I played a lot of BKB and I was popular for BKB I used to play tricks all the time, well now they call it pranks, but back then we called it tricks, so that’s where that came from

Its pretty good! So could you actually talk about the BBQ culture in Savannah how its maybe changed from when you started to where it is today?I don’t think we’ve hitting surface, like I look at tv a lot and follow BBQ a lot and like Tennessee, Memphis is very popular when it comes to BBQ I look a lot at the contests they have and how they try to pick the best BBQ out of all the grillers.. so I think we haven’t even reached the surface, I think we have good business but this could be a very good popular setting for BBQ but everybody came to cook BBQ but we were the only ones at one time, but now we have a guy up at Wheaton St, another getting open at Montgomery St, another guy at 17th road, and the guy that’s over at.. so now what I’m saying is people is spreading out because they see what the revenue could be and they try to get in the business but people will go where they are comfortable, and where the food is qual-ity, so even if thee is 20 they are still gonna go where they enjoy, where they like so I don’t think we’ve touched surface for the BBQ though. This town here is uhm is my home town but basically caters to I would say from my family perspective is that they like buffets because they think they can eat as much as they want… the tourists they enjoy the downtown area, going to the downtown spots, River Street, so… I guess Savannah has a little for everyone but we haven’t got surface with BBQ yet.

SCOPE: The Culture of BBQ in Savannah, GA.INTERVIEW DATE: 11.3.14 INTERVIEWEE: Teresa Weston LOCATION: Wall’s BBQ, Savannah, GA

(Andrew) So if you could, can you tell us how long you have been in the BBQ industry, then how you began, and then what inspired you to specialize in BBQ... (Teresa) Um... We have actually been in this location for 51 years, it used to be... My grandparents actually used to live in the house behind and this was a wood yard and sometime around 1960 my grandfather decided to turn it into a business. I think it was mainly something for my mother and my grandmother to do in-case something happened to him so they could have a business to support them and he gave them an option, it was either a BBQ restaurant or a hair salon, well my mother and grandmother did not want to do hair for the rest of their lives so they said a restaurant, so that’s how that came about, and since we already owned the property he just built this building here... and umm... I don’t know why he chose a BBQ restaurant, it may have been... um, there weren’t to many here and my grandfather is actually from South Carolina, he was born and raised on a farm so maybe that had something to do with the decision. OK... um, so you’ve been in it for 51 years and so it was a family... a family tradition I guess... I mean a family business that was passed down to you through the genereations... Yes, my Grandmother retired in ‘79, gave it to my mother, and my mother did have a brother but I guess because he (Grandfather) actually built it for them he passed it onto my mother, and after I went off to college and came back I always thought it was a very good business, and it definitely guaran-teed employment you know so... and I like to cook so I decided to take it over and then she kinda... I got out of the teaching for a minute... and then she said you can have it and I was like OK Cool! OK... so what is BBQ to you? How would you describe your BBQ style? and then what might influence your style? My BBQ style... well we.... It was kinda different, Um a lot of people now a days with the ribs and the pork are into smoking and will smoke stuff for like 20 hours and 12 hours and actually smoke the ribs... We grill everything here so I don’t think in what people think in a sense of BBQ that we’re not traditional, It’s more like grilling a steak, we grill our chicken, we grill our ribs and as far as the pork is concerned I did go into the smoking but it took way to long and it didn’t make an appreciable difference in taste so I just put it in the oven... So people think of BBQ as a smoking aspect and some people think it’s the sauce you know you put something and you throw sauce on it and it’s BBQ so I kinda meld that together so it’s not what people would traditionally think of BBQ being like pit BBQ. So when you cook it in the oven how long would you say it usually takes? Ummm... It probably takes... It can take up to 4 hours depending on the temperature so... S o you’re still cooking it for a while? Oh yeah you’re still cooking it for a while but not smoking, you know not the whole thing it’s just put it in the pan put it in the oven, cook it to a point where you can ... and I usually chop it up and then throw the spices in with the sauce and just let it simmer... Is there water in the pan as well? Does it steam or anything? ...(Shaking Head) Nope

Just toss the meat, no seasoning in the pan and deal with it And you usually do chop it up, does that make it quicker to cook? Well no I chop it up after You chop it up after... Ok, Ok Yeah Yeah... So we were kinda starting to talk about this but, well we did kinda go through this but the process you go throw preparing, cooking, and serving BBQ, um so what do you usually cook for the restaurant, obviously the oven, but some other stuff, and then if you can show us that would be fantastic, but if not that’s okay we understand... Well well it’s so simple, most of the meat we wash it, the ribs we toss, like I said seasoning is in the process, we make a fire, we use nothing but charcol, toss it on the grill and um baste it like turkey with whatever we put on it... and um same thing for the pork, cook it, put the seasonings spices after it’s almost done slow cook it, Chicken, season it throw it on the grill... so everything we do is centered around the grill. And no woodchips, no open... no anything... You said charcoal... Strictly charcoal. Okay, and then so let’s say someone comes in to order food, how does that process work? Um... Because, well we have seam tables... Um, and then most of the food is kept in the seam tables, so its just they come and they order ribs, we chop it up. Most of the stuff can be done very quickly, it’s not like a lot of restaurants that are not BBQ restaurants they have to plate up the food and all, it’s just you know there, pulling a plate, give it to them, so it’s just a lot quicker. OK, so everything is cooked before... Everything is cooked before... Umm... Except for the fish, and then we used to fry chicken but I stopped because we always did it to order, and it takes 20-25 minutes... when we first started that was not a problem for people when things were a lot slower, so they would order and wait or come back but now they want everything in such a hurry, you know we just kinda dropped the chicken. Also, when we were here we noticed you had your sauces, can you talk about the sauces? Umm... when we first opened it was some... It was a man that my grandfather contracted to make the sauce because he didn’t know, you know? He wanted something made but not off the shelf, and he would come in every week or so and make up some and whatever, and for whatever reason the man just said look, I’ll sell you the recipe and I think they said he bought it for $25... Wow!

Yeah and from then on my mother and grandmother started making it. Ok, so it’s become your family recipe Yeah, in a sense it has even though its not originally, he kinda bought it, and people with the sauce either love it or hate it and since it was a mustard based sauce as opposed to... because a lot of the other sauces are sweet... tomato, so it was kind a different Yeah... I love the mustard based sauce Yeah... It’s more of a South Carolina... I mean is that, because you talked about your Grandfather was from South Carolina... Grandfather... all my grandparents, yeah, all my relatives Was that... Did the person that he contacted, was he from South Carolina? I, I don’t know where the man came from, honestly, I have no idea... I was 9 haha... I was not even concerned about this... Like oh they’re building a building... okay Hahaha... So what is your most popular order? and then do you believe there is a reason why your customers might chose that one? The most popular thing has to be ribs. When we opened, when they opened we had maybe 5 items on the menu... Ribs, deviled crabs, potato salad, french fries, fried chicken... that’s good exactly 5... and that’s all that we sold. And um... Ribs became the main focus, when I think it was in the 80s I did take off for a year from school and I started adding stuff... Vegetables, because I like to cook vegetables, and we added the chopped pork then, and fish... and then we kinda, you know, developed it a little bit more even with the additional stuff we sell now its about the ribs and chopped pork comes in a close second but ribs has probably been the main stay and the thing that draws people more so than anything... Do you know why that might be the main stay? Umm... I don’t know, I think because... I mean I don’t know what peoples fascination with ribs are, I’ve been around them so long I barley eat them but that has always been the draw... and I guess cause the only place that you can really get ribs is a BBQ restaurant, I mean you have traditional restaurants that that’s not a main stay people do do it now but that’s because BBQ got to be so popular I’ll say in the last 30 years... Are they beef or pork ribs? Pork ribs. I tried beef but its very tricky to cook and very hard to keep because the tend to dry out and get tough like jerky after a while so... Ok... So when is the best time for BBQ? What do you mean best time?...

A season or... when’s probably your most busy time of year?My most.. The busiest time is from Valentine’s day to July and now it used to be that to June. Um.. we get a lot of tourist.. we get tourist from all over the world... that seems to be the time that they come, and they come all at once, and I don’t know if it’s something about the spring coming in and I guess people are shut up and are

moving around a lot more but even locals it’s like March and April has traditionally been the month for tourists but that whole time it just is you know... it’s just really weird. Umm... used to be that we could predict a trend through-out the year befor the financial crisis... they would taper off in June... I mean July and August... then in September and October when it started getting cool again there would be an uptick then it would mellow out again at the end of November, December the holidays and we generally close on the holidays... I mean I think people are out and about more and traveling more but we get people from everywhere Everywhere... That kinda leads me into my next question... If you could describe your typical customer where would they be from? What would they be wearing? Would they be male or female? In a group or by themselves? Umm... I didn’t realize until maybe like 2005 that maybe I’ll say about 85% of our customers are tourists... they come from... we have groups and they come at certain periods of time... generally in June and July we get a lot of people for Europe like England and Germany, the Netherlands... They’re foreign and it freaks me out because it’s like where are you from and they like go on the internet and come straight here then in August, end of July we get people from Australia that part of the world, and you know we had some people for Newfoundland so they’re typically tourists, typically couples, we do get families but most of the families we get are in groups from the continental United States, we have a period of time where a lot of people from the Northeast like Mass, New Jersey, New York and they all come around the same time. Then we get a lot of people form Seattle and California, and then they come... the regions come at certain periods of time and then we’ll get a lot of people from everywhere coming in all the time but I’ll say about 85% of the people that come in here are actually tourists. Then we get a lot of students you know? SCAD students will typically come in once they come back for school, um... and locals when, before um... before this area was re-developed this area was mainly a local neighborhood type thing but a lot of the people that have... and some of the people have been coming in for 20, 30 years have moved further south, so we don’t get you know, they come in every now and then and um but then a lot of people just living here their entire life don’t even know we exsist, you know so.

Yeah, I was here at undergrad at SCAD from 2008 to 2012 and have come back for my grad, and I didn’t go to eat that much BBQanyways but I had never heard of Wall’s...Yeah, thats typical we have the taste of SAV tour that comes in here everyday we’re open and um they’ll have lo-cals that get on the tour and like I said lived there all of their lives and just never knew and because when he built this (Grandfather) actually those three houses that are there now, there was a vacant lot so you could actually see us from over there but it actually boxed us in and then people typically don’t think of going in an alley. Northern-ers say alley we say lane haha to eat so you know that kinda makes it more difficult to find..

Yeah, when we first came here the other week we went to the front door and if it wasn’t for the sign that said deliveries forWall’s BBQ in the back we probably wouldn’t have figured it out.Exactly, excatly haha

That was interesting though... Can you tell us about the name Wall’s BBQ?My Grandfathers last name was Walls, Richard Walls, and so we just tacked on BBQ to it.

I kinda asked you about this last time we were in here, could you talk about how the BBQ culture in SAV has changed sinceyou first started?Umm... there were not a lot of BBQ’s and I think that might have been one reason why he did it (Grandfather)

given that he had a rural background and coming in with just not a lot, so he just you know the appeal um... and there weren’t a lot of black owned restaurants anyway, there just weren’t a lot of restaurants, people generally cooked in so it was a lot easier cause I think it was only Johnny Harris was one and um and then us. And as time progressed and I guess because people keep coming here and then we’ve got customers that are generational like parents would come bring their kids, kids would remember coming bring their kids, things like that, but um now a days, and I guess because people do a lot less cooking, you know it’s the type of thing cook everybody sat down you know you ate but now people go out so much more now. I can see in the last 20 years that there has been a exponential growth of just restaurants in general and I guess just because of um the BBQ has really grown um because um BBQ in Texas got really big and contests and that type of thing so a lot more people, where as maybe 20 years ago you could count 4 or 5 you can count 10, 20 in this region, in this city you can count because everyone is always opened up, it’s aa lot easier you get a grill you stick it somewhere you smoke it you do it and I think the BBQ used to be thought of as not really something that you would serve in a restaurant, something that you pull out on the side of the road and get, um but it’s gotten more mainstream and I think a bit more accept-able to have that, you know that kind of restaurant.

Great, that’s great... We read on the internet, we don’t know if this is true or not, that Walls BBQ had a friendly rivelry withAngel’s BBQ, is that true?I don’t know where that comes from! I really don’t, I don’t even know the man, but you know you see that another thing this is an interesting story, must have been about 6 or 7 years ago and um I got a letter and it was from... what’s the name of the rib place? the one out on Abercorn Extension... Oh my memory is really bad... yeah it’s a BBQ place that baded in Charleston...

Is it a mainstream one? Is it Sticky Fingers?Yeah, Sticky Fingers! I got a letter from Sticky Fingers and the letter basically apologized for some article in the paper saying that they had the best ribs in the Southeast, I had never heard of them and at first I was like why are you writing me you know with this letter? And um... so I thought nothing of it and you know they did that and I was like that’s fine, and then I heard this thing about Angel’s and I didn’t even know there was an Angel’s and that’s the first thing I heard and it was just like, but that’s just like publicity. Never have been there, don’t care to find it, don’t know where it is, never ate there, and I mean it’s fine but I’m just saying, that is something that somebody just for the.... Yeah, I wonder if maybe it’s from the view point of the customer, maybe picking between which one they like the best... Maybe, yeah yeah Even though y’all probably don’t even know each other... No no

You mentioned competition before and how thats probably played a role in the emgergence of BBQ being more mainstream,have you ever participated in a BBQ competition?No. I, I believe contests like that are so subjective, um... and even choices between... I can, me personally, go somewhere and order a meal, not just BBQ, but a meal and think that its not good but 10 other people think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Depending on what day it is and what group it is and where they go it’s so subjective. Another thing that I find with restaurants um... you can have good and bad days, I’ve had ‘em, I’ve fortunately don’t have a lot of bad days because I have been doing it for a while but you may come in one day and the thing is the best meal you have ever had and the next day you’re having an off day and it’s just OK. There are a lot of variables that you just have to consider, and peoples tastes, and likes and dislikes some I’m just like being crowned the champion of BBQ for a day doesn’t really mean anything and how can you? It’s like comparing

apples and oranges so I just don’t participate, I don’t have time to participate. Um, I taught school for 15 years and so my time was limited.

Could you actually talk about school? Obviously that was apart of your...(Marce) Like what was your transition from teaching to BBQ?I did both of them for 10 years, I did both of them for 13 years, and I just stopped teaching last years... Um... it was hard because my days were, my weeks were 16 hours a day 6 days a week and I love teaching equally as much as I love cooking which is why I hung on for so long but um... you know I was younger a foolish haha so I could hang on that long but it just took a lot out of me and you know I had to make a choice, you know I put it off for 15 years and finally I was like okay this is my family’s business, it’s mine to do what I please with where as working for somebody else, even though you have that security you’re kinda limited as to what you are going to do so I made the choice but um... I did it for a very long time.

What subject did you teach?Math and ScienceThe tough ones! Haha

They’re all tough... Could you tell us, actually I have a post card... So we call this a cultural probe, so if you would like couldyou tell us about your fondest memory involving BBQ? and then either I can do it for you, or you can write it now to someonespecial or someone that means something to you about that fondest memory involving BBQ...Hahaha... That’s a tough one, fondest memory... Um.... that would be kinda hard to pinpoint one and um... it would not have anything to do with a product, per say. I think my fondest memories are um... customers. This being in its location being here for so long, and you know the internet just directing people here and meeting people from all over everywhere and we’ll get groups... and routinely well get people that come from foreign countries which like I said when it first started it kinda just blew my mind, I think it was in 85 the Today Show came in here and they docked off of the coast of Tybee and it was a restaurant thing and I think they did Miss Wilkes... Walls, Miss Wilkes, and somebody else were the three featured guest on there and ever since then we’ve had an explosion of people from different countries and just for people to walk in and some of them actually come in and eat and just sit and talk you know, so it allows me the opportunity to interact with people that I just would have never encountered, I was not going to New Zealand or the Netherlands and we get people for Japan, so I think my fondest memories are when people come in, have a good meal, and then they sit and they linger because they’re just so comfortable. The whole concept and people say why won’t you... even though it’s a small place you need to do this you need to do that and I think the New York Times said that the decor was aggressively casual and I like that because I want people to come in and feel like this is their home and this is their dinning room, they can sit as long as they want. I cannot pinpoint one, there have been MANY times when I would just leave from behind here and just sit and talk to the customers for 15-20 minutes and just share things, so it alows me an op-portunity to kinda interact with people and meet people that um I would just have not normally had been able to do so.

That is great! I’m trying to think if there is another... If there is something that I want to build off of.. another question because you are talking about... You want this place to feel like its almost the customers home as well ad that they’re welcome...Exactly, this is their dinning room, I cook.

That’s is actually what we felt when we came here, I was telling him (Andrew) that it remindes me... I’m from El Salvador so it’sreally far away from here and the culture is completely different but I felt like I was going home back to my grandma’s houseand just having a meal and I noticed how they were actually like putting the ice right form the cooler and I felt that was so cool.Right, right, were trying to get rustic and I’m really trying to decrease my carbon footprint because it is expen-sive... but it was like we do everything adequately as far as this, because the main focus should be the food and that statement that she (Marce) made we get that so many times ... One customer came in and she cried because she said she had not had food like this since my grandmother was alive and that whole connection to a memory when there were not 90 million restaurants, there were a few but you ate at home and your grandmother, you know you didn’t have to have on a chef’s hat or jacket, your grandmother or mother cook and these are the type of things that we bring bask so it was just like that then is a common connection for everybody no matter where their from.

Awesome... So we talked about your fondest memory, can you tell us about your earliest memory with BBQ?There is some descrepincy about the date... Um in 1963 I would have been 7, I do remember this place being here and being open when I was 9, I guess it must have taken them some time to build it, and to be quite honest I just kinda passed through because I was 9, I was out playing and you know would come through, eat, go in the house and eat then run right back out... My earliest memory would be, because my grandmother actually cooked and my mother was like the server, she didn’t do a lot of cooking, but I remember always being around her and watching her and there were two things that I loved to eat, and it was collard greens and sweet potato pie, and I remember watching her, she wasn’t doing the collard greens in there but she was baking pies and baking what-ever and I just remember standing around her and when I got to be about 10 or 11 I wanted to make a pie but I would never, cause I would ask her when she made it and I remember just looking at what she was doing and then asking her questions, like what do you do dot dot dot dot and at 11 I attempted at home to make my first sweet potato pie. But it was like that, just being around her with the cooking and because by that time I was aware it was here (restaurant) and that she was doing this and that customers were coming in which you know was like oh okay this is a restaurant... but um the pie that I made was awful... it was horrible, it tasted like peanut butter, it was but hahaha but I figure okay I need to make adjustments and that’s always been my approach so I would put stuff to-gether and then say okay I need to adjust this I need to adjust that, and once I get it like that I have a really good memory and I can just duplicate it, you know just put stuff on. But I think my earliest memories were um... we used to have a coke box here and the counter was here, and we used to sell penny cookies and pickles and we even sold cigarettes... So my earliest memories would probably be being out here and just reaching in and getting cookies and soda and just in and out so it was like a big confectionery to me when I was young. And as far as the BBQ and all that stuff I, you know, I could care less... I was like I get to get snacks so that’s good.

So this one is completely different... but that’s good... So if you could describe your perfect day off what would it look like?what activities would you do? where would the location be? would you have anybody with you? You know what would theweather be like? And you know this could be totally random...I am a tropical person, I like heat, I hate this, I like having a jacket on, I hate cold, I hate anything below 80... well say 75 so it doesn’t have to be that high, but I am a tropical person and I love water. I went to school in Wash-ington DC and one thing I could never adjust to was the fact that there was not an ocean nearby, I used to when

I was younger just drive to Hilton Head so my perfect day, and I don’t have to go far was to just go, and I like being by myself at times, I like people, but I like being by myself so my perfect day off would be to load up, get myself in my car, ride to hilton head, go somewhere get something that’s nothing but seafood, all the seafood I want, and just get a blanket and just sit out on the beach and just look out at the water... water has a very calm-ing effect on me and I mean I can just stare at it for hours. I’ve been in a situation where something traumatic has happened, like a death in the family and I just jump in my car and drive out to tybee and just sit there because for some re son it just kinda... It connects me to something larger to me and kinda grounds me so my perfect day would be sitting, not at this time of the year but, you know in the summer time and it is sunny and it is couldless and I am near water.

Ok... and then if you could describe BBQ in 3 words what would those three words be? and it doesn’t have to be a sentanceit can be three random words...Um Hmm... Primal, Basic, Food...

Ok... do you have anymore questions? (Marce)I think this is awesome...It was fantastic, it really was...Good, good.... Good, good, good

Do you have anything else that you would like to add?No ummm... this is probably... I appreciate you coming in, when you told me you were with SCAD I usually am amenable, since we’ve been here I think we’ve had 3 or 4 different groups of people come in and you know it’s always good to kinda interact with different entities in the city so you know I’m glad you’re doing it, I hope that I have been helpful.