Rodney Scott's World of BBQ

Introduction


I like spreading the joy and sharing the love, and whole hog barbecue is my means of doing it.

The happiness I get when people are enjoying my food is one of the best feelings I can imagine. That s what I m thinking about at 2:00 a.m. when everybody else is sleeping and I m out in the cold night air firing a hog. I m thinking about how good it s going to feel to see the smiles on people s faces as they eat my barbecue.

I ve always imagined being able to cook for people all over the world. I ve been lucky. In the past few years, I ve had the chance to cook in Australia, Belize, Colombia, France, Uruguay, and all over the United States.

Whenever I cook at a festival or event anywhere in the world, people come up to me and ask for advice on cooking a hog. I m glad to share whatever information I can, but you can t really teach somebody how to cook a hog in a ten-minute conversation. And you can t go home with everybody and see what they are doing wrong, or doing right for that matter. So it made sense to put what I know in a book and give people all the details and information that I have to share.

The other thing is that if you want to know how to cook a hog right, you also have to know how not to cook a hog wrong. I had anadvantage. I grew up in it. I saw my father and my great-uncle doing  it for years before they let me do it on my own when I was eleven. I had years of my father telling me to be care- ful about this or don t do that. You can t boil those years down into a quick conversation. 


Most of the people who come up to me are backyard cooks. They re mostly men who want to invite friends and family over, pull some good meat off the pit, and have a good time. To do that, you don t just need skill, you need confidence, too. You need to know that when you pull this hog off in 10 or 12 hours, it s gonna be done; it s gonna be done right, and people are gonna be having a good time and laughing with you and

Rodney Scott is the chef and coowner of Rodney Scott s BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina, Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia. He has been featured in the Netflix series Chef s Table: BBQ, on The Splendid Table, Parts Unknown, It s Alive, and Eater, and in The New York Times and Condé Nast Traveler, among other publications. He won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2018. Rodney lives outside of Charleston with his wife and son.
 
Lolis Eric Elie is a writer and filmmaker. He was a writer on HBO s Treme, OWN s Greenleaf, and Amazon Prime s The Man in the High Castle; his work has appeared in Best African American Essays, The New York Times, Gourmet, and Saveur, and he has been featured on 60 Minutes. He is a New Orleans native and is one of the founders of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Over the years I ve learned that anything from the hands of Rodney Scott has a way of making people ridiculously happy. This book is no exception. Rodney Scott s World of BBQ is a surprisingly approachable guide to bringing the magic flavors of Rodney s restaurant into the home. Cowritten with Lolis Eric Elie, one of this country s finest writers on food and culture, it s also a stirring portrait of a true American original. No secrets, no posturing, all love. David Chang, Momofuku

Thirty years in the making, Rodney Scott s World of BBQ takes its readers into the heart, mind, and soul of a barbecue artisan who is at the top of his craft. Rodney Scott goes whole hog by accessibly and expertly guiding you through his barbecuing method. His recipes for side dishes, desserts, and beverages definitely remind you that, yes, every day will be a good day when you use this cookbook. Adrian Miller, James Beard Award winner

I love Rodney s classic and straightforward approach to BBQ . . . He is a true master of the pits. Watching him smoke a whole hog is an inspiration. Michael Symon, chef and author

By the time I met Rodney Scott, I was knee-deep in love with the Southern spirit around food. Meeting Rodney only bolstered my commitment to our collective community the one in which we all share where we come from, who we are, and what we are about through the food we make. You will learn what Rodney Scott is about the second you taste his food. Truth, integrity, and hard work are hallmarks of Rodney s spirit and contributions to that collective Southern voice. In this book, you can hear that voice and learn about the very important world in which it was cultivated. The South would not be what it is without these traditions, and the Southern conversation around food would not be what it is today without Rodney Scott. Lisa Donovan, James Beard Award-winning writer and author of Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger
 
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