BigHoss

man i feel like an idiot......didnt even read the post by carpetbagger before posting my new but redundant wild boar post......sorry about that. anyway, really sad about that.....it was a great place.

carpetbagger.......you generally will lose closer to half of the total......to leave you with about 7-8lbs of meat. BUT you will generally have 4 sandwiches per pound which should give you about 28-30 sandwiches which would give 2 per person. i have seasoned hickory and apple wood (12-18 months) and since you live in nashville i would be more than happy to drop some of this wood off to you....if you need it (i live around franklin/brentwood). cook your shoulder at 210-225 for about until the internal temp gets to 195-200 degrees. make sure when you take that reading that your therm. is not touching bone at all! because you are doing a whole shoulder it should take you about 18 maybe even 20 hours from start to finish. you may want to think about cooking two butts instead because you could have those done in 12-14 hours. if your cooker spikes to 250 degrees every now and then dont worry about it just adjust your intake as needed. those brinkmans are very thin and therefore not good at holding their temps very well so you'll need to stay with it. id check your temp every 30 minutes or so.....which means you'll need a lot of beer and some buddies to stay up with you. they are A LOT of work! i have a small off-set cooker that you can borrow if you like. it will make your night a little easier because it holds the heat a lot better. your internal will get to about 160-170 within about 3 hours or so....then it will stay there for, literally, about 8-12 more hours. this is what we call the "plateau" in bbq terms. so dont worry when the thing has been sitting at the same internal for hours on end. when it breaks that barrier it will quickly (couple more hours or so) move on up to 195-200. you'll want to flip your meat at the 1/2-way point and baste your meat every 45min-hour or so thereafter. i pull my shoulders and let sit (wrapped) in a cooler for an hour or so. hope this helps.....ill shoot you an email with my contact info if you need it and i am serious when i offer you the wood and off-set cooker, please use them if you like.

Location? Name??? We keep I-65 pretty well burned up in Summer, running our Granddaughter home from her visits up here in Indy. Coming through on Aug 12 or 13 to stay with the Grands in GA whilst their folks go on a cruise, and are always seeking out the REAL stuff. I've been hoping you'd say you had a restaurant, just because of the know-how in your very first post. That all-night cooking is what it takes. We had some passable cue in Ohio on Wednesday---Rudy's Smokehouse. You could smell the smoke when you got out of the car---that's a MUST. Good pulled, good selection of sauces, terrific baby red potato salad. ← the name will be "Martin's Dixieland Barbecue". it will be in historic Nolensville which is about 10-15 miles southeast of downtown nashville, about 5-6 miles east of Brentwood. should be opening in mid-august. i will cook the meat every day/night to serve fresh....cooking shoulders & briskets between 20-22 hours over hickory/apple wood combination. folks will be served on thick brown butcher paper on a tray (beans etc will be in a cup). the atmosphere/feel will be very, very deep south. it will be decorated accordingly inside. i plan on serving my sauces and will have each of the major regions (n.carolina, mustard based low country, memphis, k.c. and texas brisket sauce) represented for personal choice of customer. ill also have SLUGBURGERS, burgers, gumbo, etouffee, chili, white chili w/smoked chicken, brisket tacos, baja fish tacos, and sandwiches such as chicken salad, peanut butter & bananna (elvis' fav.!) and a few other things. we're serving coke in the 7oz. bottles, sun-drop, pabst blue-ribbon etc.. -you get the feel. please come by if you ever can......your meal is on me.

its going to be in historic nolensville and i should be open by august 11 or 12th. come by and a "Q" sandwich is on me.

2006 Slugburger Festival......July 6-8.

i hear you mayhaw....i hear you! actually you really need to have them in corinth. i swear to you that even "folks from up north" would like them first bite (my wife did!). they fry them light and they use soy meal with the beef rather than oat meal (which is the way the majority of the rest of the slugburger nation (oxymoron i know) eats them. they need to be served with chopped white onions, yellow mustard and pickles.....nothing else! the slug burger festival is in about a month or so in downtown corinth........and i will be there!

i wish like hell i could make it but i am scheduled to have a my grand opening a new barbecue joint (my first) in a little town south of nashville (historic Nolensville) that weekend. i would like very much, hell i would love to meet any and all of you who plan on coming and would like to offer you a free meal on me to stop by my place (if it opens on schedule) just to get to know you. i have in just the past 6 months or so learned about the SFA and all they do. i am very, very embarrassed to say that i have not yet joined the SFA but, as the good Lord is my witness, will join within the next couple/few weeks. i have been waiting because i would like to have a corporate membership and plan on tying that in with my financing of my joint. i learned how to cook barbecue at 1 of the locations listed in the BBQ oral history project and two more that are no longer in business (henderson, tn bbq joints) almost 16 years ago in college at freed-hardeman university in henderson. they kicked me out, TWICE, for drinking beer (church of christ school). so i transferred to another C of C school in nashville, lipscomb university (they didnt moniter you as much there). i live in outside of Nashville but my family is from Corinth, MS and i still can't understand as to why slug-burgers are not a world wide phenomena. i love the south, i love the food of the south and plan on not only joining this organization but actively supporting it with my time and money. this organization has to be supported so our culture and the foods that were born from it dont fade off into the sunset. i believe that the very core of all cultures is food and our southern food culture has to be supported to be passed along.

if they are not going to align with MIM or K.C. BBQ society then hell no dont renew the membership. personally, i dont care which southern state cooked the first hog over live coals in the new world. i think what matters is years & years of passion and tradition and history towards barbecue and to me that means 6 basic regions: eastern n.c., peidmont, s.c. & georgia, tennessee, k.c., and texas. throw in the "micro-regions" of north alabama (white sauce), mississippi, florida, mexico, etc.. of course i absolutely think moosnqrl must be coming down off of a crack pipe high stating that k.c. is the true home of "q", but hell i'm from north mississippi/west tennessee so where do you think my allegiance lies? (-ha).....but really and truly the capital of barbecue is not a region or a state, its the south. its dixie.....period. im talking about barbecue the cooking process not just anything cooked over a live coals. the competition circuit that has gotten so big over the past decade or so has produced the rise of regional/state associations, but most if not all are alligned with one of the major two sanctioning bodies. what i would really like to see happen is the National Barbecue Association (of which i am a member) bring the MIM & K.C. BBQ together as one sanctioning body....not just for the competition circuit but to better market and identify the importance and/or what is so great about these different regions to barbecue. most people outside of the know couldnt tell you what the difference is between them and from a culinary standpoint i would like to see them and their differences all celebrated on menus around the country. barbecue is to the south what cheese is to france......drive 50-100 miles in any direction and you'll still find unreal bbq, but with a little different spin to it. whether that means a different sauce, slaw, process, meat...whatever.

what is the most reliable and/or customer service friendly oven (brand/company) out there?

rendevous is NOT where you want to go. i was born in memphis and have gone to this place several times over the past 20yrs. i only go now when buddies from out of town come to tennessee and go on and on about going there. one common thing that is always overlooked in reference to this place is that they DO NOT barbecue anything! they DO NOT barbecue the ribs, they are grilled. so when you go there expecting super tender, moist ribs and you end up pulling molars out of your jaw it does cause some confusion becuase of what your expectations were. the rub has good taste, other items on the menu are o.k. but nothing knocks you down. go to cozy corner....off the charts!!! also go to "fino's on the hill".....family from the italian section of st. louis. silky's definetly! memphis has lost some real gems over the past 5-10yrs. its too bad.

graduated college in 1996.......tell your wife that i am married to stephen neil's sister martha ann, she should know him. yeah we'll be in the midfield also...but i dont know where.

here is some info from one of my best friends (from dallas) who still visits stamford/area every now and then. he definitley knows a lot more than i do when it comes to the current cuisine from there! anyway......here it is: 1. Best traditional NY style - Mario The Baker, High Ridge Rd., Stamford, CT. This is a small family run pizza restaurant that is probably going on generation III. This type of family restaurant typifies what is "Stamford" - the heart of Italian and Greek families is their food. Although many would argue the best is the meatball wedge...the simple yet satisfying onion pie is by far the best of its kind. Best enjoyed with a cold can of Coca-Cola. 2. Best clam pizza and microbrew - Bar New Haven, New Haven, CT. This is a hip microbeer bar and fills with local Yalies after dark. The pizza is fired in wood ovens and is very crisp and served on big trays because of it's irregular shape (no round pies here). The best is the clam pizza which combines fresh little neck clams, garlic, cheese and crust for a wonderful combination. I like my clam pizza washed down with a brewery fresh pale ale. 3. Best tapas (Spanish) - Awesome 70's atmosphere and open aire patio http://www.culinarymenus.com/barcelonaffld.htm Authentic tapas combinations! If you're traveling, stay a night at the adjoining Hi Ho Motel for additional 70's atmosphere. Easy to get to right of the scenic Merritt Pkwy in Fairfield. 4. Best seafood - The Portuguese are famous for their seafood and bread. Bridgeport, CT down by the water is home to the best seafood paella-like combinations ever! Try the big bowl of mixed seafood (lobster, clams, mussels, etc). It comes with fresh crispy white bread and must be washed down with a light, crisp, chilled vino verde. I can't for the life of me remember the name. It's down in the warehouse district and by the shore. If you can't find it, the second best Portuguese restaurant is Omanuel Restaurant 1909 Main St, Bridgeport, CT 06604. I prefer the Baccalau Gomes De SA - Salted codfish Gomes style. Thank You, William J. Long

look here y'all......i had the horrid first 16yrs of my life growing up in stamford (actually i'm just joking.....it was fun, i was born in memphis and spent my summers on our family farm in mississippi.) i am very much partial to my southern roots (i live in nashville now) but i still miss some things from "up north". for italian and/or pizza go see my buddy Tony Uva at "Sorrento's". cant remember where but i know its near Turn of River Middle School. also go to "Mario The Baker" down the road from "Sorrento's". also try "Gates" in New Canann. for sandwiches go to "Giovanni's" on old long ridge road.....best you'll ever have! it used to be "Lee's Market" when i was there (early, early 80's) thats about all i can think of right now.....its been 20yrs since ive lived there.....but my parents still go back to visit every couple yrs, so i know these places are still there. good luck!

lotta fun getting together with all my church of christ buddies from Lipscomb to get bombshelled on beer and whiskey during steeplechase (you really, really have to be from the south to appreciate what i just said!). actually we call it "steeplewaste". we're cooking two whole shoulders all night long, texas sausage and cabernet sauvignon burgers with red onions & goat cheese. bosco's brewery is donating a couple of kegs for us (buddies with the manager). have some other buddies cooking crawfish. i tell you this......if you ain't been and you have friends in nashville then at some point in life yo' ass needs to come to this - real good times!!! -pat

dont y'all wish jerry clower were still alive to post here? or for that matter some of our relatives? great thread varmint, great thread! there are some great follow ups here so i wont re-type except for a few that hit close to home for me, which is corinth mississippi (now live in nashville). 1) making homeade ice cream. (electric ice cream makers DO NOT COUNT!) we make/crush our own ice and use table salt. you will get firm cream everytime if you use this instead of cube ice and ice cream/rock salt. -seriously!!! 2) frying catfish & hushpuppiees 3) fried pies 4) tomato & mayo sandwich with white bread 5) glass of buttermilk & cornbread 6) slugburgers!!!!! (read prior posts on this section to learn more) 7) r.c. cola & moon pies 8) martha white biscuits 9) homeade molasess 10) duck gumbo from winter duck season. 11) purple hull peas, chow-chow & cornbread

grits......you ask for a different cut of meat other than the butt because of fat content. before i tell you my alternative ive got to tell you that when you barbecue fat is your friend. it is your baste. as you may or may not know the fat (exterior fat and some of the interior) on a cut of meat, whether it be pork or beef, will render off. what makes that jello-y tender meat in barbeuce is not the fat but the collagens that have broken down. if you want barbecue like you had back home then you have to use a tough, fatty part of the animal. after all thats how the process of barbecue started with. now on to an alternative, which means any leaner cut of meat (loin/chop/etc..) and a lot of basting with cider vinegar, apple cider, beer, whatever. really, its really not an alternative. those cuts are really for grilling but if you did attempt it you would have to baste the hell out of it. personally i wouldnt do it but thats just me. since you live in an apt. complex authentic bbq is not possible. but you could cheat a little by using electricity. the complex would probably allow that. buy an electric weber smoker or put your alton brown lid on and crate a huge fire hazzard for you and your neighbors. make a small make shift pit on your porch with about 15-20 bricks. put a hot plate under your grit and fashion some type of tin foil cone, or something to block the drippings from falling on the hot plate. put a peice of sheet metal on top with a small hole in it for air flow, i'd guess about the diameter of a coke can. place your meat about 24"-30" above the hot plate. it will take some adjustments but you see the rough picture im painting for you. at the end of the day......you'd probably be better off with the elec. weber. i hope you pull it off.....

woodburner is right......you want your internal temp. to be at LEAST 190* before taking it off. i take mine to 200* but no higher than that. you'll figure about 2hrs per pound of uncooked meat. yes that means an 8lb pork butt will take 16hrs to cook while cooking at an external temp of 210*-225*. at about 165* internal you'll hit what we call the "plateau". when you put your meat on it will spike up and slowly climb until the 165*-170* range. at this temp it will level off and will NOT move for hours! you'll come back out 4, 5, maybe even 6-7 hours after it hit 165* and it will still be 165*! youll get freaked out wondering what in the sam hill is going on. dont worry, it will succumb and break that level. after it breaks that plateau it will not be long (2-4 hrs) before it will be done.....the internal range of 190*-200*. during this time sit back with a cold beer and smell what we refer to here in tennessee as "our lord and saviors breath" - that whispy blue smoke coming out with that smell that can be nothing other than that of the Divine. now if you cook a whole hog its a little less scientific. get a big hog, what we call "sausage" hogs here in tennessee/mississippi. about 180lb hog. cook it until its starts "pushin" - meaning the fat will be rendering out the back. this takes about 24-26 hours. if the thigh bone can be turned and pulled out without any resistance, its done. ill be cooking two shoulders and 10 slabs of spare ribs this weekend. putting shoulders on friday afternoon about 4:00 and cooking them for 22 hours. ill put the ribs on about 11:00 on saturday morning to cook for 7-8. the NFL draft is this saturday and the Titans pick 3rd. we'll be celebrating with beer from a local microbrewery called Bosco's......dang good beer. good luck grits.

grits......i've got good news and ive got bad news. me, when someone tells me that, i gotta have tha bad first.....so i hope you dont mind my order, just know that better news follows. BAD NEWS: Can't (or cain't) cook barbecue in a crockpot or oven! this isnt a traditionalist trying to be traditional either (welll yeah it kinda is, but not totally!). without going through the whole mcgee/alton brown scientific elplanation, what i can tell you is that using either process you are basically going to have to braise your pork, which is NOT the process of barbecue! just like there is cooking method of braising or roasting so there is a method of barbecue. barbecue is not what you eat.....its the process of HOW it was cooked. GOOD NEWS: Get a webber grill (kettle shape.....or any other grill really....NO GAS!!!!) and you can cook authentic barbecue! if you read this and respond and want to know how to do it i will be MORE than happy to give you step by step instructions on the process. so PLEASE TELL ME YOU WANT ME TO TELL YOU! anyway....you cant replace the process of really slow heat (wood heat of course) with proper air flow chemically breaking down the collagens/muscle tissues and the process of braising with liquid or the process of roasting in an oven. yes they both taste great and yes i love using a crock pot for a bunch of things, but you ask for AUTHENTIC BARBECUE, so i tell you. there are many, many, many foods/ingredients in southern food culture that speak of who we are. there is NO food in southern culture that so defines who we are as southerners as barbecue. whether its the process, the sauce, the lack of sauce, the choice of meat, whatever. it is who we are.....period. no matter if we know it yet or not.

different rumors on that. i know for sure that he sold out, rumor has it the buyer went chapter 11. i know that bud was selling fish out of a vending trailer in the area of grassland (between nashville & franklin, tn). last fall he opened up a new fish place up in ashland city at a marina on the cumberland river. the guy makes great fish. best fish (catfish) ive ever eaten at a rest. was at ed shaw's in shiloh park (civil war battlefield) down near counce, tn.....unreal!!! hagies up the road is a close second.

ya'll been eating any fresh caught crappie this spring yet? found an old christmas tree patch a few days ago while fishing and took home a boat load of crappie. i love catfish as much as anyone, but pan fried crappie dredged in a mixture of flour/cornmeal is as fine and as SOUTHERN as it gets...spring-time right of passage. tonight we're going to pan fry that crappie & drink some beer (blue moon) early. then we're going to grill some 2.5" porterhouse and get in to a bottle of duckhorn cabernet and an arg. malbec a buddy bought me. spring time in Tennessee.

any joint in henderson is as good as the other 8-9...bill's, L&L, bobby's, my 3 sons, c&r grocery.....just dont go to joyner's in jacks creek (little town 7 miles east of henderson on hwy 100), they are the ones commiting treason by cooking with an electric cooker.

thanks for the welcome....its actually my second post....first was on the subject of slugburgers back last fall. just a "foodie" not a chef so i dont post much.....just like to read the posts and learn as much as possible. i will post on the subjects i do know quite a bit about: bbq, slugburgers and authentic corn whiskey (moonshine). thanks again for the welcome.

there are about 5-7 joints in a little town about 100 miles east of memphis called henderson, tennessee. this town is a secret so to speak in bbq culture. they all still cook whole hog, every day of the week except sunday (closed for church). cooking whole hog is very hard work and not as profitable as cooking shoulders or butts. you might find some old joints still cooking whole hog in eastern north carolina but really thats about it. the sandwiches are so much better because they are mixing up several different areas of the hog on that 1 sandwich. some shoulder, meat from the bacon and rib area, and the hams. they are cooked for 22-26 hours at a very, very low temp even for todays bbq joints. they all cook between 185-200! thats about as low as you can really go. 225-275 is where most places cook at. any place that cooks bbq over 275 in my opinion is not true barbecue. these places are really wonderful places to eat and deserve a road trip by any of you with the time to do so. the southern foodways alliance did a doc on these joints. i cooked and apprenticed at them in college. check them out......except one.....jacks creek bbq. used to be a local legend but was sold a couple of years back and cook with an electric cooker. im glad its them and not me who'll have to answer to God about that one day. hope this helps.

Thanks for the welcome, i really appreciate it!!

The slugburger capital of the world is corinth, misssissippi. they are very, very good if prepared and cooked right. there are places though that really do the slugburger an injustice and for this should be shut down. the base ingredient is soybean meal but there is also ground chuck and other ingredients. there are several joints that serve these but the absolute best and current original is the white trolly cafe on highway 72 east in corinth. they have been serving these things 60-70 years give or take, maybe longer than that. eat one there and you'll see how dang good they are. there is a place in corinth called the slugburger cafe. its places like this that have done the ol' slugburger such an injustice. so if you are in corinth, eat at the white trolly!!! they are to be eaten with yellow mustard, chopped white onions and pickles. any other way would not be considered "pra-pa" (proper). they got the name because they used to cost a nickel a piece. a nickel was often referred to as a slug. the slugburger festival is in july every year in corinth and yes there is a slugburger queen. hope this helps