Barbecue Around the State

♪ Upbeat music ♪ ♪ Live your life within ♪ ♪ the moment moment.

♪ ♪ And don't go wait until the ♪ ♪ morning morning.

♪ ♪ You never know ♪ ♪ when it is over over.

♪ ♪ All that I know is I'll get older older.

♪ ♪ So let us dance this night away.

♪ ♪ Let us dance the night away.

♪ Brittany Brackett: Oh, so hello, I'm Brittany Brackett and welcome to this edition of Backroad Bites.

South Carolina is known for a lot of great foods, but there's none more famous than our world renowned barbecue.

And we're here today at one of the many celebrations of this cuisine at the first ever Getting Saucy Barbecue Sauce Competition in North Charleston .

This tasty festival features music, food, fun and of course saucy flavor creators from around the state who gathered to claim the title of South Carolina Barbecue Sauce, Grand Champion.

We'll hear more about the festival later in the show.

But first, let's visit Scott's Barbecue located in tiny Hemingway, just a stone's throw from Myrtle Beach.

This hidden gem was founded in 1972 by Ella and Roosevelt, Rosie Scott.

For over 40 years these pitmasters used a special down home cooking technique to serve up their own brand of love.

♪ Sam: South Carolina, the people here you know, you know they loved their barbecue.

Name Sam Wilson, we had started barbecue in Hemingway South Carolina.

We barbecue whole hogs, we do the whole hogs, we do ribs, we do chicken and all that stuff.

The barbecue was founded in 1972 by my brother in law, Roosevelt Scott, which is no longer with us.

You know, he is the founder and owner of the business.

As of December, you know, I was partly taken over the business along with my other pit master Terry Blow, and Dominic Scott, and along with my sister, Ella Jane Scott, which is Roosevelt Scott's wife.

Well lately, people is coming from all over the place and family from West Virginia had some people from Canada, Texas, you know from all over the places and now you know coming you know, to the barbecue place which is good.

And we really appreciate you know people coming from all over the place to enjoy Scott's Barbecue.

Sam: If South Carolina was one dish, it would be Scott's Barbecue.

His whole hogs is the best barbecue in South Carolina period.

Well the sauce is vinegar based.

That's all I can say.

It's vinegar based.

My brother in law started that, started the sauce and then continue on down so we still continue today, to do that.

Can't share our secret recipes.

All I can tell you just vinegar based sauce.

When you come to Scott's Barbecue, you can get the barbecue sandwich you can get coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, and we do have ribs.

And we have chicken whole chicken and some some days we have, some days we have leg quarters we sell too.

So basically it's been like a lot of ribs.

Barbecue like I say it's been all of the above.

Can't, can't you know can't get enough people can't get enough of it.

♪ We open about 9:30 AM and we close at 5 PM on Wednesday.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we close at 7 PM suppose close to close at 7 PM but the way things been going and lately we've been closing at four o'clock, five o'clock because we were selling out and once we sell out you know we're done.

We're closed you know people will come in afterwards you know and ask; Why y'all ain't cook enough hogs?

I can cook a lot of hogs and people come in and you started buying a whole hog quarter of a hogs and it doesn't last long.

You know if you come in here you know we gone try to do our best to please you, make sure you're happy.

Hemingway the people in Hemingway.

You know are real great great people, you know, the whole neighborhood the surrounding area and people, you know, we will appreciate their business and they've been with us a long time.

It's an hour ride from Myrtle Beach here.

You know, and it's on and it's on the main road, which is convenient, you know, you don't have to go half a mile off the road, you don't have to do a mile off the road, you know, you can just exit right off the hi way, you know, and it's, you know, it's very convenient for everybody.

And that makes a lot of difference too.

I hope the people can can you know, continue to come and enjoy it and we hear at Scotts Barbecue and the family gonna try to do as much as we can to please them and keep everybody happy.

Brittany: South Carolina pit masters serve up smoky flavors in all parts of the state, as we see in our next excursion.

A bit farther north at 811 Hash Boulevard in Buffalo, South Carolina you'll find Midway BBQ Well, technically 811 Main Street.

If you're entering it into your GPS.

In this segment, you'll see why Midway BBQ has stood the test of time.

Serving the community since 1941.

This area favorite is one of the last remaining hash houses in Union County.

Barry: I'm Jay Allen, I run Midway BBQ in Buffalo, South Carolina.

And the address is 811 Hash Blvd.

My father in law started years ago.

He had several professions before that, but his love was hash and barbecue.

He said that he wasn't good at anything else.

But I wouldn't believe that.

But he was great at hash and barbecue.

So He put all his weekend efforts.

He and his son into hash and barbecue.

And then at about 55 He converted to full time, I always tell everybody know our name is Midway Barbecue.

But really it should be Midway Hash, we sell probably four to one hash to barbecue.

My father in law told me when he hired me, I'm good with anything you do.

But don't change my recipes or I'll fire you, and we haven't.

And when he started, there was about 50 or 60 people competitive with him.

So now we're the last one in Union County.

And we're really the last person that has hash the way we do it.

Being in a small town like Union, the slogan for the city is the city of hospitality.

And I think we emulate that.

When we wait on customers.

We have four registers on the counter.

But I have seven or eight people taking orders.

We want people to get people in and out fast and treat them really well.

If South Carolina was a dish here, it definitely be hash.

But chicken stews a close second, the reason chicken stews are close second is because it's more in cold weather months.

But unbelievable.

The following we have for hashing chicken stew.

In the back we have 100 gallon cast iron pots, and that's probably your the reason that our food tastes so good.

Our recipes are huge.

So when I say 100 gallons, it's literally 100 gallons.

Our recipe for stew is like 64 gallons.

And our recipe for hash is about 500 pounds.

You know, we have our own style with a ketchup base sauce mixed in.

And then when my wife and I took over we do pull pork and we do sauces on the side.

So you can kind of get anything you want.

Any region we cover, whether it's a vinegar, pepper, ketchup, bass mustard, or the way I like it is with no sauce.

Today, we cooked like 400 pounds of pulled pork for 500 pounds or hash 64 gallons of stew.

We let word of mouth do our advertising for us?

And you know, we've been here a long, long time, you know, over 50 years.

So we just let our cooking you know, be our claim to fame.

I don't know everybody but I know a large majority of the people that come in and and that makes it fun.

I tell everybody, I don't go to work because it's fun for me.

And I get to see a million people I get to talk I get to laugh.

We get to have fun, and I like being encouraged but it's a lot of hard work.

It's what I love I'm glad to do it.

♪ Up beat happy music.

♪ Brittany: We're here today with Brandon Close Who is the mastermind behind the first annual Getting Saucy Barbecue Sauce Competition.

How are you doing?

Brandon: Good, nice to meet you.

Brittany: It is a pleasure to be here.

Tell us how you came up with this amazing idea.

Brandon: My wife and I went to wine festival, a wine tasting, they had like 40 different booths and you got a little taste and being in barbecue sauce.

So why can't we do this with barbecue?

Brittany: Well, the beautiful thing about this state is that we know some barbecue.

Okay, so what needs to be in a sauce?

Like, don't give it all away.

But what are some of the things that you need to have in a sauce?

Brandon: See, I prefer Tang.

Doesn't have to be all vinegar, but I prefer the tang.

Of course, we found at our company on the mustard base.

So that's but we've got a good tang with that one too.

And of course with our red too.

I'm a sweet guy too.

So I am a firm believer in whatever region you're in, go to the person that does that region style the best in and eat that.

If you're in a vinegar, state or region, eat the vinegar sauce if you're mustard go for the mustard.

There's gratification in putting out a great product and seeing that happiness on somebody's face.

And I don't remember who said it, so I can't quote them.

It was somebody's super famous but they said like when you cook, it's showing your patrons a part of you.

Brittany: So yeah, and you're sharing something you love.

<Yeah.> and thank you for sharing it with us Brandon, here with Brandon Close.

I'm here now with Miss Andrina Dunning who is the event coordinator for this incredible event.

How are you?

Andrina: I'm wonderful.

How are you?

Brittany: I'm great what what does being a producer of an event like this... mean?

How much does it take to run this event?

Andrina: It takes a lot but it takes a team.

You know a good team and luckily for this event we had an amazing team you guys probably know already but Ark of the Low country is such an amazing cause.

You know they deal with people with intellectual and physical disabilities.

And it's such a great support here today.

We had Ben Fagan and The Holy City Hooligans.

We have Lauren Hall who's performing his an amazing country and western star here in Charleston.

We got La Faye & The Fellas coming up.

They have Rockin Souls, so it's amazing.

It's actually Rock Soul.

Got a little rock got a Little Rock a Little Soul, so put it together.

It's called Rock Soul.

And we had Chris Boom this morning.

So luckily, you know, the friends came through and they're sharing their love sharing their entertainment for great cause.

Brittany: We're here with Mr. Bernard Johnson, who is the Executive Director of the art of the Low country.

How are you?

Bernard: I'm doing well.

How about you're self?

Brittany: Doing good enjoying your amazing event?

This event is great to cover barbecue with the sauce and then show love for those with disabilities as well.

You and Mr. Brandon Close are partners, correct?

Bernard: Yes.

It's pretty amazing because Brandon and I met at a networking meeting.

And as we were talking about what our occupations were he expressed an interest in wanting to bring a competition to Charleston, but he wanted to be impartial about it.

And I said, I've got the right organization for that particular item.

And I began to explain to him about art.

And we were like, we're off and running.

We met the following Tuesday.

Then we came back Thursday.

We took a break.

did some brainstorming on our own came back together.

That following week.

They had us tentative schedule when we started putting a complete team together.

And boom.

Here we are today.

Yes.

Brittany: Well, you're doing a great work here, Mr. Barnard.

We are here with Bernard Johnson of Ark of the Low country.

Thank you.

Bernard: Thank you so much for having me.

Brittany: Let's come back to Lexington, South Carolina where in 2014 Chef Chris Williams honored his late grandfather Leroy Carter by starting Roy's grill.

This famously delicious restaurant is definitely in good hands.

As Chef Chris is one of the chef ambassadors of South Carolina.

Let's see what they've got cooking down at Roy's grill.

♪ Grungy rock music.

♪ Chris: My name is Chris Williams.

We are in Lexington, South Carolina.

We are at my restaurant Roy's Grill.

Roy's Grill got started.

I started back in 2014.

I've been in the business since a teenager.

I've always wanted to own my own.

I finally found the way God made it possible.

My grandfather unfortunately had passed away before I had the opportunity to open it.

So it only felt right naming it Roy's Grill.

You know, his name was Leroy Carter.

So a lot of the things that happen on my menu I actually named after him.

You know the Carters club, you know all of our barbecue sauces.

I kind of have something to do with him.

But if I had to give a few of people's favorite dishes, it definitely be our Nachos.

We take our pull pork and we may not Nachos with them.

We have pull pork Nacho.

We have a blackened chicken Nacho.

They love our pulled pork, our ribs, all of our barbecue.

And then we also have a burger that we call the Bacon Jalapeno Pimento Cheese Burger.

We make our own pimento cheese in house.

We cut cure and smoke our own bacon in house.

And they really really enjoy that sandwich.

First of all I location makes us unique.

You know we're in the corner of a gas station.

You know, we can't forget about that.

You know barbecue is barbecue.

Every pit master puts his his own unique spin his own unique twist on his barbecue.

So I would have to say my rub, the way I make my sauce, and of course my location.

You know what would make my barbecue unique to South Carolina.

If South Carolina was a plate here Roy's Grill, it would definitely be our slow smoked pull pork for some of our ribs.

Serve with a side of our collard greens and our hash and rice, maybe a little potato salad on the side.

Definitely South Carolina on the plate.

If you were to make one of our signature barbecue sauces that we make here Roy's Grill I'm getting ready to make the sweet sassy red, which is our light tomato based barbecue sauce.

So here we go.

Well, one of the things that's helped me in my business is going to be the chef Ambassadors Program.

The South Carolina Chef Ambassadors Program was started about eight years ago by then Governor Nikki Haley, and Chef Brandon Villi.

He's the head chef of Junipers out of Ridge Spring, because it was created to highlight local chefs, that are kind of off the beaten path.

So that brought a lot of notoriety and recognition to me being that I'm in a gas station.

That helped a lot.

But what it also did was it helped Springboard me into my next move.

I'm actually this is my current location, but we're getting ready to move to a larger location in Irmo in about a month.

It's going to be 7971 Woodrow Street Suite Five in Irmo, South Carolina.

So just the culmination of everything I've done in my career.

Plus the ambassadorship has definitely helped catapult me to the next level in my career.

So I'm grateful for it.

Brittany: With four unique locations.

Let's take a look at the Smokin' Pig in Clinton, South Carolina.

This family on restaurant continues to not only feed the community with amazing barbecue, but has created an atmosphere for people of all ages to enjoy.

Here's a sneak peek at what's on the menu at the Smokin' Pig.

Barry: My name is Barry Deavers and we are in Pendleton, South Carolina.

Just outside Clemson University.

We started the Smokin' Pig in 2009.

We had three children and we've always been in the restaurant business our whole life but we ended up working seven days a week.

We thought the barbecue honestly just being open on the weekend was our biggest draw.

And we've never opened more than three days a week Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Brisket is a big seller of ours but I'll be honest with you, I'm always go back to our pork.

It just tells me that I'm eating at a barbecue place when I got a beautiful plate of pork in front of me.

We picked... you can pick the sauces on the table we make all the sauces in house and even though I live our brisket and I think he's really good.

I'm just a pork guy day in day out.

The fried corn is something that we started this year where we grow it in the backfield.

We actually pick it back there we bring it straight up to the restaurant where you chuck it in the back and we deep fat fry it out.

And it's been one of our biggest sellers.

The thing that makes Smokin' Pig unique, a little bit cut above or different than the rest of them is is it's a destination is almost an experience when you come here.

We've added a lot of stuff in the last year.

We have a put-put that is free for anybody that comes here.

We have corn holes now we have a turf where you can go out bring your blanket and enjoy it out there.

We have craft beer now a part of that so it's not just come and eat and leave, it can and you can do that honestly but if you want to enjoy more and just hang out with us and enjoy the people you with, this is the place to do it.

If South Carolina was a dish here at the Smokin' Pig it would have to consist of our pork our mill ground grits and our fresh corn.

And of course it's got to have the banana pudding but we have people that leave tags it goes on the back of their car and they want us to put it up and and we certainly are glad to do that.

We've had colleges that would bring their oars when they're competing down here at Clemson and they came In here and saw the Clemson oar up on the wall, and they say, Hey, if we bring in one of our oars will you put it up?

Absolutely.

they bring their college flag we're always proud and glad to fly that and put up any kind of stuff like that.

We encourage them to sign it of course, and a lot of our patrons have signed the walls inside their original place in here.

And that's just one of the fun factors that makes this place right here.

Just something fun to come back to.

Even if you don't sign the wall you can read there were other people have and what some of the things that they have put on there.

Just I don't know it just makes it makes it a fun place to visit.

Brittany: Right outside of Greenville is the beautiful little city of Fountain Inn and I heard you can find some great barbecue there.

Bobby's Barbecue knows about everything barbecue and the perfect seasoning.

Serving the local community near and far.

Bobby's has definitely left a lasting impression on first time barbecue diners and visitors to the south.

Bobby let us drop by, so grab some napkins because here are a few popular bites that will make your mouth water.

Tay: My name is Tay Nelson.

Me and my wife Sarah owned Bobby's Barbecue at Fountain Inn, South Carolina.

I'm pretty familiar with the area where the southern tip of Greenville County we started with a seasons and herbs.

Most people do it the other way around restaurant during the seasoning.

We had to seasoning first in 2010 got to selling it and then two years later I started getting into barbecue as a hobby putting the season on the barbecue and people was like man you need start selling this stuff.

Here we are.

We open up a restaurant 2018 This October will be four years.

But everybody comes for the brisket.

That's like the thing now that's how you measure the barbecue restaurant pretty much.

I love the brisket.

But I love the sausage.

I love the sausage, can we make it in house it kind of reminds me when I was a kid, we didn't have a whole lot.

So Saturday morning, my mom had to Hill Shires Farm Sausage in the oven.

You know it was a great day.

So the texture reminds me of that know that we make it in house as a tribute to the old school.

And I'm gonna just neat to have a jalapeno cheddar that I like.

But I love the pull pork.

You got to have that and I'll select the smoked turkey.

But it's got a bit for everybody.

Usually before we open we have a meeting.

We blessed today come up with a game plan.

And then we ended with our huddle.

I said team thank you and we say 123 Make it good.

That's our slogan.

So just get that team where it we win together we lose together.

We look good together We definitely look bad together.

So I just try to bring us all in and get focused get locked in and love on the people because I tried to end on this message.

In this in this restaurant in these four walls some people just might be doing a smile they got today it might be on person they say hello to them today.

Even we had masks and we say smile behind the mask like people walk through this door.

We can't solve all their problems but we can make them feel like people.

I can have a house packed full of people I'm trying to explain the menu and a customer in line who comes every week explained to me, you better than me.

And just building that man.

If South Carolina was a dish here at Bobby's Barbecue, I would say had to be a pulled pork sandwich on a buttered bun with coleslaw on top with some barbecue drizzle.

And the biggest thing that we've done recently you know, I thank God first and foremost and my wife and my family and everybody here that I consider family has been in a Time Magazine or a Wall Street Journal.

I don't take that lightly man.

I'm so humbled by it.

To have people from around the world email us and say hey, we're gonna come visit your restaurant next vacation.

Like that's like Unreal.

We'll been fussed at a little bit we need a world map not just the country map.

Everybody loves it.

One of our employees did it as a gift for the restaurant.

He will come from all over we want to put their pen up there which I think is awesome.

So we're working on that.

A lot of people say we have like a warm welcome.

They say they can really feel it.

It really means a lot I even have a lot of people say like we can tell you a lot of planning and it's just a throw something on the grill or smoker that means a lot even people from out of this country people from Brazil or stuff and tell you that so I think it's what makes us unique man stuff like that, that people don't really taste and feel the love we put into it.

Brittany: For more tasting tid bits from around the state drop by our web site at www.scetv.org .

And don't forget to follow us on social media, whether Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for Backroad Bites.

I'm Brittany Brackett.

Thanks for watching.

♪ Upbeat music.

♪