Gary Smith came all the way from Indianapolis to spend the weekend in the North Carolina Piedmont and learn the secrets of Southern barbecue.
After attending the first annual North Carolina Barbecue Society's BBQ Boot Camp and Adult BBQ cooking classes, he went away satisfied, he said -- with both mind and stomach full.
"There's a lot of good sound barbecue philosophy here," he said. "This is the only educational opportunity I've ever heard of for barbecue."
Smith was one of 20 men and teens who spent the weekend at Camp Hanes in Stokes County. The students came from North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Indiana.
The boot camp was open to male teens, ages 15 to 18. Additional classes in barbecue cooking were offered to adults.
The goal was to enjoy some fellowship, share cooking techniques and to pass on North Carolina's barbecue heritage to a younger generation, said Jim Early, the founder and president of the North Carolina Barbecue Society.
The recipe for authentic North Carolina Barbecue is pretty straightforward: a pig, an open wood or charcoal fire and large helpings of time and patience.
But less than 1 percent of barbecue restaurants still cook that way, Early said. And many of the old-time pit masters are in their 60s and older.
"Cooking barbecue the old-fashioned way is hard work," he said. "It's a 16-hour day."
He wanted to include teens in the camp, Early said, because many of them enjoy learning such skills as barbecuing. Also, the experience could help prepare them for jobs in the food industry. Students received diplomas for their 18 hours of instruction.
Sam Barnes, 15, a sophomore at Reynolds High School, said that he had learned a lot from the boot camp and was hoping to use his knowledge to develop his own recipes and enter contests.
He likes the old-fashioned cooking techniques, he said.
"It actually seems more fun," he said. "It's more hands-on."
For adults who attended the camp, such as Smith, it was a chance to take their skills to a higher level. Smith spent five years as a restaurant manager and now works in a factory. He has been thinking of opening a restaurant, and the classes he took would come in handy.
There were courses in preparing barbecue side dishes, as well as chicken, ribs, salmon and tenderloin. Classes were taught by pit masters from various parts of the state.
Pit master is an honorary designation among barbecue aficionados to indicate that someone has exemplary skills and experience, Early said.
The highlight of the weekend was a Sunday lunch, in which a whole pig that had been cooking all night was served to students and guests.
"Does it look good? That's the first indication," said pit master Bill Eason. Eason is the owner of The Little Red Pig in Marshville and vice president of the North Carolina Barbecue Society.
Eason reached under the pig's ribs and slowly peeled them from the meat.
"Here's what we're looking for -- lean bone," he said.
Good barbecue is not about the sauce, Eason said. It's about the meat. It should taste smoky and should need only a bit of sauce to complement the flavor.
Authentic barbecue requires that the meat be cooked slowly over wood or charcoal, Early said. The process is slow and requires that owners adhere to a host of environmental regulations and pay higher insurance because of the live fire.
Many of the barbecue places that once cooked it that way have long since switched to gas or electric cooking, he said.
In 2001, Early, then a trial lawyer in Winston-Salem, traveled throughout the state to research his book, The Best Tar Heel Barbecue Manteo to Murphy. He went to all 100 North Carolina counties in search of the most authentic barbecue spots.
"I drove over 22,000 miles, talked to over 2,000 people and stopped and ate at 228 places to find the 140 that are in the book," he said.
He retired from law in 2007 and started the North Carolina Barbecue Society that year, he said. He now spends his time promoting the North Carolina Barbecue Society. He plans to offer more such events like the boot camp and classes, he said.
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
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