Yesterday morning I woke up and had burning coals on my mind. So, I opened the grill and lit some charcoal. I had some fresh pork sausage, country style ribs and thick-cut pork chops that were destined to meet those burning coals. After seasoning the meat, I laid all that good stuff on the grill to cook.
I cooked all that meat with indirect heat and plenty of smoke. Even when I’m just using charcoal, I always add some small pieces of oak wood on top for more flavor and more smoke. I cooked everything slowly and when I deemed it all ready, I took it off the grill. I had enough meat cooked to last for days.
I don't know why I wanted to cook so much on Sunday because the day before on Saturday I had gone to Brinson’s BBQ for lunch. I guess that good BBQ I ate the day before had me in the mood for some more. Brinson’s is always such a treat for me. I have eaten there my entire life. Usually, about every week or so, I have to go to Emmalane to get my fix of BBQ and mustard sauce.
I always meet friends there for lunch or have somebody ride with me. There’s always folks there that I know and we get to visit while eating that good BBQ and wiping sauce off my face. The Brinson’s have been cooking BBQ for a lot of years and their BBQ is on the top of my list. It’s still a family business with several members of that family that are there on a daily basis. Teresa Brinson is always out front taking orders and she makes you feel right at home when you walk through the door.
In my mind it’s a classic BBQ joint. The building is made from concrete blocks and reaps of smoke from years gone by. You will always be met with the sound of a meat clever chopping bbq on a wooden board.There’s no fancy tables and chairs or pretty decorations on the wall, it’s just really good folks serving really good food.
For a number of years, Jeff Bunn, one of my life-long friends, operated a BBQ joint in Midville. Jeff bought the old “Bus Station” and made a landmark out of it. Boy Cross had run the “Bus Station” for years as a small grocery store and filling station. The Greyhound buses used to stop there to collect passengers and the name stuck. Even now, we still call it the old “Bus Station”.
Jeff was a great cook and he understood what it took to cook great BBQ. All of his food was good. He had chopped bbq, sliced bbq, grilled chicken and sides. He had several different sides that he offered, but my favorite was potatoes that had been peeled, seasoned with salt and pepper along with a fair amount of butter and cooked in the oven.
I would go in and order a sliced bbq sandwich on white bread with an order of potatoes and I’m here to tell ya’ll that was heaven on earth. There was always a crowd of locals in there and stories were shared along with a bucket full of laughs. If we had folks here visiting, we took them to “The Bus Station”.
Jeff did something that I have never seen replicated before or since. He would take Boston butts and cut them up in about six pieces. He did that to shorten the cooking time, but it did something else as well. Having those smaller pieces on that old pit gave more surface area for the smoke to penetrate. I’m big on smoke and he did an outstanding job at it.
Whenever I’m traveling, I’m always on the lookout for BBQ joints. I’ve eaten BBQ all over the state of Georgia, S.C., N.C. and as far west as Texas. In Texas they barbeque beef and sometimes pork. Years ago, the first time I made it to Texas on a hunting trip, I just had to try thrie brand of BBQ. Those Texas folks can flat cook some brisket. The best brisket I’ve ever eaten was in Texas.
I walked into another BBQ joint in Texas and I ordered a brisket sandwich and a pork sandwich. I just had to try them both. The ladies were behind the counter and sliced the brisket when it was ordered. They also sliced the pork as well. As that nice lady was slicing pork for my sandwich, she trimmed off all the fat and slid it to the side. I said “ma’am, where I’m from we eat that fat……”.
BBQ varies from different regions, different states, different counties and sometimes every few miles. There’s hash and brunswick stew with a million variations as well. The sauce can be mustard based, ketchup based, mostly vinegar and many others also. I like them all and I like to try all the ones I’ve never had. There’s nothing like walking in a BBQ joint and eating good food with some good folks…….
