Revisiting Hemingway, SC

So much has happened concerning the appreciation of Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, SC, since I visited four years ago. It still occupies the old variety store in a town of fewer than 600 residents. The business begun by Roosevelt Scott, when he was 30, continues the family tradition of cooking whole hogs and serving the area’s favorite pork barbecue sauced with peppery vinegar.

A new sign was added after my visit in 2014.

However, Scott’s son, Rodney, has gone on to fame and fortune far beyond that ever imagined by his parents. This second-generation pitmaster has branched out from his family’s business in rural South Carolina and launched his own eponymous restaurant in busy downtown Charleston, only 80 miles away.

Scott's Bar-B-Que is now a certified heritage site.

The contrast between the two locations couldn’t be greater. Because I had just visited Rodney Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Charleston, I wanted to see what changes had been made in Hemingway at the family business. Fortunately for me, the only significant changes were a marker designating the store as a certified heritage site in eastern South Carolina and a new metal structure that encloses the pits.

The relationship of Scott's Bar-B-Que to South Carolina barbecue culture and the four regional sauces (or "mops") is explained in a new sign by the pits.

A simple menu board still hangs above the serving windows, the menu is as limited as ever, the lineup of customers wanting to take home their next meals never ends, and the whiff of smoked barbecue permeates the country variety store as before.

Although a menu board is above the serving window, most customers know what they want to order before they enter.

When I ordered a barbecue dinner to go, I was pleased to see that it is still served in a Styrofoam clamshell and comes with sliced white bread. I also appreciated coleslaw and baked beans as sides with the barbecue; however, the expansion of sides to the level of Rodney’s restaurant in Charleston clearly hasn’t been considered even with all of the success in the big city.

My plate of pulled pork (and sauce in the lower left corner) came with coleslaw and beans in a Styrofoam clamshell.

After son Rodney has been profiled in national publications such as Time magazine and The New York Times and received the award as Best Chef: Southeast from the prestigious James Beard Foundation, it’s reassuring that the family business continues with few changes, unaffected by all the glitter and publicity. The residents of Hemingway would be shocked if Scott’s Bar-B-Que wasn’t still preparing and serving barbecue like it has for the past four decades, and the out-of-town visitors would be disappointed if the trip back to nostalgia ever ended.

A new metal structure now encloses the pit area.

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Note: This post fittingly is the 100th one that I have added to this blog. The barbecue journey that I’ve been on couldn’t have timed a better return to Hemingway, SC, to appreciate the work and legacy of the Scott family.

The Pitmaster Who Won a James Beard Award

Enjoying barbecue prepared by award-winning pitmasters is a hobby of mine, but it’s not often that the award has been presented by the prestigious James Beard Foundation. Rodney Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Charleston, SC, is the home of the award-winning pitmaster, although his roots in Hemingway, SC, are not that far away.

Cut hardwood stacked outside the restaurant lets you know that you've arrived at Rodney Scott's. 

Opened in July 2016, the restaurant is a continuation of success for Scott, after having been profiled in Time magazine, The New York Times, Saveur, and other publications. With the James Beard Award in 2018 for Best Chef: Southeast, Scott has reached another pinnacle. The award acknowledges Scott’s culinary talent and broadens his reputation nationally. With the recognition came backing for Scott to open his own restaurant on King Street in food-centric Charleston, about 80 miles away to the southeast from his family’s business where he learned to cook whole hogs.

Rodney Scott's BBQ is now a destination on King Street in Charleston.

Having lunch at Scott’s was the most important part of my recent trip to Charleston (although the purpose was to be a judge at a cookoff in the area on the next day). I was surprised how extensive the menu is at the Charleston restaurant. It’s much more expanded than the simple menu of Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway.

Customers wait to order at the peak of lunch hour.

For my first visit to Rodney Scott’s in Charleston, I had to order the pit-cooked barbecue, although fried catfish was tempting. Pork smoked over oak coals with a little hickory and pecan hardwood carried me back my first visit to Scott’s Variety Store and Bar-B-Que in Hemingway. On his menu in Charleston, Scott proclaims that he gets the wood that he needs every week “to put flavor in what we do — kind of like the chef picking out tomatoes from a garden.” The barbecue flavors of the family’s traditional approach of slowing cooking whole hogs have amazingly been brought intact to the big city.

Rodney Scott is a gracious host, and his smile is as award-winning as his barbecue.

True to the tradition of the Scott’s family style in Hemingway, two slices of white bread accompany the pulled pork on a plate, which is served on a tray and comes with two sides and cornbread (only one side with sandwiches).

This combo plate, served on a tray, includes pork and ribs with beans, greens, cornbread, and white bread. An order of banana pudding is at the top left.

The sides are tempting. Baked mac ‘n’ cheese with a crispy breadcrumb topping seemed to be the customers’ favorite while I was there. Being a traditional Southerner, I ordered the greens. Coleslaw, potato salad, hushpuppies, and baked beans are among the other sides.

A sandwich is served with one side (coleslaw in this order).

Although I didn’t save room for dessert, I ordered some anyway — only one is on the menu, and it’s the only one needed. Traditional banana pudding completes a perfect barbecue lunch. What Scott’s serves reminds me of Sunday dessert when I was growing up. It is that good.

Banana pudding is the only dessert on the menu.

Not every BBQ restaurant has a drive-thru window. Rodney Scott’s does, and it stayed busy, although most customers come to eat either inside or at tables on the patios. The line inside seemed to never end while I was there, and often than a dozen people were waiting to order.

The drive-thru window awaits the first lunch customer after the restaurant has opened.

The excitement that has developed for Rodney Scott’s barbecue in South Carolina is a clue that another state deserves a location. Not to worry. Another restaurant — this one in Birmingham, Alabama — is already on the books and being planned to open in 2019. Now I need to start planning a trip to Alabama.

Whole hogs smoked for hours are ready to be taken from the pits.

Few spaces inside are available during the lunch hour.

The tables outside are popular places to enjoy barbecue.

Cooking Whole Hog in a Competition

The skills for cooking a whole hog have always impressed me. I admire someone who can prepare all cuts to reach perfection simultaneously and appreciate the tradition of regions, particularly eastern North Carolina, where barbecue is nothing less than a whole hog cooked slowly over low temperatures using only wood or charcoal.

A whole hog cooked by the Boonetown BBQ team awaits inspection by the judges.

I have visited establishments where whole hogs are cooked and am honored when I meet someone who continues family cooking traditions passed down through extended generations such as Rodney Scott of Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, SC. However, watching cooking teams use a mobile grill brought to a contest site to cook whole hogs is even more impressive. At Smoke on the Mountain, the annual barbecue cooking competition in Galax, Va., whole hog is one of the categories in the competition sanctioned by the Memphis Barbecue Network.

The Shed team pulls out its whole hog for a judge's evaluation.

I was at the event as a judge in the competitions sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. Although I like how KCBS sanctions competitions worldwide and promotes barbecue, I have to admit that I am thoroughly impressed with the whole hog competitions conducted by MBN and how its judges interview cooking teams as well as conduct blind evaluations of cooked meat. (In addition to the whole hog category, the pork-only MBN also has categories of ribs and shoulder. In contrast, KCBS events include categories of chicken, pork, ribs, and brisket.)

The Shed from Ocean Springs, Miss., brought the most unusual grill (a converted vehicle on a trailer).

For its competitions, MBN requires that a whole hog weigh at least 85 pounds (some weigh 200 pounds or more) and be cooked as a complete unit on one grill surface. Because judges sample portions of ham, shoulder, and loin in their evaluations, the cuts have to reach perfection at the same time – a delicate feat considering that hogs may cook for as long as 24 hours.

A Shed team member displays tray of hot coals under the grill for a judge.

Cooking whole hogs to perfection is difficult for the novice; however, the results improve with time, patience, and experience. Observing the whole hog competition at Smoke on the Mountain increased my respect and admiration for cooks who have honed their skills and compete at such a high level.

The Boonetown BBQ team prepares its display for a judge's visit.

In the Tradition Appreciated by a Community and Beyond

A trip to Hemingway, SC, has been a goal of mine for some time. The destination is Scott’s Variety Store and Bar-B-Que. This business has been a local community favorite for more than four decades because the barbecue that the Scott family serves has no equal. More recently, it has won national acclaim for the “cut, chop, cook” style — cut the wood, chop it up, and slow-smoke whole hogs all night — embraced by Rodney Scott, pitmaster for the family’s business.

The Scott family opened its business in 1972; the weathered church pew out front is used frequently by customers.

The tin-roofed store, which opened in 1972, once focused on dry goods and included a pool hall before the business swung decidedly to barbecue. Initially, whole hogs were smoked on only Thursdays. My, how times have changed. Selling the area’s best barbecue is now the goal, although the variety store still has a few items on its shelves. Some shelves are empty, but customers rarely notice because they are here for barbecue.

The menu board lists barbecue from a sandwich to a whole hog.

Scott is admired for his skills in the pits. However, before cooking the hogs, he also cuts all the wood himself with a chainsaw. With smoldering oak and hickory coals burning brightly in each pit, Scott monitors hogs weighing up to 150 pounds as they are smoked and mops them with peppery vinegar. The master of the pits has been cooking whole hogs since he was 11.

The cut hardwood behind the store is ready to be chopped; the telltale sign of smoke lets you know that the burn barrels are active.

Lots of customers take orders to go by the half pound and more. The to-go business is easy to understand. There’s no place inside to sit and eat. A weathered church pew on the front porch is about the only place someone can sit and eat on the premises. That’s where I sat and enjoyed pulled pork served with two slices of bread in a Styrofoam clamshell. The simplicity of the container matches the simplicity of the pulled pork barbecue prepared so deliciously.

Hardwood breaks down into coals as it's burned in five-foot barrels.

While I was there, I was able to visit the pits, which consist of two long concrete bunkers. Each one is fed hot coals from the burn barrels to cook hogs suspended above the heat by chicken wire. No other customers seemed interested in checking out the pits, a sign that they were locals and considered the pit area so functional with nothing to admire. However, the salvaged industrial piping and junked truck axles in the burn barrels seemed to me as artistic as any treasured folk art.

The pit area constantly stays busy.

The customers also seemed unimpressed to be ordering barbecue prepared by someone who has received so much attention. In July 2011, Time magazine heralded Scott for personifying “everything people admire about barbecue.”

Grocery items are still on the shelves for sale but more space is being taken over to document the recognition of Rodney Scott's pitmaster skills.

Two year earlier, on June 9, 2009, The New York Times exposed Scott, then 37, to the world in an article by John T. Edge, a food writer and director of the Southern Foodways Alliance. In the following year, SFA produced the documentary “Chop/Cut/Smoke” about Scott’s approach to whole hog cooking. Edge also extended the recognition of Scott in an article for Saveur on how barbecue is being preserved as an art form.

A plaque commemorates the initial showing of the "Cut/Chop/Cook" documentary by the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Rumors that Scott is planning a “city” restaurant in Charleston with his barbecue have started to circulate. I can’t imagine it would ever compete with the charm of the family’s variety store in Hemingway. Let’s hope that the barbecue and the approach for preparing it don’t change either.

Hot coals are added to the pits regularly as hogs are smoked.