Learning from Mom: Levern Darby

Levern Darby at Cooper's Country Store, Salters, South Carolina. (photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Women remain a rarity in professional barbecuedom, especially in the realm of whole-hog cookery. But Levern Darby learned from his mother, Naomi, who slaughtered hogs and sold the oak-smoked barbecue from the trunk of her car, outside of what would later be named Cooper's Country Store in Salters, SC. Darby has now worked at the Store going on 36 years. There he watches that the hogs are cooked right, the way Mom taught him.

Audio and Text by Rien Fertel
Click the play button below to listen to Levern. 

Levern Darby works in the kitchen at Cooper's Country Store, Salters, South Carolina. (photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Barbecue cooked by Levern Darby at Cooper's Country Store, Salters, South Carolina. (photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

The Cracklin' Sound: 'Little Joe' Brunson

Little Joe Brunson removes a piece of crispy pork skin from the pit at Sweatman's Bar-B-Que. (photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Little Joe Brunson at Sweatman's Bar-B-Que. (photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

After taking the whole hogs off the pits at Sweatman's Bar-B-Que in Holly Hill, South Carolina, Jonathan 'Little Joe' Brunson smokes the remaining pork skins over oak and hickory coals to make what may be the South's most perfect cracklin'. Working at this barbecue institution for over thirty years, Little Joe can determine when the cracklins are done just by their sizzle.

Click the SoundCloud box below to hear Little Joe.

Audio editing and text by Rien Fertel/ The Barbecue Bus
 

Little Joe Brunson gathers a shovelful of wood coals for the pit. (photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Daily Specials as Community Service

Jay Allen on the phone with radio personality Mike Stevens, Tuesday at Midway BBQ. Photo by Denny Culbert

Each morning at 11:05, "Barbecue Science Engineer" Jay Allen of Midway BBQ in Buffalo, SC reads the daily specials to radio personality Mike Stevens of WBCU 1460 AM and 103.5 FM. Union County citizens tune in to hear about the restaurant meets butcher's meat-and-three and cuts of the day. Listen to a warmup clip from June 12, 2002.

Click the Broadcastr link below to listen to the daily specials.
Audio recording and editing by Rien Fertel

"Highly Seasoned Food."

Stephen & Gerri Grady of Grady's Barbecue, Dudley, NC.

Click to see our original text and photo profile of the Gradys: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2011/12/gradys-barbecue-this-day-is-last-this.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"We Just Didn't Ever Stop."

Bum and Larry Dennis of Bum's Restaurant, Ayden, NC.

Click to see our original text and photo profile of Bum's: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/03/first-barbecue.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"Dad Put Barbecue Grease in My Milk Bottle."

Samuel Jones of Skylight Inn, Ayden, NC.

Click to see our original text and photo profile of Skylight Inn: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/03/standard-bearers-of-barbecue-skylight.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

Bruce and Samuel Jones of Skylight Inn, Ayden, NC.

"It Goes Over Pretty Good."

Randy Russell of Bunn's Barbecue, Windsor, NC.

Click to see our original text and photo profile of Bunn's Barbecue: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/02/survivalist-cue-bunns-barbecue-windsor.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"A Taste of the Past."

Tommy Moore of Moore's Olde Tyme Barbeque, New Bern, NC.

Click to see our original text and photo profile of Moore's: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/01/new-bern-north-caronlinas-king-of-cue.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"The Right Niche."

Larry & Brandon Pierce of Nahunta Pork Center, Pikeville, NC.

Click here to see our original text and photo profile of Nahunta Pork Center: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2011/12/kings-of-pig-nahunta-pork-center.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"You Just Gotta Know that Smell."

Rudy Cobb of Jack Cobb & Son Barbecue Place, Farmville, NC.

Click here to see our original text and photo profile of Rudy Cobb: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/01/rudy-cobb-place-is-space.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"Lucky Enough to Be a Part of this Place."

Donald Williams & Kevin Lamm of Parker's Barbecue, Wilson, NC.

Click here to see our original text and photo profile of Parker's Barbecue: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2011/11/parkers-barbecue-wilson-nc.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert. 

"Redhead Mama B."

Natalie Ramsey & Chase Webb of Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge, Shelby, NC

Click here to see our original text and photo profile of the sister and brother of barbecue: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/02/brother-sister-barbecue-red-bridges.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert.

"Evolving Out of Necessity and Good Taste."

Chip Stamey of Stamey's Barbecue, Greensboro, NC.

Click here to see our original text and photo profile of Mr. Stamey: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2011/11/stameys-barbecue-root-of-it-all.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert. 

"Still Smokin' and Gonna Keep on Kicking at It. "

Brandon Cook of Cook's Barbecue, Lexington, NC.

Click to see our original profile of Brandon Cook: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2011/12/cooks-barbecue-born-in-pits.html

Cut by Rien Fertel and Chopped by Denny Culbert

"We call it dip because we're always dipping stuff in it."

Sonny Conrad of the Barbecue Center, Lexington, NC

Click to see our original Barbecue Center profile: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2012/02/sonny-conrad-barbecue-center-when-you.html

Audio: Rien Fertel / Photographs: Denny Culbert

The First Barbecue?

Latham "Bum" Dennis and Larry Dennis, owners of Bum's Restaurant in Ayden, NC. (Photo by Denny Culbert)

According to lore, the Dennis family follows a tradition set half a million years ago when man first roasted a wild animal over wood. Most of humanity quit smoking pigs and other creatures over burning embers, but “We just didn't never stop,” says Larry Dennis, manager and pitmaster at Bum’s Restaurant in Ayden. His father, the namesake “Bum,” opened his place back in 1963, thus placing himself in the innumerable company of Dennis barbecue masters.

The Standard Bearers of Barbecue: Skylight Inn, Ayden, NC

Skylight Inn (Pete Jones Barbecue) and Samuel Jones (Photos by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

At age 4, Samuel Jones told a newspaper reporter that, when he grows up, he wanted to be a trashman and the Prince of Barbecue. Sam’s grandfather, Pete Jones, the designated “King of Barbecue,” opened the Skylight Inn in 1947. Then only seventeen, Pete set out on his own after learning the trade from his extended family, the Dennis clan, whom history shows to be the first in North Carolina to serve pit barbecue to the public.

Survivalist Cue — Bunn's Barbecue, Windsor, NC

Bunn's Barbecue cornbread sandwich, Windsor, NC. ( Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Hurricane Ginger struck in 1971. After two-and-a-half decades of calm, Dennis, Floyd, and Irene made 1999 a hurricane-heavy year. Rain-soaker Tropical Storm Nicole fell in 2010. Hurricane Irene landed in August of the year following. All six storms caused the Cashie River in tiny downtown Windsor to overflow its banks, in effect, inundating historic, since 1938, Bunn’s Barbecue each time. As Bunn’s co-owner Randy Russell tells it, “We know all about flooding.”

Sonny Conrad — Barbecue Center: When You Dip I Dip We Dip.

Sonny Conrad at his restaurant the Barbecue Center in Lexington, NC. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

In Lexington, North Carolina barbecue eaters don’t squirt on sauce, they dip in dip.

Defend Barbecue: Clyde Cooper's in Raleigh

Left: Clyde Cooper's on E. Davie Street in Raleigh, North Carolina. Right: "Pit Master King" James Bolton** stands in the doorway of the dining room at Cooper's. (Photos by Denny Culbert)

Preservation. It’s on the menu at Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue in downtown Raleigh. Preservation, along with chopped, sliced, and coarse ‘cue; ribs, fried chicken, and Brunswick stew; and more varieties of fried pork skins than there are toes on a pig's foot.