BBQ across the South

Southern Living, Spring 2003 by Ford, Gary D

While much of Georgia runs red with ketchup, Columbus favors mustard. "It came from millworkers," surmises Clay Gullatt, owner of Mike & Ed's Barbecue. Scott Ressmeyer of Country's Barbecue says, "It goes back to the African American cooks here. All the old barbecue places used mustard."

Alabama: Pie and Pig

Sauces coat meat in many colors in Alabama. A light vinegar soaks the chopped pork at Whitt's Barbecue in Athens (with locations in Ardmore, Hartselle, Cullman, and Decatur as well), a drive-through with alfresco dining under a big hackberry tree. In Decatur Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q serves a tangy mayonnaise sauce that is excellent with chicken.

Diners may also select Gibson's mild red sauce or the fiery vinegar, then douse the flames with cool cream pies. "Sometimes the pie is as important as the pig," says Travel Assistant Tanner Latham. In the Birmingham area, we love Honey's Pies at Johnny Ray's, the famous lemon pie at Bob Sykes BarB-Q, or the Key lime pie at Pat James Full Moon Bar-B-Que.

Barbecue has long seasoned community gatherings throughout Alabama. Huntsville newspapers in the 1830s headlined stories "Ball and Barbecue," while elsewhere in the region editorial writers condemned these dance-feasts for the flowing whiskey and pandering politicians. With integration in the 1960s,

whites and blacks broke bread and ribs together at Dreamland Bar-B-- Oue, an African American-founded institution in Tuscaloosa. Later, when a location opened in a derelict Birmingham area, Dreamland's steady business helped clean up the neighborhood. (Dreamland also has locations in Atlanta and Mobile.)

Mississippi: Always On Sundae

Alumni of Ole Miss and Mississippi State often taste the warm memory of barbecue. Nancy Dorman-Hickson recalls dining at The Little Dooey in Starkville, Mississippi. From his Ole Miss days, Foods Editor Scott Jones fondly remembers the BBQ Sundae served at the Rebel Barn BBQ in Oxford. An entre, not dessert, the sundae layers pork, slaw, and baked beans, all covered in thick, sweet red sauce.

Florida: Smoke in the Sunshine State

Charles loves Brodus' Bar-B-Que in Groveland, Florida, with its mustard and tomato sauces, and Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar-B-Que in Orlando. There he found strangers gathered at tables, wolfing down meat with red sauces ranging from mild to "psycho."

"You don't see these communal tables at any other kind of restaurant," he marvels. "Barbecue is the great equalizer. It cuts through society."

The Best Barbecue In the South

Okay. Here goes. My favorites are Bodacious Bar-B-Que in Kilgore, Texas, my hometown, and Ayden, North Carolina's Skylight Inn. Reared on brisket, I also savor the purity of eastern Carolina style.

I think back to North Carolina's Pete Jones. Indeed, the barbecue of our youth has "stayed to the house" of our memory. It is the food of home that feeds the heart, but we can still love other styles. "My favorite," says Charles, cleaning his sauce-spattered cameras, "is what's in front of me right now."

Don't see your favorite joint in this story? Next month, watch for our special guide to the South's barbecue in bookstores and on newsstands.