Rodney Scott's world of BBQ : every day is a good day / Rodney Scott & Lolis Eric Elie.

Title:

Rodney Scott's world of BBQ : recipes & perspectives from the legendary pitmaster

Rodney Scott's world of barbecue

Author:

Scott, Rodney,

Additional Author(s):

Elie, Lolis Eric,

ISBN:

9781984826930

198482693X

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Info:

New York :

Description:

223 pages : color illustrations ; 27 cm

Summary:

Scott grew up with barbecue in his blood, and now is the chef and co-owner of Rodney Scott's BBQ. As he talks about how hope, hard work and a whole lot of optimism shaped his life, Scott shares recipes for the smokiest, most succulent pulled pork, ribs, and barbecued chicken.

General Note:

Includes index.

Subject(s):

Barbecuing.

Outdoor cooking.

Holds: Copies (not including on-order items):

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Shelf Location	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Penrose Library	Book	641.76 SCOT	Nonfiction	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable
Searching... Rockrimmon Library	Book	641.76 SCOT	Nonfiction	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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On Order

Summary

IACP COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER . In the first cookbook by a Black pitmaster, James Beard Award-winning chef Rodney Scott celebrates an incredible culinary legacy through his life story, family traditions, and unmatched dedication to his craft.

"BBQ is such an important part of African American history, and no one is better at BBQ than Rodney."-Marcus Samuelsson, chef and restaurateur

ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR- The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Out, Food52, Taste of Home, Garden & Gun , Epicurious, Vice, Salon, Southern Living, Wired, Library Journal

Rodney Scott was born with barbecue in his blood. He cooked his first whole hog, a specialty of South Carolina barbecue, when he was just eleven years old. At the time, he was cooking at Scott's Bar-B-Q, his family's barbecue spot in Hemingway, South Carolina. Now, four decades later, he owns one of the country's most awarded and talked-about barbecue joints, Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston.

In this cookbook, co-written by award-winning writer Lolis Eric Elie, Rodney spills what makes his pit-smoked turkey, barbecued spare ribs, smoked chicken wings, hush puppies, Ella's Banana Puddin', and award-winning whole hog so special. Moreover, his recipes make it possible to achieve these special flavors yourself, whether you're a barbecue pro or a novice. From the ins and outs of building your own pit to poignant essays on South Carolinian foodways and traditions, this stunningly photographed cookbook is the ultimate barbecue reference. It is also a powerful work of storytelling. In this modern American success story, Rodney details how he made his way from the small town where he worked for his father in the tobacco fields and in the smokehouse, to the sacrifices he made to grow his family's business, and the tough decisions he made to venture out on his own in Charleston.

Rodney Scott's World of BBQ is an uplifting story that speaks to how hope, hard work, and a whole lot of optimism built a rich celebration of his heritage-and of unforgettable barbecue.

Author Notes

Rodney Scott is the chef and coowner of Rodney Scott's BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina, Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia. He has been featured in the Netflix series Chef's Table- BBQ, on The Splendid Table, Parts Unknown, It's Alive, and Eater, and in The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler , among other publications. He won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2018. Rodney lives outside of Charleston with his wife and son.

Lolis Eric Elie is a writer and filmmaker. He was a writer on HBO's Treme , OWN's Greenleaf , and Amazon Prime's The Man in the High Castle ; his work has appeared in Best African American Essays, The New York Times, Gourmet, and Saveur , and he has been featured on 60 Minutes. He is a New Orleans native and is one of the founders of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

James Beard Award--winning pitmaster Scott brings his 30 years of cooking experience to bear in this excellent debut. Aided by journalist Elie, Scott chronicles his education in barbecue cooking; discusses his fondness for music, whiskey, and cars; and expresses sorrow over a falling-out with his father over the family barbecue business that he now runs alone. But the gloom lifts once the book pivots to culinary matters and Scott lays out the finer points of the whole hog barbecue he's famous for. It requires the construction of a pit and burn barrel (instructions are provided and call for cinder blocks, a 55-gallon drum, and an angle grinder), a half cord of hardwood, a gallon of sauce, and 10--12 hours of cooking time. Less ambitious fare includes bacon burgers and smoked prime rib, while among the stove-top entrées is a one-pot chicken perloo. Sides include pork belly succotash, macaroni and cheese, and pork skin nachos, and a tasty selection of desserts--banana pudding, blueberry cornmeal pound cake--rounds things out. Though the opening biographical section can drag (it takes up about a quarter of the book), Scott's intensely flavorful recipes and masterful grill techniques are exceptional. This fired-up collection does not disappoint. (Mar.)

Library Journal Review

Pitmaster Scott is a star in the world of BBQ. The James Beard Award-winning chef and co-owner of Rodney Scott's BBQ in Charleston, SC, drew crowds to his restaurants long before his appearance on Chef's Table: BBQ. This debut, cowritten by Elie, is a labor of love, just like his cooking. Here, he tells how his family of farmers and storekeepers ventured into barbeque in order to make a living. From watching his uncle become a pitmaster to becoming one himself to unexpected success after being featured in the New York Times in 2009, Scott is endearing throughout. In addition to tips on cooking the whole hog, he shares insight into signature dishes such as chicken perloo and corn bread with honey and butter. While he offers advice on making a pit, plenty of recipes can be made on a grill. Seasonings such as rib rub are a highlight of the work, and Scott is not shy about using MSG, which he affectionately refers to as Jesus's Tears. VERDICT With humor and candor, Scott brings readers into his home and invites them to stay a while. A standout collection for fans of BBQ.--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Excerpts

Introduction I like spreading the joy and sharing the love, and whole hog barbecue is my means of doing it. The happiness I get when people are enjoying my food is one of the best feelings I can imagine. That's what I'm thinking about at 2:00 a.m. when everybody else is sleeping and I'm out in the cold night air firing a hog. I'm thinking about how good it's going to feel to see the smiles on people's faces as they eat my barbecue. I've always imagined being able to cook for people all over the world. I've been lucky. In the past few years, I've had the chance to cook in Australia, Belize, Colombia, France, Uruguay, and all over the United States. Whenever I cook at a festival or event anywhere in the world, people come up to me and ask for advice on cooking a hog. I'm glad to share whatever information I can, but you can't really teach somebody how to cook a hog in a ten-minute conversation. And you can't go home with everybody and see what they are doing wrong, or doing right for that matter. So it made sense to put what I know in a book and give people all the details and information that I have to share. The other thing is that if you want to know how to cook a hog right, you also have to know how not to cook a hog wrong. I had anadvantage. I grew up in it. I saw my father and my great-uncle doing it for years before they let me do it on my own when I was eleven. I had years of my father telling me to be care- ful about this or don't do that. You can't boil those years down into a quick conversation. Most of the people who come up to me are backyard cooks. They're mostly men who want to invite friends and family over, pull some good meat off the pit, and have a good time. To do that, you don't just need skill, you need confidence, too. You need to know that when you pull this hog off in 10 or 12 hours, it's gonna be done; it's gonna be done right, and people are gonna be having a good time and laughing with you and not having a bad time and laughing at you. I've been doing this thirty years. Even now I'll get nervous cooking for a big event or for some famous chef--or even for regular peo- ple. One of my faithful customers sent me a text the other day saying she was about to eat the leftovers from the holiday turkey she'd bought from us. I got nervous, wondering, "Is it still gonna be good a few days later?" When Anthony Bourdain came to interview me for his TV show, Parts Unknown , I started off nervous. Then we sat down and talked and it was like we were a couple of old friends. That's the feeling you want to have when you're sharing barbecue. Relaxed. Chill. Once you have that confidence you can enjoy the cooking almost as much as you enjoy the eating. One year, when I was cooking at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in New York City, a journal- ist asked, "What should people expect when they come to your booth?" I told her, "If you're going to be within ten feet of me, be ready to party. If you have negativity, stay out ten and a half feet. Because I'm going to bring you the joy and the fun and I'm going to bring you the best food that I can cook." She laughed and printed that up. And it's true. The Block Party was an event that Danny Meyer and the Union Square Hospitality Group used to throw every year in Madison Square Park. They'd invite pitmasters from different barbecue regions to come and cook one weekend during the summer. Lower Manhattan is a long way from Hemingway, South Carolina, where my style of cooking comes from. But every year, folks were lined up to groove to the music we played, enjoy the food we cooked, and share the spirit we brought. This passion for music goes back to my childhood. Being an only child, music was my company, my plaything. I got my first stereo when I was like seven or eight years old. Getting dressed for school in the morning, getting undressed for bed in the evening, and any other time I could squeeze in between I'd be playing music on my stereo. Mostly it was whatever tapes someone had given me. Maybe the Isley Brothers' Harvest for the World album or their Showdown album with the single "Groove With You" on it. Or I might have been listening to Teddy Pendergrass, who was raised in Philadelphia but who was born just up the road from Hemingway in Kingstree. "The Whole Town's Laughing at Me" was his big hit then and I wore it out. Music kept me company then and even now, when I'm cooking late into the night, a lot of times all I have to keep me company is the music. Music is like an automatic attitude adjustment for me. The songs that I play help put me in the right frame of mind. They remind me of how lucky I am to be able to earn my living by feeding people and making them happy. I feel like my attitude is my success. My optimism is my success. This outlook allows me to walk into the smokehouse every day and cook the food that people enjoy. Food that people come back for. Food that gets written about around the world. Barbecue that wins awards. This wasn't always my philosophy. I've been through my share of setbacks. When I started talking about opening my own place in Charleston, my father and I came to a parting of the ways. I couldn't wallow in that though, so I decided to make myself an optimist. My daily outlook became, "Every day is a good day. If I'm still alive, I have a chance." I made the conscious decision not to have any more bad days, only challenging days. Only days that pushed me to be a problem solver. But not bad days. Not ever. When people ask, how are you doing? I tell them, "I'm great." It's not just something to say. I say it with genuine spirit. With a smile. They say, "but you just went through this, that, and the other." And I tell them, "Yeah, but I'm good. If you didn't find yourself listed in the obituary part of the paper this morning, you won!" One of the great things about cooking whole hog is that it takes so long to do it, that you just naturally gather around the pit with good friends and fellowship while the meat and wood do their thing. This book is all about inviting you into that fellowship. Once you put these recipes to use, you'll officially be one of us. Excerpted from Rodney Scott's World of BBQ: Every Day Is a Good Day: a Cookbook by Rodney Scott, Lolis Eric Elie All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.