Some Barbecue History for July 4th

Mound Bayou, Mississippi roadside BBQ  Smoker Made From a  Oil Drum

Eugene “Hot Sauce” Williams operated perhaps the best barbecue stands in 1950s Cleveland, Ohio. In 1920, Williams, a childhood friend of Louis Armstrong and a one-time fish peddler in Louisiana, migrated from New Orleans to Chicago, where he became a cooper. Four years later he migrated to Cleveland in search of a business opportunity. With no previous professional experience, he started a barbecue rib business after taking out a loan for $58 from “Cleveland’s first barbecue czar,” Henry “the Black King” Burkett. Williams returned to his native New Orleans around 1934, spending days “just drifting among cooks, gathering bits of information here and there on barbecue. One of the city’s oldest chefs took an interest in him and let him in on his secret method of preparing tasty ribs.” First flavoring the ribs with a “a dry spice powder and taste-tantalizing hot sauce.” Second cooking the ribs with the right timing and the right amount of heat something that takes time to learn how while apprenticing of an experienced pit master. Further instructions including cook the ribs slowly over a low-burning charcoal flame, taking care to thoroughly cook them, but not so far as to let them dry out. Williams returned to Cleveland with the culinary secret of making excellent ribs and developed two thriving rib stands, which employed twenty-five people. By 1950 he had grossed about $100,000 each year in sales as customers packed the two stands he operated “almost any hour during the six nights” per week they were open. He offered no delivery service, “but his spots often fill large orders from private parties and clubs,” said an article in Ebony magazine. Even Louis Armstrong was said to have phoned in an order for “300 large boxes of the flavory ribs [sic].”

More Eugene “Hot Sauce” Williams with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/2010/05/new-orleans-and-secret-to-making-great.html

More Barbecue History With Related Recipes For Fanatics: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=barbecue+sauce