Jim Neely, of Jim Neely's Interstate Barbeque in Memphis, Tennessee, checks over a fresh batch of pork ribs at his restaurant

October 1, 1999
Web posted at: 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT)

In this story: When 'Jack' comes to the barbecue The roots of barbecue Dry vs. wet ribs RELATED STORIES, SITES

MEMPHIS, Tennesee (AP) -- If you think the recipe for good barbecue involves nothing more than pork, sauce and a fire, you won't mix well in Memphis.

Memphis barbecue is barbecue "that's been taken care of and nurtured," says Nick Vergos, whose family owns The Rendezvous, one of the city's most popular barbecue restaurants.

"We take barbecue seriously here, and every backyard barbecuer takes what they do seriously, too."

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Memphis bills itself as the pork barbecue capital of the world. While some other cities might try to dispute that, Memphis has impressive credentials to back up the claim.

More than 100 barbecue restaurants are scattered around Memphis, which stages an annual cook-off listed by The Guinness Book of Records as the largest pork barbecue contest anywhere.

"We make a living out of barbecue here," Vergos says. "Other places, people serve it just to have it on the menu. But restaurants here, that's their living."

While nearly any kind of barbecue can be found in Memphis -- from chicken to shrimp to beef -- the most popular and prevalent form is pork.

The annual pork barbecue contest, part of the larger "Memphis In May" Festival, draws 90,000 cooks and spectators. It sanctions 50 smaller cook-offs around the country, with winners invited to Memphis, and it stages training seminars for barbecue judges.

In the battle of the bastions of barbecue, however, there are plenty contenders. For example, coming up October 23 is what is billed as "the Super Bowl of the barbecue circuit" in Lynchburg, east of Memphis, which wouldn't be much of a town at all if it were not the home of the Jack Daniels (don't call it bourbon) distillery. (And you can't legally buy or drink Jack Daniels in Lynchburg. It's in a dry county.)

Anyway, the promo for the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue says, "Teams which have competed and placed at a competition of 50 teams or more earlier in the year are invited to battle each other within six categories -- pork, beef brisket, whole hog, poultry, sauce (which, of course, has to contain a little of the hometown product) and dessert."

Memphis folks shrug off that contest as not comparing with their in size.

"You want to have that smoke flavor, but not too much, and there has to be just that right balance between mushy and tender."
-- Debby Butternick, on making blue-ribbon barbecue

Debby Butterick, a "Memphis In May" organizer, talks about what makes for blue-ribbon barbecue:

"You want to have that smoke flavor, but not too much, and there has to be just that right balance between mushy and tender," she says.

Judges are taught to eat with their fingers, to better test the meat's tenderness, and to look for a "smoke ring," she says.

"When you slice a shoulder, you'll see kind of a pink ring where the smoke has penetrated," Butterick says. "That shows you how good a job the cook has done."

The Memphis-sanctioned local contests are similar to those supported by barbecue boosters in places such as Kansas City, Missouri, or Texas, where barbecue, primarily beef, also is treated with special care.

"But it's not like we're competing against each other," Butterick says. "We're the only competition that's strictly pork."

Barbecue restaurants in Memphis range from small affairs such as Payne's Bar-B-Q, housed in a refurbished service station, to the 750-seat Rendezvous and Corky's Bar-B-Q, a chain that ships its fare nationwide.

"You take Miss (Emily) Payne's sliced shoulder on white bread with slaw and hot sauce, I don't see how you can make anything better than that," Vergos says. "If you catch her on a good day, it's great. If you catch her on a great day, you don't even want to leave the place."

Charles Crawford, a University of Memphis history professor, says the city traces its pork barbecue roots to settlers who arrived in the early 1800s.

Those who came from Virginia and the Carolinas brought the practice of using smoke from wood fires to cure meat, primarily pork, because pigs were the most prevalent farm animal. People who moved to Memphis from Louisiana brought sauces and spices.

"I think that's the way it came together," Crawford says. "It's kind of hard to prove, but I don't know any better explanation for it."

Just about every Memphis cook, professional or amateur, has a few special likes, from the tang of the sauce and how the meat is readied to how long it's over the heat and whether the final product is "dry" or "wet," or "pulled," "chopped" or "sliced" from the bone.

Debates rage in Memphis over the superiority of dry vs. wet ribs -- whether the meat has a dry "rub" of herbs and spices or a wet sauce, of which there are any number of variations.

Either way, Memphis cooks are careful not to overpower their barbecue with seasoning.

"We're not disguising the taste of the meat. You actually taste the rib," Vergos said. "In a lot of places outside of Memphis and the (Mississippi) Delta, all you're tasting is barbecue sauce. They bake something in the oven and pour a lot of barbecue sauce on it.

"You could make a hot dog taste like barbecue if you put enough sauce on it."

Asked why his barbecue is so good, Jim Neely says matter-of-factly: "Me."

The best barbecue cooks often are immodest. Jim Neely, who has run Jim Neely's Interstate Barbecue for 20 years, is always ready to brag. Asked why his barbecue is so good, Neely says matter-of-factly: "Me."

"I'm here every morning at 6:30 and all day long, seven days a week," Neely says. "I don't believe in a manager coming in and opening my doors. You do it yourself, you know it's done right."

Neely believes the best barbecue results from slow cooking over indirect heat. He puts his pork shoulders on at 5 p.m. to be ready the following morning. His ribs cook in about five hours.

He demonstrates the tenderness of his ribs by putting his thumb and forefinger on either side of a rack. When he snaps his fingers, the meat falls off the bone.

Neely has eaten barbecue all over the country and believes Memphis' is unsurpassed.

"We're just fortunate to have some great barbecue places here, and success leads to success," he says.

Copyright 1999   The Associated Press. All rights reserved.