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BBQ Luminaries
By RENEE SKLAREW / PHOTOS By CLAY WILLIAM
Rodney Scott, Bryan Furman, Rasheed Philips and Kevin Bludso are some of the biggest names in barbecue. Salamander Magazine had the opportunity to spend time with each of them during the 2024 Family Reunion, a four-day culinary festival that celebrates Black and Caribbean food cultures and is held at Salamander Middleburg.
Rodney Scott
Tradition meets sustainability
“I’m seeing chefs from different cultural backgrounds and different parts of the U.S. who are creating their own BBQ styles- I’m inspired by what these other cultures do.”
Rodney Scott started smoking meat on his family’s hog and tobacco farm when he was just 11 years old. Now, he’s one of the most recognizable faces in BBQ. Growing up in Hemingway, South Carolina, the Scotts had a BBQ stop, where he worked for 25 years before opening his own restaurant in 2017. One year later, Scott won Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, only the second pitmaster to win this prestigious culinary award.
The chef has been smoking hot ever since, with an expansive empire that includes Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, Trussville, Birmingham, Nashville and Atlanta. A subsequent stream of awards led to an episode on Netflix’s “Chef ’s Table” and becoming a celebrity judge on Food Network’s “BBQ Brawl.”
Despite his meteoric career rise and hordes of accolades, Scott remains disarmingly modest and approachable. The night before a cookout, he and his team start smoking the entire hog-head, tail, nose and feet-12 hours before they serve it.
As the curl of burned hickory wood wafts into the air from a smoker the size of a small car. Scott raises the lid to peek at the upturned snout. "Judging and traveling to food events fits my mission to tell stories, share ideas, and learn new ideas," Scott explains. "By talking to other chefs, I do just as much learning as I do teaching."
While BBQ is best known as a southern American tradition, meeting other chefs has changed his perspective about the future of BBQ, "I'm seeing chefs from different cultural backgrounds and different parts of the U.S. who are creating their own BBQ styles Egyptian, Ethiopian, Puerto Rican and indigenous styles and I'm inspired by what these other cultures do."
A devoted music lover, his newest collaboration is Chief's, a performance venue and broadcast studio founded with musician Eric Church. Chief's rooftop bar overlooks Nashville's iconic Broadway, where Scott opened his Hell of a Cue restaurant, a play on Church's song "Hell of a View." The renovated warehouse has stained glass windows with images of Michael Jackson, Prince and Willie Nelson.
As diners tear into his buttery pork mopped with cracked pepper and lemony vinegar, Scott watches with a smile. But he takes a very serious approach to cooking: "Perfection is the only thing we're chasing when we get ready to serve."
BRYAN FURMAN
The Purist keeps it simple
"I like to keep it simple, and BBQ the old-fashioned way, cooking with wood, making my sauce."
Bryan Furman hovers beside a behemoth of a smoker, tending his stack of pork ribs. He pauses to squeeze the meat and add logs to the fire. "I like to keep it simple, and BBQ the old-fashioned way, cooking with wood, making my sauce," Furman says. "Wine gets better with age. I want my BBQ to taste better every time."
At age 38, Furman's devotion to heritage cooking hurled him into the spotlight when he was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs in 2019, the first pitmaster to earn the title.
It's no accident that Furman found his way to BBQ, Growing up in Camden, South Carolina, his grandparents had a pig farm, and his father taught him to make ribs and chicken. His mother, Almeta Benjamin, enlisted him in the kitchen to cook collard greens and banana pudding.
After ruling out becoming a veterinarian, Furman began welding, acquiring expertise in thermodynamics and fire control. His knowledge translates well to controlling the pit. "When you cook the whole hog, you want it to all come out the same. If a piece dries out, you'll be able to taste it," Furman explains.
The pitmaster teaches at Harvard University and Schoolinary, an online course taught by master chefs. "I have the patience for training, I have the patience for people. It could be my retirement plan, to travel overseas and teach more university classes."
He may have an exit plan, but Furman doesn't rush things. Once he mastered flow and oxygen to perfect barbequing beef,
chicken and ribs, he created his signature peach mustard sauce. He locally-sources everything possible for his new take-out spot called Bryan Furman BBQ in Marietta, Georgia.
While fellow, high profile pitmasters are judging TV competitions, Bryan prefers being on the road. He often takes. his mom along to make satiny beans flavored with his brisket. Furman says his focus is on the BBQ, "Because that's what 1 like to do. That's my passion."
In 2024, Furman celebrated four years at Salamander's Family Reunion.
Though the pitmaster is a self-proclaimed foodie, camaraderie is why he prioritizes being there. "I met Kwame [Onwuachi] when I won Best Chef at a Food Festival. He called me in 2021, Hey, I'm putting on this event, can you come? I said anything I can do for you, bro."
RASHEED PHILLIPS
THE MANNERLY PITMASTER
“I was born in Jamaica and have no American cooking styles to abideby. My grandfather never put sauce on anything.”
The craft of cooking over flames has roots in the south, with its longstanding traditions ingrained in its craftsmen. Rasheed Philips rejects the confines of these BBQ traditions.
Chefs traditionally mix ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar to make BBQ sauce, but Philips approaches it differently. "I was born in Jamaica and have no American cooking styles to abide by. My grandfather never put sauce on anything," explains the pitmaster.
When Philips' family moved to the States, his grandmother and mother continued to make his favorite Jamaican dishes, and you can taste their influence in his cooking, "I can do maduros, mofongo or sweet plantains as a base, because I know thoseelements. These techniques and flavors have made him a standout at cooking competitions.
Philips got his start smoking BBQ at pop-ups and food festivals where he explored a diverse lineup of smoked meats and sides, including a 27-day-aged pastrami. The BBQ community noticed, and he was invited to Netflix's "BBQ Showdown." Philips was runner up, but his genteel manners won over everyone, especially judge Kevin Bludso, who Philips affectionately calls "Pops." Bludso remains a mentor and close friend.
On the show, Philips earned the nickname "Gentleman Smoker" for his big-hearted spirit. "I'm one of the first people to ever stop what I'm doing to help others cook," says Philips. "If the only way for me to get ahead is to step over you, then I'll find a longer way to go."
Always a trailblazer, Philips collaborates with Georgia-based Pontoon Brewing to brew his namesake beer, Tall, Dark & Smokey. The pitmaster helped fine-tune the porter-style beer for months, even creating the artwork on the can, a graphic of Philips holding an axe.
Philips towers over many in the business, and not just because he stands 6'6" and weighs 260 pounds. The pitmaster openly expresses gratitude at every turn, enthusiastically greeting his fans. Philips says he's genuinely curious about their story and wonders how they connected with his. How has fame changed him? "I think it made more people realize they could do it," he answers. "Yes, you can, and that's my point. Allow me to be the example, not the exception."
KEVIN BLUDSO
THE GODFATHER OF GRILLING
"Never down your own food culture. We don't need to criticize the soul food that's had us living to one-hundred and something years old."
Hollywood execs didn't need to look far to find their next superstar chef. It was 2008 on the cusp of the foodie movement when pitmaster Kevin Bludso opened his first BBQ joint in Compton, California. Not long after, reviews brought in hordes of devotees, and Bludso began expanding his empire. Today, there are four Bludso BBQ locations in LA, including at Proud Bird, a food hall overlooking an LAX runway.
Bludso grew up in Compton, playing football in college, and spinning records as a DJ, but developed pitmaster skills early in life. When he was eight, his parents sent him to spend summers in Texas with "Granny," Willie Mae. She operated a BBQ stand, where she taught Bludso to cook brisket and collard greens. When he considered starting his own food business, Willie Mae's advice was to focus on creating his own BBQ style.
Bludso's BBQ menu does just that, with some of Granny's recipes thrown in. You'll find ribs, pulled pork, chicken and brisket that are slow smoked in pecan, oak and apple wood. The sweet and spicy sauces are Texas-style. He can go fancy too, like "pulls-off-the-bone" oxtail smoked at Salamander Middleburg's Family Reunion.
Bludso is a judge on Netflix's "BBO Showdown," and competitors Rasheed Philips and Delilah Winder say he mentors and encourages every contestant on the show. Thepitmaster brings his California swagger, yet, in his humble way, Bludso is quick to credit others, "I couldn't do other things if I didn't have a good team. It frees me up to be out there."
The pitmaster's personal journey has inspired many fans, even the Dallas Cowboys, who order Bludso's BBQ when they play in LA. In Bludso's "BBQ Cookbook; A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul," the pitmaster weaves compelling family stories among dozens of mouthwatering recipes, earning him the 2023 James Beard award for best cookbook.
At the Family Reunion, Bludso encouraged fellow chefs and home cooks to support and preserve their heritage: "Never down your own food culture. We don't need to criticize the soul food that's had us living to one-hundred and something years old."
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