Mobile's Brick Pit featured in new book by David Gelin
When David Gelin set out to do a book on homegrown barbecue joints in the South, he decided to try something different.
He didn't actually go there for the food. He went for the people who cook and sell the barbecue.
Rest assured, "BBQ Joints: Stories and Secret Recipes From the Barbecue Belt," (Gibbs Smith Publisher, $15.95) does include plenty of tasty recipes. But it's more a personality profile of the barbecue purveyors from Texas to Tennessee.
Along the way, Gelin stopped in Mobile, where he met up with Bill Armbrecht, owner and operator of the Brick Pit on Old Shell Road.
At first, he wasn't sure what to expect from the Brick Pit.
"I'm going down Old Shell Road, and I say to myself, 'There's no way this place is any good.' This area is too nice," he said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Atlanta.
But when he stepped into the low-slung old house, his mind was put at ease by the aroma of slow-cooked pork and ribs. "I go there and this was the real deal. The food was just fine," he said.
Gelin, 43, is an unlikely messenger to be spreading the gospel of good barbecue in the South. He's a native of New York who has a background in photography and graphic arts, but he moved south 25 years ago to attend Emory University and had the good sense to stay.
Why do a barbecue roadmap that doesn't focus mainly on the food?
"A lot of these places are going by the wayside and when they're gone, they're gone. I wanted to talk to the people who made barbecue their life's work," he said.
In doing so, he criss-crossed the lower portion of the nation, hitting small town dives and out-of-the way joints, 60 in all. He visited and dined at clapboard shacks and roadside dives, all the while eschewing the flashy chains that dot the highways.
Gelin said his stated mission was to seek out locally owned, family-run joints that served barbecue the best way they knew how.
The reason for the quest was simple and one every Southerner ought to embrace: "They don't have these kinds of places up North, and I believe we all ought to seek them out and celebrate them," he said.
Are there any barbecue destinations that stuck in his mind?
"For any barbecue person, Texas is a world unto its own. It's almost impossible to find a mediocre (barbecue) joint in Texas," he said.
Barbecue purists in our neck of the woods rightly point out that Texas barbecue is skewed toward beef, and mesquite is a favorite flavoring agent. But Gelin said there is a passion for barbecue in Texas that's hard to match anywhere, regardless of what you're cooking.
"I'm going to do a book strictly on Texas barbecue," he promised, noting that space constraints for the new book caused him to ax several of his favorites.
But back in Alabama, Gelin said he did his homework and was impressed by the "legendary cooking times" employed by Armbrecht and his crew.
He also discovered something else at the Brick Pit a genuineness, something he didn't expect or often saw on the road. "Bill was the first person to call me after the book was to came out. He is truly blessed," Gelin said.
Gelin also made the pilgrimage to Decatur where he spent some time with the guru of Alabama barbecue, Chris Lilly and the folks at Big Bob Gibson's Barbecue. It was there that he sampled the legendary white barbecue sauce, but he wasn't able to pry the recipe out of them.
So he included a version of the thick, tangy sauce in the book. It's close to the original, but not quite. Use it on grilled or smoked chicken as a dipping or finishing sauce.
Not Quite Big Bob Gibson's World-Famous North Alabama White Sauce (Makes about 2 cups)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 ounces white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and refrigerate for at least one hour. Store in a sealed container; it can last a good month.
S.B. Buck's Macaroni & Cheese (Serves 8-10)
3 cups uncooked macaroni
4 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil macaroni according to package directions; wash to get starch off.
Mix all ingredients together except cm HALF cup cheese, adding macaroni last. Combine in an oven-safe pan and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Cook for 20 minutes.
Another Alabama joint in the book is Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q in Bessemer. Owner Van Sykes provided his recipe for onion rings, a long-overlooked side dish to ribs or pulled pork.
Van Sykes Classic Onion Rings
3 jumbo yellow onions
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
Oil (peanut or canola)
Slice onions into cm HALF-inch rings. Whisk milk, eggs and salt. Gradually add flour until batter is smooth. Dip onion slices.
Heat oil to 375 degrees in either a fryer or in a frying pan and fry onion slices until golden brown. Remove and place on paper towels to cool.