By Mackensy Lunsford
Photos By Matt Rose
The true-blue hub of the barbecue world has long been hotly debated, but North Carolina is certainly in the running for the title. Style battles have long existed between the coastal and Appalachian regions over sauce and preferred pig parts: Western North Carolina tends to stick with the pork shoulder while Eastern Carolina literally goes whole hog.
For sauce, the east is partial to spicy vinegar-based concoctions, while westerners prefer theirs thick with tomato. Whatever the end result, suffice it to say that Carolinians take their ‘cue pretty seriously.
Travel down just about any lonesome Carolina highway with a sharp eye and an empty belly, and the signs of good barbecue will reveal themselves to the weary traveler. Any barbecue aficionado worth his mettle, and in search of a lunchtime oasis can spot them. A grinning pig is a good sign. A grinning and dancing pig is even better. To glimpse a blackened and battle-scarred smoker or chimney belching a wood-scented "come hither" into the southern sky, however, is to have stumbled upon the heart and soul of the pit. Smoke is the sign of the real deal and a promise of tender meat redolent with the flavor of the fire. Smoke, as far as barbecue is concerned, is the word.
Few understand this better than Starr Teel, the owner of Hubba Hubba Smokehouse in Flat Rock. For Teel, there’s no question that the secret to good barbecue is in the smoking. "First and foremost, understanding the importance of wood fire is a time-honored tradition — there is no corner to cut," he says.
It is apparent that Teel lives and breathes this sentiment. The heart of his carryout-only restaurant is an 880-square-foot room dominated by a gargantuan built-in smoke chamber that starts at the floor and rises all the way to the ceiling. Teel must step high on a ladder to reach the top shelves behind the blackened, heavy metal doors. Before he retires at night, he stokes the wood fires and carefully rotates giant pork shoulders and whole chickens that have already been slowly roasting for hours. When his alarm sounds in the morning, it’s back to his wall of fire and smoke to empty the racks and start the cycle again.
Careful attention is paid to the bottom compartments of the ovens — hellfire-hot chambers that hold a proprietary mixture of oak, apple and hickory woods —meticulously tended to maintain the optimal degree of heat. He has learned how to control the temperature surrounding the briskets, butts and chickens to hover between 200 and 225 degrees, the ribs around 250 to 275 degrees. This is done only with wood, fire and know-how — no gas lines flow to his smokehouse.
To Teel, it’s this dedication and reverence to the old artisan practice that produces the best barbecue. Fifteen hours minimum in the smoker and his perfected dry rub create the much sought-after "bark," the flavorful crust that hardens on the outside of the meats. The slow, yet precise cooking in the hardwood smoke produces an end result that is meltingly tender and flavorful. All of the meat is served up sans sauce, and it suffers not a bit for it.
"When you go back and honor the craft, honor the smoke and the burn, then all of a sudden you’re getting the subtleties that the masters are getting," Teel says. "The masters are doing it this way, and this is what we have tried to honor in both the design and construction of what we’re doing here."
All of this careful attention seems to have paid off, at least according to Teel’s fans who regularly stop by to pay their respects and load up their plates.
Mr. and Mrs. Burns, a couple of self-avowed barbecue experts from Alabama, sidle up to declare that the food at Hubba Hubba is nothing short of a gift. "I used to travel in sales, and my car had a smoke detector, and it would just automatically pull into barbecue places" Mr. Burns explained. "I’ve tried every barbecue place in the South..."
"...and you’ve blown all of them away!" interrupted his wife. "You’ve even beat out Memphis."
As the couple departs, Teel mulls over the beauty of barbecue. "It transcends all socioeconomic groups. And if you do it well, they are going to come from miles away." Barbecue is, Teel continues, "one of the most basic food experiences — one of the most primal in many ways. It’s fire and smoke, and everybody can relate to it."
Starr's Spicy Sauce
Starr Teel provided this recipe for a simple, fiery, Latin-inspired barbecue sauce, scribbled on a paper bag in magic marker as hungry customers began to line up outside his service window:
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound tomatillos, husks removed and chopped
1-2 jalapeños
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp red pepper flake
1 tsp crushed cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp honey
1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauté garlic in a large, heavy pan until lightly toasted. Remove pan from heat while adding tomatillos and jalapeños. Stir in red pepper and cumin. Cook on low for about 10 minutes, let cool, add honey then puree. Squeeze lime into mixture to taste, and stir in cilantro. A small amount of vinegar may be added for extra zing.
Excellent over shredded barbecue pork tacos.
