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Slingin’ Hash

Updates from Destination BBQ

05/16/22

Kindling

Hey <<First Name>>

Based on recent feedback, today, I will begin a shorter but more frequent version of the Slingin’ Hash newsletter.

In effect, I have divided the featured components I had been sending in the monthly newsletter into four parts. I will now attempt to deliver an abbreviated and (more or less) weekly newsletter.

My hope is that less will be more and, confusingly, that more will be less. We’ll see. As always, I am open to your feedback and all you have to do is hit reply and share your thoughts.

I recognized that this format may not enthuse some of you. It is not my desire to inundate your mailboxes with even more email, but to make the emails I send to those inboxes more digestible.

If this idea, doesn’t sit well with you, please let me know. As always, you have the option to unsubscribe if you simply don’t need yet another email in your life. I certainly hit that link at the bottom of lots of emails I’ve subscribed to over the years.

I hope you’ll stick around and that this newsletter offers something worth your time.

Enjoy and Happy National BBQ Day!

Jim

Playing with Fire

“Looking for a classic Kansas City-style BBQ sauce recipe to make at home? There is none better than you’ll find at Gates Bar-B-Q in Kansas City. Gate’s and Son’s barbecue sauce recipe is easy to make and tastes exactly like the traditional barbecue sauce you know and love.”

Click Here for Gates’ KC Style BBQ Sauce Recipe

Smoke Signals

—Howdy Partner

Texas BBQ continues to invade the Palmetto state on its apparent march to dominance. Today, Buc-ee’s opened in Florence.

No, it’s not a restaurant or even a food truck. Buc-ee’s is a gas station. Oh…I'm sorry. A Travel Center.

Yep.

Here’s what WMBF reported about the opening:

It’s a day that thousands of people have been waiting for – the grand opening of Buc-ee’s in Florence.

The highly anticipated travel center is the first to open in the Palmetto State.

It’s located off I-95 at the 170 interchange and will have 120 fueling pumps, clean restrooms and some favorite food options such as Texas BBQ and Beaver Nuggets.

WMBF News meteorologist Andrew Dockery and reporter Corinne McGrath were there as the first customers went into Buc-ee’s, and their first purchase was the travel center’s brisket!

A group of four friends lined up at 3 a.m. Monday so that they could be the first inside the travel center.

Now, I guess I shouldn’t denigrate this fine establishment. I mean lots of people have gotten gas while eating Texas BBQ, right?

Of course, I’d be remiss to point out that we certainly have examples of what is truly great BBQ at gas stations in and around South Carolina. There are any number of unnamed roadside cookers serving some really great ‘cue, and both Holt Bros in Effingham and Roy’s Grille in Columbia operate out of gas stations.

So, while Buc-ee’s — which does cook all its food on site — may well be great BBQ and a great “travel center” experience, I’m a bit disappointed that “thousands” of my fellow Sandlappers would be eagerly awaiting the arrival of a corporate Texas gas station when within a few miles there are mom-and-pop restaurants serving authentic SCBBQ.

Near Exit 181, you’ll find a great example at Shuler’s BBQ.

Take that same Exit 170 and drive a few miles, and you can try out Michael D’z BBQ in Mars Hill.

Drive down to Exit 164, and Woodstone Barbecue is at the foot of the off-ramp.

And at Exit 160, you’ll find Holt Bros, Wholy Smokin’, Roger’s, and Cain’s within a reasonable distance from the exit.

Want to find true SCBBQ within 10 miles of an interstate exit in our state? Check out our Interstate Road Guide series.

Hot ‘n Fast

— Ironically… — If you haven’t heard this episode of Tales from the Pits (yes, a Texas BBQ podcast), you might enjoy listening to South Carolina’s own Robert Moss discuss “topics ranging from modern barbecue, historical barbecue, and Robert's daunting task of composing Southern Living's 50 Best Barbecue Places in the South list”

— SCBBQ Platter — With all the Texas stuff adulterating this newsletter, I thought I simply share a photo of some SC BBQ for you to enjoy:

The Smoke Ring

In each edition, we’ll metaphorically spin the SCBBQ globe and randomly select an SC BBQ joint to spotlight.

This time, the globe stopped spinning on The War Mouth in Cottontown.

With a motto of “celebrating the pleasures of living where we do,” the one constant at The War Mouth is the desire to creatively redefine traditional South Carolina dishes.

“It’s a love letter to the 803,” said Porter Barron, one of the partners behind The War Mouth.

“All of us grew up in the Midlands, so we wanted to have a menu with the stuff we ate at our grandparents’ houses when we were younger—pit barbecue, chicken bog, catfish stew,” explained Rhett Elliott, co-owner and head chef of The War Mouth.

“Every side of my family is from this area, so I really wanted to cook the kind of stuff we do at home.”

Check out The War Mouth