The Dish: Store-bought barbecue a delight right from fridge | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC

The Dish: Store-bought barbecue a delight right from fridge By Liz Biro Star-News Correspondent Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 7:40 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 12:52 p.m.

When I was a kid growing up in eastern North Carolina in the '70s, my mother often served chopped pork barbecue for dinner. The wax-paper tub of ready-to-heat, vinegar-seasoned meat came from a supermarket cooler. It was a quick-fix meal for my working mom, but it didn't taste good, even to us newly transplanted Jerseyites, who had never previously owned a grill. External Links: Click here to read more of The Dish from Liz Biro Later, as an adult smitten with true eastern Carolina pulled pork, I would recall those childhood experiences whenever I encountered awful barbecue. "Where'd this come from," I'd think to myself. "The grocery store?" So I wasn't excited to hear Leland's Piggly Wiggly (112 Village Road) was selling barbecue. A taste of the Pig's pork changed my mind, and I'm munching on ribs from the store's deli as I write this column. The tender, smoky ribs coated in chipotle-spiked rub taste so good cold from the refrigerator that I haven't bothered reheating them. The ribs come courtesy of SmokeRise BBQ (www.SmokeRiseBBQ.com), a Winder, Ga., company that puts competition-worthy barbecue in supermarkets. SmokeRise rejects precooked, prepackaged products in favor of in-store, wood-burning, smoker ovens trained pitmasters use to cook meats daily. When SmokeRise's Tony Mathis showed me the Pig's giant, stainless steel cooker, he was sure to open a chamber where hickory logs glowed. The smokers and the company's recipes are the same as those used by barbecue competition cooks. Mathis, a former barbecue restaurant owner, cooked alongside some of them. Besides chopped barbecue in sweet or vinegar sauces, SmokeRise offers smoked wings, hams, turkeys, salmon, whole chickens, St. Louis-style ribs, chicken salad and Texas-style beef brisket along with barbecue sauces and Butt Rub (www.buttrub.com), the delicious seasoning on my ribs. "We've got some Brunswick stew coming out in a few minutes if you can wait," he said. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay, but lucky me: I still have three ribs in the refrigerator.

Great barbecue comes to Brooklet (Archive)

Great barbecue comes to Brooklet Jan Moore 1 of 1 By JAN MOORE jmoore@statesboroherald.com Posted: Aug. 17, 2008 6:23 p.m. Updated: Sept. 1, 2008 5 a.m. I had the opportunity this weekend to witness one amazing machine in action. On Saturday after running the 5K Peanut Run in Brooklet, I went to Ken's IGA on Highway 80 to see for myself the state-of-the-art "monster" barbeque oven that store owner Ken NeSmith has installed behind his grocery store. "Wow" is all I can say. It really is remarkable. NeSmith hired the SmokeRise BBQ company out of Winder, GA to come in and set up his barbeque "center". SmokeRise brings in the self-basting, fully automated oven, oversees its installation, provides all of the barbeque spices and sauces, and trains their customers how to operate the machinery. The result - an ability to cook up to 150 pork butts at a time or 170 chickens. According to SmokeRise co-owner Mark Little, their setup is state-of-the-art in the BBQ business. "We specialize in producing world class, competition style BBQ in a grocery store setting," Little said. "We have been perfecting this concept for the last several years. Now we have launched it as SmokeRise." "We place a full self-serve deli in a conventional grocery store," he said. "This food is based on award winning recipes from the professional BBQ circuit. It is super high quality food that is slow cooked on site with professional equipment. I assure you this is far from your typical grocery store deli offering." At this time, Little and his partner are only working with independent grocery store owners like NeSmith who are very hands own and willing to follow their formula. "We want store owners that oversee the cooking process, and who want to be very involved," Little said. "That is why we only work with independent grocery store owners." NeSmith said he decided the barbeque center was the perfect opportunity to provide his customers with already prepared take home items for meals. "People are busy, and I have always wanted to address that need," NeSmith said. "This seemed like the perfect way to do that. Everybody loves barbeque and the sides that typically come with it, and that is what we have now - real barbeque and great side dishes." NeSmith is selling barbequed pork butts, chopped pork, barbequed chickens, and ribs. In addition, he has coleslaw, potato salad, and banana pudding as well as some other side dishes. "It is one stop shopping for dinner," he said. Little said the response has been tremendous since the oven cranked up last Monday. "I have lost count of how much we have cooked this week. Brooklet and Statesboro residents have been very responsive and supportive." For you BBQ aficionados (aren't we all in this neck of the woods) here are some details. The wood being used to flavor the BBQ is pecan, and Bad Byron's Butt Rub BBQ seasoning is being used to season the meat. Subscribe to the Statesboro Herald Email Article | Print Article | Sign Up for Our Email Newsletter