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brothers, son and nephew direct the pit, a moment of art in motion, watching them pour generations of skills into the craft of barbecue. That first morsel, a symphony of crispy golden glistening pork bits with the juiciest, most flavorful barbecue I have ever tried, truly blew my mind. I savored every bite, realizing this is barbecue in its purest form. Sadly, Carolina barbecue has often been misunderstood due to the vinegar-based styles of barbecue sauces. The Carolinas have three styles of barbecue sauce: Eastern North Carolina, the most traditional barbecue sauce with vinegar and spices; Western North Carolina, a mix of light ketchup, vinegar and spices; and South Carolina, known for its mustard-based vinegar sauce. Eastern North Carolina vinegar-based barbecue sauce is a true and original taste of history. Admittingly, I have puckered my lips to some vinegar-based barbecue sauces that overpowered the hog. I realized that the quality of the hog and balance of acid, spice and sweetness in making a traditional Eastern North Carolina vinegar based barbecue sauce is key to experiencing the magic of whole-hog barbecue — and no one does it better than Ed Mitchell. According to Ed Mitchell, mastering the craft of barbecue takes patience and skill; you must be committed and love the craft . Mitch ell’s style of cooking whole-hog barbecue is generational, passed down from many of the men in Wilson, equipped with generations of oral wisdom on how to build a fire, bank the coals, taper the fire down and break the hog down until it becomes the most succulent piece of meat that can feed an entire community. Mitchell reflected on his style of cooking: “Most people are taught to cook whole-hog barbecue low and slow. My way is to start the coals at a high temperature and taper them down.” Of course, it took years of practice and error for Mitchell to master his style of barbecue, and many of his stories of trial and error were shared in his cookbook Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque (HarperCollins, 2024). Mitchell carries these stories and skills as a badge of honor, always paying homage to the legacy of unrecog nized Black pitmasters who shared a swig of moonshine, tended the fire, and taught him life lessons in the wee hours of the night as the hog cooked in a pit nurtured with deep love for community. Ed Mitchell shared so many memories of growing up in Wilson during the best and worst of times in Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque . One story that still warms my heart was when Mitchell was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, and he longed for some good barbecue and his mother’s cooking. When he finally came home after serving in Da Nang, Vietnam, the entire community and his family prepared a feast, a “pig pickin’” where the cooked hog is set on a table and mopped with vinegar-based barbecue sauce, ready for the community to pick their favorite parts of the hog. Mitchell credits his mother Doretha Mitchell, now in her 90s, and the women of Wilson for preparing all of the beautiful side dishes and traditional vinegar-based sauce that accompany every pig pickin’ as well as whenever the spirit moves them to host a barbecue. Ms. Doretha taught Ed Mitchell how to make her famous sauce that continues to live in the memory of every Ed Mitchell fan. Most Americans today identify barbecue sauce by its tangy molasses-ketchup flavor. However, before there were ketchup and mustard condiments, vinegar was used for preserving and seasoning meat proteins. According to barbecue historian Robert Moss, many magazines and cookbooks throughout the 19th century documented

Known as “The Pitmaster” in barbeque circles, Ed Mitchell has been cooking traditional whole hog barbeque since he was a teenager in Wilson, North Carolina. His son, Ryan, grew up immersed in the world of barbecue.

this vinegar-based barbecue sauce. In 1896, Harper’s Weekly published an article describing a Georgia barbecue sauce as “a compound of sweet country lard and the strongest vinegar, made thick and hot with red and black pepper.” By 1917, a Black preacher from Goldsboro, North Carolina named Adam Scott opened a barbecue restaurant, believing that his vinegar-based barbecue sauce came from a dream. Scott sold his commercial barbecue sauce to the public for decades, and it is still in production today. The secret to Eastern North Carolina vinegar-based barbecue sauce is the perfect balance of acidity and spice. The same ingredi ents in the sauce are used to baste the hog at the final hour of cooking: apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. The sauce is used only to brighten a perfect piece of meat just before serving, never drowning the meat in sauce; it is the perfect complement to hours of overnight labor. Also, the quality of meat is integral to traditional Eastern North Carolina whole-hog barbecue. In 2022, Ed Mitchell was inducted into the Black BBQ Hall of Fame and the National Barbecue Hall of Fame. Mitchell’s remark able story will be forever memorialized in his cookbook, Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque , that not only shares his secrets to whole-hog cooking but also shares his family’s old-fashioned vinegar-based barbecue sauce. Mother Doretha, Mitchell’s mother, shared with readers that the most important ingredient in Eastern North Carolina cooking is love .

28 ROUSES SUMMER 2024