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Appalachian BBQ focus of book

© Lee Ward

I don't care if it is wintertime, there's still lots that can be done on the outdoor grill. In fact, I've always wondered why we wait until summer to get the grill out and build a fire. I mean, summertime's already too hot. Why add more heat by grilling outside?

On the other hand, wintertime is cold and a fire outside seems like a great idea. Besides, any time is a great time to taste the unique flavor of charcoal grilled mean, whether it's chicken, fish, beef or pork.

As anyone who has traveled and eaten, barbecue varies from place to place in the United States. Believe it or not, even Appalachia has its ideas about barbecue.

Georgia author Kent Whitaker has written a book, Smoke in the Mountains Cookbook: The Art of Appalachian Barbecue, which is chock full of information. It's a great handbook for barbecue and it focuses on Appalachia.

Whitaker told me he has always loved to cook, but really got into it while in college. "My wife (at the time) and I went into a Kroger and got a cheap cut of meat and a five-dollar grill," he recalls. That just made his mouth water for more.

Over the years as a marketing and public relations rep, he traveled the country and everywhere he went, he collected stories and recipes and he learned about the cooking and eating habits of the locals.

Then, after winning a cooking contest and making contact with some experts at FoodNetwork, he decided he should write a book. "I was sitting around talking to one of the guys there and he said, 'Man, you ought to write a book.' I thought that if he thought I should, I probably should."

Whitaker said he had to backtrack a bit to firm up some of the stories and data he had collected, but afterward, he easily had enough info for a book. First, Whitaker outlines the different between barbecue, grilling and direct and indirect heat and other methods of cooking. Then, he goes headlong into the barbecue, scattering throughout are mentions of different top-notch places to get barbecue, like Smokey's Hickory Smoke BBQ in Wytheville, Va., and Asheville Mennonite Church in Asheville, N.C.

I told Whitaker I was planning to fix some chicken on the grill, and he recommended marinating it in orange juice before grilling and also, he recommended this dipping sauce. He said he's fickle, but right now, it's his favorite.

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