Southern

Cooking Method: Direct Heat Suggested Wood: Hickory, Pecan These pinwheels were developed in the kitchens at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q as a part of a campaign for the National Pork Board. This is not your typical "low and slow" barbecue recipe, but rather an "ode to pork," a direct-grilled recipe that features both pork tenderloin and pork bacon. Add some pecans and a traditional Carolina mustard sauce and you have an appetizer or entreé with true Southern flair.

Well, here it is, the bane of North Carolina barbecue. I don't know if it's the addition of mustard that brings frowns to the faces of North Carolina barbecue purists or the fact that this is a South Carolina sauce, but this sauce certainly illustrates the diverging tastes and traditions of barbecue in the Carolinas. Throughout the 1700s, South Carolina drew a large contingent of immigrant German families. These new settlers brought with them ideas and advancements on ways to farm, as well as an affinity for the flavor of mustard. Even today, many of the families that produce mustard barbecue sauce have a German heritage, most notably the Bessinger family.

In the South, we have a tradition of ushering recipes from era to era and family to family. Secret sauces are passed down from generation to generation. That's certainly the case here. Our Barbecue Seasoning and Barbecue Sauce have evolved over time, and the versions that follow have benefited from the contributions of countless kin through the years. Now that we are passing our family secrets along to you, it's your job to share them with others. We enjoy changing up recipes ans seeing what happens, and we encourage you to do the same. Who knows? You may come up with a secret sauce or rub that's better than our own! Of course, the keys to full-flavored barbecue—indeed, one of the keys to any great-tasting dish—are fresh ingredients and spices. Don't be reaching in the back of the cupboard for some tired old tin of paprika. You want great ribs? Start with fresh spices. Everyone down South knows that a good grill seasoning (or "dry rub," as it's called in Memphis) begins with paprika. We use the basic paprika that is not labeled "sweet" or "hot." The flavor is subtly sweet, rich, and yet mild, so it blends beautifully with grilled meats. Sugar and onion powder provide a sweet and savory counterpoint. Keep in mind that you will be cooking over charcoal and hickory (or your preferred wood), which will add tremendous flavor to the meat. For that reason, this seasoning blend is fairly simple and straightforward. For the best flavor, marinate the spice-rubbed meats overnight in the refrigerator, so they can absorb and "breathe in" the flavors.

Pat: Broccoli in cornbread—who knew? But sometimes you need to go to great lengths, and be very crafty, to get your kids to eat more vegetables. The result in this instance is a moist, incredibly satisfying cornbread that gets added richness from both cottage and cheddar cheese. We call for frozen broccoli, which makes this recipe easy enough to whip together in the time it takes your oven to preheat. (You can also use 2 1/2 cups of fresh steamed broccoli.)

Good for Slathering: Pork; chicken, turkey, duck; beef; lamb: It doesn't get any easier than this! And this mop is probably what 90 percent of the competition barbecuers use—with maybe a little beer mixed in for good measure!

Pat: Our first taste of national recognition came in 1997, when our pork ribs were voted "the best ribs in Memphis" by the local media. After the votes were cast, the Today show came calling. Tony and I wound up being featured on a segment with Al Roker. Al's enthusiasm for our cooking made others take notice—it was a big moment. It's important to note that we did not become rib masters overnight. It took time to learn the appropriate techniques. Tender, slow-cooked spare ribs require a certain amount of skill and experience. We got ours, and now we are going to give you yours. Gina: All I can say about ribs is: Girl, get yourself a man that can grill and let him light it up!

Good for Slathering: Pork; beef; duck; ribs My students make this barbecue sauce every month in my Southern-barbecue classes. It is the only red sauce that we make in the class, and we always double the recipe because the class slathers it on everything! This sauce has been printed in many places and thousands of students have the recipe, but I couldn't write a sauce chapter and not include it here. The Dr. Pepper gives this sauce an edge over most basic sweet barbecue sauces.

Pat: When it comes to summertime in the South, fresh peaches rule. We put them in ice cream, pie, and cobbler. We pack them in mason jars and cover them with syrup. No getting around it: we have never met a peach-and-sugar dish that we didn’t like. When we were kids, Momma Daisy had several peach trees in her backyard. She’d give my brothers and me a big basket, and we would go out and pick them right off the tree. Next thing you knew, she was making cobbler—man, was that a treat. Needless to say, that was always a fun trip, and now we get to relive it by sharing her recipe with you.

Ma'Dear, my maternal grandmother, would sun-brew gallon jars full of Sweet Goodness on sweltering hot summer days. Recollections of those containers full of cinnamon-colored tea sitting on her back porch bring back sweet memories of simpler days. This version will satisfy the snootiest of Sweet Tea connoisseurs (read: my mom) and won't give drinkers an insulin spike since it is sweetened with agave nectar.

Soundtrack: "Sankofa" by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Tony Allen from Allen Chop Up and "Sankofa" by Cassandra Wilson from Blue Light 'Til Dawn This recipe was the seed of Vegan Soul Kitchen... a brand new classic, if you will, dedicated to my home city in the mid-South—Memphis, Tennessee.

Where we come from, barbecue means a great sauce, like this one, and good old chicken, the mainstay of our family business.

This recipe, from my old sous chef Mitch SuDock, makes the best fried chicken ever. We used to make brined pork at JUdson Grill, and he started using the brine to make fried chicken for our nightly staff meal. The benefit of brine is that the batter keeps the seasoning from penetrating the meat, but the brine works its way in. Keep a close eye on the thermometer when frying; try to maintain a temperature of 300°F, which will cook the chicken through without burning the exterior.

Fried chicken in the South has many variations. Here, a buttermilk marinade helps keep the meat tender and juicy underneath crisp, golden skin; pepper-speckled gravy and bacon add savor and smoke.

Grits are often made with water, but the addition of whole milk—not to mention thick-cut bacon and fried eggs—turns a workhorse into a thoroughbred.

There's no doubt these are some seriously cheesy biscuits, but dill adds a dose of herbal brightness, making them the ideal partner for grits with rosemary bacon (page 61) and fried eggs.