The Porter Family celebrated Father's Day this year at the Smokehouse Grill near Jefferson, SC, whereas my Brother Allen invited us to an afternoon BBQ outing at his home on 06-28-14 of which is the subject of this short story.  I commented about a title for the short story and he recommended calling it Sandlapper BBQ since several would be coming from South Carolina which are referred to as sandlappers and he is only a few miles from SC himself.

My brother has been doing BBQs on the large oil drum type cookers for many decades and he certainly knows how to cook for a crowd and he is a Grill Master for certain.  My bride and I arrived a little bit early in hopes to pick up a few BBQing points while he still had the cooker going but ole Bro as I call him, doesn't reveal too many of his "secrets" like sauces and dry rubs, etc., but I can manage to weasel and ferret out some crucial bits of Intel in a very subtle and crafty way when needed.

Allen is aware that I am "Like an unplugged refrigerator, I can't keep anything" and do post many things on this website aka my personal blog, therefore he has a right to be apprehensive about "secret recipes" but I can keep a secret when needed.........gin if you must!

When my bride and I arrived at Allen and Betty Jo's home, Allen was tending the cooker and below are a few pixs of him doing his thing at his oil drum charcoal fired "pig cooker" which got a work out today for sure:

Allen has a charcoal tray at each end of the cooker in case he needs to use only one half of the cooking area (grill real-estate) for a smaller crowd.  He plans to add gas burners but I can vouch that the charcoal smoke flavor is hard to beat.  Many claim they cannot tell the difference between gas grilled versus charcoal grilled BBQ and all I can say is that person's taste buds and nose are operating at a very diminished level of efficiency!

Well, I know what you are thinking, "Where's The Beef" and it was with great anticipation and excitement when he finally raised the lid on the cooker and what wonderful smoke aroma immediately permeated its way into my nostrils from the pork and chicken on the grate.  It would be fantastic if our technology would expand and allow "Smellavision" from the desktop, laptop, IPad or IPhone, etc. but that is probably light years away.  Ok, I have kept you in suspense long enough, here you go:

All of the above meat groups had beautiful color, grill marks with a pronounced dark crust aka bark on the outside which is a treasure trove of delicious flavors enhancing the taste and texture of the meat!  

I noticed Allen has a thermometer monitoring his grid temperature next to the meat which is registering about 225 degrees and about 25 degrees higher reading than the top of the lid thermometer which is the way to keep track of the temperature.  He runs the temp somewhere around 225 degrees for a longer smoke and cook time.  I normally insert a digital meat thermometer probe in the largest section of the meat to closely monitor the internal meat temperature and shoot for an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. for true pulled pork but he has been grilling much longer than myself, especially with the larger oil drum type cookers.

Above Pork Shoulder, Chicken and Ribs served with delicious sides of BBQ Beans, Potato Salad, Deli-style slaw, Marinated-style red slaw, Rolls, Squash casserole; Desserts;  Banana Pudding,  Coconut Cream Pie, Layered Cake, etc. and various soft drinks, etc.  Can you say "Beautimous" out loud?"

While Bro and myself were chatting, our sister Susie came down and snapped a few pixs and I captured her digitally at the same time:

It wasn't long before some of the chicken and ribs were ready to place in a cooler to retain their moisture and heat while he loaded more chicken quarters, etc. onto the cooker expanded metal grid surface:

With the ribs removed, the grill was reloaded with chicken and we headed inside to get some visit time in.  Betty Jo's sister Kay and her friend JJ came in along with Kay's twin grand boys Tyler and Will: 

Kay chilling out with Jessie checking things out as well:

Betty Joe and Allen's oldest daughter Cammie arrived with her husband Joey while Allen and myself were monitoring the cooker.  Joey, former US Coast Guard member came down and we talked about some depressing Correctional issues and glad I am retired from that former employment:

Joey is on the left in the pix below along with my Sister Susie in the background and a partial pix of my Number One Brother-in-Law Doug:

Monica, Betty Jo and Allen's youngest daughter was present with her husband Jason, daughter Kambrie and son Porter.  One word of caution:  Don't get behind Jason in a food line, you might come up short.  That young man can put away some groceries.........go ahead and grin now Jason:

Kambrie and Porter posed for a pix after a little coaxing:

Monica with a big grin:

Jason's Dad Ronnie (center of pix) and Step-Mother Martha below:

In the thumbnail pixs is one of Martha with her Grand Daughter Trinity.

Below my Sister Susie and Doug:

Sister Susie with some type of hand motion going on:

Doug kicking back ready for some vittles:

My sister snapped a pix of yours truly and my bride and emailed it to me last night:

Click on below thumbnail pixs for a larger screen view:

After everyone enjoyed that scrumptious food, we continued to have fellowship with one another until it was time to depart for our homes.  Allen had purposely prepared extra pork and chicken, whereas each family could take home some of the food for later usage and below is a pix of the Boston butts he shared with each family:

Boston butts don't get any prettier than the above ones until the taste buds have total control over them!

In closing, we had a great pre July 4th celebration with family and friends and what more could you ask for?  The friendship and fellowship of family are two of the greatest ships that ever sailed and life without family and friends would be a hard road to travel indeed.

A special thank you to my Brother Allen and his bride Betty Jo for their warm and gracious hospitality  allowing us to share some excellent food and creating lasting memories.

My prayer is for all to be safe during the upcoming July 4th Holiday (Independence Day) and a reminder that our Freedom comes at a very heavy cost paid for in full by the many thousands of men and women who have given their lives that we may enjoy Freedom as we know it today.

Without Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, none of this would be possible because it was God that created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is above, below and upon it, whereas we are in the likeness of his own image. Thank God for our Salvation and it was Jesus that gave his own life that we might have eternal life.

John 3:16 KJV Bible

Happy July Fourth Holiday To All!

Web published on 06-29-14 by Bill aka Mickey Porter.