| Even by my standards it's daunting to know that we | | | | near the bottom of the barrel that we throw into the |
| had to cook 30 pork shoulders, 25 whole chickens and | | | | bottom of the barbeque pit. |
| a whole bunch of ribs in order to feed to 700 or more | | | | On the perimeter of the cinder block pit, on top of the |
| people, and we had to do it all in less than 24 hours. | | | | steel screen we use as a grill top, we stacked another |
| The last Saturday in September our church holds its | | | | layer of blocks to hold a cover for the meat. We |
| annual homecoming celebration, welcoming back folks | | | | covered the pit occasionally when the coals got a little |
| who are members, have been members, want to be | | | | too hot, allowing the coals to cool to let the smoke be |
| members and anyone who has visited in the last 40 | | | | distributed throughout the pit. |
| years. It's always quite a party, with far more folks | | | | Through the night, all of us guys took turns adding |
| than our present membership attending. | | | | wood to the barrel, scooping out coals to spread under |
| Like most southern churches, we wouldn't dream of | | | | the cooking meat and slathering the pork shoulders, |
| having anything but barbeque for our celebration. Our | | | | chicken and ribs with a special vinegar based |
| congregation is not much different from other | | | | barbeque sauce that we invented several years ago. |
| churches in that there are always a few men who are | | | | No one ever complains about the sauce or the |
| experienced barbeque cooks, me included. We make | | | | barbeque! |
| our own, complete with all the trimmings! | | | | By noon on Saturday the meat is done. The chickens |
| Preparation for the big event begins the week before, | | | | and ribs were added to the grill screen much later than |
| when we order the meat, potato chips, potato salad, | | | | the pork shoulders, timed for both to be ready at the |
| baked beans, bread, rolls, tea, soft drinks, salt, pepper | | | | same time. We had a long table set up to hold the |
| and gallons of barbeque sauce, both hot and mild. We | | | | aluminum pans where we would store the barbequed |
| have folks in charge of each item to make sure we | | | | pork, barbequed chickens and barbequed ribs. There |
| haven't missed ordering anything. | | | | was quite a crew of us working and as we were |
| This annual barbeque festival is held outdoors unless it | | | | finishing, the first of the hungry church members began |
| rains. Some of us set up tables, table cloths, napkins, | | | | arriving. |
| paper towels, chairs, trash cans, ice chests, plates, | | | | Other church members had been working just as hard |
| plastic cups and knives, forks, spoons, salt, pepper and | | | | as those of us cooking and preparing the meat. They |
| plenty of hot barbeque sauce! For those with a | | | | had been laying aside mountains of potato salad, |
| delicate palate, we also have mild barbeque sauce. If it | | | | potato chips, pickles, vinegar based as well as |
| looks as if the weather is not going to cooperate, we | | | | mayonnaise based slaw, and what seemed to be a |
| move the whole thing indoors! | | | | truck load of bread and rolls! Gallons of iced tea, cokes |
| Late Friday afternoon, the day before the celebration, | | | | and water rounded out the meal. If one could survive |
| we set up the barbeque pit out back on the church | | | | all that, there were still 3 tables sagging under the |
| property. Stacked next to the storage building behind | | | | weight of cakes, pies, puddings and cookies for those |
| the church, there are approximately 300 concrete | | | | with a sweet tooth! |
| blocks, blackened from barbeque fires of years past, | | | | Last year's cookout was a huge success, with 30 |
| which are swiftly laid onto the site of last year's | | | | pork shoulders, 25 chickens and more ribs than I could |
| cookout. The pit itself is about 4 feet wide, 20 feet | | | | count, being devoured by either the folks in attendance, |
| long and roughly 40 inches high. | | | | or those that took food home to shut-ins who couldn't |
| On each end of the pit, we leave an opening large | | | | make the picnic. We finished the clean up from the |
| enough to toss glowing embers we take from our fire | | | | celebration about midnight, just in time to go home, |
| barrel. We keep a roaring fire of hickory logs going in a | | | | sleep a little and get ready for church the next morning. |
| 55 gallon barrel. We shovel coals from an opening | | | | |