I have driven Interstate 10 from Los Angeles to New Orleans and back again so many times that I know it as well as Michael Price, a Glen Burnie gearhead who drove a yellow Ford Torino in high school, knew Ritchie Highway.
Last week, I told you about Kerrville, Texas and a cooler low on provisions that magically filled itself after I started giving away food to strangers. This week, we’re at a food and music festival in Port Allen, a river town on the west bank of the Mississippi between I-10 and Highway 190 in greater Baton Rouge.
Here, I sit in the hand-built, fire-engine-red barbecue wagon of a man who grew up speaking French on a rice farm south of Lafayette. His name is Wayne Abshire, and when he’s not telling factories what they need to do to meet state and federal environmental regulations, he’s winning cooking contests.
Outside the wagon, a middle-aged man is warbling his way through “Hey Jude” on stage, as folks sell goodies to raise money for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Danny Thomas’ gift to the sick kids of the world.
Inside, “Tee Wayne” offers samples of pork ribs, pulled pork and brisket — the breastplate muscle of a cow and the hardest to cook just right because it is so tough — that are so good I want to stand on my head and whistle blues by Robert “Barbecue Bob” Hicks through a kazoo.
No vegetables, no salad, no starch.
Just a paper plate of smoked meat and a bottle of Deer Park water to cleanse the palate.
“I buy more meat than I need to compete, I cook more than I need, and then I pick the pieces that turn out best,” said Abshire, who has won contests in everything from etouffee to pork cracklins. “I start with 10 racks of ribs and pick the prettiest three for competition.”
After Hurricane Gustave hit the Gulf Coast early last month, Abshire volunteered to cater a barbecue for the local sheriff’s office.
Today, Abshire and his teammate, Brian Lipps, are in Lynchburg, Va., competing against the best barbecue cooks in the nation in the 20th annual Jack Daniel’s Barbecue Championship.
Here’s one hint he let slip on his way to winning first place in ribs, pulled pork and brisket at the Oct. 11 cook-off here: Add crushed nut shells to your charcoal in the smoking process.
“The sweeter the nut off the tree,” said Abshire. “The better the flavor in the meat.”
Rafael Alvarez can be reached at [email protected]
