Pitmasters meet to define Chicago barbecue
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Daniel Hammond (Smoky Soul BBQ), Ron Conner (U Want Dat Smoke BBQ). Brian Jupiter (Ina Mae Tavern) and Dominique Leach (Lexington Betty) at a barbecue summit this year. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
While Texas, Memphis and the Carolinas hog up the national barbecue spotlight, our own delectable smoked meats often get overlooked.
Why it matters: Chicago BBQ deserves documentation and a spot on the national stage.
Driving the news: Pitmasters Dominique Leach (Lexington Betty), Brian Jupiter (Ina Mae Tavern), Daniel Hammond (Smoky Soul) and Ron Conner (U Want Dat Smoke BBQ) joined writer Mike Gebert and me at Leach's restaurant in Pullman to chew on the topic with Chicago Food Historians' Catherine Lambrecht.
The big picture: Chicago barbecue was heavily influenced by Delta pitmasters arriving during the Great Migration and by German and Eastern European sausage makers whose combined skills produced rib tips and hot links.
- Hammond also credits German and Jewish immigrants with creating a North Side BBQ featuring corned beef and pastrami.
- Conner gives the biggest barbecue props to South Siders from the Delta, including the Robinsons of Robinson's Ribs from Mississippi and the Collins brothers from Arkansas, "who put the spice in hot links and helped create Mumbo sauce."
Between the lines: BBQ had a bad reputation early on.
- "It was seen as dirty and poor, and rib tips were considered garbage meat," Leach said.
- "But like so many other things in our culture, we found a way to make gold out of it, no different from chitlins or hog maws or pig feet. These things define what American cuisine is, and that's what soul food is all about."
The intrigue: Chicago's signature aquarium smoker emerged in the 1950s when local health inspectors rejected Texas-style brick pits as too dirty, Gebert explained.
- The metal-and-glass smoker was easier to clean and enabled pitmasters to display their delicacies in the upper chamber.
- Yes but: It's dangerous.
Threat level: "You're gonna get the best product off the aquarium smoker, but it's probably the most unsafe thing to cook on," Leach said. "I don't know how places get insurance to use it."
- The cooks warned of glass shattering during temperature shifts but also the risk of igniting the whole chamber if you open the door to the lower pit at the wrong time. That's why many cooks keep a hose nearby.
What's next: A new generation is reaching beyond tips and links to smoke up succulent beef brisket and chicken. Jupiter is even exploring barbecued alligator.