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TENNESSEE |
“So I mean that’s the only way you can satisfy everybody is to just do the whole hog ‘cause there’s—they like too much different stuff. … Some people don't realize how much work actually goes into barbecue. They think it’s like a hamburger or something; you just put it on and a few hours later it’s done. … I’m sure they appreciate it but you know I don't think they really realize how much work actually goes into it.” – Curt Blankenship
Curt’s Smoke House
93 College Drive
Lexington, TN 38351
(731) 967-3222
Trained by some of the great pitmasters on the Lexington whole hog scene, Curt Blankenship is a young smoked meat specialist on the make. He grew up on a farm not far from the site of his restaurant, where every July 4th family and friends would gather for a whole hog feast. His grandmother would make the extra-hot sauce.
Curt bought the Smoke House from Dennis Hays in the spring of 2007. With the purchase, he inherited one of the most extraordinary whole-hog smokers in barbecuedom. Built from the shell of gas-station fuel tank, this smoker operates as a rotisserie within a massive drum. Its immensity allows him to cook a whopping fifteen whole hogs at once.
We first visited this location in 2003, when it was known as Hays Smoke House, as part of our initial foray into documenting rural Tennessee ‘cue. Visit the original Hays Smoke House page.
What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
Subject: Curt Blankenship
Date: July 23, 2008
Location: Curt’s Smoke House – Lexington, TN
Interviewer & Photographer: Rien T. Fertel
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Rien T. Fertel: This is Rien Fertel with the Southern Foodways Alliance. It is about 1:40 on a Wednesday, July 23, 2008. I’m at Curt’s Smoke House with—with Mr. Curt Blankenship. I’m going to have him introduce himself and give us his birth date, please.
Curt Blankenship: Curt Blankenship, February 6, 1978.
What made you want to get into the barbecue business?
First started getting out—I worked at Scott’s with Ricky Parker and he kind of got me into the barbecue business and got me interested in it; and worked with Rick for a while and he kind of showed me what—some of the ropes of what I didn’t know and how to run stuff and got interested in it and kind of wanted to do my own thing. And ‘cause I knew at some point Rick’s sons would take over Scott’s and you know I just didn’t—I kind of wanted to work for myself. So me and Mr. Hayes worked out a deal and started on my own.
Did you barbecue a lot at home before?
Yeah; we’ve been doing it most of all of our lives. I mean I can remember back from when I was a little boy, you know when it’s cold out, it was you know, you had to go kill hogs and stuff. So and plus my family, we have a big family and we always do a 4th of July thing of where we barbecue every year and kind of got into it doing it that way and then as I got older I got to doing it for a few other people and friends and stuff on the weekends sometimes. We’d all you know barbecue a hog or something and just kind of took an interest in it from there. And then of course I got hooked up with Ricky and just kind of kept going.
It sounds like you had hogs growing up. Did you grow up on a farm around here?
Yeah; my grandparents and them owned a dairy farm and my uncle raised hogs and stuff and, so yeah, I’ve kind of pretty much been around a farm all my life.
When you did these barbecues for July 4th and the winter like you said were they ever whole hog barbecues?
That’s always whole hog; there ain't no other way to do it around here.
Well tell me about how a family goes about cooking a whole hog. Is there a pit already there; do you have to make a new pit each time?
No; we have a pit that’s already built. And well it’s a transportable one in case we decided to move it to some—one of the other—the aunt’s or uncle’s houses and do it there this year or grand-mama’s and so it’s a portable pit but yeah it’s already built and we’ve always know(ed) how to build them ‘cause we’ve always done it and so we built it and then of course we’d always pick out a hog and kill it and scald it and scrape it and all that fun stuff and—. … We built it ourselves. It’s built out of a pipe, angle iron, and tin and then you cover the top with pasteboard.
When you do a whole hog with a family is it still a 24-hour process?
Yes; sir. Well we’ve—most of the time we’ve flipped the hog. We put it on somewhere around 1:00 in the afternoon—dinner or something like that and then we’ll flip it about midnight—1:00 in the morning and of course you know there’s always a lot of people there for that ‘cause they want to snatch ribs out but—. And then after that everybody else gets to go home and go to bed and then some unlucky soul gets to stay and finish cooking.
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You started working for Ricky Parker at Scott’s when you were 27. How were those first days never having worked in a restaurant but having a lot of experience it sounds like with whole hogs?
It was definitely new. It was [Laughs] extremely busy. Wasn’t—wasn’t really expecting it to be that busy, but Rick does a good business and I was kind of overwhelmed at first, and you know getting used to putting hogs on and flipping them over and getting them off, getting new ones on, and then you know before—after all that’s done you’ve still got the rest of your day to you know—you—to serve people and then after you get done with that you’ve still got the rest of the night to finish cooking. [Laughs] So I mean it’s—it’s definitely a long process and you have to really enjoy doing it to be in this line of work. Otherwise, you—you’re not going to make it.
So you took over this place just a little over a year ago. You already knew Mr. [Dennis] Hayes?
Yeah; we knew Dennis from past years anyway and of course dealing with him at the slaughterhouse and stuff too ‘cause at that time he owned a slaughterhouse also and—. So yeah; we already knew Dennis.
Can you just tell me a bit about him; what kind of man is he?
Dennis is a happy go lucky fellow. [Laughs] He don't—most time you see him he’s always in the same mood and pretty much the same pace. He don't get excited much and he’s a good fellow to be around and work with. I mean before I took over here he stayed on with me for about a month to make sure I had everything figured out and how to do stuff here ‘cause it’s different from what Rick does and—so but other than that it’s all pretty much the same.
Can you describe the process of cooking a whole hog here?
Well it’s not a whole lot different from what Rick does but—course you get your hog. Now mine I have to—I split mine; I cook mine in halves ‘cause I cook mine on a rotisserie style. … That’s the way Dennis done it and he—he spent a lot of money engineering a cooker to cook this way. It takes I don't know I’m going to say at least 30-percent of the work off of you, so it’s not as bad. But you take your hog and you split it and put your halves on and course you get your hickory burning. When it’s burnt down you take like a corn scoop, scoop your coals, put it in your fire boxes and start cooking.
You’re using a rotisserie system, do they [the hogs] still have to be turned?
No; I put mine on already skin up or skin—or skin down. I put mine on skin down so I never flip mine. I cook mine complete from one side.
And how long is the cooking process?
Roughly about—I can get them done in 18-hours but I prefer about 20 to 21 to let them—that way they’re not rushed up ‘cause if I have to hurry and cook them in say 16 to 18 hours then you have to really keep an eye on them and make sure you don't scorch them and burn them up or catch it on fire or anything like that.
Can you describe his pit? It’s pretty amazing.
It’s made from a—from my understanding it’s made out of a tank that goes in the ground at a gas station. And it’s—it’s separated into three sections that hold five of the platforms I guess you would call them that half—that you lay the half of hog on. There’s five to each section. And it basically just rotates the whole entire time. … I can squeeze 15 whole hogs on it but I have to take and cut them up and—and that way I can maneuver each piece kind of like putting together a puzzle to where you can squeeze more on it but that only calls for that like on big occasions—Memorial Day or 4th of July or something like that when you’ve got to cook a whole—whole lot at one time.
It runs on electricity?
Yes; all the time. Now if the electricity goes out in a storm or something then you have problems ‘cause you have to go out there and take the chains off, put a pipe wrench on it and then you have to stand there and turn it by hand.
[Laughs] How much effort does that take? Is it real heavy?
If it’s loaded with hogs; yes. It takes a lot of effort and you’ll be praying for the electricity to come back on as soon as possible.
What do you think the rotisserie does to the meat? What does it do differently?
One thing that helps me out is the—being mine is already skinned down, they’re already—they’re already standing up so all my grease—I catch all my grease, which helps them cook a little faster and you know it don't dry them out as bad. So all my grease will puddle up in the middle of the rib cage and plus what you are losing that’s dripping off the hog above it is dripping down on the hog below it, so it’s constantly dripping on the other one also so I mean I don't—I lose grease but I don't lose as much grease as you would on a—you know an old-style pit to where they cook with the skin up and a lot of their grease just drops down into their coals. Plus I—I run you know less risk of a grease fire.
Do you spice it or season it before you put it on?
Oh, not before I put it on. I may put a little salt on them sometimes just to kind of help draw some—some of the blood up out of it but for the most part not before. Now while cooking we’ll baste it with some vinegar based sauce ‘cause if we try our in-house sauce it’s ketchup—it’s got a lot of ketchup in it and the ketchup will burn and it’ll turn it black and then it makes your hog look burnt and so we use a vinegar based sauce and I use that to baste with.
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Do you also do ribs and chickens here?
Do ribs, do chickens, we do barbecue bologna, turkeys, hams—pretty much name it, I cook it. I have people bring me stuff and—that I cook you know special cook for people and I’ve done a lot of wild and crazy things and—.
[Laughs] Well like what?
A lot of people around here like barbecued goat. I don't—you know it’s not too bad and I don't mind doing that or coons or swamp rabbit is really good.
What is a swamp rabbit?
It’s like extremely over-sized rabbit. [Laughs] … It’s like three times the size of a normal rabbit. You know they’re huge. … You can get them done in about two and a half hours or three, yeah. I guess the worst thing I’ve ever had to do was beaver. I do not like barbecuing beavers though.
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Tell me why you think whole hog barbecue is so important in this area, in this county, in this city?
People around here I guess have been eating barbecue most of their lives and stuff and they come in and they know what they want. You know they know if they want shoulder meat, they know if they want tenderloin or middlin’ or you know a real lean ham meat or something like that, and if you don't have it they’re not going to eat it. So I mean that’s the only way you can satisfy everybody is to just do the whole hog ‘cause there’s—they like too much different stuff.
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To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
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