Recent content by Lolis Eric Elie

You're welcome Chris. It was a pleasure. Lolis

I just gave a New Orleans-centric answer to another question. It might shed more light on some of your issues. Lolis

Joe, Chris, Competition barbecuing is more blessing that curse, but it's a bit of both. On the blessing side, you got people focusing on perfect barbecue in a way that you can't if you're running a restaurant or cooking in the backyard with the kids running around and the neighbors...

Brian, Thanks for the kind words about the newsppaer column. New Orleans is starting to get some serious barbecue. But I think it has less to do with any indigenous tradition than it does with the national trend toward opening more barbecue places. Tenney Flynn, of Zydecue, is not from New...

Kevin, You've thrown Brer Rabbit into the briar patch. John Egerton is a friend and mentor of mine. He got me involved in the Southern Foodways Alliance, and for that I will forever be in his debt. In the midst of the American slavery--official and de facto--one could hardly in good...

Scott, I remember the story, but I don't remember the equipment he used. One of the competition guys in my book compares competition barbecue to playing golf. His ultimate point is that you can bring your family to a bbq competition, but when you golf, you leave them at home. There is that...

Henry, Snoots were a specifically St. Louis and East St. Louis delicacy. I knew someone in Chicago who make them, but he was an East St. Louis transplant. The snoot is mostly skin and fat. It's like cracklins, only without the little bit of meat that you often find beneath the fat of...

Scott, I think you really have to take the chains one by one to consider them. For example, Texas-based Luther's does real barbecue over real wood. That's all I ask. I'm not asking you to necessarily make the style I like or cook it to my taste. But don't put it in the oven, slap sauce on it...

Chris, You're right, it's a tough question. I'll try to come close to answering it though. I'll give you a few favorites. I like the chapter on Dreamland because Mr. Bishop was such a good talker that I was able to just get out of his way and let him talk. I like the chapter on Otis P. Boyd...

Ray, Can't help you on the dust jacket front. I tell people who have the hard cover to take the jacket off while you're reading the book or traveling with it. There are some second edition hard backs for sale at Blue Smoke in New York or via http://www.baypackage.com/smokestack_detail.php...

Clay, Not being from any of the counties of barbecue country, I was not going to get into the fight over regional differences that some people would. But you've hit the heart of my book, which is about food and identity. Comparing my barbecue to yours is not unlike comparing my mother's...

Randy, I grew up in New Orleans. It is decidedly not barbecue country. Still, I remember some excellent back yard barbecue in my youth. Also, New Orleans is a food town. So for as long as I can remember I was in search of good food. Which is to say I came to the barbecue book with very little...

Art, Think about the what barbecue is like in its non commercial setting. It's like a family picnic in the backyard. There is music playing. There's a lot of joking and talking and socializing going on. The music and the food go naturally together also. Also, black people from Chicago, white...

Chris, Frank Stewart, the book's photographer, actually compiled the updated list. I can't tell you what happened in each case. But I do know that we didn't seek to eliminate any businesses. I think your conclusion is correct. But, for what it's worth, other places have opened since then...

Joe, Shortly after "Smokestack Lightning" came out, I started work on a film based on the book with the subtitle, "A Day in the Life of Barbecue." That film goes to many of the same places I went to in doing the book. But it also included a discussion at the end between me, Danny Meyer and...