Author Joe Haynes (Photo by Jay Paul)
“The people in this part of the country, bordering the James River, are extremely fond of an entertainment which they call a barbecue. It consists in a large party meeting together, either under some tree, or in a house, to partake of a sturgeon or pig roasted in the open air, on a sort of hurdle, over a slow fire.” —Issac Weld, 1795
Richmond magazine: Is Virginia the birthplace of Southern barbecue?
Joe Haynes: The history of Southern barbecue begins in southeastern Virginia. Barbecue was a concurrent discovery — it didn’t start in one place and spread, everyone added their own influences. In Virginia, that’s the cradle of our nation, and that’s where civilization spread. Southern barbecue was created first in Virginia.
RM: What would you say to people who don’t believe that?
Haynes: The false narrative that barbecue was “born” in the Caribbean has been copied from writer to writer without question so much that people just seem to accept it as fact … writers were confusing the origin of our word “barbecue” and the origin of barbecue itself. What we have is a collab between English colonists and Native Americans in Virginia. European colonists added their seasonings and spices to the Powhatan barbecuing technique, and Southern barbecue was born.
RM: How would you define Southern barbecue? What makes it unique?
Haynes: In Virginia, Southern barbecue is any meat slowly cooked directly over coals, without a flame. One important point is Southern barbecue is never cooked over flames; only over glowing coals. It is basted with a mixture of vinegar, oil, cayenne pepper, salt, herbs and spices. That’s the original Southern barbecue. Today, for a variety of reasons including health department regulations and fire codes, Southern barbecue is also cooked inside brick or metal barbecue pits using indirect heat. But the basic ingredients are still there, such as the spicy and tangy sauces and the smoke from hardwood.
RM: What is this “hash” barbecue I’ve heard about?
Haynes: Hashed barbecue is made by barbecuing beef, pork or chicken in a usual way. Once it has been barbecued, it is shredded and put in a pot along with seasonings or barbecue sauce and is simmered. Some of my earliest memories of eating barbecue as a child include this style of Virginia barbecue.
RM: Where can you find “hash” barbecue in Richmond?
Haynes: Alexander’s and Hawk’s still do the hash style of barbecue.
RM: Is there anything you consider off-limits in terms of Virginia barbecue?
Haynes: You can take any of these base [vinegar and tomato] sauces and doctor them, but you have to stay true to Virginia. If you start putting jalapeno in there, that’s Texas. Here, they grew cayenne, fish peppers and bird peppers. ... We don’t do mustard-based sauce, we put mustard in there, but not the base. In Virginia, we’re also a little more civilized, we eat barbecue on plates, not those shiny metal trays — that’s Texas stuff, let them keep it.
Historical BBQ Players
Our proud barbecue history includes future Chief Justice John Marshall’s creation of the first barbecue club in the U.S. — the Buchanan’s Spring Barbecue Club — in 1788. Here’s a brief look at a few more of Richmond’s barbecue pioneers.
Jasper Crouch
The famous free African-American cook, mint-julep aficionado and expert punch-maker was also the major-domo for the Barbecue Club. He was known to barbecue young pigs using a heavy dose of cayenne pepper, along with mustard and mushroom ketchup.
John Dabney (Photo courtesy The Valentine)
John Dabney
Born in Hanover in 1824, Dabney was a famed caterer, restaurateur and bartender. For years, he oversaw nearly all of the big barbecues held in and around Richmond, offering what many considered his “real Virginia flavor.”
George Bannister
Bannister, a drummer boy during the Civil War, turned to barbecue following the conflict, opening George Bannister’s at 15 N. 13th St. In 1903, he served his famous barbecue and Brunswick stew for the 42nd anniversary of the Fighting 15th Virginia Infantry regiment’s deployment.
Mary Randolph (Image courtesy Library of Virginia)
Mary Randolph
The author of 1824’s “The Virginia Housewife,” Randolph used a Virginia pepper vinegar sauce, featuring cayenne peppers and bird peppers, on barbecue. She claimed pepper vinegar was “greatly superior to black pepper,” and her enslaved cooks stuffed pigs with minced meat seasoned with sweet herbs, nutmeg, lemon peel, and salt and pepper.
