The one-time Harlem Renaissance-era “hoofer” (tap dancer) and renowned community barbecue man from the Carolinas and Mobile, Alabama, spent the last few months of his incredible life with family in Mobile. In this adapted excerpt from a chapter titled “Liquid Black Smoke: The Primacy of Sauce,” Miller declares sauce as important, if not more so, than the meat and explains why it’s an undeniable part of what makes Black barbecue Black barbecue. In his third book, published earlier this year, Miller also describes and defines the Black barbecue aesthetic, laying out the factors that distinguish it from barbecue by any other group.
Adrian Miller’s Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue aims to remedy this by telling the stories of the Black pitmasters and restaurateurs who developed the Southern culinary tradition. Even as it became something akin to common knowledge that African Americans played a primary role in American barbecue’s origin story, contemporary African American barbecue cooks weren’t given the same due as their white counterparts. Buy “Black Smoke” at Amazon or Bookshop now.įor far too long, the narrative around barbecue has been white. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
“Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue” by Adrian Miller (UNC Press, $30).įollow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. The book is seasoned with profiles of Black barbecue notables and a smattering of recipes. Now the recognition is improving, he says, but there is work to be done.
Instead of pit-roasted whole hogs, smaller cuts of meat like ribs and brisket were used because they were easier to handle in restaurants, and chefs got involved. Part of this change was because of urbanization. It was entrenched in Black community life, but was taken over by white cooks starting in the late 19th century, he writes. He details the history of barbecue back to its Indigenous roots in pre-Columbian days, and recounts how it became part of the culture of enslaved Africans. Miller is fed up with the general lack of recognition given to the Black barbecuing community by the media, in cookbooks and on the barbecue event circuit, which he also criticizes for racism. “I want African-American barbecuers properly acknowledged, celebrated for their contributions and sharing in the barbecue prosperity,” writes the food historian Adrian Miller in his new book, “Black Smoke.” Mr.
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