NEXT LEVEL 'CUE

Not far from Charleston, you can easily find your way to Eastern and Western Carolina styles of barbecue. But here? Barbecue is transcending boundaries. The city’s pitmasters are defining their own style, complete with pulled whole hog, Texas-style brisket, dry-spiced ribs, and hot guts sausages—plus a dash of Puerto Rican heritage and Chinese influences to season the mix. Grab a tray and come hungry: These Charleston pitmasters are ready to load your plate with their distinct styles of ’cue.

- ERIN BYERS MURRAY

RODNEY SCOTT
RODNEY SCOTT'S WHOLE HOG BBQ (DOWNTOWN)

When Rodney Scott made the leap from running his family's barbecue pit in Hemingway, South Carolina, to owning his own place in Charleston in 2017, the city went nuts for his platters of pulled whole hog and ribs. Throw in a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2018, and Scott became a bona fide local food celeb. With locations in Alabama, Atlanta, and soon-to-open Nashville, Scott is living out a pitmaster's dream-but Charleston will always be his first.

What are your preferred tools for making barbecue?

In my restaurants I use a custom-made pit. But my preferred pit is usually cinder block, especially if I'm remote. My stuff is pretty primitive, so a cinder block pit, a shovel to bury my wood, wire, wire cutters, and rebar.

Which local pitmasters have been your biggest supporters?

Tay [Nelson] of Bobby's BBQ [in Fountain Inn, South Carolina] has been a huge supporter. He'll drive down from the Upstate to help us cook sometimes. And then we have the guys here in Charleston, Swig & Swine and Home Team-Aaron [Siegel] and those guys have always been huge supporters.

What's your go-to barbecue in Charleston (that's not your own)?

Okay, this is a loaded question. But I will tell you this: I eat a lot of barbecue from a friend of mine, we call him Billy Brisket. He doesn't do barbecue for a living, but he does a lot at home. And every time he does barbecue, because he lives so close, he will call and I'll just go over there and grab some. So Billy is the guy-and that's top-secret info right there.

SHUAI WANG
KING BBQ (NORTH CHARLESTON)