The Church of Low and Slow: Pulled pork for First State summers

The smoky, meaty aroma of cooked meats will seep through your windows even before you park and get out of the car at Russell's Quality Foods off Centerville Road, near Prices Corner.

In the summer, six days a week, owner Alphonso Russell fires up his outdoor smoker attached to the fire engine red barbecue trailer located in Steve's Liquors parking lot, near the old General Motors plant.

Russell, an early riser, begins feeding the smoker cherry, oak and hickory logs by about 4 a.m. In a few hours, he'll offer everything from egg, cheese and sweet Italian sausage breakfast sandwiches to jerk chicken.

Pulled pork is available every day the trailer is open, but beef brisket is served only on Fridays. "That's the beef-lovers satisfactory day," Russell says.

He has been making his barbecue, which he calls "Russell-style," for 11 years. Russell first started grilling and slow-smoking meats under a tent at the site, and since has grown to the shiny trailer.

He concedes "Russell-style" barbecue is probably closest to Kansas City-style, though his barbecue sauce, which he calls "my syrup," has a somewhat sweet, vinegary base "kind of like Carolina" barbecue.

"People say they can drink my syrup. People might even put it on cereal," he says, chuckling.

His $6 pulled pork sandwich, a very generous portion served on a kaiser roll, is his No. 1 seller, though pork ribs and jerk chicken come in a close second. The menu is rounded out with other options such as the "yard bird platter with two sides ($9)," which can include collard greens, baked beans and sweet potatoes.

"We can never make enough," Russell says, who operates his business from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. He's closed on Sundays. And, after Labor Day, he'll also close on Mondays.  

While Russell's and other businesses such as Young's BBQ in Middletown are year-round operations, summer tends to be the prime time for cooking and craving barbecue. And it shows no signs of slowing down. 

Seven in 10 U.S. adults own a grill or smoker, and in Canada, ownership is 8 in 10, according to statistics from the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association. Gas is the most popular grill type (64 percent), followed by charcoal (44 percent), then electric (9 percent).

“Barbecuing is no longer just a pastime, but an integral part of the North American lifestyle," said the association's president and CEO Jack Goldman. "We expect consumers' passion for flavorful food and entertaining their family and friends to continue to increase for the rest of 2017 and into 2018. The future for the barbecue industry looks bright."

Russell understands the best barbecue results come from an alchemy of wood, smoke and meat.

To make his pulled pork sandwiches, Russell will smoke only pork butts. Shoulder cuts, he says, are too chewy.

"The secret is low and slow. You put 'em on and forget about it."

After seven- to eight-hours of indirect heat, the pork butts are ready for tearing into thick, juicy bites. "It's a beautiful thing," says Russell, who's been known to give customers fist bumps after serving them sandwiches.

However, the barbecue sauce, also known as "the syrup," will not touch the meat until the customer gives the A-OK.

"Sauce never goes on unless you ask for it. Sauce that goes on first is the sign of bad barbecue," he says.

There's an outdoor table near the trailer, but most customers take Russell's barbecue to-go. And, it's likely, the aroma will come with them. The sandwiches, packed into Styrofoam containers, seal in the tantalizing smoky smell that's released when the lid is opened. 

At Young's Pig Pickin' BBQ in Middletown, Keith Young understands the primal urge to eat slow-cooked, fire-kissed meats during warm weather, preferably at a picnic table. That's why his business is open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

"People equate barbecue with outside," he says.

After Sept. 4, just as cooler evening breezes begin to whisper autumn is on its way, he'll close on Sundays and then offer business hours Mondays through Saturdays.

Young is a big believer in keeping his food "very simple and very good."

"We do things the old-fashioned way," says the owner and barbecue master.

The handful of barbecue options, sides and lone dessert (whoopie pies) available at his modest eatery fits on a one-page menu.

Since 1995, Young has been smoking pork butts, ribs, chicken, turkey and beef brisket for customers.

His casual eat-in/take-out Young's BBQ storefront, with a catchy pink sign, has been located in the Ashley Plaza shopping center at 401 E. Main St. (Del. 299) for the last decade. He also offers catering.

There are three comfortable booths for dining in. A collection of stuffed pigs and other pig paraphernalia decorate shelves and a TV, tucked in a corner, is tuned this day to an old "Bonanza" episode (Little Joe Cartwright is flirting with the daughter of an Indian chief). But this is mostly an order-and-go lunch and dinner operation.

Young's offers pulled pork, pit beef brisket, baby back and spare ribs and pulled chicken. On "Chicken Fridays," he has barbecue wings, thighs, legs and breasts. (You can get three pieces and a potato roll for $5.95.)

He doesn't make the side salads. Instead, the red skin potato salad tossed with sour cream, not mayonnaise; macaroni salad and cole slaw come from an Amish merchant from Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  Young says the Amish make the sides better than he can.

Same goes with the whoopie pies, which are made by an Amish baker from Intercourse in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County. "These are the real deal and well-worth it," he says. 

But when it comes to the barbecue at Young's, it's all made in-house.

Young sings the song of the South. Another disciple of The Church of Low and Slow, he smokes and cooks the meats at his shop over indirect heat. 

No barbecue would be worth its salt if you didn't cook it on site, he says. 

He cooks pork butts overnight for about 13 to 14 hours. Young uses few seasonings other than a little brown sugar along with salt and pepper. The pork butts also get spritzed with a spray bottle filled with a vinegar solution. 

Young says sometimes customers are surprised to find his homemade barbecue sauces — sweet, mild, hot, extra hot and Carolina vinegar — are served on the side. It's been a long learning curve teaching customers that he never mixes the barbecue sauce in with the meat. 

"I'm very adamant about it. It's a big no-no. You need to taste the meat. When you mix in the sauce, especially if you don't like sauce, well, now it's ruined," he says. 

The sweet, mild and hot sauces are served on the tables and at the counter. If you want Young's extra hot or Carolina vinegar sauce, ask for it.

Young says not everyone understands Carolina vinegar sauce is thinner than regular barbecue sauce. The extra hot sauce, packed in a red squeeze bottle, is not on the tables because Young says he doesn't want a child to mistake it for ketchup and get an unwelcome spicy surprise. 

A knife never touches Young's buttery soft pork butts. The pork for the $5.95 sandwiches is pulled apart by hand and then piled high, really high, on soft Martin's potato rolls, the only brand he likes.

"That's all I've used for 25 years. A Martin's potato roll is thick, and chewy and soaks up all the juices." 

The high pile on the pulled pork sandwiches is a Young's signature.

"I'm a big believer in quality and quantity. I try to do both," the barbecue master says. "The public is not stupid. You want to give people their money's worth." 

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico

IF YOU GO:

What: Russell's Quality Foods, a barbecue trailer operated by Alphonso Russell

Where: 1204 Centerville Road, near Prices Corner. The red trailer is in the parking lot of Steve's Liquors.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays.

Information: Go to  www.russellsqualityfood.com or call (302) 299-3127

IF YOU GO:

What: Young's BBQ, an eat-in or take-out casual eatery owned by Keith Young.

Where: Ashley Plaza, 401 E. Main St. (Del. 299), Middletown

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays through Labor Day. 

Information: Go to youngsbbqde.com or call (302) 376-1777