a Charleston City Paper publication September 2022 MAMMOTHS, MASTODONS ROAMED LIKEHOWLOWCOUNTRYPREHISTORICTOCOOKA TEXAS PITMASTER At Home with Rūta Smith DUFFYMEDEA
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Volume Digs, our monthly home-focused publication, connects the people who make the Lowcountry special with content they’ve been missing. Digs gets up close and personal with stories on local personalities, home design and remodeling, plants and gardening, home repair and real estate. To learn more about advertising opportunities offered through Digs, contact our advertising team at (843) 577-5304 or send an email to: sales@charlestoncitypaper.com. Dig it!
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You can bring barbecue flavors home and cook like a pitmaster with dishes recreated from the series and developed by Hardcore Carnivore cookbook author Jess Pryles, including smoked chuck beef ribs. “Since launching BBQuest four years ago, it’s truly remarkable to see how much has changed and yet stayed the same when it comes to Texas barbecue, and that’s exactly what you see in season three,” said Rachel Chou, the Texas Beef Council’s director of consumer mar keting. “There has been so much exciting innovation around cooking methods and international flavors while there’s still a huge dedication to long-held recipes and smoking techniques.”
From Staff Reports
The third season of the show follows four themes that capture the essence of Texas barbecue: legacy and tradition; creativity and innovation; Texas trailblazers; and family and community.
1/4 cup cider vinegar 1 cup water
Preheat smoker or pellet grill to 275 F. Pat ribs dry with a paper towel; remove moisture on the surface. Combine salt and pepper. Rub beef ribs well on all sides and ends with seasoning, coating generously.
Lowcountry home chefs looking to take their cooking skills to the next level may just need a little inspiration and a few new skills. Then they can turn family meals into extravagant adventures, take backyard barbecues to new heights, and impress friends and neighbors with pitmaster-worthy recipes. In fact, Lowcountry grillers, many of whom grew up with a bias for pork and chicken barbecue, can get schooled about increasingly familiar Texas beef barbecue just by turning on the television. From beef ribs and barbacoa to curried brisket rice and pho rub beef belly spring rolls, viewers are in for a treat with BBQuest: Beyond the Pit, a video series that dives into the long-held tra ditions, new flavors and everyday inspiration that make Texas barbecue legendary.
Place ribs in smoker and close lid. Cook 5 to 6 hours. In a spray bottle, combine cider vinegar and water. Lightly spritz ribs every 30 minutes for the first 4 hours of cooking. Ribs are ready when completely probe tender. If parts still feel tough, continue cooking.Oncecompletely tender, remove ribs from smoker then wrap tightly in butcher’s paper and place in a small cooler to rest for 30 minutes. To serve, slice ribs between bones.
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AUTUMNIN THE LOWCOUNTRY
DIGGING DEALS
Cook like a Texas pitmaster from the comforts of home
Learn more about the show and find inspiration to bring the taste of barbecue to your kitchen at RecipesBeefLovingTexans.com.arecourtesyof
Smoked Chuck Beef Ribs
BONUS: Get the recipe for Szechuan Skirt Steak with Crispy Rice at charlestoncitypaper.com
Beef Loving Texans
Cook time: 10 hours, 30 minutes • Servings: 8
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Jess Pryles on behalf of Beef Loving Texans. Family Features contributed to this story.
THE
1 slab beef chuck short ribs (about 4 pounds)
2 tablespoons kosher salt 2 tablespoons coarse black pepper
“This is like my favorite thing in the world,” she said about her espresso machine. The light from the wide windows that overlook a slice of the Charleston Harbor saturates the living room. Her dog Uma lightly snores while she sleeps next to an air conditioning vent on the Duffy,floor.originally from Pennsylvania, met husband Brian in Washington, D.C., while she was working in advertising. He’s from Charleston originally and had plans to return to his hometown. In 2004, the couple relocated to Charleston where Brian, son of retired U.S. District Judge Patrick Michael Duffy, went on to estab lish the Duffy & Young law firm. Although the couple started raising their three children in another house, the Duffys bought their current James Island home where they now live eight years ago. “It was straight up 1970,” she said of seeing the house for the first time. “Everything was exactly as it was since 1970. But we love the water, and so we came back in our boat to see if we could have water access.” Once they determined they could get the boat in and out, it was a done deal.
Raising children and a community spot
By Chelsea Grinstead SmithRūta
Digs 09.07.2022 20 AT HOME IN THE LOWCOUNTRY
The Duffys’ furniture and decor is a sea of beige and brown hues and textured wood, with pops of color and eclectic vintage treasures. Duffy said she has a thing for swan knickknacks, which decorate the wall shelving around the living room fireplace and are nestled throughout the house.
“I just put in whatever I like,” she said. “I love vintage, like love vintage, so a lot of the random chotchkies and artwork are vintage, and a lot of local stuff too — I don’t care if it matches.”
When Duffy first came to Charleston in 2004, she raised children and worked in the nonprofit sector for several years, including Summerville projects such as Scrumptious Kitchen Tour that Duffy settles in with a love for all things local
The Duffys did some pretty extensive renovations to improve the bathrooms and open up the kitchen and living room area. The old galley kitchen had a wall that split the room in half and blocked the beautiful view, so they knocked it down to create an open floor plan. The view of the harbor stretches out behind the backyard scattered with ancient oak trees.
“My husband makes so much fun of me,” she said pointing to the wall shelving. “There’s a salt and pepper shaker that’s a dog and cat up there.”
“We are outside people,” Medea Duffy said, “and so before we did anything with the house, we put a pool in.” The installation was done thoughtfully to ensure no harm was done to the trees, which shade the pool and backyard to bring reprieve from the stifling heat.
James Island resident Medea Duffy settled on the couch with a mug of cappuccino, fresh from her kitchen.
Medea Duffy combined her love for local artisanship and sustainability to launch Local Love CHS gift shop on James Island.
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Family: Husband, Brian; three tween/teen kids and a dog, Uma.
Philosophy: Love your mother (Mother Earth, your mom, everyone’s mom, everyone) and spread it!
Anything about the pandemic affected you in particular: It made me (finally) realize the beauty in slowing down and enjoying the moment. It was really refreshing to have time to do that and to be with family in that way during the heat of Covid. raised money for the Dorchester Children’s Center and Freedom Reigns social justice project. Then Duffy started a subscription flower service in which she sourced flowers locally for subscribers who received the weekly arrangements, depending on what was fresh. As the business grew, running deliveries and balancing schedules with the kids became too much; she ended the business. In 2018, Duffy met a friend who lives close to her neighborhood, Shelly Belill, and they entertained the idea of a business venture that would eventually become their Camp Road gift shop Local Love CHS. “She talked to me about doing something together and then it just kind of happened,” Duffy said. “We didn’t even know what we wanted to do when we met, but we both really liked [sourcing] locally and we both loved going to markets and meeting local makers. And it just kind of morphed into Local Love.” Duffy and Belill wanted people to be able to buy good local stuff in one place regularly, not just at pop-up events or flea markets. To test their concept, they started with a stall in Patina Market in West Ashley. Although the duo had great reception, they knew they would move spaces eventually. But right when they found a space to lease, news of Covid-19 stalled the decision to open a brick-and-mortar location. Instead, they opened up an online store, kept their inventory in a storage space and offered free local delivery. They also incentivized local businesses to provide subscribers with products, such as locally made candles and baked goods. Once the duo’s online operation made it through the Covid-related shutdown, they opened a space in Riverland Terrace before moving to the current loca tion off Camp Road on James Island. Local Love CHS has been open at that location since March 2022.
Three people (alive or dead) you’d like to dine with: Jackie Kennedy, Maya Angelou, Janis Joplin.
Describe your best day in 50 words or less: A cool and calm early morning boat ride with the fam after a mosquito-free yoga session on our backyard deck. Grabbing a smoothie for lunch and heading to Pickers Hullabaloo for a little browsing. Ending the day with a take-out sushi dinner, a glass of red and a movie.
Photos by Rūta Smith
What meal would you want served to you for your last supper: Sushi from 167 Raw Sushi.
Favorite food to eat: Sushi, hands down!
Pops of color and various textures decorate the Duffy home.
Something people would be surprised to learn about you: I’m a regular at Goodwill on James Island. My favorite Goodwill employee, George, can attest to it!
Knick knacks are scattered in every room, like these dog and cat salt and pepper shaker from the 1940s (right).
Favorite musicians: Sublime, Lorde, Fugees, Bob Marley and so many more!
“We want to be more of a community spot,” she said.
THE LOWDOWN ON MEDEA DUFFY
Favorite novel: Catcher in the Rye.
Something that you have too much of at home: Dog hair and plants, but I wouldn’t want to change either.
Birthplace: Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Pet peeve: When people don’t recycle.
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University
Favorite things to do outside of work: Thrifting and going to local markets, yoga, gardening, boating/beach with the family and walking Uma.
charlestoncitypaper
Current profession: Co-owner, Local Love CHS.
Age: 44.
Childhood hero: She probably shouldn’t be described as a hero, but man, I loved Madonna.
The shop is an environmentally sustainable gift shop, equally as focused on promoting local artisans and curating handmade products as it is on minimizing waste. The shop is stocked with everything from home goods, accessories and apparel to cards, pottery, artwork, candles and wellness products, and it offers the option to create your own gift box with an array of products. To take a look at the shop online, go to locallovechs.com. “I feel like it is matching our vision so far,” Duffy said. “There’s more we want to do.”
Favorite food to cook: I’d prefer to have someone else cook for me. Otherwise, my favorite thing to not cook is a salad or charcuterie board.
Rūta Smith Chelsea Grinstead
Past professions of interest: I was The Charleston Flower Lady.
Guilty pleasure: HGTV.
Five foods you always need in your refrigerator: Oat milk, avocado, spinach, cheese and peanut butter.
Favorite cocktail or beverage: The Red Scare at Zero George. So good!
The goal is to host more workshops with different local makers similar to the moon phase watercolor painting class last month, including macrame crafts, indigo dyeing and pottery painting. They also want to offer more options for locals to become more sustain able, like setting up a refill station for hand soap and cleaning supplies.
Mammuthus columbi) as the official state fossil. Prior to this time, South Carolina was one of only a handful of states that didn’t have a state fossil. McConnell wrote legislators stating that one of the earliest discoveries of this fossil was by slaves on a South Carolina planta tion in 1725. Despite a lot of pushback from creationist lawmakers who wanted to include language from the book of Genesis into this declaration, the bill passed the General Assembly without any religious amendments and was signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley. During these dog days of summer, it’s hard to imagine a time when the Lowcountry wasn’t a sauna. But in the notso-distant-past, it was considerably cooler and drier. Approximately 21,000 years ago during the last “Glacial Maximum” (collo quially known as the last Ice Age), mega fauna such as the Columbian mammoth, saber-toothed cats, 13-foot-tall ground sloths, mastodons, giant armadillos, tapirs (ancient swine) and even giant beavers tromped around the Southeast.
Mammoths, mastodons roamed
Lowcountryprehistoric
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By Toni Reale, special to Digs
According to the United States Geological Survey, ice sheets covered approximately 25% of the Earth’s land surface at this time. In North America, ice sheets extended as far south on the east coast as Long Island, New York, and to southern Illinois in the Midwest. With a significant amount of the Earth’s freshwater resources tied up in land ice, global sea level was over 400 feet below modern levels.
The size and shape of fossil animal teeth can tell scientists about the diet of various species. Scientists can then infer what the landscape was like. Mammoth teeth are large, elongated and flat, which are great for grinding grasses and possibly other flowering plants, indicating more of a grassland environment. The mammoth’s tusks were elongated incisors that weren’t used for eating at all. Instead they used their tusks for digging up vegetation for food, fighting and possibly sexual selection. Scientists observe these behaviors from the modern living relative of the mammoth, the Asian elephant. Often confused for mammoths, is the American Mastodon (Mammut ameri canum) which also lived in the area during the last Ice Age. They were smaller and stockier than mammoths with shorter, straighter tusks. Although seemingly sim ilar, mammoths and mastodons branched off from a common ancestor around 5 mil
On a recent trip to Alaska, every port town we visited had stores proudly displaying 3-to-5-foot-long fossilized woolly mam moth tusks, huge perfectly preserved mammoth teeth and even some complete jaws. Having studied and taught geology for more than half of my life, I was in heaven. I was and am that girl who comes home with pockets full of rocks and fossils, no matter where I (ColumbianCarolinaMcConnell,third-gradertothatlesser-knownremindedmammothSeeinggo.thesefossilsmeofafactin2014,thanksthetenacityofthenOliviaSouthadoptedthemammoth
The proof is in the teeth
Reale
The ice sheet margins pushed the polar jet stream further south causing the Southeast to become cooler and drier than modern times. The Lowcountry was far from a frozen tundra, but the climate and its veg etative landscape was different enough to support the megafauna that migrated and, for a short time, thrived here.
It was likely a combination of these envi ronmental stressors. Both the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston and the Charleston Museum have excellent fossil displays of Pleistocene megafauna found here in the Southeast. Ongoing research at the College of Charleston continues to help refine the Lowcountry’s prehistoric landscape. Pay them a visit to learn more about how the land under your feet has changed over geo logic time. Learning about times past, can help put our days (even the hottest ones) on earth into perspective.
Fossils found in the Lowcountry — from huge teeth to more.
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Toni Reale is the owner of Roadside Blooms, a unique flower and plant shop in Park Circle in North Charleston. It specializes in weddings, events and everyday deliveries using nearly 100% American- and locally grown blooms. Online at roadsideblooms.com. 4610 Spruill Ave., Suite 102, North Charleston.
Photos courtesy Mark Havenstein/Lowcountry Geologic
According to scientists, mammoths and mastodons migrated at different times from Eurasia via the Bering land bridge in Alaska during one of the many glacial periods over the last 5 million to 6 mil lion years. Fossils of both of these ani mals can be found as far south as Mexico. Unfortunately at the end of the last Ice Age (around 10,000 years before present-day), nearly all Pleistocene megafauna went extinct. Hypotheses of their demise include habitat loss from a warming climate and rising seas, competition for scarce food sources and over-hunting by early humans.
lion years ago occupying different ecological niches. Their molars have conical tips indicating they were able to grind through woody plant material found in forested areas in the Lowcountry. How did they get here and where did they go?
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