King of the Smokers

Chris Lilly is barbecuing royalty, the elite of cooked meats. He has so many titles, statuettes, and gold medals to his name that, understandably, he’s lost count of the number of times he’s been crowned a champion. Meet Big Bob Gibson’s own royalty.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SIMON URWIN

Ashiny trophy is all well and good, but so is a clean plate and a happy customer,” Chris Lilly says, modestly. “Besides, I stand on the shoulders of giants. This place, Big Bob’s, has had an unbeatable reputation for almost a hundred years. That’s generations’ worth of cooking expertise that has been passed on down to me.”

Lilly is the multi-award-winning pitmaster at Big Bob Gibson’s, one of the United States’ most highly regarded barbecue joints, which stands on a strip-mall stretch of Highway 31 outside Decatur in northern Alabama. The eponymous Big Bob was Lilly’s wife’s great-grandfather, who opened the business in 1925 — first serving freshly cooked barbecue from a hand-dug pit in his backyard, before moving between storefront locations all over town, each one bigger than the last, as his smoked, barbecued meats grew in popularity.

The Sanctuary

“This restaurant is one of the most recent to open, around thirty years ago, which is when I started,” says Lilly, as he takes me through the back kitchens, where his team is busy pulling pork, chopping slaw and whipping up fresh lemon meringue pies. We enter a place he calls his ‘sanctuary’: the pit room, where, in three old-fashioned brick coffin pits, more than 50 split chickens are slowly being wood-smoked and browned for the lunchtime rush. “I like to barbecue the traditional way,” says Lilly. “First, we build a hickory-wood fire. Then, we use the chimney dampers on either end to control the heat and smoke, bleeding them slowly across the birds.”

Lilly’s finishing touch – a creation of Big Bob’s — is to dip the barbecued chicken in a creamy white sauce made from mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice and black pepper. “Big Bob revolutionized the world of barbecue with his recipe,” he explains. “Beforehand, pretty much all barbecue

Lilly’s finishing touch is to dip a sauces were red and tomato or chili-based. But his white sauce was something else. I’ve since seen it in restaurants in California, Miami and New York, even as far away as Ireland and Australia. It’s gone global – and no wonder: the fat in the mayonnaise coats the chicken and keeps it beautifully succulent, and you get a hit from the pepper, while the tang from the vinegar and lemon juice compliments the fat and smoke to round out the barbecue flavors to perfection.”

Aiming For Excellence

We head back to the restaurant, where the tables and banquettes are slowly filling with an eclectic crowd of hungry construction workers, Southern belles, and suited-and-cowboy-booted businessmen. “It’s a down-toearth, wide open space, and that’s important,” says Lilly. “It encourages people to walk around and chat with each other. And that fits with barbecue, which is unpretentious, inviting, cozy.” Lilly is quick to point out that in spite of the simplicity of the surroundings and the menu, he sees Big Bob Gibson’s as just as fine an experience as socalled fine dining. “After all, I use only the best ingredients alongside age-old techniques, and the aim is for excellence in everything I do. It’s exactly the same principle.”

Such is Lilly’s reputation that chefs from all over the country travel to Decatur to learn from him. “Barbecuing is rarely taught, but it’s a skill that’s just as important as flambéing or making pastry,” he says. “And for that skill, we must give due credit to the African American slaves and migrant workers who were the true pioneers. They were the ones who figured out a way of cooking for their families and entire communities when they were unable to afford the best meat. Out of necessity and ingenuity, through slow cooking at low temperatures and with smoke, they turned what were thought to be the worst cuts – the ribs, the belly, the parts of the animal that nobody else wanted – and turned them into the very best.”