Birthday Barbecue (Dorothy Dix)

History

"Birthday Barbecue" is one of the recipes Martha McCulloch-Williams credits to a named contributor — the book heads it "(Dorothy Dix.)" — in "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" (1913). It is a whole-animal barbecue with an unusual step: a yearling wether in prime condition "but not over-fat" is killed and dressed quickly, sluiced with cool water, wiped dry inside and out with a soft damp cloth, and then, "while still hot," the carcass is filled cram-full of fresh mint — "the tenderer and more lush the better" — before being closed and wrapped for the pit.

Elsewhere the book is explicit that barbecue was a specialist's craft and whose craft it was: "The plantation barbecuer was a person of consequence — moreover, few plantations could show a master of the art. Such an one could give himself lordly airs — the loan of him was an act of special friendship — profitable always to the personage lent." That description is of enslaved men whose skill was valuable enough to be lent between households, and it is the book's own account, not an inference.

The historical record does not document a specific earlier origin for this particular preparation.

McCulloch-Williams was a white writer born near Clarksville, Tennessee, who grew up on a plantation before the Civil War; the book's dedication is "to our Mammys," and its affection for that world goes unexamined in it.

Ingredients

• 1 yearling wether
• fresh mint
• 1 pound best butter
• 0.25 pound black pepper
• 0.5 pint red pepper pods
• 1 pint strong vinegar
• 0.5 pint brandy

Instructions

1. Kill and dress the yearling quickly. Sluice out with cool water and wipe dry inside and out with a soft, damp cloth. While still hot, fill the carcass cram-full of fresh mint, the tenderer the better. Close it and wrap tight in a clean cloth wrung very dry from cold salt water. Place all into a clean, bright tin lard stand with a tight-fitting top, secure the top, and sink the stand head over ears in cold water—a spring if possible. Do this around dusk and leave in water until very early morning.
2. Build fire in trench of hard wood logs before two o'clock. Let it burn to coals—have a log fire some little way off to supply fresh coals at need. Lay a breadth of galvanized chicken-wire with large mesh over the trench.
3. Take out carcass and split it half down the backbone. Lay it flesh side down on the wire grid, taking care that coals are so evenly spread there is no scorching.
4. Make the sop: Melt best butter, add ground black pepper, red pepper pods freed of stalk and cut fine to almost a paste, strong vinegar, and brandy (peach if possible). Cook all together over very slow heat or in boiling water for fifteen minutes. The sop must not scorch, but the seasoning must be cooked through it.
5. After an hour of cooking, begin basting with the sop using a big soft swab made of clean old linen. Baste meat constantly. The barbecue should be done, and well done, by a little after noon. There should be enough sop left to serve as gravy on portions. The meat, turned once, should have a fine crisped surface and be flavored all through with the mint and seasoning.