Where to Start with Rodney Scott
Rodney Scott is an American pitmaster, restaurateur, and author who became the most celebrated voice in whole hog barbecue. Born and raised in Hemingway, South Carolina, he started cooking whole hogs over wood coals at his family’s variety store when he was eleven years old. For decades, Scott’s Bar-B-Que was a local institution, but word spread through food writers and television until Rodney became a national figure. In 2017, he opened Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina, and in 2018 he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast. His cookbook, Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ (2021), co-written with Lolis Eric Elie, won the IACP Cookbook of the Year Award. Scott’s cooking represents a deep tradition of Southern whole hog barbecue, a method that involves cooking an entire pig over hardwood coals for twelve or more hours, a practice rooted in African American culinary heritage.
Start here
Rodney Scott's World of BBQ
Rodney Scott · 224 pages · 2021 · Easy
Themes: whole hog barbecue, Southern cooking traditions, South Carolina BBQ, soul food sides
Where Franklin focuses on Texas-style brisket and Meathead dissects the science, Rodney Scott brings you into the world of whole hog barbecue, the tradition that shaped the American South. This James Beard Award-winning chef grew up cooking whole hogs over wood coals in Hemingway, South Carolina, and his book is as much memoir and cultural history as it is a cookbook.
Why Start Here
Scott offers something the other books do not: deep roots. He has been cooking whole hogs since he was a boy, and his approach carries generations of tradition. The book covers his signature whole hog technique, but also spare ribs, smoked chicken wings, pit-smoked turkey, hush puppies, coleslaw, and his mother Ella’s banana pudding. Co-written with Lolis Eric Elie, the prose brings warmth and storytelling to every chapter.
This is the book to read when you want to understand barbecue as culture, not just technique. It connects the food to the people who created it.
What to Expect
A 224-page hardcover with stunning photography, personal essays on Southern foodways, and approachable recipes. The tone is generous and inviting. Scott does not assume you have a whole hog pit in your backyard. He adapts his techniques for home cooks while keeping the spirit of the tradition intact.