Flavor: Where there’s smoke, there’s barbecue

— Folks call Jerald White of Benton “Red,” and his cropped red hair could be the reason. Or it could be for the sparks he provokes when he’s welding. Or the name could simply describe his passion for stoking up the coals on his homemade grill. Whatever the situation of the moment, White, a welding instructor by day and an iron worker by trade, is a man accustomed to heat.

White, a member of Iron Worker Local Union 321, began experimenting with his newly acquired welding skills in 1979 when he built his first smoker.

“I took welding in 11th grade,” he said, “and it stuck.”

One of his first projects was a barbecue grill.

Cont inuing his education at Ouachita Vo-Tech in Malvern, White studied for two years and found immediate work with the union.

“I traveled all over the country working at jobs,” he said, “and I was always on the lookout for good barbecue joints.”

It came natural to White to try his own hand at cooking.

“Grow i ng up, my d ad would always fry up fish or squirrel or deer, especially when we were at deer camp. And then my aunt and uncle owned the old Hickory House in Benton, and when I was a teenager I worked for them,” he said.

With a familial tendency for smoking and grilling, it wasn’t long before White was incorporating his own spin on the tradition and now cooks under the team name Saline County Smokers in local barbecue competitions after he joined the Kansas City Barbeque Society, a professional barbecue circuit.

Event results are tallied and totaled throughout the year. Entering his second year of competition, White, who nowteaches welding at Metropolitan Career Technical Center in Little Rock, travels to local events and cooks on his homemade smoker.

“This smoker has a lot of history in it,” he said. “Anyone in the construction field would recognize the tools of the trade I used. I have lots of pieces from various job sites I’ve done - like the metal grating that serves as a shelf came off the Acxiom 12-story building in Little Rock, and the braces are made out of square rebar from the TCBY 40-story building. I didn’t work that one, but a guy who did gave me that to use.”

There’s a spud wrench from the Clinton Library, an oxygen tank that serves as a smokestack, and tools that serve as a backstop when he opens the cover to check on the meat. The core of the smoker is an antique 1946 model butane tank created at the Arkansas Foundry out of Little Rock, he said.

White’s smoker marks the 10th he’s designed and built, although he doesn’t count the smaller ones he first made.

“I like to personalize them with the tools of a certain trade and really enjoyed making one for a firefighter,” he said.

White’s attention to detail serves him well on the barbecue circuit. A one-man team, he scoured cookbooks and experimented with different charcoals while cooking at deer camp.

“I’m always working on improving my technique and, of course, the taste,” he said. “I’ve learned the judges really want a put-together presentation, so you don’t just put chicken on a plate. You have to set some lettuce down and sprinkle parsley on top, that kind of thing.”

Barbecue fans appreciate two of his techniques, grinding up the meat and using only hickory and oak charcoal.

“I receive a lot of compliments and have placed high on the People’s Choice awards,and I really enjoy meeting new people,” White said. “These competitions are great fun.”

In fact, the competitors, as a whole, are a friendly lot.

“We’re always borrowing something from each other, and we get to know each other because we’ll show up at some of the same events,” he said. “Everyone recognizes my smoker once they’ve seen it, too, because it’s real unique.”

It takes a certain kind of person to compete on the circuit. Lodging, mileage and food expenses can cost $500 for a weekend, White said, although placing high recoups the expense. Still, it’s a gamble.

And then, there’s the time factor.

“We have to prepa re a chicken, a pork butt, a pork rib and a beef brisket for each competition,” he said. “That’s a lot of time invested.”

Because of his teaching schedule, White is mostly limited to competing during the summer.

“I can compete at events which are close by during the year,” he said. “I’ll probably be competing in a KCBS event in Springdale in September.”

Maintaining his equipment requires time as well.

“Oh, it took me about 125 hours to build my smoker,” he said, “but I’m very finicky about my work, and, boy, I really like cooking on my cooker.”

There’s no doubt, with higher rankings at each event, that “Red” is an expert on dishing out the heat.

Smoked Veggies Ingredients: 8-10 zucchini squash, sliced thin and lengthwise 2-3 Vidalia or white onions, quartered 4-6 red and green bell peppers, sliced 1-1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans (ends trimmed) Package whole mushrooms, cut in chunks1 stick of butter 1 bottle zesty Italian dressing 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce Salt and pepper, to taste Directions:

Cut up and prepare veggies and marinade in dressing at least four hours (best to marinate overnight). Pour veggies and marinade into large pan, adding butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cook veggies and marinate in a pan on the burner for an hour and a half, then dump onto a cooking grate on the smoker for two hours.

Aunt Fern’s Barbecue Sauce Ingredients: 1 quart tomato sauce 1 stick butter, plus a little to sauté onion 1 (24 ounce) bottle ketchup 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon curry powder 1 tablespoon dry mustard powder 1/2 cup sugar (can substitute brown sugar) 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1 large onion, diced 1 cup apple vinegar Directions:

Cut up onion and combine with tomato juice in pot and cook until onion is tender. Add, in order, butter, ketchup and vinegar. Allow all to come to a boil. Mix dry ingredients in bowl and slowly add, in small amounts, to the sauce, stirring often to avoid lumping. Heat on low heat for 45 minutes to one hour. “The longer it cooks, the hotter it gets,” White said.

Tri-Lakes, Pages 58 on 07/29/2010

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