A one of a kind that continues to attract diners from all over
By Don Napier
Over the past 30 years, I have written several articles about my hometown, Celina, located in Clay County, Tennessee. I have written stories about it being the gateway to Dale Hollow Lake and home to the world record Smallmouth Bass, about houseboat trips, fishing trips, camping trips and sometimes just about a trip home to see my mother, who is no longer with us.
One subject I have failed to mention is a specialty food that originated in Clay County. Yes, you read that sentence correctly: “originated.” Actually, it is a spin-off of one of the South’s best loved foods, barbecue. But I feel comfortable when I say it originated there.
The whole world takes Boston Butts, puts them in a smoker, pulls the meat off the bones, adds some sauce and calls it barbecue. In reality, it’s the sauce that makes the product different. But in this case, it is how the meat is cut that make the difference.
I have read on chat pages about people who comment about eating this shoulder-style meat in a restaurant somewhere in Kentucky. These people are terribly confused. They are calling a Boston Butt, a “shoulder.” You see it in the meat department of grocery stores every day.
Down in Memphis, where many residents claim they invented barbecue, they came up with the dry rub, giving them something a bit difference. Over in Columbia, SC, Maurice’s BBQ uses mustard sauce, hot or mild.
Night ’n Day
But the barbecue made and sold in Clay County for about 60 years is as different as day and night.
Clay County’s barbecue, available from vendors both in Celina and the tiny hamlet of Moss, about 8 miles to the west, also starts with the Boston Butt, but it is sliced into what we all know as pork shoulder, leaving a “Y-bone” in each slice.
These pork slices are then cooked slowly over a bed of coals, turned often and throughout the cooking process are “dabbed” with a wet mop, dipped in a vinegar-based sauce.
When you place your order, you can get your meat “dipped,” in which they pierce two pieces with a long fork and dip it into the sauce pan which is kept on the heat. Or, if you order a plate, your sliced shoulder may be swimming in sauce, based on how you like it.
The shoulder sandwich is by far the most popular way to eat this barbecue. Plain and simple, the two pieces of shoulder are placed on two pieces of white bread, bone and all. The sandwich can be eaten like a normal sandwich, just eating around the bone. Or you can eat it like a T-bone steak, and eat the meat off the bone accompanied with the loaf bread. The benefit of it being dipped is that the meat and sauce kind of sticks to the bread, enhancing the flavor.
As I said earlier, it is like no barbecue you ever had. Tourists and people visiting the lake have grown up with this rare style of barbecue, and it is part of the attraction of coming back every year. There’s no doubt that like Dale Hollow Lake, one of the attractions that draw people from all over the region, is this “Clay County-style barbecue.”
The first shoulder barbecue I ever ate came from a little road-side stand owned by George Andrews, and located on the road to Cedar Hill, at the top of the hill. This was around 1966, and I remember Lit Bailey was the cook. He burned hickory wood early every morning, then shoveled the coals under his low grill, and cooked a slightly different version. He had his meat cut thicker than it is today. I know, because I cut some of the Boston Butts made into barbecue by Mr. Andrews when I was a teenager, working for my dad, who was a butcher. I have sliced a lot of Boston Butts, turning them into sliced shoulder or pork steak, a cheaper substitute for pork chops.
This George’s Barbecue had to be cooked very slowly, but it was mopped regularly with the sauce and will always be remembered as the best. I have eaten a ton of it over my lifetime. Just a couple weeks ago I was in Celina to watch a basketball game. I stopped by Dale Hollow 1-Stop BBQ in Celina and bought 12 slices, meat only, to take home, along with a pint of sauce. My daughters love it.
I can also remember when the Goolsby family had a barbecue out near the Kentucky state line. They got a lot of business from people from Monroe County, Ky. People were more than happy to drive down to Tennessee for some of that good Clay County BBQ.
Later, when I worked at the Herald-Citizen in Cookeville, Kenneth and Francis Arms opened their own Pit Barbecue in Vernon, Kentucky (on the road to Tompkinsville). It quickly gained a reputation for being the best in the region. I can remember bringing huge orders back to Cookeville for friends who had learned about it through me.
Today, there are a couple of places in Celina and one in Moss that sell the Clay County style barbecue. They also have half chicken, pork chops, ham and shredded. Nothing called “pulled” is to be found. The shredded is just that, with a lot of the thin sauce, and it goes great on a bun. I also like that you can get mayonnaise or vinegar slaw.
Like we’ve heard all our lives, it’s the sauce that makes the difference. Whenever I get some sauce, I can go to the grocery, get the shoulder cut the right thickness and make a pretty good facsimile on my home grille.
I remember an episode of M.A.S.H. once when Klinger and Hawkeye decided to have a large take-out order of ribs, sauce and cole slaw shipped to Korea from Adam’s Rib in Chicago. I could sympathize with them, because I was missing eating that famous barbecue from my hometown. But Celina to Crossvill, is a little shorter trip than from Chicago to Korea.
I have tried to duplicate that sauce, but with little success. It is very thin and soupy, unlike ketchup-based sauces. It contains vinegar, butter, lard, black and cayenne pepper, and salt. There is also some sweet element. I just don’t know the amounts.
I can whole-heartedly recommend this style of barbecue and invite you to head up to Clay County and see what you think of my hometown’s barbecue. If you are going, give me a call (335-5135). I would like to give you a take-out order for 12 slices of shoulder and a pint of medium sauce for Napier Media.
If you go, work in enough time to drive up to Dale Hollow Lake (about 4 miles away) and maybe visit the National Fish Hatchery. I don’t care what kind of sportsman you are or are not, you will love to see those raceways, full of huge brood trout.
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If You Go
Get on I-40 West and exit at Highway 111 in Cookeville (2nd Cookeville exit). Go right off the exit (Hwy. 111 north), toward Livingston (about 18 miles. In Livingston take the by-pass Hwy. 52, left at McDonalds. Follow Hwy. 52 West to Celina.
In choosing which of these establishments to eat with, be reminded that this is a business that is not always open all week. Many are open weekends only or 3-5 days a week. So call ahead for hours. This is a list of barbecue establishments in Clay County, TN.
Highway 52 BBQ
7965 Clay County Hwy.
Moss, TN 38575
931-258-5252
Dale Hollow 1 Stop BBQ
1012 East Lake Ave.
Celina, TN 38551
931-243-4445
Dale Hollow Open Pit BBQ
5750 Burkesville Hwy.
Celina, TN 38551
931-243-3626
Goolsby’s Hickory Pit Bar-B-Q
5549 Tompkinsville Hwy.
Moss, TN 38575
931-258-3156
T-House BBQ & Country Cooking
8494 Willow Grove Hwy.
Allons, TN 38541
931-823-6956
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery
145 Fish Hatchery Road
Celina, TN 38551
931-243-2443
Dale Hollow Lake
2371 Cedar Hill Road
Celina, TN 38551
931-243-3136 (Resource Manager’s office)
