On Monday night, right about the time my wife Blair and I took seats at a pop-up dinner at City Grocery here in Oxford, cooked by Ashley Christensen, before we dipped into bowls of her white sweet potato soup garnished with knuckles of duck butter, before we forked into rounds of her beets garnished with trout roe, another dinner was beginning in Atlanta, Georgia. Cooked by Kevin Gillespie of Gunshow, this dinner, like the one we attended in Oxford, was staged by a member of the Fatback Collective – baking and photog wiz Angie Mosier.
Proceeds from both benefitted the Fatback Fund. Inspiration for the Fund comes from the Collective, a group of chefs, restaurateurs, thinkers, and entrepreneurs from across the country, of which I’m a part. The Fund fuels imperiled businesses and organizations that are community-focused and culturally-rich. Our first project out of the chute is the rebuild of Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, S.C.
Two days before Thanksgiving, Collective member and barbecue pitmaster Rodney Scott’s pit house went up in flames. Because Rodney will have to bring much of the operation up to current code, the rebuild is estimated to cost $100,000. The initial Fatback Fund goal is to raise $120,000. Up to $100,000 will fuel the Scott’s Bar-B-Que rebuild. All remaining money will go towards assisting other businesses or organizations in future crises. Moving forward, many Fatback events and projects will raise money for the Fund.
That’s all a roundabout way of explaining how I came to eat so well this Monday night, and how my great friend Angie Mosier came to bake the chocolate cake at left, garnished with pork rinds, cut from Rodney’s hogs, fried in Rodney’s kettles.
To learn more, click here.
Onward barbecue soldiers…
