The Barbecue
Mutton Story
“A Pit Above the Rest” — If it’s Not Owensboro Barbecue, It’s not real Barbecue. Owensboro, known early in its history as Yellow Banks, is named for Col. Abraham Owen, a Kentucky legislator and soldier. Owensboro is the county seat
of Daviess County, named for soldier-lawyer-orator Col. Joseph Hamilton Daveiss (the “i” and “e” in Daveiss’ name were accidentally switched in the legislation creating the county’s name. Owensboro commands a sweeping view of the Ohio River from its downtown river front. The historic river helped give birth to the city nearly
two centuries ago and nurtured its growth by bringing
steamboats laden with passengers and goods to the city’s
doorstep. Among other things, Owensboro is famous for
the International Bar-B-Q Festival, which draws barbecue
fans come from all over the world. The Festival held
the second weekend in May, help put Owensboro on the
map. Every May 20,000 pounds of ewes (female sheep,
known as mutton) are cooked over open pits fired
by Moonlite Bar-B-Q Booth at the International Bar-B-Q
Festival.
Hickory logs. Different teams of area barbecue cooks
compete to see who has the best mutton, chicken
and burgoo. Daviess County comes by its claim to barbecue
fame naturally. The first barbecue on record here, but
probably not the first in county history, was on July
4, 1834. Since then the barbecue fires have been burning
almost continuously from summer to summer. Some families
are now on their fifth generations of barbecue cooks.
Each summer parrish barbecues attract 5,000 or more
people to a single picnic. In 1981 parrish cooks estimated
that well over 50 tons of mutton, 10,000 chickens, and
4,000 pounds of pork were consumed along with 8,000
gallons of burgoo.
The Popularity of Barbecued Mutton
What distinguished Owensboro’s barbecue from the barbecue
in the rest of the world? It’s the local popularity
of barbecued mutton. Yet why is barbecued
mutton so popular here? There seems to be about
as many answers to that question as there are sheep
roasting over the pits. Some say that the early Welsh
settlers who made Daviess County home raised enormous
herds of sheep; so it was only natural that if a barbecue
was in order, mutton would be the meat. Agricultural
records for early Daviess County seem to support that
argument. In 1860, for example, there were more than
11,000 sheep, compared to 6,570 beef cattle, obviously
radically different from today’s records. With packs
of wild dogs ravaging the farmer’s flock, sheep herding
is not as popular in Daviess and surrounding counties
as it once was. Instead, the mutton served in
Owensboro today probably originated in Minnesota, Iowa,
North Dakota or South Dakota. Others explain the passion
for barbecued mutton as an acquired taste that
began with the early Roman Catholic picnics, which served
mutton because it was the meat parishioners donated.
If there had been an abundance of beef cattle, then
it would have been beef that was barbecued. Parallel
to this explanation is the idea that mutton doesn’t
taste good fried or boiled. To some in those early days,
barbecuing mutton was the only way that these
four-legged creatures were good to eat. Moonlite Mutton Dip Moonlite’s Mutton Dip — (original recipe, not
in use) - Dip for chop mutton & sliced mutton
1 gallon water
1 2/3 cup worcestershire
2 1/2 tablespoons
black pepper
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon MSG
1 teaspoon
Allspice
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoons
salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 2/3 cup vinegar Mix all ingredients. Bring to boil. |
