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ROUSES.COM
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PITMASTER
’QUE TIPS
Talk to any seasoned barbecue, and you’ll
pick up plenty of tips to up your personal
pork-smoking game. Talk with Orrison
— who calls himself the “Head ShedHed”
and leader of his joint’s loyal fan base —
and you’ll learn to never put cold meat in
a smoker, stay away from green or damp
woods and, most important, layer your rub
to build complex, savory flavors.
“The salt goes on the meat first, because
that’s your base,” said Orrison. “Then you
add the heat — cayenne pepper, chili powder
and turmeric. Then you come back later in
the cooking process with a mix of sweet and
savory — usually brown sugar and celery
seed. This way, when you bite into the meat
you get sweet and savory, then spice.”
Orrison’s best tip? Get a meat thermometer.
As you learn your way around the
complex world of mixing meat and fire,
a thermometer will be your best friend.
Whether you’re cooking a 10-pound brisket
or grilling chicken breasts, reading the
numbers will get you closer to perfect meat
than just “eyeballing it.”
The Shed’s competition team of 15 regulars
includes his sister Brooke Lewis (the
Princess of Pork), other family members
(Mama Shed, Poppa Shed and Daddy O),
Hobson Cherry (senior pit master), and
Mr. Jim (the restaurant’s first customer and
team’s Official Beer Drinker). Over the
years, The Shed’s ragtag crew have racked
up over 140 awards in just over a decade on
the competitive circuit.
Back in Ocean Springs, the group works
and plays together. Brad and sister Brooke
built the original Shed location — a 300-
foot structure made out scrap metal, lumber
and “collectible junk” Orrison had collected
over the years — which lasted until a fire
destroyed it in 2012. Four months later
they’d rebuilt and reopened, bigger and
better, in a new space with a treasure trove
of junk from every corner of the Earth,
much of it donated by loyal ShedHeds.
GET FED AT THE SHED
Die-hard smoked meat fans from all over
the Gulf Coast — these ShedHeads —
hit the restaurant for slabs of ribs, chicken
wangs, G-maw’s Famous Beans, Daddy O’s
Creamy Cole Slaw and Momma Mia’s Mac
Salad. Whole hog barbecue — a restaurant
specialty — is always on the menu, and the
other
kind of H.O.G.s — the two-wheeled,
gas-burning variety — are often in the
parking lot. The Shed’s location — just
a short hop off Interstate 10 — makes it
popular with the motorcycle folks.
“The restaurant is just off the beaten path,
so we’re an easy ride from anywhere,” says
Orrison. “If you leave Baton Rouge on your
Harley at 8 a.m., it’s a 3-hour trip; you’ll be
there when we open.”
When it comes to meat (the most important
part of a barbecue joint) it’s pretty tough
to go wrong. The brisket is smoked for 14
hours on pecan wood, which is native to the
South. The coarse-ground sausage they use
comes from Country Pleasin’ in Florence,
Mississippi. “We cook the sausage over
medium heat in a hot smoker with coals
made out of sharp wood like oak or cherry.
When it hits a temperature of 165, we’ll
take it out, slice it flat like it’s going on a
po-boy, add sauce or seasoning, then put it
back so it caramelizes down.”
Baby back ribs are cooked for five to six hours,
spare ribs for four hours. Both racks are done
at 250 degrees (about 25 degrees hotter than
normal home smoking temperatures). “That
temperature works at the restaurant if we
need to add chicken or sausage to the pit.”
You want to test the skill of a pit master?
Taste the barbecue without the sauce first.
But if you pass on the sauce at The Shed,
you’ll be missing out. Orrison’s sauces have
won 98 different national awards and range
from Original Southern Sweet and Spicy
Sweet to Spicy Mustard and Spicy Vinegar.
(All are available on the shelves at Rouses,
along with the marinades for beef, pork and
poultry, a Cluckin’ Awesome Poultry Rub
and Rack Attack Rib Rub.)
Orrison has one more tip. “I’m not gonna lie
— if you get pork loin or pork chop at Rouses,
marinate it in our pork marinade, and grill it
or reverse-sear it, it’s gonna be great.Then if
you go one step further and sandwich with
Rouses garlic bread, and add some onions
with butter and bacon crumbles, some sort of
spicy mayonnaise, God forbid a hot pickle ...
aw man, that’s good. I want one right now.”