

If you’re interested in complementary dishes to go along with your mains, they’ve got you covered as well. Today, Pitmaster Enterprises, in partnership with True Made Foods, has a line of grilling accompaniments inclusive of regional sauces, rubs, and a cayenne hot sauce that can be paired with your favorite meats. “So, we took a stance on recreating our products with no sugar.” Sauces and condiments, in general, are filled with sugars, “and targeted marketing has taken its toll on underprivileged communities,” Mitchell adds. “We decided we wanted to use our platform in this business to change the narrative around barbecue,” Ryan Mitchell says. While most sauces, rubs, and seasonings can be used with a number of different meats, we’re offering up suggestions on dishes and spirits to enjoy them with. Rogers adds that the combination of smoke with the incorporation of spices, rubs, and sauces can be very desirable, and from a food safety standpoint, it can also keep meat safer because some have antimicrobial properties.īelow we’ve rounded up a handful of Black-owned brands that are sure to make your summer cookout more flavorful.

Rogers, PhD, director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.

“By adding them prior and during cooking, the flavoring gets deeper into the meat and makes it more intense,” says James E. That flavor conventionally comes from the sauces and rubs on meats meeting the hot grates of a grill. “You light up a grill and you put some food out-I see that smoke and flavor in the air as a symbol of hope and a symbol of community.”

“The cookout has always been an outdoor spiritual experience, and it has always been something that is near and dear to most Black people’s hearts,” Mitchell says. As a third-generation pitmaster, and son to American Royal Barbecue Hall of Famer Ed Mitchell, the celebration of Juneteenth, coupled with the tradition of barbecue, is a sacred one. For North Carolina pitmaster Ryan Mitchell, that legacy stems back more than 150 years-nearly as long as Juneteenth has been recognized.
