Pitmaster, Rodney Scott. Photos by Angie Mosier
During the last census, Hemingway, South Carolina, was recorded to have just under 500 residents; we’re willing to bet that Rodney Scott has fed each and every one of them.
Rodney is a force. His passion for life is evident in his commitment to community, his loyalty to his friends, his willingness to help his neighbors, and certainly in the food he prepares at Scott’s Bar-B-Que, his family’s longtime business, located in Hemingway, just 49 miles west of Myrtle Beach.
Rodney has cooked for Billy Reid countless times over the years and is as good and true a friend as ever we’ve known. And don’t even get us started on his BBQ, not to mention his special sauce. It’s life changing – and we like our BBQ, so we should know.
In November, the pit house behind Scott’s, where Rodney can smoke up to 14 hogs over his preferred wood mix of hickory, oak, and pecan, was lost to a fire. Though that setback didn’t slow Rodney down much as you might think, in a true testament to his friendship, the national group of chefs, restaurateurs, thinkers, and entrepreneurs that call themselves the Fatback Collective rallied to concoct a plan to help Rodney rebuild the pits and continue to feed and nourish his community.
Enter the Rodney in Exile BBQ Tour. Over the next two weeks, Rodney will be touring the southeast, stopping in Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Oxford, New Orleans, with a finale stop in Charleston to do what he does best with members of the Fatback Collective, who in addition to being very devoted friends also just happen to be some of the best chefs in the United States. (They’re all too humble to tell you that, but we can certainly brag on them.)