Hash & RIce, a South Carolina BBQ Tradition

Posted by Dr. Tom Hanchett, staff historian on March 12 2010

You know you're in South Carolina when the barbecue restaurants serve hash.

What's hash? Well, about the closest place to Charlotte to find out is Burk's BBQ in Rock Hill.

Barbecue hash is not to be confused with corned beef hash, that reddish potato-flecked food that Northerners sometimes serve for breakfast.

South Carolina hash is a noontime or evening thing. And it's always accompanied by rice, a tradition dating back to the nineteenthcentury when coastal Carolina ranked among the great rice-growing regions of the world.

At Burk's BBQ, Jean Marie Burkhamer makes hash just the way her grandmother did in Newberry, South Carolina:

"Take beef brisket, Boston butt pork, sweet red pepper, onion, cook them in a pot for five hours, maybe more, til the meat's just falling apart. Remove any fat. Then add back some of the broth, a little mustard, a dash of vinegar."

Jean Marie put hash on Burk's menu of chopped pork and ribs about three months ago. She smiles when customers line up for it, especially Sundays after church, but she says that family is her real motivation. "My daddy kept asking for it, ‘I wish you would make me some hash like I grew up with.'"

Burk's BBQ
Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 9pm
Sunday 11am - 2pm

2012 North Cherry Road (Interstate 77 exit 82B)
Rock Hill, SC 29732
(803) 980-4444

For more on hash history, consult South Carolina's Digital Traditions folklife website: http://digitaltraditions.pbworks.com/Hash

Found a food that reminds you of where you grew up? Contact thanchett@museumofthenewsouth.org