Shuler’s BBQ, Latta, South Carolina

After I reluctantly tore myself away from Bum’s Restaurant, I headed south on I-95 and arrived at Shuler’s at 419 SC-38 between Latta and Sellers, South Carolina, just a few miles off the interstate. As I mentioned in my review of Bum’s, this trip was focused on South Carolina and expanding my knowledge of that State’s barbecue, with its mustard-based sauces, and also hash and rice. That’s easy in South Carolina, as barbecue places usually are buffets, and hash is almost invariably on the steam table.

I arrived at Shuler’s at 2:40, just before the end of the $9.95 lunch price for the buffet, and well after the lunch hour rush. I’d been there twice before, and loved it. Shuler’s is just a few miles off I-95, and you can’t miss it. It’s large and has a connected country store. Inside it’s a warm, attractive place with stained wood and a reasonable number of signs and pigs, and the odd buck trophy.

Customers line up on that wall lined with hats, and it may be that polite customers remove their hats indoors and then forget them in the afterglow of the wonderful buffet that lines the wall to the right.

There’s also attractive outside seating overlooking a pond.

Shuler’s is probably the most pleasant place to stop on I-95. I grabbed a table and a plate and went through the buffet line. Here’s my plate.

Starting at 12:00 and moving clockwise, you see butter beans, collards, slaw, barbecue, fried chicken, and hash. The vegetables were delicious, true Southern-style vegetables, and the slaw was Carolina-good. I noted above that I arrived at 2:40 pm, which can be a dangerous time in a barbecue place, especially one with a buffet and steam tables. The meat can be dried out and stringy. Not so here.

The pork, was, once again, outstanding. It was dressed with thin, vinegary mustard sauce with a great tang. Indeed, after my earlier trip I decided Shuler’s had my favorite mustard sauce. The wood coals over which it’s cooked and the rich pork shine with a smoky flavor that the sauce balances and enriches. And dried out? Ha! Succulent.

Apologies for the focus problem., but you get the idea. The fried chicken turned out to be half a breast rather than a thigh, and the battered crust was thicker than the light dusting I prefer. The chicken, however, turned out to be very juicy and flavorful, and the batter was really tasty and crunchy. This is quality fried chicken.

This brings us to the hash and rice, which may be unfamiliar to many readers.

Hash has been described as “liquid sausage” by Lake High, founder of the South Carolina Barbecue Association. Hash is made by combining meat –traditionally pork, but often beef in the up-country, as at Midway — into a pot and stirring it for hours with whatever other seasonings and other ingredients you like in a big iron kettle. Dr. Howard Conyers, a rocket scientist, food historian, and whole hog barbecuer, notes that initially hash was the head, liver, and lights (lungs) — the leftovers when a hog was slaughtered. Today the lights are prohibited by law (lest haggis break out), and the proportion of meat to offal has soared — usually. — and in many cases the offal has disappeared entirely.

The variety of hashes is breathtaking. James Roller’s magnificent Going Whole Hog devotes 34 large-format pages to hash and hash recipes. It’s usually fairly liquid, but sometimes, as at Henry’s in Greenville, it is a malleable solid that you could slip between two slices of bread.

Shuler’s hash is, like many other Pee Dee barbecue spots, a liver hash — not liver alone, but enough to unsettle many of you. Let’s zoom in. It’s hard to get an attractive presentation of hash. This, of course, is brown, but there are yellow and red hashes as well where mustard or tomato is added.

Just look at that rice! Is it Carolina Gold? It isn’t gold, but it was good enough to attract notice on a star-studded plate. Shuler’s hash was seasoned more and more accessible than the liver hash I had at Hite’s. Liver flavor, however, easily can be tamed with more spices. I tried a light dash of Texas Pete on one spot, and that was better. Then I added some of Shuler’s mustard sauce. The mustard/vinegar sauce made a huge difference. Its peppery tang was a wonderful counterpoint to the liver. It left only a thread of liver richness similar to a good country pâté.

It was fine meal, as always at Shuler’s, and I had to tear myself away to go to another barbecue buffet only about an hour away. I pointedly averted my glance from the dessert buffet. Focus, John, focus! This trip is about barbecue and hash, not pecan pie and banana pudding and .. (Slap!) I needed that. You need to try Shuler’s — no question about it. Put it near the top of your list.

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