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Tustenuggee continues barbecue tradition
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| Timmy Bussey (left) helps George Moseley cook ribs on a large smoker at Tustenuggee United Methodist Church on Wednesday. The men were half of the barbecue team that prepared about 640 pounds of meat to make more than 200 meals. JEFF M. HARDISON/Lake City Reporter |
Moms get day off before Thanksgiving
By JEFF M. HARDISON
jhardison@lakecityreporter.com
TUSTENUGGEE COMMUNITY — Barbecue dinners on the day before Thanksgiving have become an established tradition in and around the Tustenuggee community.
It began as a community event in 1955 or 1956, said George Moseley. It evolved into a fundraiser for the church.
“It wasn’t a fundraiser at first,” Moseley said. “It was just a meal for the community. Then it started getting bigger and bigger. Then it became a fundraiser.
“We would raise money for the building fund, and this, that and the other thing. This year, it’s for the building fund.”
The 64-year-old man remembered watching his father, Robert Lee Moseley, and his uncle, Henry Bussey, when they first cooked the chicken over a barbecue pit at Tustenuggee United Methodist Church.
He was 12 at the time. His father and uncle took chicken wire and placed it over a pit of hot coals.
“They turned it with pitchforks that first year,” he said.
The next year, they put the chicken between two pieces of thick wire and flipped it to barbecue it evenly.
This year, George Moseley, Timmy Bussey, Gary Bussey and Jerry Norris are the barbecue chefs. There was 390 pounds of Boston butts (pork), 210 pounds of whole chicken and 40 pounds of leg quarters barbecued for the event this year.
The men started cooking in the very wee hours of the day Wednesday, to assure meals could be served as early as 11 a.m. Last year, there were 200 dinners made, and last year, they said, was a relatively light year.
Moseley said excess meat is sold after the dinners are all distributed.
The meat was smoked in two huge closed grills. The chicken was served in its cut pieces off the grill. The pork was cut and then ground in a “Hobart Buffalo Chopper” to make the delicious pulled-pork barbecue meals.
Green beans were cooked over an open propane flame in a big aluminum kettle.
Lunch was served from 11 a.m., to 2 p.m. and the full community came for meals from 5 to 8 p.m.
Many meals were delivered. Bob Breyer, one of the other 15 to 20 volunteers for the whole event, put 50 meals in his car at a time. One caller from High Springs ordered 14 meals.
Chicken or barbecued pork were available as
the main entrees. Fresh green beans, old-fashioned baked beans, coleslaw and bread were among the other dishes.
Desserts were varied and plentiful.
The building fund helps keep the 163-year-old church maintained. Parts of the original beams are in the church, although it has been modified since it was established in 1845 — the same year Florida became a state.
It began as a community event in 1955 or 1956, said George Moseley. It evolved into a fundraiser for the church.
“It wasn’t a fundraiser at first,” Moseley said. “It was just a meal for the community. Then it started getting bigger and bigger. Then it became a fundraiser.
“We would raise money for the building fund, and this, that and the other thing. This year, it’s for the building fund.”
The 64-year-old man remembered watching his father, Robert Lee Moseley, and his uncle, Henry Bussey, when they first cooked the chicken over a barbecue pit at Tustenuggee United Methodist Church.
He was 12 at the time. His father and uncle took chicken wire and placed it over a pit of hot coals.
“They turned it with pitchforks that first year,” he said.
The next year, they put the chicken between two pieces of thick wire and flipped it to barbecue it evenly.
This year, George Moseley, Timmy Bussey, Gary Bussey and Jerry Norris are the barbecue chefs. There was 390 pounds of Boston butts (pork), 210 pounds of whole chicken and 40 pounds of leg quarters barbecued for the event this year.
The men started cooking in the very wee hours of the day Wednesday, to assure meals could be served as early as 11 a.m. Last year, there were 200 dinners made, and last year, they said, was a relatively light year.
Moseley said excess meat is sold after the dinners are all distributed.
The meat was smoked in two huge closed grills. The chicken was served in its cut pieces off the grill. The pork was cut and then ground in a “Hobart Buffalo Chopper” to make the delicious pulled-pork barbecue meals.
Green beans were cooked over an open propane flame in a big aluminum kettle.
Lunch was served from 11 a.m., to 2 p.m. and the full community came for meals from 5 to 8 p.m.
Many meals were delivered. Bob Breyer, one of the other 15 to 20 volunteers for the whole event, put 50 meals in his car at a time. One caller from High Springs ordered 14 meals.
Chicken or barbecued pork were available as
the main entrees. Fresh green beans, old-fashioned baked beans, coleslaw and bread were among the other dishes.
Desserts were varied and plentiful.
The building fund helps keep the 163-year-old church maintained. Parts of the original beams are in the church, although it has been modified since it was established in 1845 — the same year Florida became a state.
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