Dale Clark, Dale Young, Robert Poyntz and Stewart McIntyre became partners in the business that has grown far beyond their dreams.

Their small restaurant at 123 Opera Alley, in Georgetown, Kentucky,  isn’t large enough to handle business on the two nights a week it’s open.

The restaurant is an offshoot of the catering business that’s run by Dale Young’s wife, Sandra. She organizes the menu and staff for parties that are often for 250 or more guests. Most all of the men’s families pitch in to help.

These four religious leaders at First Baptist Church are barbecue experts in addition to holding down full time jobs.

When it comes to cooking,

“we all know what needs to be done,”

McIntyre said.

Making their ribs was a challenge for Dale Young, it took him a 1/2 ton of ribs before they were done to his satisfaction.

“It sounds easy, but it took me a thousand pounds of ribs to learn to cook ribs. Whole ribs are not seasoned with a rub, it’s just the seven to nine hours of cooking at a low temperature that allows the meat to fall away from the bone. We use apple, some walnut, hickory and maple. We don’t put anything on it. The wood does the polishing. That’s the deep secret. We cook with hot smoke. Apple wood does something special to the meat.”

The men started out selling barbecue at a gas station. But it was the sauce that convince them they had a winner.

“We knew we had something when a carload of people stopped by and bought sandwiches and put sauce on them and drove away. Here they came back in a few minutes. They wanted more sauce.”

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/07/15/1349898/this-barbecue-quartet-has-customers.html#ixzz0tlLLKMoc