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Audio Recording Interview with Gladys Dorsey, Dorsey's barbecue restaurant, Ty Ty, Georgia

Conversation around barbecue with Gladys Dorsey, Ty Ty, Georgia, side A

About this Item

Title

  • Interview with Gladys Dorsey, Dorsey's barbecue restaurant, Ty Ty, Georgia

Names

  • Adler, Thomas A. (Collector)
  • Dorsey, Gladys

Created / Published

  • Ty Ty, Georgia, August 11, 1977

Headings

  • -  Folklore--Georgia
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Sound recording
  • -  United States -- Georgia -- Tift County -- Ty Ty

Genre

  • Field recordings
  • Interviews
  • Sound recording

Notes

  • -  Interview and conversation with Gladys (Mrs. Charles) Dorsey, co-owner and operator (with her husband) of at Dorsey’s barbecue (signs on establishment vary; one states "Dorsey's Ser. Sta. & BBQ"), Ty Ty GA, fieldworkers Tom Adler, Dave Stanley, and Carl Fleischhauer participated, photographs at call numbers AFC 1982/010: GA7-TA-39 through GA7-TA-42; GA7-DS-32 and GA7-DS-33; GA7-CF-28 and GA7-CF-114; AFC 1982/010: 2-17534; 8-17553; 1-17554; and 1-, 11-, 14, and 15-17556: fieldworker Adler's notes state that he learned on his last visit that Gladys Dorsey would barbecue pork this Thursday, so he and Stanley documented the process, Fleischhauer arrived later and photographed the finished product; in the recording, Dorsey explains that her father-in-law makes better barbecue that she does; Dorsey starts at about 5 am, makes a fire at about 8:30 am; meat goes on after the fire has burned down, "the slower you cook it, the better it is," compare to method where coals are moved from pit to pit; Dorsey's wood comes from her farm, her husband cuts it; about her first episode cooking, Dorsey says, "the first time I cooked it, it was funny, it wasn't funny in one way, I hurried up and cooked it, and it was just black, and raw on the inside," she worked to improve and has ended up doing all the cooking, she barbecues twice a week; wood is oak, hard to get, green oak which burns slowly, smoky coals; barbecues Boston butts (pork shoulder), hams, ribs, has cooked goats, deer, and barbecued fish; recipe for sauce, her husband has that, got from his grandfather, Gladys Dorsey does not know it; she has been barbecuing about 12 years; sauce "it ain't sweet, it ain't sour but about the best you can get ahold of, I can make two or three kinds, sometime I change it, sometimes stick to the old one," comments on styles, praises Alabama; about "real old time" method using an actual pit with a screen to support meat; how some use plain ketchup as sauce; Stanley talks to a white couple who have come to pick up barbecue, Dorsey charges 25 cents a pound if customer furnished meat, otherwise $3 per pound; customer says, "I'd like to see more folks, black and white, do this kind of thing," other comments; Dorsey explains that the visitor works at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station, she has spent whole night cooking for that group; comments on the weathervane representing a hog, Dorsey's husband put it up; fieldworkers go inside restaurant, Dorsey joined by her daughter Sara; fieldworkers move to a location out near the cooking area; about the cooking, meat put on fire "green" (no sauce), basting begins after the meat is cooked; Adler tries piece, note says "it's fabulous," Dorsey says, "first thing in the morning, last thing at night, work"; about looking forward to retiring from restaurant, plans to fish from her husband's homemade boat, "it's got 4 seats"; Dorsey says her mother is part Indian, "part Indian, her mother was (Sula? Cilla? possibly derived from Calusa?)."

Medium

  • audiocassette

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1982/010: AFS 20928
  • MBRS shelflist: RYA 0886
  • Field project identifier: GA7-TA-C26

Source Collection

  • South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Adler, Thomas A, and Gladys Dorsey. Interview with Gladys Dorsey, Dorsey's barbecue restaurant, Ty Ty, Georgia. Ty Ty, Georgia, 1977. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1982010_afs20928/.

APA citation style:

Adler, T. A. & Dorsey, G. (1977) Interview with Gladys Dorsey, Dorsey's barbecue restaurant, Ty Ty, Georgia. Ty Ty, Georgia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1982010_afs20928/.

MLA citation style:

Adler, Thomas A, and Gladys Dorsey. Interview with Gladys Dorsey, Dorsey's barbecue restaurant, Ty Ty, Georgia. Ty Ty, Georgia, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc1982010_afs20928/>.