The Team

Who We Are

Porter Smokehouse BBQ & Catering is a Clayton, NC based barbecue catering company that was founded on the principles of providing clients high-quality foods, top-notch service, tasty traditions and dazzling displays, all in an unpretentious manner. We are constantly developing new ideas, staying abreast of the latest trends, and ensuring that your event goes off without a hitch.

As a husband & wife team, we know the love and care we put into making our smoked meats and side dishes to make them the best possible meal you’ve ever enjoyed. We take pride in our perfectly smoked meats - with a smoke-ring of pink around the edges, encrusted by a "bark" of spices and juices, and so succulent it practically falls off the bone. We take just as much pride in preparing our sides! Our menu offering is simple, but what we do, we make sure we do it extremely well.

OUR MAIN INGREDIENT

Nothing can mimic, substitute or replace the flavor achieved when smoking food with real 100% seasoned wood splits. And when we say, "seasoned wood splits", we mean a tree (wood) that has been cut down, chopped into pieces (splits) and allowed to dry outdoors for 12 - 18 months until the correct moisture level is achieved (seasoned).

Porter Smokehouse BBQ only smokes with locally sourced Red Oak, White Oak, Cherry, Pecan, Maple and Hickory woods which are never processed or refined. Just cooking with 100% natural wood the way its been done for hundreds of years. The result is moist, tender, savory meats and sides that have a unique succulent flavor that melts in your mouth!

The Porter Smokehouse BBQ "NO SAUCE GUARANTEE"

When you take prime cuts of meat, prepare them properly, season them with the finest herbs and smoke them with 100% seasoned wood splits; you DO NOT need to add barbecue sauce. Many cooks drown their meats in barbecue sauce to hide something. Either they didn't invest the money to obtain high quality meat, don't know or don't take the time to prepare and season their meat properly. However, the main reason we have found is most establishments (even barbecue restaurants) are not cooking with 100% WOOD! As a result, the meat lacks flavor and to hide it, they drown the meat in heavy amounts of Honey Chipotle Sweet & Mild Hickory Maple Bourbon Barbecue Sauce to try and make it taste good.

At Porter Smokehouse BBQ, we don't have to hide behind barbecue sauce. We select top quality meats, spend great amounts of time preparing and seasoning them and WE ALWAYS SMOKE OUR MEAT WITH 100% WOOD SPLITS!

So we make the following Porter Smokehouse Barbecue "NO SAUCE GUARANTEE".

We will always select top quality meats for our menu
We will always take time and care in preparing those meats
We will always use the best seasonings for those meats
We will always smoke our meats with 100% wood splits
WE WILL NEVER PUT BARBECUE SAUCE ON OUR MEATS!

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George Porter

Pitmaster

For many years, grilling has always been George’s thing. You can usually find him hanging out on the back deck of our home, no matter the weather, standing at his beloved grill cooking up everyone’s favorites. He’s the grill-master champion in the family; yes, that’s really a thing after participating in a grill-off competition with other self-proclaimed champion grillers in the family. A blind taste test declaring George the winner sealed his confidence that he IS indeed a Pitmaster! So, why not share that with the world? George always had dreams of having a custom smoker built that had all the features to cook whatever he desires and share it with everyone. So that’s the story of how we got here but there's more.

George's desire to be the absolute best Pitmaster he can be lead him on a quest. He spent hundreds of hours researching every aspect of wood-fired cooking which included reaching out to top Pitmasters in the industry, reading books, watching videos, traveling to top BBQ restaurants in numerous states and selecting the best products in the industry. In developing his own style, George has left no stone unturned to bring you the very best backyard-style craft barbecue you've ever tasted.

Dionne Porter

Executive Chef

Entertaining and event planning is what Dionne is best known for amongst her family & friends. Year after year, event after event, she has always loved pulling together fabulous menus that she knows will have her loved ones asking for to-go plates. Having hosted events and prepared food for so many guests over the years, a leap to catering just made sense. Dionne enjoys seeing the smiles and bellies of satisfaction from those that have enjoyed her dishes.

It is Dionne's mission to complement George's Pitmaster skills by bringing forth the best tasting sides you can imagine. Every recipe for each side dish has been taste tested and tweaked to ensure rich and full-bodied flavor, perfect texture, pleasant aroma and well, you eat with your eyes first, so every dish is sure to look appetizing as well. Appealing to your five senses is what Dionne always aims to do; so all that's left is for you to hear "Dinner is served!"

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Maybelle Sinclair Porter

Custom Smoker

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Weighing in at over 5,000 lbs of pure carbon steel, 20 feet in length and 7 feet tall, our beloved smoker, Maybelle Sinclair Porter is a one-of-a-kind, high capacity smoker. Custom built from the ground up in Kentucky to our exact specifications, Maybelle is designed to provide true 100% wood-fired flavor to our entire menu. Because we believe, if it's not 100% wood-fired, it just ain't true barbecue.

Being a high-capacity smoker means she has the ability to smoke multiple 200 pound hogs, dozens of whole chickens, numerous racks of ribs, and uncountable full size pans of BBQ sides; ALL AT ONE TIME. What this means for our valuable clients is we have the ability to meet the needs of large groups and events without having to cook food days prior or prepare food in batches which need to be refrigerated then re-warmed. All of our food is cooked fresh only hours before the event and spends minimal time in the warming stage before serving. There's nothing better than delicious food, fresh out the smoker.

Not only is it high-capacity, but our trailer system allows us to be mobile and prepare all your food onsite to include the sides. Onsite cooking also eliminates warming issues and allows us to provide a higher quality product.

Vanna White - Porter

Flagship Vehicle Extraordinaire

We rescued Vanna from a well-known national vehicle rental company where she was employed as a full-time, low budget laborer. She spent her first 12 months and 13,000 miles enduring abuse being used to haul furniture and extremely heavy boxes. Daily she contended with different owners who never appreciated her skills, personality or abilities. But we put an end to all that! Now with us, she has blossomed, released the decals from her previous employer, and is living her best life.

As part of our family, she embraces her new destiny as the flagship vehicle for PSBBQ and even accepted our request to change her last name to Porter after the adoption papers were signed. In her spare time, you can usually find Vanna getting pampered with tire glaze and air fresheners at the local car wash, sipping on 93 octane at her favorite gas station or spending time with her new sister Maybelle in the shade. Hire us for your next event and we're sure Vanna will lead the way.

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Clifton Eugene Leonard

Wood Transport Specialist

Clifton is the newest member to join our team of barbecue professionals. He comes from the distinguished Leonard line of trailers and is proud of his family heritage dating back to 1963. He's a pretty shy fella and does everything he can to avoid the spotlight. As a Wood Transportation Specialist, Clifton safely transports our precious seasoned wood ensuring we never run out and inspects each split before it gets loaded. Clifton understands the importance that quality wood plays in our cooking process and vows to ensure we have only the best. Rumor has it that he has a crush on Vanna but you didn't hear that from us!

CERTIFICATIONS