Photo by Milton Morris
Lake E. High Jr.
AGE: 74
HOMETOWN: Columbia
CLAIMS TO FAME: Author of A History of South Carolina Barbeque; cofounded South Carolina Barbeque Association
JUDGE’S CREDENTIALS: Master judge with SCBA; certified with Kansas City Barbecue Society, Memphis Barbecue Network, American Wine Society
OTHER PASSIONS: Wine, sculpture, S.C. history and politics, economics, genealogy, and collecting handmade knives and local arrowheads
KEY TRAIT: High calls himself “a born critic,” routinely ranking favorite cigars, movies, candy bars and whatnot. And he’s confident. “Arguing with me is a waste of everybody’s time. I’m only going to argue with you if you’re wrong.”
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Here are the fundamentals, as Lake High sees them: Barbeque is a noun, not a verb. It’s something Southerners eat, not do. It must be pork. It should be cooked “low and slow” and “kissed by the airborne marinade of smoke.”
This man has spent a lifetime eating and judging what he calls “the world’s best food,” and he literally wrote the book on S.C. barbeque. With those credentials, he’s well equipped for his mission: securing South Carolina’s rightful claim as home to the nation’s first and best barbeque.
“I could be just having a good time eating barbeque,” the veteran cook-off judge says. “But I’ve got a purpose.”
High and fellow judge Walter Rolandi founded the S.C. Barbeque Association in 2004 to train skilled judges, celebrate S.C. as the only state with four styles of sauce (mustard, light tomato, heavy tomato, and vinegar and pepper), and promote local cook-offs to develop championship-level cookers.
It’s working. South Carolina has more cook‑offs per capita than any other state, High says—37 this year, up from two in 2004. SCBA has certified more than 800 judges, and its training system is being mimicked by other states.
In his younger days, High indulged his love for barbeque at any joint he found while traveling every corner of South Carolina. “I’ve probably eaten more barbeque than any person in the state,” he says. Even when he’s not judging, he experiences a plateful of ’que with both mouth and nose, as he would a glass of fine wine.
Although he admits a slight bias for the mustard sauce he grew up with, he’ll gladly eat his pork straight off the pit, sauce-free. When barbeque is good, he says, it makes people happy.
“Barbeque is just simply liked by everyone,” he says.
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Get More
To learn how to train as a barbeque judge, see scbarbeque.com. Photo location courtesy of Hudson’s Smokehouse in Lexington.