Dukes BBQ Hash: Authentic SC BBQ Hash Recipe - Destination BBQ (2024)

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If you know South Carolina BBQ, you know the name Dukes.And if you know Dukes, you have certainly heard about Dukes BBQ hash.

If you’re looking to add one authentic South Carolina barbecue hash recipe to your arsenal, this Dukes BBQ style hash recipe is one to copy into the family cookbook.

There are a dozen Dukes restaurants in SC at the time of this writing, but while they share similar qualities, they are not all the same. Walk into Dukes of Walterboro and you will not get the exact same menu or experience as you would at the Dukes in Ridgeville.

They are not a chain or franchise, per se, but rather a loosely connected assortment of family restaurants.

One thing they all have in common is a delicacy unique to South Carolina: hash and rice. This is not to be confused with Brunswick stew, common in BBQ restaurants in NC and GA. South Carolina barbecue hash has deep and long ties to the state that echo back almost to the origins of barbecue itself.

Here’s a good look at Dukes’ hash

South Carolina barbecue hash recipes all yield a thick stew of sorts whose exact ingredients vary from family to family and restaurant to restaurant.

However, common among all the variations of SC BBQ hash recipes (see our cookbook), you’ll always find its base built upon a meat product — typically pork, sometimes beef, and often a combination.

This rich, meaty foundation is layered with some combination of onions, potatoes, and BBQ sauce. Then it is all boiled down (and often ground) into a thick, soupy stew.

Sometimes lovingly called “liquid sausage,” SC BBQ hash is generally served atop a bed of white rice.

While that may not sound delicious to the uninitiated, most native South Carolinians expect a side of hash and rice when they go out to eat barbecue.Dukes’ BBQ hash recipe is one that has kept them coming back for over five decades.

Head, Tongues, and Liver

Here’s an old clip from SCETV. (Click below to watch video in a new tab.)

In it, host Dr. Dick Pillsbury discusses the Dukes BBQ hash recipe as served at the Dukes on Whitman in Orangeburg. Do they use these unusual parts from the pig to make their hash?

Below you will find our Dukes BBQ hash recipe we received from Michael Ott.

He originally grew up in Orangeburg County, the heart of Dukes BBQ country, and has family ties to Dukes BBQ. It is not Dukes’s actual recipe.

“It’s good, but not a match for Dukes,” he said humbly.

Hash and rice is a staple at BBQ joints around the state and if you’re looking for a homemade recipe, Michael’s is friendly for the home cook.

Curious about SC BBQ Hash?

We’ve published an in-depth look at South Carolina Barbecue hash.

We have also published a Google Web Story that condenses and highlights much of the article above.

In either piece, we examine the origins and history of yet another SC BBQ original. In addition, you will find a current listing of every SCBBQ restaurant that serves hash.

For your convenience, we’ve included an interactive SC BBQ Hash Map which is similar to our SC BBQ Trail Map. This map filters the result to show only those places serving some version of an SC barbecue hash recipe, regardless of meat base, flavoring, or style.

How do you find the best hash and rice spot near you?

With your permission, the map will find your location and show you the closest 25 places serving hash within 100 miles of you.

And, of course, you’ll find several SC BBQ hash recipes to make at home.

Among them, you will discover a beef hash recipe (as seen in the photo above) that’s certainly a different style than Dukes’. It is more commonly found in the Upstate.

Making the Dukes BBQ Hash Recipe

The recipe is really quite simple, though it does take time.

Cooking the Boston Butt

First, the recipe begins with the assumption that you have cooked a 5-pound Boston butt. It doesn’t really matter how you cook it for this recipe.

You can simply cook it in a crockpot or the oven if you want to keep it simple. Or you can smoke it on a smoker if you have more time and energy to invest in it.

Frankly, you could simply buy and/or use leftover barbecue meat. Just understand that there will be subtle flavor differences if you go with the smoker or barbecue route.

Whatever route you choose, it will be fine.

Putting it All Together

With the cooked pork ready, you’ll begin by sautéing onions and potatoes in a pot for about five minutes or so until the onions are tender.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, pull the pork, cleaning it of any unwanted part.

Once the onions are translucent, you can add in the black pepper and pulled pork, covering them all with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer.

When the potatoes are done, simply blend (or grind if you prefer).

An immersion blender works well if you have one, but you can process in batches in a standard blender. However, most hash in South Carolina barbecue restaurants is actually ground in a meat grinder during this step. Here is a good, inexpensive, at-home meat grinder.

Or you could go the old-fashioned route and cook it down over coals in a cast-iron kettle! Photo below compliments of Buck Vaughan.

Avoid blending too smoothly, but if you do, it will still taste fine. I speak from experience on that one.

Add everything, including remaining ingredients, back to the pot and simmer until it’s the right consistency.

What is the right consistency?

Good question. You want a thick stew, something that can and will burn on the bottom of the pot if you’re not stirring regularly. And something that will sit on top of rice, not drain through.

The example below from Big Boy’s Original Smokehouse is yet another look at a true South Carolina barbecue hash. See there is nothing seeping through the rice.

While something different altogether, a hot dog chili is of a comparable consistency. Or maybe a beef stew thickened with corn starch. (No…don’t use cornstarch in your hash. No one in SC does, I promise.)

Anyway, you get the idea.

Finish with a bit of butter and serve over rice.

Aah…that’s a classic take on South Carolina barbecue hash. (And if you’re not going to eat it all right away, South Carolina BBQ hash will keep in the freezer for up to a year.)

Dukes BBQ Style Hash

Yield: 5 quarts

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

An authentic SC BBQ hash recipeat its best, Dukes Barbecue style. Potatoes, onions, and pork are about all you need!

Ingredients

• 5 lbs Boston butt, roasted or cooked in a crockpot until tender and falling off the bone
• 2 lbs potatoes, chopped
• 2 lbs onions, chopped
• 1 cup mustard-based BBQ sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons black pepper, ground
• 1 tsp hot sauce, Texas Pete or to taste
• 8 tbsp butter, (one stick)

Instructions

1. Sauté onions with potatoes in a little oil until onions are tender.
2. Stir in black pepper.
3. Pull pork and add to potatoes and onions.
4. Fill with water until covered.
5. Cook until potatoes are done.
6. Blend mixture slightly in a blender and return to pot.
7. Add BBQ sauce, ketchup, hot sauce to taste and vinegar.
8. Simmer until it's the consistency of thick soup.
9. Turn off heat and add butter.
10. Serve over white rice.

Notes

For a different yet still authentic SC-style hash, substitute half the pork with a beef roast.That version of this South Carolina BBQ hash recipe will have more in common with the hash you find in the Midlands of SC.

Can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 6 months.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 20Serving Size: 1 cup
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 134Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 332mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 2gSugar: 6gProtein: 3g

Want More Authentic SC BBQ Recipes?

Check out our SC BBQ Cookbook. Complete with over 150 pages of recipes from generations-old family cookbooks and today's top pitmasters.