Buck Hill Barbecue is a family-owned business operated by cousins Keith Goodier and Tyler McCollum. Keith and Tyler started, like most in the BBQ business, in backyard cookouts for family and friends.
Over the years, Keith, his brothers, and Tyler have been competing to cook the best-tasting food by investing in better equipment, learning new techniques, and experimenting with new ingredients. In the summer of 2023, the planets aligned for Keith and Tyler to take their passion for cooking beyond friendly competition and launch Buck Hill Barbecue.
“Our goal is to elevate the barbecue game in New England. We are committed to doing it the right way – using the finest proteins and ingredients available, slow cooked in our custom-built 17’ woodfire smoker trailer.
This is real deal BBQ.”
LA: In 2023 you and Keith took your passion for cooking to the ultimate step of launching Buck Hill BBQ. What made you take the leap from backyard barbecues for family and friends to a business?
TM: There have been ongoing conversations about launching a food business for years. It seemed to always pop up as a topic at every family outing where we would be hanging out. In the summer of 2023, Keith and I started having more “serious” discussions about starting a catering business and what that would look like since we both enjoy cooking many different styles of food. We chose barbeque because we felt it could be translated in many other ways. Ultimately, it was a timing thing, and we both thought we were in a good spot personally and professionally to take the leap.
KG: Yeah, it really has been brewing for a long time. Cookouts would generally turn into impromptu competitions to see who could make the most outrageous food combination!
LA: You have so many different menus for your events. How do you decide what meals to bring to each event? What’s your process for coming up with your menu? You even offer breakfast burritos!
TM: When we first started, we tried to stick to a more traditional barbeque menu, but we have always planned to venture into other styles. It wasn’t until we started cooking at pop-ups that we began to feel more freedom to mix up our menu and incorporate our unique influences. We always knew that we would eventually branch out using barbecue as the basis of whatever we would cook – but we could do so
KG: Thank you for noticing! I have worked at a few different restaurants over the years in different culinary styles. Barbeque is a really nice platform to bring in different techniques, if you are starting with a 18 hour smoked brisket, you can make a lot of other things taste great!
LA: What exactly is on your travelling grill trailer?
KG: We have a 18-foot Lang SmokerCooker from Georgia. Mr. Lang invented the reverse-flow cooking method in the late 1980’s. Reverse flow smoking allows for a more even temperature across the cooking chamber, and as the fat is rendered, it drips onto a heated plate, vaporizing the fat. So really, our meats are getting a long smoky sauna session. Our smoker has an 84“ main chamber, an additional warming/smoking chamber, and a wood or charcoal-fired grill on the front. We can smoke about 300 lbs of meat and grill you about 40 ribeyes while you wait!
LA: Where do you prepare and store your meats and sides ahead of time?
TM: We typically prepare food the day of or the day before a cook. We always cook with fresh ingredients and typically, the meat goes on the smoker the day we buy it.
LA: What’s your secret to a good BBQ?
KG: I really don’t think BBQ has a lot of secrets, just commitment. We smoke like they do in the South, whole log splits only, no pellets, no propane. When we fire it up, it’s going to be going for 12-18 hours, and Tyler or I will be right there the whole time. Besides that, we like to let the meat speak for itself. Starting with good quality meats, our own spice rubs, and BBQ sauces, a long slow cook over real wood, followed by a nice long rest really defines Buck Hill.
TM: I’d like to add that if you want to make delicious barbeque, it’s helpful to travel to some of the best BBQ restaurants and try their food. When you feel you had a good cook and you try your food, and it’s even 80% as good as what you remember that high bar being, then you’re on the right track.
LA: Have you ever entered any BBQ competitions?
TM: We have not, but we have talked about entering local competitions at some point. For the time being, we’re happy to focus solely on making our customers happy.
LA: Tell me about the equipment you need
TM: We cook 90% of the food we serve in the smoker. We do have some other fun equipment though, including pizza ovens, deep fryers, portable flat-top grills, etc. We’ve talked about building a mobile kitchen at some point, and it would be great to have the equipment to cook all kinds of different food options.
LA: Both of you have experienced professional cooking prior to your business but looking at your website and social media pages, this goes beyond cooking in a restaurant. How did you learn how to be a professional pitmaster?
TM: As Keith mentioned before, it’s really about time and commitment. Not many secrets are left out there, so going from good to great is honing the craft with every cook and committing to getting better with every cook. But learning how to manage a fire is a really good starting point!
KG: I think something that people don’t see is failure as being a catalyst for cooking. When I make a mistake, I want to know what went wrong and why, most importantly, how to make it right the next time. BBQ really emphasizes that for me, you can do everything right for 16 hours and if you lose focus for 30 minutes you can wreck a cook. That is what drives me to stay on top of things at 3 am!
LA: Out of all the meals you cook, what is your favorite choice of meat and side and why ?
TM: I always talk up our chicken, and I mean it! I could eat our smoked chicken thighs every day. It can be transformed into many different dishes, and the meat tends to take on a great smoke flavor. As far as our sides, I think our beans are pretty tough to beat – it’s Keith’s recipe, so I’m comfortable saying that they are the best I’ve had anywhere, and I’ve eaten at some of the best places in the country.
KG: Thanks Tyler, that’s really kind of you! I will second that smoked chicken thighs are our biggest surprise item. Chicken can get lost in BBQ sometimes, but I will take a juicy smoked thigh any time!
LA: What is your favorite sauce for Buck Hill BBQ?
TM: It depends. For pork, our Lexington Dip is the go-to, and I like our honey bourbon barbeque sauce for everything else. I’m not sure you “need” sauce for our brisket, but I’ll leave that to our customers.
KG: Definitely the Lexington Dip! The first time I had vinegar-based BBQ sauce in North Carolina, I fell in love with it. It also makes fantastic salad dressing!
LA: How did you come up with your name and logo?
KG: Great Question! We were toying with names for a while, and late one night, during a long cook, we came up with the name. It could have been the sleep deprivation, but I ended up telling a story from the late 90s in Burrillville, where I grew up. I was about 18 and there was a story circulating around town that there was a ghost out in the woods toward Connecticut. This kept coming up one summer, someone would report a ghost to the police late at night on a road headed toward CT. Well, it turns out that someone was having a bit too much fun on the weekend and then putting on a white blanket and ripping down the road on a 10-speed late at night; that road was Buck Hill Road! I think we both knew right then we found the name.
TM: I thought it sounded like a good BBQ place name!
LA: When you’re not barbecuing… where’s your favorite place to go for BBQ food in Rhode Island?
TM: There are so many great restaurants in Rhode Island. I think it punches way above its weight class for quality options in many different culinary styles. Some personal favorites are Los Andes, Hotline Pizza, and Chilangos.
KG: Sadly, my personal favorite, Johnny’s Victory Diner, closed last spring. They were serving some serious BBQ there. I also used to skip high school and have breakfast there, so it was a bit of an institution for Burrillvillians!
Website: BUCKHILLBBQ.com
Phone: 617-771-2140
FB: Buck Hill Barbeque
IG buckhillbbq
Email: BUCKHILLBBQ@gmail.com
