MEAT MAN

By Patrick McCreless
The Cullman Times

July 07, 2008 11:58 am

— J.V. Shelton has no trouble smoking a slab of pork ribs to perfection. Explaining exactly how he does it, however, is another matter entirely.
“It’s just something you learn,” Shelton said. “When the meat starts running off the bone, you know it’s done.”
Shelton and his wife, Myrtis, were the only two responsible for cooking approximately 300 slabs of ribs Thursday and Friday for the Dodge City Lions Club’s smoked rib sale. For the last several years, the club has sold ribs on holidays such as the Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day to raise money for community projects.
To raise as much money as possible, it is important to the Lions Club that they sell the best ribs in town, which is where the Sheltons come into play.
For nearly 30 years, the Sheltons owned and operated the Dodge City Barbecue restaurant.
“I don’t know who suckered me into it,” (J.V.) Shelton said with a laugh.
Shelton said when he and his wife took over the restaurant, he knew next to nothing about how to smoke ribs.
“I taught myself,” he said. “After five years, I learned how.”
Myrtis said her brother-in-law helped her and her husband figure out how to smoke ribs correctly.
“I had a brother-in-law who was an Army cook and he showed my husband how,” she said. “He (her husband) took it from there. It was trial and error.”
One of the first things the two learned was properly smoking ribs is a time-consuming process. The two were up at 7 a.m. in front of S and S Food Store Thursday to cook the first round of ribs for the day.
“It takes five and a half hours to do just one order of ribs,” Shelton said.
During his 25 years of smoking ribs, Shelton developed his own special techniques.
“I don’t use sauce,” Shelton said. “I’ve got my own special rub that I came up with myself.”
Shelton’s cooking techniques seemed to do the trick. Within an hour, the Lions Club sold out of the Sheltons’ first round of ribs Thursday, which included 54 5-pound slabs.
Lion Club member Nita McClendon said such high demand is typical of their rib sales.
“We never have leftovers,” she said.