Brookwood Farms is one of the only meat processors in the country that measures its cooking capacity by the yard instead of by the pound. All total, the company has 900 yards worth of pit space in its Siler City, N.C. headquarters. Those pits are where beef, pork and chicken are turned into some of the most sought-after barbecue in the country.
Each afternoon, the company’s pitmasters light charcoal briquettes. After they have reached just the right temperature, the briquettes are loaded into specialty, stainless-steel clad ceramic pits, and the meat is placed onto the grills, where it will cook for the next 14 to 16 hours. The pitmasters will monitor the cooking process throughout, ensuring that a uniform temperature is being reached. The meat is chopped or pulled, sauced and packaged the next morning. It is painstaking and labor intensive work, but the Wood family, founders of Brookwood Farms, has never compromised on quality.