Our Story

Jim started cooking with wood when his grill ran out of gas in the early 1990’s.  What started as an inconvenience at dinner time one night turned into a quest for flavor.  After the first few non-gas fired dinners Jim and Nancy tried their hand at smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving and never looked back.  Since that time every Thanksgiving, whether at home or away has included a smoked turkey.  Jim’s proclivity toward tweaking led the couple to try various wood species, types of smoking methods and other meats.  Having tried their hand at smoking pork, beef, rabbit, duck, fish, venison, chicken and more they have shared their success with many friends and family.  Nancy’s chef background has not only been crucial to the smoking of meat but grew to her using smoked meats as an ingredient in many dishes. 

As Jim and Nancy’s love of smoked meats grew they were inspired to learn more about what it takes to make great smoked meats so they pursued becoming barbecue judges.  Choosing to become certified by the Kansas Barbecue Society, Jim and Nancy set out for Kansas City, Kansas and went to school and graduated at the top of their class.  Having judged at the World Series of Barbecue (and the pre-party) they have an acute understanding of what it takes to make world class smoked meats. 

Wanting to share their gastronomic experience with other led them to exercise Nancy’s Cordon Bleu training and develop not only meats with exceptional flavor and texture but to bring sides under the same scrutiny. Developing sides of interest and full of flavor led Nancy and Jim to go outside the traditional list of sides and develop a series of pickled vegetables and fruit to compliment their smoked meats as well as some serious sides.

Having smoked meats as an ingredient in a dish required the development of recipe-ready meats. After much experimentation they created meats that could be consumed as-is or added to a dish to elevate the flavor profile. For years Nancy, Jim, family and friends have enjoyed the benefit of the richness of smoked meats with the convenience of having them recipe-ready.

The couple have talked of opening a smoking restaurant for years to share their passion for food with the public. Lately the stars aligned and it has become a reality. Craft smoked meats and other specialties will be offered from their Route 5, Callaway, Maryland location and event roaming food trailer.

Since starting the build-out for the store there have been a constant stream of inquiries on-line and future clients stopping by to see what we are up to and asking what kind of barbecue we will serve. Jim says “having traveled to many locations in our country and abroad sampling barbecue there is no one I like more than another, each have their place on my plate”. For this reason the couple have developed flavors and methods that suit the taste of family and friends…not a geographical region. We feel you should eat Texas barbecue when in Texas and Tahitian barbecue when in the South Pacific. Sweet Blue Smoke will be serving Saint Mary’s style barbecue and we can’t wait for you to try it!