A barbecuing Tulsan cooked 500 pounds of pork, and will do it all again next week.
Paul Eagleton, a financial adviser, turns his hobby for good. He is giving away food to people in need during the pandemic.
Eagleton’s 10-year-old smoker does the job every time.
“That’s some good lookin’ pork,” he says, but it takes time to get picture-perfect.
Eagleton wakes at 3:30 in the morning for a check.
He said, “They smoke for 12 hours. It takes a lot of time to get them to where they just fall apart.”
Barbecuing is in Eagleton's blood.
He says, “Yeah, I come by it naturally.”
The hobby was passed down...
Eagleton explains, “My family’s been giving away BBQ in Tulsa longer than I've been alive.”
The desire to help burned its way through the generations, too.
“There were people who were just in tears because they were so thankful to have a friend or a colleague… they didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from,” he said. “You have $50 left and a month to go before working again. You need all the help you can get.”
Friday, Eagleton gave away 500 pounds of pecan wood-smoked pork.
Iif people eat a quarter pound per person, that’s about 2,000 people a pop, if we fill the smoker up,” he said.
They did fill it up. Once done, the food was packed in foil pans for pickup. All of it went.
Eagleton plans a second giveaway for next Friday.
He said, “All my friends that are out of work and all the suffering in the world. Somebody who can afford to go to a restaurant, I think they ought to get their food that way, but lots of people can’t afford to do that right now. We can cook for hundreds and hundreds of people. We thought we would do that.”
They are blessings disguised as free food in a smokey and uncertain time.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Download our free app for Apple and Android and Kindle devices.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines and Daily Forecasts.
