Uncle Pete's barbecue sauce may spice up the country

This story is as all-American as hot dogs burning on the grill.

But so far, the tale of Tom Raines and his Uncle Pete is sweet and smoky with just the right kick of heat.

So say the judges of national contests that Raines is winning with a barbecue sauce recipe passed down from his great-uncle, a welder who traveled coast to coast for work until settling in Washington state, where he made barbecue grills from barrels and entertained crowds with his food, his sauce and his guitar picking.

"He couldn't read a note of music, but he could play anything," said Raines, of Hilton Head Plantation.

Uncle Pete wasn't a barbecue baron either, but his sauce still is singing.

It's won Scovie, ZestFest, Fiery Food and National Best of the Best awards. It's now distributed in three states and comes in three varieties with two more on the way.

But the story starts on humbler grounds, our own Honey Horn Plantation. That's where the sauce won first-place in the popular vote at the 2003 Hilton Head Kiwanis Club Rib Burn Off. Raines was invited by his neighbor Mark Vanagel to help his "Hog Heaven" team of amateurs.

When Raines got home that day, he decided to act on an idea that had been simmering for years. He'd do what everybody had been telling him to do since he got his sticky fingers on the recipe when he was 18. He would bottle the sauce. He went out in the yard, snapped a picture of 5-year-old daughter Lily for the label, and "Uncle Pete's BBQ Sauce" was born.

Raines is a 46-year-old builder by trade, but he's chasing a bigger American dream now -- a task that can be as illusive as catching smoke. He's working the barbecue sauce full-time. His wife, Jill, is an occupational therapist.

Raines dreams of going national. Today he'll have a booth at the Fancy Foods Show in New York City, where Uncle Pete's sauce can be whiffed and sampled by thousands of buyers from coast to coast. That's a big change from the word-of-mouth and Hilton Head Elementary cookouts that helped get his first two retailers -- Steve Striano's Internet Cafe & Sundries in Coligny Plaza, and Tom and Eileen Cooper's Cinnamon Bear shops here and in Savannah. The Coastal Discovery Museum also was supportive from the beginning.

Raines is now part of the growing "specialty food" movement of grassroots entrepreneurs. They're being promoted by the state for economic reasons, and because they offer genuine, homegrown products.

Willow Cole of Bluffton also will be at the New York show this week. Her Heritage Shortbread business started with her mother's recipe. She and Raines were both at the Global Food and Style Expo in Chicago in April, along with Jerry and Marcy Elam, whose Hilton Head Cookie Company offers frozen cookie dough ready to bake.

Other local members listed on the S.C. Department of Agriculture's Specialty Food Association Web site are Annette Fioravanti of Annette's Gourmet Italian Chili, Jenny Cawthon's gourmet salad dressing in Bluffton, Jim Hazelton of Dunlin Place Bakery, Creegan Edmonds of Hilton Head Ice Cream and Ruben and Lori Adams of Carolina Sweets in Okatie.

Raines has found the barbecue world to be competitive but friendly. He's told there are 22,000 bottled sauces on the market. The stories of the people behind them make you want to stand up and sing "God Bless America" even if you can't read a note.

"If you ever get down, just go to a barbecue event," Raines said. "You'll meet people who've been knocked down and getting back up for 15 or 20 years. And you'll meet people who hit it big in just a few years."

You see, there's a lot more in the bottle than vinegar and smoke and just the right amount of heat.