“A love of live fire and curiosity about cooking laid the ground work for the pitmaster he would become. But before all that, Martin followed a trajectory more traditional for his family: going to college before becoming a bond trader. It was while attending Freed-Hardeman University in the small town of Henderson, Tennessee that Martin first became exposed to whole hog barbecue. “In this little town of 5,000 or 6,000 people there was something like 20 barbecue joints. The Carolinas get all the credit, but in West Tennessee whole hog barbecue, which no doubt migrated over, is just as important.””
