When Peter Zukiwski launched Pitt County BBQ in 2019, feeding a crowd of 50 put this contractor-turned-pitmaster-in-training’s cooking chops to the test. Never mind the sheer amount of food he had to prepare; the loading and unloading of firewood and equipment and working 16 to 24-hour shifts—some of them in minus 30 temps—tested his physical and emotional strength, too. Lucky for us, the company and its master survived. With six years of smoke and sizzle under his belt, it’s obvious: Peter Zukiwski has found his happy place.
The trepidation he felt in the beginning has been replaced with the confidence born of each successful service and accolade received, and every competition completed. With every trip to North Carolina, he has hungrily lapped up information and experience from the kings and queens of barbecue like Sam Jones of the legendary Skylight Inn BBQ in Ayden, and Vivian Howard of the famed restaurant, Chef & the Farmer in Kinston.
Technique and respect for the craft are still his guiding lights. Barbecuers in Pitt County, NC, focus on pork as the protein of choice, and while it’s a mainstay in his larder, Zukiwski leans into regional proteins like Canadian oysters and Alberta beef, as well. Cooking what grows close to home is always a good idea.
Big Bertha, the 12-foot-long cooker he built for himself at the beginning of this endeavour, still chugs along with smoke and flame doing their jobs, but he’s added three more to the stable of steel. He has enough equipment now to provide him with the square footage to cook two whole hogs and hundreds of pounds of pork shoulder, brisket, and chicken at the same time.
He has no formal culinary training and no Red Seal certification, but being called “chef” is something Peter Zukiwski is getting more comfortable hearing. Awards and accolades and working alongside celebrity chefs are highlights, but his most meaningful moments as a chef are when North Carolinians come across his food while vacationing in Alberta. “Tastes like home,” they say, or “Reminds me of what I ate as a kid.” No need for a mantle; those go straight to the heart.
