“You Can Smell It About a Mile Away”: Center Point Barbecue’s 18-Hour Pulled Pork
On the corner of Center Point and Main Street in Hendersonville, Tennessee—just 10 miles from Nashville—sits a joint that owner Robert Duke runs with meticulous precision. When Guy Fieri walked into Center Point Barbecue, he immediately noticed something unusual: “You’re the cleanest Pit Master I know,” he told Duke, who joked he’d put on his Sunday best for the cameras.
But make no mistake—despite the tidy appearance, the smoke billowing from Duke’s three pits means serious business. As the locals know, you can smell this place from about a mile away.
The Pull Apart: A Family Tradition
Center Point’s signature dish is what they call the Pull Apart—a bone-in pork shoulder that Duke treats as a family tradition. Unlike some barbecue spots that take shortcuts, Duke keeps the entire shoulder together, bone and all. “We’re not going to mess around,” he explained as he prepped the massive cut.
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The process starts with Duke’s homemade marinade: a gallon of mild sauce mixed with two gallons of vinegar. Then comes the mopping—and Duke doesn’t hold back. “Generously,” he instructed as he demonstrated the technique. The rub is surprisingly simple: just a little crazy pepper and a touch of salt. That’s it.
The real magic happens in the smoker. Duke uses shag bark hickory because, as he put it, “we get a lot of smoke out of it.” The shoulder cooks fat side up at 225 degrees for 18 hours—anything hotter than 225 and it won’t work. The fat bastes the meat continuously as it turns, creating that signature tenderness.
Black as Night with Crazy Yield
When the pork emerged from the smoker, Guy was stunned. The exterior was “black as night” with an incredible bark. But the real surprise? The yield. Most pork shoulders lose significant weight during cooking, but Duke’s technique produces a 55% yield. “Redonkulous,” Guy declared.
Busting open the shoulder took almost no effort. Duke let Guy choose his own section—whether from the top where there’s more movement in the muscle, or from deeper inside. The meat practically fell apart, revealing perfectly smoked pork throughout.
The plate came with pickles and what Guy initially mistook for a pancake—it was actually Center Point’s cornbread patty. Duke’s sauce philosophy aligned with barbecue purists: “I don’t like putting my sauce on my meat. I like to have it there to dip.”
Guy’s Verdict
After taking his first bite, Guy didn’t mince words: “The pork has been cooked down to a point that you don’t see very often. Low heat, a little sweet, right on your meat.” He went even further, calling it “some of the best I’ve had anywhere”—the kind of pulled pork that just melts in your mouth.
The menu also features full racks of ribs, smoky beef brisket, fresh corn on the cob, and their spicy wet slaw. If you’re exploring Southern barbecue traditions, this Tennessee smokehouse delivers authenticity that’s hard to match—much like the regional specialties found in dishes like a BBQ Turkey Sub or the comfort of Authentic Polish Potato Pancakes.
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