GULF SHORES, Ala. – According to Buford Hagood, there’s an easy way to tell if you are barbecuing.

And at Buford’s Smokehouse BBQ, they are barbecuing.

“If you’re not cooking on wood, you’re not barbecuing,” he says. “All you’re doing is cooking.”

“You’ve got to have a smoker,” partner Cliff “Motel” McCready says, “if you are in the barbecue business.”

At Buford’s they definitely have a smoker.

“We built our own cooker and I’ve been building them for 25 years,” Hagood said. “It’s as controllable as the oven in your house.”

Hagood and McCready have been cooking ribs, chicken and pork for about four weeks in the smoker next an octagon-shaped yellow building on Alabama 59 near where Cove Avenue. The smoker sits inside a screened area between their shop and a tattoo parlor.

The pair have been selling sauces out of the location for more than two years and recently decided it was time to start cooking as well. All their food is carryout.

“Our whole theme behind this, is this is a part of the business model that we weren’t able to do in the beginning and it was to have a barbecue and specialty sandwich division,” McCready said.

McCready says the peach mango chicken is a specialty.

“On the barbecue side of it our definite niche is our peach mango chicken,” he said. “Probably our signature dish. We use our own rubs on our ribs.”

The partners, joined by McCready’s wife, Lynn, have been encouraged by the response. Not normally open on Monday, they made some fixings for photos when a customer came in.

She was told the shop was closed, but she was told to wait until the photos were taken. Afterward, she went home with a couple of plates loaded with Buford’s fare. On the house.

“In the last four weeks we’ve got nothing but good reviews, we’ve got a lot of repetitive business,” McCready said. “Locals have really started to come in. I had a customer about 30 minutes ago knocking on the door and he’s been here three or four times and he was really hoping we had ribs today.”

Hagood says being in the barbecue business is not an easy one, but one he enjoys.

“It’s been a challenge, but it’s real rewarding,” he said. “Especially when you get stories like the little kid that won’t eat anything, comes in here and took one bite and now he eats everything. If we can get ‘em to try it one time, I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting them to come back.

“We’re still in training, getting labor and getting everybody on the same page. Trying to make everything as easy for everybody as we can. That in itself is a job.”

Behind the sauce business is old family recipe from Hagood’s family.

“It came out of an old recipe book of the family,” he said. “Coulda been my aunt’s, coulda been my grandma’s. It was my grandma’s book. It’s some portion of the family I’m sure. The way they made it back then was the horseradish and they grew wild.”

The problem was consistently getting the flavor right. When it was right, Hagood said, it was outstanding.

“One time it’d be great, the next time it’d be so hot it’d burn your eyes off,” he said. “The way we kept doing it, we finally came up with a process where we could accurately repeat.”

The turning point came when the pair paired up with Braswell Foods in Statesboro, Ga. According to the company’s website Braswell’s is the United States largest specialty food manufacturer and wholesaler.

“Braswell made it possible to repeat this,” Hagood said. “Braswell is a company in Georgia that’s been in the food business, jams, jellies, relishes since in the 40s. They have a certified kitchen and we went over there to visit with them at the lab.

“Everything that Braswell makes is a fresh, farm-based product. They have an in-house laboratory. They measure to the grain.”

Buford’s Floozy Sauce is the original and they now also offer garlic and habanero flavors.

“Definitely one of a kind signature sauce,” McCready said. “You can use it as a flavor enhancer, you can use it as a dip, a glaze. It’s real versatile. Good on all kinds of meats and seafoods.”

Other Buford products as well as several other specialty products through Braswell are offered at the shop.

“Now we have dressings, dips, we have dry rubs, we have salsas, jellies, fruit butters,” McCready said. “So we’ve got a pretty good selection.”