Maurice Bessinger inherited his Gourmet Blend BBQ Sauce recipe and his
expertise from his father, Joseph Bessinger. Joseph began the small family barbeque
business in 1939. Maurice’s father was known as Big Joe and Maurice was
called Little Joe. Big Joe passed away while Maurice was still in high school
and the young Bessinger took over the family tradition.
In 55 years, he has built the largest barbeque operation in the country. Maurice has been serving customers coast to coast through his chain of barbeque restaurants in South Carolina and by shipping to barbeque lovers across the country via the now famous Flying Pig express. Maurice’s chain of Piggie Park restaurants now serve more than 20,000 customers a week in the Columbia, SC, area and have cooked over 30 million servings of his famous Gourmet Barbeque. Over the last 55 years, Maurice has cooked over a million fresh hams from the Blue Ribbon Pig Farmers of South Carolina.
Customers travel from all over the country
to see the unique Retrostyle 100 foot high flashing Little Joe pig sign and
eat the World’s Best Barbeque. Southern Living Magazine says "Maurice
Bessinger has the premiere barbeque restaurant that has mastered it’s barbeque".
The all natural Gourmet Blend BBQ Sauce comes from an exclusive heirloom recipe hundreds of years old and has only the highest quality ingredients. This Secret Golden Mustard Base recipe has NO PRESERVATIVES, NO CHOLESTEROL and NO FAT. This delicious sauce is available in two flavors and a variety of sizes.
Maurice’s Gourmet Barbeque is cooked
the original "ole fashioned way,"--for 24 hours over hickory coals
and then processed in spotless USDA inspected kitchens. Only USDA fresh pork
hams are used. The fresh hams are pit cooked slowly over smoldering hickory
coals to optimize the Hickory flavor and tenderness of the meat. NO FILLERS
are added. Absolutely NO PRESERVATIVES and NO CHEMICALS of any
kind are used. The meat is then basted with Maurice’s Secret Old-South
Gourmet Blend BBQ Sauce. With the very first bite you will experience the delicious
flavor of the Southern Gold Recipe. The fresh cooked hams are chopped by hand
and blast-frozen immediately after cooking in order to lock-in
the succulent flavor of Maurice’s secret recipe.