Nashville Scene: The Food & Drink Issue 2025: Nashville Classics

“Nashville is blessed with many great barbecue restaurants, many of which serve exemplary pulled-pork sandwiches. However, Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint stands above the rest for one simple reason: They put in the time and effort to offer a whole-hog option. Pork shoulders are absolutely fine, especially because large-volume restaurants can load them into rotisserie smokers, set it and forget it until it’s time to pull the meat for sammiches. Whole-hog cookery is a different animal entirely, more art than culinary science. Managing the meat without setting the smokehouse on fire yields a combination of luscious fatty belly meat and dense ham — and maybe even some cheek meat if you’re lucky.”