Union barbecue is a Draper family tradition
By BERRY CRAIG
Alliance for Retired Americans
“I love to barbecue,” smiled LiUNA! retiree Mike Draper, 69. “But I love cooking for the union the best.”
From Cunningham in Carlisle County, Draper slow smokes meat--mostly pork--the time-honored deep western Kentucky way. “It takes patience,” said Draper, who worked in construction and belonged to Laborers Local 1214 in Paducah. “A lot of it is checking your time and not getting in a hurry.”
His patience has paid off. Draper has more than his share of satisfied customers in a region where veteran barbecue chefs like him are plentiful and barbecue is beloved.
Draper fans include Erin Marshall of Frankfort, the Democrat who wants First District Republican Congressman James Comer's job. "Mike made some of the best pulled pork I’ve had, made even better by the fact that I got to enjoy it with great people," said Marshall. Last month, she drove 290 miles solo from the state capital to Columbus-Belmont State Park for a Democratic rally and fund-raiser.
A devout Democrat, Draper was glad to cook for the program, which was sponsored by the Carlisle County Democratic Executive Committee, chaired by County Judge-Executive Greg Terry, a former Ironworker. Marshall shared the microphone with a quartet of area state House candidates—Linda Story Edwards of Benton, Fredrick Fountain, Paducah; Lauren Hines, Murray; and Carrie Singler, Paducah.
All five are Kentucky State AFL-CIO endorsed.
Draper regularly barbecues for every-other-month Local 1214 retiree meetings. But he’s available for other unions, groups and individuals.
Like many local barbecue chefs, Draper learned from a parent. “My dad—he was a Baptist preacher--started years and years ago when he was a teenager. He taught me.”
The Rev. James Draper joined the United Auto Workers when he and his family—like hundreds of other western Kentucky families—migrated to the Detroit area seeking work in the auto industry.
“He worked at a die-cast company in Jackson, Mich., that made parts for Tecumseh lawn mower engines and parts for cars,” Draper said. “I was a baby when we went up, and I was 15 when we moved back here."
In 1973, James Draper, who is deceased, opened Draper's Pit Barbecue on U.S. highway 51 north of Bardwell, the Carlisle County seat. He cooked on a traditional cinder block pit. “That’s where I learned,” Draper said, adding that the restaurant is closed.
But like many barbecue chefs today, Mike is partial to a gas-boosted portable cooker. “You put on the meat, set the temperature to 275 degrees, throw in your wood and turn it on." When the cooker reaches the preset temperature, the gas cuts off. “If the temperature drops, the gas will kick back in. It keeps a constant temperature.”
Draper uses a mix of oak, hickory and sometimes apple and cherry wood to flavor the meat. But he warned that too much hickory will produce a bitter smoke.
He enjoys barbecuing mutton, once the meat of choice among local cooks. Now, he mostly cooks pork butts and shoulders, but occasionally he barbecues chicken and brisket. “It takes from eight to 10 hours for butts and 16 to 18 for shoulders.”
He taught his son, Shane Draper, 42, an information technology specialist, to barbecue. Partners, they also market their own special sauce.
"We cook for people who ask us," Mike said. "I didn't want the headache of running a restaurant."
Mike said that while he's tasted success as a barbecue chef, "I wouldn't be what I am or where I am if it wasn't for my union. The union provides you good wages, insurance and a pension. The union keeps us informed about all the stuff the dang Republicans are tying to pull over our heads."
Draper is glad LiUNA! lost no time switching its presidential endorsement from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden withdrew and endorsed Harris.
“I was a Biden man and was going to vote for him,” Draper said. But Harris has his vote now.
“She’s smart and has been a prosecutor and all that,” he said. “Trump won’t be able to pull his b------t on her.”