Chris Underwood is a Fayette County native who once happened upon a used copy of Kitchen Confidential while picking up his 9th grade summer reading at the Omega Bookstore. He’s been fascinated with food and the people who grow and cook it ever since. On Saturday’s, he’ll probably be at the Forsyth Farmer’s Market buying fresh ingredients for delicious meals he posts to his Facebook page.
By Chris Underwood
May 11, 2025 – I miss my buddy, Jarrod. When I first started going to the Forsyth Farmers’ Market three years ago, he was always there, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and wearing a cowboy hat, matching with Jeb, his right-hand man who worked the portable grill on which they cooked samples of their sausages to entice customers with delicious aromas.
One could easily mistake the two for brothers, one setting up the other’s punchlines, each giving his own analysis of a mutual observation of the market-going crowd. Some weekends, Jarrod’s daughter, Finley, then just five years old, stood to the side of 920 Company’s trailer at a fold-out table covered with flowers she had grown herself, selling them with a confidence far beyond her age.
Market days haven’t been like that for a while. Jarrod’s employees now stand in the blue and white mobile meat trailer on Saturdays. Other duties call.
The recently built Hyundai plant, thirsty for water to satisfy its outsized industrial needs, diverted water from a vast number of much smaller wells throughout southeastern Georgia, causing Jarrod to have to first acquire and then move his animals to land where their needs can be met.
Ever mindful of his pigs, sheep and cows, he has undertaken an expansion of the farm’s own processing facility so that it can continue to comply with the humane slaughter standards set by Temple Grandin as the farm grows. Studious since he can remember, Jarrod’s constantly researching animal genetics, working on ways to improve the health of his herd.
RELATED: Forsyth Farmers’ Market Family Feast>
Observing 920’s pigs in the field, one sees a healthy herd. These are not the pale, quickly fattened victims of horrific factory farming. In a striking way, they resemble their steward: happy and trotting with a bouncing gait, obvious muscle definition with just a thin top sheet of extra skin, very much like a college football defensive end. They should be no other way.
Recipe for Mexican Coke Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients:
1 rack baby back ribs, membrane removed
1 yellow onion, quartered
5 garlic cloves
5 sprigs thyme, picked
4 sprigs oregano
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup grapeseed oil (whichever neutral oil is on sale will do)
2 ancho chili peppers
1 morita chili
1 pasilla chili
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon smoked salt (not necessary, but really nice)
2 12 oz bottles Mexican Coca-Cola (corn syrup will ruin the preparation)
½ cup tomato-molasses based barbecue sauce
Method:
The night before you plan on cooking the ribs, blend the onion and the next seven ingredients into a marinade. Pour over the ribs, cover, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, toast the chili peppers and spices before grinding into a powder and combining with the smoked salt. Remove the ribs from the marinade and pat down with the spice mixture until well coated. Some spice mixture will be left. In a pan large enough to hold the ribs, bring the Coca-Cola to an aggressive simmer and then put in the ribs, simmering bony side down for 23 minutes, use tongs to flip the rack over, and simmer meaty side down for 22 minutes more. Remove to a sheet pan, placing the meaty side up, pat down with remainder of spice mixture, cover with foil, and place into a 275 degree Fahrenheit oven for 2.5 hours. During that time, continue to boil the Coke, add the barbecue sauce, and reduce until thick. After the 2.5 hours, remove the foil from the ribs and continue cooking the ribs for another hour, painting them with this glaze periodically. When done, the meat will have begun to pull back from the bones, but will not be falling off of them. If that happens, they have cooked too much and will be dry. Serve with tortillas, beans, and a salad, if you so choose.
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