A Musicians Taste: Madison Ruckel
From Craft BBQ to Jamming With His Band—Get to Know Madison Ruckel
By Amy Balfour
Don’t ask Madison Ruckel to name the most popular item on the menu at Mama Jean’s Barbecue and Soulful Sides, his acclaimed food truck in Roanoke, Virginia.
“The Reuben is probably our most popular. The Cuban sandwiches are our second most popular. The birria tacos are popular. The cheesesteaks are popular,” said Ruckel. “All of our specials are super popular.”
In other words, any daily special that you order from his 1956 Airstream, parked Wednesdays through Sundays at 2545 Sanford Avenue, is going to be delicious. And we haven’t even mentioned the crowd-pleasing options offered every day: pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken wings, and cheese grits.
For Charleston-area barbecue fans, Ruckel is best known as the mastermind behind some of the most crave-worthy dishes — including the jalapeño cheddar sausage — at Home Team BBQ, where he worked his way up from hourly employee to co-owner and pitmaster between 2006 and 2018.
In 2018 Ruckel and his wife Kelli left the Lowcountry for Roanoke and the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The couple was looking for a slower pace of life for themselves and their two children. Ruckel was also ready to strike out on his own.
“Some people are just cut out to work for someone else their whole life, and that’s fine for them. And some people aren’t. I really wasn’t,” Ruckel said. “It’s really hard to explain…you just have that yearning to be your own boss.”
Ruckel landed in Roanoke for several reasons. He wanted to open Mama Jean’s in the South because that’s where peoplereally know barbecue. The Roanoke area was particularly appealing because his wife grew up in nearby Salem. And best of all? The craft barbecue scene in Roanoke was wide open.
“That’s part of the reason we moved here. We tried to find a place that didn’t have… an established, really just good barbecue joint, that’s strictly barbecue,” he said. Based on the lunchtime crowds that line up at his Airstream plus the positive word of mouth, Ruckel made the right geographic choice.
Ruckel credits his current success to his Home Team partners and fellow pitmasters Aaron Siegel and Taylor Garrigan. “Those two guys really gave me everything I could have ever needed to do my own thing. They have really been so supportive throughout the whole process — the leaving and starting something new,” said Ruckel. [They’re] not only my mentors but my best friends as well. So it’s been pretty cool.”
Opening a food truck wasn’t easy. “One of the hardest things in the world to do is open your own restaurant.” But he’s enjoying the learning curve. “I think I’ve gotten ten times better since I left Home Team, and I’ve had to do everything myself. I don’t have the crutch of another shift [coming in],” he said. “It’s all on you. So I got way better much faster. I’ve enjoyed that a lot.”
And the name Mama Jean’s? His mom wasn’t noted for her cooking, Ruckel said, but she was an inspiration for just about everything else important in his life. A single mother, she worked several jobs while dealing with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Times were stuff for her, recalled Ruckel, but she always stayed positive. She also inspired him to be original and to maintain integrity in his work and his art.
She died of brain cancer when Ruckel was thirty, and he honors her positive influence through his hard work, his music, and his food craftsmanship. His mother was also an artist, and he credits her with his desire to share his passion for cooking through his food photography — don’t check out his Instagram feed if you’re hungry!
Ruckel has always been a generalist when it comes to smoking and prepping meat. From Home Team BBQ to Mama Jean’s, his menus have featured everything from East Carolina pork barbecue to Texas brisket to Memphis-style ribs. “We’re not married to one region,” said Ruckel. And he isn’t just a smoked meats guy. Fermenting foods is another interest, and he loves using Old World methods of fermentation to create toppings and sides that accentuate and balance the taste of the meat. In fact, if a food can be tastily fermented, Ruckel is more than ready to pickle it.
“We make our own kimchi. We make a lot of sauerkraut. We love fermenting things,” said Ruckel, who’s also fascinated by probiotics and gut health — both associated with the consumption of fermented foods.
“Anything that can be fermented or made into a fermented sauce or something like that. Hot sauce. We make all that stuff.” And that includes housemade pickles, which accompany every meal. Ruckel’s other passion is music. He’s been playing guitar since high school, and he is a founding member of Shonuff. This six- to seven-piece jam band came together when he was working at Home Team. The band’s sound? With two lead guitars, piano, saxophone, and lots of soloing, Ruckel calls it “Funky Meters meets the Allman Brothers.” In other words, expect lots of energetic jamming.
Shonuff regroups every time Ruckel returns to Charleston. The band’s next gig is November 20th, 2022, on the back deck at the Charleston Pour House.
What’s on the schedule for Mama Jean’s? Ruckel said that if all goes to plan, Mama Jean’s will open a brick-and-mortar building in Roanoke by spring. You’ll find it at the same location as the food truck. We’re guessing the line will be long there too.