Pitmaster IndexKen Bosley
Owner, Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn
Ken Bosley
Moonlite Bar-B-Q InnOwensboro, Kentucky
Signature:Hickory-smoked chopped mutton
Ken Bosley is part of the Bosley family that has owned and run Owensboro's Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn since 1963, when his parents Catherine and 'Pappy' Bosley bought the 30-seat joint for $50,000. Under the family, Moonlite grew into a 350-seat restaurant with its own USDA-inspected processing plant and a nationally known catering operation. Pappy Bosley personally butchered an estimated quarter-million mutton carcasses over roughly forty years (1963 until his death in 2003), cementing Moonlite's mutton reputation. Ken has represented the family's ownership publicly, including in a Southern Foodways Alliance oral-history interview.
Technique
Whole mutton slow-smoked over hickory coals in masonry pits, then chopped and served with a thin black dip.
Influences
Catherine and 'Pappy' BosleyOwensboro pit traditionInternational Bar-B-Q Festival