Chris Lilly
Chris Lilly, a native of Florence, Alabama, joined Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur in 1992 after he met and married Amy McLemore, a great-granddaughter of founder Bob Gibson. He is the restaurant's chef/pitmaster and a fourth-generation owner. He is head chef of the Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q competition cooking team, which has won 18 world barbecue championships, including five Memphis in May World Grand Championships (2000, 2003, 2011, 2014 and 2017). He wrote Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book (2009) and Fire & Smoke: A Pitmaster's Secrets (2014), and he was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2016.
Technique
The restaurant's chicken follows Bob Gibson's original method: the birds are split, seasoned and smoked over hickory for about three hours, then dunked in a white sauce of mayonnaise, vinegar and black pepper.