Purloined Pork Loin: Barbecue Brigand Nabs Meat from Smyrna Restaurant

SMYRNA, TN — If ever "sticky fingers" was to be applied to a thief, this might be the time.

Some time early Saturday morning, someone made off with $1,500 worth of pork, brisket and spare ribs in the midst of the painstaking process of putting smoke to meat.

WKRN reports that Smyrna's Kinfolks was robbed of its Saturday supply of barbecued meats in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Owner Jerry Britton told the station that he started smoking around 1 a.m., but when he came out three hours later, much of his meat was gone. Not the chicken, though.

“I raised it back up, and it’s gone,” Britton told the station. “The top was gone, but they didn’t get all the chickens. It was like somebody interrupted them from doing what they were doing.”

Smyrna Police are investigating.

This being Middle Tennessee, barbecue-related crime is not a terribly unusual occurrence, though typically thieves go for the hardware rather than the product. In 2013, the custom smoker from Martin's and a smoking trailer used by Peg Leg Porker were stolen.

Image via Wikimedia Commons user Foodista, used under Creative Commons