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Food & Drink: The Art of Smoke

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2 years ago

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A rundown of the blocking and tackling of smoking meat, from choosing the right smoker to the science of achieving the perfect smoke ring. Plus, a couple of Mississippi brews that can keep you company during your “low and slow” cook.

Since mankind harnessed the power of fire, it’s been used to turn chunks of meat into tasty morsels. For some meat, the high heat of direct flame, yields the best result. But early man discovered that applying indirect heat, from the smoke of a fire, aided survival. Slow smoked meat extended its “shelf life,” creating a preservative effect.

Today, we don’t smoke meat to preserve it. We do it because it is tasty. Very tasty. Technology largely evolved from open firing smoking, but the concept remains the same. Hardwood smoke, huge chunks of ornery meat, and time. Precious time.

Smoking meat is both simple and an art. There’s some science sprinkled in, too. For the uninitiated there are a lot of questions. What is smoking? What type of smoker to use? How about wood variety? How do I achieve the gold star of a proper smoke ring?

For everyone one of these questions, there are thousands of opinions, tips, and tricks. Plumbing their depths would require a book. I don’t have time to write that and am sure someone else already has. So here’s what I’ve learned over the years to produce what my family enjoys to eat.

“Low and Slow”

You will frequently hear smoking purists distinguish barbecue from grilling. Grilling is throwing a steak on a 600 degree grate for the sear. Barbecue is what happens when you take an unwieldy chunk of pig or steer and break its will, “low and slow,” with the tender caress of woodfired smoke. This means indirect heat, typically with grate-level temperatures between 225-250 degrees for hours…and hours…and hours. There are specific cuts of meat that make the most sense for smoking “low and slow.”

Pulled pork comes from what is called a pork butt or Boston butt. Contrary to the name, this is actually the front shoulder of the animal. It’s filled with fat and connective tissue. Both pork ribs and beef short ribs similarly have a lot of connective tissue. Then there is the Texas grandaddy, the beef brisket. All of these cuts are tough and near inedible if cooked over high heat or to low internal temperatures. No one wants a medium rare brisket. Trust me.

But something magical happens with these cuts when cooked “low and slow.” The heavy collagen content begins to break down at around 160 degrees internal temperature. By 180 degrees of internal temperature it is soluble gelatin. What was tough becomes tender and moist.

In future installments, I’ll provide some step-by-step instructions for prepping and cooking butts, briskets, and ribs. We might even go wild with a spatchcock chicken, a smoked turkey, or some tuna. Today, we’ll just cover some basics.

Choosing Your Smoker

If you want to be a traditionalist, I’m talking the loin cloth wearing variety, build a fire and hang some meat over it. Francis Mallman has built his own legend doing gaucho-style Argentine barbecues with nothing more than open flame and some rods from whence he hangs the meat. It’s definitely worth learning about Mallman and Argentine barbecue, but we will save it for another day.

Francis Mallman smoking open air.

Offset Smokers

In the South, when we think of traditional smokers, we think of repurposed propane tanks. These cylinder smokers, both the propane tank variety and the more commercial units, are what is known as offset smokers. They have a firebox attached where wood is burnt to create the smoke that drifts across meat-laden grates and out of a smoke stack. You will sometimes hear people refer to these units as “stick burners” or “horizontal smokers.” There is no heat source directly under the meat.

Offset smokers produce the most authentic and delicious barbecue, in my opinion. We’ll get into some of the scientific reasons this opinion is a good one later. Offset also require the most work. They must be fed with new fuel over the course of long cooks. There are fewer fancy gadgets to help you to stay in the temperature sweet spot. You control the temperature by how much air you let in and out of the smoker.

Charcoal Smokers

These are vertical smokers, where the heat source is under the meat. They come in a wide variety of configurations, that include everything from an old oil drum (we like to reuse petroleum products) to Kamado smokers like the Big Green Egg. Even an old Weber kettle can technically be considered a charcoal smoker. Regardless of its form, the concept is the same: charcoal is used in combination with hardwood to produce smoke from under the meat. Typically, some sort of deflector plate, and some distance between fire and grate, is used to prevent the meat from directly contacting flame.

These can produce a good product, but like offset smokers, require a bit more work. There are a wide assortment of handy gadgets, though, to help with things like temperature maintenance. Some offset smokers, particularly Kamado smokers like the Big Green Egg can be difficult for longer cooks, because it is hard to add additional fuel for the fire.

Pellet, Electric, and Propane

These are very different kinds of smokers, but I’m lumping them together for one reason: I don’t like them. I know people who swear by them. Send your hate mail elsewhere. Pellet smokers heat compressed wood pellets to approximate hardwood smoke. They are loaded with features that make them operate more like an oven. They are very popular with new barbecue enthusiasts for their ease. These are the Traegers you’ve heard of. Electric and propane smokers tend to heat up wood chips. There is science behind why these smokers just cannot produce the same result of their older counterparts. Doesn’t mean the barbecue isn’t still tasty.

Curating Your Wood and Preparing it for Battle

Unless you’ve been air drying some wood logs or chunks for 3 to 12 months (do not use green wood), you can buy wood at barbecue supply places. I’ve even noticed grocers selling it now. If you’re cooking on an offset, you’ll go with “logs.” On a charcoal smoker, “chunks.” If an electric or propane variety, chips. And if a pellet grill, well, pellets.

Everyone has their own opinions about the best hardwood to use. Some of it just depends on personal taste, some depends on what you are cooking. Fruitwoods, like apple, tend to offer a milder flavor and pair well with poultry or fish. I’m personally a huge fan of cherry wood on most everything I smoke. I think it produces a great “bark” and gives a balanced smoky flavor to the finished product. I will sometimes mix it with pecan, which is another great all-around wood choice. The king of Texas brisket smoking is post oak. Hickory is good, but can become bitter if overplayed in longer cooks. Mesquite is in that same camp and can quickly overpower your cook. Use sparingly.

Once you get your fire started, there are four stages of wood combustion. I won’t bore you with each, but I will tell you what to look for in knowing when your fire is ready to add the meat. If your smoker is belching big plumes of white or gray smoke, it is not ready. The wood has not yet combusted. Putting meat on at this stage will produce an acrid product, which is the last thing you want after a long cook.

The fire must get hot enough for the wood to combust. You will know this has happened when the smoke gets “thin” (not bellowing) and takes on a bluish hue. Blue smoke is good smoke. Add your meat.

The Science of the Ring

I’ve mentioned science a few times already. I sort of feel like Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. But here we go. For many enthusiasts the mark of good barbecue is the presence of a smoke ring. A smoke ring is a scientific reaction between myoglobin in meat and nitric oxide released by wood.

Myoglobin is a protein that gives meat its pink or red color. Different meats have different levels of the protein. Beef has a lot more than chicken, hence the color difference.

Nitric oxide released by combusted wood clings to outer surface of meat in the early stages of smoking and reacts with the myoglobin to “lock in” its natural pink or red hue. This chemical reaction only occurs until the meat temperature reaches 140 degrees. After that point the reaction stops. You either have a smoke ring at 140 degrees or you don’t.

Good bark. Good smoke ring.

But it gets a little tricky. For wood to release nitric oxide it has to get hot and combust. That blue smoke range is 650-750 degrees at fire level. So you need a hot fire, but for the temperature of the smoker at food level to be low. This is one of the reasons an offset smoker works so well, because the fire is removed or offset from the cooking compartment.

The need for a steady supply of nitric oxide is also one of the reasons that offsets and charcoal vertical smokers work better than some of the new-fangled alternatives. Huge chunks of wood can produce a better, more consistent supply of nitric oxide than little pellets or wood chips.

Moisture is Important

Nitric oxide produced by smoke clings to moisture. This is one of the reasons that regardless of the smoker you use, you will want to include some sort of water pan in the smoker. It’s also why I keep a spritz bottle by my smoker to spray on the meat once an hour or so in the early hours of cooking.

The meat is not the only thing that will need to be hydrated during the cook. By all means, have some water. Or, consider a Mississippi brew. I’ve been digging Crowd Control IPA lately, brewed by Southern Prohibition Brewing in Hattiesburg. Excellent suds. Or if you want something a bit lighter, a Good Bug, brewed by Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company out of Kiln (or correctly, the Kiln).

The Stall and the Crutch

If you are smoking a big cut of meat like a pork butt or a brisket, you are not going to pull them from the smoker until they reach an internal temperature of 203-205 degrees. (This is where having a good meat thermometer comes in handy). There are other ways to know when it’s done that I’ll get into at a later date.

If you have a thermometer monitoring the cook, you will get to 160-170 degrees internal temperature with no sweat. It will feel like things are going faster than perhaps they should. Then the meat will begin sweating. The evaporation process cools the meat. The end result is something called “the stall,” where the internal temperature of the meat stops climbing. The stall can last hours and create a lot of anxiety if you aren’t used to it.

There are two things you can do. Let it cook through the stall, which I frequently do, or speed the process up. You can speed up the process by using something called the “Texas crutch.” The Texas crutch is a cool way of describing wrapping your meat in either tin foil or butcher paper. When I do it, I prefer foil for a pork butt and butcher paper for a brisket. The butcher paper helps maintain the bark on the brisket. The bark is the thick almost black crust that forms on the outside of well-smoked barbecue. It’s not burnt. It’s flavor. In foil, the bark gets soggier.

I tend not to wrap until the meat gets to at least 170 and I’m happy with the bark formation on the outside. Some people put things in with their meat when they wrap. On a pork butt, I will typically add a little apple juice to the package. With a brisket, I will add some beef tallow, a tip I picked up from watching Aaron Franklin, of Austin’s famous Franklin Barbecue, smoke briskets.

Finally, Rest

If you are smoking a pork butt, you can expect the process to take 10-12 hours. A brisket, 12-14 hours. Even a good rack of baby backs in a 4-5 hour cook. This is a serious investment of time. It can also be a seriously relaxing, and ultimately delicious, hobby.

But there is a tendency after all that hard work to want to dig in. Resist the urge. On a big cut of meat, like a butt or brisket, let it rest for at least two hours. I let my brisket rest a lot longer than that. If you have a warming drawer on your oven, you can let it “rest” at 170 degrees. Or you can create a “faux cambro” by wrapping your meat in foil, then wrapping it a few ratty towels and sticking it in a cooler. It will keep the heat for hours. The juices and gelatin will redistribute throughout the meat. The flavor will be much, much better when you finally dig in.

If you struggle with temptation, throw some sausage on at the end of your smoke and use that as an appetizer with another Crowd Control.

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By: Russ Latino
Title: Food & Drink: The Art of Smoke
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/04/29/the-art-of-the-smoke/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-art-of-the-smoke
Published Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2023 04:06:48 +0000

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Staring mortality in the face at Christmas

Published

11 months ago

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December 16, 2023

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My friend Jarrod is dying after an eight year battle with cancer. He’s lived a life worth celebrating, one that has drawn people to Christ.

I was going about my business this week when I received a text that stopped me in my tracks. A college friend was being moved to hospice care.

Jarrod Egley was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in early 2017. In the fall of 2018, tests revealed the cancer had spread to his lungs and Jarrod’s cancer was classified as Stage IV.

For almost eight years from the date of the original diagnosis, he’s fought. Through surgeries, radiation, endless rounds and cycles of chemotherapy, and experimental immunotherapies, he’s fought.

Last year, I flew out to California and spent some time with Jarrod and his wife, Emily. We sat outside one night. He acknowledged to me that it was not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’ the cancer would claim his life. I told him I was sorry, because what else is there to say?

We talked about our faith, about the trials of Job, about Jacob wrestling with God, about Paul’s affliction. But mostly we reflected on our time together in school, on the good things, and the mundane things, that happened since.

Jarrod and I met at Tulane University. One Sunday morning in the Spring of my freshman year, I rose from my dorm room bed, dressed, and began walking down Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans with no particular agenda. I walked until I came across First Baptist Church and the thought flickered in the vacuous recesses of my brain to enter.

Some would say it was a lark. The Calvinist in me says providence. The walk that morning changed the trajectory of my time at Tulane and my life on the whole. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the Baptist Collegiate Ministry became central to my life and put me in regular league with Jarrod. I met him first at the BCM and we ultimately ended up attending church together.

Jarrod was a faithful servant on and off campus. He helped organize a group of us that would weekly make our way down to the Esplanade seawall on the backside of the French Quarter to feed the homeless. On Friday nights, he could be found at chapel with a small cadre of students foregoing Bourbon Street for early 2000s worship music.

Jarrod was a loyal friend in those years. Never rude or biting. Not prone to an insult for an easy laugh. Persistently encouraging. An engineering student, his mind worked linearly and was oriented to problem solving. There were never a lot of wasted words — always a lot of deliberative questions when he disagreed or did not understand a point. He exhibited intelligence, empathy, and the kind of moral conviction that sets someone apart.

He also had a wry and dry sense of humor and a penchant for beating people at Madden football. He was fair-to-midland on the ultimate frisbee pitch. Along the way, there were crawfish boils, Mardi Gras outtings, poorly attended Tulane football games, and more than a decent amount of wing eating.

After college, I lost touch with Jarrod. He moved back to his home state of California. He got married to his college sweetheart, who could not have anticipated her husband’s journey, but has been a steady and constant helpmate throughout. Jarrod became a very successful engineer and a bourbon connoisseur. One of his bucket list trips took him to Kentucky, where he got to meet and became friends with bourbon “Hall of Famer” Freddie Johnson of Buffalo Trace acclaim.

Jarrod at Buffalo Trace Distillery (Spring 2022).

Sitting in his backyard nearly 20 years after graduating from Tulane, I saw many of the same qualities I had grown to admire when we were students together. I saw a husband who doted on and supported Emily’s passions. But I also saw someone whose body had been beaten to hell and back, who was tired, and who, like Jacob, had been wrestling with God. We quickly fell back into friendship, which perhaps is the mark of good friendship.

We all have aspirations in our youth — for the kind of spouse or parent we might be, for what we might accomplish, for what we might experience. Along the way, dreams are satisfied, modified, or they die on the vine. The clock inevitably works against all of us. That night in Oceanside, California, Jarrod, a numbers guy, saw that time was not on his side. He believed, as we all would, that he still had more to give, more impact to be made, and more things to see and experience.

After that trip, Jarrod and I stayed in touch, most frequently triggered by news of his cancer. It has been mostly the bad variety in recent months. Now spread throughout his body, down to his bones, he has lived in constant pain for months. Not even a steady diet of morphine and an implanted pain pump solve for it. Jarrod’s been hospitalized twelve times just in 2023.

But his matter of fact sense of humor and way of seeing the world remains in tact. So too does his faith that despite these trials, he has always been safe in the hands of Christ.

There are people in the world who believe that life is random, disordered, and without reason. I am not among them. I think my friend is staring mortality in the face at Christmas for a reason.

For thousands of years before Christ came, there was darkness and despair. Sin and shame gripped the hearts of men. Until one holy night, God, in His infinite love, mercy and wisdom, sent His son to save. Jesus is the light of the world and the hope of man. He has won victory over death and Jarrod’s will not be the exception. Jesus came for Jarrod, and for you.

For thousands of years since Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, His disciples have been used as divine instruments to point the way to God. Jarrod is among them. If life expectancies were the measure, Jarrod would be at the midway point for most people. He’s made a lifetime of impact for the Kingdom and on other people.

So, to my friend Jarrod, you were placed here with a purpose. You have run your race. You are loved. And when this chapter closes, you will hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.” There is no greater evidence of a life well lived.

While Jarrod and Emily have been fortunate to have health insurance, their portion of the medical bills so far in 2023 have eclipsed $30,000, and Emily is facing additional uncovered expenses during Jarrod’s hospice care, including a night nurse that costs over $400 a night. If you would like to help defray the cost, a contribution can be made at their Go Fund Me page.

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By: Russ Latino
Title: Staring mortality in the face at Christmas
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/12/16/staring-mortality-in-the-face-at-christmas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=staring-mortality-in-the-face-at-christmas
Published Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:05:22 +0000

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Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023

Published

11 months ago

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December 15, 2023

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Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.

In Mississippi

1. Laurin St. Pe’ named CEO of Singing River Health System

Laurin St. Pe

The Board of Trustees of Singing River Health System announced the immediate appointment of Laurin St. Pe’ as the Chief Executive Officer on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to announce Laurin St. Pe as the new CEO of Singing River,” said Steve Ates, Board President in a statement. “His wealth of healthcare experience and proven track record make him the ideal leader to steer our health system toward its next phase of growth and success.”

St. Pe’, who has been serving as Interim CEO since July 2023, said he is honored to assume the role of CEO at Singing River. He has worked at Singing River as Administrator of Singing River Health System’s Pascagoula Hospital and Gulfport Hospital, in addition to overseeing program service lines throughout the entire system to his subsequent appointment as Chief Operating Officer of Singing River.

The health system says St. Pe played a crucial role in the financial revitalization of Singing River Health System while steering the organization toward financial stability.

2. Gulfport-Biloxi airport, Stennis evacuated after threats

The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport was evacuated on Thursday morning “out of an abundance of caution,” airport officials said, after receiving an emailed threat to certain transportation entities across the state.

The airport was thoroughly security swept, cleared and reopened in just over two hours. Gulfport-Biloxi is now operating regularly.

The threat was also sent to Stennis International Airport. Their staff and personnel were also evacuated until the facilities could be swept and cleared.

Any passenger whose travel was affected by the evacuation is encouraged to contact their respective air carrier.

3. Cassidy arrested in Iowa for beheading Satanic Temple statue

Former Mississippi congressional and legislative candidate Michael Cassidy was arrested this week in Iowa for beheading a statue at the state’s Capitol erected by The Satanic Temple.

Cassidy reportedly decapitated the statue and turned himself to police on Thursday. He was charged with fourth degree criminal mischief. He then started an online legal defense fund where he’s raised upwards of $20,000 as of Thursday night, according to his X account.

4. “Serial fraudster” ordered to cease offering investments into companies

According to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, on October 26, 2023, Secretary Michael Watson and the Securities Division issued an order against Stephone N. Patton. The SOS says Patton is a serial fraudster with multiple criminal convictions in Mississippi and Florida.

Through business filings with the SEC and Mississippi, Patton has held himself to be the CEO of various companies, including Star Oil and Gas Company, Inc., North Gulf Energy Corporation, Inc., Patton Oilfield Services, Inc., and Patton Farms, LLC.

The SOS says using these business filings and company websites, Patton claimed to have raised hundreds of billions of dollars through investment opportunities. Through investigative efforts and collaboration with the SEC, the SOS discovered none of Patton’s companies are operational, have any assets, or generate any revenues. Account records show Patton spent investors’ funds almost as soon as he received them on personal expenses. The total amount of known investments made to Patton’s fraudulent companies is over $80,000. Further, none of Patton’s investment offerings have been registered or notice filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office.

The SOS order requires Patton to cease and desist from offering investments with his companies, requiring Patton to permanently deactivate his companies’ websites to prevent any further dissemination of his false or misleading information. Patton is also ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $25,000 to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office for these violations, in addition to restitution owed to all his Mississippi investors.

National News & Foreign Policy

1. Congressional retirements mounting as 2024 election cycle nears

Retirement and departure announcements are piling up ahead of the start to the 2024 election cycle. The New York Times has developed a Retirement Tracker that currently shows 22 Democrats and 11 Republicans who are in Congress now will not be seeking re-election next year.

“Dozens of members of Congress have announced plans to leave their seats in the House of Representatives, setting a rapid pace for congressional departures, with more expected as the 2024 election draws closer,” the NY Times reports. “Given Republicans’ razor-thin House majority, the wave of exits has the potential to lead to a significant shake-up next year.”

You can find the tracker here.

2. Texas, Daily Wire, The Federalist sue U.S. State Department over media censorship

The U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center has come under fire as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton along with The Daily Wire and The Federalist have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the department funded technology that could “render disfavored press outlets unprofitable.” They claim that the department has helped social media – Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) – to censor free speech while funding technologies used to censor right-leaning news outlets such as theirs.

New Civil Liberties Alliance is representing The Daily Wire and The Federalist. Paxton and the outlets claim the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British think tank, received a $100,000 grant from the State Department in 2021, and NewsGuard, which rates the “misinformation” levels of news outlets, received $25,000 from the State Department in 2020, according to the lawsuit.

According to the State Department’s website, the Global Engagement Center’s mission is to direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.

As reported by Reuters, the lawsuit cited a GDI-produced list from December 2022 that ranked The Daily Wire and The Federalist as among the 10 “riskiest sites” for news while the least-risky included The New York Times, Associated Press and NPR. Reuters notes that the lawsuit alleges such “blacklists” are reducing revenues to The Daily Wire and The Federalist along with their visibility on social media and ranking results from browser searches.

Sports & Entertainment

1. SEC releases 2024 schedules

Wednesday evening, the Southeastern Conference released the 2024 football schedules for its member schools, including of interest in the Magnolia State the schedules for Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

It is the first schedule that includes new conference members University of Oklahoma and University of Texas, bringing the conference to 16 schools. Each SEC team will play eight conference football games plus at least one required opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 or major independent, each team will have two open dates.

The 2024 season will be the first year the SEC will play a schedule without divisional competition since 1991. The top two teams in the league standings based on winning percentage will play in the 33rd SEC Football Championship Game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, December 7.

2. White, Jesiolowski, Jones honored by MAIS

John White

The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) in Mississippi, comprised of non-public schools, announced this week that Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s senior quarterback John White was named the 6A Player of the Year while Hartfield’s Reed Jesiolowski and Hartfield Chris Jones were named the MAIS 6A Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively.

All three have committed to play college football at the University of Mississippi.

White is Mississippi’s all-time leader in career passing yards with 15,259 yards, a record he broke during the 2023 season.

MAIS, like the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) for public schools, is broken down into classifications, from 1A to 6A. However, MHSAA added a 7A this season.

Markets & Business

1. Consumer retail sales up as energy, gas prices move down

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in November after being unchanged in October. Retail sales rose 0.3% in November after rising 0.2% in October, meaning consumers continue to spend at the start of the holiday season.

The CPI or inflation rate is 3.1%, higher than the Federal Reserve target of 2% but below the 9% peak in 2022 which reached a 40-year high.

As for the energy index, BLS reported that it fell 2.3% in November after decreasing 2.5% in October. The gasoline index decreased 6% in November, following a 5% decrease in the previous month.

The index for fuel oil fell in November, decreasing 2.7%. However, the natural gas index rose 2.8% over the month after rising 1.2% the previous month. The index for electricity also rose 1.4% in November, after increasing 0.3% in October.

The energy index fell 5.4% over the past 12 months. The gasoline index decreased 8.9%, the natural gas index declined 10.4%, and the fuel oil index fell 24.8% over this 12-month span.

2. Week’s market rally continues into Friday

At close of trading on Thursday, the U.S. markets continued the week’s rally, pushing the Dow up 158 points to 37,248 while the Nasdaq and S&P also made gains, 27 points and 12 points, respectively, to close at 14,761 and 4,719.

The record high for the Dow on Thursday moved futures up 102 points.

According to CNBC, the major averages are headed for their seventh straight positive week. As of Thursday, the Dow is higher on the week by 2.8%. The S&P 500 is up by 2.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5% this week.

Stocks rallied after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged this week while members look towards cuts in the new year and beyond.

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Title: Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023
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Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:00:00 +0000

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New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off

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11 months ago

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December 15, 2023

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Interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin said this week that only about 59% of the City of Jackson’s water customers are paying their bills.

JXN Water has announced new rates and fees coming in 2024. Those who are not paying will be at risk of shut offs.

The company, which was established by federal appointed interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin, has been overseeing the city’s water system for the better part of a year.

Officials estimated that the average cost for water in the city was $76 per month for residents. Henifin clarified that JXN water will not attempt to recoup any charges prior to November 29, 2022, and will work with those who have failed to pay since that time.

He said only about 59 percent of the city’s water customers are paying their bills.

“You can’t forgive bills, so we have to be creative in how we part that,” said Henifin in reference to Mississippi’s laws that prevent giving away water.

According to a release by JXN Water announcing the rate changes, residents in single family households with small meters that use up to 748 gallons daily would see a bill increase of roughly .30 cents per day. Research indicates that the average U.S. family uses 300 gallons per day.

SNAP customers will have a new rate tier that could lower their bill by up to .69 cents per day, on average.

“Those who need to save the most benefit from saving money by drinking tap water. This new rate structure makes water affordability possible for 12,500 JXN Water customers who receive SNAP benefits,” said Henifin in the release.

Read more about the anticipated rate changes here.

New fees will also be implemented, including a new service fee of $50, service deposit of $100, returned check fee of $25, service restoration fee of $100, and meter tampering charge of $500. 

JXN Water has continued to encourage residents to use the water, with Henifin going on the record in a federal status hearing saying that the water “was safe to drink.”

More conversation regarding the billing process is expected to come at next week’s Jackson City Council meeting.

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By: Sarah Ulmer
Title: New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/12/15/new-water-rates-expected-in-jackson-come-2024-those-who-dont-pay-face-shut-off/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-water-rates-expected-in-jackson-come-2024-those-who-dont-pay-face-shut-off
Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000

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