Latest / BBQ Therapy / #58 How Lucky Cajun Became More Than a Seasoning Brand - Chef Blackwell Smith

Transcript

#58 How Lucky Cajun Became More Than a Seasoning Brand - Chef Blackwell Smith · BBQ Therapy

0:00
Some of the best places I ever ate at were not necessarily
0:03
fancy restaurants, like some of the best food was at these like
0:07
little hole in the wall places. And it just blew my mind because
0:13
when somebody cooks with love, you can taste it and there's and
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they're cooking with a lot of love for sure, 100%.
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OK, OK. And what made you go into
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culinary school? Did you love food that much or
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did someone suggested or? It was a suggestion.
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Listen, learn, get inspired. I'm Tavis Bryant and this is BBQ
0:34
Therapy like subscribe and follow to help grow the BBQ
0:38
therapy community. Also visit my website at
0:42
www.barbecuetherapypodcast.com BBQ your.
0:45
Barbecue off, get your BBQ off, get your BBQ off.
0:53
Welcome to the BBQ Therapy podcast.
0:55
My name is Tavis Bryant and this show has never been about
0:59
brisket times or trophy counts. It's about the people behind the
1:02
fire, the stories we don't see on social media, the lessons we
1:06
learn the hard way, and the purpose that shows up when we
1:09
cook for something bigger than yourself.
1:12
Today's guest didn't create just a seasoning brand.
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He created intent in a package. Chef Blackwell Smith is the
1:20
founder of Lucky Cajun, a small batch fresh ground Cajun
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seasoning company built on real ingredients, real heritage and
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real respect for the food and the people eating it.
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Before the labels, before the markets, before anyone knew his
1:35
name, he was just someone chasing flavor, trying to
1:37
understand who he was and how food could reflect that.
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Chef Blackwell, welcome to the BBQ therapy show.
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I got one rule. Make yourself at home.
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Speak freely. OK.
1:47
Thank you. I appreciate it.
1:48
Thank you for having me. All right, no problem.
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All right. I usually start off with the
1:52
beginning. Could you tell us about where
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you were born and growing up as a young person as well as a
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teenager? How is the food scene in your
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household? So my grandmother.
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I grew up in Chattanooga, TN and my grandmother didn't really,
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she just got that. She didn't really teach me how
2:15
to cook everything, but she definitely got my interest
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started in it. So whenever she was baking
2:20
something, she'd maybe make some kind of little dough when I was
2:23
a kid and I would be making something.
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I don't even know if it was like a cookie dough or anything, or
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she's to give me something to play with.
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But I got my hands and I got the smells and I got the experiences
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and the heat and all the stuff going on in there.
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It just, I don't know, it just caught me and growing up like my
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parents, but like we Chattanooga wasn't really known for any kind
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of food thing. It was like mean three kind of
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stuff. It was like BBQ fried chicken,
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fried hot fish sandwich. They was like fried fish
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sandwiches. And it never really wait where
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I'm sorry, where I was. I ended up going to high school
3:00
in Baton Rouge, LA and that is where I've had Cajun seasoning
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for the first time and or Cajun food for the first time.
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I ended up going to my friends houses and we I tried the food
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and I fell in love with it and I ended up going to culinary
3:15
school there and then I ended up making a Cajun seasoning company
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because of it. OK.
3:23
And when did you, your appreciation come for that food?
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Was there a certain smell or a certain film?
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You taste it, that kind of. I don't remember the first dish
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I tried. I just remember, you know, when
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you get friends, right, you end up going to their houses and
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they end up you smelling the food and you're like, that's
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different. I haven't smelled like that
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before. And then I ended up tasting it
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and I was going like, what in the world?
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It's just a whole, it was a whole nother level of flavors
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that I had never experienced before.
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So it's like, but it was still, I was still a teenager, so it's
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still in my formative years. So it really affected me.
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It really inspired me to want to become a chef and be a great at
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cooking. OK, OK.
4:11
And when you trained in Baton Rouge, surrounded by some of the
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most soulful food in America, what did that environment teach
4:17
you about food that no classroom could have?
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This is an interesting question. I think that there's just such a
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connection to the community and culture of it.
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Like it's not the food is super important.
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It's not just we're eating dinner.
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There's it's like when you're at dinner, eating dinner, you're
4:40
talking about the last dinner or you're talking about the next
4:43
dinner. That's all that people talk
4:44
about is food. And it was it was a great
4:47
experience. Some of the best places I ever
4:50
ate at were not necessarily fancy restaurants, like some of
4:53
the best food was at these like little hole in the wall places.
4:57
And it just blew my mind because when somebody cooks with love,
5:03
you can taste it and there's and they're cooking with a lot of
5:06
love for sure, 100%. OK, OK.
5:10
And what made you go into culinary school?
5:12
Did you love food that much or did someone suggested or?
5:15
It was a suggestion. I was kind of what didn't really
5:18
have much direction and I needed some direction and I was a young
5:23
guy. I didn't, I didn't know what, I
5:25
had no idea what I wanted to do. And it just made sense because I
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was good, decent at it and I liked it.
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And so I just, we just, I just did it.
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But it definitely was a suggestion.
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It wasn't something I came up with on my own.
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I was, I didn't want to do anything at that time of my
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life. I didn't want to do anything.
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I was just, I was, I was a bomb, a little bomb.
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You got it together. Eventually it took a minute, but
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it happened. OK.
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How long did it take you to get into experimenting with the
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seasonings? So seasonings, OK, when I was
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ended up cooking down there or OK, let's stay back, Let's go
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back to the first time I had the food.
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I was like, obviously this is seasoned differently.
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Like it was like there's putting other stuff in this.
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And so that was the first time I heard about Cajun seasoning and
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I was like, what is this stuff? And so some people would like
6:24
make their own blends. Some people would buy the store
6:27
bought stuff in little cans, that kind of thing.
6:30
And then eventually I was like, OK, I see what's going on and I
6:33
started playing with it and I would add my own variation
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because everybody had their own variation.
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Everybody had this one had a little more cayenne, this one
6:42
had a little more time. And then culinary school, then
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they showed me how to really do it well.
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And the value of fresh ground spices was like, that was the
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first time I had fresh ground spices.
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Now then I've just been playing with the recipe for, since that
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time, like for almost 30 years I've been playing with this
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recipe just and then one day my son started asking for the
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seasoning on food. And he'd never asked for that
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before. He'd always like, I want chicken
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or I want pizza or I want Mac and cheese.
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And he's like, I want that seasoning you make on something.
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And that kind of struck me as kind of odd.
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And so that's when we kind of, I was like, OK, we're going to do
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this. It's going to happen.
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Here we are. Alright, and for those from a
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chef's point of view, what does real seasoning actually do for
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the food do for. Food OK OK so think of fresh
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ground, think fresh ground black pepper, think fresh squeeze
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orange juice, Frank fresh baked cookies.
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Like we all can agree that those things taste better.
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And what I realized was in the process of trying to build this
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business up was that nobody is really offering that as a
8:03
product to people. Nobody's like grinding the
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spices fresh and getting them to people as soon as possible.
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There's always this lag time there's it's in a warehouse or
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it's on a store shelf and there's no way to guarantee
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freshness. And so that was, it's really
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hard to even explain unless you try it.
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The only way I can have a comparison to how it affects
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your food is it's just what's the difference between McCormick
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black pepper and when you grind it fresh, it's like it's just
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amplifies the flavor more. It's just bigger, it's brighter,
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it's more savory. You don't have to use as much of
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it and it just enhances the flavor in this just elevated way
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without being adding layers of complication to the preparation.
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Like it doesn't make it harder to cook the same dish, it just
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elevates that dish because you're using better ingredients.
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Is it that answer your question? Because I hear a lot of people
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that make seasoning, they say they'll make theirs and send it
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to the Copactor. And when the Copactor send it
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back it'll be totally different because the ingredients pressure
9:15
then the ones they didn't mix it up with.
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So this was the, this was something that I had a, this is
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where this whole thing came from was I initially tried to do
9:28
that. I, I sent my recipe off to
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people and I was like, OK, we'll just do it the way that they do
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it because that's the way it's done.
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There was, every batch was different and some of them were
9:38
OK and some of them were not OK. And some of them added extra
9:41
salt. And it was just kind of guys
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that gave you the recipe. You know what the recipe is they
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had and they just, they didn't do it.
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And at the moment it was aggravating, it was frustrating.
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And I was like, man, why can't they?
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What's the deal here? And then eventually I realized
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what that was my opportunity. That was the moment I could be
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like, no one is doing quite what we're doing.
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So I'm just going to focus on this.
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So I started selling it farmers markets, we started selling it
10:08
events. Eventually we got our our
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Tennessee Department of Agriculture stamps so we can
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start shipping over state lines and have online sales and we do
10:20
sell in some stores, but that's not our focus.
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That's not our focus for growth. Our focus for growth is selling
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online and then an in person direct customer.
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So we can guarantee that it's a fresh product and guarantee that
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it's going to. Just taste really good.
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Yeah, definitely. And you chose to grind fresh in
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small batches, which means more work, less margin and more
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responsibility. What does that decision say
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about you, not as a chef, but as a man?
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I would say that. I would say here's one thing, if
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bakeries can make bread every day, I can make seasoning a
10:55
couple days a week. And I don't honestly, since I'm
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selling direct to customer and I'm not paying someone else to
11:03
make it for me, my margins are higher because it's not I'm not
11:10
paying all these other people to do stuff and I'm not giving half
11:13
the profit to the store. But I would say that it what it
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says about me as a person is that I want to make the best
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possible thing. If I'm going to represent
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something and I'm going to create something and I'm going
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to sell it to the world and I'm going to bring it to the world,
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I want to make something that sells itself and I don't have to
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like make up stuff. It isn't true to sell it or
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embellish things to be like, make it sound better than it is.
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It's as good as I say it is in other people.
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There's nobody else's saying it's not because it's fresh
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ground. There isn't anything quite like
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it unless you're making it yourself.
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If you make fresh ground spices yourself, then yeah, it's just
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as good. That's the best way to do it,
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you know what I mean? But most people don't want to go
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through that process and. And that was I was, that was
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another layer of value that I could add.
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All that experience and time of being able to put all those
12:09
little pieces together, like a little bit of coriander, a
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little bit of cumin, little bit of this.
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A lot of people can go into a grocery store and they know what
12:18
an onion is, they know what a potato is and they can put that
12:21
together. But when you go on the spice
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aisle, it can get complicated. And if you don't know what each
12:27
thing does, it does. It's like it's a whole different
12:32
language of speaking and cooking in my life.
12:36
And then there's a whole science behind it that you have to
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understand the science of each of these ingredients and stuff
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like that. And you just can't just throw
12:45
everything together and just slap it in the bag.
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But you have to know what everything good.
12:50
You have to know what it all does together and what and how
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it has to say something when it's done.
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For sure it has to be. Did you try any of the
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seasonings yet? No, not yet.
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Not yet. I was going to wait until.
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Did you open one of them? No, I didn't open it yet.
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I can. Open, open one.
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Smell. Smell it?
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You smelled it through the bag. That's.
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What I'm saying but oh, when you smell it up this.
13:13
Is important. He sent me some seasonings.
13:16
I want to show the label and how you got it packaged.
13:19
I love the packaging and the label.
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You can see through it through the back.
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It has the born on the date where the batch was made.
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It has AQR code that leads to the website.
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I love that. Also, you got your website, the
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address, you got the ingredients on it, and there's no.
13:35
Funny business in there. There's no additives, there's no
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junk ingredients. It's all spices.
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But I think this is, I think this is a great opportunity
13:44
here. You're going to be spelling.
13:45
It unveiling, that's the first time.
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What is this going to be like? Yeah, that's fresh.
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That's what I'm saying and it just makes a difference.
13:57
So imagine, imagine what it's going to taste like.
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Put that on. You can put that on anything.
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Not this stuff on the grill. I mean that at least that one,
14:05
the black label, that's definitely an all-purpose.
14:07
Seasoning. Yeah, that one smells good.
14:10
Also thank you. All right, so how did you come
14:12
up with the concept, with the packaging and stuff, 'cause I
14:15
look. OK, so actually that came up.
14:18
That was, I was trying to find the cheapest way to do it
14:22
getting started because we just coming out of COVID and I didn't
14:26
have a bunch of money and I could get these bags.
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I got these bags of Amazon and then I've got these stickers on
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the sticker printing thing and I went on Canva and made the
14:38
designs and I guess I just did it all myself.
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And so I just stuck because I still like cost effective and I
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like the bags 'cause you can squeeze them tight and you can
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squeeze the air out, which keeps that oxygen and a moisture to a
14:53
minimum. Helps keep it fresher I think.
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And it's also ships easily. You can just put it in a bag.
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It's not like you have to put a bunch of packaging in it.
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So there's a lot of benefits to it, it for me at least right
15:06
now. That's what I said.
15:08
It's good that you're doing a lot on your own.
15:10
And when it comes to this, I do every much do everything on my
15:13
own and I'd watch YouTube and teach YouTube teach you how to
15:18
do anything. And it's all about figuring it
15:21
out. Put all this together.
15:23
I the sweatshirt I got on now I made it myself.
15:26
I make my own T-shirts, sweatshirts and everything else
15:29
just by just learning and it'll be it's cost effective because I
15:33
can make it at home and practice experiment until I get it right.
15:38
But that's what it all comes down to is finding the best way
15:42
that works for you. And by doing this you by doing
15:47
it during COVID. But it turned out to be the
15:49
correct way to do it. So you don't have to change
15:51
later on. You can continue on how you
15:54
doing to. Change.
15:55
I don't have to change anything. At least now at the level where
15:58
I'm at now, I'm sure they're probably as we grow things, who
16:02
knows what's going to happen. But I definitely, I'm definitely
16:04
committed to being fresh ground and keeping with that and
16:09
whatever struggle or whatever thing hoop I got to jump through
16:14
to figure out how to grow it like that.
16:16
And we're just going to figure it out.
16:18
Like I said, people bake bread every day.
16:21
I'm sure we can figure out how to make seasoning every day.
16:24
I'm sure we can figure it out. This is much easier to make than
16:27
some baguette. That's hard.
16:30
That's a hard, that's a hard job.
16:31
You got to be up at 3:00 in the morning.
16:33
This is relatively simple in comparison.
16:35
I believe, Oh yeah, definitely. And when a lot of people scale
16:39
up and get bigger, the quality goes down.
16:41
So that's a part where, like you said, you got to put the time
16:45
and effort into it. I got to just come up with a
16:48
different system. It's not that it's it just we're
16:53
just going to have to be practical, but we're also going
16:57
to have to be like playing it out.
16:58
We're going to have to what is it?
16:59
I got to think, what are the next pieces of equipment?
17:02
I need to keep doing it like this.
17:04
Like I need to think a few steps ahead so I don't get to the
17:07
point where we're at this thing and then I go, let's go get
17:12
let's get Jimmy to make it. Let's get Jimmy.
17:15
Jimmy can make it, man. It's going to be easy to know
17:17
Jimmy doesn't make it seasoning. So it's just a matter of
17:21
planning and I think it's just, and then I become some, I
17:24
stopped being a chef and then become like a real serious
17:28
business owner, which is I guess how a lot of these things start.
17:31
So it has like a product or service they're good at and then
17:34
it grows. And then I'm teaching other
17:37
people how to make the seasoning.
17:38
Exactly. And then somebody call, hey, I
17:41
need a pallet of this right here.
17:43
You be like what? They're gonna be like that.
17:47
And I do things like this and I come out here and talk to people
17:50
like I came like you're talking about YouTube earlier.
17:53
I watched YouTube videos on how to get seats on podcasts because
18:00
I was like, how am I going to grow my business?
18:02
Because like online we're just another.
18:06
And then maybe this is all off subject.
18:08
So if I'm if you need to get me back on 7.
18:10
Oh, you're fine. This is this is your episode, so
18:12
go for. It so the online someone looks
18:16
at this and it's just another seasoning company, right?
18:20
It's not they don't get to see me.
18:24
They don't get to hear me. They don't get to see you smell
18:26
it. They don't get the they don't
18:29
know. And So what I realized was is
18:32
that I needed a way to kind of capture the same type of energy
18:37
that I am when I'm in a in front of people at a market because I
18:40
can just talk about it and I can talk obviously I can talk about
18:43
the season and we can talk about what it goes on.
18:45
I know how to do that. And in these environments, like
18:49
on a podcast, you have people that are, I want to see me
18:54
because I'm on your show. It's like I already have their
18:56
attention. And so they're and they're going
18:58
to hear my message. And I feel like that's really
19:00
important because it is a different type of product and
19:03
it's something people understand, but it's not
19:05
something that they have necessarily had before.
19:09
Most people haven't had fresh ground spices before and so it's
19:13
something that needs to be needs another layer and I don't have
19:17
huge budget to just do marketing that I don't have that and this
19:21
is more fun anyway as I get to meet people.
19:23
Yeah, and definitely. And the more people you meet,
19:27
they introduce you to more people and then they introduce
19:30
you to more people. And that's how I got into it.
19:32
I meant I go to barbecue competition classes, meet
19:36
people. They introduced me to more
19:38
people. I go walk competition and meet
19:41
people and then introduce me to more people and more.
19:43
You got a show exactly overloaded episodes recorded.
19:48
But that's what it's all about, getting in fellowship in with
19:52
people that's like minded and have the same interest in you
19:56
do. And then you can give advice to
19:59
them, they can give advice to you and that's how it works.
20:02
It's just people helping people. So I was, I was listening
20:06
through a few episodes because I, I wanted to get a, a better
20:12
idea of whatever how this was going to go.
20:14
And I saw that you had the guys from Gulf Coast smoke on and I
20:19
followed them on YouTube and stuff.
20:22
And I also early on they did early on in our, when we first
20:27
started making it, I saw this video about they were, he was
20:31
comparing like 4 different Cajun seasonings or something on
20:34
shrimp or something episode and he's like.
20:37
And then I was like, I got to send mine to him.
20:40
So I, I touched with him on Instagram and send him some, I
20:43
don't know, it might have been like 3 years ago.
20:45
But so yeah, it was just funny. I was like, you connected with
20:49
them and I connected with them. I was like I must be in the
20:52
right place. Yeah, he was one of the ones
20:55
that when I got into BBQ, he used to do videos out at
20:59
competitions when nobody was doing it.
21:01
And that kind of inspired me during COVID 'cause I had no
21:04
idea competitions existed like that, and I used to be in the
21:08
house by myself just watching YouTube, watching him at the
21:12
competition. So I was like, he was one and
21:14
one that inspired me. So I had to have him just to
21:17
thank him for making videos, just to see where he's at now
21:21
for and where he started at. It's great and I love to see it.
21:25
Did you meet him at a competition or did you?
21:28
Did he reach out to you or did you reach out to him?
21:31
I reached out to him because because I back in during COVID,
21:35
I used to watch his videos. So when I started the podcast, I
21:38
made a list of people that I had to have on because they people
21:42
that inspired me along the way. They have enthusiasm about
21:47
barbecue and he was one of them. So I had to reach out to him and
21:50
he reached out and scaled his episode and came on and I was
21:54
like, I thank them in person over the camera, just letting
21:58
them know that it may not mean nothing, but you helped inspire
22:01
me to where I'm at now. It probably, it probably tickled
22:05
him a little bit. That's.
22:07
Awesome. Exactly.
22:09
All right, let's talk about the cookbook.
22:12
And he sent me a cookbook also. I want to read this to y'all
22:15
because I thought it was very interesting that he have on the
22:18
back and on the inside it says real advice, recipes, techniques
22:23
and products to make the most important meals right No pretty
22:27
pictures to make you feel like you can't cook those food photos
22:31
are generally inedible. Anyways, what can you do is post
22:35
photos of your holiday meals and tag us.
22:38
Let's make food that matters. And I like it has a whole lot of
22:43
recipes in it. And I love it because the fact
22:47
that they're like I was telling him earlier that there are no
22:50
pictures in there. It gives you an adventure,
22:52
something to achieve to go try to make it yourself.
22:56
And then try to send a picture to him to show what your recipe
23:02
did and how it came out. Because I told him a lot of he
23:04
said a lot of those pictures be fake and it has people getting
23:09
frustrated because theirs don't look like the pitcher.
23:13
So what inspired you to come up with the cookbook?
23:17
OK, so I'd had this idea of wanting to write a cookbook for
23:23
a long time and the idea of it being this kind of
23:28
all-encompassing thing was overwhelming, 'cause it was
23:34
like, that is I like, this is a lot of different stuff.
23:37
And then the concept came to me and went, OK, let's just break
23:40
it down. Let's just take one type of meal
23:44
or one type of cooking, like this is a holiday cookbook, but
23:48
the next one's going to be a seafood cookbook.
23:50
And let's just focus on that one thing.
23:53
And then we're not going to have pictures and we're going to
23:55
teach techniques and we're going to teach how to make these
23:58
recipes, these base recipes your own by you can adding different
24:03
spices or different fruits or different other ingredients to
24:07
make it match what you want. Because that's how chefs cook.
24:11
They cook modularly. They take this sauce and this
24:15
ingredient and this cooking technique and they put together
24:18
and there may be a different sauce.
24:20
And so that's how I learned how to cook.
24:22
And so I wanted to bring it to people so they could do it at
24:27
home because you never know which it's not.
24:31
I don't want you to have to get to that cookbook and then go, I
24:33
got to go buy something like I wanted to be able to people to
24:37
go in these cookbooks and go, I, I got this and I got this and I
24:40
get this. What kind of make?
24:42
Because that's where a lot of people, I think it's stuck or
24:45
they end up getting confused is that everything is a recipe and
24:49
a lot of cooking is just by hand in the moment, just going into
24:54
it and just getting in the flow and enjoying where the flavors
24:57
and ingredients can take you. And that's, I don't know.
25:03
I don't think it's necessarily something that is, is innate,
25:07
like it's in me. It's something I learned how to
25:09
do just because I started doing it.
25:13
You know what I mean? You never learn how to do
25:14
something until you start. And that was also with the
25:18
cookbook. So I didn't know how to write a
25:19
cookbook until I started to write a cookbook.
25:22
And in the process of doing that, I'm glad now that I did a
25:26
small one because I could just get started and then I was like,
25:30
OK, this is cool. Then I can do one each year or
25:33
something or two a year or something.
25:36
And it gives me something that I can work on, but also gives me
25:40
the opportunity to improve how I do it.
25:43
Because I came up with all these ideas like during and after I, I
25:49
published it, that if I just made this big cookbook, I never
25:55
would have been able to do it. What I'm doing, you know what,
25:58
I've never take those ideas and apply them to the next book.
26:01
And so that's kind of I think they're just going to get
26:03
better. I think they're going to get
26:04
more interesting. I'm going to end up having QR
26:08
codes to go to tutorials on YouTube.
26:11
So like things that are like more technique based, like how
26:14
do you grill fish? How do you blackened fish?
26:16
How do you cut the vegetable like this, that kind of stuff.
26:20
And so instead of trying to explain it in the book, we're
26:24
going to have an explanation and a video like, OK, so they can go
26:29
come back and they can see how it's done and have that hands on
26:33
experience. And we also gave me an
26:36
opportunity to make new seasonings for each book.
26:39
So that's fun. And just little Knick knacks,
26:43
little stickers, little things to go with it, round it out and
26:46
make it a whole like package. Yeah, I like it 'cause it's it's
26:50
nice and small and and most folks, when you get a big
26:53
cookbook, you're not going to go through all the recipes, right?
26:57
It's not, you're right. And most people are not like
27:00
trying to look for all these recipes either.
27:02
So it's not it's not functional. It doesn't.
27:05
And also a lot of times the print is really small.
27:08
So like when you're in the kitchen and you're like, got
27:11
your, you're in the mess, right? You're in it.
27:14
You don't need to be where is where am I at?
27:17
This book, like this book, I've made it bigger.
27:20
So like you could have it open and you could probably like just
27:23
look over at and be like, oh, that's where I'm at.
27:26
And it's just, I think these are a lot of things that people
27:30
don't do. And I think they're.
27:33
And then what I see is you got a bunch of recipes that regular
27:37
people eat and not none of that stuff like I'm not eating that.
27:41
You got regular everyday stuff that's good and people love
27:45
cooking. That's it needs to be
27:47
functional. I wanted to make a cookbook that
27:50
was useful and, you know, not be the cookbook that like, I want
27:55
to be the chef that's teaching you how to cook the food, but I
27:57
don't want to create food that feels unattainable or has
28:02
ingredients that don't make any sense.
28:04
You're like, what is that? But I also want to share things
28:07
that maybe maybe aren't unique and a little different at the
28:11
same time without being like complicated and fussy and.
28:15
Yeah. Chef too chefy?
28:18
I don't want to be too too chefy.
28:22
Like you said, have to run to the store because most recipes
28:24
came out of stuff that people just had lying around and not.
28:31
They're like, I'm hungry, what do I got?
28:34
Exactly. Oh, I don't have this, so let me
28:37
substitute this with this and then come up with something.
28:40
So I like where you hear that. Alright, so let's talk about the
28:46
recipes. So your initial process for
28:48
coming up with a recipe, do you start with the seasoning or do
28:51
you start with the protein? What do you start with?
28:53
OK, so like all those recipes in that book are already stuffed
28:58
that was already made. Like it's all stuff that I have
29:02
that I wrote recipes for. So it's I don't.
29:07
So I'm not necessarily trying to like create dishes.
29:13
I'm, I've these recipes are dishes I've had and then I've
29:20
tried to make them better. Does it make sense?
29:25
So I'm not necessarily taking a protein or taking this or taking
29:30
that. I'm just taking the the the
29:35
standard dishes within that like type of cooking and then showing
29:40
how you can make them your own. That's was my approach.
29:45
That's how I came about it. I didn't think now, obviously
29:48
the seafood cookbook is going to be a lot about it's about
29:52
seafood. It's going to be that's going to
29:54
be the approach and that's going to be how we teach it.
29:58
And then we're going to have so we're going to show how to
30:00
grill. We're going to show how to fry.
30:01
We're going to see how to blackened, have a sear bake,
30:05
we're going to show several different sauces, and then we're
30:08
going to show all these other different kind of sides that go
30:11
with it. And then the kind of the idea is
30:13
that you could take this sauce and this fish and cook it this
30:16
way with this side and you can build your own meals because
30:22
that's how chefs cook. Take these different parts and
30:25
put them together. And that's how you come up with
30:26
something unique and different is by pairing these different
30:29
techniques and different ingredients and sauces in ways
30:34
that work. And so I'm basically the work
30:36
I've done for that was let's make sure we don't add anything
30:40
that like isn't going to go good with something else.
30:42
So everything, all the recipes and all the techniques and all
30:46
the fish and all the sides all kind of work together.
30:51
So you're not going to end up, you're not going to end up with
30:55
something weird. You're not going to end up with
30:56
something that's like, why did I cook this?
30:58
This sucks, it's horrible, you know what I mean?
31:01
It's going to be like all the stuff works together, all of it
31:03
is placed together and that's the plan.
31:07
We are going to have some stuff that's they're standalone dishes
31:10
like crab cakes and like what can you do with crab cakes?
31:13
And then what do you do with leftover fish and a few stews?
31:18
We're going to have soups are going to have, they're going to
31:22
art modular where you can add different things to them is
31:24
here's how you make the soup. Then here's a variation to the
31:27
soup. That sounds good.
31:30
You can tell when people put a lot of thought into something or
31:32
when people just slapping stuff together to try to make a quick
31:35
buck. So you can tell how you put
31:38
thought into everything that you're doing from the seasoning
31:42
to the cookbook, to even the stickers, the labels and the
31:46
cards and stuff with the QR codes and stuff like that.
31:50
So you can tell that you love what you're doing and you want
31:54
to express that and show everybody what you're doing.
31:57
So I definitely appreciate it. All right, my next area is tell
32:03
me about a moment, maybe financially, mentally,
32:06
emotionally, when you maybe probably wanted to quit and how
32:12
did that season teach you about yourself?
32:15
You don't have to get all in your business, but just.
32:17
Something just so before, several years ago I had, we ran
32:23
restaurants and that ended up not working out.
32:28
And that was a really painful moment.
32:34
And I was committed, though I think I was committed to trying
32:39
to figure out how to take those skills and turn them into
32:42
something else. I ended up trying to like I
32:46
ended up going in foraging mushrooms.
32:48
I ended up trying to grow mushrooms.
32:50
I tried growing like having like fresh herbs that I was so I had
32:55
all these ideas, but nothing like made sense.
32:58
It didn't fit and didn't feel right And it wasn't, I don't
33:01
know, I don't think it was me. And during COVID, there was, I
33:07
had this First off, there was this epiphany of I'm going to, I
33:11
couldn't figure out what was the difference between me and other
33:18
people that had success at what they were trying to accomplish.
33:23
That was like bothering me. And so I read all these
33:29
different books, like I read all these books about what's mindset
33:34
and all this stuff. And then what I realized was
33:36
that I didn't, what I never had done before is I never set out
33:40
to be really clear on what I wanted because if I don't have a
33:44
clear destination, how am I going to get there?
33:48
So I never had that and I didn't, maybe somebody didn't
33:50
teach me how to do that. Maybe I just wasn't listening.
33:54
But I ended up going, I want to make this work.
33:57
I want to make something special.
33:59
And I'm going to do whatever it takes to do that.
34:02
And I just, I, I focus on these things every day.
34:07
Like I make, I write out goals, I write out how am I going to
34:11
reach these goals? This is part of this being on
34:13
these podcasts as part of these goals.
34:16
And but I definitely I got, I've been, I got pretty sick couple
34:21
years ago and I did, it was hard, but I didn't stop.
34:28
We didn't stop. It was rough.
34:30
But I'm still dealing with that. But it's not, I kept a good
34:34
attitude through the whole thing and I am just going to keep
34:39
going. And I think that's if I hadn't
34:42
have done that like positive thinking work on my on myself,
34:49
like getting rid of all that. You're not good enough.
34:52
You can't do this. All that crap that gets stuck in
34:55
your head that for whatever reason, wherever it comes from,
35:00
it's not, that wasn't me. Those were just thoughts.
35:03
And so when you change all that, you change your perspective and
35:07
change how you view life, you can really end up.
35:12
That's just how it works, man. You just focus on what you want
35:17
and move towards it with like faith and confidence and belief
35:20
that you can do it and it'll happen.
35:23
You may not know exactly how it's going to happen, but right
35:26
now it's happening for me right now, getting to meet new people.
35:29
I'm getting to share my message in front of your your audience.
35:33
Exactly. And just you never know when is
35:37
your time because the minute you decide to give up, that next day
35:41
could have been the time that you blew up.
35:43
So you always stay positive and not get frustrated.
35:47
Cause some days I get frustrated.
35:49
I want, like I said, I want to push all this off the table.
35:51
But then you'll go on social media and somebody give you a
35:55
compliment and you'll be like, OK, it's, it's OK.
35:59
But you just got to stick with it and go through the ups and
36:01
downs because your hard work, the hard work always pay off.
36:05
It does. It's just, but it's, I think
36:07
it's more than just hard work. It's hard work with intent
36:12
because you can, you can spin your wheels doing all kinds of
36:16
stuff, but if it's not directed and you got a strategy like
36:20
where you're trying to go, then that could.
36:23
And that's what I did because I was a really hard worker, but I
36:25
had no direction. I didn't create that direction
36:27
for myself. And that's where like the
36:30
burnout came and that's where the frustration came and all
36:33
that and it just wore me out. I was just worn out and I was
36:38
tired and I was tired of dealing with drug addled adults and
36:42
drinking people to drink too much.
36:44
I was like, these people are driving me crazy.
36:46
I can't do this restaurant work anymore.
36:48
I know some people are just better at that.
36:53
I'm not good at that. I'm not good at managing that
36:56
type of environment, I don't think.
36:58
But it's OK, I don't have to be. That experience brought me here
37:03
and this is what and this is way more fulfilling.
37:05
This is way more works for me because it allows me to be be
37:12
myself I think. More definitely.
37:16
All right, And you talk about clean ingredients and Whole
37:20
Foods. How do you help people
37:21
understand that great flavor and better health doesn't have to be
37:25
enemies? They're not.
37:29
They're just it's I, I think that's a misnomer, but that is a
37:32
really good question. So this goes back to the same
37:35
topic about the spices being fresh ground.
37:37
Like when you get fresh squeezed orange juice, it tastes better
37:41
than what's in a jug. Now it basically is the same
37:45
thing, but there's this something about it.
37:48
And so if you are buying fresh vegetables and fresh meats and
37:54
fresh eggs, they're going to have more nutrients in it, but
37:56
they're also going to taste better.
37:58
And if you're cooking those things yourself, you're not
38:01
adding in those potentially harmful like preservatives and
38:05
other ingredients that are unsavory.
38:07
Like it's just, I don't know if those are all how healthy all of
38:13
that is. And then a lot of sugary stuff,
38:15
like sometimes eating, obviously, if you eat a lot of
38:17
sugar and cause problems and they put sugar in almost
38:20
everything. So if you cook from scratch and
38:23
you cook with quality ingredients, you're not losing
38:28
taste, you're not losing health, You're gaining both I think.
38:33
And it's just if you don't take the time to learn how to do it,
38:40
then yeah, it does seem hard. It's like if I don't know how to
38:43
cook, cook a potato well with onions and like brown them and
38:48
make it develop the flavor, and I don't know how to do that,
38:51
then yes, it can feel like a trade off.
38:54
This sucks compared to what I could go pick up at the drive
38:58
through. And maybe the first time you
39:00
made it, it did suck. But that's OK.
39:05
For the first time, everybody does something.
39:07
Chances are they're not as good as it when they tried it like 10
39:12
times. They're always going to improve.
39:14
And that's what but that that's also why I approached a book
39:17
like this is you may not make it right the first time, but that
39:22
doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying.
39:24
That doesn't mean you should give up on it, because there is
39:27
a lot of joy that comes from being able to create food that
39:31
tastes really good and it's healthy for you.
39:34
That's, I don't think there really is anything else.
39:38
It's learning how to cook. It's an essential skill.
39:40
It's like reading and writing or being able to brush your teeth
39:43
or tie your shoes. Like you got to feed yourself
39:46
your whole life one way or another.
39:48
And you know, I guess at some point, if you make a bunch of
39:51
money and it's more cost effective to have someone cook
39:55
for you, then fine, so be it. But most people, that's not most
40:00
people's lives. Most people's lives are they
40:02
need to take care of their body and they need to like, eat.
40:06
And there I am this, but I'll get off my soapbox now all.
40:13
Right. And where do you see Lucky Cajun
40:16
in five years? Five years I see us doing the
40:20
same thing this more of it. I see us being we're going to
40:24
keep doing these podcasts already there's you're actually
40:27
the first one that we recorded. So you have that honor first one
40:32
recorded. And then so we're, I'm just,
40:34
this is our go. I'm not going to, I'm, I want
40:38
to, is it OK, I guess I'll ask you this later, but I want to
40:40
use this stuff as things for my social media.
40:43
Cut these up and put them on social.
40:45
So there's a way of creating content for myself and reading
40:48
new people. And that's goes into where the
40:51
idea of like building systems and growing.
40:54
So I don't have to focus so much on content creation as before,
41:00
'cause it's hard to try to make real and stuff.
41:02
I don't know what to do. Like, yeah, I just, I've been
41:05
making stuff and but this is better.
41:07
I think this is a better sort form of social media for me.
41:11
Makes sense for me. Yeah, because when I make the
41:14
episode I make clips also and release those online.
41:18
But you can take them and use them as well as the main like
41:22
you, you go to somewhere to sell your product.
41:25
You can have a little small iPad or small TV in the background
41:30
playing your episode in the background and it also
41:33
advertised. But definitely when it releases,
41:35
you can definitely use it. I don't have a problem with
41:37
that. Is this on?
41:38
Does this have a you put it on YouTube as well?
41:43
Yeah. YouTube and streaming audio
41:45
also. OK, awesome.
41:47
So I guess go on YouTube and figure out how to cut it up and
41:50
share. I will be doing that.
41:51
You're going to be all over my my social media.
41:55
All right, definitely. And last question I have before
41:58
I play one quick game with you, if you OK, what's up?
42:01
Meet one chef that you always wanted to meet.
42:04
Who is that chef? Gosh.
42:07
OK. Oh man, so that would have been
42:11
real easy a few years back. And so I'm just going to go with
42:15
that one. I'm going to say it would be, I
42:17
would love to to meet Thomas Keller, the French Laundry at
42:22
the time when I was coming up in kitchens and stuff.
42:26
He was a guy. He was a guy that brought all a
42:30
lot of this like untouchable food to life in these amazing
42:35
cookbooks that he wrote. And in fact, we've been to his
42:40
restaurant in Las Vegas. We went there for our our
42:44
wedding and we had a meal there with our family and that was
42:47
really awesome. So yes, that would be it would
42:49
be Thomas Keller just based on experience.
42:53
But if somebody just want to meet and hang out with them and
42:56
talk with them, is this kind of interesting individual would be
43:00
Michael Chan, because he is seems like a nut.
43:03
I like him. He's just funny and he just he
43:06
does really cool stuff with food and he threw all that stuff that
43:10
like Thomas Keller elevated more and then he threw it all to the
43:15
side and was like, we're just going to start over.
43:17
And I like that. I like saying let's start over.
43:19
I like saying start from scratch.
43:21
I like saying what really is important here because
43:24
restaurants are that funny thing.
43:26
They're more about they're not about the food, They're not
43:28
about the meal. They're they are about this.
43:30
They are about the service and a meal and the atmosphere.
43:33
But it's really just about how people feel when they leave.
43:36
What if you what sort of emotion are they feeling when they walk
43:40
out the door and this they feel great that you did a good, you
43:43
did a great job. And I think both those guys are
43:45
like exemplary of that. They create a great experience
43:48
that you so when you leave you, you feel something special.
43:52
This happened. OK, OK, good answer.
43:55
All right, I got one quick game. I'm going to change it.
43:57
Up with you. Usually I do a tournament
44:00
bracket of meat that you cook on the grill and you usually pick
44:02
the one that you like the most. But for you, I'm a list each one
44:08
of these meats and just tell me which one of your seasons match
44:12
up with this meat that I tell you.
44:15
OK, OK, I like this. It's fun.
44:17
All right, first meat is lamb. Which one of your seasons go
44:20
with? Oh, lamb, Greek out.
44:22
It's our Mediterranean herbland. All right.
44:26
Next one up is brisket. Brisket.
44:29
OK, so I'm going to go wild card with this.
44:32
It's called Bulgasari. It is our Cajun blend with
44:36
Korean chili flake, ginger and shiitake mushroom, and it pairs
44:41
awesome with like rich, thick, savory pieces of fatty meat.
44:45
So brisket would be Bulgasari. Alright, smoked ham.
44:50
Smoked ham. So I don't know if you need to
44:52
put anything on smoked ham. I would.
44:54
I mean, if we're, since it's ham, I would say we put our salt
44:58
free version on it 'cause it's already got salt, it's already
45:01
going to be salty enough. So yes, I would say our salt
45:03
free blend. Alright, sausage, sausage.
45:07
So I like to make my own sausage and you can make Andui sausage
45:11
with the Voodoo or the Black label.
45:14
You just mix it in your ground pork, put in the casing and
45:16
smoke it. That's my, that's my go to.
45:20
If I'm going to go smoke something it's like make some
45:22
Andui or tasso. OK, smoked.
45:26
Turkey smoked Turkey, I think the black label, I think our
45:31
original blend, because Turkey is kinda it doesn't need
45:34
something to alter it. It just needs to enhance it and
45:39
that's in the black label definitely is like your
45:41
all-purpose blend then can enhance like a nice rich white
45:46
meat Turkey. Alright, beef ribs.
45:50
Beef ribs. I'm going to have to go back to
45:54
the Bulgasare there because of the fatty richness of it.
45:58
This is going to pair. It pairs awesome with that kind
46:00
of stuff. Alright, BBQ Shrimp BBQ.
46:04
Shrimp. So like grilled shrimp.
46:06
OK, so I would do Voodoo 'cause I like, it's like they hate our
46:10
Cajun seasoning with little habanero in it.
46:12
And I like that little extra kick.
46:14
It's not so hot that it's like fiery hot.
46:16
It's just nice and warm and it pairs awesome with like
46:20
shellfish. OK, Hamburger.
46:23
Hamburger, OK, so I make the actually I got the blend right
46:28
here. So it's our jerk blend.
46:30
What a jerk. So I make that because I love
46:34
jerk chicken, right. But when you make stuff and you
46:38
sell to people, guess what? They do whatever they want with
46:40
it. And so they kept people report
46:42
back telling me stuff they did. They put it on their Mac and
46:44
cheese. They put it in their sloppy Joe
46:47
mix. They put it in on their shrimp,
46:49
their on their fried chicken, their grilled chicken, their
46:51
smoked chicken. But the one person said they put
46:54
it on their burgers and I was like, I always try something
46:57
when somebody comes to bring stuff back because I want to
47:00
know how to use my seasoning as well.
47:02
If I can learn from my customers like more uses for the seasoning
47:06
and I tried the jerk, it was awesome.
47:09
It didn't taste like jerk, it just amplified the beef flavor
47:12
in this really cool way that I was completely unexpected.
47:16
So it's my go to for burgers now, and maybe it's a long
47:19
answer but that's my answer. All right, pork chop.
47:24
Pork chops. I like blackened pork chops and
47:28
I'm going to say Blackbeard smoke.
47:31
That's our smoked chili Cajun blend.
47:33
So instead of a cayenne, it's got Chipotle and smoked
47:37
habanero. So it's hot and it's just got
47:40
this when you smoke the chilies, it's just got this depth of
47:44
flavor that's just like kind of in your, it's just, and it
47:48
blackened it with it and it's just like hot and spicy and
47:51
smoky and. I just dig it.
47:55
Alright, smoked chicken. Smoked chicken.
47:58
I'm gonna go with the jerk 'cause I love, I love jerk
48:02
chicken and that's, this is the way it goes.
48:04
If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.
48:06
I've used this with a little like guava glaze on there like
48:10
pineapple glaze. Alright, smoked baloney.
48:13
Smoked baloney, but that's I don't even I don't I have never
48:19
smoked baloney. I know I've had it before.
48:22
I've never, but I've never cooked it and it's already
48:24
salty. See, that's another one of those
48:26
things that are salty. So I would have to say our salt
48:29
free blend because I wouldn't want to overdo it.
48:31
I don't want to overdo the salt. All right, pork ribs, pork ribs,
48:36
a different one than what I've been saying, what I'm going to
48:40
say, but I'm going to say I'm going to say the original blend
48:44
black label, the one that you smelled just because you can use
48:47
it as a rub as well and you just it doesn't have any sugar in it.
48:51
But if you put a sweet glaze on there at the end, it's got it.
48:54
Just kind of have a nice little taste.
48:56
And it's a classic Cajun seasoning, but it's excellent on
49:00
pork. 100% All right, pork belly.
49:05
Pork belly, the bulgasari because of the fatty richness.
49:09
Like I've I'll rub it on there and roast it.
49:12
I like, I do this maybe like once a month or something.
49:15
I'll roast it with the pork belly and kind of like till it's
49:18
really nice and tender and then let it chill and then slice it
49:23
and then either grill it up, like to reheat it or sear it on
49:27
a cast iron. That's alright.
49:29
Definitely with some pork belly. Alright, and the last one is
49:33
steak. Steak.
49:36
I'm going to have to go with the original because the really good
49:39
steak doesn't necessarily need a bunch of stuff going on.
49:45
You want the steak flavor to come through.
49:46
You want that beef fat to come through.
49:48
And so our original blend, like with the grilled rib eye, that
49:54
would be my jam. That would be my jam 100%.
49:58
All right, and your therapy session is complete.
50:01
If you have anything to promote, you can promote anything you
50:05
have to promote and give. You.
50:07
How cool. Yeah.
50:09
So our website's called the Lucky cajun.com and you'll find
50:12
everything on there. We're going to be releasing when
50:15
this episode comes out. Our new seasonings will be
50:17
released. And our new cookbook, the No BS
50:21
Seafood Cookbook, we're going to do a scorpion pepper blackening
50:25
seasoning. We're going to do a Bay
50:27
seasoning, like a old Bay, but like our way.
50:31
And then we're going to do a Thai blend, which is really
50:35
awesome. And so those are going to be on
50:37
new blends that go with the seafood cookbook.
50:40
And yeah, it's going to be awesome.
50:43
I'm really excited about it and I'll send you some too whenever
50:46
it all comes out. All right, no problem.
50:48
Right. I'll be bigger and you'll be
50:51
bigger. Exactly.
50:55
Awesome. I'm excited about this.
50:57
We thinking about when we first started.
51:00
I know we're talking about this. What happened?
51:03
What, Like I'm going to end up having a better backdrop?
51:06
As soon as this is still, yeah, definitely.
51:11
And I definitely appreciate you coming on and sharing your story
51:15
and your products and I love what you're doing and stuff like
51:18
that. And definitely fresh because I
51:21
can still smell it in my nose right now and.
51:24
I'm telling you now, you got to go cook.
51:25
Go cook something with it tomorrow.
51:27
Oh, yeah, you were going to. You were going to be able to
51:29
tell the difference. You're going to be like, he's
51:31
not lying. I'm not.
51:32
I don't have to. I don't have to say it's the
51:34
best. It just it speaks for itself.
51:37
Just because of the process. I'm not saying I'm the best
51:40
spice blend maker. I'm not saying like my recipe is
51:44
the best. I'm saying that our process is
51:46
the best. That's what I'm saying and I'm
51:48
sticking with it because I can't argue with it.
51:56
Definitely. All right, we thank you again.
51:57
And on that note, we'll see everybody next episode.
52:01
I built something onto my podcast that every BBQ brand
52:04
should be a part of. It's called the BBQ Therapy
52:07
Smoke Showdown Bracket 16 meets. You cook on the grill, go head
52:11
to head and every guest picks their winner.
52:14
It's one of the most engaging parts of the show.
52:17
Every guest plays and every listener loves it.
52:19
Because No2 brackets are the same.
52:22
Now I'm opening it up for a presenting sponsor, meaning your
52:26
brand becomes part of the segment.
52:28
Every single show. This isn't just an ad, this
52:31
becomes part of the show. And if you're interested, reach
52:35
out to Tavis Bryant at barbecuetherapypodcast@gmail.com.
52:40
Thank you. Thank you for joining us for
52:42
another therapy session. And remember, like, follow and
52:46
subscribe to help the BBQ Therapy community and also visit
52:50
our website at www.barbecuetherapypodcast.com.