Latest / BBQ Therapy / #47 Ardie Davis aka Remus Powers | The BBQ Pioneer Who Helped Shape the Industry
Transcript
- 0:00And the guy said the best wine is the wine you like, and turned
- 0:04out that guy owns the winery. Anyway.
- 0:10I thought that story applies to barbecue too.
- 0:14It's so I tell people the best barbecue is the BBQ you like.
- 0:19You can start a real argument in Memphis or in Kansas City.
- 0:23Who does the best barbecue? So we were pretty arrogant to
- 0:27say America's best. But it's a catchy title so I
- 0:33will tell people best barbecue is a BBQ you like.
- 0:37Exactly, that's definitely true because if you grew up on burnt
- 0:40BBQ, that might be what you used to barbecue.
- 0:44Barbecue, BBQ, BBQ, BBQ. Ever notice how the sound of
- 0:51sizzling meat and the smell of smoke can silence the noise of
- 0:55the world? Now that's BBQ therapy.
- 0:58If the fire moves you like, subscribe, share, and help
- 1:02spread the message because growth, like good BBQ, takes
- 1:06time and patience. Welcome to your therapy session.
- 1:11Welcome to the BBQ Therapy podcast.
- 1:13My name is Tavis Bryant and today we're joined by a true
- 1:17legend, the historian, storyteller, and the judge who
- 1:21shaped the way we see BBQ today. He's an author of More Than 10
- 1:26books and a KCBS certified master judge.
- 1:30And the man behind the famous Diddy Wah Diddy Sauce contest,
- 1:34the one and only Artie Remus Powers Davis.
- 1:38Welcome to the show. I got one rule.
- 1:40Make yourself at home and speak freely.
- 1:43Thank you and as if your audience is watching.
- 1:48This is totally unrehearsed, so I hope you'll edit in it out
- 1:51anything stupid that I say. It's OK.
- 1:57All right. We're going to start off from
- 1:59back at the beginning. From what I read, you were born
- 2:01in Oklahoma, correct? That's right.
- 2:04Yeah. Oklahoma City all.
- 2:06Right. And back then you were born in
- 2:0941, so growing up, what was the BBQ scene around that time?
- 2:14We I was started on 7th Street right near the Murrah building
- 2:20that was bombed in this famous Murrah building.
- 2:22And then we my dad was a car painter.
- 2:26He started as a body man. He was shocked.
- 2:31We moved out to the outskirts of Oklahoma City.
- 2:34At the time we had a gravel Rd. in front of the house and there
- 2:38was a BBQ place a block away and we could get what would probably
- 2:43be called a sloppy Joe now. It was baptized in pulled pork
- 2:48or full beef depending on what was available.
- 2:52You get that sandwich and a bun and a bag of potato chips and an
- 2:57RC cola for 1/4. Oh.
- 3:00Wow, that's how long ago it was. So that was just a block away.
- 3:05And then, of course, my dad liked to barbecue.
- 3:11He had to work until noon on Saturday, so he built his own
- 3:14BBQ pit. We bought it brick by brick and
- 3:18went to the, there was a place in Oklahoma City that made
- 3:21bricks. So we, my mother and I would go
- 3:25there and whatever we could afford, we'd buy the the bricks
- 3:31and they also had the fire bricks.
- 3:33So when he was ready for those, we got those.
- 3:37He wore that out just having neighborhood parties and with
- 3:40relatives and neighbors and it was mostly grilling steaks and
- 3:45stuff because he, as I said, he his only day off was Sunday and
- 3:51he, he had Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
- 3:53That was it. So he taught me using that pit.
- 3:59And then when that wore out, he got a Weber kettle and then he
- 4:03actually started some slow smoking BBQ.
- 4:06That's how I've learned. That's what I used today, just a
- 4:10Weber kettle. And I've asked these guys with
- 4:13thousands of dollars worth of equipment at contests, what
- 4:17would you do if you didn't have much money?
- 4:20And they said get a Weber kettle and it works.
- 4:24Yeah, it's definitely. True, the winner of Memphis in
- 4:26May. The first one, she just used a
- 4:29wash tub with a screen on top and she won the whole thing.
- 4:33Memphis in May downtown. Oh, wow, yeah, I read about
- 4:38that. It was cool, yeah.
- 4:42Talking about Lincoln, she's a legend.
- 4:44Exactly, using what you had and making it work.
- 4:47That's why people try to downplay what people cook on.
- 4:51But it's about knowing how to cook and not what you're
- 4:54cooking. Is that's right?
- 4:56Yeah. At A&R in Memphis, there's a an
- 5:00Elvis Presley Blvd. That's the only one I go to is
- 5:04slogan up on the wall that says anybody can put heat to the
- 5:08meat. Only a few can BBQ.
- 5:11I like that. That's definitely true.
- 5:15So you've lived through the full evolution of the BBQ culture.
- 5:19When did your love of BBQ first begin?
- 5:22When you got hooked? Was it watching the parties or
- 5:24did it catch on later on? Is from childhood on that what
- 5:29got me involved in BBQ contests and such was when we moved to
- 5:35Kansas City, I moved there from New York City.
- 5:39I was we've lived in New York City for 06 or seven years.
- 5:45It is in the 60's, the late 60s and it was quite, a quite an
- 5:50experience. I loved it.
- 5:52I worked at a YMCA downtown, 34th and 9th Ave.
- 5:58Some we had a babysitting pool and some friends from the
- 6:02babysitting pool in New York came to visit us in Kansas City.
- 6:06They thought Man, Kansas City, they were true New Yorkers.
- 6:10They thought, yeah, Cowboys and Indians and planes and all that.
- 6:16So they were impressed with how hilly it is and how much
- 6:20greenery there is and how much good BBQ there is.
- 6:24The first question the the guy asked me was, have you been to
- 6:28Arthur Bryant's? So I had never heard of Arthur
- 6:30Bryant's. Turns out now his granddaughter
- 6:32lives near me, Renetta Mckendra, and we're good neighbors and
- 6:37friends. So anyway, that's a long,
- 6:39another long story. We went to Arthur Bryant's with
- 6:43him, and I was hooked. That was when Mr. Bryant was
- 6:47alive, and he was always at the establishment when he was alive.
- 6:54In fact, he lived right upstairs there.
- 6:58One August in 1984, I got the idea to I was reading Good Food
- 7:04by Jane and Michael Stern and I thought I'll never be able to
- 7:07travel like they do and write about places where they eat.
- 7:11But they talked about 84 different BBQ places, I think 80
- 7:15some. I decided I'll just write to
- 7:18those places and see if I can get their sauce and get an idea
- 7:21of what their BBQ may be like. It wasn't wouldn't be the meat,
- 7:25but it would be the sauce. So I started doing that and then
- 7:29it dawned on me, why don't I make a contest of it?
- 7:32I was listening to Roy Cooter's Paradise and Lunch album.
- 7:36He was singing Blind Blake's song Diddy Wah Diddy.
- 7:40I thought, man, that's a great name for a BBQ sauce contest, so
- 7:45I decided I'd call it the Ditty Wah Ditty BBQ sauce contest.
- 7:49I spelled it with DS instead of TS and Ry Cooter sings that a
- 7:54lot like Blind Blake sings that. I have both versions recorded.
- 8:01I have some friends who live in Missouri told us about a guy
- 8:05named Paul Kirk that they thought lived in Roland Park,
- 8:08where I live. They said he would be a good
- 8:11judge. He's a BBQ guy.
- 8:14He gave me his phone number and so I called him and Paul Kirk
- 8:19showed up and with his wife Jessica, and that got me
- 8:24started. He was, they judged and it was a
- 8:28we had more than 100 sauces. I went all over Kansas City
- 8:32getting sauces and got a bunch in the mail from different
- 8:35places. My brother-in-law happened to be
- 8:39in town. He's ACPA, so I enlisted him to
- 8:42be the Comptroller and he did that.
- 8:45It was a huge job and it evolved from there.
- 8:50It got its own legs eventually after several years of hard work
- 8:55and good volunteers, including Paul Kirk.
- 8:59I barbecued the meat for that contest and I didn't season
- 9:04anything because I wanted the sauce to do the talking and I
- 9:09don't know, I thought it was good BBQ.
- 9:11Paul. Paul volunteered after that to
- 9:13be the head of Kitmaster. He would laugh at that, but and
- 9:19we lost him unfortunately not long ago, but last.
- 9:23But he and I became good friends and he's taught me a lot about
- 9:28Kansas City BBQ and how to do it.
- 9:30And I was his Gopher in some of his classes.
- 9:33So I like to channel what Paul taught me.
- 9:37He was always saying, I'll document it, write it down what
- 9:40you did. So if you did a good job, you'll
- 9:42be able to repeat it. I'm really bad about this.
- 9:48I don't know. I got that's that got me started
- 9:50that then tending fires at Memphis in May 1 year.
- 9:55Staying up all night tending fires taught me this is hard
- 10:00work. I really admire the cooks who do
- 10:03this to compete and it takes a special person to do that.
- 10:09I decided these judges, they get to sleep all night and go to the
- 10:13contest, eat this good stuff. So I think I'll take that on.
- 10:18That's what I did and then I got involved with BBQ Society.
- 10:21And but it's just if like Ben and Jerry said with their
- 10:26business motto, if it isn't fun, why do it?
- 10:30And it's been a lot of fun, still is.
- 10:32But I admire what you're doing trying to attract more people
- 10:35into the passion and therapy of BBQ.
- 10:38I'm trying to do that as well as speak to there's a lot of people
- 10:42that people don't even know about, so I'm trying to get a
- 10:45lot of the history also because it's lost.
- 10:49And that's right. We don't know about it, but I'm
- 10:51going to talk about that a little later, but when you
- 10:54started the sauce card, how long did it take you to gather all
- 10:56those sauces together? Oh, I started in August and I
- 11:02had the contest in October and sauces were still coming in, so
- 11:06oh wow, it took a few months. Because technology went the
- 11:10same. Yeah, yeah.
- 11:15When I take on a project, I'm both feet in the and involved.
- 11:20And let's get into the your persona, Remus Powers.
- 11:24What inspired the outfit, the name and what did it allow you
- 11:28to express to the BBQ culture? OK, if you haven't detected,
- 11:34people don't believe me, but I'm extremely shy and my dad was
- 11:38even worse, said. And I decided I was going to try
- 11:42to do something to cure that because it was a real burden for
- 11:46him. So anybody who can wear a Remus
- 11:51Powers outfit, a Derby hat and a apron with rib bones on it and
- 11:55Remus Powers PHB Doctor BBQ philosophy.
- 11:59I'm a philosophy major, by the way.
- 12:01I do love philosophy. I, I append that name in
- 12:07college. My wife, who's my wife now, we
- 12:12met in college and I decided to write some poems to her, which I
- 12:17would now call doggerel because I admire real poets too.
- 12:22I was terrible at it, but it worked.
- 12:24I did some love poems for her and I went under the pen named
- 12:28Remus Powers. Remus from the Uncle Remus
- 12:32stories. That really fascinated me in
- 12:36childhood. I know the Disney version of
- 12:40Song of the South gets a lot of Flack because of the Uncle Remus
- 12:45in that. But when you look at the real
- 12:48Uncle Remus as portrayed by Joel Chandler Harris, I have a lot in
- 12:53common with him. I haven't obviously never met
- 12:56him. I've been to the Wren's Nest
- 12:58where he lived in Atlanta. I told Jim Achmoody, who was on
- 13:03the board at the time, that I want to see where Harris wrote
- 13:07and I want to see the room where he died, and I got to see both
- 13:12of those. Anyway, there's the brew rabbit
- 13:17stories are universal every any. I think most people can identify
- 13:25with the trickster in the rabbit brew rabbit in the IT was a code
- 13:33for what to do, how to handle being oppressed, and one of the
- 13:39directors of the Wren's Nest, Harris's home, wrote a an essay
- 13:44once it's online about everything you know about Uncle
- 13:48remus is wrong and the Disney stereotype is what causes that
- 13:55'cause that essay. One thing that really impressed
- 14:00me is Briar Rabbit does what I call briar patch Tai Chi He
- 14:07figures out what the enemy or what the people who want to be
- 14:11him in can, what motivates them, and then he uses that to gain
- 14:18his freedom from them. In the case of the briar patch,
- 14:22he said don't throw me in there. You can BBQ me, you can skin me,
- 14:26you can do whatever you want. Don't throw me in that briar
- 14:29patch 'cause they, he knew that's what they wanted.
- 14:33They wanted to hurt him as the most that they could and
- 14:38throwing him in the briar patch was, he wanted them to think was
- 14:42the worst. So sure enough, that's what he
- 14:45got. And he laughed when they did it.
- 14:47He said this was my home. Thanks a lot.
- 14:50And another story that Uncle Remus himself in the books that
- 14:58Harris listened carefully to the dialect of the former enslaved
- 15:03people that that lived or came past the plantation where he was
- 15:08raised, he was illegitimate. I don't think anybody's
- 15:12illegitimate regardless of their heritage.
- 15:17And in fact, my grandfather in the Ozarks of Missouri was
- 15:21called a wood sculpt because he didn't have a quote legitimate
- 15:27father. So I could relate to Harris in
- 15:30that respect too. And I long story anyway, the
- 15:36story I want to tell is Uncle Remus would do teaching moments
- 15:40with the son of the plantation owner in the stories.
- 15:44And one of them the son looked at Uncle Remus's palms of his
- 15:50hands and he said, hey, your palms look just like mine.
- 15:54And Uncle Remus chuckled and he said, well sure.
- 15:56Didn't you know that we all come from Africa and your ancestors
- 16:03used to be the same color as I am?
- 16:06And the little boy thought that was funny, but it was really he
- 16:12if when you study anthropology, you find out that was true, we
- 16:16all started in Africa, that is. And it was a way that Uncle
- 16:22Remus was subversive to the he was teaching the young the
- 16:26truth. And I like that.
- 16:30That's a good name and good concept that you came with
- 16:33'cause you actually just didn't make it up.
- 16:35You had thought behind it. Young Powers happened to be the
- 16:39mechanic where my dad worked in a Lincoln Mercury shop that was
- 16:44near the Murrah building. In fact, one of the axles or the
- 16:48axle from the truck that exploded landed in the alley
- 16:52where my dad worked. My dad was retired at the time.
- 16:56But anyway, he was Powers and he had the wire rim glasses and he
- 17:00was cool guy like James Dean. And I thought, and I want to be
- 17:03like Powers when I grow up. And my dad said, I think you're
- 17:08going to go to college. I I don't want you to have to
- 17:10make a living like this. And he hired me one summer after
- 17:15a hailstorm in Oklahoma City, After measuring a Lincoln
- 17:20Continental with a piece of sandpaper several times over, I
- 17:25decided my dad was right. Do something besides make a
- 17:30living that way. But that's my story.
- 17:36That's how I put the two together, Remus and Powers.
- 17:39That's a good story. I'm a philosopher.
- 17:43So the American Royal, they contacted you about the sauce
- 17:46contest. How did you?
- 17:47Was the American Royal really big like it is now back?
- 17:51Then it wasn't as big, but it was big.
- 17:54I set my date in October. At that time, the American Royal
- 17:59was in November. So I set my date for the sauce
- 18:02contest so it wouldn't conflict with the meat contest.
- 18:07And sure enough, they got tired of the cold weather in November
- 18:11at that time and they changed their date to my date.
- 18:15So I called the Royal and I said I explained the problem and they
- 18:20said you need to talk to Jack K. He's head of the he's chairing
- 18:24the BBQ contest. So I called the Jack K and we
- 18:29met at an apple place and had ribs and talked for an hour or
- 18:34so. And after that we decided let's
- 18:38just marry the sauce contest with the meat contest.
- 18:42So we shook hands on it and I recruited volunteers for several
- 18:49years and the first year at the Royal it was called the Didi Wah
- 18:53Didi. And then I think they thought
- 18:56that sounded too serious that this is my joke.
- 19:00So they changed it to the American Royal and now it's the
- 19:03American Royal World Series of BBQ sauce and rub contest.
- 19:09We we added rubs later. We even had base at the Royal,
- 19:15but now it's sauces and rubs, so it had to get its own legs
- 19:21because it's a lot of work it takes.
- 19:23We had Price Waterhouse Coopers for a while doing the
- 19:25comptroller's. Young Cpas would come with their
- 19:30laptops and do the comptrolling and we had people spinning
- 19:34basically almost all night pouring sauces into containers
- 19:40that were numbered instead of marked.
- 19:43So it was blind judging. And in fact, Joe Mcguff, who was
- 19:48the sports editor at the Kansas City Star, he was one of my
- 19:53judges when the contest was at Crown Center.
- 19:56Oh, by the way, my wife said this is too much trouble for our
- 20:00little house. You've got to find a where to do
- 20:03this. So we did it at the Prairie
- 20:05Center one year, the second year, and after that we did it
- 20:09for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- 20:12And that was a Crown Center, and Joe Mcguff was a judge there.
- 20:17So he said these cups you're using, that's not healthy, you
- 20:22need to have some squeeze bottles.
- 20:24So we ever since then, we've used squeeze bottles.
- 20:27Thanks to Joe Mcguff. He later became editor of The
- 20:31Star. And now he's gone, of course.
- 20:33But that's one problem with being born in 1941 you had.
- 20:40You see a lot of people come and go.
- 20:42But you've seen the whole history of barbecue and where
- 20:45wood is and where it is now. For that, and I'm grateful for
- 20:49you, you're doing a good job. I'm trying to started with the
- 20:56creation of the KCBS. Were you there at the beginning
- 20:59when they thought about putting? Yeah, I was a charter member.
- 21:03I wasn't one of the first 5 or 6 who joined, but Paul Kirk was.
- 21:10He was on the first board and then I became a charter member,
- 21:14one of the 1st 25, and then I became a board member later for
- 21:18several terms. And so I was there basically at
- 21:22the beginning. I knew Gary Wells and Carolyn
- 21:26Wells is still a friend. We're writing a 40th anniversary
- 21:29cookbook for the BBQ Society, and Paul Kirk was actually
- 21:33helping with that. And I told Carolyn and Paul this
- 21:37is going to be our swan song. And of course, Paul honored the
- 21:41guy that he is. He starts singing too early, so
- 21:43he's gone. But I can channel a lot of his.
- 21:48I have other recipes that he did for books that we didn't get
- 21:52published. And I I can channel him when
- 21:55we're writing. Yeah.
- 21:57Yeah. Paul was in charge of the
- 22:00marketing committee when he was on the board and he said we
- 22:04need, I think he was impressed with Memphis and May's judging
- 22:09certification. He said we need to do that with
- 22:12KCBS. So why don't you propose
- 22:14something? So I wrote this big proposal
- 22:18about at the time I thought being judging 30 contests would
- 22:22be a big deal. You could be a master judge.
- 22:26They've since added other requirements, cooking with a
- 22:30team, and that I think that's a good requirement.
- 22:36So I did the proposal and the board accepted it and it just
- 22:40sat there. Nothing happened after that.
- 22:43And so Ed Royce called me, said he was on the board at the time.
- 22:48He said let's put a curriculum together and let's get this
- 22:52thing rolling. I credit Ed with getting us
- 22:55started with writing. He came over to my house and we
- 22:58sat in the kitchen at the counter and worked out that
- 23:02curriculum. And of course, it's been revised
- 23:05since then, but we started the whole certification program
- 23:10right, just right near the Patty over the Diddy Waddy was born.
- 23:15All right, so you're a certified master judge entitled it very
- 23:19few hold. Can you break down what that
- 23:21means as far as? And now when you write the
- 23:24rules, right now, you have to judge at least 30 contests.
- 23:28There's a book where the representative, they call them
- 23:33contest Rep or the sponsor or anyone involved officially with
- 23:38the contest, they can sign your book saying that you judged that
- 23:42contest. You have to do at least 30
- 23:44contests. You have to cook, shadow a cook
- 23:49team. And right now, as far as I know,
- 23:53that's it. There's a test that you take and
- 23:56a course that you take. It's for several hours, but
- 24:00that's where they review the rules and you actually eat some
- 24:05real BBQ. Each of the four meat
- 24:07categories. And there's a few trick
- 24:10questions and a few trick presentations to see if you're
- 24:15paying attention. And then you explain why you'd
- 24:19rated something the way you did that kind of stuff.
- 24:22It's a interactive hands on course and after you pass that
- 24:27you're a certified BBQ judge. So I, I don't say it's the only
- 24:33way I've judged in Houston. I really like how they have more
- 24:37longer point scan and in the case of BS we just go from zero
- 24:42to 9. They go up, gosh, 15 or 20 on
- 24:47some categories and they judge aroma 'cause you can't taste if
- 24:52you can't smell. And so you smell it first and
- 24:55you judge the aroma. Make sure you smell a little bit
- 24:58of Hickory smoke or in Texas Mesquite or whatever, post oak,
- 25:03whatever they're using. But you should smell some smoke
- 25:07and then you judge that you rate it on aroma.
- 25:13So that's one thing I love about the Houston style.
- 25:16And I don't know if the other contests in Texas use that or if
- 25:20they if it's exclusive to the world champion contest in
- 25:25Houston. But I'm also certified with
- 25:30Memphis in May and the Memphis BBQ Association.
- 25:34They they all, I'm not a I'm not dogmatic about it.
- 25:41I don't know what Memphis. They say hold your hand up if
- 25:45you're KCBS certified and then if you do, then they say forget
- 25:49everything they told you. We don't do that in Kansas City.
- 25:54We're more inclusive and accepting of if you love BBQ,
- 26:00you're our people. When you're sitting at a judging
- 26:03table, what separates an average entry from an unforgettable 1?
- 26:09That's in the oath I wrote and I say you will judge subjectively
- 26:14and objectively. Objective is limited to is it
- 26:19the right kind of meat? Is it presented correctly
- 26:25according to KCBS rules, that kind of thing.
- 26:29The objective rules, the answering your question, it's
- 26:36really a subjective thing and it's it doesn't have that.
- 26:39Wow, I want a kiss of smoke. I have friends who want really
- 26:46boatload of smoke. I'd call it.
- 26:48And to me that makes it's you can smoke it too much to the
- 26:52point that it's bitter. I don't like bitter BBQ.
- 26:56I like to kiss a smoke. I like to know that it was
- 26:59barbecued. There's three-way three styles
- 27:03of BBQ. There's kissed or there's naked.
- 27:06First, it's unseasoned and that's the real test of a a BBQ
- 27:12the cook anyway, if they can cook it unseasoned and it's
- 27:15good, then that's got the wow factor.
- 27:19It can be kissed with BBQ sauce or it can be baptized in BBQ
- 27:25sauce. And to me, it's a meat contest.
- 27:28So I I like to taste the meat. I don't want the sauce to
- 27:32overpower the meat. So an ideal entry for me, and
- 27:38judges vary by this, would be I can taste that it's barbecued,
- 27:44it's tender, it's easy to chew and it's got that wow factor.
- 27:50It makes my mouth sing. And we eat some saltines and
- 27:54take a sip of water between judging and it's a hands on
- 27:59thing to pick up the rib and eat it and taste it and pull the
- 28:03meat. If it's brisket, it's basically
- 28:08what it's all about it. If it's that good, it gets a
- 28:11nine. I'm pretty lenient with
- 28:15presentation. If it fits the objective
- 28:17standards, I'll give it an 8 or a nine.
- 28:22It's the taste and the tenderness that are important,
- 28:26the most important. Oh.
- 28:28Yeah, definitely. Do you know around how many
- 28:31competitions you judge to date? I stopped counting I it's been
- 28:37really been going on 40 years. I judged Jack Daniels for I
- 28:43wasn't at the first one, but I judged for 33 years there and
- 28:50promised to go back to the 40th anniversary.
- 28:53It'll be in three years and I want to give the oath.
- 28:56I always gave the oath. Now my grandson Zachary is
- 29:00giving the oath. I told him you have to memorize
- 29:03it cause but contests, if somebody's not there who's
- 29:08memorized it, they read the oath and I said, but you've got to
- 29:13memorize it and say it from memory and it's not that
- 29:17difficult. So he did a good job last year
- 29:20and he's all excited about going this year.
- 29:23And this year I'm not there. I'm writing a thing about Plato,
- 29:27the philosopher who could time travel, and I think it's 4200
- 29:34years or so. And his spirit is there at the
- 29:38Jack this weekend, along with the spirits of all those people
- 29:43who have been there or who wish they had been there.
- 29:47And now I call us free spirits, and they're spirits now.
- 29:53It's just, it's my friend who worked with Hallmark.
- 29:58He says, well, you're into science fiction.
- 30:00It's fun. So the actual spirits probably
- 30:05outnumber the number of judges there.
- 30:07I can just think of all kinds of people that I've met through the
- 30:12years who are gone now. Unfortunately, Paul Kirk's going
- 30:16to be there in spirit, but his wife and his daughter Aaron will
- 30:20be there. He taught her a lot about BBQ.
- 30:24Yeah, he was a legend. Let's talk about this.
- 30:27This is one of the main points I wanted to bring up that I stayed
- 30:31before they got like in sports, if I wanted to see stats, I can
- 30:37go look at anybody's stats going all the way back.
- 30:39But when it comes to barbecue, it only goes back a certain year
- 30:45and then it just non existent and you have to go by word of
- 30:48mouth. What are your thoughts on that?
- 30:51Where we're unable to see where some of the other legends, we're
- 30:56not able to see where some of the other legends what they did
- 31:01and can't compare them to what we see today.
- 31:06Yeah, yeah. And today is it's becoming very
- 31:09different as even BBQ restaurants who they used to be
- 31:14brick pits and there's evolved to that.
- 31:18Now they're using stainless steel ovens and high tech stuff
- 31:23and it works. Given the volume and the
- 31:26popularity of BBQ, you have to do that.
- 31:29But I was glad to see Rodney Scott still does his whole hog
- 31:34all night long and he's there attending it.
- 31:38And that's the old style that I admire.
- 31:42Old style to us, I have postcards of and you've, I'm
- 31:47sure you've seen pictures of when there would be a community
- 31:51BBQ, they would just dig a trench or several trenches in
- 31:54the ground, put grade over the trench and put coals first.
- 32:00They'd put coals in the trench and then BBQ that way.
- 32:05And they're all just all styles. I guess there's a little bit of
- 32:09our condo material, but a lot of it's just we have to imagine.
- 32:15What did they do? Yeah, I like to say that
- 32:18barbecuers were the original philosophers 'cause they used to
- 32:22sit around the campfire doing live fire BBQ with the meat of
- 32:27the day. That from their hunt, talking
- 32:30about the meaning of life and other philosophical questions.
- 32:35That's where we got the expression.
- 32:36I have a bone to pick with you. That's my story.
- 32:41Somebody asked me is that true? And I said no, but it sounds
- 32:46good. Because there's so many people
- 32:48that we don't know about, like Donnie Teal back in the day and
- 32:53when Paul Kirk and them used to compete, but we have no stats to
- 32:56look up and see scores and what competitions they won and stuff
- 33:01like that. Were there anybody back then
- 33:03that you, because you've been through a lot that compares the
- 33:07people like Darren Worth and Brad Lightinger and Travis Clark
- 33:12that were back then that we may not know about?
- 33:16I think you know about most of them, like the one that is the
- 33:20most conscientious about repeating what he does and is
- 33:26familiar with the science of BBQ.
- 33:29I'd say Tuffy Stone is one of those.
- 33:32Chris Slowly is another he he's he experiences.
- 33:38They both experience contest style and restaurant style
- 33:42'cause I really admire people like who who do both Footsie
- 33:48Tomonets is another my, I guess you'd say heroin.
- 33:53She she doesn't even use a thermometer.
- 33:55She just puts her hand on the pit.
- 33:57She can tell whether it's the right temperature and I love her
- 34:01BBQ and her beans she just makes from scratch.
- 34:06I told her that the one time I was there in person I get to see
- 34:11her every year as at the American Royal and I told her
- 34:17how much I love those beans and she got an old pickle jar and
- 34:20filled it with her beans and said here take these.
- 34:23So I took them and Paul wanted me to share them and
- 34:28unfortunately they were gone by the time he was ready for them.
- 34:33So that's when we were traveling all over Texas at the time and.
- 34:40When it come to competition BBQ, what do you think was what was
- 34:43your greatest moment in competition BBQ?
- 34:47Oh gosh, it's hard to say. It's a lot of it is memorable.
- 34:52Every contest is memorable in its own way.
- 34:56I really liked how Memphis and they would originally when it
- 35:03was in Tom Lee Park and it was volunteers Mike Cannon set the
- 35:10basically the infrastructure of the contest.
- 35:13Mike died this I think a year or two ago.
- 35:18They had a reception for the judges at the Orpheum Theatre, I
- 35:23think downtown, and they had local food restaurants cater the
- 35:30event and they welcomed all the judges, gave them a little bit
- 35:34of orientation. Judging at that was memorable.
- 35:40Jack Daniels is another. They treat people well there.
- 35:47You get a bag full of swag and the local product.
- 35:52As they say, there's always a bottle of the local product in
- 35:54the swag bag and you get the Jack Daniels experience there.
- 36:03I'd say the Jack Daniels Memphis in May.
- 36:08The American Royal. Those 3 stand out in my mind is
- 36:13and it's hard to save what year was the best because they're all
- 36:17good in their own way. I I do miss that the American
- 36:22Royal. I miss the West Bottoms
- 36:24environment where the American Royal is now.
- 36:28And then eventually they're moving to out near the
- 36:32racetrack, the Legends area. But on the West Bottoms, I could
- 36:39actually go to each team and socialize for a little bit.
- 36:45It's so big now with up to 500 teams, but I can't do that and
- 36:53my legs are it's a lot of walking.
- 36:56And I have to admit when you're 80 going on 84, you slow down a
- 37:01little bit. So fortunately they'll they have
- 37:05golf carts. So I'll ask them, I'll see who's
- 37:08there and I say I've got to see BBQ Shoguns from Japan.
- 37:13They take me there and see them and see other Chris Lilly and
- 37:19Tuffy Stone make a point of seeing them.
- 37:24Don McLemore was is Chris's father-in-law.
- 37:27Sometimes he's with him. So it's they're all and then the
- 37:33smaller contest. This last Saturday I was at
- 37:36Gladstone. They had a smoke fest and as
- 37:41meat's becoming so expensive, they just limited the 8:00 to
- 37:461:00 category ribs. And they said that they had
- 37:51steak too. Rib eye, that's expensive.
- 37:56So I think next year they might switch to chicken because that's
- 37:59cheapest. And to me, the true test of a
- 38:03barbecuer is you can take the cheapest, toughest meat and make
- 38:09it give it that wow quality. That's always the test for me.
- 38:13If you can't BBQ with the cheapest toughest meat and make
- 38:18it delicious, you you haven't mastered it yet.
- 38:22But unfortunately in the contest they're trying to up their game
- 38:28so they'll buy prime quality and Wagyu or some fancy marbled
- 38:34meat. Maybe that works for them, but
- 38:36to me that's not a not the true test of a BBQ.
- 38:41But. Definitely, I agree with that
- 38:43100% and it took the fun out of the competition wise because if
- 38:47somebody can't afford to meet it's not fair.
- 38:51But if everybody's on level playground and getting regular
- 38:53meat, then we can see who's the best cook.
- 38:56That's exactly. And KCBS used to, We had spring
- 39:01training before there was there were very many contests and
- 39:06you'd pay at the same price and you'd get the same kind of meat.
- 39:12Every team would get the same type of meat.
- 39:15That's how it should. Be I agree.
- 39:17OK, let's switch over to your books.
- 39:20You've authored more than 10 books on BBQ.
- 39:23What first drew you to capturing barbecue and writing?
- 39:29I like to write for one thing. That's where like Joel Chandler
- 39:33Harris said, the other guy takes over when I write and then when
- 39:38I when you write, you can do that.
- 39:40You're anonymous, so to speak. But actually what got me into
- 39:46book writing was I was asked to do it.
- 39:51Karen Adler who does the local food or BBQ Book broker I would
- 39:58say. She had what she called the Pig
- 40:02Out publications and she said why don't you do a primer on
- 40:06Kansas City BBQ. So I said OK I'll do it.
- 40:10So I wrote that was my first book, the Kansas City BBQ Primer
- 40:16or something like that and I did it under the title Remus Powers
- 40:20PHB. And then this guy named Dennis
- 40:25Hayes out in Oakland, CA with 10 Speed Press called.
- 40:30He said we're doing a great BBQ sauce book, how about you write
- 40:35it? I said OK, and so I did that and
- 40:40that I just got all kinds of sauces that way.
- 40:45And what I've learned, there were times when I thought, why
- 40:49did I say yes to this? Because there's so many tomato
- 40:54based sauces and to write something unique about each one
- 40:59was a real challenge. So I read Anne Lamott.
- 41:03She has a really good book. She's very irreverent writer,
- 41:07but I admire her style. She wrote a book called Bird by
- 41:11Bird and it's based, The title is based on her brother who put
- 41:17off writing an essay on birds until the day before it was due.
- 41:23And he went to his dad and he said, dad, I've got this term
- 41:29paper project I've got to do on birds and I haven't even
- 41:33started. And the dad said, son, you just
- 41:36do it bird by bird. And I decided I'm going to do
- 41:40this book sauce by sauce. And I got it done.
- 41:45And then after every book I've done, some somebody has said
- 41:51called me and said, would you do this book?
- 41:52So I don't if it's about BBQ, I can't say no.
- 42:00But I did learn in writing about America's best barbecue.
- 42:06A friend who was a doctor research researcher at the
- 42:11University of Kansas, he told me a story.
- 42:15He was a World War 2 pilot. And he said we had a reunion of
- 42:19the pilots in France and it was at a winery and I'm not into
- 42:24wine. He said that people were
- 42:26sampling the wines of this winery.
- 42:29He was standing off to the side and this guy walked up to him.
- 42:33They got acquainted a little bit.
- 42:35And Stan, my friend, said, I can tell you know something about
- 42:39wine. Tell me what?
- 42:41How do I know what's the best wine?
- 42:44And the guy said the best wine is the wine you like, and turned
- 42:49out that guy owns the winery. Anyway.
- 42:55I thought that story applies to barbecue too.
- 42:59It's so I tell people the best barbecue is the BBQ you like.
- 43:04You can start a real argument in Memphis or in Kansas City.
- 43:08Who does the best barbecue? So we were pretty arrogant to
- 43:12say America's best. But it's a catchy title so I
- 43:18will tell people best barbecue is a BBQ you like.
- 43:22Exactly. That's definitely true, because
- 43:23if you grew up on burnt BBQ, that might be what you used to.
- 43:26Yeah, that's. Right.
- 43:28That's right. Yeah.
- 43:30So you did a lot of collabs with Paul Kirk and some books.
- 43:33What made your friendship and collaboration so special?
- 43:37He reminded me of my grandpa in a lot of ways.
- 43:40He's real gruff on the outside and just tender hearted on the
- 43:46inside. You wouldn't know it.
- 43:47I in fact he was astonished one time when I told him all people
- 43:52are intimidated by you. And he said he really said why?
- 43:58And I said, I guess you know so much, you've got this
- 44:02reputation. And he just couldn't comprehend
- 44:06how anybody would be intimidated by him because if you got to
- 44:10know him, he's he was just a very tender hearted guy.
- 44:14And he had his own style of philanthropy.
- 44:17He would feed the homeless on Saturdays here in Kansas City.
- 44:21He was a chef, certified working chef.
- 44:24And he would cook up some BBQ or big pots of soup and go down.
- 44:30There's a park right next to Crown Center and a lot of
- 44:34homeless people live there. And he they'd just be ton word
- 44:39got around. Lots of people would come and
- 44:42eat his food. So that and we travelled a lot
- 44:49together writing books and it was a good partnership.
- 44:54I regret that. Like I said, he started singing
- 44:57too soon. I'd call him up.
- 44:59I'd say Paul, you're too ornery to die.
- 45:01And he'd just chuckle. He had to pass away.
- 45:07That's the life cycle. We didn't.
- 45:08We know what's going to happen to all of us.
- 45:10But he left behind a good legacy, so he definitely will be
- 45:13remembered. Yeah.
- 45:16And you? How long have you been writing
- 45:18for the BBQ News magazine? How did they get started?
- 45:21Oh, that Carolyn Wells started it as a newsletter.
- 45:26I think she mimmographed it back in the day when you they had the
- 45:30mimmograph machines. I can still smell that ink that
- 45:35they used then it then they hired Bunny Tuttle to be an
- 45:39editor for the newspaper. So I've been writing, gosh,
- 45:46almost 40 years for the bull sheet and people say what do
- 45:50they pay? They pay nothing.
- 45:53It's just in the same with the BBQ news.
- 45:55I've met Doc Gillis and Joe Phelps at Memphis in May 1 year,
- 46:00they were starting the BBQ news and they said say we sure
- 46:04appreciate you, would you write some articles for us?
- 46:07And I said sure, I'll do it. Been doing it ever since.
- 46:13And our society, our culture is so monetized and people ask me,
- 46:18especially younger people, what do you get paid for that?
- 46:21And I say nothing. And with books, it's a labor of
- 46:25love. Unless you're a big name, you
- 46:28just don't make much on royalties.
- 46:32But you do it because you want to share.
- 46:34And that's, and again, if it's if it isn't fun, why do it?
- 46:40If you like to write and you like to share, then you're in
- 46:45the right place. Doesn't matter whether you get
- 46:48make a lot of money from it or not.
- 46:50And I subscribe. I've been subscribing for a
- 46:52while now and I live in Georgia. That's a great state.
- 46:55I love Georgia. I do too.
- 46:58I do have to say they're a little bit on the hogwatism
- 47:01scale. Not at least I think in Georgia
- 47:06you can BBQ more than hogs, but in the Carolinas if it's not
- 47:11hog, it's not BBQ. So I call them Hormatus.
- 47:17Yeah, we little old you wrote an article in the BBQ News
- 47:21magazine. It was the art and science of
- 47:24BBQ. Can you break that down as far
- 47:26as what do you see as art and what do you see as science when
- 47:30it comes to barbecue? Glad you asked because I'm still
- 47:35searching for the answers. The art.
- 47:38The art is the intangible part, and that's when you see artful
- 47:46barbecue and you taste it and you've found it.
- 47:50The science. I have real issues with calling
- 47:54anything the science of BBQ when there are so many variables like
- 47:58the weather, the background of the cook, the local culture, the
- 48:06available, the type of meat, the quality of meat that you can
- 48:09get. There's so many variables it
- 48:13it's really hard to to make it as science.
- 48:16Now meathead really admire what he's done with the calling it
- 48:22the science of BBQ, hiring a guy with a physics degree and doing
- 48:27tests and everything. But again, you could follow any
- 48:31recipe in his books or any book, any cookbook and get the same.
- 48:37You won't get the same result. That is that the person who did
- 48:44the recipe got it. There's a guy in Florida who,
- 48:49gosh, what's his name? At my age, there's so much up
- 48:52here that I'll think of the name anyway, he said.
- 48:55It's intangible, said I put love in my barbecue and nobody can do
- 49:02it the the way I do it 'cause they can't love it the way I do.
- 49:06And so I'd say if it's a science, it's a very inexact
- 49:13science. Paul was always telling me, as I
- 49:16mentioned, write it down, document it.
- 49:20That's one step toward making it a science.
- 49:23Tuffy Stone would probably agree.
- 49:26Write it down, keep a journal. And I think that's good advice,
- 49:30but don't count on it being the same.
- 49:34Even following exactly the way you did it, it would be
- 49:38disappointing. And then some cooks will tell
- 49:41me, man, I turned in the worst chicken I've ever cooked, Turns
- 49:46out it gets a blue ribbon in the 1st place.
- 49:49And the same with beans or brisket or ribs.
- 49:55They'll say man, I turned in the worst I've ever cooked, Turns
- 49:58out it won grand champion. If you can say they could say
- 50:04this was my worst year of cooking.
- 50:06They ended up being grand champion, so you never know.
- 50:10Yeah, it's definitely true. I tell people, just don't try to
- 50:16second second guess the judges just do it the way that fits
- 50:21your standards and they like it or they don't, and if you're
- 50:26lucky, you win. That's true.
- 50:31We started doing a magic Hickory nut ritual.
- 50:36Reach team that is competing gets a magic Hickory nut and I
- 50:41started with I they were just blank nuts that I would marinate
- 50:46in Jack Daniels and Kansas City water and dry them out.
- 50:51I would say to them and I'd put some BBQ seasonings, some sauce
- 50:56and some rub. Just give it a little smell.
- 51:01I would tell the teams I put all the magic I can into this.
- 51:04Now it's up to you to to add to the magic.
- 51:07And if you got the magic nut, we'll see you on the award
- 51:10stage. And Denny Mike, who in Maine
- 51:16helped us do the nuts one year and he said, why don't you put
- 51:19the logo on these nuts. So ever since then, that was
- 51:24years ago, the nut, each nut has the contest logo on it.
- 51:29And since I, I don't say retired, I've rewired.
- 51:35I don't travel much anymore locally I do.
- 51:40But in terms of flying and all that stuff, I'll do that again
- 51:45for the Jack, assuming I'm here for another 3 or 4 years that
- 51:52now where was I? Where was I going with that
- 51:55anyway, Oh, the magic nuts. We've done the the since I
- 52:00retired from that, I found a fellow barbecuer who would
- 52:05continue the tradition of the burning of regrets on Friday
- 52:08night. I'll tell you that story and the
- 52:12magic Hickory nuts. That's only at the Jack Daniels.
- 52:15You could get these nuts and I tell people these are good luck
- 52:19nuts forever for As for as long as you have that nut, you take
- 52:24good care of it and it'll take good care of you.
- 52:27And magic is a intangible anyway, so that tradition
- 52:34continues. It has the Brian Nowatney is the
- 52:37person who took it on. James Reynolds, who used to be a
- 52:42security guard at the Jack Daniels Distillery.
- 52:46He and his wife, Wanda, harvest the nuts.
- 52:50And at a secret location. I can't tell you where it is,
- 52:54but I can tell you it's in Tennessee.
- 52:58They're really, he called me this morning.
- 53:00He said we found, we harvested 200 nuts for next year and he
- 53:06finds really good ones. And you had to be there.
- 53:09I could go on and on about Hickory nuts, but it takes 20
- 53:12years before a Hickory nut tree. This, these are shag bark
- 53:16Hickory nuts before it even starts to produce nuts.
- 53:20So they are very special nuts and they're hard to crack, but
- 53:25they're in the pecan family. Anyway.
- 53:28We do that and then the burning of regrets.
- 53:31Paul used to help with that. I got the idea from the burning
- 53:37of the Old Man of Bloom in New Mexico, I believe, and I
- 53:42proposed that to Tana Shoop, who was head of the Jack Daniels BBQ
- 53:46at the time. Then she changed her back to her
- 53:49maiden name and a friendsly I said let's do this burning of
- 53:55regrets in a pig and I made a paper mache pig to burn and she
- 54:01said that is the ugliest pig I've ever seen.
- 54:05She talked to Tony Stone who had a welding shop, a metal
- 54:11workshop. He designed a metal pig and we
- 54:17said what can we call it? Jasper Jasper happens to be the
- 54:22real Jack Daniels first name, Jasper Newton Daniel.
- 54:25I don't know where he got the name Jack, but people called
- 54:30Jack and so this pig is named Jasper and I've always thought
- 54:36maybe he regretted that name. So that's perfect name for this
- 54:40pig. So anyway, Paul's name is going
- 54:43into the pig this year, along with others that we miss.
- 54:47And anybody can telepath their regrets.
- 54:50This Friday night we burn that pig and you can telepath your
- 54:56regrets into that pig's belly. It's a metal pig.
- 55:00We'll toss it on the fire, count as 0 from 10 to 0.
- 55:05And I invite anyone, a lot of people, if you ask them in
- 55:09person, what's your write down your regret?
- 55:12It's confidential. We'll put it in the pig and burn
- 55:15it. They'll say I don't have any
- 55:16regrets. I don't know anybody who's lived
- 55:19a life without some regrets. Give it some thought.
- 55:23You come up with some. And what is that scene online?
- 55:26Greece House University. I had the honor of meeting Mr.
- 55:31Bryant in person when he was alive, and he was very humble
- 55:36guy. And I read somewhere that he
- 55:39took fame as a grain of salt. Calvin Trillin wrote about his
- 55:44restaurant was the world's best restaurant and all that, and he
- 55:49said it's just a grease house. So that's where the name comes
- 55:53from, Grease House University, and I thought that was a great
- 55:58one. Yeah, it is a.
- 56:00Good example, I bought a bottle of sauce from him his last day
- 56:05on earth he made change out of his pocket.
- 56:09He gave me a pen to promote his BBQ restaurant that had a
- 56:14Hereford steer in in a liquid in the handle of the pen.
- 56:21So I gave that to my brother-in-law who was passing
- 56:27through town, and he said that was the greatest honor that he
- 56:31had given. All the awards he'd won from
- 56:35computers, and he was in the computer business, and he still
- 56:40has that figure. Fortunately, somebody gave me
- 56:44one that she had been given, so I have one here.
- 56:51OK, it was cool. The all these BBQ guys, they can
- 56:59talk forever. This is history we don't get to
- 57:06hear too often. BBQ has always been about more
- 57:09than just food. How do you see it continuing to
- 57:12shape the community and the culture in the years ahead?
- 57:16From what I read, it's culturally it's a big deal now.
- 57:20Like $4 billion. More than $4 billion will be
- 57:25spent on BBQ cookers just this year.
- 57:28Oh wow. 74% of Americans will grill at least once.
- 57:33Now we're I include grilling as part of BBQ.
- 57:38If you're cooking with fire, you're barbecuing and that's
- 57:42mostly burgers, hot dogs, sausage, chicken, that kind of
- 57:47thing. 74% of Americans will do that.
- 57:51So we're talking millions of people who cook some barbecue in
- 57:56their own. To me, the grilling is a gateway
- 57:59drug to the low and slow method of bigger cuts of meat, brisket
- 58:06and even ribs. To do them, it's going to take
- 58:09some time. In Memphis, they do the baby
- 58:12backs, grill them fast and they're good.
- 58:17So the trick is in terms of competition BBQ, how do we
- 58:23attract them to that? And that happens to be the
- 58:26subject of my next Bull Sheet article.
- 58:30And I'm calling it a bold idea. I've been reading about
- 58:33artificial intelligence, quote UN quote algorithms and all
- 58:38that. And it's we have to get in step
- 58:41with the current culture and it's and start attracting
- 58:44younger people into the passion and the therapy of BBQ.
- 58:48Sure. And we've got a TikTok is a big
- 58:51deal. I'm a dinosaur when it comes to
- 58:54social media. And so when my grandkids keep me
- 58:58up to date, my, our granddaughter was doing 6767, I
- 59:02said, what's that? And they said I had to look it
- 59:06up. It's meaningless.
- 59:07It's a TikTok star who he sings a song in 6-7 cadence.
- 59:15So whatever that means. Not a musician, but love you and
- 59:21all the kids. One of my grandsons is a student
- 59:24teacher now in elementary education.
- 59:27He's in his senior year at college KU, and he said his
- 59:32kindergarteners are even saying 6-7.
- 59:35And they all chuckle. If you do that, it's a whole
- 59:40different culture. We had to figure out how to
- 59:43attract the younger ones into the passion and the therapy of
- 59:48BBQ. We'll see a lot of changes I
- 59:52think in the future because as I say, meat prices are going up.
- 59:57The Good Food Institute is they're passionate about having
- 1:00:03lab produced meat. Or plant based meat, Who knows.
- 1:00:09We can only guess what the future is going to be like.
- 1:00:13Robotic kitchens now, and I don't think you can.
- 1:00:18Robot judges teach a robot the rules.
- 1:00:21But there's that wow factor that you can't.
- 1:00:25A robot can't know that. That's for me.
- 1:00:27Humans, we have judgement and we have the intelligence.
- 1:00:33Artificial intelligence is great at scanning everything that's
- 1:00:37been that's available online, answering our questions.
- 1:00:41It's great. If you have a question, just ask
- 1:00:44Siri. You don't have to have it
- 1:00:47memorized, but we had to be in step with the today's culture,
- 1:00:54and I think once people taste it, once somebody competes and
- 1:00:59gets a ribbon, they're hooked. Exactly, that's why they need to
- 1:01:03push kids queue and all that other.
- 1:01:06You have to hook them in there because if when they're a kid,
- 1:01:10when you win something, it's going to hook you when you're a
- 1:01:13kid. That's right, that's right,
- 1:01:15that's exactly right. And glad you mentioned that
- 1:01:19because that I really applaud those who get kids involved and
- 1:01:23teach them. And barbecue will do the rest.
- 1:01:27So I'm a advocate for just the BBQ community and getting the
- 1:01:30word out and just having more things for the community.
- 1:01:35Even the community to come out to a competition is just have
- 1:01:38stuff for the community to bring them out and not just have a
- 1:01:42contest where there's just cooks out there where they'll have
- 1:01:45other stuff for the kids and family to come out.
- 1:01:48That's important, and I hope more and more contests get that
- 1:01:53attitude, make it fun, make it something that attracts people.
- 1:01:58And yeah. Everybody loves BBQ, so yeah, it
- 1:02:04brings community. Taste it, you're cooked.
- 1:02:08All right, that's all the questions I have.
- 1:02:09I got a quick game I'm going to play with you and then I get you
- 1:02:11out of here. College basketball, they have a
- 1:02:14tournament bracket. So I made a tournament bracket
- 1:02:16with 16 meats that you cook on the grill.
- 1:02:19And I'm going to give you each match up and just tell me which
- 1:02:21one that you prefer to eat. All right, let's see who the
- 1:02:24winner. First matchup is Lamb versus
- 1:02:27Brisket. Brisket.
- 1:02:30I love lamb ribs in particular, and the older sheep.
- 1:02:35The oldest boy here in Kansas City used to do what he called
- 1:02:39lamb breast so good he baptized it with his sauce.
- 1:02:44But you could still taste the meat.
- 1:02:46But in terms of lamb or brisket, if I had to choose, I'd choose
- 1:02:51brisket. All right, next match up is
- 1:02:53smoked ham versus sausage. Sausage cause ham, commercial
- 1:03:01ham has been slow smoked. Now if you take the raw smoked
- 1:03:06uncold smoked ham and BBQ it, that'd be a real.
- 1:03:12I would choose that because it's like the pork shoulder and I've
- 1:03:16done the ham that way and it's delicious.
- 1:03:20OK. Next match up is smoked Turkey
- 1:03:22versus beef ribs. Beef ribs are wonderful.
- 1:03:29I love beef ribs. I also love smoked Turkey, but
- 1:03:33if I had to choose, I'd choose the rib.
- 1:03:35Beef ribs. All right, next match up is BBQ
- 1:03:38shrimp versus hamburger. I'm biased about it.
- 1:03:43I love shrimp, but I would have to say hamburgers.
- 1:03:46They're my therapy on Saturday. It's a long story, but I had to
- 1:03:52have a hamburger every Saturday. Oh wow.
- 1:03:54All right. Next match up is pork chop
- 1:03:58versus smoked chicken. Smoked chicken and the pork chop
- 1:04:04is anything is it grilled or? Yeah, it's grilled.
- 1:04:09Anything on the grill? Yeah.
- 1:04:11I just, I have to say smoked chicken because I'm going to get
- 1:04:15more BBQ flavor. All right, smoked Bologna versus
- 1:04:19pork ribs. You're talking to an Okie Kali,
- 1:04:25obviously ribs. But I'm glad you said Bologna
- 1:04:30because in Oklahoma we'd say you know what you're talking about.
- 1:04:33Because if you said Bologna or something like that, you, you
- 1:04:37couldn't be trusted. But we do a lot.
- 1:04:40We do a lot of BBQ Bologna there.
- 1:04:45You'll find it in restaurants and even in Texas.
- 1:04:49The Bologna all. Right next 1 is hot dog versus
- 1:04:52pork belly. Well, pork belly for sure.
- 1:04:59All right, next match up is steak versus burnt ends.
- 1:05:05Well if it's real burn insurance I would choose the burnt
- 1:05:09insurance. What I'm seeing in a lot of
- 1:05:11restaurants, due to demand, I can't knock the proprietors or
- 1:05:17beef cubes that they're calling burnt ends.
- 1:05:22Calvin Trillin called them burnt edges and they used to be free
- 1:05:26at Arthur Bryant. She'd just reach in rather than
- 1:05:29trimming the brisket, trimming the brisket and you could grab a
- 1:05:33handful free that that was heaven.
- 1:05:38And I'd still order beef and fries there after getting some
- 1:05:42free burnt edges. All right, next round, brisket
- 1:05:46versus sausage. Well, brisket, because I it's a
- 1:05:53more, it's more predictable what that's going to taste like the
- 1:05:57sausage, it's going to depend on who made it and who cooked it.
- 1:06:01OK. Beef ribs versus hamburger.
- 1:06:05I'd say in depends on the day of the week, but the beef ribs over
- 1:06:12hamburgers, all right, and chicken versus pork ribs, Pork
- 1:06:18ribs, OK. Pork belly versus burns.
- 1:06:22Yeah, right. Yeah, OK, Pork.
- 1:06:27Belly versus Bernie. Oh, you're getting.
- 1:06:29Really. Yeah.
- 1:06:32I'd say pork belly and again, it depends on who cooked it.
- 1:06:41All right, because I've had so-called pork belly burning.
- 1:06:46I didn't like them. Pork belly versus what?
- 1:06:52Yeah, final four is brisket versus beef ribs.
- 1:06:56Brisket cause yeah, just it's that's a tough choice, but
- 1:07:03that's if I had to choose between them and do the brisket.
- 1:07:08OK. And pork rib versus pork belly.
- 1:07:11Golly, pork belly. Barbecued pork belly is just so
- 1:07:16delicious. Yeah, and so are ribs, but those
- 1:07:22are difficult choices. Exactly.
- 1:07:26All right, final match. Up my move.
- 1:07:29Brisket versus pork belly. Brisket versus pork belly.
- 1:07:34Let's go over the brisket again. That's a tough choice.
- 1:07:40Right, brisket is the winner. All right, Mr. Davis, your
- 1:07:44therapy session is over. If you have anybody anything to
- 1:07:47promote or any shout outs, you can do that at this time.
- 1:07:51OK, the stay tuned for the 40th Anniversary BBQ Society
- 1:07:56Cookbook. Kansas City BBQ Society.
- 1:07:59It's probably going to be out in 2027.
- 1:08:01The way things are going, I can blame it on Paul now that he's
- 1:08:05gone. We had a meeting with the
- 1:08:09publisher yesterday and reorganized the book and
- 1:08:12everything. So I think we'll have it done in
- 1:08:16this January. But publication, it's a
- 1:08:20publishing is a jungle. It's likely to be 2027 before it
- 1:08:24sees print. By then maybe my estate can or
- 1:08:29whatever we've made have gone to my grandkids college.
- 1:08:33So my share, but divide it three ways and it's a labor of love.
- 1:08:41Definitely, definitely. I hope people will enjoy it, I
- 1:08:44think they will. We will definitely there's.
- 1:08:48Recipes and there's a lot of sidebars that some trivia, some
- 1:08:52stories, what's entertaining. Oh yeah, I definitely appreciate
- 1:08:58you coming on the show and sharing your time and your
- 1:09:00stories and stuff like that on that time.
- 1:09:02No problem. And we'll see everybody next
- 1:09:05episode. We just wrapped up another
- 1:09:07session of BBQ therapy. Remember, stay patient, stay
- 1:09:11passionate and keep that fire burning.
- 1:09:13Hit subscribe, share the good smoke, and pay the secretary on
- 1:09:17your way out. Have a blessed day.