Latest / BBQ Therapy / Big Wally’s BBQ: Legacy in Smoke

Transcript

Big Wally’s BBQ: Legacy in Smoke · BBQ Therapy

0:18
Welcome to the BBQ Therapy Podcast.
0:20
My name is Tavis Bryant of Yago Ham BBQ.
0:24
Have you ever stood around a smoker or a grill felt the world
0:27
fade away that has BBQ Therapy. Hi, I'm Tavis Bryant of BBQ
0:37
Therapy Podcast and joining us for a therapy session tonight is
0:42
1 Steven Strong of Big Wally's BBQ.
0:45
Steven is a seasoned pitmaster who wears many hats in the BBQ
0:48
world. He competes in BBQ contest
0:51
judges with SBNSCBA and KCBS, runs a successful catering
0:57
business. Whether he's behind the pit or
0:59
the judging table, Steven brings a full circle perspective to the
1:03
game. We're diving into the what makes
1:06
great BBQ from both sides of the turn in box, what it takes to
1:10
run a catering business, and how to stay sharp in the competitive
1:14
world of smoke and fire. Welcome to the show.
1:17
I got 1 ruled. Make yourself at home, speak
1:19
freely. There's no court responses, so
1:22
anything you have to say, feel free to say it.
1:25
Thank you. I appreciate it.
1:26
Glad to be here. All right.
1:28
And 1st, I'm going to start off with the name Big Wally's BBQ.
1:31
What's the story behind the name?
1:34
So Big Wally was my grandfather, my paternal grandfather.
1:38
Like I tell people all the time, a lot of my childhood memories
1:41
consist of being outside, cooking, grilling, frying fish,
1:45
playing horseshoes with my granddaddy and my dad in his
1:49
yard. And I've just had a love for
1:51
outdoor cooking since then. Wallace BBQ is homage to my
1:54
grandfather. There's actually a picture of me
1:56
and him as my logo. OK.
1:59
OK, that's cool. When you started doing it where
2:03
you did he, when he taught you, did you start practicing by
2:06
yourself or did was he teaching you everything he knew?
2:09
Mostly with him, I was just outside as a kid, just running
2:12
around. He he passed when I was 10 but I
2:15
swear those 10 years felt like a lifetime of memories and they
2:18
passed in 87. But I got a lifetime of
2:20
memories, it seems, with him. But it wasn't till when
2:24
Hurricane Hugo came through Charlotte in 8889, whatever it
2:27
was at that point. My dad was a welder.
2:30
He always built grills out of 55 gallon drums and stuff.
2:34
And what happened is my neighborhood, we were out of
2:36
power for weeks on my side of town and me and my dad would
2:43
cook people's meat before it went bad.
2:45
I was 910 years old at the time. He showed me how to do hot dogs
2:48
and hamburgers. Community came together and that
2:51
was the next level of my love for outdoor cooking.
2:54
When I saw how Community Hurricane Hugo bought Charlotte
2:58
together. People I've never met before
3:00
that lived around me my whole life, but it just brought
3:03
everybody together and it just became a love.
3:07
I'm a out. I was an outdoor kid.
3:08
I come from that area where you went outside on Saturday morning
3:11
and didn't come back home until it was that you weren't even
3:13
allowed in the house. I still love outdoors to this
3:16
day, and I sit in my if I had to set up outside, I'd probably be
3:19
in my garage with a cigar. Right now I hear that.
3:23
We grew up the same way. They drink out the water hose.
3:26
They'll come back in, come back. In the house, no juice and water
3:30
and all that. Turn that, stick it on and got
3:33
that water hose and that's your thirst.
3:35
And now we drink a bottle of water like.
3:37
So yeah. So what was the moment you
3:41
realized that BBQ was more than a hobby?
3:45
So I lived in, I moved to Savannah, GA in 2012, around
3:50
2014. It was kind of like an epiphany.
3:53
I was looking at, I was looking at something or reading
3:55
something. The whole quote was the one
3:57
thing you do for free if you could.
4:00
And that was the one thing Job was slow at the time.
4:04
I'd always wanted a big grill. I always, it was always a dream.
4:08
I always talked about it. But at that moment I was like,
4:11
you know what? Let me do something about this.
4:12
I've been, I've been cooking for people.
4:15
I've been people. Of course people tell you should
4:17
do, you should start your own business and blah, blah, blah.
4:20
It's a lot easier than it sounds.
4:22
You got to have a business. There's a lot of people that can
4:24
cook, but you got to have a little business savvy too.
4:27
I just started asking questions. I ended up meeting a guy, a
4:30
couple guys who own BBQ restaurants in Savannah and I
4:34
mentored, answered any questions that I had.
4:37
I went on Facebook marketplace and found me a grill and I did a
4:40
pop up the following Saturday and did wonderful and it's been
4:43
going ever since. Oh wow.
4:46
And I didn't and that day I didn't have AI, didn't have a
4:49
lot of people come through because it wasn't a very busy
4:51
area. But what gave me the motivation
4:54
was the few people that did come, a lot of them came back
4:57
twice or they went and got people and brought them back.
5:01
So I was like, you know what, maybe onto something here and it
5:05
just continued to grow. Yeah, they always did that first
5:08
step. Once you step out there, it
5:10
gives you the confidence like maybe I can do this because I
5:13
when I was putting this together, I'm like, man, ain't
5:16
nobody going to come on this show.
5:17
Nobody know me. You people know me.
5:20
My wife, she always go out there and do it.
5:22
Go ahead, give it a shot. It ain't going to hurt.
5:24
What is it going to hurt? Yeah, and my I will.
5:28
My son was a huge reason too. I was a first time.
5:31
He was a he was 4, but I just wanted to every dad has that
5:36
they want something for their son to look up to and you want
5:38
to provide you want to be there. You want to be that hero.
5:41
And he was my wife for a lot of things around that time.
5:44
I was a new dad for the first time dad just still figuring
5:48
that out. Unfortunately, me and his mom
5:50
didn't work out. We had that, but we, we, we Co
5:53
parent well and back then, so he was my wife.
5:57
I just wanted him to, I just wanted to give him something to
5:59
look up to and you know, and that that was a, that was
6:02
another big reason. Exactly have a legacy for yeah
6:06
and have a skill that maybe if you want to learn you can have
6:09
it already in place because I have a 13 month old and a nine
6:13
month old and 9 year old. OK, I definitely got to grind is
6:19
the number one before anything we fathers.
6:21
So that's. Not one.
6:23
Responsibility to make sure they're OK.
6:25
I definitely understand that. So what made you get into
6:29
competing? My first competition was I did a
6:32
little small local thing down in Georgia and it was just, it was
6:35
just what it was at the time. I went back to doing my pop ups.
6:39
My first major competition was not sure if you're familiar
6:42
with, but I did the country, the country style cook off.
6:44
Yeah, for now down. And yeah, it was actually this
6:48
past weekend. But 20/20/22 was my first year
6:52
doing country style. Of course there was a lottery
6:54
for it because a lot of people try to get into it.
6:56
Originally didn't get picked. But what happened was I was in a
6:59
car dealership and my wife were finalizing some paperwork on
7:03
buying her a car and a number came across my phone and it said
7:07
art for nails and my eyes just shot up.
7:10
I went out. Evidently somebody had.
7:12
I walked away from the table and didn't say nothing to her other
7:15
cells. When I saw that name and knew I
7:16
had to take that call and somebody dropped out, I got
7:20
chosen. He asked me if I was ready.
7:22
It was about a week away, so I didn't have as much time to get
7:25
ready and I was like, yeah, I'm ready.
7:27
I went down there and I actually got first place in chicken my
7:32
first year doing it out of I think it was 40 pit masters that
7:35
year. And the bug just hit me after
7:38
that is I tell people all the time you get that first call out
7:42
of because a lot of people do competitions for years and never
7:45
get a call or whatever. When you get those calls, that
7:48
bug jumps on you something serious.
7:51
So I just started looking for other stuff and started asking
7:54
around like how do you find these competitions?
7:56
And I started getting on getting some websites information from
8:00
people and it just went from there.
8:03
You know what's funny was most of the time I'm in my daughter's
8:06
room with her or my wife doing stuff and I'm watching YouTube.
8:11
So it just happened this yesterday.
8:13
I'm watching this guy video. He was at Country Style first
8:17
Boothy rolled up to was yours because I had the army green
8:23
shirts on and I was like, wow, that's a coincidence.
8:29
So how's that atmosphere? Because it looked like it'd be
8:31
jam packed out there and. It does, but it's I call it the
8:35
greatest day in BBQ. It's a beautiful day and after
8:38
doing it a few years you meet these guys like you said, you
8:41
mentioned spoon fed early. Spoon fed is a country style
8:44
veteran. There's a lot of trash talking,
8:46
but it's family. We root for one another, we
8:49
push, everybody's happy for one another, people come out and
8:52
have a good time. That's a good, clean
8:54
environment. It's one thing I look forward to
8:56
every year. I tell people all the time I'm
8:58
booked for the rest of my life on Father's Day weekend.
9:01
As long as there's a country staff going on, I'm booked that
9:04
weekend. So once y'all make it in, y'all
9:06
in permanently until somebody drop out.
9:09
That's when somebody able to come in.
9:12
It's it's certain ones, certain people just get gets to the
9:16
point where you have to be there.
9:17
There's a couple country style guys and if you try to have one
9:20
without them, it it may not be a good, there's certain faces
9:24
people look for. But I've been fortunate to be
9:27
able to do it the last four years.
9:28
This was my fourth one and as long as I'm welcome, I'll be
9:32
there for Saturday before Father's Day.
9:35
How hard is it? Because there'll be a lot of
9:38
people, a lot of people there, for those don't know Google
9:41
country style, cook it off and you'll see what I'm talking
9:44
about. But how hard is it to
9:46
concentrate with that many people maneuvering and asking
9:50
questions and cameras all in your face?
9:54
You get used to it I've been fortunate enough for being a
9:57
about a couple videos and get got a little.
10:00
I get noticed every now and then take a picture, take pictures.
10:03
People yell out country style. I was in a grocery store a
10:07
couple weeks ago. A lady turned the corner and and
10:10
had the biggest smile on her face.
10:11
She recognized me from there. But it's you get used to it.
10:16
For the most part, people don't bother you if they can look at
10:18
you and tell when it's crunch time.
10:20
I had AI had an issue last year while I was taking my turn and
10:23
ribs up and everybody was a lot not everybody, but a lot of
10:27
people was Hey, big Molly, big what tapping me on my shoulder
10:30
and I got to the table and one of my ribs that fell over my
10:33
box. So I had to explain that to the
10:36
judges maneuver it. The hardest part is maneuvering
10:38
to the through crowd to get to the turning table when it's your
10:41
turn. Other than that, there's no
10:43
problem. I enjoy it.
10:44
You just got to learn how to multitask.
10:46
I invite people back to look at my grills or whatever.
10:49
I just, I love the people. Oh yeah, it seems like it's an
10:53
excellent atmosphere. I'm going to drag.
10:55
It is. That's a that's a beautiful
10:57
atmosphere. If you get a chance to come, you
10:59
can definitely make one. Make one of those.
11:02
Events. Yeah, I'm going to try to get up
11:03
there next year because I already drug her to Memphis in
11:06
May this year, so I didn't. Want to press OK?
11:09
Press my luck. What is your favorite section?
11:13
Everybody to cook under as far as competing.
11:16
As far as sanctions, SBN is probably my favorite one.
11:21
OK. It's I feel you feel it's a more
11:26
free environment and I've never cooked a KCBS when I took the
11:30
judge in class. I'm a certified judge, but I've
11:32
never actually cooked one because not a lot of them come
11:35
through here and the ones that do, I'm a God.
11:37
If I'm doing sanction event, I'm shooting for points and trying
11:40
to get invited to invitationals and just one or two a year
11:43
coming through my area and going to get me there.
11:45
One of these days, if I'm fortunate enough to get that big
11:48
rig and the big Dooley and can jump in the truck and go from
11:52
Charlotte to Texas or Louisiana, Alabama, that's the goal.
11:55
But right now it just not enough of them that come through my
11:59
area to be beneficial. But I love the I love the SBNI,
12:03
like the organizers, the guys that compete on a regular.
12:07
You know, it's just a it's just a fun environment.
12:10
But when it's time to go, it's time to go.
12:12
Do they have a four meat competitions or?
12:16
I think SBN has one that made before me, I think down in
12:19
Spartanburg, I believe. But for the most part here in
12:22
the South, shoulder and butt is king.
12:25
And of course ribs are close second.
12:27
Very rarely get chicken. And then I think there's maybe
12:30
one or two that have brisket. But pork and ribs are the main
12:34
proteins here in the South, North and South Carolina.
12:38
And I'm in. I go down in South Carolina for
12:41
a lot because I'm in Charlotte where I can throw a rock over
12:43
the South Carolina line. But yeah, I'm in Georgia.
12:47
Then they don't do brisket at all, they do pork loin.
12:50
Yeah, OK. Yeah.
12:52
So they do, yeah, different. Can you walk us through your
12:55
competition, set up your grill and stuff like that?
12:58
And you do have tents or trailer or anything like that?
13:01
I do have AI have a trailer now it's more of a transport
13:05
trailer. If there's room, I'll work out
13:07
of it. I'll set a table up in it.
13:08
But if there's no room, like a place like Country style, we're
13:11
all packed in tight so I can basically unload.
13:13
Set up your area and it just all depends on where you're at.
13:17
Some places have room for you to have a trailer.
13:20
Others you just got to go old school and put the tent up and
13:24
do it, do it out, do it all outside.
13:26
But I do have a trailer. I've got a 12 foot trailer that
13:29
just load everything up and I got and it also depends on if
13:33
you're serving the public. If you've got a competition
13:36
where you're just competing, maybe one tent or do serving the
13:40
public, you got to bring a few more tables, you got to have a
13:43
crew, you got to have bigger grills.
13:45
But I'm a drum guy. I recently switched over to
13:47
drums. When I first started, I had a
13:49
great big contraption. It had a grill, it had a smoker,
13:54
it had sinks, it had fryer, and it was a good grill.
13:59
I could do a bunch of volume in it.
14:00
But what I found there was 2 problems I had with it when it
14:03
came to competing weather, rain and being out throwing wood,
14:07
trying to keep your temperature up and everything was a pain.
14:11
And also doing volume for people and also trying to do
14:16
competition meets in the same grill is a headache in itself.
14:21
You lose a lot of heat opening and closing.
14:23
You got to check your meat for the crowd, you got to check your
14:25
meat for the comp when it's time to do that and everything is
14:29
just chaotic. I did well with it, but I had to
14:32
for competition purposes. I minimize it down.
14:35
I've got 3 drums and a gravity fed smoker now that I usually
14:39
run and my goal, my eventual goal is to get a drum for one
14:44
drum for each protein. So 4 drums.
14:47
And like I said, Hunsaker drum is my go to.
14:51
That's all you just had girls can cook too on she's she's
14:54
actually the reason what watching her page.
14:56
When I wanted to transition over the drums, I did a lot of
14:59
research on some of the more popular brands and watching her
15:03
work at Hunsaker, watching her talk about it, it was a she sold
15:08
me on Hunsaker and I hadn't been, I hadn't been, I hadn't
15:13
been disappointed. Matter of fact, I had one.
15:16
I just bought 1 and it delivered this morning.
15:18
So it's been, it's been a great day.
15:19
I started the morning I was getting a new drum and now I'm
15:22
talking to you. It's been a better day.
15:26
I appreciate that. So what's been your proudest
15:30
moment so far in competition? It Was it your first place
15:33
chicken or was the other moment? That's definitely one of them,
15:36
especially at a place like Country Style, because those
15:39
cooks come from all over the place.
15:40
That year there was a team from Alabama, yeah, Alabama, Arizona,
15:45
Louisiana, Chicago, 40 pit masters from all over the place
15:49
and there's no slack cooks out there.
15:52
So to go there and do that my first year, that's always going
15:55
to be something that that I hold close to my heart.
15:59
And probably another proud moment was there was a cop here
16:05
a couple years ago in Harrisburg, NC and it was a, it
16:08
was some big time names there, guys on TV, it was an SBN
16:11
competition. And there's a gentleman, his
16:14
company is called, he's got Central Smoke Central, I believe
16:19
worldwide, known Cook. As a matter of fact, he just got
16:23
grand champion and won about 20 grand in a comp up in New York
16:26
this past weekend. I can't think of the name of it
16:28
right now, but I came in second place to him.
16:33
And that moment right there let me know that I could, that I
16:38
belong and I can do this sanction thing.
16:40
And not to mention he happened to be one of the nicest guys
16:42
I've ever met on the BBQ trails, winning country style my first
16:46
time out and going holding my own against the guy who travels
16:53
every weekend and does this somebody I really look up to.
16:56
That was a great moment. And I know a lot it's weird to
16:59
to feel that way about losing to somebody.
17:02
There's certain people, this world that if you, if there's
17:04
certain people, if you can come in second place to him, you're
17:07
doing something right because this guy is phenomenal and he's
17:12
every sanction group knows his name rings bells.
17:14
He's one of those guys. And when he shows up, it's like,
17:17
oh, he's here. That was those are two of my
17:20
most proud moments. Yeah.
17:22
And one key thing you said that just said every episode that
17:27
I've done is the people who BBQ there are some of the most.
17:32
I brag on them all the time. Some of the people who BBQ are
17:35
some of the most friendliest people that you ever run across.
17:39
And yeah, yeah, I brag to everybody about that.
17:43
I'm like, people you're close to it ain't that frilly right BBQ?
17:49
They'll give you the shirt off their back or.
17:51
Yeah, yeah, you can. They'll answer questions.
17:53
They'll invite you on the trailers to show you what kind
17:56
of equipment they use. Some even should tell you
17:58
exactly what they do. Because at the end of the day,
18:00
you still kind of go out and cook it and do it right.
18:04
But yeah, you're right. I think BBQ, that's one of the
18:06
other things I love about it. It brings people together.
18:08
It doesn't matter what race you are, what your background is,
18:12
what your, what your political preference is.
18:14
Everybody's out there just for the love of that smoke.
18:18
Exactly. And it's, it's a great thing to
18:21
be around. I I love it like your the title
18:23
of your podcast is appropriate. It's very therapeutic for me.
18:27
Yeah, I got it from, I listened to a podcast that Black smoke a
18:30
BBQ podcast, and they had an episode about BBQ therapy and
18:36
mental health and stuff like that.
18:37
And I was like, yeah, it is therapeutic because you'd be out
18:41
there and like me when I had time right now, waiting for my
18:45
daughter to get up an age where I get back into trying to
18:48
compete. But I used to go out there in
18:50
the morning, come back in the afternoon.
18:52
My wife had to come down and check on me.
18:54
But I'll be just down here just doing stuff.
18:56
Yeah, that's me. I'll start something at 9:00
19:00
that night and just sit outside of my garage and my my mom and
19:03
wife, they worry about me not getting sleep and I feel like
19:07
I'm not here with the ancestors. I'm good.
19:10
This is my therapy. Exactly.
19:13
I sit out there, I got my speaker going, I got the smoke
19:16
rolling. I'd be a little bourbon or
19:19
whiskey, whatever the flavor tonight is, and I'm fine.
19:22
I'm in heaven. Exactly.
19:24
I mean, it's like a hobby. It's not work to me.
19:27
No, it's not just Yeah, even though sometimes a grill can
19:32
frustrate you, the wind environment.
19:34
I probably quit 5 or 6 times every time I cook.
19:37
But if I'm doing a pop up and I get up that next day and the
19:42
people start coming and buying and enjoying and taking bed,
19:45
that's what it's all about. That's when you like, OK, do
19:48
that. That brutal night.
19:49
Last night was worth it. Sometimes it's cold, sometimes
19:52
it's raining. The part that people miss when
19:54
you're out there just making it happen, a lot of people think
19:58
you can snap your finger and that stuff's ready and no, it's
20:01
not. It takes a lot of patience and a
20:02
lot of passion. I tell people all the time, if
20:04
you're doing BBQ for the money, it'll come, but if you're doing
20:07
it for the money, you're not going to be doing it long.
20:09
You got to love this. Exactly.
20:12
It's a grab. Yeah, when it comes to barbecue,
20:15
ain't no throwing it in the refrigerator and bringing it
20:17
back out. No, no, because people can tell
20:20
if you did that. Exactly.
20:23
So you definitely got to be on your game.
20:25
So how do you mentally recover from a tough finish or Cook that
20:28
didn't go to his plan? There's so much going on in the
20:36
world losing to and most of the time these are you're losing the
20:40
people that you know that you see a lot.
20:42
I'm a person, I root for people. Well, of course the goal is to
20:45
go out there and win. But if I don't now, if I have a
20:48
bad cook, and I'm sure being a cook yourself, when you've had a
20:51
bad cook and you're down on yourself in that way.
20:53
But as far as not not getting a call or not going the way I
20:57
wanted to, as far as the results are concerned, that's just I'm
21:00
just not that guy. I'm happy for the people who win
21:03
because believe it or not, most sides of it, being a cook and a
21:06
judge, the people who win deserve it.
21:08
And it just is what it is. And I'm a root for you.
21:11
I'm going to be, I'm going to be out there cheering just like
21:13
your cook team is. And I'm glad you said that.
21:16
Come get into judging. What made you get into judging
21:19
and how did they change the way you cook in competition?
21:22
Man, to figure it out, I need to see what they were talking about
21:25
on the other side of the walls, because when you start getting
21:29
in the when you start getting in the sanction BBQ, there's
21:31
certain things that you can't do as like other country style or
21:35
because that's just down home head to head Smash Mouth BBQ.
21:41
There's a lot more strategy to to sanction BBQ or even down the
21:45
garnish and how you trim stuff. Judges have a, there's a certain
21:50
flavor of the month where you may have to use certain kind of
21:53
sauce, the geographical area you're in.
21:55
Do they like sweet? Do they like a little heat?
21:57
Do they like mustard? They like ketchup, something
22:00
like it's a lot of strategy to sanction BBQ.
22:03
So I just wanted to get in the judges classes and just look at
22:06
some of the presentations, taste some of the tenderness and all
22:09
of the aspects of what they judge on and just see what goes
22:13
on that side so it can help me on the cooking side.
22:17
And that's the biggest help has been been fortunate enough to be
22:22
to judge a few and they've seen some awesome plates, especially
22:26
pork because you got some guys out there that can really my
22:29
first competition doing pork. I'm thinking they just wanted
22:32
pulled. I didn't know much about money,
22:34
muscle and tubes and all that other stuff.
22:37
I just put a box of pulled in there and it was good, but it
22:40
wasn't what the judges were looking for.
22:42
Some guys that can that can trim a Boston butt down and do some
22:46
amazing things with it. So I just wanted to see what was
22:49
going on between that. I'm a student a BBQ.
22:51
I'd say a lot. If you ever feel like you've got
22:54
this thing figured out, just stop doing it because you're
22:57
never going to figure this guy's been cooking 50 years, still
22:59
learning and can still learn from somebody else.
23:02
I just, I'd like to say I'm a student a BBQ.
23:04
I watch a lot of YouTube. I've got a lot of mentors, a lot
23:08
of people have helped me along the way.
23:09
And now I got people that reach out to me wanting to be a
23:13
mentor. And I'm like, hey, look, I'm
23:15
still figuring it out. Let's do this thing together.
23:17
I never turned anybody away, but I'm telling about Friday.
23:19
I don't. I'm still learning myself.
23:21
We'll come on, we'll figure this out together.
23:24
If I if I learn something new and I'm going to bring it to you
23:27
because you never quite figure it out.
23:30
That is true. That is true.
23:31
And sharing information is the best way to do that instead of
23:36
trying to let see somebody struggling and yeah, let them
23:40
figure it out and watch them sink instead of you can easily
23:43
go over there. Hey, have you tried this way or
23:46
have you tried this tool or something like that?
23:48
Yeah, which is not what's the harm you still they still got to
23:51
beat you cooking. Yeah, I'm not going to come over
23:54
there and cook it for you, but if you need a good sharp knife
23:57
or some foil or whatever, if I got it, you can have it like,
24:00
and I would hope you do the same for me if I ever needed it.
24:03
Exactly, So you do pop ups. What is your most requested item
24:08
on the menu? My most requested item is
24:12
actually probably not my my baked beans are probably just as
24:16
popular as my meat for whatever reason.
24:19
But on the meat side of things, the ribs and rib tips.
24:24
One of my one of my mentors was a guy out of Chicago that opened
24:27
up a BBQ restaurant here in Charlotte in the late 90s.
24:30
And he was the first person that introduced me to that Chicago
24:33
style French fries, the mouse sauce and the rib tips on top.
24:37
And I was amazed. I'm like, this is the part that
24:39
I leave on the rib and cut. So he taught me how to, he
24:42
taught me how to separate the tips from the meat.
24:45
And I started out when I was doing when people would buy
24:48
whole slabs, what I would do is I would throw the tips in as an
24:51
extra and they just took off and I added them to the menu And
24:56
it'll, it adds a nice little, it adds a nice little profit margin
25:00
to the day when, because now I'm doing tip dinners and I'm doing
25:04
tips and the French fries and everything.
25:06
So my my ribs and rib tips are probably my most requested
25:10
items. And the bake and those baked
25:12
beans. And how do you balance competing
25:15
on weekends as well as running the pop up?
25:19
Most of the time the competitions, the schedules come
25:22
out long in advance. Sometimes the whole year is
25:26
already mapped out when the new season starts.
25:28
So you work around that. And if I come book or there's
25:31
been times where I'll drop off OK if I don't have to serve or
25:34
if it's just a drop off and it's not 30-40 people, I can knock
25:38
that all, knock that out, drop it off on the way and still go
25:42
compete because I've got a million grills.
25:44
So I can load my trailer up and still do some things around that
25:47
if I've got the time. But for the most part, if I got
25:50
a comp going on, I'll just, I'll just book there's there.
25:53
There was only one. There's only been one occasion
25:55
where I opted out of going to a pot a competition to do a pop up
25:59
because it was losing that fee money didn't compare to what
26:05
this pop up was going to do for me.
26:06
But that's only happened one time where I didn't go to a
26:10
competition to do a pop up. But it was definitely worth my
26:14
while. And how many competitions do you
26:17
normally cook in a year? This year hadn't started off the
26:21
way I wanted it to. The first half of the year was
26:24
been a little rough personally, but I try to do can is my goal.
26:33
But I want to get to the point to where I'm out there every
26:35
weekend. Because a good friend of mine
26:37
was telling me we were talking about that and he was saying you
26:40
just got to show up. Even if you feel like you, you
26:42
can't afford it or you know, don't feel like it, you got to
26:45
show up. If you ever want to be one of
26:46
those people that you know that, that when you show up, people
26:51
get nervous, you got to be there.
26:53
You just got to show up. And that's definitely what I'm
26:55
working towards because I do enjoy competing.
26:59
Yeah. But sometimes it can get a
27:01
little, it can get a little pricey, but a lot of guys have,
27:04
they have sponsors. I've got a charcoal sponsor and
27:06
a dry rub sponsor. That's about it right now.
27:10
But I know people who've got sponsors that pay entry fees.
27:13
And do you know when I get to that level and then I'll be
27:16
ready to hit the road because 2:50 to 3:50 every weekend, I
27:20
can get a little I can get a little heavy out of pocket,
27:24
especially in to to spend that much to go Chase.
27:28
And that and also depends on the prize money to spend 300 to go
27:31
chase seven, 5800 to somewhere where you may or may not come
27:36
back with anything. You got to just weigh those
27:38
options. Sometimes at least me at this,
27:41
at this point in life, I'm at that.
27:43
I got to. It's got to make sense.
27:45
Definitely. Can you explain your rubs and
27:48
seasonings? You got the mustard sensation,
27:51
smoky twang, BBQ sauce that ain't Jack's Drizzle BBQ sauce,
27:56
and the all-purpose rub. So I'll start with Aunt Jack's
27:59
drizzle. Aunt Jack was my grandmother.
28:01
That was Big Molly's wife. That was my paternal
28:04
grandparents. So coming up, when we had family
28:07
cookout, she'd be in the house making this BBQ sauce that
28:11
everybody that came over to the house loved.
28:13
And it was just a, it was just a part of my childhood.
28:17
And I'd say when I started Big Walley's in 2014, I'd say about
28:22
a year or so in a light bulb went off.
28:24
And why don't you try your own rendition of Mama's sauce, which
28:28
I called my grandmother Mama. And so I called my mom because
28:33
even though she was my dad's mom, my mom was the only one
28:36
that knew the recipe or what was in it.
28:39
And so I called her, I asked her what all was in it, just as a
28:42
refresher. I knew and it took me about two
28:45
months to get it to where. So I spent two months in my
28:47
kitchen down in Savannah with a notepad and a pen, just doing
28:52
measurements and coming up with it until I, I thought it was
28:55
where it tasted like hers. And once I hid it, I, I was, by
29:02
the time I got it right, I had moved back to Charlotte.
29:04
I moved back to Charlotte in August 2014.
29:07
I'm a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. They came to Charlotte that
29:09
year. I tell I tailgated.
29:13
So I debuted Ain't Jack's Drizzle at the at that tailgate.
29:16
And it was. I got rave reviews.
29:19
Even my family loved it. It was nostalgic for my family.
29:22
Of course people loved it and I've been making it ever since.
29:26
Buster Sensation. Smokey twang that came from
29:30
where I live in Georgia. I couldn't give Aunt Jack
29:33
drizzle away down there because it's a mustard based town.
29:36
So I had I was like when in Rome there wasn't Rome was due.
29:41
So I'm not a big mustard sauce fan.
29:42
Mustard sensation is just a conglomerate of a lot of
29:46
different mustard sauce recipes that I saw on Google and or
29:50
whatever. I just added my own little twist
29:52
to it and I call it Smokey twang because it's got a little, it's
29:56
got a little, it's got a little heat.
29:58
It's got a little twang to it. It's not your, it's not your
30:01
average mustard sauce that you get from the from the store, but
30:05
nobody ever said it had to taste like mustard.
30:06
It's just mustard is the base. It's in there and you can tell
30:10
it's in there, but it's not your.
30:12
I think a lot of mustard sauce is just, it just seems like they
30:15
just poured some mustard on the pot and added some red pepper
30:17
flakes to it. And that just that, that that
30:19
didn't work for me. So I just digest it up a little
30:22
bit and gave it my own little spin.
30:25
And my dry rub is just a for most people in BBQ, no dry rubs
30:31
pretty much consist of the same base for your paprika, your
30:35
brown sugar and every, And you just put it, put a little bit of
30:39
other stuff in there. So it's just a, it's just a
30:42
basic all-purpose dry rope that's good on chicken, it's
30:45
good on pork, it's good on it's good on beef, if that's your
30:49
thing. I know a lot of people are just
30:50
strictly salt and pepper and garlic on beef, which depending
30:53
on the mood I can be that way too.
30:55
But if you want to add a little flavor, I put it on brisket when
30:57
I want to get a little spicy with it.
31:00
But it's just an all-purpose rub that's good on everything.
31:03
I just like we were talking earlier about my son, I just
31:05
want to have a legacy with some product behind and what better
31:08
people Big, like I said, big Wally was my grandfather, Aunt
31:11
Jax, my grandmother. This is just it's family homage
31:14
for me. Definitely.
31:16
And I got two more quick questions.
31:18
What first one is what advice would you give someone trying to
31:23
enter their first competition and barbecue and the next one is
31:27
what advice would you give someone starting a pop up slash
31:30
catering business? Getting in the pop ups, I'm
31:33
getting in the competitions. I would say go to a couple first
31:36
just to check it out, see what it's like.
31:38
Ask some questions because as we talked about earlier, people are
31:41
very free with the information they'll tell you.
31:46
Save some money because entry fees cost a lot.
31:48
You may or may not win, so you may be out of that.
31:51
You got to travel to them, but just ask a lot of questions.
31:55
Probably try to see if somebody's interested in letting
31:58
you come on and shadow them or be a like a sous chef or help
32:01
out for the night. Even if it's picking up trash or
32:04
washing dishes, just see if you can get on there.
32:07
Get in there with somebody and see what it's like and just keep
32:11
the passion going. Don't give up because you may
32:14
everybody's not fortunate to come out the gate winning.
32:18
Don't give up on yourself because you do get better.
32:20
These guys that win every weekend were once in in those
32:23
shoes. So don't give up if you're
32:26
serious about it, stick with it and those trophies will come.
32:30
And even better, those checks. And advice for pop up and
32:35
catering? Pop ups know you're worse in
32:39
catering. People will try.
32:42
Catering is probably my least favorite thing to do because
32:45
people the head counts change. They want to negotiate.
32:49
They a lot of people, not everybody, but a lot of people
32:51
go in you just don't know what goes into this food's high.
32:57
It's time, it's effort, it's charcoal, it's just know your
33:00
worst. Don't lower yourself if you feel
33:03
like your price is fair, stick with it.
33:05
Don't lowball yourself because somebody else doesn't feel like
33:10
it should cost that much. Now you can't be outrageous, but
33:13
that that will be my main thing. Just stay, even kill.
33:18
You have to have a good temperament because some of the
33:20
clients will take you there. But that would be my main thing
33:24
to know your worth and your price is your price.
33:26
And they can give or take a little bit.
33:28
You can always, there's always room to negotiate, but you don't
33:31
have to do it to the point of where you're losing to please
33:34
somebody else because you get into this to make money.
33:38
There's no sugar coating that We all get up there, whether we go
33:41
to work or whether we whether we cater, whether we work for
33:44
ourselves. The purpose of this part of the
33:47
cycle of life is to make money and provide for your family.
33:50
So just keep that in mind. That would be my main thing.
33:54
Exactly. No hookups.
33:56
Yeah, yeah. No, those hookups have you out
33:59
of business quick. Exactly.
34:02
All right, that's the interview portion of whichever do is
34:05
switch over. What I do is came up with a game
34:08
and it's by college basketball had the tournament bracket.
34:11
So what I came up with is a tournament bracket for meats
34:16
that you cook on the grill and you just pick whatever one that
34:19
you prefer to eat. All right.
34:22
First match up is smoked Bologna versus hamburger.
34:29
Let's I'll go hamburger. All right.
34:32
Next match up is sausage versus pork chops.
34:38
Pork chops, OK. Next match up is brisket versus
34:43
hot dogs. Brisket, all right.
34:49
Next matchup is pork belly versus smoked ham.
34:53
Pork belly. All right.
34:56
Next matchup, beef ribs versus smoked Turkey, smoked Turkey.
35:03
Next matchup is BBQ shrimp versus lamb.
35:09
Lamb next match up, burnt ends versus pork ribs.
35:17
That's a tough one, man. I'm from the South.
35:20
I'm gonna have to go. Pork ribs.
35:22
OK. Even though burnt ends are good.
35:26
And next one is steak versus smoked chicken steak.
35:33
All right, next round, hamburger versus pork chops, pork chop.
35:42
And next round, next matchup is brisket versus pork belly
35:49
brisket. All right.
35:54
Next matchup, Turkey versus Lamb.
35:58
Smoked Turkey all. Right.
36:02
And pork rails versus steak. It's getting tougher.
36:08
Pork ribs versus steak Can't beat a good steak.
36:14
Final four, pork chops versus brisket.
36:18
Pork chops, my man, Turkey versus steak.
36:25
Oh, Turkey, right. And final is pork chop versus
36:32
Turkey. Oh man, you say.
36:35
Well, I'm gonna go smoke Turkey. That's becoming one of my
36:37
favorites to eat and to cook. I've been playing around with a
36:40
lot of those lately. All right, Turkey is the winner.
36:44
I got one more bracket. This time is the 16th or 16
36:49
greatest athletes of all time in a bracket.
36:53
All right, all right. We got Michael Phelps versus
36:56
Simone Biles. Simone Biles, you had a long
37:07
run. All right, Muhammad Ali, Lionel
37:10
Messi, soccer player. A lot of people might get mad,
37:22
but I'm going to go messy on that one.
37:27
Hey, that's for sure. All about Tom Brady versus Roger
37:32
Federer. As much as I hate to admit it,
37:35
Tom Brady. You can't tell by the colors of
37:41
a Broncos fan. Ken Griffey.
37:42
Junior LeBron James. Oh man, I'm going to go with the
37:52
lefty Ken Griffey Junior. All right, my fellow lefty.
37:58
Usain Bolt. Tiger Woods, Tiger.
38:05
Kobe Bryant versus Cristiano Ronaldo.
38:12
Kobe. All right.
38:14
Wayne Gretzky. Dale Earnhardt.
38:19
Oh, I'm from Charlotte. That's Dale all day.
38:24
All right. And Michael Jordan versus Serena
38:26
Williams. Michael Jordan.
38:32
I better say you gonna get kicked out of Carolina.
38:35
Yeah, I know. Simone Biles.
38:39
Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi.
38:46
Tom Brady versus Ken Griffey, junior.
38:52
I'm Brady, Ken Griffey, Junior. Ken Griffey, junior.
38:58
All right, Tiger Woods versus Kobe.
39:03
Tiger. Dale Earnhardt.
39:07
Michael Jordan. Carolina.
39:12
Either way, on that one, you can't go against Michael.
39:15
Jordan There's a final four, Messi versus Griffey, junior Ken
39:24
Griffey and Tiger versus Michael Jordan.
39:32
I'm a go tiger because he he had a in his day.
39:43
All right, your finals is Griffin Junior versus Tiger
39:45
Woods. I might have to go tiger again
39:53
all. Right, Tiger Woods, that's the.
39:56
Word that was nobody matter. That is true.
39:59
That is true. That was the only that's one of
40:01
the only golfers you ever see that you know that would beat
40:04
people by 10/12/13 strokes. That's.
40:07
Exactly. He did stuff that folks would
40:09
never do again. No.
40:11
No, I don't think so. All right, Steven, your therapy
40:16
session is over. You have anybody to promote or
40:18
any shout outs or anything? I want to shout out my brother
40:22
and BBQ pit master cheese for and introducing me to your page.
40:26
Good guy, real good guy. And just thank you.
40:30
I want to shout you out. Thank you for thank you for
40:34
giving me the opportunity. This is my first time ever doing
40:36
a podcast. I thought I was going to be
40:38
nervous, but you made it easy, very comfortable.
40:42
I appreciate it. Yeah, well, and shout out to Pit
40:45
Master Cheese in them. They went up and did big things
40:47
up there in in New York, they got.
40:49
First, Yeah, they did. Yeah.
40:51
Yeah. Oh yeah, him and Sweetie do it.
40:53
I don't know if you BBQ Darryl Walker, but that's another
40:56
mentor I can. He's in Louisiana, so I can call
40:58
him and ask him questions. And he gave me a tip on on drums
41:04
that I was missing, and it changed every cook from then on
41:07
out. So yeah, Cheese and Pitmaster
41:09
Master Cheese and Darryl Walker. Swedish BBQ.
41:13
Definitely top tier in my book. Yeah, definitely.
41:16
I did reach out to him. He said give him about a month
41:19
and he'll be able to come on. So I definitely didn't reach out
41:22
to him. But anybody else you know that
41:25
want to come through and be on definitely send them my way and.
41:29
Well. I definitely appreciate you and
41:31
like I said, I have an open door policy so anytime you want to
41:34
come on welcome and definitely you can give them your website
41:38
and stuff like that in case they want to get your seasonings or
41:41
anything. How do you contact them as well
41:43
as the Papa or catering anything?
41:46
OK website is Big Wally's BBQ BBQ spelled out.bigcartel.com.
41:54
That's the website. You can get sauce by my both my
41:57
sauces and my rub. Instagram is at Big Wally's BBQ
42:03
and that's what I'm trying to grow my YouTube page as well.
42:07
That's at Big Wally's BBQ. BBQ spelled out on that one.
42:12
All right, appreciate it. And everybody, we'll see you
42:14
next therapy session. Y'all have a good day.
42:17
Thank you for joining us on another episode of the BBQ
42:20
Therapy Podcast. My name is Tavis Bryant.
42:23
Please tune in to YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and any
42:28
streaming platform near you. Please pay the secretary on your
42:32
way out and we'll see you next episode.