TwoGuys & Beer
The Two Guys & Beer Podcast is a laid-back conversational show that combines the love of beer with a wide range of topics that pique the hosts' interest. These two guys, use beer as a launching pad for discussions on anything and everything that grabs our attention!
TwoGuys & Beer
PeetzOut BBQ's Smoky Triumph
Imagine getting an unexpected phone call at work that sets you on a path to become an award-winning pitmaster—this is exactly what happened to Clint from PeetzOut BBQ, our first in-studio guest on the podcast. Join us as Clint shares his fascinating journey into the world of competition barbecue, sparked by a surprise gift from his wife. We uncover the secrets behind his mouthwatering BBQ creations that have captivated judges and enthusiasts alike, all while enjoying a Kolsch-style brew from Utepils, stepping boldly out of his usual beer preferences.
Throughout this lively episode, we explore the intricate art of barbecue with Clint, delving into everything from wood selection to the nuances of competition etiquette. The camaraderie and humor in the competitive barbecue scene shine through Clint's stories, offering listeners a rich tapestry of tips and personal anecdotes. Whether you're a seasoned barbecue veteran or just starting out, Clint's insights into the world of smoking meats and the vibrant community that surrounds it will inspire and entertain.
We also take a sip of beer culture, discussing the evolving trends in brewing and how these delectable drinks complement the smoky, savory world of barbecue. From chaotic family prep for competitions to discovering the best rubs and sharing smoking tips, this episode is packed with laughter, learning, and a celebration of great food and drink. Don't miss this chance to bond over the shared passions that bring us together—barbecue, beer, and a hearty dose of fun.
and welcome in everybody back here in the two guys and beer podcasts andy beckstrom, sean field and uh joining us now of our first guest in studio well, I guess our first guest overall. We've had some phone interviews prior, but uh, first guest that we've had, join us. Clint pizza, pizza, barbecue. Heck yeah, as the back of his shirt mentions, uh, the pit master is uh bringing the. Uh bringing his wares uh to all of the local folk, especially around uh minnesota with his competition barbecue. And uh, glad you could join us. Heck yeah, thank you for having me. This is going to be really fun. Yeah, we've been looking forward to it. We've been talking about it for quite a while and able to coordinate the schedules Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the hardest thing to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for coming on, clint, we really appreciate it. As Andy said, you are our first in live in studio person guest, so don't mess it up. Right the bar is low and the back of your shirt does say Pitmaster. And not only are you a Pitmaster, you're an award-winning Pitmaster here in the upper Midwest.
Speaker 3:How awesome is that it was fun. It was a lot of fun, so it's a great time. Like I said, back of my shirt says Pitmaster. My wife's shirt says Chaos Coordinator. Oh perfect, that sounds right, yeah, sounds right.
Speaker 1:Perfect, there we go. All right, go, all right. Well, I mean, we can get into a whole lot more of the pit master and the pizza barbecue kind of as we go along. We do have a beer that we did bring for the uh, the episode just kind of as a. I mean it's two guys in beer. You can't just sit here and just talk about Mark, you have to have some beer too.
Speaker 1:So uh what we have here is we have a OODA pills. It's out of, uh, the twin cities, uh kind of area. I'll get a little bit more into the specifics of where it is, but we'll have that. Clint, we're going to kind of force you into it a little bit. We're going to have you try it though, but if you don't like it, I've got some other options. We're trying some different things here, folks. We asked Clint what kind of beer he wanted to pair with his ribs, and he said Bush Light. We thought, instead of doing an episode on bush light, we'd uh do something else, and then now we'll. Maybe we'll get there. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2:But we kind of nix made the bush light episode maybe someday maybe someday you know, I mean it's possible.
Speaker 1:it's just it's kind of hard to talk about a small little brewery, little craft brewery, about bush, like bush, like anheuser-Busch, alright, so the best part of the episode is this part here. This is the Skolsch. It's a Kolsch style from OODA Pills, as I mentioned.
Speaker 2:I like the skull on it. Perfect for tonight's football game, exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's kind of what it's referring to European style Kolsch, similar to probably what we maybe had a couple in when we were in germany. It is this here it says minneapolis, but it's like a different part. It's like bryn mar, I think, is what it is. Where did I see it? If they even showed me the abv, oh, there we go 4.9 abv. So that's what we're working on. And we got the uh the silo size, so it's the uh the pounder size.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's pretty good. Um, my first drink of this. I think it's pretty good. It's got a little different type of taste to it. Uh, it's probably that, that coalish. You know. That coalish style taste definitely goes down pretty light. It tastes pretty good. Perfect for clint. He likes the lighter beers. What do you think, cl Clint?
Speaker 3:Well, I do like it. I mean, it's not a, it's not a bush light, it's not a bush light or a keystone, but definitely riding my horizons. When it comes to the beers, I'm curious what is European-style brewing?
Speaker 1:It's going to be a little bit more malty, a little bit different flavor to it.
Speaker 3:So do they brew it differently, or something?
Speaker 1:A lot of beers are brewed mostly the same way, it's just the ingredients are a little different. So, like IPAs, there's going to be a lot more hops to them. They're going to be a little bit more hop forward. There's different reasons. They've brewed things certain ways but yeah, the German-ish style, european style, tend to be a little bit more malty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, yeah, this is pretty good. I would definitely drink this again. I'd probably buy it. I would seek this beer out if I were to drink it. You know, on a quick lawnmower scale, I would pound a few of these. I think three and a half lawnmowers after two hours of being sweaty drinking. You get off, you crack one, in fact you probably have one while you're driving? Yeah, as long as you got the cup holder on the rider.
Speaker 1:It's about perfect here with the four-pack of tall boys because you could have one where you're kind of game planning because you got to always prep. You don't just jump into it. You know you got to kind of Right.
Speaker 3:There's a plan.
Speaker 1:Is there gas in the dang thing? Is you know like, did I pick up the tie out for the dog? I'm going to wrap that around the deal. You know like, do I got to move some lawn chairs?
Speaker 2:or you know like, I usually just go around that stuff. If the kids don't move it like they're supposed to, I just kind of get pissed when I'm on the mower and be like, well, whatever, I just go around it. So then there's patches of on-mode grass.
Speaker 3:My plan of attack for that is you just do it a couple of times and mess it up, and then your wife does it for you oh sure.
Speaker 1:My wife has tried that exact same process, but I usually tell her I'm like no, no, no, you mess it up. You have to do it more so you can learn it better. It doesn't really work that way, but I prefer to do it. I just never have the time.
Speaker 2:There was this clip I saw on one of the social medias it was a shorter reel where this husband was mowing the yard and he got sick of moving things out of the way. Well, he had one of those trampolines for his kids in the back. Well, he just put his feet out and put them on the trampoline and pushed the mower forward and pushed the whole mower or the whole trampoline, out of the way and got underneath it and pushed it back.
Speaker 3:Work hard and smart and not hurt. Exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great. So, clint, your first impressions of a Oudipel's the Skolsch. I do like it I am going to be honest, yes.
Speaker 3:I would like it. When it comes to like barbecue and beer, though you can't have too thick of a beer, especially being around the smoke all day and eating the food. It's usually pretty heavy food, so the last thing you want is a heavy beer. This ain't that heavy. I mean, it's heavier than a Bush Light, but you know what I mean. It's smooth and I really like the flavor out of it. And you said it's a crisp, clean blonde ale. Yep, I like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a nice, tasty little brew there and, I won't lie, I'm quite surprised. I was expecting a little more pushback, but we've broadened your horizons. Yeah, for sure, we've opened you up a little bit. Yeah, you know we've broadened your horizons. Yeah for sure, we've opened you up a little bit. Yeah, you can get this. You know a lot of places.
Speaker 1:I did not, so I had to look online because I was having some hard times finding it. But it's mostly in the metro area, but I was able to get it just, actually just on the road here in Bram no kidding, yep, perfect. So we were going to find more often than not. It's kind of with the connection with the Vikings, I think is probably kind of the bit. So that's the more popular one, but they do have a handful of other ones that sometimes are out there.
Speaker 1:They have like a mixed pack that they send out every so often as well. So the Tallboys are actually, with some of the stuff, some of the background with them. The Tallboys is actually kind of a change in what they've done. They've always done six packs or, you know, mixed packs, things like that, 12 ounce cans, you know standard kind of brew, refair, but they've changed over the last year or so for efficiency. However you want to put it, they've actually changed to they're only doing the 16 ounce cans now. That's all they're going to do now and kind of a limited supply, but they're also going to that recyclable attachment to be able to like that holder.
Speaker 1:Oh, sure, so they're changing a lot of what they're doing.
Speaker 2:We have to save the turtles Well exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's going to get in the nose of the great Graston Hornhook, right, you know. But yeah, because somebody I said you know, maybe we'll do OODA pills there, and they're like, oh, they're closing. And I'm like what are you talking about? They're pretty popular and they're in a lot of places. I'm pretty sure that they actually have Skolsch at Vikings games. You don't really go out of business if you have something at the US Bank Stadium, and so I'm like what are you talking about? So then immediately I got to go out the real information, because the Internet is the source of all the truth that could be out there. So I go on there and no, it's not necessarily a change like that, they're not closing at all, but they did have.
Speaker 1:They listed a whole host of changes, a huge change in direction, mostly due to that. But they're also doing more of the 12 packs, of the mix packs. That way you get a chance to be able to try different ones. Part of that also has to do with the fact that you know then you don't have to have as far as like create you know not creating but like inventory wise. I don't have to have a full 12 pack of this or 12 pack of that. You know you can just do a full batch and then make it into a thousand different mix packs instead.
Speaker 1:So trying to kind of adjust what they've been doing, it's kind of a as far as what their website even says is. It's a little bit kind of a carryover from just economics from COVID, how everything has changed a little bit the way people consume things, the way people look at things, the way people purchase things, you know just everything kind of changes, and that's kind of what they're looking to be able to do. Is, you know, a little bit of a change to be able to do that. So definitely not closing at all whatsoever, just changing kind of some of what they're doing.
Speaker 3:So sold by the pint. Yeah, nice.
Speaker 1:So, generally speaking, I'll just kind of go over some of the basics here. Nestled in the banks of Bassett Creek between Harrison and Bryn Mawr neighborhoods of Minneapolis, that's where they have an 18,000 foot facility. So I have been there before. When you go there, it's primarily on the one side from what I remember is production. It's a giant production facility. You kind of go to the left and kind of up the ramp or there's a couple of little stairs. It goes into a decent sized tap room on the inside, but they have a massive patio outside as well, so they do have some room to be able to be there. But it's definitely kind of a difference, you know, as far as you know here and there, kind of the way that it's set up.
Speaker 2:How was your run the other weekend? Was that at this brewery here? What breweries?
Speaker 1:No, that was a mad dash, my pure athletic ability. As you can tell, that was between a Head Flyer and a Minneapolis Cider. Oh, okay, it was if you're familiar with the area at all. If you're not, that's totally fine, because you go out the front of Head Flyer and you take a left right there on the sidewalk A couple of steps down and then the sidewalk you go about, I don't know, 30 feet to the right about 30 feet to the stoplight, and then you go across the road and you go a block Yep, if it was a full block.
Speaker 1:And then you take a left and you go another full block. Oh boy, wow. And then you're at Minneapolis. Cider man, how did you ever get through that? Because that was only halfway, oh perfect.
Speaker 1:So I was able to stop at Minneapolis Cider and have a couple before coming back to Head Flyer Sounds like my kind of run Exactly. It was the old .5K. That's the brewery running series that I talk about. Quite often they have I don't know, 40-some events every year. Most of them are 5K, some of them involve a 10K with it. They give a lot of money back to, you know, charities and nonprofits. I do a lot of different things like that, but you know it's kind of a fun place to be able to. You know your registration comes with you know, like a little swag item but it comes with a beer or, depending on how you sign up, maybe two beers and I mean, yes, you got to do the run, but but it's not timed. They they do have like a little arch, little blow up arch thing that you run through, but Benches that you can take breaks on.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, there's probably probably maybe a third of the people walk it Nice.
Speaker 1:So, there's, there's, you know, there's people of all ages, I mean all ages, literally all ages. There's a to upper 80s and she's there all the time. She's faster than me half the time. It's kind of embarrassing, but it's, you know, it's reality. Yeah, she's absolutely amazing. She's so much fun. But I mean there's kids that are there that run it and stuff like that. So it's a lot of fun, but the .5K is always the best event of the year because it's just dress for I walked it.
Speaker 1:I got beat by my mother-in-law on that. So, yeah, ooda Pills was not involved in that. It was kind of. You know another part of Minneapolis, but you know we do. I actually know one of the people that has an ownership stake in it. We used to play softball with one of the guys his son that would play softball as well. So let's see here, where was I? I was going to try to go here. You have many, many moons like a couple months ago. So let's hear, I had the information here in a second. Where did it go? I don't know where it went. So they use artesian spring water from the wells that Minneapolis produced. So we talked before in different episodes about water how it is so important. I'm sure you've probably experienced that certain ingredients make all the difference that you wouldn't think you know like whatever it may be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll get more into the details for that in a minute, but yeah, they use a high quality water. That is, you know, just right there on site, which I'm sure probably went into picking the certain location. Their brewing equipment a maze of stainless steel pipes and mash towers. It's quite the large facility that's there, both one of the first ever North American installation of the energy-saving Variabole systems. So it changes how they do their boil, which helped apparently reduce their energy use by 75%. Oh, wow, so you know it's actually quite the thing. Uses all the traditional skills smell and taste as well as modern technology.
Speaker 1:The control center looks like the flight deck of a science fiction spaceship. Easy for me to say, right tongue twister. So yeah, it asked me to say that again later, when I've had a couple more here. They have, let's see, they have a 50 barrel brew house and both 50 and 100 barrel fermenters on two rounds of brewing to be able to complete a batch of beer, to be able to get everything kind of going. Production period is two to six weeks overall, and that's kind of most of kind of the history or the interesting information I should say about them. So the name though I will bring that up, though it's Norwegian origin, but it means something different to everybody. The uh word describes indescribable, apparently all right. So, like our beer, udabills is an experience, one that you need to be present for to understand the beauty of what it truly means to you. So that is kind of the story about uh udabills. They do a lot of non-profit, a lot of great events, a lot of different things they're very proud.
Speaker 3:you can tell by their description. Yeah, yeah, very proud of their business.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, and it's a cool. Like I said, it's a cool place, it's a fun place and a lot of connection to community.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's good beer too. Yeah, I like the beer, it's good. Are you good? Need the bush light? I'm going to finish this one for sure. All right, do you need a bush light up?
Speaker 3:here too, just in case That'll be second round when we start talking barbecue.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of which, we did bring one up here for you, though, but I'm going to hide it in the Smokey the Bear koozie here?
Speaker 1:That way we don't know. We'll just say that this is a double IPA. Cover up the bush that this is a double IPA Cover up the bush, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's kind of what I got for OODA pills there. So kind of a brief history. But you know, like we said, this episode more so focused with the Pitmaster. Pitmaster, that's cool. I feel like that should be something with, like the monster truck guy, sound effects and stuff Smoke in the background Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, since we're getting on the barbecue portion here, why don't you put in a plug? Clint, when can people find you? Are you on social media emails, Like what social medias are you on?
Speaker 3:So obviously I'm on Instagram. The hard thing with social media is that that's below my generation, like I'm still trying to get used to it, so like people will message me and I'm half the time I don't even see it right away, oh sure you know, so I'm trying to figure that out.
Speaker 3:But instagram it'll be pizza barbecue. You can find me there. I'm trying to brave a little bit. This might help. But tiktoks, I have a tiktok pizza barbecue. Okay, I've got some videos on there. A lot of it is just videos from competitions that I've done. And then I have a Facebook page of Pizza Out Barbecue and that, right, there is my main like, not focus, but easiest thing that I understand. Sure, it comes to Facebook. And then PizzaOutBarbecue at gmailcom is my Gmail account that I made that isn't full of spam and that I can actually get messages, and Amanda was a first-person customer to email me on that.
Speaker 2:Oh nice, oh no.
Speaker 3:Perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was pretty cool yeah we got it in our freezer right there. My intention was to make it home and be able to have it on here and I think I even promoted it on one of the other episodes because Clint pointed that out, and I think I promoted on one of the other episodes because Clint pointed out we're going to have it on.
Speaker 3:That was. That was supposed to be kind of the surprise for the barbecue. That was kind of the plan.
Speaker 1:And then I kind of messed that up, so got locked out of our own house, which, yeah, that was a whole that's a whole different story. We fished somebody through a window and you know it's totally fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got into the studio. That's all that matters and all those links. Clint, we'll put all your social media links and stuff in our comment section below, so anybody that's watching the episode or listening can have access to all your social media and see what you're doing and if you're within range within the Minnesota area, you can order stuff when he puts on his cooks that he does, or you can order racks, ribs or whatever he might be cooking and who doesn't like a really good rack?
Speaker 3:Good racks, big racks, yep, they're fun.
Speaker 2:Well, we probably better let the listeners and viewers get to know who you are a little bit Clint. So where did you grow up? Where did you come from? Where did you hail from?
Speaker 3:I mean, I grew up, went to high school cambridge, minnesota, grew up in isani, you know. So I went to high school there, got married with kids. I think I had my third kid by the age of 22. So I had to grow up fast, you know, sure? So from there we uh we moved to pine city 2019 the fall, right before covid, right before the whole world shut down. So it was a great move. I mean I would do it over again. I absolutely love that town and it's a little bit more smaller than Cambridge. It's a good area to raise kids.
Speaker 2:And so yeah, and here you are, here I am In a podcast studio, here we are.
Speaker 3:I thought I'd never see this so this is really cool.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited and if you can't tell by his uh, pure athletic physique is, uh, he actually used to be part of the softball yes team, so we, we all played softball together back. That's kind of part of the connection.
Speaker 3:But uh, 10, 50 we've been together for 10 years.
Speaker 2:It's been a hot minute, yeah, yeah I think it was longer than 10 years.
Speaker 3:We had a good 13 years.
Speaker 2:We pretty much had the same team, was it?
Speaker 1:01, 02.
Speaker 3:I don't even know if I want to know the answer.
Speaker 2:I think it was 01, I did not play. I came the following year.
Speaker 1:You were here the next year, dmg was a following DMG. That was like a couple yeah, dmg, dmg, right, yep, dmg, and that was like a couple of years.
Speaker 3:They bought ribs for me too. There we go. Still got the connection. There it is.
Speaker 1:And we were really. What was it? Dt Cleaning Solutions, I think for like two years with those sleeveless, the blue yeah, they were like the full uniform jersey type Showing the guns Back when we had guns.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Now we've got rolls.
Speaker 1:I think Clint. Every time we'd get something like it was, the first thing was like well, can I take the sleeves off? Yeah, got to take the sleeves off right away. So yeah, and then the Leafs towing for many years. Yeah, good company there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and Pizza Pub, that was after me was that, yeah, that was when the team kind of, yeah, yeah, a little bit, yeah, I think that's when I started having kids and no time then little kids, it's like they're little money suckers.
Speaker 2:That's I'm almost done. I've got one left, that's set. Well, she'll be 18 in july, okay, or, excuse me, february my baby is turning 16 in a couple days.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I'm knocking on the door, you know.
Speaker 2:About ready to drive Another driver. She's the scary one.
Speaker 1:But she's a wrestler, though she is. Basically your whole family, more or less. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you and Braxton.
Speaker 3:Braxton has been wrestling since kindergarten, got a home meet tomorrow. He was out for a concussion. He whacked his head during practice. He started the season three wins away from his 100th career win, which is a milestone for a wrestler? Yeah, it sure is. So he's been out and now he's coming back. Tomorrow night it's a home meet. He should get three matches, and nothing would be cooler to get a hundredth win in front of the home crowd.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so I'm really rooting for them. I can't wait. And then, yeah, zoe picked up. She started managing a couple years ago for the high school. And then girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport, not girls sport, it's all over.
Speaker 2:It's coming on hard, it's big time.
Speaker 3:So Pine City adopted the girls wrestling team, got a coach and their own program.
Speaker 1:Is that like full program, sanctioned, like through the state high?
Speaker 3:school or is?
Speaker 1:it like club wrestling still no it's MSHSL.
Speaker 3:Okay, you know, they got their own state tournament. Nice, perfect, I love it Everything. So, yeah, pine City. So this year, last year was the first year that they actually had girls wrestling, and so she was like what do you think, dad, do you think I should do it? I'm like, give it a shot, you know, go for it. And she loves it. So it's really fun to watch her progress. I'm really proud.
Speaker 1:That's great. I do have a quick. Obviously you were there or whatever, but a story for you. I did see. I've seen Brax play football a couple of times. Oh sure football a couple of times. This year was one of my cooler moments of the year. It was a game that was kind of a little out of reach, a little one-sided.
Speaker 1:A little bit Might have been one-sided. I mean, their team that they were playing was one of the elite teams in the state and things didn't exactly go the Dragon way. I guess is the way we'll put it At the end of the game. They put together a nice drive, they get all the way to the end and they scored on the final play as time ran off the clock, with a halfback pass to the end zone, Nice and Brax threw the pass.
Speaker 3:Oh nice.
Speaker 1:So that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:He claims that it was a play that he brought to the coaches. I don't know the truth behind that he's sometimes a storyteller as well but uh, he said that he brought that to the coaches and that they gave him the opportunity. And yep, nice little, I don't know 12 yard pass or whatever.
Speaker 1:Awesome, perfect, right on the money so well, I'm not in the huddle, so it sounds like it's legit you know why would he make up?
Speaker 2:something like that I agree with him. It sounds good exactly and it worked, definitely worked, yeah.
Speaker 1:Success is always the key. You know if it works. It was my idea.
Speaker 3:That's all that matters, you would have thought they won the Super Bowl, though I mean, I don't remember the score, but it was something 50, something 60, something to six. Yeah, man, they acted like they won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Oh sure it was cool watching.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 1:So what else have we got to know about?
Speaker 2:So let's get into the grilling and smoking part, clint. So where did that come from? You know, we've known you for a long time. I guess I've never known you to grill and smoke stuff until recently on your Facebook, right? So where did you all of a sudden decide to start grilling and smoking and like where did it come from? Well, I didn't.
Speaker 3:Awesome, yeah. But for anybody that doesn't know me, I've been working at the Rush City Prison for 17, 18 years maybe, god, you're old Been there for a while. My wife works there now too, and so 2016,. I want to say it was Mother's Day the spring before she started. She calls me at work. Big no-no, you don't call me at work. I don't have access to my phone. If you're going to call me, it's going to be like some life changing for something major, are you right? And that's just the unwritten rule. So across the radio comes Pete's got a phone location for an outside and I'm like and all my boys, they saw me, they just saw the face, you know I'm like, like what's happening?
Speaker 3:yeah, like something went down. I'm like the kids just got wiped out by a semi or something, you know. So I'm preparing for whatever and I pick up the phone and it's chrissy, my wife. And she's like hey, I know, I'm not supposed to call you at work. I'm like what's going on? And she's like have you ever thought about getting a smoker? I'm like I'm like what are you? Why are you talking like? I just thought that my cat ran away. You know, I'm really upset, you know. And then I find out that no, I haven't thought about smoking. I was like what are you talking about? And I got my buddies. They're sitting around me. They're like what's going on, you know, because they know that this ain't normal. And she goes. I'm at Tractor Supply Company and they have a 48 vertical smoker, propane smoker, that on sale. It's like 50 off 150 bucks, normally 300 bucks. If I bought that for you for mother's day, could you figure out how to smoke me some rack?
Speaker 2:of ribs, mother's day, and I'm like, I'm so confused. I'm like what is?
Speaker 3:going on right now. I'm like and then she challenged me. She goes do you think you're man enough to figure out how to smoke ribs? And I'm like little does she know she woke up a sleeping bear. Wow, right, yeah, so.
Speaker 1:I'm like what did she start?
Speaker 3:I'm like yeah, sure, I was like you got, yeah, buy it. I was like go get it. I was like I'll show you something you know. So she's like I'm going to buy it, I'm going to smoke some ribs.
Speaker 1:It's a 48 propane. Yeah, it's a 48 propane, and they're like oh, yeah, so you got to go home, put it together.
Speaker 3:You got to season it. I go what does that mean? Well, you got to season the smoker and I started Googling that. And that's where it started was that she got me for Mother's Day and I was like you know, people think that's just a weird like I got to smoke for Mother's Day, she goes, I'm the one that gets to enjoy the food.
Speaker 1:So she outsmarted me on that one. I follow the logic. You know that's a deep cut there. That's good planning.
Speaker 2:Mother's Day 2016 was my first smoker and that's what I got and that's what I started with. No, that's a gorgeous thing. You remember exactly what that smoker was.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, yeah, like what brand was it like it was a master built, so master built, master. What? No, master built, okay, master built. I'm getting confused now because my old man, another one, one of these. One more. My old man bought one. It was a Smoke Hollow. I want to say so I'm getting them confused, but they were both 48-inch vertical propane smokers. The fuel source is propane, but the smoke is wood chips. You put wood chips in, oh yeah, and that smolders and gives you the smoke flavor you know.
Speaker 1:Do you still have that?
Speaker 3:No, that one actually rusted out on me. Oh, you know, a lot of learning, I mean, if anybody knows. I mean you swung by yesterday. I got 20, 24 vehicles in the garage, but my smoker's in the garage, you know. So I took care of it, but I don't think I must have taken care of it enough, but it did rust out on me to the point where I got rid of it. So I definitely got its use, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, that's all that matters.
Speaker 2:That's where you start learning. So what's your opinion on those like from Tractor Supply or Walmart or wherever you get the big box stores, those $200, $300 smokers? Are they really worth it? Do they do? Well, I have one, the electric pit boss, one that I used twice last year because I've never smoked either and I don't know anything about it. So, in your opinion, now that you're an award winning pit master, from where you started to the rig you have now, which we'll talk about here in a second what is your opinion on those lower end beginner type?
Speaker 3:Yeah, type, yeah, I mean, after I got that propane I wanted the challenge of managing a fire, you know, and airflow and figuring all that stuff out and getting real natural wood flavor into the meat. So I went into the oklahoma joe's highlands which is like an offset use charcoal and then you can add wood chunks or stuff like that. I mean, it depends what you're looking to get out of it. If you're looking for I call them outdoor crockpots, pellet smokers, sure you know something that somebody doesn't want to just sit there and focus on temperature, time, meat prepping. You just want to put it in there and then go mow the lawn, run to walmart and then come back, drink a skosh, drink a skosh, you know, and then ding, eight hours later the food's ready. Then that's what you should get, because you're still going to get the good quality.
Speaker 3:Low and slow you're going to get the wood flavor into that, you know, from the pellets, maybe not as depth, you know, but definitely, definitely an option. I guess you could say other things that you can get, like at tractor supply company walmart, all those other ones is, um, all the Oklahoma Joe Highland, that offset, that's where you get the more of the I don't want to say campfire type of flavor, but, like you know, everybody remembers that growing up smoking uh burgers over the fire and stuff like that. That kind of flavor is what really is what I like and that's what seems to do well at competitions. Some people do bring the pellet smokers to competitions and do well, you know if a competition allows it.
Speaker 3:some competitions don't allow electric, you know at all so, and some competitions don't allow propane where it's just wood. So but there are people that use pellet smokers and definitely do very well on them. For me, I have very limited experience in it and I guess a lot of it is that smoking and sitting out there for hours on end it's kind of my decompression, oh sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, relax.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just kind of my way to sit there and process my work week and not focus on work at all. I'm focused five, eight, ten hours, whatever the cook is, and I'm 100% locked in. So that kind of sets me as the reason why I like the challenge of the wood. You know the wood kind of smoker.
Speaker 2:So does it like you said? You mentioned you prefer wood than over pellets and anything else. So is there a specific type of wood you use? Is it like oak or cherry or apple, or is there like a birch?
Speaker 3:My buddies are always like hey man, I got a bunch of box elder for you. I call him my hype man, he's my hype man. He's always like I got free box elder in the back. You know I'm like, oh, save your box elder. He's always like I got free box out there in the back. You know I'm like, oh, save your box out there. So I used to get.
Speaker 3:I'll save it for a special day, save it for when I cook for you, you know specifically, but no, I used to for just the small town cook I would get that boxed hickory wood from Walmart. Actually, you know, at one time I think I don't know if it was an error on Walmart's part or what, but I definitely capitalized on it Usually it was about $17 a box and one day it was like $7 a box. Oh okay, so I cleaned you guys out twice.
Speaker 1:Perfect.
Speaker 3:I'm like back, back, back, clean it out. Yeah, so I used to use hickory. That's what I really learned when I started using log splits. But then I splits, but then I don't know how many years ago, probably three, four years ago we're on our way to our campsite. We have a seasonal campsite in wisconsin and, uh, we need to camp firewood. So we're on our way and chrissy's on the facebook looking for firewood and had this lady in, I think, shell lake, wisconsin, posted a phase cord for 60 bucks maple, which she had a big maple tree go down. Oh yeah, and I always wanted to use maple because there's you ever watch like barbecue pit wars or pit master oh yeah, I watch it yeah there's a team called chicken and grinning, from minnesota, and they only use maple.
Speaker 3:So I'm like I want to try this. So like, swing by, I get it, you know. So we loaded up 60 bucks for a big old, like filled up the back seat of my pickup, you know. And it was cool. We showed up and nice lady, I don't know my age or so, she had two boys there saturday night and they're not out on town, they're teenage boys and we pull up and I'm like 60 bucks for this little bit. And she goes no, 60 bucks for all that. I'm like, are you sure? Like that's a hell of a deal and she's like cord worth yeah that's what you want.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, sometimes they're talking all of a sudden here to do it on turn and the boys are loading up my pickup. I'm like, oh, all right, I don't have to split it.
Speaker 2:I don't have to do that.
Speaker 3:So we brought it to the campsite and we cooked the burgers on it that night and it was like all right, that's life changing, that was good. So then we went back, I text her, I go you have any more of that wood? And she goes yeah for sure. So I'm buying. She wasn't home, so we bought another pickup load and I left her, like, I think, $150. I'm like you have no idea what you have here, lady. So I slid it under a doormat and off we went. But maple wood by far changed everything, because that was my first win was on maple. Oh, nice, nice. And the rule about barbecue is if you're in the money, don't change what you're doing.
Speaker 1:And also I'm like buckle up. I was actually just going to ask you when you were talking about different types of wood, because you hear about hickory and things like that, but like I guess I don't live and work in that world really much, so I guess I didn't know maple was really a thing, but that was kind of my thought. Is it add like an extra little layer of like sweetness to it then with the sugars, or kind of like you?
Speaker 3:know. So it depends a lot what you're smoking. Fish is obviously going to be delicate and overpower, like oak or something like that. When you're doing fish More sweeter but like beef that can take a bolder, mesquite or oak. I just smoke a lot of pork and a lot of people use apple cherry hick know for pork and it enhances the flavor of the pork, but it doesn't taste like you're eating a bonfire. I can always tell when I'm, you know, try somebody else's ribs and I'm like, take a bite. I'm like, oh, he's okay. I'm like, oh, how could you tell? I'm like it tastes like a bonfire, which some people like some judges like you know, sure. So it's all about the area where you're at. For me, maple is a great balance between the different types of things that cook, you know. So, yeah, really probably not going to change anytime soon.
Speaker 2:Anyways, as long as I keep going yeah, absolutely yeah, if you're winning that way. If you want to change, do it at home for fun, just to try it, see how it goes.
Speaker 3:That's where the trial and error is, but let me know I'll come. Yeah, I'll give you some feedback. Ever since I, you know, went to maple, like I said, I changed maple next competition was only my second competition. I ever competed and I won, took first, and I've always scored in the money after that. I've never missed like. I've always gotten a call which is kind of unheard of. So it's like, yeah, I'm definitely going to stick to maple. Now I've got to find a supplier because her tree's gone. Now I've got to find a new supplier. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So do you win money too when you place. We've seen all your awards on the social media you post, but you actually win some cash back too.
Speaker 3:Definitely win. It depends on what I do is backyard competitions, because that's what I am. I've only been smoking since 2016 and competition wise. I think the first year I did it was just one competition, then the next year I did two and then now this year I did four.
Speaker 3:Oh okay that's all I've ever done, so I'm still trying to learn in the process of competitions. And there's a circuit they call it the KCBS circuit, the Minnesota Barbecue Society. You're smoking every weekend, you're going for big money. What I do is backyard competitions. You know companies, bars, they put it on and a lot of times they supply the ribs for you too. So it's just an entry fee and then get there and smoke and then they usually depending on the competition. I've smoked at I want to say, four different places and each one of them is different in its own way of how they do payouts and the amounts and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, do you plan on getting on that Minnesota circuit? Yeah, try it out.
Speaker 3:I got my guys.
Speaker 2:I mean that's a time commitment. I suppose you said every weekend you have to go somewhere and smoke.
Speaker 3:I mean you should to realistically place at the end of the year. They call it the points chase, okay, and so the more competitions you do, the more points you get. If you're really good, you only have to do seven competitions and place really high in all of them, then you're good. But I got the guys that I get my rubs through. They work down. I believe it's the Oak Park prison. They're both sergeants. I think one might be a lieutenant. It's called Smoking Bros Rubs. That's where I order my stuff from.
Speaker 3:And he's always like you got to get in the circuit. You got to do the circuit Because they sponsor so many teams to get their name out there and to just support the community. And then they also they contribute percentage of the proceeds to the corrections peace officer foundation. Oh nice, you know. So they go out to. I think this year they went out to Seattle and presented a check out there. Wow, so that's really good dudes right. And so he's always like you got to get in the circuit and he's like and I'm like I really appreciate that, but I got, I really learned quickly after my first one turned 18. And I'm like I only got so many years left with these kids and also it's like let's do these backyard competitions, have fun as a family, and then when they go off and doing their own thing and it's just me and Chrissy, it's like then we can start committing a little bit more. So that's kind of the plan, and I guess we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1:So it's less the KCBS but more the case of beer. Case of beer, because that's my kind of you know Case of school, I mean which side note, Sean, when is the Two Guys in Beer Backyard Barbecue Championship? Is that in June?
Speaker 2:I think it's coming up here. It's coming up. Yeah, we'll have to do some.
Speaker 1:We'll have to spring with it A little on-air production meeting.
Speaker 2:So what inspired you? To even get into competitions Like just out of nowhere, you just decided no, was it Chrissy calling you out again?
Speaker 1:It was definitely not, chrissy.
Speaker 2:She's saying you weren't man enough to compete?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can't do it. I'm like watch this. Hold my beer. Have you tasted this guy's? No, she wouldn't do that to me. No, it was. So you know anything like new and anything that anybody takes on, you know, is a hobby. So Barbecue Pitmasters, if you guys ever watched that show yeah, I've watched it Big.
Speaker 3:Mo' Case on Melissa Cookston and then the world's winningest man of competitions, byron Mixon. You know they put it on back in the day and so when I first got into barbecue, it comes on Barbecue Pit Wars or Pitmasters. I turn it on, I'm watching it and it's just cool. You know, it's just competition. They're smoking different things and they're going over and they're rib turning box and they're briskets and they're chicken and everything of how they're doing it and I'm just watching them. Oh, I should try that. I should try that. And the side joke was to Chrissy I'm like to be the pit master, you're going to be my assistant or chaos coordinator, and I'm like that's going to be us and we're going to travel all over and she goes F, we are you know she goes, I ain't doing that.
Speaker 3:And I'm like, come on, doesn't that look fun? She goes, absolutely not. And I'm like, well, I said that looks fun to me. So, after hundreds of hours of episodes, she years, you know well, not years, it hasn't been years, but she would be like, you know, see a barbecue competition at a bar that she plays bingo at. And she goes, oh, you should totally do that, you totally win, clint, you should do it. And she always inspired me saying that my ribs were good enough to win competitions. And I'm like, finally, and she even goes like my first competition it was at a1 tire down in north branch, just south of North.
Speaker 3:Branch here, Jeff Selvog, I think, is how you pronounce his last name. $2,500 for first place, oh, wow, $200.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was thinking it was like 200 bucks, right, and then $500 for people's choice, which is another category, right.
Speaker 3:And my mom's like I'll pay the entry fee, you need to do this. And I'm like Chrissy, guess what we're doing? Fee, you need to do this. I'm like chrissy, guess what we're doing. I said mom paid the entry fee, we can't say no. And she goes all right, it'll be fun. And so that's what. Where it started was, you know, just kind of being challenged once for my wife, you know, and then not realizing how much fun it is. And then my mom just continuously like about two, three years in a row, she's like you really need to do competitions, clinty. You know she'd always tag me and posts on Facebook whenever people are advertising competitions and I'm like I just got to bite the bullet and just do one. You know, oh, my God, Hook line and sinker, got you, got me.
Speaker 2:How'd that first one go?
Speaker 3:Went good. I mean, I didn't place, that was all right. So it was a cool place to show up in this A1 tire. They put on a really good day. You know, a family day. You know you think barbecue is just a bunch of guys getting around. No, they have a car show there. They have kids prizes and drawings for bike raffles. They have a huge bunch of sponsors. So it's a really cool event, right. So I really wanted to be a part of that in itself. And then, on top of that, $2,500 doesn't sound bad, so not really prepared at all.
Speaker 3:I think I had my Oklahoma Joe at the time which with a rib rack, which you don't want to use a rib rack necessarily for competitions because they're not pretty. The ribs aren't pretty. You put them in a rib rack and you get lines and stuff like that. Oh really, yeah. So I had that. And then I had my dad's 48-inch propane smoker. So I had those two there. And, yeah, we showed up and the guy right next to the spot that we got, he was already there, unpacked, tent up, smoker, smoking, and he's taking a nap in his trailer. And we show up in our truck and our truck is just loaded down or whatever and we're unloading and I go to take the canopy out, the tent that we have it was my dad's from his cabin, like five years old, and I go to put it up and tear just big tear right across it. I'm like it's starting to sprinkle.
Speaker 3:It's six in the morning and I'm like this is how this is going to go.
Speaker 3:I'm like, oh, my god, it's all coming together, yeah I think at that time it was just me, chrissy and the boy we had braxton with us and she's like what do we do? I said, well, let's just start unloading what we can. I said I'll throw this in the trash. Just do you want to run to walmart and get us a 10 by 10 or 8 by, whatever can be, because you need something over your meat when you're preparing it? So she takes off and I'm like, well, get the smoker going and getting ready. And I'm like where's the hell's the lighter? I can't find light. You're still in the truck. Oh, no, yeah. So now I'm that guy standing in the rain with no lighter to even do anything. So me and braxton are literally just sitting there twiddling our thumbs for an hour, which put us an hour behind schedule. But after that we got our hit, the ground running. We found our stride and our very first competition. I didn't really practice that. One thing rule of competition is anytime you do a competition, you should always practice.
Speaker 1:Sure, that doesn't sound that. I've never heard of such a thing. It seems like an extra step.
Speaker 3:That's what I'm thinking, not necessary, so I'm like you know practice what and they're like well, you got to make it look nice and neat and pretty and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Oh sure, For the judges that's big money.
Speaker 3:And they open up that box and the very first thing they do is eat with their eyes. They say it's got to look pretty right? Well, we didn't practice that, so we cut them up and we put them in there as pretty as what we thought. What I've seen on TV but never practiced it Turned the ribs in Took. Fifth place out of, I think, 17 teams.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow you know, yeah, oh darn.
Speaker 3:You know, that's my worst place I've ever. Finished in one of those back air competitions was fifth place, it was my very first one ever and a lot of it was just shooting from the hip like I do in life, right, you know, and it's like, wow, that turned out to be a good day. So, yeah, definitely, definitely like that place. I'll definitely go back there again, but it was one for the books, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. If you'd like to be a corporate sponsor of the Two Guys in Beer podcast championship, I have a backyard already.
Speaker 3:So we got that going for us. I can't promise $2,500.
Speaker 1:I can promise maybe a koozie and a couple beers.
Speaker 3:That's. All you need is a good laugh and a beer, yeah.
Speaker 2:So how was it interacting with your competition, the other people that are smoking? Are they friendly? Are they willing to help, or do they give you some bullshit information so you screw up and they win? Is it like give you a pat on the back? Like breweries, microbreweries, they always want to help each other, they collaborate, they want everybody to succeed.
Speaker 1:Lift the community. Yeah, and not just the community, but the community of breweries.
Speaker 2:Right. Is it that way for the competitors that you smoke with it?
Speaker 3:is amazing and I was not expecting it because me being a competitor playing sports and I never experienced barbecue competitions other than first joining them Right. And that first year we were kind of shy and not really knowing what the I guess etiquette is right so. But then after that, next year we went back to the a1 tire and we won that one and that's when people were like they recognized us.
Speaker 2:So you got first in the a1 the following year, so you took the 2500 home that was500.
Speaker 3:And then we also won. People's choice, which is for people that don't understand, is that the big money is the judges. Usually it's five or six judges. You turn in five or six bones, however much the rules say, and those judges determine how great. And they're judges, they know what they're doing for the most part, to my understanding right.
Speaker 3:Not a couple of random jamokes that they, there was one competition, there's this one competition. We went to where they were looking around. They're like anybody. Oh, you want judge ribs today, you know, sure you know, and I'm like, but anyways, this place at a1, I mean they put on a good show and fair, you know. So that one you turn in those bones for the judges and uh, then there's people's choice awards. So you guys could go and you pay, like I think it's $10 for five tickets or whatever the price is, and so you got five tickets. There could be 20 teams there, but you got to go up to five booths and you try their rib and whosoever you think is a favorite, you drop a golden ticket and they're real. So that's People's Choice Awards. So to some that's more of an honor, also because you have multiple people trying your ribs. So, yeah, but the with the etiquette, with the other competitors and stuff like that, you get to know these people, that you know.
Speaker 3:Once you do two, three, four competitions you see the same face. Okay, how'd you do last time? Good, you know, and very helpful, very. I wouldn't say like helpful, like if I walked up to a guy hey, I'd you do last time. Good, you know, and very helpful, very, I wouldn't say like helpful. Like if I walked up to a guy, hey, I lost my lighter, can I borrow your lighter? He'll throw me five of them, sure, but I'm not going to go up there on competition during the competition. Go, hey, what's your favorite, rob? What are you doing? That's they call it shigging you. That's frowned upon. You wait till after the awards and then you talk to each other. But there's no secrets in barbecue, like I will tell you, they will tell you everybody, will tell you exactly what they use, how they do at the times, attempts, everything, and then I dare you to mimic it I was gonna say it's still a craft right to be able to do it yourself.
Speaker 1:It's like you know, I mean it's like cooking.
Speaker 3:yeah, it is. That's why it is. That's where I learned, you know, is you know YouTube University and you know if I was to ever smoke something new. I don't just go on YouTube and watch a video and then go to I watch my wife thinks it's an obsession, which probably is hundreds of different dudes doing barbecue, of whatever it is that I'm wanting to cook and I kind of pull a lot from everybody, morph it into what you want.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so that's how the people at barbecue are. There's this team, big Racks is one of them. Big Racks, everybody likes Big Racks, right, we all like Big Racks. So those guys, I met the one brother. They come rolling in, they're like the big show. They got this big trailer, the logo inside trailer, you know. So people noticed when they were all in Sure. And then there's another team Dogs Barbecue.
Speaker 3:Those guys are so cool and humble and I talked to them a couple times this year we got butted up right next to them, you know. So throughout the day you're just kind of BSing and it sounds like they are every weekend, sometimes a couple times a weekend, and they're just grateful. I think one of the competitions we were at this year we both got a call at the same time. They got I don't know, like People's Choice or something like that, and then Reserve Grand Champion. They're like dog's barbecue and they're like Grand Champion pizza barbecue, and so they're up there at the same time and grand champion pizza barbecue, and so they're up there at the same time and they were like weren't happier, but they seemed happier that we won than we seemed happier, you know.
Speaker 3:Oh sure, they were just like yeah his wife grabbed my wife and just scooped her up and hugged her and I'm so proud of you guys. Congratulations, you know. So, yeah, it's, uh, it's a cool community and I'm really glad to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:It's's really cool people. That's awesome. So what are you know? We're talking about successes and stuff with barbecuing that we've kind of talked about as a first-time person, that smokes and grills and barbecues. What are some common mistakes people make, like right away?
Speaker 3:They think seeing smoke is a good thing. Sure, and.
Speaker 2:I'll admit that the first time I ever tried smoking. Of course I was using pellets. You know, I'm kind of that person, I don't want to look at it, I just want to set it and forget it because I don't cook.
Speaker 3:So pellets are different.
Speaker 2:There's no smoke coming on. Like this thing is BS, like it's not working.
Speaker 3:Pellets are different though, so pellets you want to see smoke. Sure it is because the heat source from whatever it comes from, but the pellets, that's where you get your flavor. To my understanding this is what somebody explained to me is that pellet smoking? They have a smoke setting. You put smoke into the meat because it's not as pungent or pungent I guess I don't know the word for it as using like logs of wood, because you're just using little things and that smoke's good yeah, because they're like, I think, more dense, aren't they?
Speaker 3:And that smoke's good Because they're like, I think, more dense, aren't they? Yeah, it's like wood shavings, I guess, you know, putting a pellet and compressed down or whatever, and so that smoke is good because it's not as intense. I guess you could say, but for, like, if you ever have like a charcoal grill and you throw a couple chunks of wood on it, or for, like me, I got this big old apparatus right. You see smoke, like smoke is coming out. That's what they call dirty smoke, and that's where you, you know, the meat is usually dark and black and you take a bite out of it and it's like, you know, like, yeah, you got smoke on it, you know.
Speaker 3:so that's a common mistake is that people think that if I don't see smoke, I'm not smoking I would have been one of those people, for sure so the trick is that you either don't want to see it or like a really light blue haze and like my kind of rule of thumb especially if it's sunny hours, I want to be able to see the smoke shadow, but not the smoke. Oh okay, that's kind of my rule of thumb is so you know we actually did with our pellet smoker.
Speaker 2:we bought those little metal boxes yeah, smoke tubes. Yeah, you can throw chips in there. You light it on fire and throw them in there too, because we had no idea what was going on. It seemed to turn out okay, but I don't know what the hell I was going on.
Speaker 3:That's always kind of my because working and people know me at work, you, because whenever I cook anything, if there's leftovers I bring it to work and share, you know. So people are always asking me I can't get this or tips on that, you know. And my biggest one is well, if you're going to get a pellet smoker, or I call motor crockpots, you want to get one of those, as I get yourself a smoke tube, because from my understanding my brother uses one of those too, you know, and uh, it just it adds in that more smoke flavor. I guess you could say that people are looking for when they say I smoked this yeah, it seemed to work.
Speaker 2:Mine's an actual it's a pit boss electric one. Yeah, that's all I really know about it. Um, I put shavings in the tray that it comes in, and then I do another one of those extra metal boxes, fill it up use my torch.
Speaker 3:It's not a pelt smoker, it's not. It's wood shavings. Okay so you get the bag of wood chips out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, see that I didn't the water tray in there put the water. Why I filled it with apple juice? Because I read somewhere put some apple juice in it. It kind of gets a little more sweeter maybe, I don't know it does.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's a trick you could use. It depends on. For me I've never. I've experimented a little bit with that, but for me it's just. You know, water's cheaper also. But throwing water out there, because if you are doing a longer cooking you might have lost track of that water pan and it starts burning Sure, like if it all evaporated. Yeah, now you've got a mess of a water pan.
Speaker 2:Now you've got a mess of a water pan. Yeah, I've seen that in mine, I had to add more, More apple juice. What about what's your go-to cut of meat for competitions? You just do ribs, you do brisket, Like what all do you do?
Speaker 3:Right now just the backyard competitions. They're all ribs and generally they're provided by the people that are putting on the event.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was going to be another question I was going to have. Like if you had to bring like you in 500 bucks, that's great, but if it were a thousand dollars worth of ribs.
Speaker 3:That's where the circuit, you know the barbecue society that they do. To my understanding, like I said, I haven't dabbled too much into it because I'm afraid that if once I start dabbling into it and investigating, I'm going to go that route. So, into it and investigating, I'm going to go that route, sure, so I'm holding back. But my understanding is a lot of times you got to provide your own meat, but for me right now it's just ribs. Most of them are baby back ribs. The one place, pub 65, pub and Grub down there in Ham Lake-ish area.
Speaker 2:Oh right, by the Reef Eater. Yeah, reef 65?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually stopped there just the other day. Good burgers they're always busy there.
Speaker 2:I was just visiting in front they are busy.
Speaker 3:They do spare ribs there. St Louis cut spare ribs, which is still a rib on the pork, but just a little bit further down.
Speaker 2:So pork typically, then Pork ribs no, beef ribs no beef ribs.
Speaker 3:I've smoked beef ribs one time to prove a guy wrong at work. He said the only way to get beef ribs tender is to boil them first. I go what the hell are you talking about? I was like you don't boil nothing. I was like it's all about time and temp. And he goes, you know, and I'm like give me a rack of your beef ribs. And I said I'll smoke them for you. And I won that bet too.
Speaker 1:Now, with that experience, do you hear, like you know, fallacies or like fake things like that? Do people not necessarily challenge you, but just like, oh, you should do this, you know, try to like give you tips almost that are kind of like no, I would never do that, Everybody's got their own you know, like I guess the biggest not myth, but thing that I'm not for is people.
Speaker 3:You need a binder for your rubs to stick to the meat so it doesn't fall off while you're cooking it, and so there's a lot of people that use mustard as a binder, you know, and they say you don't taste it. And I've had ribs a couple times that with mustard. As a binder, I've never personally cooked ribs with mustard because I don't want to. You know, and the world most winningest man in barbecue, my remixer, says save that stuff for the brats and hot dogs, you know.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:But mustard is one thing that I mean big time competition guys.
Speaker 1:you know they have their stack of mustard there when they're getting it ready, and I'm just like I ain't going to cross that bridge, nor do I need to right now, and it's funny to me to be like oh, you don't notice the taste of it because mustard has kind of a pungent taste to it. Because mustard has kind of a pungent taste to it, Like it's a powerful taste.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say I like mustard too and I'm like how are you going to smoke with mustard and not taste the mustard?
Speaker 3:And I've had ribs and you know, if I closed my eyes and had them, I probably couldn't tell the difference. But for me it's like the way that I do. It is just, it works for me, and I've never had a problem with the rub falling off. And my wife always jokes whenever we're going through our checklist and she goes you got your apple juice Yep, you got the seasonings Yep, you got your mustard.
Speaker 1:I'm like Try to get you.
Speaker 2:We'll leave that mustard at the store All right. So what's your most memorable win? Of all the competitions you've been in, the very first one, oh, the first one, the very first one.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that's where it was like. It was a very emotional day. Where was it? That was the A1.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was the A1. Okay, that was the first one, yeah.
Speaker 3:So God, that one was cool, I had, so we got our team right. I guess I should introduce my team.
Speaker 1:Yes, introduce your team. So we got. This is Clint.
Speaker 3:Master, the one that does the little work with all the pretty much the acknowledgments, but my wife is the chaos coordinator, so she's second commander or whatever. But then we've got our daughter, kaylee. She's made it to most competitions and at least, if she can't be there for the whole time, she at least stops by and does what she can while she's there. And then Braxton, our middle boy, zoe, our youngest, and then then braxton's girlfriend, emma, has been with us since the start too. They had started dating the spring pariah to our first competition and she tagged along and she's with us too, you know. So that's like the main team. And then I had shirts made up. My mom wanted a shirt with the pizza barbecue logo on it, so I had support staff put on the back, because my mom and dad, they haven't missed a competition yet. Nice so.
Speaker 2:And well, I don't think they missed a softball game either. Yeah, they were always there. They haven't missed a wrestling tournament.
Speaker 3:They're always in the stands, so always. So support staff, obviously right, and they're the ones that like can I help you with this, can I help you with? And some rules are the team only in the cook area, you're not allowed to have anybody else in there. So mom's like well, I got a shirt now.
Speaker 1:I'm like okay but only 16 members are allowed you know, but so they're.
Speaker 3:They're there, and then other parts of our kind of team I guess you could say is Ellie, she's my niece Bailey's niece Bailey's daughter. She's got the most important job. If you ask her, she's the most important part of the pizza barbecue Taste tester. You think she wears this orange kind of glittery skirt and says feed me barbecue and tell me I'm pretty, or something like that.
Speaker 3:So she's the one that gets all the cute. Or like the grandmas and everybody to come up because we have her out front. She's out flagging them in. Come on all the cute. Or like the grandmas and everybody to come up because we have her out front, but she's out flagging them in come on you know.
Speaker 3:So a little trick we learned in our first year that we didn't do was people come out to try bar, try the rib for the people's choice, right, you pay your ticket, you put a rib in a boat little french fry boat and they walk away and they're god, that was really good. Well, where did I get that from? Because they have five other boats. So we had stickers made up with our logo. So her job, ellie, shows up and we get the boats and she has to put the stickers on all the boats and prep them. And then one thing that I do that I notice a lot of teams don't do is when we're serving to the public. I have Braxton on rib duty and I'll go hip-hip and that's his cue to get me another rack of ribs and I cut the ribs fresh for the public. When they walk up there's a person cut a rib fresh.
Speaker 3:And her job is to stage that boat for me, so all I have to do is cut the rib, boom and if she's off, the whole, like I, get a line and people wait and then they look and go well, I'm not waiting in line to 10 people, I'm going down to the next person. So she actually does have important job. Efficiency, yeah, peak efficiency there. Oh, and then I got my hype man. You know, dylan fez it and he's a buddy. I work with that. The year that I won my very first barbecue competition, I sent a snapchat you know video to set up in the morning and I'm, like you know, ready for a day competition. Let's see what happens and like two minutes later, I get this text on snapchat. So that's a paragraph and it's just a freaking hype come on you've been working.
Speaker 3:These guys are nothing. You step all over that competition and just hype me up right and we ended up winning. So I told him I was like I need to hype every there you go. Nice, he hasn't he hasn't missed, so he's a support staff. Awesome, does he?
Speaker 2:have a shirt he doesn't.
Speaker 3:he's a support staff on the team. Awesome, does he have a shirt? He doesn't. He's got a sticker. He was the first guy to get a sticker, okay.
Speaker 1:So he's got a water bottle.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I mean, it's just cool. My sister, she got the award winning moms, she decorated, she wants to decorate the our booth, sure, you know. So I didn't set him up for this, but he told me this after the competition, after I won, he goes Clinty, clinty. I was like you know, he hops all the time and he's like I'd go over there, because when we start serving to the public they go around and try them too. So him and his buddy James, they'd eat a rib. I'm like, oh, that's really good. Yeah, I really like this barbecue is my favorite one over there. Oh, yeah, we're. And people call me like which one is good? Oh, pizza barbecue, those are my favorite by far.
Speaker 3:So he started plants, he did that for me and he told me afterwards I was like keep that up, buddy, send more people my way, brilliant, awesome. But it was cool. So that first competition was my second competition I've ever done, a year later after my first one, and so we showed up they have a lot of room there. So my mom invited a lot of her friends and my aunt and uncle were there and had a lot of people. I had hurt my back at work a couple of days prior so like I was kind of like not in the mood, you know, but you know kind of painful or whatever, but went through the day pretty seamless on the cook and everything. We never had anything really get in the way other than just August it gets hot and whatever, sure, so I just wanted to hear my name get called one time.
Speaker 1:you know, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:And so it was a funny story about that too. Backstory leading into what's coming. Is my mom every year for Christmas since I was little what do you want for Christmas? What is my mom every year for Christmas since I was little, what do you want for Christmas? What do you want for Christmas Now? We would send her a picture of my dream smoker. You know, $6,000 smoker built in Kentucky or Alabama or wherever. I'd always send her a picture of that just as a joke. Right, well, that smoker the same exact one was at that competition, oh wow, yeah, it was cool. So I checked it out, I pointed that that to my old man and I was like that's my dream smoker, right there, you know, and so we're going through the awards part of it and we're out there, we're waiting and they always start at people's choice. You know, pizza, barbecue, and I'm like just went nuts, five hundred dollars, oh yeah and also high-fiving and hugging or whatever.
Speaker 3:We go up there chrissy's crying. I don't think I might have had a tear or two coming down you know the whole team up there. Take a picture I'm getting emotional right now.
Speaker 3:And what's funny about that, there's a guy that he now works at the prison. He was a two-time champion, returning and he was there right, and I didn't know this guy at the time but I knew of his team name and I knew that they were there. So you hear a third place called team, whoever they were. So you hear third place called team, whoever they were I don't know who they were anymore. Second place, not that team. So I'm like all right, well, that team.
Speaker 3:That's got to be the team right and my dad went and tried his ribs and came back. He goes well, it's not you, clint, it's him. You know he's got good ribs. Everybody's telling me that he's got good ribs. I'm waiting for him to be number pizza barbecue. I'm like that's awesome. I hugged chrissy and my mom was there and I hug her and I kind of knocked her over a little bit, you know, because she had a bad hip at the time and it was just cool, it was absolutely cool. And so then afterwards we're uh cleaning up or whatever and just kind of like taking in the day and just I mean it's an exhaust, yeah long day, and just I mean it's an exhaust long day and my mom comes up and she's tearing up oh, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3:And she goes we're going to buy you your smoker, you just got to go get it. I'm like what are you talking about? I said, mom, that's a $6,000 smoker. I'm buying it for you. You're going to do this. I'm like, oh my God, I I'm blubbering like a baby. She goes you just got to go figure out how to get it. It's down in Kentucky.
Speaker 2:Road trip.
Speaker 3:I'm good with the road trip.
Speaker 1:Did you already get it? Because we're ready to go.
Speaker 2:We got it a week later. Do you need a new one?
Speaker 3:Do you need another one. Do you need another one? Actually, I could use another couple.
Speaker 1:I hear, that that Two Guys in Beer podcast Backyard. You might need two.
Speaker 3:I might need a road trip, yep.
Speaker 2:It was cool and I got a Yukon. We can take our Yukon. That's comfy too. It is Spread out. Oh, you can.
Speaker 3:We're going down to Alabama, though that's where the company is now that builds them.
Speaker 3:That works too. Yeah, that's good. Good, you know. Short drive, perfect. Yeah, a week later there, picked it up, stayed in a hotel, drove 12 hours back the next day nice.
Speaker 3:So what kind of unit is this? What is this unit? It's called the game day 60 smoker. I guess you could say it's a reverse offset for anybody that knows what that is.
Speaker 3:It's got a big insulated firebox and I use charcoal to get a little base you know hot, you know and I throw wood on it and work out the charcoal until it's just strictly wood and it's got like this plate from the smoke box, so it goes underneath the meat and then it comes across and it smokes evenly across the entire chamber and then comes up the smoke stack. That's on the same side as the smoke box, you know. So then above it it's got warming racks and I can actually cook in that if I want to, but I I use that more for storing food when it's done. And then it's got its own little charcoal chamber as well in the front, and it's got two different levels. I can do direct right over the top, like cooking on charcoal and I can cook on top too, and that's completely separate. So while we're at competition, I'll be there and then I'll also grill us some stuff throughout the day.
Speaker 3:Competitions I'll be there and then I'll also grill us some stuff throughout the day, you know. And then it's got a place on the back that I can put like an oil, a propane, oil tank or fish fry or something like that. Oh wow, yeah so, and it pulls behind the truck just fine. I think it's like 12 feet long and it's big enough to. It's got two tiers of cooking, plenty of room for I think my capacity comfortably is 18 racks of ribs. I think I've done like 16 pork butts at a time. So big enough, you know, and does this job, but it's it's. It takes a little finesse.
Speaker 1:You ever do that just to like, like we're cooking on the barbecue just for the fam. You know like five, six burgers.
Speaker 3:That's funny about that is people laugh, but it doesn't take any much more fuel source than those little Oklahoma Joes I had.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Surprisingly, once you, I put down some charcoal maybe a little bit more charcoal than the Oklahoma Joes would take and I throw on three splits of fire and when that turns into coal, I throw on two splits of fire and the chamber is up to 250 to 300, wherever I decide to cook at that day and it maintains the heat so well that, yeah, when I only want to smoke a rack or two racks of ribs, I'm firing that thing up. Wow, yeah, I named it Willie, perfect yeah.
Speaker 2:So when it comes to competitions, we've kind of talked about here a little bit what with your team, and it seems like you had a nice team, a family team, I hear about what with your team and you got it seems like you had a nice team, a family team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. That's that's even makes it more memorable, I think, more fun. You're doing it with your wife and kids and parent your family. Everybody's involved. Yeah, what type of preparation does it take to enter a competition? What are you doing beforehand, before you go there and set up?
Speaker 3:I mean a lot of not sleepless nights but dream nights of preparing and stuff like that. We now have we just adopted, I think of our last competition or two is a packing list. My wife is, like I said, the chaos coordinator. She would make a list and check it off Right, and every time before a competition, the week leading up to it, we make the list. And I'm like, why are we remaking the list? Let's make a list. And then'm like, why are we remaking the list? Let's make a list, and then we can print it off every time and then just adjust to it. Which is so.
Speaker 3:It's the night before we prep the smoker, make sure it's clean you got to make you know make sure it looks nice and stuff like that and then we store everything in the truck, in the box, and we load it all up the night before. So in the morning all we have to do is grab the stuff that has to stay cold, to grab that out of the fridge, and she checks it off her box and then hook up the smoker and away we go. So we've gotten to the point now where we're pretty organized for the most part, you know, and so a lot of it has to do with her. I just stand back and kind of twiddle with this and twiddle with that and pretend I'm doing something. You stand there and look pretty, I sit there and I'm kind of pretending I'm doing something and the next thing I know the truck is loaded up and I'm like, dang, you did a good job.
Speaker 3:I said, do you need help with anything? Get out of my way. Yes, ma'am, get out of her way. Mission accomplished, she's got. You know, she's zoned in, locked in, and I learned, being with her for 19 years, stay out of her way when she's in the zone, because I cannot match her. So, loading up, prepping, when we get to the competition and setting up, I mean I'm literally standing there waiting for something heavy to be lifted or something tall to be grabbed, and otherwise I just stand back and just let her do her thing.
Speaker 2:You know that's her thing and I usually get the smoker up and running and stay out of her way is what I've learned.
Speaker 1:It's good that you've learned that. Yeah, yeah, I was going to say that's the key Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you mentioned. Whose rubs did you say you were using and put a plug in for them again?
Speaker 3:Oh, smokin' Bros, rubs and seasonings. So they're correctional officers, sergeants and lieutenants maybe, but anyways they work behind the walls, right? So their rubs are kind of that based. So the Warden is the Kansas City style rub that I use. Okay, yep. And then the other one is a pecan rub. It's called the retiree, because anybody that retires from working at the prison is usually nuts, is what they say. So the retiree is what I put on over the warden. And then they have the canine, which is their sweet heat. You know it's sweet, but it'll heat you. So the canine is their sweet heat, which I use as a finishing dust right before I turn into the judges. I dazzle a little bit of that over the top of it and I also use it in the sauce that I make. So it seems to set the difference.
Speaker 3:But, they have I don't want to quote it probably 12 to 14 different rubs and they're only word of mouth. That's how they spread. You can't find them on Amazon or Walmartcom or nothing like that. It's word of all through their social media, through instagram or facebook and, as you do like, I messaged them last night, 10 o'clock last night and I said, hey, I need put in order for 10 rubs and it's 12 bucks a bottle, which is very reasonable for around around here. You get a nice size like that and he shipped it this morning, you know. And then they're in stores like a lot of ace hardwares. The closest one to us would be grantsburg at the ace heart or, uh, the top, uh hardware store in grantsburg like hanks, tom hanks oh uh, hardware hank, hardware hank hardware store with the same hank in it.
Speaker 1:What is it again?
Speaker 3:they're over there so you can find their seasons there, otherwise they're. A lot of their stuff is based closer to where they're from, so wisconsin-based, over at Stillwater Oak Park, that area. But if you go on their Instagram or their Facebook they generally periodically will post which stores have their rubs. Oh good.
Speaker 2:Do they have a website too? Then no website, nothing, just social media.
Speaker 3:Just social media word of mouth, and they're booming. They're getting big.
Speaker 2:So what is on the two racks of ribs I ordered from your last order that you fulfilled for people? What is on those?
Speaker 3:That is the warden.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yep as a base layer and then the retiree as the pecan rub. The main one, that's where you get the color, I think the better flavor from you, know, okay. One, that's where you get the color, I think, the better flavor from you, know, okay. And then I also made my own barbecue sauce, which is a combination from a generic barbecue sauce, and I've learned how a lot of trial and error, but what I like and what people seem to like, and so the look I am or the taste I'm going for, is you bite it and it's like, oh, that's really good, it's sweet, you know, and also wakes up your taste buds a little bit, but it doesn't burn you. Oh yeah, and it's like, oh, that's really good, it's sweet, you know, and also wakes up your taste buds a little bit, but it doesn't burn you. And also I got people that don't like spicy food and they love these ribs.
Speaker 3:Nice, I like spicy, so it still has a little heat, but it's not spicy, correct and, like I said, it just reminds you you got taste buds in there, right, I like it and that's what's on that. I sauced them all and then set the sauce and then put them in the not Ziploc, the freezer bags, you know and sealed them, pressure sealed them and vacuum sealed them and then froze them up, and so I was really impressed when I did a little Googling and research of how to be able to offer this to people other than just smoking at events and whatever. So, yeah, I found out this and it reheats phenomenally Sure.
Speaker 2:I can't this. And it reheats phenomenally Sure.
Speaker 3:I can't wait to try it. I'm looking forward to it. I'm super excited. I'm looking forward to the reviews, yeah.
Speaker 2:You guys got it. We'll put some reviews on your social media.
Speaker 1:I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't have them prepared.
Speaker 2:I know, andy, come on I know, so, that being said, barbecue sauce, you've trained. Are you gonna dabble in making your own rubs or seasonings at all? Are you gonna try any of that, or?
Speaker 3:so chrissy asked me too and she's pushed, not doesn't push me, encourages me. She was you should really dabble in your own, making your own seasoning stuff like that, and I'm like what I'm doing ain't broke. I know it's not broke, it's working. We're getting paid. It's not very cost effective for when I am cooking for people to sell, to use their rubs, you know, because I could make it a lot cheaper myself, obviously, or use a lot cheaper of a rub.
Speaker 3:But I want to part of the what I wanted, what my intent is, is that people that see the ribs and taste them and I've cooked for people like, oh my god, that's what I want recreate and I don't want to just some stuff you know. So the Smoking Bros rubs are what work and for me I'm like I'm happy with that and I'm more of just kind of focused on using their product. That they did all the testing and all the leg work in and I'll just use their stuff is what I'm at right now anyways, in this part of my journey. So, or our journey, that's awesome. Yeah, it's definitely. She did not know what she was getting herself into.
Speaker 1:When she challenged you. Buckle up, lady, here we go.
Speaker 3:She's the same way, though. You challenge her and it's game on, you know. So that's why we work together so well.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess you've answered that question Are you man enough? We'll have one competitions now.
Speaker 3:See the trophies.
Speaker 2:So that Mother's Day gift turned out very well then.
Speaker 3:Very well for her. She definitely got to reap the benefits. I hope Awesome.
Speaker 2:So for beginners beginners like Andy and I that don't smoke at all. What would be some beginner setup or beginner recipe that you would recommend for people that just are starting out and just want to start something? How's your OODA pills doing there?
Speaker 3:OODA pills is doing good.
Speaker 1:Okay, I just want to. I just want to make sure, if you know, if you needed to get you know.
Speaker 3:I don't want to get the worm, but I was savoring it Okay.
Speaker 1:I mean there's backups. You know, I do have one of these. I was going to try to force you into trying, just to make you try it a little bit. We did this in a previous episode. This is the Hanalei Island IPA.
Speaker 3:Is that the one from Hawaii you guys are talking about Yep.
Speaker 1:Kona, yeah, so we get a second pop on that one, I'm just going to, if nothing else, make you taste it or whatever, I'll drink it.
Speaker 2:We're breaking new ground here on the podcast.
Speaker 1:India pale ale. So it's going to be a little hoppier oh boy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the. That's the stuff that is an acquired taste, stuff that you've acquired over time.
Speaker 1:Sorry, you mispronounced, required taste.
Speaker 2:He's like no thanks, give me the smoky.
Speaker 3:That is not my, that is not my cup of tea, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:I was impressed, though, that you enjoy the Kohl's.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is almost gone and I'll be tackling this one next.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 3:So beginner recipes, you mean like just not pork-related or not Just anything you know, just for a beginner like myself.
Speaker 2:Or Andy, like you know, I've smoked twice and it's turned out okay, but so I didn't do anything.
Speaker 1:I tried smoking one time and I couldn't get the temperature to go up very much, but I think I maybe had the mindset of there's a couple of things at play. I had the mindset that it needed to be a little higher, but I think there was also the mindset of that. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law and wife were waiting for dinner that they thought was going to be ready, and I was on a little green egg and I'm like it's not ready, it's going to be at least another hour. And they're like all right, we're going to order pizza.
Speaker 3:I learned that the first time and the only time I ever smoked a brisket was don't try to plan that for dinner, because it'll throw your plans off. My first time I remember doing a pork shoulder was all right, we're gonna have pork for. You know, youtube says this should take anywhere from eight to ten hours and it takes 15 because I'm sitting there lifting the hood. So that's one rule is don't lift the hood, don't look the hood, they'll check on it. It's there, it ain't going nowhere. So every time you lift that up and then put it back down, it takes that much more fuel source and you lose.
Speaker 3:There's a stall period with a lot of meats that it stalls. So you're watching the temperature, whether you know, whatever apparatus you have for this temperature of the meat. Or you were like when I first started, I lifted up and I probe it every time. Well, if I lift it up and probe it, it's 145 degrees and I lift it up 20 minutes later, it's at 140 degrees. I'm getting frustrated Like what's going on? Sure, let it cook, it'll get there. So don't lift that hood. As much as you know, you think, and then, recipes-wise, you know, take grandma's meatloaf recipe and throw that in the smoker. You'll never have it in the oven again. That was so delicious when it smoked meatloaf, oh so. And you can't mess it up, bring it up to about 100% Challenge accepted, Challenge accepted.
Speaker 3:So grandma's meatloaf if you want to not get fancy, but anytime somebody uses anything to wrap in bacon. Typically, if you ever had one, that you pull it from the fridge and you wrap whatever you're doing in bacon and then as you cook it it shrivels up a lot right, An hour before you're going to wrap it, pull it from the fridge and let it get up to temp a little bit. It's more pliable and then it sticks to whatever you're using, and so it doesn't fold up and shrivel up the bacon, doesn't you know? And so that's the biggest trick I kind of learned lately with my jalapeno poppers.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, so I wrap it, because I was having trouble where I wrapped the bacon it wasn't sticking to the meat or sticking to the popper as well. And then stuff's oozing out and you go to bite it and it comes undone. Well, now you bite it and bacon bites through and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, run the bacon one one more time just to, because now that I got, like you know, I got the tip and then I tracked. You know how to be able to do it, but then I got distracted with the weight.
Speaker 2:The jalapeno popper distracted me because I love jalapeno poppers. I've never had a smoked one with bacon. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think every one that I've ever had like it. Just, you know, shrivels up and you try to bite it and it's falling off and you're having two different things.
Speaker 3:You're having jalapeno poppers and bacon. You shouldn't have done the last one where you said we were going to have barbecue, because I was already planning on smoking jalapeno poppers and bringing them today.
Speaker 2:Way to go, andy. You're like oh we're going to have your barbecue.
Speaker 3:One more failure. My jalapeno poppers are one of my proudest things that I make. Whenever I share with people, they're like more please, and.
Speaker 1:I'm.
Speaker 3:I'm like, yeah, here's more. So, yeah, I've really dabbled in a lot of trial and error, that's. Another thing is that when you're doing barbecue, understand that, especially when you're first starting out you are going to cook a rack of ribs and you're going to go bite them. Yeah, or they're not going to bite out the bone, they're going to have to scrape it. You know you didn't get it done properly. So, yeah, there's a lot, of a lot of meat that was not wasted but not enjoyed either.
Speaker 1:I think that that's probably one of my I don't know if trepidation is the right word. You know, like fear if you will, you know if not like, cause I can cook a little bit. I do pretty decent, you know, in the kitchen, but like in something like that, my mindset is like okay, now I'm going to spend $60 on this brisket or whatever it is, and then I'm going to get to him and spend eight hours working on this dang thing and I'm going to get to the end and I'm going to cut it open and take a bite and I'm like well, this sucks, like I'm never going to do that again, like it's not going to be a learning thing for me, it's just going to be. I'm going to punch the wall.
Speaker 1:No, I'm done. I have about eight to 12 beers.
Speaker 3:For years, my grandparents. Every year at Christmas we always went to my grandparents. My grandpa would always smoke two big prime ribs or not smoke but cook in the oven and they're phenomenal. Love me some prime rib, oh my God. So every year you go to Christmas and that's what we look forward to, right? Well, like most grandpas do, eventually they pass away. So I think it was the winter, the Christmas. It was our first Christmas without them and we were having Christmas at my mom and dad's. Mom goes hey, if I buy you a prime rib, will you smoke it? And think about the pressure, right? That ain't cheap. The prime rib is not cheap at all. No, for our christmas dinner with our whole family. I'm like, my philosophy back then, before I realized how expensive it could get, is if you buy it, I'll smoke it. So right, you know that's.
Speaker 1:That's kind of the philosophy I had until it's a ten dollar rack of ribs, you know until I got real busy.
Speaker 3:But uh, yeah, I'm like, yeah, let's give it a shot. You know what the hell. So I did a lot of research on that one and I smoked a prime rib, I think, two or three times or so, and then now tanner's taking it over and he hasn't missed yet, you know so well, he's gonna do something right, yeah, yeah you heard me, right tanner I mean, it is not a pellet smoker, but you know, like I said, he hasn't missed yet throwing some shade, right so and he's a good sport too, because, like every time I I'm going to smoke something or a competition, he'll usually send me like a tiktok or something on how to do what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2:He's like, oh you have a great competition here, you should try this I'm like oh yeah yeah, I'll just tell you a quick little story about the very first time I ever tried smoking. I have a, an srg. It's called a smoker roaster grill by charbroil yeah, looks like a little r2d2, the thing's awesome. And I bought all the rib hooks and the the meat racks and to hang drummies in there. Well, I really like turkey legs.
Speaker 2:You know, you go to the County fair or state fair and you get one of those turkey legs and I've thought, well, I'm going to make one of those, not knowing I have no clue what the hell I'm doing. So I seasoned them up and I put them in in the leg racks, you know. So they're hanging down inside the SRG. I got the wood chips going turn it on. Well, I learned it's not a set it and forget it thing. The first time I tried this because I set it and well, I fell asleep on the couch. I wake up six hours later, I go out there and it cooked right through the bone and all the turkey legs have fell into the bottom of the SRG. Needless to say, I was like, wow, that was awesome. Turned it off, opened it up and I poked it and they were still juicy and moist. And once he got through the outer charbroiled skin, it actually tasted okay, wasn't?
Speaker 3:bad, so it wasn't a full fit.
Speaker 2:It wasn't terrible, terrible. But you know, when you smoke something through the bone, I thought what the hell?
Speaker 3:They call that fall out the bone, that's for sure, it was something that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Oh, good times, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Oh, good times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just tried that green egg the one time. That's as far as I got Ceramic green egg.
Speaker 3:I've heard good things about it, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think it probably would have worked pretty good, but I don't know, there was a lot of pressure because not only was it like the family event thing going on, but I hatched this idea earlier in the day because it was so, my brother and sister-in-law, they, because it was so my brother and sister-in-law, they had rented a condo in Florida and so we were down there visiting them and so it was kind of like this area with like there's a million houses and there's, it was at a pool deck area.
Speaker 3:Unfamiliar territory, exactly.
Speaker 1:So not mine, just something that's out there. And so I did a little research and I'm like I can figure this out. And you know, like whatever you know, I had already cooked like for them like two or three times. And they're like, oh, it's fantastic, Like go make something else. And so I went out there and, you know, made this plan. And when I went to go down there to start this plan, well, there was this like giant Italian family from New York that they weren't using that, but they were using the whole patio and underneath the canopy to have their event. And I'm like, oh, like the mob was over there, the guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm like, can I use the?
Speaker 1:smoker and they're like oh yeah, absolutely. And they're I mean, they're a lot of beers deep at this point. So they're trying to chat me up about this and I'm trying to like, frustratingly, figure out how to get, like I said, any type of heat, 83 temp. You know like I'm gonna do it, but I'm like this is just not working at all. I think I got it like decent, but it was I was doing like pork chops or something. It's like three hours. I'm dumb, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Didn't really work all that I think the other thing I smoked was pork chops this last summer. That turned out pretty good and I actually did chicken breast, oh, and that came out really good. Everybody in the house liked and again, I don't know what I'm doing, but they were moist and juicy.
Speaker 2:I like moist and juicy Moist and juicy I can't stand dried out meat and when I was trying to do chicken breast I'm like, oh man, these things can dry out real quick. Yep, it took like six hours to do it, but it was like 180, 170.
Speaker 3:Were 170. Were they bone in or they were boneless?
Speaker 2:They were boneless, just the garbage you buy at the local. That stuff is delicious. Oh, it was so good, nice, it was so moist and juicy. I'm like heck, yeah, I might have to start entering a competition with my little pit boss.
Speaker 1:I do a little. I should say I do a little bit of smoking of bourbon. Yep, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I wonder if that would work Well. It'd probably boil off Right? So besides winning, you've obviously won a lot of awards already in your career. So far. We'll call it a career.
Speaker 3:Sure. Young and early in your career, a journey is what I call it.
Speaker 2:You've won a lot. What's your favorite?
Speaker 3:part. You're already talking about going pro Right, yeah.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Minnesota Circuit. So, besides winning and winning the money, what's your favorite part about doing the competitions? Oh, my favorite part, your favorite part besides the winning and the money?
Speaker 3:Oh, the bonus part of that, my favorite part, is just how my whole family is there. It's not me Like I'm very little part of the day, sure.
Speaker 1:Like.
Speaker 3:I have. My whole family is included. Everybody has a job, everybody's got a designation. You know, when it comes to wrapping, everybody's got their stations and I set everybody up in the stations and I start and all of a sudden Chrissy's like no, that didn't work, you got to be there. That makes no sense for the butter person to be there and the honey person to be there. You got to be like do your thing, chaos, coordinator, and all I do is I step back. But it's just how we all work together and we are together. You know, through whatever the elements of the day are Like, I think one of the competitions we did today or this year was, I think by nine o'clock in the morning is 95 degrees out. Oh wow, that was a fun day you know, so we're there.
Speaker 3:We're grumpy, tired, sweaty all together you know.
Speaker 3:And then we're there on the 75 degrees sunny days and we're all together, you know, and so that's my favorite part is how my mom, my dad, my brother, my sisters, their friends and families, my kids, their boyfriends or girlfriends, whoever they are at the time which is, for the most part, my kids are very consistent with having boyfriends or girlfriends. They don't go through them a lot, you know. So it's the same faces every time and leading up to it it's my coworkers hey, clint, you got a competition coming up. Good luck, you know. And then afterwards it's the. I post my results of how we do and stuff like that, and it's just a flood of congratulations you deserve it, the likes and stuff like that. So it's not just me doing it. I guess you could say it's everybody who I consider brothers and sisters and loved ones are all behind us, you know.
Speaker 3:So, that's what I think is by far and that's the thing that drives me to continue doing competitions is knowing, and that's why I don't do a lot. I don't do them weekly, you know, like last year I did four, I think next year for sure going to do the same four that I did, and there's two more that kind of caught my eye, but it's just like it's just, it's such a cool day, so that's what keeps me going.
Speaker 2:So it seems like there's a lot of work involved in the competition, like with your family, you know, helping out with this person has this role. This person has that role. Would it be possible? For a single person to show up at a competition by themselves and do it all Like. Is that a thing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I seen it. Last year I saw this guy. He showed up from South Dakota and he set up. He must do YouTube or something. I tried finding him. But kind of the etiquette of competition is you don't go up to the other competitors during the competition, right? Sure, I kind of said that, so I didn't want to impose on him to find out who he was. Then after the competition he skirted out right away. But yeah, I've seen one-man teams Big Moe Kaysan. I mean, he's one of the godfathers of barbecue. He was known for many years of being a one-man American crew.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, you know, winning Winning world championship barbecue by and those are four meat categories and he was doing four meats in a day by himself, right, and I couldn't imagine.
Speaker 1:You got to be dialed in. Oh my God, a lot of practice runs yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's not just competitions, you're also walking it to turn it in. I know, like sometimes, that those big competitions, big world competitions, it's a half mile walk, and then you got to come back and get the next meet, because the next turn is a half an hour later. Oh, you know, you can't turn them both in the same time. So, like being a one-man crew, yeah, it's not something I want to do, and not not only that, but it wouldn't be the same. You know, the first time that it's just me and chrissy showing up, we're gonna have a great time, her and I, but it won't be the same, and that I hope we never have to experience, because you know my family, I don't think we'll have to experience that. Yeah, they're there every time. Oh yeah, by far, though, the family thing is what keeps us going.
Speaker 2:So that kind of got me curious. I'm kind of backtracking here a little bit. You'd mentioned earlier and you talking about walking up with the finish finished product there to the judges you had mentioned earlier, about how it looks and how it's arranged like. What is the judges? What are they looking for as far as like appearance, like when they lift that lid and look at what you're doing? What are they looking for with that?
Speaker 3:so the backyard competitions I've done. Three out of the four allow garnish. What garnishing is is usually some sort of green in there to set the ribs on. So for one they don't move when you're walking the box around. You know the one place pub 65, pub and grub. They don't allow any garnishing, just throw the ribs in the box.
Speaker 3:But what they're looking for is symmetrical, even cuts. And that's one thing I also learned is that the center of the rack is generally the best rib you get right. So that first year I took six racks and I cut the center bone out of all of them and kind of put them there together. Well then I realized that if I use the same rib and find six bones and cut them, they put back together a lot nicer. So it looks prettier in the box. So when they open it up it looks like a half a rack of ribs. And then they grab it. Oh, they're actually disconnected already, they're already cut, and so they're looking for color.
Speaker 3:It's for one, you don't want it too dark, more of that kind of red, mahogany kind of a look. And then they like it sauced but not clumpy. You know what I mean. So like for me. I thin my sauce out with apple juice and so like, for me, I thin my sauce out with apple juice and it's more of like kind of a glaze, got it Kind of tacked up there, you know.
Speaker 3:And then, yeah, just neatness as well, as you set it in there like it's clean, you take a paper towel and you clean around the white food tray or whatever you know. You make it just look pretty. So when they open it up they're like, okay, that one looks better, that one looks good. And that's your goal is that you start out with a really good-looking box and they bite it and go as long as it's anything, but you're already scoring higher. So that's where my first competition where I placed fifth is that I had a lot of people come up and tell me that I was by far the best ribs that they've ever had. You know, which was a huge compliment for my first competition.
Speaker 1:I had a lady.
Speaker 3:She was like I've been a chef for 25 years. And she goes. I got to tell you your combination of flavors knocked my socks off. Oh my God, best barbecue I ever had. And that came from like a chef.
Speaker 1:Did you find her socks?
Speaker 3:Did not look for them. I suppose you were busy winning. Sorry, I got to go for the awards, but it was just kind of like one of those things. Like you know, it was a cool accomplishment, but I realized where I would have probably scored or, you know, gotten a call in that competition if my ribs looked pretty. And I'll look it back now. I look, take a picture of the turn in box. You know, it's kind of a thing so you can learn from your mistakes or whatever. And that was definitely a mistake was the turning box did not look pretty there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what advice when you give this a new person that's going to go compete in smoking competitions for a brand new person like Andy doesn't know what he's doing. Yep.
Speaker 1:Yep, I got. I got $300 burning a hole in my pocket. I'm going to get myself a 34 inch propane offset double master master built and turn it into 2,500 bucks.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I'm looking for an investment. I don't want to just throw the money at it. I want to come back with some cash Never going to happen.
Speaker 3:I guess, to get started, do your research Competitions. When they put it out out the flyers and stuff like that they usually have a list of rules on there as far as what you're allowed to do and what you can't do, and they usually have a contact person. And I don't know if I'm annoying or not, but I am not afraid to contact the person. Put it on and go. Do you allow this? You know it says doors open at seven but my smoker takes two hours of warm-up. Can I show up at 6? I ask those questions. Usually they're very helpful.
Speaker 3:I have a buddy of mine that I worked with for many years and he transferred up to the Moose Lake prison and he reached out to me and he said there's a guy up at Moose Lake that works there. I think his name is Matt. I've talked to him a and he goes. He wants to get into rib competitions but he's never done one before and I want to know, can I give him your number so he can reach out and ask you whatever questions Like heck, yeah, and also he's texted me a few times with questions like that and he's actually signed up for his first competition at it's called Good Neighbor Days over in Chisago Hugo area, you know. So he signed up for that one and I'll be there, so that'd be kind of fun to meet him. I've never even met him, but a lot of it is just competing in that one too, or just okay.
Speaker 3:Competed in that one last year took third there. So that was back when we were still trying some stuff. But just do the research, learn the rules of each competition, Cause they're all different when you do these backyard competitions. And then don't be afraid to ask the event host questions. As far as do you provide the rib boats? Do you provide? How does people's choice work? Because every place is different of how they have the people judge your ribs. So ask those questions.
Speaker 3:Because our last competition at Pub 65, we didn't ask the right questions and they had a size competition that we really wanted to get in on. So I made my jalapeno poppers. Well, the year before the size competition was, you turned in four samples of your size to the judges and that's it. That's all you had to make. You could give away to the public if you wanted, but that was just their deal. Well, this year we turned in our four jalapeno poppers and then people came around and my dad and my uncle and you know my boy, they're smashing all these jalapeno poppers. People coming around they're like where's your size? We want to test your size. And well, we don't have enough or whatever like well, there's a science competition, that's 500 we missed out on. Oh, you know that if we would have won people's choice science competition, but I didn't know it because I didn't ask the question. So, yeah, don't be afraid to ask and reach out to the event coordinators.
Speaker 2:Well, do you have anything else to add that we haven't missed, that you want to share with anybody there Clint Pizza or barbecue To add man, that's fun.
Speaker 3:If you're ever thinking about getting into barbecue competitions, the backyard stuff, pull the band-Aid off and just jump in, do it. It's fun, you'll never turn back, it's addicting, almost. You know. One thing I didn't do I wish I would have done is actually go to one of them one time and be a patron if you will. But it's not what you think. I think a lot of these backyard competitions my favorite one by far, not just because I've won it two years in a row but is that A1 Tire being a part of a competition?
Speaker 3:being a patron, I highly suggest the A1 Tire because it is such a cool event that those guys put on for the public. You know it's for the public. Barbecue is just a bonus, you know, so it's a cool thing, they have a band that plays at night. Oh, that's fun it is cool, nice, cool brand huh.
Speaker 1:Awesome. What was the name of the rubs place?
Speaker 3:again the seasonings, smokin' Bros, rubs and Seasonings. So Smokin' Bros. If you just type that into Facebook or Instagram, you'll find them. I wish I would have brought a picture of their logo, but it's like the shape of a badge, if you will. It says Smokin' Bros. It's black and white.
Speaker 2:Well, if you can get me a photo of it, send me a photo, I can put it in our comments or whatever I'll do that right when we're done.
Speaker 3:I got their logo.
Speaker 1:We'll definitely add that in there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they contribute to such a good cause that Correctional Peace Officers Foundation.
Speaker 2:Take another drink. It officers foundation, so take another drink.
Speaker 3:It'll work. Yeah, cool guys For sure.
Speaker 2:Well, if you want to plug yourself one more time, where can people find you? Where can they expect to see you? And then Annie can close this out of here, pizza barbecue.
Speaker 3:I'm on Facebook and Instagram and tinkering around with Tik TOK the best I can with what I'm brave enough to do, so well, that might be going away here pretty soon.
Speaker 2:That's a whole different thing. It's supposedly going to be banned here soon.
Speaker 1:We'll see In the United States, we'll see who knows Again, right, yeah, exactly, we'll see what happens there. I'm sure somebody will come around with something that will replace it immediately, though. Well, clint, we appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 1:Thank you Making the trip out here and being able to be a part of the shenanigans that we had here. But yeah, ooda pills, so you can get it in most places the Skolsh, pretty high on the lawnmower scale, I think. It'd probably be pretty high on the ribs scale, the smoking scale Be able to maybe have a couple of those while you're doing that. I think an 8-10 hour day, though, might prove a little difficult to skulch your way through.
Speaker 3:I need a couple bushes.
Speaker 1:Kind of offset things.
Speaker 3:Some smokies here.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, we appreciate that Udapils be able to check that out. Like I said, it's in a lot of places the 16-ounce can and then the mix packs that they have a lot of places. You know the 16-ounce can and then the mix packs that they have a lot of places, otherwise they're located in Minneapolis and good stuff you know. Good to be able to have. I kind of rotated over to this Hanalei for the second round here, but a lot of different options that we have here. So, yeah, always a good time though. But, yeah, I hope you enjoyed today's episode and, again, like, share, subscribe, tell everybody about it and make sure you check out everything that Clint's got going on over at Pizza Barbecue. But until next time, everybody, cheers, cheers, cheers.
