IF YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED TO THIS WEEK'S PODCAST EPISODE, YOU CAN LISTEN TO IT AT THIS LINK PIT002If you read last week’s blog post (and if you haven’t, then click
here to go back and read it), then you will remember that I haven’t always been in bbq professionally. Today’s blog post is going to give you a brief glimpse into my barbecue story and at the end will provide a quick tip of the week related to the story. You can hear the full story, details and commentary on this week’s podcast episode
PIT002 - My Barbecue Story.
Growing up, bbq wasn’t something we did much around our house. We might grill hot dogs or hamburgers sometimes, but if we wanted bbq we would just go and buy it somewhere. I remember the days growing up where we would get the chopped brisket that was smothered in some sort of AR / OK / KS combination sauce…that’s what I was used to. Actually, there was this one time that my dad and I stopped off at a local joint that was outside of town, a.k.a. Middle of nowhere. It had the same bbq I was used to, but I refused to eat it. See, this place, well, it reminded me of the little restaurant from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie and there was NO WAY I was eating people that day! I’m sorry to whoever owned that joint but no thank you!!
After I moved to TN when I was 19 and started traveling around the country as a musician, I began to experience the bbq from the various regions and it was a game changer for sure! Of course, in TN “bbq” means pulled pork and if you ask my mother-in-law, she will say she likes bbq and then she also likes brisket, ribs and turkey. It took me a minute to figure out that when she says “bbq” she means pulled pork.
When my wife and I got married in 1999, I wanted to be the husband that knew how to cook great meat on the grill for my family. I wanted to know how to cook great steaks, great chicken, great hot dogs, and of course, great burgers! Here is a quick breakdown of the various grills we had over the years (and these will help you see the progression over time).
- The first grill we got was one of those little table top charcoal grills with no lids, just the little round grill. I got the charcoal and the (dare I say it and I now know better) lighter fluid. Here it is, the moment I’ve been waiting for to prove to my wife that I. Am. Awesome. A storm blew in and destroyed the cook.
- Our next grill was a little bullet smoker from Walmart (it had a lid so no storm would ruin the cook). We used that for the next couple of years to cook for family and friends at our house. I was pleased until a storm blew it off the patio and destroyed the cooker.
- A couple of years later, we were living in Northwest Arkansas and my wife bought me a used gas grill for Father’s Day. I prefer charcoal grills over gas, but she thought of me and got it for me. We used that for years and I ended up rebuilding it after it rusted out due to the southern humidity. My boys were in awe that I knew how to fix it without knowing how to fix it. (This is the point where I have a winning dad moment!) And we got several more years out of it after I rebuilt it.
- About 11 years ago, that grill finally gave up the ghost and here is where the real magic starts. I had some friends that did something with meat that I had not really been around but wanted to learn more about. They smoked meat. I proceeded to spend time with these two fellas talking about barbecue, learning about smoking meat, and tasting great barbecue. They taught me how to manage the smoke, how to trim the meat along with other various things related to the process. So, I bought a small offset smoker from one of our local stores and got going using the things I had been learning from my two friends.
- And then, it happened…
I was introduced to a new, local barbecue joint that was coming up strong as a name to be learned: Jordan Wright and Wright’s Barbecue (
www.wrightsbbq.com) After meeting Jordan and talking about part-time work, and then having him remember me a few months later, I became the early morning pit cook on Saturdays at Wrights. I was stoked! I had stepped out of the worship pastor position and was cooking at home on Saturdays, so this made sense to me and my wife. I’m so glad we did as it changed the trajectory of our life (little did we know that at the time).
Quick side note BUT learning moment for sure. I am not sure if Jordan would remember this but my first morning there…I caught one of the smokers on fire! I will let you hear the full story on the podcast episode, so just know that at that moment I thought I had failed and could not cook barbecue. I just knew that was my first and last day at Wright’s Barbecue. And now, six years later I'm still there as one of the full-time pitmasters at Wright’s Barbecue Rogers!
So, that is a good chunk of my story and barbecue journey. I know my journey will keep moving and changing and growing. I hope you will join me and my family on this walk and that you join me and others in a life around the pit. I look forward to what God has in store for me in this arena. I look forward to what we have coming up with the Lessons from the Pit podcast and the great things we are going to be releasing for Life Around the Pit. I hope you will join me in the pit!
Tip of the week: As with anything, including cooking barbecue, learning and mistakes are part of the process. There is always something new to learn. Just when you think you have it figured out, you burn something or use the wrong wood, etc. I set a smoker on fire my first day on the job, I burned a turkey on the first Thanksgiving we had with my in-laws here in Northwest Arkansas. I had food that tasted like an ashtray until I learned how to get “blue smoke”. I even made rib jerky for my in-laws. It is part of it. Mistakes are going to happen. So don’t get frustrated if you make a mistake. Don’t freak out if you burn the turkey. It is just a turkey. Don’t get frustrated and give up when you waste money and make rib jerky. And remember the conversation I had a long time ago, “Is this your first mistake? No. Is this your last mistake? No. Then own it and move on. Tomorrow is another day.”
I would love to hear your barbecue story or one of your barbecue mistakes. I would love to collect these and put them together for others to see at some point. Email me at
podcast@lifearoundthepit.com with the subject line “my bbq story” so I can read them. I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time: season some meat, start a fire, and make an impact!
IF YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED TO THIS WEEK'S PODCAST EPISODE, YOU CAN LISTEN TO IT AT THIS LINK PIT002
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