Archive for December, 2009

I was asked by Eric Devlin a while ago to contribute my top Christmas gift giving picks for this publication. I picked the things I like, some of which I already have and a few I would still like to have.

Well I am glad it is finally live here is the link to the new Smoke Signals Magazine.

Additionally here is the link to the Fan Page on Facebook

I am looking forward to future issues!!!

Heres a sneak Peak at this weeks TLC BBQ Pitmasters show:

THURS – 10pm
BBQ PITMASTERS

Cooking skills, nerves and patience are tested at the historic Riverfest Barbecue Cookoff in Decatur, AL as the Pitmasters battle for the $3,000 top prize. Paul tries to avoid last place placement, Lee Ann’s schedule is threatened by a power outage and Tuffy Stone uses spreadsheets for BBQ?!?

Don’t mess with Myrons Muffin pans LOL

Power Outtages …. LeeAnn Whippen

Paul Petersen Discussing being new to competition BBQ and coming in last place.

Day 15 – 25 Days of Christmas BBQ Blogging

I can’t wait for January 17th 2010- why>> Because it will be the premiere of the Great American BBQ Showdown on the Food Network!

Tommy and Dennis had told me about this a couple of months ago when they were filming in South Carolian and they just released the dates it will be aired. I am so happy to see more of my BBQ friends on TV. It’s just even more great exposure in addition to the TLC BBQ Pitmasters show currently airing Thursday at 10pm E 9C.

Following 4 Competitive BBQ teams -

Checkered Pig (Tommy Houston)

Bub-ba-Q (William Bubba Latimer)

Divine Smoke (Debbie & Dennis Dill and friend David Hord)

Black Jack Barbecue(Jimmy Hagood)

Day 14 -25 Days of Christmas Blogging.

You know sometimes you see pictures that can certainly take you to a moment or spurn you into action. Then there are others by people that just make me hungry. Food porn is a HUGE thing now. The wording seems rather crude to describe the elegance that I see in Curt McAdams pictures from his Live Fire Online site.

copyright Livefire Photography

He is an exceptionally talented photographer and also a speaker on all things BBQ. He also has incredible recipes.

Recently I did a round table discussion with him on Hucks Hut. In the offtimes not being recorded he gave me a recipe for ABTS that I can’t wait to share. I am hoping to get down to Ohio to compete at one of the events he will be at this year.

copyright Livefire Photography

Recently I found out about Curt’s new venture- The Outdoor Cooking Guild. From his website here is the description:

What is the Outdoor Cooking Guild? It’s pretty simple; it’s a group of bloggers that concentrate on outdoor cooking in many forms, whether grilling, barbecuing, Cuban pig roasts, outdoor bread ovens or dutch oven campfire cooking.

There are groups and web rings for more particular topics, but this is a unique group of bloggers that know how to tame fire and cook outside better than inside. From high tech gadgets to low tech campfires, this is about getting out of the house and feeding people.

copyright Livefire Photography

Its a terrific Guild that has some really talented people such as Larry Gain from the BBQ Grail, Angie Quaale from Wellseasoned, and many others who are just an asset to outdoor cooking.

copyright Livefire Photography

In addition to the Outdoor Cooking Guild Curt has also created a fun ongoing event Friday Food Fave on Twitter:

To celebrate the talent and creativity of fellow food lovers, I am going to weekly select a “Friday Food Fave” to showcase here on Livefire.

How does it work? It’s simple. Follow me on Twitter, and, on Fridays before 2:30 pm Eastern time, send me a link (@cmcadams) to your current favorite food photo. Make sure it’s your own, or have the owner send it to me, and use the tag “#fridayfoodfaves”.

After 2:30, I will select my favorite for the day and let the winner, and everyone else, know. If the winner is ok with it, I will post the photo here, either by link or directly (it’s their choice), and credit them with the photo. If they don’t want the photo posted, that’s cool, too. They will also receive a Friday Food Faves badge to display on their blog if they wish.

copyright Livefire Photography
You can find out more about Curt at his website or on twitter.

copyright Livefire Photography

So it may not be traditionally a BBQ dish but I will say that making one of these pies (or in the case at our house 14 annually) does well on an indirect BBQ. The pastry gets nice and flaky. I love using my Traegers to bake these pies.

At our house at Christmas time we have such a wide range of foods, my Mother was Polish and French, my inlaws are all Macedonian. Hmm No wonder why I like to eat so much. So many great recipes. This is one we have each and every year. This is the recipe I have been using since about 1996. It was better than my Grandmothers.

Here is my recipe for tourtiere I use a recipe by Pierre Lebel.

French Canadian Tourtiere

Ingredients:

1 lb minced ground pork (lean)

1 lb minced ground beef (lean)

1 lb minced ground veal (lean)

2 slices of bacon finely chopped

1 medium onion diced

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon savoury

½ teaspoon cloves (optional** personally I omit this)

1 garlic clove minced

1 teaspoon all-spice

1 cup water

1 cup mashed potato (* I go for a drier mashed potato here not creamy)

1 carrot finely chopped

1 celery finely chopped

Combine all ingredients except mashed potato in a heavy pot and bring to boil.

Reduce heat and cook uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, or long enough to remove the pink tone from the meat and reduce most of the water. The mixture should be damp but not watery. Add mashed potato.

Cool mixture and pour into large unbaked pie shell. Cover with pastry and prick to allow steam to escape. (many times I have used a tiny cookie cutter and cut out steam vents with them for a more festive look)

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce oven heat to 350 degrees and bake till crust is light brown.

Day 13 – 25 Days of Christmas Blogging!

IT’s official now. Caught on tape. He admitted it. Santa Rocks!

Day 12-25 Days of BBQ blogging.

Came across an interesting topic on twitter the other day. BBQ Cookies.

Now my dear BBQ buddy Angie Quaale from Well Seasoned has been making Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies for some time and getting rave reviews for them. I don’t doubt they taste fantastic since she is such a great BBQ’er and chef in general. Bacon in any recipe will get my attention.

However I have never come across a recipe that calls for BBQ sauce and pig candy in cookies…

This lead me to contacting Tom from Big Butz BBQ Sauce for the recipe and to find out the inspiration for them comes from. Gourmet Girl Magazine is one of my favorite twitter (@TheGourmetGirl) people outside of the BBQ world.

Straight from Tom here is his own words and recipes…
Big Butz Quekies
BBQ Sauce infused Shortbread with Pig Candy Crumbles Cookies.

Recently I heard about this thing called a Virtual Holiday Cookie Crawl that Gourmet Girl Magazine was doing . They said they were looking for people to post recipes of their favorite or unusual cookie recipes that they had come up with for other people to try and enjoy. Now, I am a BBQ Sauce maker, not a baker, so this wouldn’t seem like something for me but, then I got to thinking, “Who says you can’t make a BBQ Sauce flavored cookie?” After all, the way I looked at it, cookies are sweet, BBQ Sauce is sweet (especially our Cranberry flavored sauce), so it can’t be impossible. After some research and thinking about the different flavors of cookies I’ve had over the years, I began to do some tinkering. Until finally I came up with Big Butz Quekies! At first glance these may sound like the strangest things ever but, just one bite and you’ll be amazed. This is the entry that I came up with for Gourmet Girl Magazine’s Virtual Holiday Cookie Crawl

Cookie Dough Mix
(Makes about 2 dozen)
1 ¼ cup All Purpose Flour
½ cup White Cornmeal
¼ cup Cornstarch
15 tbsp. Stick Butter
½ cup Confectioners Sugar
½ tsp. Salt
3 tbsp. BBQ Sauce (Big Butz BBQ Sauce preferred)
4 Strips Pig Candy (Recipe to follow)

First mix together the flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, and salt in a large mixing bowl. You can use a sifter to do this, I just use a fork to stir it around for a few minutes until there are no lumps and everything appears to be blended together evenly. In a separate bowl, start by creaming the butter (for easy figuring, it’s one tablespoon shy of 2 sticks of butter). Once the butter is smooth, stir in the sugar. (It is best to leave your butter out for it to soften but, if you must, you can microwave it at 10 second intervals. Do not let it melt!) Add the BBQ Sauce to the butter and sugar mixture and stir until completely blended in. Take your butter mixture and add it to the dry mixture by cutting it in.

Continue stirring until the mixture takes on a dough like quality. Chop up the pig candy strips into bits and stir them into the dough. Once everything has been thoroughly mixed roll it out of the bowl onto some plastic wrap. Seal up the dough in the wrap, flattening it into a large puck shape in the process. Place the wrapped up dough in the fridge for an hour all the way up to overnight if you need to. When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375° and take dough out of the fridge. Knead the dough and roll it out into a log shape that is about a 1 ½ inches in diameter. Cut the log in half with a knife and place half back in the fridge.

Start slicing pieces about ½ inch thick or divide over and over again until you get 12 even pieces. During the slicing process you may have to continue to rotate the log to keep the pieces as round as possible. Lay pieces out flat on cookie sheet. There is no need for greasing or spraying oil on the sheet. Place sheet in oven and cook for 13-15 minutes. Cookies will be brown around bottom edges when you take them out but the rest of the whole cookies should not be. While cookies are baking, lay out a sheet of wax paper.

When cookies are done, use a flipper and immediately remove them from the sheet, and place them on the wax paper to cool. Repeat the same process for the second log. Cookies will come out soft but will firm up as the cool and will really stiffen up if placed in the fridge inside a sealed bag. For serving, I recommend providing some BBQ Sauce for dipping the cookies into to really bring out the BBQ flavors. This recipe works with any of our BBQ Sauce and can bring a whole new dimension when using our Hot flavors. For those who are looking for the ultimate in making these cookies, one could attempt to use a Big Green Egg or Bubba Ho Keg type cooker to do it and would truly have made BBQ cookies.

Pig Candy
(Makes enough for 2 batches of Big Butz Quekies.)

1 package Thick Cut Bacon
1 cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup Chile Powder
¼ cup Kosher Salt (or less)

Quite a few people already have their own recipe for Pig Candy. This is a quick and easy one that I came up with and can be made in the oven. Preheat your oven to 375°. Mix sugar, chile powder, and salt together in a bowl. Lay bacon out on a Jelly Roll Pan or standard backing sheet (there is going to be plenty of grease). Coat bacon evenly with mixture and place pan in the oven. Let cook for approximately 20 minutes or until bacon appears to be cooked and sugar mixture has caramelized on the bacon. Remove bacon from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. After bacon, or now Pig Candy, has cooled for a few minutes, place the strips on another baking sheet lined with paper towels to soak up the grease. You might have to do this a second time to get all the extra grease off. Once fully cooled, your Pig Candy is ready to be used in your Quekies! Or, you can always just eat it by itself.

Thanks very much to Tom for sharing his recipes.

Day 11-25 days of Christmas BBQ Blogging.

I am always searching out new stuff on the net. IF you go to You Tube and type in BBQ you will find these guys-

Their BBQ videos are fun and informational. They have loads of subscribers and have visitors from around the world. They have made themselves known all over the net. Additionally they even have their own store. Worth it to check them out-

About THe BBQ Pit Boys!

You smell that? It smells gooooood!

When we started uploading our BBQ Pit Boys recipes to YouTube and other video sites a year ago, we never realized what a huge response we’d get.

We’ve had visitors from over 120 countries view, download and comment on our bbq recipes over 6 million times. Amazing, and we have to thank all of you for your many kind words and support.

Barbecuing is all about good friends, good music, and good food. Good livin’ don’t get any better than that.

Day 10 – 25 Days of Christmas BBQ Blogging…

TLC BBQ Pitmasters Clip

Talking to Myron is interesting to say the least. He has just won for the 8th time MIM TOY ..This interview took almost an hour and a half. To get that much time with him I think is truly rare as he is constantly on the go and busy. How to describe him is tough. He’s the type of guy that would cuss at ya and yet at the same time be trying to teach you something of value because he cares. He is much more benevolent than he appears to be. He is more sensitive to other people’s feelings than he lets on. He’s not out to hurt anyone.

There is an underlying deep resounding care and love for his friends and a need to protect them and also those who are just beginning to start out. He has always been very polite every time I have met him. I have never been in his presence where he cussed more than damn. In fact he has always been the typical Southern Gentleman.

He calls a spade a spade. He doesn’t mince words. He is most definitely a very proud man. His reasoning on his ego are sound. They make sense to me. He has won more than any other. I’d say he has a right to brag for sure. I will say this though with the exception of his family and close personal friends he really doesn’t give a damn about what you think of him. He has his own moral compass (instilled by his own family) to be fair to be truthful and to be honorable. That’s what matters to him well that and of course getting paid…..

Now truly I could list his accomplishments but Myron has some of them listed on his website.

Myron Mixon, chief cook of Jack’s Old South Competition Bar-B-Que Team started Jacks Old South in 1996 as a way to promote the family Bar-B-Que sauce, which was made by his mother and father, Gaye and Jack Mixon. We competed in our first competition in Augusta, Ga. where we took 1st place in Whole Hog, 1st place in Pork Ribs and 3rd in Pork Shoulder. Since the beginning, we have won 140 plus grand championships resulting in over thousands of trophies, 30 state championships including wins in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Illinois, South Carolina, and Tennessee, team of the year six times, and 8 national championships. We have also taken three first place whole hogs at the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbeque Competition. Additionally, we have been the Grand Champion at the World Championship in Memphis three times, in 2001, 2004 and 2007. We have also taken first place in the Whole Hog category at the World Championship in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. Jack’s Old South has been the Memphis in May Team of the Year with the highest number of points for 7 years, from 1999 through 2004, and also 2007. We are also the only team to win Grand Championships in Memphis in May, Kansas City BBQ Society and Florida BBQ Association in the same year. As a result of all of our success on the various BBQ circuits, we have been featured on several television networks, including the Food Network, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel and the Versus Network. Mastering the art of Bar-B-Que’ing has lead to the development of our own line of Jack’s Old South products including sauces, rubs, grills and smokers, as well the Bar-B-Que Cooking School.

Q- Have you been online much since the premiere of TLC BBQ Pitmasters.

MM-I don’t go online much. Unless its checking my email and seeing if I got paid from my internet store. Or if people are sending money for the cooking school or asking about the business of franchising Jacks Old South. Not big on Computers at all. Other than that the rest of that shit (forums etc) can just wait until I can. For me it’s all about getting paid. This is my living.

Q-Why are you now offering Franchises ?

MM- To be truthful I’d rather let them have the damn worry of running a restaurant. I have been down that road. We made money don’t get me wrong. We did real well with it. Over all I don’t have the patience to deal with the employees. There sure is money but it’s not my demeanor to deal with employees. My Daddy told me. – “If it takes more than more than you and one more person you are screwing up”. Other people may want to work with employees. A lot people out there can get into and do well. We will give them the tools to make it happen.

Q-Was your Dad your biggest BBQ influence?

MM-Definitely. On how to BBQ yes he was. Most definitely. For the actual teaching of competition style BBQ it would have to be Pat Burke of Murphysboro ILL. He was my biggest competition BBQ influence. He is the other half with Apple City BBQ Gang with Mike Mills.

Q-Do you realize that could possibly be accountable for a lot of muffin tin sales in North America?

MM- I do a lot of contests and 3-4 schools I always try to improve. You can’t keep pitching the same thing every year. What I did last year may not work this year. Your teaching has to change. I experiment at contests. Not at home. Now don’t get me wrong I won’t do it at $10000 grand prize purse competition but I will at a $2500. You’re just not going to get the experiment you need at home. $2500 is still good money but I charge $750.00 for cooking school and I have to give them something new and fresh not the same old thing. This is just one of those things I tried.. If you keep the course or your stuff the same you won’t keep winning. You have to constantly change not 180 degrees but you have to keep things fresh.

Q- Whats your opinion on BBQ Judges

MM- The BBQ judges drive what teams do period. At the end of the day actually they are the ones that write your check. Indirectly but they write the scores to get you that check.

Q- What has been your biggest winnings?

MM- $26000 Memphis in May 2001,2004,2007

Q- Whats your favorite Category to cook

MM- Brisket- KCBS,Whole Hog MBN I like cooking whole hog. (chuckling he says that) He is the king of whole hogs.

Myron Whole Hog

Q- Backs or sides Ribs

MM-I do baby backs I can build a nicer box with baby Backs. I know that’s opposite from everyone else.
Everyone should use what you know and turn in whichever you are better at.

Q- What was your biggest splurge on yourself after a big check?

MM- I bought a log Splitter. Peach wood stumps are hard. The large stumps can be 20 years old 18-20 inch stumps its great wood. You can bust it with a maul and a wedge and let me tell you that gets real old. I had to take my money so I can bust those up. Best thing I ever bought.

Q- What does it take to garner your respect in BBQ in one of the TLC BBQ Pitmasters Premiere clips you can be seen stating you respect Lee Ann Whippen. That’s high praise from you.

MM- This is simply predominantly a man’s game. She does just what the guys do. She competes week in and week out. She doesn’t ask for favours when she is out -she does the stuff herself. She hauls it around and loads it up just like any man out there.
Now I have seen some of those female teams and they want to wear their manicures and all that hoity toity stuff and then they want the boys to come over to cook for them and do their crap. She doesn’t do that. She also wins. She has won some contests. She has my respect because of that.

Overall though it takes somebody that has continued to have success in the business. Not a one shot wonder. Somebody who has had some staying power. Over 5 years at least on top of their game and they keep winning. It’s hard to do it and stay fresh. A lot of people come in, and win for the moment. They do very well and then you see them go away it’s because they keep trying to do what they did- it just don’t work. Too many other people are taking the time and spending the money whether it be from cooking classes or whatever books videos etc and the dollars for the equipment and you just can’t keep complacent hoping that what you did 5 years ago works today. It aint gonna happen.

Q-Who is on your cooking team.?

MM- My wife Faye, David Hair (mostly with me) Nick Cochran, Wayne & Sandy Johnson, PJ also goes with me some. Ed Harris is also on the team he cuts my peach wood for me. I think we will see him on an episode.
I’ve got a Good Crib. I have been very lucky from the time I started in 1996 that the people that I have had working with me I haven’t had the same cast of teammates but I have only had good teammates. I never had any slackers. They knew their jobs. They do it out of the fact they want to win.

My team have loved to win. These people like to win. You know some people say I take the damn fun out of it but when I am winning I have fun. Even if it is a hobby for you and not what you do for a living every time you win a dollar -a dollar didn’t have to come out of your pocket. They don’t understand that

I mean I understand the camaraderie and they are looking forward to driving up in their motor homes getting into their little circles and having their little cocktails there is nothing wrong in the world with that.But this is my living. If I want to get drunk and have my friends over I want to do it on my patio beside my pool. I don’t have to spend $2 grand to do it. You know what I am saying? You can’t be with the party on Friday night and win the contest on Saturday -it does not work like that.

Q- Whats your favourite contest. Its the Big Pig Jig its my own home town Vienna Georgia. it where I got started.

But outside of my own town its the national Capital BBQ Battle
Probably one of the best I have been to. Unique at where the contest it . They close down 8 or 9 blocks of the street. Cooking right on the street right in the middle of it. You are amongst all of the history of your Country right there. That’s pretty damn special. Plus now it’s a dual MIM and KCBS.

Q- Which competition style do you prefer MIM or KCBS.

MM- My hearts always with Memphis style MIM it was my first love. I enjoy that. Best of both worlds. Blind plus on site. You have a lot of teams from KCBS now that say MIM is just too expensive. Now don’t be telling me that if you are stepping out of your $300- $400000 Motor home. I don’t want to hear that shit that’s no excuse. Now you have some kcbs teams who used to call it a dog and pony show that have done the duals and they enjoy it with the interaction with the judges.

Q- Have you ever been to Canada?

MM-We went to Whistler. To do that contest. 2007. Dusty’s bar and grill. Gorgeous Place. The restaurant, the decor – they spent some serious dollars there. It’s the best looking BBQ restaurant I have ever seen. (High praise from Myron)

The outside has a steel sign they took and cut the words out. It’s pretty damn nice.

Internationally I’d like to go to the WBA out of Switzerland I would love to go do some of those events. Schedule a couple of years ahead and set up. My schedule now is so damn hectic. I wouldn’t want to sacrifice my own schools here- it would have to be feasible.

Q-Do your kids plan on continuing your BBQ legacy?

MM- On kid is in college and one in pharmacy school. No interest in continuing my BBQ legacy. Hell No. It’s too much hard work. Hell no. I don’t want them to have to work this hard.

I really don’t want them to. Most kids don’t work hard like this. Most kids aint gonna work like this. Like Lexington BBQ up there in North Carolina and they are showing the whole hog BBQ . Its all old folks.

(Myron really took a level of seriousness at this point of the conversation he has so much respect talking about this) Shoveling the coals is unique- it’s good BBQ. It’s not like it is today where you have to throw a couple of sticks in then you go off and have you a drink of coca cola. That isn’t the way it is. It is very tedious. You can over fire it. You can fire up the whole bunch. It’s very skilled. But it’s very hard. That’s why you don’t see anybody doing it like that anymore.

Q-Was that a part of the reason that you agreed to do the documentary with John Markus? So there would be a record of your legacy?

MM-That had a lot to do with it. I wanted a record of what my Dad showed me.

Q- How did you get involved with filming and becoming a cast member for TLC BBQ Pitmasters?

MM-Well John and I were going to hang out at the Harpoon BBQ festival. We had planned it already. This had been a plan of Johns for 3 or 4 years. Since the last Versus show in Reno he had this idea for a BBQ reality show. I was coming up to spend the weekend with John.

Jay Petersen had moved on and hooked up the production company (Original Media) and wanted John to come in and pitch it. He asked if they could shoot some sizzlers reels and would I mind doing some. They sent out a film crew – a camera guy and a producer and I would talk -it just went from there. Then they went off to other cooks and made some more. They made it happen. They made it happen really fast. This was July 2009 and we were filming the first show in Labour Day (Sept 1) pretty darn quick.

These people made their mind up to do it-they didn’t play around.

Q-Have you seen any comments about the show …do you care?

I don’t give two shits. It is what it is. Raise hell about my damn mouth and all that shit. They need to get real. Ever damn contest you ever been around has some cussing. The thing about it is if they are going to be honest with themselves they could do a lot worse than curse. There are a lot worse things that have happened at a contest. If I can get by and cussing is my worst deal I am happy.

Q-Do you talk to your Momma with that mouth?

MM-Oh I don’t talk to my Momma like that with my damn mouth. She would bear down on my ass.

Q-Do you let anyone else touch your competition meat?

MM- As far as the injections and making up stuff I do all of that the pre-prep I do all that. In KCBS I do all of it. In MIM I got some guys that will inject the hogs and shoulders and stuff but they do what I tell them to do. As far as the sauces and everything else (rubs injections) that’s strictly me I do every bit of that hands on.

Q-What’s you first comp for 2010.

MM-Sebring FLA January FBA
Lakeland (KCBS)

Q-What’s your take on garnish ?

MM-I don’t feel it’s necessary but you have too many teams (that like it) because that is one of their plusses in this game. It aint going anywhere. The damn board members can see that it’s not going to happen. You better damn make sure if your meat is not perfect and tastes like crap that you are getting 8 or 9’s in appearance. It should be a given. It better look the best it ought to be. Straight out of the gate it better get an 8 or 9.

Q- Are you endorsing anyone who is running for the KCBS BOD?

MM- I try to stay out of the damn politics. I don’t want to be drawn into it. I have enough problems keeping my own ass out of the fire. And with my own mouth. No I would not endorse anyone.

I wouldn’t wish that shit on nobody. Not even my enemies it may seem glamorous and fun I was county commissioner for 6 years and I think they go in having these big hopes and plans on how they can change things that don’t happen unless you get the rest of them to go along. They are too damn entrenched set in their own personal agendas. That’s just the way it is.

Honestly how much has changed since the last time. We are supposed to have all this camaraderie and holding hands singing Kumbaya. It ain’t happening. Whatever it is- it’s the same thing own personal agendas. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the boardroom of KCBS or any other organization it’s got its own little insights. It could be the same discussion about Coca cola or Colonial bread it’s all the same its still infighting. It just happens to be about BBQ.

Q- Favorite BBQ food to to eat.

MM-Brisket. I have been around it so damn long with pork (hogs shoulders) it’s still great but I don’t want to eat it. Then chicken and BBQ turkey or smoked turkey.

Q- Favorite Drink on the road.

MM-Crown Royal and damn water. If we ever invaded Canada I want to invade the distillery.
2 years ago I was at the Jack we were RGC I was up at the stage and I had had quite a few cause we had had a great weekend vending I wasn’t really giving a shit about the contest because win or not i had made some good money . I was hollering and cheering on the asses of the Canadians. Yelling Jack Daniels sucks and long live Canada. I had my blue bag in my hand (crown royal) Now I love the crown. I can spot crown out cause I drink it with water. I don’t be mixing it. On ice or water I can tell if its crown.

I need to get Crown Royal to sponsor me. Every crown deserves a King and I am that.

Q- What do you think the biggest misconception about you is?

MM-They think I am a mean son of a bitch or I am arrogant. Which I aint.
Anyone who does this on a week in and out basis anybody has started on winning and peddling their own stuff (shirts rubs etc) have got egos. They are proud of their accomplishments. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, In this game if you don’t blow your own horn there ain’t for damn sure nobody going to do it for you.

I am not a hardass for damn sure, if I was I wouldn’t have helped people in the past. I mean anyone in this who says they have not been helped in BBQ is telling a damn lie. I have been helped. If I didn’t want to help anyone I would not do the cooking schools I would be keeping it all to myself. But I pass it on it’s just not for damn free. I wouldn’t knock it if someone wants to give it away for free it’s their loss. I mean if the people who are giving it away for free were landscapers I would like them to give it away for free and come landscape my damn yard for free.
This is what I do for a living. It aint free. They need to pay.

I am a big old teddy bear. (chuckling)

When the situation calls for it of course I can be a hardass. I mean everybody watching the show thinking that I am like that all the time- I damn am not. Comments are just that. When you are in the tent you have the pressure in your own site. I was wired for sound and video. The thing is I don’t give a shit who heard me or who is hearing me. They aint going to kill me for cussing, and at the end of the day in 100 years who’s really going to give a shit.

Q- What’s your first memory of cooking with your Daddy?

MM-I didn’t want to do it. He was working our asses off me and my brother. I was probably 12 yrs old. He had these two big old fire barrels and you had to keep them filled to get the coals to be able to keep them shoveled hot to fill the pit.
There was as much a job to keep those fire barrels filled as it was to shovel it into the pit and cooking. I remember he was sitting on a 5 gallon bucket (I’ll never forget it) and he would walk up (we had tin across the tops of the pits) and run his had (just his hand no probes or thermometers)on the tin and he would tell us to get off our asses get over there and fire those pits.

There were 3 big sections. We had to do that every 20 minutes or less. We had steel handles on these shovels and they were hot. 10 ft long sliding into the fire barrel so damn hot -trying to keep yourself from burning. If you got too close you would burn yourself getting all blistered. The heat was generating on ya like something fierce. That was my first impression of it. I didn’t want to do it. I wasn’t going to do this.

In January 1996 he passed away. Back in March 2009 for the documentary with John Markus we opened them up again. The hadn’t been fired since he passed. We cleaned some stuff out and cleaned them up where we could cook on them again. We did a whole hog, 16 rib racks. 16 hams. He always cooked hams Full spareribs. He might of cooked a few hogs but for me I had to try just to see if I could do it.

Q- Are you trying to prove something to your Dads legacy?

MM-Pretty much. My Dad was pretty damn tough on us. People think I am hard they don’t have a damn clue. Sometimes come around and ask if Jack is around. I tell them now he aint and you better be damn glad he isn’t

He would not tolerate a lot of the shit that goes on in my life right now. I am constantly trying to prove I am as good as he is. I know I aint ever going to be as good. And the things that he did. Like the saying Jack of all trades and Master of none. Well my Daddy was the master of them all of them.

He could do anything he wanted to do. I just wanted to do this one part of his life as well as he did… BBQ. I am never going to profess or proclaim to do all the things he did but I want to do this part of it.

Q- Do you think you would ever come out of his shadow?

MM-Yes I think I can some. One thing about the documentary it was a big part of it. I don’t think the connection to my Dad was ever known. I wanted to make sure that was told before I got out of this game if I ever do get out of it. I want to give credit where credit is due and that’s my Dad and he got me started. That he was something . I don’t think he was out there to cast a shadow. I just want them to know how I got started. What drove me to do this.

Q-Who was the first to call you the Man In black?

MM-Ron M. Sylacauga Alabama contest when I walked up to the stage in 1998

Q- How does your wife Faye feel about it all?

MM-She’s fine with it. It’s what I do for a living. Now it’s at the point where she doesn’t come out all the time (with exceptions for the Big Pig Jig, the Jack MIM ) to the other 25 or so I go to. She don’t make them. She is so busy at her own job. It’s hard but I enjoy it. 1300 miles to me in a day is nothing. Anybody else driving forever hauling a pit wouldn’t be good- you have to be a diehard BBQ person to keep going.

Q-How many competitions have you competed in this year?

MM-Close to 30

Q- Whats been your favourite part shooting the TLC BBQ Pitmasters Show?

MM-Getting to know some of the teams better

Other than Paul and Harry I knew everyone else.
Johnny I have gotten to know him the last 3 or 4 years. Johnny doesn’t try to be funny but his matter of fact Texas one liners tickled my ass.

Tuffy well I got to know him a lot better – he came to my school- that was funny.

Jamie and Pam Geer of Jambo pits. I really enjoyed and getting to be around him. We have a lot in common both of us selling pits. He is a walking damn clown. Funny as heck with his one liners. This guy doesn’t have his own damn writers and he is better than Larry the cable guy. (Chuckling) Jamie just remembers all those one liners. He’d bust your damn gut from laughing so much. He is a good guy. Pam his wife -now she’s a damn saint. That’s about what I would say about my wife Faye too. She puts up with my Bullshit. Pam does that for Jamie.

Paul Petersen -First time I met him he comes across arrogant. He didn’t have a damn clue. At the start you wanted to show him what for. Before the series was over I liked Paul. I kind of felt sorry for him because he was lost in this world. It wasn’t what he thought it would be. I don’t think coming in DAL helped promote his image it ain’t going to do that. I am not making fun of him nor would I pity him. He got much better as it went on. That was good for him long term. Made me feel bad for him (not sorry like pity) but sometimes things just don’t work out like you think they would have or planned out. I have been down that road myself. I just from personal experience I knew what he was going through. He has to ride that bull out on his own.

Harry Soo- Sleeper in the damn bunch. He wants to come across as a typical novice. That was a hell of a field in Mesquite. This is a whole helluva lot different deal than California. It’s one thing to take 4 1st places in a contest in California with 17 teams (and that was one heck of a feat!) but he wasn’t going to do that in Mesquite. It’s a lot damn harder.

Pat Burke was my big influence.. Pat Burke was the man to beat. I would go to compete against him You don’t get better by competing against teams you know you can beat. You get better by going up against better talent.
Kind of like Harry Soo. Nothing to take away from California. It just hasn’t had the time that Tennessee has had and Kansas and Missouri etc and it will come along. The Mecaa of BBQ is where the southern and mid west are -its just the way it is. You have to be able to compete against them. He figured it out. He got better as the series went on.

Q-How much exposure do you think the TLC BBQ Pitmasters series will give to competition BBQ?

MM-Best prop BBQ has ever had. Nothing against the other shows. John Markus didn’t want to do another festival show. It’s been done to death He didn’t do it. His vision was a reality show, the interactions amongst themselves, the family the other teams the crowds the organizers and whatever how it actually works. Being on TLC gets it out there to where people will really see it. People in it know about it of course but on the outside they had their eyes opened up to it.

Q- What’s your advice to people wanting to start in competition BBQ?

MM- Do research. Take and utilize the available info -you have to wade through it and do what fits for you.
Guys now listen you don’t buy a cooker just because it has a lot of chrome and fiddly things on it. Make sure the damn thing cooks right. Make sure it cooks the way you want it. A lot of time guys will buy something on sight. You put some aluminum on there and some diamond plate and they have to have it. Then, right then, they buy it. It’s showy enough for them I guess. If it has a motor in it or a rotisserie on it they damn well be sure getting it. I am also not a fan of hotspots I am not smart enough that I remember to move stuff to each side. They make that mistake.

The internet is a good thing but there is so much information. I think the NBBQA Conference seminars are a good thing this year I’ll be there. In 1996 there wasn’t as much access to this type of information.
When I started out I worked hard I took 2 -1sts and a third. In my own way I studied the Big Pig Jig and walked through. I paid attention to the teams. If they do their homework and their pre work done before they jump in and buy their pit they will shorten their learning curve and the lack of winning money.

Q-What breaks apart teams?

MM-Teams that don’t win is what breaks up teams most time. That leads to other shit backbiting to guessing who the leader is. I am just talking about getting calls not gcs. That makes people disband etc.

Q- In your opinion what makes your pits the best?

MM-You cooking above water each has a water steam effect and tenderizing.
Heat evenly no cold or hot spots. No shuffling around.
I can cook all 4 KCBS meats on one pit.

Q-Where are the pits built?

MM-Vienna, Georgia Jim Maxey Fabrication. In 1996 I got my first one that March and I haven’t look back. I have never cooked on anything else.

Q- What’s your take on Ron Cates announcement Nascar series?

MM-Money man -he is it. I got some in Arkansas (Smoke on the Water 2009 Clinton Presidential Center) and I was glad to get it. (Chuckles LOL)
You know that’s the kind of people you need to keep coming up and being innovative because they want to get into organizing. It’s no good with cooks sitting around saying you don’t have to worry about the money the teams will come anyways. My ass they will. If you have a competition on the same day with $1000 dollar grand and one with a $5000 you go where the money is at .
Ron Cates figured it out early on. He can have his own sanctioning body. He has the money and more.

Q-Does the sanctioning of a competition matter to you whether its KCBS, FBA, MIM or Cates?

MM-I would not care as long as the checks are good. His are good. I don’t care if it’s the kcbs or Ron Cates as long as the money is there. It don’t matter to me. BBQ is BBQ. I walk from one to the other FBA Memphis KCBS and if he gets his own sanctioning body I’ll go cook it too.

Now here I am speaking to all the KCBS board members from top to bottom they better not be sitting on their asses because of their arrogance if the man right there (Ron Cates) starts his own organization he will put a cramp in their damn style. So they don’t need to sit on their asses. They better get used to bending their knees a bit and kissing some asses instead of everyone having to kiss their ass.

Q- What else do you want people to know about you.

MM-I am a matter of fact type of person (understatement) what they see on TV isn’t what I am about totally. Anyone who knows me knows it not the case. I would never tell you anything that would hurt you. I see these teams telling new people bad advice to younger teams. I don’t know why they do this. To ensure their stature I guess. I would never tell you that. I don’t like lying I don’t like thieves and I damn well don’t like treacherous sons of bitches.

I am not hard to get to know. I may not be as sociable as Tuffy wishing everybody luck like he does. I just don’t have time with my schedule. When I roll up to a contest its mid Friday then you are cooking turning in awards then starting back again. I am not stuck up it’s just my time schedule doesn’t allow me to do that.
The flack I am hearing about the TV show about me is a lot of jealous people I think. I was picked to be on a TV show it just as easily could have been them.They want to sit back on their ass and bitch about why not I. Why not this guy or another. They just didn’t get picked.

You should be glad for the ones that did get picked. Be glad mostly for the effects it will have on the whole damn deal- the sales of sauces, pits and rubs and t shirts and everything else. Be glad for it. You are never going to convince all of them. They will bitch about rain if the crops were burning up -no pleasing them all. We need more people to understand that it’s good for everyone in BBQ.

Q-Anything new coming out for JOS?
MM-I may be coming out with a new line of muffin tins. (He says chuckling)

Got an email today thought it would be worthwhile to share:

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