June 28, 2025 • 49 mins
This episode of Barbecue Nation features a Fourth of July special, prominently showcasing the culinary prowess and insights of Meathead from Amazing Ribs, a distinguished figure in the barbecue community. We delve into the quintessential aspects of this national holiday, emphasizing the significance of family gatherings and the shared experience of grilling. As we explore the most celebrated foods of the occasion, the discussion inevitably gravitates toward the preparation and enjoyment of ribs, hot dogs, and other traditional fare. Additionally, we engage in a thoughtful dialogue about the deeper meaning of Independence Day, urging listeners to reflect on the values that unite us as a nation. Join us as we commemorate this festive occasion with culinary tips, personal anecdotes, and a shared appreciation for the art of barbecue.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Amazing Ribs
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Heritage Steel
- Hammerstahl
- Pig Powder
Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt.
So fire up your grill, lightthe charcoal, and get your smoker
cooking.
Now from the Turn It Go Burn.
It studios in Portland, here'sjt, everybody.
Welcome to Barbecue Nation.
I'm jt, along with my co host,co commander, wing lady.
(00:33):
And today, of course, we'redoing a Fourth of July special.
So who.
Who else could do that with usbut Meathead from Amazing Ribs, two
Hall of Famers, as we like toon the show.
Absolutely.
You know.
Yeah.
And I want to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef for
supporting the show over the years.
(00:53):
We appreciate that very much.
Anyway, welcome, everybody.
Happy Fourth of July in a few days.
Yeah.
Where did June go?
I think it.
I don't know.
It just kind of vaporized.
I.
I was having the same thingthis morning.
I mean, where did June go?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Well, the whole year hasactually gone by pretty quickly,
(01:14):
as usual.
When did this show.
I have a few stats.
I'm not going to bore peoplewith it, other than the fact of Calvin
Coolidge was the onlypresident that was actually born
on the Fourth of July.
Really?
Yeah.
So there's George M.
Cohen.
Really?
Yeah.
Well, don't you remember?
I'm a Yankee Doodle DoodleDandy born on the Fourth of July.
(01:38):
There's our tease for the show.
Meathead sings.
You know the joke, I couldn'tcarry a tune in a paper bag.
I'm terrible.
Yeah.
So let's start this.
Instead of just jumping intohot dogs and burgers and ribs and
all that stuff, what does the4th of July mean to you, and what's
(01:59):
your favorite part of it?
Let's start with you, Meathead.
Well, you know, I mean, Ithink we should.
And all of us would talk aboutthe underlying meaning that it was
the event that commemoratesthe foundation of our great country.
And it's a time, I think, that I.
(02:21):
Well, it's a good time tothink about how the country could
be better, but I think.
I think that almost every day now.
Right.
But it has obviously evolvedinto a family event.
And of course, if you want totalk about Fourth of July, why not
talk about the importance ofthe family in this country?
(02:42):
We host a 4th of July party atour house.
It's the one event we hold forthe family.
My wife's family is here.
I have a sister in Florida,but she has two brothers, and they
have a bunch of kids, and thekids have kids, and it's a big Italian
American family, and I getmost of the Grills cranked up and
(03:07):
we whip up a feast.
And hopefully it's not too hotand it's a great time to catch up
with them.
We've got kids going off to college.
What are you studying?
It's just, you know, it's afamily event more than anything for
me.
That's, that's good, Leanne.
Yeah, totally.
So I was raised on a lake inNew Jersey, and we.
(03:27):
The big thing, of course, wasto go out on the boats and watch
the fireworks.
And I was Lake Mohawk Skihawk.
So we had our big water skishow, and it was all family, and
the lawns would meet up withthe, you know, with the lake.
So we would convene at oneparticular house every year.
And I just remember all thekids running around and, you know,
(03:50):
just having a great time.
I agree.
It was.
It was, you know, cooking out,just grab and go food kind of.
It wasn't like everybody satdown, but everybody was just enjoying
the time.
And it was.
It still is.
It's not as fun as when I wasa kid for sure, but I think more
now.
I think of it, you know, as.
(04:13):
As, you know, as us as acountry and, and thinking about it
more in that terms than just a party.
You know, I grew up on a.
A ranch, and we had a.
You've heard me speak of it before.
We had a.
We called it a cricket, butmost people would call it a river
because it was wide enough.
But we would spend the wholeFourth of July weekend, as it were,
(04:35):
down there, and people wouldcome, bring their horses.
It was a fairly big area.
And they would.
My dad would take them ontrail rides and we'd have these big
feasts.
And I remember my mom cookingpies for like two or three days ahead
of time, and she would makethese fresh loaves of bread, and
(04:57):
there were.
There were grills, and therewere built, permanently stationed
grills down there that theycould cook on, and lots of chicken
and lots of hamburgers, and itwas always a great time.
Kids would be in the creekfrom 8:00am to 8:00pm you know, and
then when you did that allday, you were really tired, so you
(05:19):
slept like a rock all nightlike that.
But we would have fireworksand, and all that.
And I think to me, too, it'sabout the country.
And, you know, maybe for oneday, every once in a while, we can
put our political differencesaside and celebrate the country and
(05:39):
celebrate family and friends.
Anyway, that's.
That's my thoughts.
I'm not.
Calvin Coolidge may havethought the same Thing.
Hell, I don't know.
Anyway, what's your favoritething to eat on 4th of July, Leanne?
Hot dogs.
(06:00):
I love hot dogs, I tell you.
You know what.
What do they call them?
Death dogs or coffin nails or whatever.
I just love the flavor.
I mean, aside from the factthat they're easy to eat, and I often
eat them naked now.
I mean, the hot dogs naked,not me.
That scared me for a minute.
(06:22):
Yeah, Yeah.
I mean, in Chicago, we haveseven required ingredients.
Here in Chicago, there aremore hot dog stands than there are
McDonald's and Burger King andhamburger joints.
It's.
It's sort of the local food.
And.
And.
(06:42):
And it's.
It's illegal to put ketchup on them.
Oh, yeah.
I don't.
I don't know why or how.
On AmazingRibs.com, mywebsite, I wrote a whole article
about this, about why peopletake that position.
And there's.
There's great movie clips.
There's a Clint Eastwood clipwhere he says, you know, you got
(07:03):
to be an idiot to put ketchupon a hot dog and stuff like that.
And it's done with tonguedeeply embedded in cheek.
But I'll tell you, it draws somany vicious.
I'll put whatever I want on myhot dog, you damn Nazi.
So I have a theory.
If you put ketchup on a hotdog, it robs you of your sense of
(07:25):
humor.
Yes.
I think that's good.
That's kind of a Darwiniantheory there.
Yeah.
See, my hot dog favorites are.
Well, I love Polish polis, asyou call them.
Yeah, me too.
You know, and I'll eat thekill bosses and all the other stuff,
but I really love a goodPolish dog.
(07:46):
And the way Leanne has it inher background picture.
Yeah, that's all right.
Way I like it, I do like aChicago dog.
I miss the dogs up there withthe sport peppers and the green relish
and.
Yeah.
You used to live here so thatyou got into it.
I loved it.
Yeah.
But I'm with you.
I love the police.
(08:06):
We don't call them a poly dog.
Right.
It's a Polish sausage.
Right.
I mean, it's.
It's.
It's.
It's based on a Polishkielbasa, but it's different.
I guess.
What I've learned, I think istrue, is that the word kielbasa applies
to all sausages in Poland.
It's not a particular type,but here in the States, I think it's
(08:27):
applied to the Polish sausageor a smoked sausage of some sort.
I'm not sure, but I've hadthem across the country.
Hot dogs generally across thecountry vary slightly.
There's little differencesdepending on the manufacturer, but
polis very vastly across the country.
I don't know what they're likeup by you in Oregon, but I had.
(08:50):
I had one not too long ago in D.C.
and it didn't taste anythinglike a poly here in Chicago.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I found some of the bestpolice locally to be by.
Made by the independent meatmarkets, not the mass.
Mass package deal, you know.
Yeah, that's a reallyinteresting point.
(09:11):
You know, hot dogs andsausages are almost always local.
Even in small towns, there's abutcher somewhere or a meat processor
who makes a hot dog, and it'sthe local hot dog.
Everybody eats it.
You know, it's Vienna beefhere in Chicago.
I can't remember all thenames, but Detroit.
(09:32):
You're going to be in Detroit.
Detroit has its own brand ofhot dogs that everybody swears by.
In fact, there's.
Are you aware there's two hotdog joints downtown side by side
and really.
In the cheesesteak wars?
Yeah, this is a.
This is a hot dog war forthese guys.
And I'll see if I can find theinfo on pass.
(09:54):
Yeah, I would love to know.
Yeah, that's.
That's okay.
So before we go to break, wegot about two minutes here.
Meathead.
You and I spoke about thisearlier, I think, in a previous show.
Green relish, red relish.
I happen to like them both.
I actually happen to like redrelish on my hamburgers, green relish
on my.
On my pulleys or my dogs.
(10:15):
Where do you stand?
Green relish.
I mean, I'm in Chicago.
There's.
You have no choice.
I walked into a hot dog jointonce, and I bought a hot dog and
fries, and I wanted ketchup onthe fries.
Now, I normally don't.
I normally eat the fries nakedalso, but I want to catch up for
this time.
And I asked the guy at thecounter, where's the ketchup?
(10:37):
And he thought I was going toput it on the hot dog.
And they had a big old pump onthe counter off to the side for their
French fries.
And he looked at me and said,it's over there.
Go ruin the hot dog yourself.
He wouldn't do it.
Leanne, where do you stand on that?
Definitely green.
Yeah.
You don't care for red?
(10:58):
No, I'm not a ketchup girl.
I eat my fries.
No ketchup.
I don't like ketchup on eggs.
I don't.
I'm not a huge ketchup fan.
Meatloaf, maybe, but that's.
I'll put ketchup on a hamburger.
Yeah.
If it's mixed with mustard.
Yes.
Well, yeah, if I can put in alittle plug.
I have a recipe on my websitecalled Hamburger Guap.
(11:19):
And anybody listening to this,go to AmazingRibs.com put hamburger
glop in the search box.
It's a really good hamburgersauce, but it's.
It's pretty similar to whateverybody else is doing.
You know, the McDonald'ssecret sauce.
It's ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise.
Excuse me.
It's not ketchup.
(11:40):
It's barbecue sauce.
Mustard, mayonnaise, a littlehot sauce.
And that little barbecue saucetakes it up a notch, especially if
it's got a little liquid smokein it.
There you go.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withthe fourth of July special, and we're
going to talk more to Meatheadabout his naked eating right after
this on Barbecue Nation.
(12:11):
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
I want to tell you aboutsomething really cool.
Heritage steel cookware.
I just got mine.
I do a lot of cooking and it'sgot five ply construction.
Stay cool handles.
It's titanium strengthened.
It's got all the great stuff.
Just go to HeritageSteel usand find out more.
You'll love it.
I guarantee it.
(12:39):
Foreign.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with Meatheadfrom Amazing Ribs and of course,
my all time favorite co hostin the world.
And yes, I've had.
No, I've had.
I've had a few in my career,but you're my favorite.
Okay.
Leanne Whipping both of themhall of famers.
(13:00):
You can follow us on Facebookand X or Twitter and Leanne's big
on Instagram.
It's.
We're out there and of course,so is me.
Did.
He's always dropping littlenuggets and jewels out there and
I love the way sometimes hepokes the bear on those things.
I do like that.
Hey, speaking of the bear,he's back.
(13:21):
Who?
The.
The TV show, the Bear.
Oh.
Oh, okay.
He's back.
We're taping this just beforethe first show of the season, but
I really like that series andstarts this week, so I'm ready for
it.
(13:41):
You're ready?
Okay.
It's on my calendar.
Okay.
So let's, let's talk aboutfood here in this one.
Of course.
That's what the show is all about.
But many, we talk aboutburgers and dogs police my fave,
meatheads fave and all that.
But ribs, ribs, amazing ribs, ribs.
(14:02):
Leanne's ribs, my ribs,Everybody's ribs.
Love ribs.
Quick tips, meathead, ongetting your ribs ready for the fourth.
Well, first is background.
I mean, for me, many holidayshave a specific food.
Thanksgiving is turkey.
(14:24):
Christmas, for me, it's a beefroast, you know, ham for Easter.
And for me, 4th of July is ribs.
I will put hot dogs on there,and I will eat one.
I'll put hamburgers on there,and I'll put chicken on there.
I'll try to satisfy all my guests.
But ribs, I think, are thefood of the holiday.
(14:48):
And then they're just so much fun.
I mean, they're meat on a stick.
You eat it with your hands,you don't care if you get it all
over your face, if it gets inyour mustache, you get to smell the
barbecue sauce for hours.
So the key to making goodribs, and I think both of you will
(15:08):
agree with me here, we mayhave some minor differences, is that
now you got to think aboutyour rib cage.
Your rib cage starts with yoursternum at your chest, and it wraps
all the way around to the backbone.
In fact, the rib bones attachto the backbone, and the different
sections of the rib are alittle different.
(15:30):
But they have one thing incommon, and that is their job is
to protect your vital organs.
Their job is to protect theheart, the liver, the stomach, the
lungs.
And so they have to be tough now.
They have a little flex sothat, you know, if you catch a.
If you're playing football,you can take an impact.
But between the bones, there'sa lot of connective tissue and fat
(15:56):
in addition to the meat.
And so it's not diet food.
You don't eat it every day.
But that connective tissue,when it melts, becomes really rich
and succulent.
And the fat, when it renders,becomes really rich and succulent.
And the meat is very tasty.
So in addition to being fun toeat, there's just a lot of flavor
(16:18):
there.
And to get the most out ofthem, I think you have to cook them
low and slow in order torender the fat and melt the connective
tissues and cook the meat thoroughly.
You just have to dial it back.
I cook it at 225.
I know some folks go to 75, 250.
(16:38):
225 is my magic temperature.
I just let it go, take its time.
And there are different cutsof ribs.
If you go to the store,there's baby backs.
Now, they are back ribs.
They attach to the spine andthey have a curve.
They look like a hockey stick.
And then there's spare ribs.
And they take up on the sidewhere the baby backs end and wrap
(17:02):
all the way around to the chest.
And they have the meat mostlybetween the bones, where the baby
backs have the meat mostly ontop of the bones.
The baby back meat is a littleleaner because it comes off of the,
the, the muscle that makes theloin muscle on the back.
That's where you get most yourpork chops.
(17:23):
So you've got pork chop meatsitting on top of the baby backs.
There's not a lot of meat onthe chest section, the spare ribs
section, because if you feelyour own ribs, there's just not a
lot of meat on top of it.
Speak for yourself.
And then if you take the spareribs, a lot of cooks will square
(17:47):
them up by cutting off the ribtips, which are kind of gnarly, and
they go in different directions.
And they're very flexible.
They'll cut off the tip of theribs, which come from the front,
the chest, and they just takethe side ribs.
And they're sometimes called St.
Louis Cut, or I prefer center cut.
(18:09):
But they, they're, they'restraighter than the, than the back
ribs.
They, they're, they layflatter and there's not as much meat
on top.
Most of the meats in between,they take a little longer to cook
because there's moreconnective tissue.
But, you know, it comes downto your preference.
I occasionally hear people goto a restaurant and say, I ordered
the ribs and they were justtoo fatty.
(18:32):
No, they're all going to be fatty.
That's what you get, you know,I mean, don't complain about ribs
being fatty.
That's part of the pleasure.
Anatomically correct ribs.
I'll put it that way.
Leanne, you're a rib gal.
I know.
Yeah.
And I prefer St.
Louis because of the fat overbaby backs.
(18:55):
Me too, by far.
And I love rib tips.
Yep.
I used to serve them in the restaurant.
I like those gnarly little pieces.
Yeah, they're kind of weirdbecause, you know, you bite into
them and then you got thislittle 2 inch section of the.
You got to roll them around onyour tongue to get the meat off of
(19:15):
them.
Yeah, we have a store here.
I'm sorry, Leanne, go ahead.
No, but that, that's prettymuch where I stand on ribs.
I mean, I'll eat a baby back, but.
And I like my ribs dry.
You know, just with a dry rub.
I'm not a saucy girl.
All right, well, you don't.
Just to clarify, when you saydry, you don't mean the meat being
dry, you mean.
No, like dry ribs, which are.
(19:37):
Just have a rub on them.
I like it with just salt andpepper sometimes.
Yeah, yeah.
Texas style.
You can go into the store andyou can buy the strips of the rib
tips.
And you know, if you buy tenpounds of those rib tips, you can
feed a lot of people.
And it's a.
To me, I do those like atsuper bowl, small gathering of people
(19:59):
like that because like youwere saying earlier, it's kind of
a grab and go type finger food.
It's also great for the personworking the grill because they can
eat that while they're cookingthe ribs.
Yes, they can.
They cook faster.
And nobody will know.
Nobody will know.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withMeathead and Leanne here on Barbecue
Nation right after this.
(20:20):
Stay with us.
Thank you.
Hey, everybody, it's JT And Ihave eaten, if you've ever looked
at me, you know that.
But I have eaten seafood allover the world and I can tell you
there's no place better thanhere in Oregon and our Dungeness
(20:42):
crab.
If you want to learn moreabout Oregon Dungeness crab, just
go to oregondungeness.org findout how to cook it, how to catch
it, where to buy it and thesustainability of what they're doing
there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Check it out.
(21:08):
Welcome back to the Nation.
I'm JT along with my cocommander here, Leanne Whippen, hall
of famer and meathead fromAmazingRibs.com we want to give a
shout out to Leanne's pigpowder in this section of the show
like we always do.
You've got the 4th of Julycoming up if you're going to do ribs
(21:28):
or you can use it on anything.
Excellent on ribs.
I mean, that's.
I've won a lot of first placeswith pig powder and a lot of people
like to do a pork butt on, youknow, for, yeah, pork sandwiches
on 4th of July.
I sprinkled them on somesalmon that I slow smoked and they
were very good.
Yeah, so it is.
(21:49):
It's very versatile, sweet,with a little heat.
Spicier one is coming out andI'll post that on my social.
But yeah, one best rub on theplanet and it's a survivor rub.
I mean, there's a lot of rubsout there.
These Days.
But it's been around foryears, and it's tried and true, and
a lot of the competitors stilluse it to this day.
So go to pigeon.
(22:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I wanted to talk.
Still the same that your daddy invented?
Exactly.
Same manufacturer, the whole.
Yeah.
The only thing that's changingon this new batch will be the label.
And it's just more of afacelift, but still.
Trim, tabs, pink powder.
It needed that.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's all good.
So I want to talk about sides.
(22:32):
And because we have the worldchampion potato salad queen sitting
here, I actually look forwardto the fourth because of the sides.
Everybody has their mom'srecipe or a recipe they created about
things like potato salad orMac salad, what have you.
(22:54):
And I, I like the sides.
Not that I don't like theproteins and all that.
Don't get me wrong.
I love them.
But the point is, I love totaste people's potato salads.
I like to try their.
Their Mac salads or, you know,if they have some sort of other crunchy
vegetable salad, whatever.
(23:14):
I always really enjoy that.
Now, Leanne, I know you're notgoing to share your recipe for your
world championship potatosalad, but what are, what are things
people should be payingattention to when they're preparing
their potato salad?
I don't like a deli, you know,like that deli flavored potato salad.
(23:38):
I'm a Hellman's best foodsmayonnaise girl.
There you go.
I also think it's important todrain your potatoes well, so they
don't have a lot of water in them.
And like, Yukon Golds, I feelare too starchy.
I'll use a red, though, and russets.
And it's up to you if you wantto peel them, but I think they should
(24:01):
be peeled.
I think red.
Two of the most importantingredients to add are hard cooked
eggs and bacon.
And always a hint of vinegar,because that kicks it up.
And if you're making it a dayahead, taste it the next day because
it absorbs the salt and a lotof the spices.
So you have to adjust yourseasonings the next day.
(24:22):
I like a little scoop ofpickle relish in mine.
My mom likes it, too.
Yeah, my mom made her potatosalad, and she always had green onions
in it.
Not a lot, just enough.
She also put diced up radishesin it, which I'm a radish guy.
(24:43):
Okay.
I would like that.
That would give it a littlespiciness, a little.
Little kick to it.
So she had those things in andshe, you Know, had potatoes and base.
Of course.
We're best foods people out here.
We don't get Hellman's much.
Same stuff, but.
Right.
You know, like that.
But she made that.
And the other thing was.
And I think, to your point of a.
(25:06):
A manufactured salad that youget out of a deli, her potatoes always
still had.
I don't want to say a crunchto it, but they weren't mushy.
Yeah.
You have to.
That's the critical thingabout potato salad.
There is just a small windowof time when those potatoes are perfect.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I.
And I always love that.
(25:28):
And how do you tell whenthey're perfect?
I stick a fork in them, and ifthe fork comes out rather easily.
But if it.
If you stick a fork in it andthey start to fall apart, you're
already done.
You overcooked them.
Yeah.
And also what I do is so theydon't continue cooking when I take
(25:48):
them out and drain them, Istick them in the fridge to cool
them down, and they continueto dry out.
The water starts to come outof them a little bit, and they don't
cook anymore.
So especially if you are onthe verge of overcooking them, get
them as cold as you can, asfast as you can.
So they don't cook anymore.
Yeah.
We're not making mashedpotatoes here.
Right.
(26:08):
Right.
Like that.
Meathead.
What's your.
You're a connoisseur of sides.
I know.
You know, it's 4th of July,and I can't serve all of my favorites.
I have an audience.
You.
I think it's really crucialthat you think of your audience,
like when you choose whatbeverages, you know?
(26:29):
Sure.
I mean, if it were me, I woulddo wines and some beers and stuff.
But our crowd is into hardlemonade and some of these other
things, so that's what we serve.
And the same thing for sides.
Potato salad slaw.
I have two really good slawrecipes on the website.
(26:50):
One is the vinegar slaw, andthe other is your classic deli slaw
with mayonnaise and sour cream blend.
By the way, a lot of peoplemake slaw with just sour cream.
I mean, mayonnaise.
You get some sour cream inthere, maybe even a little yogurt.
And beans.
If I'm doing ribs, I'll put apan under the bean, under the ribs
to catch some drips.
(27:11):
And with that drip comes alittle of the seasoning off the beans,
the rub, little big powder.
And the beans is very nice.
Yeah.
You know, we'll do lemonade.
Corn on the.
Yeah, corn on the cob.
See, I'm sorry, I'm.
I'm.
I just happened to see that up there.
But that's a, That's a.
(27:31):
Yeah, it's.
Not ready yet for us.
And for.
I'm.
I'm in the Midwest, North.
I'm in the Chicago area, Illinois.
Grows fabulous corn on the cob.
There are several of these newhybrids that are just brilliant.
And These are not GMOs,they're hybrids.
You know, like.
Like you are.
You're a hybrid.
You're a crossbreed betweenyour mom and dad.
When they cross breed corn, it's.
(27:53):
It's different than gmo.
Not that I have anythingagainst gmo, but I know a lot of
people do.
But these new hybrids, there's a.
There's a hybrid called Marai,which is just awesome.
And one of the cool thingsabout them are, you know, I used
to have the rule, you startthe water boiling before you go pick
the corn.
Some of these new hybrids willhold their sugar and their carbohydrates
(28:16):
in the fridge for days.
They're fantastic.
So check out some of the newhybrids that are out there.
Farmers markets.
We've got a few minutes lefthere before we get a break.
You touched on something, meathead.
Beans.
I like to consider myself aconnoisseur of baked beans.
(28:38):
Oh, okay.
So one of the things, thereare a couple of things that, for
me to get smiling about bakedbeans, you have to have in the ingredients,
you have to have some onionand you have to have some bacon or
you can, you know, if you wantto mess around with that, you could
use side pork or, you know,whatever, but you have to have that
(29:01):
in there.
And I'm also a guy.
If you're going to make bakedbeans and more of a, I don't know,
semi traditional way, you haveto have molasses in it.
Yeah, you have to havemolasses in it.
You can't just dump some brownsugar in it.
Or God help you if you everdump any, like the darker version
of Karo syrup in it.
(29:22):
That's just not going to work.
So them's Yankee beans.
Yeah.
And I think, you know, Leannewill speak to this probably better
than I, but in the south,they're not as sweet as they are
in the North.
And that molasses comes fromthe fact that the colonies, Boston
(29:45):
used to bring in justboatloads of molasses from the Caribbean
where the sugar cane was grown.
Molasses is made from sugar cane.
And there's a famous incidentthat happened during colonial times,
I think, where these massivevats of molasses exploded and they
(30:08):
flooded the streets.
People drowned and died in thegreat molasses flood.
You can Google was pretty impressive.
Wow.
I have nothing against cannedbaked beans.
I'm lazy in my old age.
I don't want to go soak themovernight and all that stuff.
(30:30):
I will.
You know, if you want to makebeans like that, go buy a number
10, 10 of bushes or B&M.
B M baked beans or whatever.
I tend if I do that, Iactually rinse the sauce off that
they come in and then startwith the beans from there.
So what are your thoughts on that?
Absolutely agree.
(30:52):
The sauce that they come incan be salty, can make the meat mushy.
I drain them and I drain themand rinse them lightly.
But then I start doctoring them.
I put a little barbecue saucein my beans, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Got to have that.
Leanne, what are your littlekey pieces of advice for making?
I like using different beans,like Great Northern and Pinto and
(31:15):
just so just to make it alittle different.
Definitely bacon.
Yeah.
Meathead.
Like a little barbecue sauce.
Of course, pig powder goes inthere, of course.
But I don't like my beanssuper sweet.
But I use the dark brown sugarversus light brown because it has
some of that molassesundertone to it if I don't have any
(31:36):
molasses.
But yeah, we're on the same page.
Yeah, no, I think that's theway you do it.
And I cook them for, I don'tknow, three or four hours at least,
low and slow, just like we'redoing ribs and stuff.
But I'll pop them in the ovenand doing that.
And when I serve them, I.
(31:57):
I put kind of quartered upstrips of bacon on the top and I
like to see my baked beanscome out with a nice deep brown color
on the top of the.
Of the bowl, if you will.
That's just the thing with me.
And so when they stick a spoonin, they can get it.
(32:18):
Piece of bacon right off the top.
They're going to get.
I put a lot of bacon in it, sothey're going to get that.
But I like that.
I like that presentation, too.
Just that nice dark brown,kind of almost crispy on the top.
That's my deal.
So that make me hungry.
Yeah, we can do that.
Well, you got a hot dog rightbehind you there.
(32:38):
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withMeathead and Leanne here on the barbecue
nation 4th of July.
It's coming up, folks, soonerthan you think.
We'll be right back.
Hey, everybody, it's jt.
(32:58):
You know, I talk about paintedhills all the time and we always
say beef the way nature intended.
But it's more than thatbecause each bite of Painted hills
will make your taste buds explode.
Put a big bright smile on yourface and whoever's at your dinner
table will have a big brightsmile on their face.
And you can thank me for that later.
Just go topaintedhillsbeef.com and find out
(33:21):
more.
You won't regret it.
Hey, everybody, J.T.
here.
I want to tell you about theHammerstahl knives.
Hammerstahl combines Germansteel with beautiful and functioning
designs.
They're part of the HeritageSteel group which also does their
pots and pans.
So go to heritagesteel us.
Check out the Hammer Stahl knives.
If you're really into cooking,I think you're really gonna like
(33:42):
them.
Foreign.
Welcome back to the Nation.
I'm JT along with Ms.
Whippen and Mr.
Meathead from AmazingRibs.comif you go to AmazingRibs.com first
(34:05):
of all, if you're not amember, you should join the Pitmaster
Club.
I'll do the pitch for you here.
Me dad.
You should, you should jointhe Pitmaster Club because it gives
you access to things that youhave to be a member to get.
If you just go peruse the, theAmazing Ribs website, there's thousands,
(34:25):
literally, literally thousandsof, of things that Meathead and other
his staff have written about.
There's recipes, there'sideas, there's videos, all that,
that thing.
So, but for the small amountthat you pay for the pit Pit Masters
Club every year, I think it'swell worth it.
(34:46):
There's the AmazingRibs.comhas 2,000 free pages of recipes,
product reviews.
We have a guy full time whotests grills and smokers.
If you're trying to replaceyour old rust bucket, you need to
go see Matt Good and read his reviews.
They're detailed and he callsthem the way he sees them.
(35:06):
He doesn't know who advertisesand doesn't care.
And then thermometer reviews.
We have an electrical engineerwho tests thermometers.
And the pitmaster Club has 120broadcast quality instructional videos
just for members.
Yeah, there you go.
See, it's well worth it.
All right, so now it's time totalk about our favorite thing which
(35:27):
is in this segment is notgoing to be beer, but it's going
to be desserts up here wherewe live, of course, fourth of July.
Standard fare for desserts islike strawberry shortcake, because
strawberries are in season.
They're beautiful.
Their local ones are reallyjuicy, plump, sweet and all that.
(35:54):
The way I do shortcake is Imake my own very thick whipped cream.
I make my own biscuits to do that.
I don't use the spongy stuff.
I don't like spongy stuff forsome reason.
And when I slice up mystrawberries and prepare them, I
will put them in some waterand maybe a little sugar in the water
(36:15):
to really bring out the sweetand let it sit for a while.
So when you serve them, it'sabsolutely phenomenal.
I think my wife would eat abowl of the juice and the biscuits,
and she doesn't bother withthe berries.
But what's the Chicago styleon that meathead?
We, too, will do strawberryshortcake, but peaches are just coming
(36:38):
in season, and I love grilled peaches.
The peaches are fruit.
They're like grapes in thesense that they are at their best
in a cool climate where theyget sweet during the daytime, but
the temperature cools down andthat retains the acidity.
(37:01):
So you get this marveloussugar and acid balance, which all
the great wine regions have.
And I gotta tell you, for thatreason, I think Michigan peaches
are better than Georgia andSouth Carolina.
Actually, South Carolina hasmore peaches than Georgia does.
But I love them down there.
They get very sweet, but theyjust don't have the crispness of
(37:22):
a Michigan peach.
And they're fantastic.
And they're just around thecorner from us.
And usually once a year, wemake a run down to the fruit belt
of Michigan and buy peaches.
And they just are spectacular,and they grill up nicely.
Key to grilling peaches to acouple of keys.
If you can get freestone, thatmeans the.
(37:44):
The stone, the pit is kind ofloose in there.
You slice them down the middle.
It's easy to pop the pit out.
If you get cling peaches, themeat clings to the stone and a little
hard to get the seed out.
And you want to get the seedout so that when you slice them in
half, you can lay that cutside down on the grill where they'll
get grill marks.
And it's really crucial thatyou clean that grill grate both top
(38:09):
and bottom.
You do not want meat grease ormeat grease smoke in your fruits.
And.
And then I.
I just, you know, grill themuntil I get a couple of grill marks,
which is caramelized sugar.
Flip them over.
Get.
Get them cooked on the backside.
And they actually have asimilar recipe for this.
(38:32):
I have a rum sauce that I liketo pour over it.
It's in my new book, theMeathead Method.
And a scoop of ice cream and alittle warm rum sauce on the scoop
of ice cream.
And the peaches is fantastic.
And if you want, you canactually gild the lily.
(38:52):
I've been known to paint thepeaches with a little amaretto.
Yeah.
Or Captain Morgan.
There you go.
And they absorb a little bitof that flavor and gives it a little,
amps it up a little.
So that's kind of fun.
Very good, Ms.
Whippin.
(39:12):
I'm like this big watermelonbasket person during the fourth of
July.
So with all different melonsand strawberries and grapes, and
you just dig in and get awhole bunch of fruit.
I like while grilling.
Throwing sliced pineapples onthe grill.
I like that.
But, you know, we're into somemore world, and there's so many variations
(39:35):
that makes it fun for the kidsto make, you know, s' mores, but.
And of course, you could do acherry dump cake and throw some blueberries
on it and get red, white, andblue action going.
That is true.
That is true.
Cherries are in.
We're getting them in fromboth Michigan and the Pacific Northwest.
And you can make a marvelous clafouti.
(39:59):
I have fear of flowers, so Idon't know how to do a clafouti,
but I'll bet Leanne knows.
I don't know.
But anyway, I like dessert,but, you know, I.
I tend to fill up oneverything else and it's hot outside
and you kind of lose your appetite.
So it would be nice if icecream was a little bit more weather
worthy because I would love abig dish of ice cream for the fourth,
(40:21):
but it doesn't hold too well.
Well, yes, it is literallycream, but, you know, if you let
it sit out too long.
No, I think there's a lot ofamazing, no pun intended, amazing
desserts out there.
The other thing you weretalking about, cherries.
(40:43):
Meathead.
One of my favorite things inthe world is a really good cherry
cobbler.
I love cherry cobbler,especially if it's a crisp top, you
know, like that.
I love that.
And I like, you know, you cando it with blueberries or apples,
you can do it with peaches,you can do it with whatever.
The other fruit we have anabundance up here is pears.
(41:05):
We have a lot of good pears inthe Northwest.
And I'll take a Pear cut.
Cut it in half, take the seedsout like that.
I'll put it on the grill with a.
A small little dab of butterand some brown sugar and some raisins.
Actually, I like raisins.
You don't have.
(41:26):
The raisins are optional.
And you can grill it that way.
You can put a little cinnamonon top or, you know, a little Grand
Marnier, something like that.
It turns out very good.
It's more of an adult typedessert, but, you know, you can be
very creative with fruit tomake desserts out of it.
For sure.
(41:46):
Yeah.
Favorite beverage?
I'll start with Leanne.
Well, that's like lemonade.
I like fresh lemonade withwhatever you want.
Lemonade?
Yeah.
I mean, there's plenty of beeraround, but I don't, you know, on
(42:08):
a hot day, I.
Outdoors cooking.
Really easy for the beer to goto my head.
Yeah.
And normally I'm a wine.
Wine drinker, but on 4th ofJuly, I go for lemonade.
Yeah, well, yeah, I can do that.
I can.
Margaritas are good, too.
(42:29):
Nice.
Frozen margarita would be nice.
Yeah, anything like that, Ithink works out good.
We used to make this stuffcalled yucca.
Have you guys ever done yucca?
No.
You take a gallon jar, like anold pickle jar, it's all cleaned
out and stuff, and you fill itfull of ice, and you take a container
(42:54):
of frozen lemonade and you putthat whole big slug of frozen lemonade
in there, the condensed version.
And then you take a fifth oftequila and you pour it in there
and you shake it.
Some poor staff has to shakethis thing for a better part of an
(43:15):
hour, off and on.
But when it comes out, it isthe most amazing beverage.
Word of warning, don't getover exuberant with the yucca because
it will yucca you, I bet.
Especially in the heat.
In the heat.
But it is an amazing, easykind of group cocktail, if you will,
(43:38):
in the summertime.
Like that.
So I.
I don't have a lot of personalexperience with it, but I heard about
it through the grapevine, youmight say.
But it's really good.
What's the highlight of yourfourth of July gatherings, Meathead?
(43:59):
The ribs.
That's it.
I mean, every.
I cook a mess of ribs.
They go in a big pot.
I slice them up intoindividual bones when they're done
and put them in the dining table.
And of course, everybody comesfrom Eathead's famous ribs.
Otherwise they probablywouldn't come at all.
You know, they don't like methat much.
They just want my Ribs, Leanne.
(44:23):
It's all about the food.
That's my favorite part.
And then fireworks.
You like fireworks?
Fireworks?
Yeah.
We don't.
We have sparklers.
We don't do fireworks.
We're dog lovers, dog owners,and that tends to freak the dogs
out.
And also, I've been hearinglately about vets who are really
(44:45):
freaked out by the explosions.
Right.
How about you, Jeff?
Where I live now, and you'vebeen here, it starts a day or two
before it kind of warm updrills with the fireworks.
But then the 4th of July, itsounds like Danang 68 for about 6
(45:06):
hours during the night.
It goes till usually about 1to 1:30 in the morning.
It goes on all night.
Wow.
Yeah.
And then they'll.
And then.
Because, like, the fourth ison a Friday this year, you'll still
get more fireworks on Saturdayand Sunday.
And it keeps the localconstables busy trying to track them
(45:26):
down.
Last question.
In this part of the show,we've got some fun stuff coming up
in after hours.
What's your message to theworld, to the United States, leanne,
for the 4th of July this year?
This is a little differentshow, but.
This is a toughie becausethere's a lot happening right now.
(45:47):
I mean, I won't even tell youwhat I just read on my phone.
But, yeah, it's just, youknow, everybody stay safe, be mindful
of our military and howthey're protecting us and.
Yeah, just.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Well, interesting time.
(46:08):
Yeah.
I am the polar opposite ofElon Musk in the sense that I stay
out of politics.
I own a small business.
I have employees.
It is my responsibility to myfiscal responsibility, fiduciary
responsibility to not pisspeople off.
(46:29):
I have very strong politicalviews, and I wish I could voice them
publicly.
I have always had strongpolitical views.
I have never missed anelection, even local.
But I keep it to myself.
I do, too.
And I think Elon Muskdemonstrated the risk in putting
(46:50):
your politics out there.
He was running veryprofitable, beloved companies admired
by many people.
And when he got involved inpolitics, he pissed a lot of people
off, justifiably or not.
Right.
And I try to steer clear of it.
I do occasionally dabble infood politics.
(47:12):
When the government passeslaws related to food and diet, health
or something.
I will occasionally comment onthat, but it's strictly nonpartisan.
It's strictly from a culinary basis.
So.
And I try to steer clear ofthose discussions at the Fourth of
(47:32):
July because there's a varietyof opinions.
But I gotta tell you one thing.
I have my message screen uphere and the phone rang a few minutes
ago.
I had to hang up on it beforeI could take it.
But my brother in law, mysister's brother, she has two.
One of them is politically thevast opposite of me.
(47:55):
And we have a daily back andforth debate and it is vehement and
it is polarized and it is strong.
And every time I see him, Ihug him and I love him to death because
he's a nice man and I will notlet politics get in the way.
And if I had any message aboutthe fourth of July, it would be that
(48:19):
there's going to be people whodisagree with you politically.
Love them anyhow.
Yep, I would.
I couldn't really have saidthat better right myself.
So for everybody watching andlistening, thank you.
We hope you have a wonderfulfourth of July with family and friends.
Enjoy the festivities.
(48:40):
Don't forget, you can go topigpowder.com for the above four
mentioned pig powder.
I recommend it and also toamazingribs.com if you can swing
it.
Join the Pitmasters Club there.
Meathead's new book, theMeathead Method is out.
And for me, I'm gonna go tothe golf course anyway.
(49:02):
We will.
We're gonna, we're gonna jumpinto after hours here.
And so for everybody outthere, go out, have a good time,
have Fun on the 4th.
Remember our motto, turn it,don't burn it.
But most of all, be kind.
Take care, everybody.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions in association
with Salem Media Group.
All.
(49:22):
All rights reserved.
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt.
So fire up your grill, lightthe charcoal, and get your smoker
cooking.
Now from the Turn It Go Burn.
It studios in Portland, here'sjt, everybody.
Welcome to Barbecue Nation.
I'm jt, along with my co host,co commander, wing lady.
(00:33):
And today, of course, we'redoing a Fourth of July special.
So who.
Who else could do that with usbut Meathead from Amazing Ribs, two
Hall of Famers, as we like toon the show.
Absolutely.
You know.
Yeah.
And I want to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef for
supporting the show over the years.
(00:53):
We appreciate that very much.
Anyway, welcome, everybody.
Happy Fourth of July in a few days.
Yeah.
Where did June go?
I think it.
I don't know.
It just kind of vaporized.
I.
I was having the same thingthis morning.
I mean, where did June go?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Well, the whole year hasactually gone by pretty quickly,
(01:14):
as usual.
When did this show.
I have a few stats.
I'm not going to bore peoplewith it, other than the fact of Calvin
Coolidge was the onlypresident that was actually born
on the Fourth of July.
Really?
Yeah.
So there's George M.
Cohen.
Really?
Yeah.
Well, don't you remember?
I'm a Yankee Doodle DoodleDandy born on the Fourth of July.
(01:38):
There's our tease for the show.
Meathead sings.
You know the joke, I couldn'tcarry a tune in a paper bag.
I'm terrible.
Yeah.
So let's start this.
Instead of just jumping intohot dogs and burgers and ribs and
all that stuff, what does the4th of July mean to you, and what's
(01:59):
your favorite part of it?
Let's start with you, Meathead.
Well, you know, I mean, Ithink we should.
And all of us would talk aboutthe underlying meaning that it was
the event that commemoratesthe foundation of our great country.
And it's a time, I think, that I.
(02:21):
Well, it's a good time tothink about how the country could
be better, but I think.
I think that almost every day now.
Right.
But it has obviously evolvedinto a family event.
And of course, if you want totalk about Fourth of July, why not
talk about the importance ofthe family in this country?
(02:42):
We host a 4th of July party atour house.
It's the one event we hold forthe family.
My wife's family is here.
I have a sister in Florida,but she has two brothers, and they
have a bunch of kids, and thekids have kids, and it's a big Italian
American family, and I getmost of the Grills cranked up and
(03:07):
we whip up a feast.
And hopefully it's not too hotand it's a great time to catch up
with them.
We've got kids going off to college.
What are you studying?
It's just, you know, it's afamily event more than anything for
me.
That's, that's good, Leanne.
Yeah, totally.
So I was raised on a lake inNew Jersey, and we.
(03:27):
The big thing, of course, wasto go out on the boats and watch
the fireworks.
And I was Lake Mohawk Skihawk.
So we had our big water skishow, and it was all family, and
the lawns would meet up withthe, you know, with the lake.
So we would convene at oneparticular house every year.
And I just remember all thekids running around and, you know,
(03:50):
just having a great time.
I agree.
It was.
It was, you know, cooking out,just grab and go food kind of.
It wasn't like everybody satdown, but everybody was just enjoying
the time.
And it was.
It still is.
It's not as fun as when I wasa kid for sure, but I think more
now.
I think of it, you know, as.
(04:13):
As, you know, as us as acountry and, and thinking about it
more in that terms than just a party.
You know, I grew up on a.
A ranch, and we had a.
You've heard me speak of it before.
We had a.
We called it a cricket, butmost people would call it a river
because it was wide enough.
But we would spend the wholeFourth of July weekend, as it were,
(04:35):
down there, and people wouldcome, bring their horses.
It was a fairly big area.
And they would.
My dad would take them ontrail rides and we'd have these big
feasts.
And I remember my mom cookingpies for like two or three days ahead
of time, and she would makethese fresh loaves of bread, and
(04:57):
there were.
There were grills, and therewere built, permanently stationed
grills down there that theycould cook on, and lots of chicken
and lots of hamburgers, and itwas always a great time.
Kids would be in the creekfrom 8:00am to 8:00pm you know, and
then when you did that allday, you were really tired, so you
(05:19):
slept like a rock all nightlike that.
But we would have fireworksand, and all that.
And I think to me, too, it'sabout the country.
And, you know, maybe for oneday, every once in a while, we can
put our political differencesaside and celebrate the country and
(05:39):
celebrate family and friends.
Anyway, that's.
That's my thoughts.
I'm not.
Calvin Coolidge may havethought the same Thing.
Hell, I don't know.
Anyway, what's your favoritething to eat on 4th of July, Leanne?
Hot dogs.
(06:00):
I love hot dogs, I tell you.
You know what.
What do they call them?
Death dogs or coffin nails or whatever.
I just love the flavor.
I mean, aside from the factthat they're easy to eat, and I often
eat them naked now.
I mean, the hot dogs naked,not me.
That scared me for a minute.
(06:22):
Yeah, Yeah.
I mean, in Chicago, we haveseven required ingredients.
Here in Chicago, there aremore hot dog stands than there are
McDonald's and Burger King andhamburger joints.
It's.
It's sort of the local food.
And.
And.
(06:42):
And it's.
It's illegal to put ketchup on them.
Oh, yeah.
I don't.
I don't know why or how.
On AmazingRibs.com, mywebsite, I wrote a whole article
about this, about why peopletake that position.
And there's.
There's great movie clips.
There's a Clint Eastwood clipwhere he says, you know, you got
(07:03):
to be an idiot to put ketchupon a hot dog and stuff like that.
And it's done with tonguedeeply embedded in cheek.
But I'll tell you, it draws somany vicious.
I'll put whatever I want on myhot dog, you damn Nazi.
So I have a theory.
If you put ketchup on a hotdog, it robs you of your sense of
(07:25):
humor.
Yes.
I think that's good.
That's kind of a Darwiniantheory there.
Yeah.
See, my hot dog favorites are.
Well, I love Polish polis, asyou call them.
Yeah, me too.
You know, and I'll eat thekill bosses and all the other stuff,
but I really love a goodPolish dog.
(07:46):
And the way Leanne has it inher background picture.
Yeah, that's all right.
Way I like it, I do like aChicago dog.
I miss the dogs up there withthe sport peppers and the green relish
and.
Yeah.
You used to live here so thatyou got into it.
I loved it.
Yeah.
But I'm with you.
I love the police.
(08:06):
We don't call them a poly dog.
Right.
It's a Polish sausage.
Right.
I mean, it's.
It's.
It's.
It's based on a Polishkielbasa, but it's different.
I guess.
What I've learned, I think istrue, is that the word kielbasa applies
to all sausages in Poland.
It's not a particular type,but here in the States, I think it's
(08:27):
applied to the Polish sausageor a smoked sausage of some sort.
I'm not sure, but I've hadthem across the country.
Hot dogs generally across thecountry vary slightly.
There's little differencesdepending on the manufacturer, but
polis very vastly across the country.
I don't know what they're likeup by you in Oregon, but I had.
(08:50):
I had one not too long ago in D.C.
and it didn't taste anythinglike a poly here in Chicago.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I found some of the bestpolice locally to be by.
Made by the independent meatmarkets, not the mass.
Mass package deal, you know.
Yeah, that's a reallyinteresting point.
(09:11):
You know, hot dogs andsausages are almost always local.
Even in small towns, there's abutcher somewhere or a meat processor
who makes a hot dog, and it'sthe local hot dog.
Everybody eats it.
You know, it's Vienna beefhere in Chicago.
I can't remember all thenames, but Detroit.
(09:32):
You're going to be in Detroit.
Detroit has its own brand ofhot dogs that everybody swears by.
In fact, there's.
Are you aware there's two hotdog joints downtown side by side
and really.
In the cheesesteak wars?
Yeah, this is a.
This is a hot dog war forthese guys.
And I'll see if I can find theinfo on pass.
(09:54):
Yeah, I would love to know.
Yeah, that's.
That's okay.
So before we go to break, wegot about two minutes here.
Meathead.
You and I spoke about thisearlier, I think, in a previous show.
Green relish, red relish.
I happen to like them both.
I actually happen to like redrelish on my hamburgers, green relish
on my.
On my pulleys or my dogs.
(10:15):
Where do you stand?
Green relish.
I mean, I'm in Chicago.
There's.
You have no choice.
I walked into a hot dog jointonce, and I bought a hot dog and
fries, and I wanted ketchup onthe fries.
Now, I normally don't.
I normally eat the fries nakedalso, but I want to catch up for
this time.
And I asked the guy at thecounter, where's the ketchup?
(10:37):
And he thought I was going toput it on the hot dog.
And they had a big old pump onthe counter off to the side for their
French fries.
And he looked at me and said,it's over there.
Go ruin the hot dog yourself.
He wouldn't do it.
Leanne, where do you stand on that?
Definitely green.
Yeah.
You don't care for red?
(10:58):
No, I'm not a ketchup girl.
I eat my fries.
No ketchup.
I don't like ketchup on eggs.
I don't.
I'm not a huge ketchup fan.
Meatloaf, maybe, but that's.
I'll put ketchup on a hamburger.
Yeah.
If it's mixed with mustard.
Yes.
Well, yeah, if I can put in alittle plug.
I have a recipe on my websitecalled Hamburger Guap.
(11:19):
And anybody listening to this,go to AmazingRibs.com put hamburger
glop in the search box.
It's a really good hamburgersauce, but it's.
It's pretty similar to whateverybody else is doing.
You know, the McDonald'ssecret sauce.
It's ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise.
Excuse me.
It's not ketchup.
(11:40):
It's barbecue sauce.
Mustard, mayonnaise, a littlehot sauce.
And that little barbecue saucetakes it up a notch, especially if
it's got a little liquid smokein it.
There you go.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withthe fourth of July special, and we're
going to talk more to Meatheadabout his naked eating right after
this on Barbecue Nation.
(12:11):
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
I want to tell you aboutsomething really cool.
Heritage steel cookware.
I just got mine.
I do a lot of cooking and it'sgot five ply construction.
Stay cool handles.
It's titanium strengthened.
It's got all the great stuff.
Just go to HeritageSteel usand find out more.
You'll love it.
I guarantee it.
(12:39):
Foreign.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with Meatheadfrom Amazing Ribs and of course,
my all time favorite co hostin the world.
And yes, I've had.
No, I've had.
I've had a few in my career,but you're my favorite.
Okay.
Leanne Whipping both of themhall of famers.
(13:00):
You can follow us on Facebookand X or Twitter and Leanne's big
on Instagram.
It's.
We're out there and of course,so is me.
Did.
He's always dropping littlenuggets and jewels out there and
I love the way sometimes hepokes the bear on those things.
I do like that.
Hey, speaking of the bear,he's back.
(13:21):
Who?
The.
The TV show, the Bear.
Oh.
Oh, okay.
He's back.
We're taping this just beforethe first show of the season, but
I really like that series andstarts this week, so I'm ready for
it.
(13:41):
You're ready?
Okay.
It's on my calendar.
Okay.
So let's, let's talk aboutfood here in this one.
Of course.
That's what the show is all about.
But many, we talk aboutburgers and dogs police my fave,
meatheads fave and all that.
But ribs, ribs, amazing ribs, ribs.
(14:02):
Leanne's ribs, my ribs,Everybody's ribs.
Love ribs.
Quick tips, meathead, ongetting your ribs ready for the fourth.
Well, first is background.
I mean, for me, many holidayshave a specific food.
Thanksgiving is turkey.
(14:24):
Christmas, for me, it's a beefroast, you know, ham for Easter.
And for me, 4th of July is ribs.
I will put hot dogs on there,and I will eat one.
I'll put hamburgers on there,and I'll put chicken on there.
I'll try to satisfy all my guests.
But ribs, I think, are thefood of the holiday.
(14:48):
And then they're just so much fun.
I mean, they're meat on a stick.
You eat it with your hands,you don't care if you get it all
over your face, if it gets inyour mustache, you get to smell the
barbecue sauce for hours.
So the key to making goodribs, and I think both of you will
(15:08):
agree with me here, we mayhave some minor differences, is that
now you got to think aboutyour rib cage.
Your rib cage starts with yoursternum at your chest, and it wraps
all the way around to the backbone.
In fact, the rib bones attachto the backbone, and the different
sections of the rib are alittle different.
(15:30):
But they have one thing incommon, and that is their job is
to protect your vital organs.
Their job is to protect theheart, the liver, the stomach, the
lungs.
And so they have to be tough now.
They have a little flex sothat, you know, if you catch a.
If you're playing football,you can take an impact.
But between the bones, there'sa lot of connective tissue and fat
(15:56):
in addition to the meat.
And so it's not diet food.
You don't eat it every day.
But that connective tissue,when it melts, becomes really rich
and succulent.
And the fat, when it renders,becomes really rich and succulent.
And the meat is very tasty.
So in addition to being fun toeat, there's just a lot of flavor
(16:18):
there.
And to get the most out ofthem, I think you have to cook them
low and slow in order torender the fat and melt the connective
tissues and cook the meat thoroughly.
You just have to dial it back.
I cook it at 225.
I know some folks go to 75, 250.
(16:38):
225 is my magic temperature.
I just let it go, take its time.
And there are different cutsof ribs.
If you go to the store,there's baby backs.
Now, they are back ribs.
They attach to the spine andthey have a curve.
They look like a hockey stick.
And then there's spare ribs.
And they take up on the sidewhere the baby backs end and wrap
(17:02):
all the way around to the chest.
And they have the meat mostlybetween the bones, where the baby
backs have the meat mostly ontop of the bones.
The baby back meat is a littleleaner because it comes off of the,
the, the muscle that makes theloin muscle on the back.
That's where you get most yourpork chops.
(17:23):
So you've got pork chop meatsitting on top of the baby backs.
There's not a lot of meat onthe chest section, the spare ribs
section, because if you feelyour own ribs, there's just not a
lot of meat on top of it.
Speak for yourself.
And then if you take the spareribs, a lot of cooks will square
(17:47):
them up by cutting off the ribtips, which are kind of gnarly, and
they go in different directions.
And they're very flexible.
They'll cut off the tip of theribs, which come from the front,
the chest, and they just takethe side ribs.
And they're sometimes called St.
Louis Cut, or I prefer center cut.
(18:09):
But they, they're, they'restraighter than the, than the back
ribs.
They, they're, they layflatter and there's not as much meat
on top.
Most of the meats in between,they take a little longer to cook
because there's moreconnective tissue.
But, you know, it comes downto your preference.
I occasionally hear people goto a restaurant and say, I ordered
the ribs and they were justtoo fatty.
(18:32):
No, they're all going to be fatty.
That's what you get, you know,I mean, don't complain about ribs
being fatty.
That's part of the pleasure.
Anatomically correct ribs.
I'll put it that way.
Leanne, you're a rib gal.
I know.
Yeah.
And I prefer St.
Louis because of the fat overbaby backs.
(18:55):
Me too, by far.
And I love rib tips.
Yep.
I used to serve them in the restaurant.
I like those gnarly little pieces.
Yeah, they're kind of weirdbecause, you know, you bite into
them and then you got thislittle 2 inch section of the.
You got to roll them around onyour tongue to get the meat off of
(19:15):
them.
Yeah, we have a store here.
I'm sorry, Leanne, go ahead.
No, but that, that's prettymuch where I stand on ribs.
I mean, I'll eat a baby back, but.
And I like my ribs dry.
You know, just with a dry rub.
I'm not a saucy girl.
All right, well, you don't.
Just to clarify, when you saydry, you don't mean the meat being
dry, you mean.
No, like dry ribs, which are.
(19:37):
Just have a rub on them.
I like it with just salt andpepper sometimes.
Yeah, yeah.
Texas style.
You can go into the store andyou can buy the strips of the rib
tips.
And you know, if you buy tenpounds of those rib tips, you can
feed a lot of people.
And it's a.
To me, I do those like atsuper bowl, small gathering of people
(19:59):
like that because like youwere saying earlier, it's kind of
a grab and go type finger food.
It's also great for the personworking the grill because they can
eat that while they're cookingthe ribs.
Yes, they can.
They cook faster.
And nobody will know.
Nobody will know.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withMeathead and Leanne here on Barbecue
Nation right after this.
(20:20):
Stay with us.
Thank you.
Hey, everybody, it's JT And Ihave eaten, if you've ever looked
at me, you know that.
But I have eaten seafood allover the world and I can tell you
there's no place better thanhere in Oregon and our Dungeness
(20:42):
crab.
If you want to learn moreabout Oregon Dungeness crab, just
go to oregondungeness.org findout how to cook it, how to catch
it, where to buy it and thesustainability of what they're doing
there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Check it out.
(21:08):
Welcome back to the Nation.
I'm JT along with my cocommander here, Leanne Whippen, hall
of famer and meathead fromAmazingRibs.com we want to give a
shout out to Leanne's pigpowder in this section of the show
like we always do.
You've got the 4th of Julycoming up if you're going to do ribs
(21:28):
or you can use it on anything.
Excellent on ribs.
I mean, that's.
I've won a lot of first placeswith pig powder and a lot of people
like to do a pork butt on, youknow, for, yeah, pork sandwiches
on 4th of July.
I sprinkled them on somesalmon that I slow smoked and they
were very good.
Yeah, so it is.
(21:49):
It's very versatile, sweet,with a little heat.
Spicier one is coming out andI'll post that on my social.
But yeah, one best rub on theplanet and it's a survivor rub.
I mean, there's a lot of rubsout there.
These Days.
But it's been around foryears, and it's tried and true, and
a lot of the competitors stilluse it to this day.
So go to pigeon.
(22:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I wanted to talk.
Still the same that your daddy invented?
Exactly.
Same manufacturer, the whole.
Yeah.
The only thing that's changingon this new batch will be the label.
And it's just more of afacelift, but still.
Trim, tabs, pink powder.
It needed that.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's all good.
So I want to talk about sides.
(22:32):
And because we have the worldchampion potato salad queen sitting
here, I actually look forwardto the fourth because of the sides.
Everybody has their mom'srecipe or a recipe they created about
things like potato salad orMac salad, what have you.
(22:54):
And I, I like the sides.
Not that I don't like theproteins and all that.
Don't get me wrong.
I love them.
But the point is, I love totaste people's potato salads.
I like to try their.
Their Mac salads or, you know,if they have some sort of other crunchy
vegetable salad, whatever.
(23:14):
I always really enjoy that.
Now, Leanne, I know you're notgoing to share your recipe for your
world championship potatosalad, but what are, what are things
people should be payingattention to when they're preparing
their potato salad?
I don't like a deli, you know,like that deli flavored potato salad.
(23:38):
I'm a Hellman's best foodsmayonnaise girl.
There you go.
I also think it's important todrain your potatoes well, so they
don't have a lot of water in them.
And like, Yukon Golds, I feelare too starchy.
I'll use a red, though, and russets.
And it's up to you if you wantto peel them, but I think they should
(24:01):
be peeled.
I think red.
Two of the most importantingredients to add are hard cooked
eggs and bacon.
And always a hint of vinegar,because that kicks it up.
And if you're making it a dayahead, taste it the next day because
it absorbs the salt and a lotof the spices.
So you have to adjust yourseasonings the next day.
(24:22):
I like a little scoop ofpickle relish in mine.
My mom likes it, too.
Yeah, my mom made her potatosalad, and she always had green onions
in it.
Not a lot, just enough.
She also put diced up radishesin it, which I'm a radish guy.
(24:43):
Okay.
I would like that.
That would give it a littlespiciness, a little.
Little kick to it.
So she had those things in andshe, you Know, had potatoes and base.
Of course.
We're best foods people out here.
We don't get Hellman's much.
Same stuff, but.
Right.
You know, like that.
But she made that.
And the other thing was.
And I think, to your point of a.
(25:06):
A manufactured salad that youget out of a deli, her potatoes always
still had.
I don't want to say a crunchto it, but they weren't mushy.
Yeah.
You have to.
That's the critical thingabout potato salad.
There is just a small windowof time when those potatoes are perfect.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I.
And I always love that.
(25:28):
And how do you tell whenthey're perfect?
I stick a fork in them, and ifthe fork comes out rather easily.
But if it.
If you stick a fork in it andthey start to fall apart, you're
already done.
You overcooked them.
Yeah.
And also what I do is so theydon't continue cooking when I take
(25:48):
them out and drain them, Istick them in the fridge to cool
them down, and they continueto dry out.
The water starts to come outof them a little bit, and they don't
cook anymore.
So especially if you are onthe verge of overcooking them, get
them as cold as you can, asfast as you can.
So they don't cook anymore.
Yeah.
We're not making mashedpotatoes here.
Right.
(26:08):
Right.
Like that.
Meathead.
What's your.
You're a connoisseur of sides.
I know.
You know, it's 4th of July,and I can't serve all of my favorites.
I have an audience.
You.
I think it's really crucialthat you think of your audience,
like when you choose whatbeverages, you know?
(26:29):
Sure.
I mean, if it were me, I woulddo wines and some beers and stuff.
But our crowd is into hardlemonade and some of these other
things, so that's what we serve.
And the same thing for sides.
Potato salad slaw.
I have two really good slawrecipes on the website.
(26:50):
One is the vinegar slaw, andthe other is your classic deli slaw
with mayonnaise and sour cream blend.
By the way, a lot of peoplemake slaw with just sour cream.
I mean, mayonnaise.
You get some sour cream inthere, maybe even a little yogurt.
And beans.
If I'm doing ribs, I'll put apan under the bean, under the ribs
to catch some drips.
(27:11):
And with that drip comes alittle of the seasoning off the beans,
the rub, little big powder.
And the beans is very nice.
Yeah.
You know, we'll do lemonade.
Corn on the.
Yeah, corn on the cob.
See, I'm sorry, I'm.
I'm.
I just happened to see that up there.
But that's a, That's a.
(27:31):
Yeah, it's.
Not ready yet for us.
And for.
I'm.
I'm in the Midwest, North.
I'm in the Chicago area, Illinois.
Grows fabulous corn on the cob.
There are several of these newhybrids that are just brilliant.
And These are not GMOs,they're hybrids.
You know, like.
Like you are.
You're a hybrid.
You're a crossbreed betweenyour mom and dad.
When they cross breed corn, it's.
(27:53):
It's different than gmo.
Not that I have anythingagainst gmo, but I know a lot of
people do.
But these new hybrids, there's a.
There's a hybrid called Marai,which is just awesome.
And one of the cool thingsabout them are, you know, I used
to have the rule, you startthe water boiling before you go pick
the corn.
Some of these new hybrids willhold their sugar and their carbohydrates
(28:16):
in the fridge for days.
They're fantastic.
So check out some of the newhybrids that are out there.
Farmers markets.
We've got a few minutes lefthere before we get a break.
You touched on something, meathead.
Beans.
I like to consider myself aconnoisseur of baked beans.
(28:38):
Oh, okay.
So one of the things, thereare a couple of things that, for
me to get smiling about bakedbeans, you have to have in the ingredients,
you have to have some onionand you have to have some bacon or
you can, you know, if you wantto mess around with that, you could
use side pork or, you know,whatever, but you have to have that
(29:01):
in there.
And I'm also a guy.
If you're going to make bakedbeans and more of a, I don't know,
semi traditional way, you haveto have molasses in it.
Yeah, you have to havemolasses in it.
You can't just dump some brownsugar in it.
Or God help you if you everdump any, like the darker version
of Karo syrup in it.
(29:22):
That's just not going to work.
So them's Yankee beans.
Yeah.
And I think, you know, Leannewill speak to this probably better
than I, but in the south,they're not as sweet as they are
in the North.
And that molasses comes fromthe fact that the colonies, Boston
(29:45):
used to bring in justboatloads of molasses from the Caribbean
where the sugar cane was grown.
Molasses is made from sugar cane.
And there's a famous incidentthat happened during colonial times,
I think, where these massivevats of molasses exploded and they
(30:08):
flooded the streets.
People drowned and died in thegreat molasses flood.
You can Google was pretty impressive.
Wow.
I have nothing against cannedbaked beans.
I'm lazy in my old age.
I don't want to go soak themovernight and all that stuff.
(30:30):
I will.
You know, if you want to makebeans like that, go buy a number
10, 10 of bushes or B&M.
B M baked beans or whatever.
I tend if I do that, Iactually rinse the sauce off that
they come in and then startwith the beans from there.
So what are your thoughts on that?
Absolutely agree.
(30:52):
The sauce that they come incan be salty, can make the meat mushy.
I drain them and I drain themand rinse them lightly.
But then I start doctoring them.
I put a little barbecue saucein my beans, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Got to have that.
Leanne, what are your littlekey pieces of advice for making?
I like using different beans,like Great Northern and Pinto and
(31:15):
just so just to make it alittle different.
Definitely bacon.
Yeah.
Meathead.
Like a little barbecue sauce.
Of course, pig powder goes inthere, of course.
But I don't like my beanssuper sweet.
But I use the dark brown sugarversus light brown because it has
some of that molassesundertone to it if I don't have any
(31:36):
molasses.
But yeah, we're on the same page.
Yeah, no, I think that's theway you do it.
And I cook them for, I don'tknow, three or four hours at least,
low and slow, just like we'redoing ribs and stuff.
But I'll pop them in the ovenand doing that.
And when I serve them, I.
(31:57):
I put kind of quartered upstrips of bacon on the top and I
like to see my baked beanscome out with a nice deep brown color
on the top of the.
Of the bowl, if you will.
That's just the thing with me.
And so when they stick a spoonin, they can get it.
(32:18):
Piece of bacon right off the top.
They're going to get.
I put a lot of bacon in it, sothey're going to get that.
But I like that.
I like that presentation, too.
Just that nice dark brown,kind of almost crispy on the top.
That's my deal.
So that make me hungry.
Yeah, we can do that.
Well, you got a hot dog rightbehind you there.
(32:38):
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withMeathead and Leanne here on the barbecue
nation 4th of July.
It's coming up, folks, soonerthan you think.
We'll be right back.
Hey, everybody, it's jt.
(32:58):
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But it's more than thatbecause each bite of Painted hills
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Put a big bright smile on yourface and whoever's at your dinner
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And you can thank me for that later.
Just go topaintedhillsbeef.com and find out
(33:21):
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You won't regret it.
Hey, everybody, J.T.
here.
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(33:42):
them.
Foreign.
Welcome back to the Nation.
I'm JT along with Ms.
Whippen and Mr.
Meathead from AmazingRibs.comif you go to AmazingRibs.com first
(34:05):
of all, if you're not amember, you should join the Pitmaster
Club.
I'll do the pitch for you here.
Me dad.
You should, you should jointhe Pitmaster Club because it gives
you access to things that youhave to be a member to get.
If you just go peruse the, theAmazing Ribs website, there's thousands,
(34:25):
literally, literally thousandsof, of things that Meathead and other
his staff have written about.
There's recipes, there'sideas, there's videos, all that,
that thing.
So, but for the small amountthat you pay for the pit Pit Masters
Club every year, I think it'swell worth it.
(34:46):
There's the AmazingRibs.comhas 2,000 free pages of recipes,
product reviews.
We have a guy full time whotests grills and smokers.
If you're trying to replaceyour old rust bucket, you need to
go see Matt Good and read his reviews.
They're detailed and he callsthem the way he sees them.
(35:06):
He doesn't know who advertisesand doesn't care.
And then thermometer reviews.
We have an electrical engineerwho tests thermometers.
And the pitmaster Club has 120broadcast quality instructional videos
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Yeah, there you go.
See, it's well worth it.
All right, so now it's time totalk about our favorite thing which
(35:27):
is in this segment is notgoing to be beer, but it's going
to be desserts up here wherewe live, of course, fourth of July.
Standard fare for desserts islike strawberry shortcake, because
strawberries are in season.
They're beautiful.
Their local ones are reallyjuicy, plump, sweet and all that.
(35:54):
The way I do shortcake is Imake my own very thick whipped cream.
I make my own biscuits to do that.
I don't use the spongy stuff.
I don't like spongy stuff forsome reason.
And when I slice up mystrawberries and prepare them, I
will put them in some waterand maybe a little sugar in the water
(36:15):
to really bring out the sweetand let it sit for a while.
So when you serve them, it'sabsolutely phenomenal.
I think my wife would eat abowl of the juice and the biscuits,
and she doesn't bother withthe berries.
But what's the Chicago styleon that meathead?
We, too, will do strawberryshortcake, but peaches are just coming
(36:38):
in season, and I love grilled peaches.
The peaches are fruit.
They're like grapes in thesense that they are at their best
in a cool climate where theyget sweet during the daytime, but
the temperature cools down andthat retains the acidity.
(37:01):
So you get this marveloussugar and acid balance, which all
the great wine regions have.
And I gotta tell you, for thatreason, I think Michigan peaches
are better than Georgia andSouth Carolina.
Actually, South Carolina hasmore peaches than Georgia does.
But I love them down there.
They get very sweet, but theyjust don't have the crispness of
(37:22):
a Michigan peach.
And they're fantastic.
And they're just around thecorner from us.
And usually once a year, wemake a run down to the fruit belt
of Michigan and buy peaches.
And they just are spectacular,and they grill up nicely.
Key to grilling peaches to acouple of keys.
If you can get freestone, thatmeans the.
(37:44):
The stone, the pit is kind ofloose in there.
You slice them down the middle.
It's easy to pop the pit out.
If you get cling peaches, themeat clings to the stone and a little
hard to get the seed out.
And you want to get the seedout so that when you slice them in
half, you can lay that cutside down on the grill where they'll
get grill marks.
And it's really crucial thatyou clean that grill grate both top
(38:09):
and bottom.
You do not want meat grease ormeat grease smoke in your fruits.
And.
And then I.
I just, you know, grill themuntil I get a couple of grill marks,
which is caramelized sugar.
Flip them over.
Get.
Get them cooked on the backside.
And they actually have asimilar recipe for this.
(38:32):
I have a rum sauce that I liketo pour over it.
It's in my new book, theMeathead Method.
And a scoop of ice cream and alittle warm rum sauce on the scoop
of ice cream.
And the peaches is fantastic.
And if you want, you canactually gild the lily.
(38:52):
I've been known to paint thepeaches with a little amaretto.
Yeah.
Or Captain Morgan.
There you go.
And they absorb a little bitof that flavor and gives it a little,
amps it up a little.
So that's kind of fun.
Very good, Ms.
Whippin.
(39:12):
I'm like this big watermelonbasket person during the fourth of
July.
So with all different melonsand strawberries and grapes, and
you just dig in and get awhole bunch of fruit.
I like while grilling.
Throwing sliced pineapples onthe grill.
I like that.
But, you know, we're into somemore world, and there's so many variations
(39:35):
that makes it fun for the kidsto make, you know, s' mores, but.
And of course, you could do acherry dump cake and throw some blueberries
on it and get red, white, andblue action going.
That is true.
That is true.
Cherries are in.
We're getting them in fromboth Michigan and the Pacific Northwest.
And you can make a marvelous clafouti.
(39:59):
I have fear of flowers, so Idon't know how to do a clafouti,
but I'll bet Leanne knows.
I don't know.
But anyway, I like dessert,but, you know, I.
I tend to fill up oneverything else and it's hot outside
and you kind of lose your appetite.
So it would be nice if icecream was a little bit more weather
worthy because I would love abig dish of ice cream for the fourth,
(40:21):
but it doesn't hold too well.
Well, yes, it is literallycream, but, you know, if you let
it sit out too long.
No, I think there's a lot ofamazing, no pun intended, amazing
desserts out there.
The other thing you weretalking about, cherries.
(40:43):
Meathead.
One of my favorite things inthe world is a really good cherry
cobbler.
I love cherry cobbler,especially if it's a crisp top, you
know, like that.
I love that.
And I like, you know, you cando it with blueberries or apples,
you can do it with peaches,you can do it with whatever.
The other fruit we have anabundance up here is pears.
(41:05):
We have a lot of good pears inthe Northwest.
And I'll take a Pear cut.
Cut it in half, take the seedsout like that.
I'll put it on the grill with a.
A small little dab of butterand some brown sugar and some raisins.
Actually, I like raisins.
You don't have.
(41:26):
The raisins are optional.
And you can grill it that way.
You can put a little cinnamonon top or, you know, a little Grand
Marnier, something like that.
It turns out very good.
It's more of an adult typedessert, but, you know, you can be
very creative with fruit tomake desserts out of it.
For sure.
(41:46):
Yeah.
Favorite beverage?
I'll start with Leanne.
Well, that's like lemonade.
I like fresh lemonade withwhatever you want.
Lemonade?
Yeah.
I mean, there's plenty of beeraround, but I don't, you know, on
(42:08):
a hot day, I.
Outdoors cooking.
Really easy for the beer to goto my head.
Yeah.
And normally I'm a wine.
Wine drinker, but on 4th ofJuly, I go for lemonade.
Yeah, well, yeah, I can do that.
I can.
Margaritas are good, too.
(42:29):
Nice.
Frozen margarita would be nice.
Yeah, anything like that, Ithink works out good.
We used to make this stuffcalled yucca.
Have you guys ever done yucca?
No.
You take a gallon jar, like anold pickle jar, it's all cleaned
out and stuff, and you fill itfull of ice, and you take a container
(42:54):
of frozen lemonade and you putthat whole big slug of frozen lemonade
in there, the condensed version.
And then you take a fifth oftequila and you pour it in there
and you shake it.
Some poor staff has to shakethis thing for a better part of an
(43:15):
hour, off and on.
But when it comes out, it isthe most amazing beverage.
Word of warning, don't getover exuberant with the yucca because
it will yucca you, I bet.
Especially in the heat.
In the heat.
But it is an amazing, easykind of group cocktail, if you will,
(43:38):
in the summertime.
Like that.
So I.
I don't have a lot of personalexperience with it, but I heard about
it through the grapevine, youmight say.
But it's really good.
What's the highlight of yourfourth of July gatherings, Meathead?
(43:59):
The ribs.
That's it.
I mean, every.
I cook a mess of ribs.
They go in a big pot.
I slice them up intoindividual bones when they're done
and put them in the dining table.
And of course, everybody comesfrom Eathead's famous ribs.
Otherwise they probablywouldn't come at all.
You know, they don't like methat much.
They just want my Ribs, Leanne.
(44:23):
It's all about the food.
That's my favorite part.
And then fireworks.
You like fireworks?
Fireworks?
Yeah.
We don't.
We have sparklers.
We don't do fireworks.
We're dog lovers, dog owners,and that tends to freak the dogs
out.
And also, I've been hearinglately about vets who are really
(44:45):
freaked out by the explosions.
Right.
How about you, Jeff?
Where I live now, and you'vebeen here, it starts a day or two
before it kind of warm updrills with the fireworks.
But then the 4th of July, itsounds like Danang 68 for about 6
(45:06):
hours during the night.
It goes till usually about 1to 1:30 in the morning.
It goes on all night.
Wow.
Yeah.
And then they'll.
And then.
Because, like, the fourth ison a Friday this year, you'll still
get more fireworks on Saturdayand Sunday.
And it keeps the localconstables busy trying to track them
(45:26):
down.
Last question.
In this part of the show,we've got some fun stuff coming up
in after hours.
What's your message to theworld, to the United States, leanne,
for the 4th of July this year?
This is a little differentshow, but.
This is a toughie becausethere's a lot happening right now.
(45:47):
I mean, I won't even tell youwhat I just read on my phone.
But, yeah, it's just, youknow, everybody stay safe, be mindful
of our military and howthey're protecting us and.
Yeah, just.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Well, interesting time.
(46:08):
Yeah.
I am the polar opposite ofElon Musk in the sense that I stay
out of politics.
I own a small business.
I have employees.
It is my responsibility to myfiscal responsibility, fiduciary
responsibility to not pisspeople off.
(46:29):
I have very strong politicalviews, and I wish I could voice them
publicly.
I have always had strongpolitical views.
I have never missed anelection, even local.
But I keep it to myself.
I do, too.
And I think Elon Muskdemonstrated the risk in putting
(46:50):
your politics out there.
He was running veryprofitable, beloved companies admired
by many people.
And when he got involved inpolitics, he pissed a lot of people
off, justifiably or not.
Right.
And I try to steer clear of it.
I do occasionally dabble infood politics.
(47:12):
When the government passeslaws related to food and diet, health
or something.
I will occasionally comment onthat, but it's strictly nonpartisan.
It's strictly from a culinary basis.
So.
And I try to steer clear ofthose discussions at the Fourth of
(47:32):
July because there's a varietyof opinions.
But I gotta tell you one thing.
I have my message screen uphere and the phone rang a few minutes
ago.
I had to hang up on it beforeI could take it.
But my brother in law, mysister's brother, she has two.
One of them is politically thevast opposite of me.
(47:55):
And we have a daily back andforth debate and it is vehement and
it is polarized and it is strong.
And every time I see him, Ihug him and I love him to death because
he's a nice man and I will notlet politics get in the way.
And if I had any message aboutthe fourth of July, it would be that
(48:19):
there's going to be people whodisagree with you politically.
Love them anyhow.
Yep, I would.
I couldn't really have saidthat better right myself.
So for everybody watching andlistening, thank you.
We hope you have a wonderfulfourth of July with family and friends.
Enjoy the festivities.
(48:40):
Don't forget, you can go topigpowder.com for the above four
mentioned pig powder.
I recommend it and also toamazingribs.com if you can swing
it.
Join the Pitmasters Club there.
Meathead's new book, theMeathead Method is out.
And for me, I'm gonna go tothe golf course anyway.
(49:02):
We will.
We're gonna, we're gonna jumpinto after hours here.
And so for everybody outthere, go out, have a good time,
have Fun on the 4th.
Remember our motto, turn it,don't burn it.
But most of all, be kind.
Take care, everybody.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions in association
with Salem Media Group.
All.
(49:22):
All rights reserved.
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