June 21, 2025 • 41 mins
The salient point of this podcast episode revolves around the innovative integration of barbecue culture in New York City, as exemplified by Matt Abdu and Shane McBride from Pig Beach. These culinary artisans share insights into their journey, which is marked by a transition from fine dining to the creation of a unique barbecue experience that incorporates diverse flavor profiles. They discuss the release of their new cookbook, which not only showcases traditional barbecue recipes but also introduces inventive dishes that blend their culinary backgrounds. Furthermore, they elaborate on the importance of community and mentorship within the restaurant industry, emphasizing their commitment to nurturing talent among their team. As they navigate the challenges and joys of expanding their culinary empire, the episode encapsulates a profound respect for both the art of barbecue and the bonds formed through shared gastronomic experiences.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Pig Beach
Mentioned in this episode:
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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 Don'tBurnet studios in Portland, here's
jt.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to the nation.
That's Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with my co hostand co pilot, Leanne Whippen.
Camaro Dave and CommanderChris are roaming around here somewhere.
(00:33):
And we're coming to you fromthe Turn It, Don't Burden it studios
in Portland.
We'd like to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef the way nature intended.
If you don't have PaintedHills in your area across the country,
you can go to their websiteand they have a store locator there
and you can buy stuff fromthem direct.
That's Painted Hills NaturalBeef dot com.
(00:53):
Well, we've got a couple ofcharacters from New York with us
today.
And it's normally when people.
Guys, when people.
I'm going to introduce youproperly in a second here, but we
don't think about barbecue inBrooklyn very much.
But you guys are making it happen.
Matt abdu and Shane McBridefrom Pig Beach.
(01:15):
They've got a new cookbook out.
And again, I'll do it.
I don't know if I can do thiswith this.
Never works with the greenscreen, but it's there.
It's a great book.
So just take my word like aghost book.
I like it.
Yeah, yeah, it's there.
Anyway, there you go.
Fantastic.
Leanne doesn't use greenscreens like I do that.
(01:37):
She locks her cats in herbedroom right now.
Yep.
Mine roam around in the house here.
So first of all, guys, I gottaask you.
I know, Matt, you're from NewYork, but what made you guys think
that barbecue would work inBrooklyn and Queens?
(01:58):
No, that's a great question.
I think the really interestingthing about both my path and Shane's
path to getting to barbecue.
Shane obviously has been doingbarbecue much longer than I have
from a very small town inupstate New York where when I was
a kid, a barbecue was.
And for those of you justlistening, I'm doing air quotes.
A barbecue was like backyardgrowing up, hot dogs and hamburgers.
(02:19):
Right?
And for all those listening,we all know that obviously that's
not barbecue at all, butthat's what I grew up thinking.
It was that and likespaghettini culture.
Because from where I am inupstate New York, the chicken or
steak on a skewer was, youknow, the biggest barbecue culture
that we had in upstate New York.
Uh, my.
I'm A classically trained finedining chef that primarily focused
(02:40):
on Italian food for themajority of my career.
And I met our current, ourbusiness partner and one of my best
friends, Rob Schager.
We started doing this as ahobby on the weekends, fell in love
with it, had a ton of fun withit, and just kind of progressed that
hobby into a passion.
That passion led us intofinally competing.
And, well, we started offfirst competing in like, local small
(03:03):
New York Long island barbecue competitions.
And then we somehow finagledour way into Memphis in May, back
in like 2014.
2014, yeah, it was 2014, andour first year down there, we left
with a second, second placewhole hog trophy.
We finaled, which was insane,and a first place poultry trophy.
And we sort of were like, wow,we're onto something here.
(03:26):
And we sort of took thatcatalyst of Memphis to open up Pig
beach as just a pop up, asummer pop up in Gowanus, Brooklyn,
where we currently.
Just to see if we had what ittook to do it.
And obviously we had a lot ofgrowing pains getting to where we
are today and a lot oflearning things to do, but we finally
got to a point where we madegreat, great friends.
And one of the greatest thingsabout barbecue for us is that barbecue
(03:48):
family of just how amazing allthe people are that we've met along
the way.
And we've become really,really close friends with like, some
of the greats, like peoplelike Chris Lilly and Tuffy Stone
and Skip Steel and John Wheeler.
And I mean, the names can goon and on and on and on.
And we got a chance to cookalongside these guys and they really
helped progress us into wherewe are and what our program is today.
(04:09):
And we just had so much funwith it that it was, for me, an opportunity
to escape the sort of rigorouspressure cooker of a fine dining
environment and get to havinga chance where I could really just
enjoy doing what I love to do,which is cook for people, put smiles
on people's faces and embracethat love of family.
I like to Matt how you kind ofintegrated some of your Italian background
(04:33):
in your dishes into the book.
I mean, you got some lasagnain there and you got some other stuff
in there.
And maybe Shane did that, Idon't know.
But I thought that was prettycool that when I was going through
the book, I went, oh, yeah,there you go.
What we wanted to do with thisbook was obviously, you know, we're
from New York and we certainlyrecognize that.
(04:54):
And one of the first andforemost things that we wanted to
do with this book was, youknow, give the praise and the homage
of where barbecue culturecomes from, all the specific regions,
and sort of just boast abouthow great barbecue is and how those
regions have really sort ofinfluenced what it is that we do
in New York.
And since we are from a nontraditional barbecue region, it gave
(05:15):
us the opportunity to be ableto say, all right, we're going to
study and learn from the bestguys or the guys that we know that
do this really, really well inthese specific regions and find out
how that makes it authentic tothat area.
And then we wanted to comeback to New York and do our version
of that and do our sort ofbest representation, taking our sort
of chefy mindset and palates,and not to say that we're doing anything
(05:37):
better because these guys arethe best in the crafts and best in
the business of who we'vegotten the chance to work with.
But adding that sort of funflavor profile of what we're able
to do here in New York anddoing dishes like smoked duck lasagna,
where we're taking duck thighsand we're smoking them, confined
them in the smoker, and thenfinishing them on the smoker and
then pulling that meat to putit into a lasagna or doing it, whether
it's a bowl of ramen or havinglike, really, really fun flavor profiles.
(06:00):
Like, we have an entirechapter in our book called Fun with
Ribs where we're taking thatsort of obviously very signature
iconic barbecue dish of a babyback rib.
But we're adding some flavorprofile notes that are certainly
non traditional in barbecue,but being inspired from the amazing
melting pot of cultures thatare within here in New York City
of some of the most iconicflavor profiles of dishes, things
like Al Pastor and Mojo.
(06:22):
We have some Mediterraneanseasoned ribs, Char Sioux ribs, and
so on and so on.
So we're just able to have alot of Swedish ribs.
Well, the Swedish ribs didn'tmake the book.
They were very delicious, though.
Well, I'm from New Jersey andnow in Florida, and I'm bummed out
that I don't live up there, soI can come visit your restaurant,
but I definitely will.
(06:43):
I think you were kind ofstriving for a more upscale beverage
program when you started yourfirst restaurant, I think, because
I noticed in the book that youhave some amazing craft cocktails
in there, too.
Oh.
You certainly do.
And the cocktails are.
I'm not going to be all takeup all the air, she's got to talk.
(07:05):
But the cocktails are part ofthe One of the best things about
barbecue are the drinks andthe people you get to hang out with
while you're doing it.
Right.
So we had to definitely have achapter about that in there.
Yeah, I mean, we have anamazing cocktail program we kind
of built.
I'm a big whiskey and winedrinker, and I like a good cocktail
here and there.
And I think the one thing, youknow, it's interesting that you brought
(07:28):
up the subject about, youknow, we tried to do, you know, barbecue
in New York City.
Like, you know, there is somesort of religious ritual that we
have to take it out of thedead hands of a southerner.
So, you know, I wanted to have.
In New York City, you know,you have to have a good drink program
(07:49):
no matter what.
If you want to have asuccessful restaurant to pay your,
you know, they always say thefood pays the rent and the drinks
make you money.
We needed to have the rightdrink program to go along with our
barbecue.
And we just have fun with it.
You know, we're not seriousabout it.
We're not.
We're not mixologists.
You know, we just like to havefun, kind of beachy drinks that go
(08:11):
great with barbecue.
I think people forget that in restaurants.
Sometimes they just.
In barbecue, predominantly,they focus just on proteins, and
they don't take a look and tryto make the sides the best, the desserts
the best.
But I really.
Yeah, because we couldn'tagree more.
And as.
And again, as being chefsmoving into this amazing culture
that is barbecue, like, welove it all and we want to eat it
(08:35):
all.
And just like you guys, I'msure when you go out to a barbecue
restaurant, you want theprotein, but you also want the collard
greens.
You want the Mac and cheese,you want the cornbread, you want
the baked beans, you want afroze or a big batch fun cocktail
or a perfect glass of rose orsomething that's going to go with
it, or craft beer, ipa, youname it.
And then finish it off withsome, I don't know, banana pudding
or key lime pie or some sortof fun, super delicious.
(08:57):
Exactly.
Some sorts.
We wanted to put that alltogether, and that's really what
we strove to do, strived to do.
Shane is much a better writerthan I.
That's definitely the onething that sets.
If you go to the temples ofbarbecue in the south, you know,
(09:19):
none of them have cocktails,you're lucky if you can get a beer
right, you know, because itcosts money to have those liquor
license too.
And it's not a.
There's also you know, peoplehave religious views that don't allow
them to have drinks and thingslike that, so.
Well, I think that being NewYork, I think that it lends itself
(09:42):
to you being able to have asuccessful program.
I had a place in Chicago and Idid the same thing.
It just goes hand in handwith, you know, the people that are
coming to your restaurant andit kind of rounds it out.
So it's cool.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So I have a.
What's that?
You said you were from New Jersey.
Now you're in Florida.
(10:02):
Tampa.
And I see you haven't openedup your West Palm beach yet, but
very soon.
I'm rocking the Florida hat aswe see that.
So we'd love to have you comedown and check us out, let us know
if you're free.
Oh, for sure.
You guys did pop ups therefirst, right?
Yeah, because we found thisgreat space and we were doing pop
ups out of it.
And then the pandemic hit andslowed this entire project down for
(10:25):
about two years as it has justsort of derailed everybody in this
business.
But we're almost there.
The space has come together beautifully.
It's going to be an amazing spot.
So we're super excited to getthat one up and running.
So who's going to.
Who's go.
Who's moving to Florida?
Back to my hometown.
That's where I'm from.
Oh, are you?
(10:46):
Yeah.
You couldn't get me to moveback there with a.
God, it's gorgeous down there.
Gun to my head.
So I got a question for you.
You talked about, you know,you and I read about it in the book.
You take these trips to the,the major meccas of barbecue.
How did those boys and girlsin West Texas feel about two guys
from New York coming in, Stufflike that.
(11:07):
So how were you received?
Well, I think that's a reallygreat question and to be very honest,
and I'm not going to speak forShane on this, but for me personally,
that's again, it's one of thegreatest things I've loved about
this barbecue family is thatnobody ever rejected us to say per
se.
Nobody ever was kind offrustrated with the fact that we
were from New York.
(11:27):
They were more of welcome.
Check.
Check out what we're doing now.
I guarantee not everyone wasshowing us their secrets and they
were whatever expect them to,but the hospitality is just.
It's been amazing and it'sbeen awesome to just sort of wiggle
our way into this space, asacred space, and have these amazing
people take a liking to us.
In the sense where they'rewilling to show us or tell us a few
(11:47):
things here or there's.
So it's been really, really great.
Okay, we're going to take abreak here on Barbecue Nation.
We're going to be back withMatt and Shane right after this.
You're listening to BarbecueNation on the USA Radio Network.
(12:10):
Hey, everybody, it's jt andthis is a special version of Barbecue
Nation.
It is brought to you in partby Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef you can be proud to serveyour family and friends.
That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
(12:31):
Welcome back to.
Excuse me, Barbecue Nation.
If you'd like to email us,it's really easy.
You just go to the websiteinstead of giving you 20 email addresses
and just.
It's barbecue nation, jt.com.
that's bbqnationjt.com.
there's an icon there on thebottom of the main page.
You can just send it right to us.
(12:52):
That comes to me.
And if you've got complaints,I send them to Leanne.
If they're fun stuff, I keepthem myself.
We're also on Facebook,Twitter, and a gazillion other platforms.
And so it's not hard that.
Not too hard to find.
We're talking to Matt Abdu andShane McBride.
Pig Beach.
Guys, they've got a newcookbook out here.
(13:14):
It's a great book.
It's a beautiful book.
And I gotta tell you, we get alot of books.
We do a lot of cookbooks.
They're all nice like that.
But when I look at the qualityof this book, and I'm not talking
about the binding or anything,but just the quality of effort in
the writing and the photography.
I knew you guys were seriousabout this after I went through the
(13:36):
book, so congratulations on that.
I'm sure you'll do very wellwith it.
I do have to say that you talk about.
You didn't, but I do stereotypes.
And I just always had thisvision of barbecue in New York where
some guy comes up, I want somegrilled onions on that, too.
You know, like, you know, I'vebeen to the hot dog carts in Manhattan
(13:59):
and stuff, and I'm like, oh,okay, how big of a change was it,
you guys?
The both said, and it's verywell documented that you're both
classically trained chefs, buthow big of a change was it to perhaps
either integrate those skillsthat you learned over the years or
let some of them go whenyou're jumping into barbecue?
(14:20):
That's a good question.
We've asked that people haveasked that one about.
I'll touch on the letting go thing.
The things that I've let go islike wearing pants to work.
I get to wear shorts every day.
I don't have to put a chefcoat on anymore.
I don't have to wear a silly hat.
(14:41):
You know, those are the thingsI've let go.
Everything that we learned isapplied to what we do every day.
I mean, sure, the restaurantbusiness is always a restaurant business.
And if I can make somethingbetter with a technique that I learned
in, you know, fine dining,that's what I'm going to do.
I'm not going to forget those things.
Right.
I've had.
I've had more fun doing thisrestaurant stuff with Matt than I've
(15:03):
had in decades in therestaurant business.
You know, I don't have to.
Other things I can say.
I don't have to worry aboutbuying wine glasses or expensive
silverware, you know, platesthat cost $100 each.
You know, I.
I have a question just fromhaving a restaurant background and
I.
I don't have the experience infine dining like Italian, French
(15:27):
and what have you.
Do you find that barbecue ismore difficult as far as keeping
the quality because it'slonger, slower process?
Do you find it's moredifficult and I guess more challenging
than the other cuisines?
I think that's an absolutelyfascinating question.
And this is kind of how that Iequate all of that, is that there
(15:50):
are certainly more variable tocompletely ruin a day in the restaurant
doing barbecue, because as youjust said, if your briskets didn't
come out right or somethinghappens, you're not making them on
the fly to have them ready for service.
So.
But in the same token, if youare able to have that sort of great,
solid core team along withyou, and you really, prior to opening,
(16:15):
invest a lot of time into thatteam and making sure that they know
the program, how you like todo things, and you have that sort
of attention to detail.
It's from my experience, it'sbeen easier to have that sort of
consistent cook than having infine dining.
There can be like a.
And correct me if I'm wrong,but there can be sort of like a rotating
musical chairs of who's onwhich station for the night.
(16:36):
And each person that's on astation does things differently.
And most fine diningrestaurants are set up where you
have a meat roast cook, a fishroast cooked, an entremat, which
is a person that does thesides for the meat and entre mat.
The person does the sides forvegetables and so on and so forth.
And those schedules, peoplerotate around pretty frequently,
and each person can be doingsomething differently and putting
together multiple componentsby a different person.
(16:58):
The variable for error cancertainly expedite much higher.
But however, there is anability to correct that faster than
there is in barbecue.
So there's.
There's give and take, Ithink, on both sides.
But yeah, it.
That.
The reality is that eitherside can make some pretty serious
errors if there's not a lot ofgood training and sort of attention
(17:19):
to that detail to eliminatethose variables for error.
But I found it easier to keepa consistent product here within
the barbecue realm becausewe're able to focus primarily on
a much smaller menu where theguys that are working the pits, they
have their, you know, five orsix proteins that this is your responsibility,
focus on these.
And it's usually one guy'sprimary role with like a backup,
(17:40):
like understudy that works hisdays off kind of thing, versus having
five or six different peoplethat might rotate into that rotation
of cooking that same sort of.
You.
Did you train these pitmasters, or did you recruit them
from areas of the country thatyou know, I wish.
We were able to recruit themfrom certain areas of the country.
(18:00):
All the guys that we've hadhere with us at Pick beach have been
people that we've taken in.
We've trained them with Shaneand my program of how we like to
cook our barbecue.
And we've been really, reallyfortunate, which is kind of insane
to consider New York City.
But we've.
The majority of our culinaryteam that's been with us has been
with us since day one.
And it's made it really,really great to, as we opened up
(18:22):
our locations and expandedupon, of making that transition be
that much easier and that much consistent.
Because we've had people sincethe very beginning of this project
seven and a half years ago nowthat, you know, we took.
I took people left with methat wanted to come and get out of
fine dining.
Shane had some people thatwanted to get out of his echelon
of fine dining to come with him.
And these amazing.
Like our chef, Steven Fugatti.
(18:43):
Fugate, I call him Fugattibecause I made him Italian, even
though name is pronounced Fugate.
But he's been with us sincethe very beginning, and he's now
like a partner with us,executive chef with us, you know,
and then just.
Are you going to take some ofyour New York crew down to Florida
then?
I.
You know what?
That is a great question.
We're hoping to get one or twoof the guys that want to transition
(19:04):
down to Florida.
But that's primarily thereason why I'm moving down to Florida
is to we've got a great chefand a great sous chef lined up with
us already down there that arefrom the neighborhood in the area
that are friends of of oursthat are super pumped for the program
that I've had a chance to cookwith for the last couple of years.
So they were starting withthere, but it's primarily going to
be, you know, we're trainingpeople over again to get those pits
fired up and it's going to beme and the smokers, you know, for
(19:27):
the first, however long ittakes until we're at a point where
I feel comfortable to let theproverbial rains go on.
We use primarily old hickorypits for the bulk of our barbecue.
Those guys, they do, I mean,as far as like commercial barbecue
restaurants go, they're one ofthe best in my opinion.
One of the best in thebusiness of consistent.
(19:48):
Yeah, that's what I started with.
Love them.
And then we've got a couple ofmoberg mobile trailers from.
We do some off sites as thosefun showpiece cookers.
We're doing some briskets andsome long cooked things on.
There you go.
There you go.
We're going to take anotherbreak here on the Nation on USA Radio
networks and we'll be backwith Matt and Shane from Pink beach
(20:10):
in New York right after.
If you're enjoying GT and hisshow, come check out my podcast around
the House with Eric G where wetalk home improvement and design.
Right here.
Where you catch this podcast,head to Aroundthe House online dot
(20:31):
com.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with LeanneWhippen and today we're talking with
Chris, Matt abdu and ShaneMcBride from Pig beach in New York.
They've got a new cookbook out.
It's called Pig Beach Barbecue Cookbook.
(20:52):
Go figure.
It's a great book.
But how much time do you spendwith Hollywood?
I caught that in the back ofthe book.
Don't you have a guy namedHollywood, you nickname Hollywood?
Yeah, I just spent the weekwith him in Memphis.
You all right?
He is.
No, not him.
You.
If you spend a week with him.
(21:13):
I'm good.
It usually takes Shane a monthto recover from the week of Memphis.
I was, I had to be barbecuedad this week.
I was the most responsibleI've ever been at Memphis this year.
So I'm sorry to hear that Iforgot something here.
We'd like to thank PaintedHills natural beef again, beef like
your grandfather used to raise.
(21:34):
And also David Malik and hiscrew over at Gunter Wilhelm Knives.
We appreciate their supportfor the show.
Now we got all the have tostuff out of the way.
There's who decided to sitdown and write a book.
You don't just sit down oneday and say, oh, hell, I'm going
to go write a book.
I mean, it's a big project.
And it takes actually, becauseI've done it and Leanne's doing it,
(22:00):
and it takes a lot of time.
You've got to get a lot of input.
I mean, you kind of are, youknow, author centric on these things,
but then all of a suddenyou've got photographers and food
stylists and editors and, youknow, proofreaders, and you've got
all this stuff.
Kind of walk us through thatprocess that you went through.
But whose bright idea was itin the first place?
(22:23):
So I think I was the one thatpushed for it more than Matt.
Matt was working with somebodyelse on something.
But my friend Judy Choate, whohelped us write this book, was in
my ear about doing something.
I've been trying to getsomething with her for years done.
Matt and I both have beenfortunate enough to help other chefs
(22:45):
write books, and I did onewith Judy in the past, so she's amazing.
I was kind of pushing for itbecause it's something that I would
want, that I've always wantedto do.
I'm a cookbook hoarder.
I have like 4,000 cookbooks.
Good man.
He has a whole room in hishouse, like a legit room, that probably.
That'S why he can't move to Florida.
(23:05):
He has too many books.
Never gonna go, never gonnamake it.
So it's always been a dream ofmine to have a cookbook.
And I think what Matt and Ihave done at Pick beach is special
in the sense that we've.
I've always called it nonbarbecue barbecue, where I've kind
of used smoke as and, youknow, slow and low as kind of a technique
(23:28):
and a flavor where it's notjust, you know, I'm not cooking ribs
and brisket and pork shoulderall the time.
It's all the other fun stuffthat's in the book has always been
my focus on.
On what barbecue is.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
And I think what we have is aspecial thing.
Judy had the time to do it.
Matt's other project wasn'tworking out.
(23:49):
Bada bing, bada boom.
Here it is.
That's a New York thing, isn'tit Shane out of Bing Bada.
Okay.
I learned that up here from Matt.
Okay, so how long did it takeyou to do the book?
Well, I'm sure as you know andyou're finding out the interesting
thing about the book is thatwhen the time came it was, you know,
you work on putting a proposal together.
We did that with Judy and wesent to the publisher.
(24:12):
Was it like 15 recipe ideas,some with photos, some without.
And once it got picked up frompublisher, they basically gave us
three and a half months towrite and shoot the entire book,
thankfully, which we alreadyhad the bulk of the recipes already
done because we've.
That's how we catalog our restaurant.
And the business is that everysingle thing we do has already been
(24:32):
reciped basically to the gram.
It was more about convertingfrom grams to like cups and ounces
and whatnot, all that kind of stuff.
So yeah, we were basicallygiven a three and a half month window
to turn around the entirebook, including photography.
And then from that time it wasa year from submittal to release
of.
Today, which we did before.
Three and a half months.
(24:53):
Oh, good for you.
The photography is absolutely fantastic.
By the way.
That's a big shout out to Ken Goodman.
He's an incredible photographer.
He's done a lot of barbecue cookbooks.
He's a fellow barbecue guyhimself and he's done, I mean, basically
everybody's books, barbecue books.
He's an incredible guy and welove him.
And then we had the amazingtalents of Katie Ceelo and Anthony
(25:15):
Contrino who are friends ofmine from Today show.
They're actually the foodproducers, food stylists for the
Today show team.
And when it came time to dothis book and we needed photographer
and we needed food stylists, they.
Ken is a good friend of ours.
We called him up right awayand Anthony and Katie were like super
excited to be a part of it.
So it just, it came togetherreally well and it was just an exciting
(25:35):
time to be able to work withall those guys to make this happen.
Good for you.
Good for you.
How did you select the recipes?
I mean, you had a bunch ofrecipes when you did the pitch, I
get that.
But there's a lot of recipesin this book.
I didn't count.
There are, there's probablyhalf of what we actually submitted
because they're like, we can'tdo A cookbook with 120 recipes.
(25:56):
Wanted to be this big.
Yeah.
So a lot of, a lot of therecipes that were chosen, some were
picked out by.
It was basically honestconversations of what do you guys
think is best fit for thisfirst book?
And we laid it out into thechapters that are in there, because
in every chapter that's there,there's probably another 20 recipes
that we had that could go in there.
(26:17):
And we just chose the onesthat we thought were the most special
and the most fun.
But again, it's like trying tochoose between, like, your favorite
child, like, which recipe isyour favorite kind of thing, because
we're just super proud of allof them and hopefully, God willing,
have another chance to do well.
You know how you said thatsome of the people that you learned
from probably kept secrets to themselves?
(26:38):
I want to know if you're, youknow, world champion.
First place mustard sauce.
It's in the book.
Is it the real recipe?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
But the irony about thatcompeted in Memphis, you know, what
was first place last yearcould have finished dead last the
next year.
And it's the same exact thingthat you've ever made, so who knows?
(26:59):
But we've won that with thatrecipe twice.
So anybody that wants to try to.
Submit it, I found itinteresting that it has ketchup in
it just a wee little bit.
Gives it a little bit of,like, an orangeish.
And speaking of ingredients,you use a lot of accent, which, you
know, in.
In today's world, people kindof are scared of accent, you know,
(27:20):
the MSG thing.
But you seem to be almostproud of using it.
Well, here's the thing is thatI think that particular ingredient
is something that's gotten alot of bad PR and a lot of the bad
rap to it.
And scientifically, the amountthat one would have to ingest in
order for that to produce sortof the stereotypical malefacts is
(27:41):
more than anyone wouldpossibly be able to humanly consume
anyways.
And a little bit used in avery responsible way, just adds this
layer of flavor of that umamifeeling that really kind of makes
recipes jump and pop.
And the one thing that I couldsay to everybody listening or using
the cookbook today is thateverything in moderation is a great
way of cooking, eating and using.
And certainly using a littlebit of that accent goes a real long
(28:03):
way and really kind of helpsthat flavor profile, sort of.
I agree with you.
I happen to be a fan of accent.
I am, actually.
I have issues with msg.
I have.
It does something to myhearing when I.
When I ingest it.
And I still ingest it.
Well, there you go.
(28:23):
You stand by your work.
I do, yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I'm happy that you enjoyusing as well.
And I, like I said, I think it's.
I think it's just that extralittle thing that you add to a dish,
and then it has people beinglike, what is this?
It's like, it's so savory and delicious.
I can't put my finger on it.
And then it's like, well, youknow, it's just a little quarter
(28:44):
teaspoon of that accent mixedinto that rub that just kind of gives
it that pop.
And you know as well as we dothat everybody still uses it in.
Barbecue, but it's just in adifferent bottle.
Yeah, perhaps.
So nobody knows pixie dust.
Yeah, I just got, you know,Bob, go get the secret ingredient.
Yes, there you go.
(29:05):
There you go.
Like that.
So I had a question about oneof your ribs.
You have some pineapple ribsin there, did you?
And I thought they looked great.
And next time I come to NewYork, which might be a while, but
I'm going to come by and Iwant to try some of those, if you
have them on the menu.
But some people kind of likepineapple on pizza.
They have a fit about it, you know.
(29:27):
And how has that been received?
And were you ever hesitantwhen you first started it or using
that, or did you just say,heck with it, this is really good,
and we're going to run with it?
Well, I think for thatparticular recipe, along with many
of the other fun with ribsrecipes in that chapter, they're
all inspired by iconic flavorprofiles of dishes that when you
(29:49):
live in New York City longenough, you're absolutely going to
have one way or another.
And then you have your versionof that from that spot, one or another
that's your favorite or whatyou think is the best.
So that recipe is a spin on anal pastor taco, which is typically
traditionally done with, like,achiote paste, vinegar, some oregano
and herbs marinating porkshoulder that's been, like, slow
(30:12):
cooked and roasted, shaved offand put into a taco with a lot of
charred pineapple and that,like, vinegar sort of achiote sauce
flavor profile, but justserved in a corn tortilla.
So what we wanted to do withthat chapter was take these iconic
flavor profiles.
And this was all inspired by.
There was one summer where wejust wanted to do a different flavored
rib every month and feature itfor a month of being like, you're
(30:35):
going to have our typical,like, peach and honey glaze baby
back ribs of what is on ourmenu, which we do every day.
And then once a month, we'regoing to feature a new rib, we just
call it the rib of the month.
And we were basically givingan ode to all the classic, iconic
dishes of New York City, ofthings that Shane and I loved eating
in our time off away frombarbecue restaurants.
So that Al Pastor flavor isprobably one of the more iconic dishes
(30:56):
in New York City that onewould get from either their favorite
taco truck or local taqueriathat they'd go to often and just
sort of extrapolated on,taking those same flavor profiles,
adding it to a baby back ribwith some of that smoke love, and
eating it up with some charredpineapple on top.
And for the people that werehere in New York that understood
it, they loved it.
(31:16):
And I would encourage allthose people out there that might
be a little unsure.
Try it before you hate itbecause the flavor is actually really
stinking good.
Yeah.
If you like Al Pastor tacos,it's pretty much the same thing.
Well, one thing we've.
In fact, we just did this withMeathead a few days ago.
We all love grilled pineapple,the three of us on this show.
And it's got such a uniqueflavor with, you know, the sugars
(31:40):
and this and that and all that.
And so I was really.
I was happy to see that in thebook because I thought it was different.
And yet now, like, youcouldn't get my wife to eat anything
that's above, like, two on theScoville scale.
Okay?
She just.
Her nickname around here isLily Lips, so something like that.
(32:01):
I actually showed it to herlast night.
She goes, can you make that?
I said, yeah, I can make that.
She goes, why don't you dothat this weekend?
So you've got a fan out here.
You know, that's all good.
We're going to take.
We're going to take anotherbreak, and we'll be back with Matt
and Shane from Pig beach inNew York right after this on Barbecue
Nation.
(32:30):
Hey, everybody, it's jt andthis is a special version of Barbecue
Nation.
It is brought to you in partby Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef you can be proud to serveyour family and friends.
That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
(32:53):
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
And the terrifying subject forMatt and Shane of barbecue, you just
heard it here first.
They're from Pig beach in New York.
If you were watching the Todayshow this morning, they were on their
frequent guests on there.
What do you think is your biggest.
(33:13):
How would I phrase that forboth of you here?
The.
You've had success, obviously,but what brings you the biggest pleasure
in Your restaurant and thendoing this book, you go first.
So I would say, for me, thebiggest pleasure is, like Matt said
earlier, we're going into oureighth year.
(33:34):
We have an incredibleretention of employees.
Things like one of ourmanagers, catering people, was a
cashier when she started.
She was a teenager.
Now she's a manager.
To have people come up throughour program, it's really gratifying
(33:58):
to have that happen.
Same thing we're going to take.
We're working on a restaurantin Louisville, Kentucky, and we're
going to take people that workwith us here in New York, and we're
going to move them there, andit's going to be their shop to run
so that, you know, doingthings like that, we're having people
that we've kind of broughtwith us, brought them up with us,
(34:18):
and having them do their own thing.
Now.
That's really always what I'veliked about the restaurant business.
I've had dozens of people thatwork for me that are now successful
chefs, which is always amazingto see as well.
You know, you feel like dadtype of thing.
Well, that's just all of it, right?
You are like a proud dad tosee family.
(34:40):
It's a family across the boardand, you know, and even with the
people that have been with usfor a long time, and they get to
a point in their lives where,for whatever reason it might be and
they need to do somethingdifferent or leave, whether it's
because of a family thing oropportunity thing or whatever, you
know, the best thing in theworld is to say, we're just proud
of you.
Just best of luck.
Whatever we can do to helpalong that journey, like, we're always
(35:01):
here to resource.
So that is certainly a very,very gratifying part of what it is
that we get to do in theposition that we're in now, previously
of just being the persongrinding it out and sweating it with
every aspect of your being ina kitchen, just trying to just keep
swimming like Little Nemo.
So it's certainly a.
You guys know that.
(35:22):
And obviously, you have a lotof presence and time that you spend
at your restaurant.
And now you're obviouslymoving to Florida.
It's hard as a restaurantowner to keep the consistency.
And now you're expanding toLouisville, there's only two of you.
And I know you've broughtthese people up and that sort of
(35:43):
thing, but it's stilldifferent from being an owner.
Do you think it's.
And I don't know what's on the horizon.
Do you plan on even Expanding further.
Beyond Louisville, I certainlythink that is always an option that
could exist out there.
And if the right place and theright time and the right opportunity
presents itself, it'scertainly something that could be
explored as we continue to grow.
(36:03):
But the biggest thing for usfirst is that before we ever expand
upon into a new footprint ismaking sure that we have the right
structure behind us andunderneath us before we build on
top of it.
And what you said is anexcellent and absolutely fair, honest
question.
And the great thing about whatwe're done to our point that we're
making earlier is that we'veliterally been able to create a program
(36:24):
and have a retention ofemployees, which makes this expansion
possible.
If we didn't have the peoplewith us that have gotten to a point
with us where we feel thatthey're ready and feel that we're
comfortable with them havingit, we wouldn't take on those opportunities.
But we've been very blessedand very lucky to have this incredible
family in this team with usthat's grown with us that gets to
the point where we're able todo these other projects, and we want
(36:46):
to encourage that and we wantto promote them for that.
Whereas far as we offeropportunities for people to become
a partner in the business whenwe expand, when we grow on, because
we want them to stay with us,we want them to fantastic grow in
this program that is us.
And we want to create anenvironment for many of these core
people within our lives thatmake them, you know, want this to
be their forever career.
(37:07):
That's something that comingup through in the fine dining like
we did, having that kind ofoffered to us was never.
It never happened.
You know, there's never like,I want you to stay.
Here's a piece of what happenshere that was never, never, ever,
ever an option.
And now that we have theability to do that, it feels really
good.
To be able to do that.
(37:28):
You know, we both have been.
I mean, everybody on this hasbeen through the restaurant struggle.
It's.
It's a hard business to be in,to start with, especially financially.
So if there's a way that I canhelp somebody get on and succeed,
I'm going to do it becauseI've been the person not doing well,
(37:48):
for sure.
Well, one thing I can say isyou'll fit in well down in Kentucky
because you know how topronounce Louisville correctly.
It's not Louisville.
Well, in addition to hiscookbook hoarding, he's also a hoarder
of some rare and incrediblebourbons, too.
So you better be able to knowhow to pronounce.
Yeah, well.
Yeah, that'll count.
That'll come in handy.
(38:13):
You guys are quite a dynamicduo, which is really refreshing to
see because I haven't pickedup anything today where it's all
about ego or attitude.
You guys just want to make it work.
I think that that's really.
Because I've interviewedthousands of people in my career,
and it's very refreshing tosee the enthusiasm.
(38:37):
And you obviously get along well.
And it seems to me.
And you can address this.
We got a couple minutes left here.
If there's a point of.
I won't say contention, but apoint of something that needs to
be worked out, you guysprobably sit down and work that out.
You don't start throwing crapat each other, you know?
Oh, I would be so terrified ifShane started throwing shit at me.
(38:58):
Run.
I'd run.
No, I think the greatest thing about.
And I'll let Shane, I.
I just get excited.
I call him Super Chef becauseI grew up.
Not grew up, but I came up inNew York City working as a line cook
in restaurants when he wasalready established chef of Tom Colicchio
establishment.
So I've always had the utmostrespect and admiration for this guy.
(39:21):
He's one of the best at whathe does, and he's amazing to have
as a counterpart to work with.
And I think the cool thingabout our relationship is that it's
almost brotherly, where thepoint is I look to him as like a
big brother, and he certainlymentors me at times as a little brother.
And it's just a great dynamicof what we have.
And when we have any sort ofissues, which we rarely do, because
(39:41):
we're both very.
Just honest about, and wefigure it out and we work it out.
That's another great thingabout pig beach and barbecue.
And it's sort of just being.
Is that for the most part,it's a lot less stressful to begin
with, and it's just a lot morefun to begin with.
So we're able to really focuson those nuances.
More so than.
(40:01):
Did this person do thisperfectly straight line with this
perfect dollop?
And was the acid, like,completely crisp in this particular
sauce to this, like, minutiaeof a window of acceptability?
You know, we're just able tohave a lot of fun and do what we
love to do, which is putsmiles on people's faces through
our food and drink.
And it's what I love doingevery day, to be able to come back
and have a chance to work withhim just makes even more fun.
(40:23):
Matt Abdu and Shane McBride,Pig beach in New York and their new
cookbook, Pig Beach Barbecue Cookbook.
I recommend it.
It's out now and so people cangrab it online, I'm sure from multiple
sources.
But, guys, thank you.
What?
Anywhere you buy books.
That's what they coach to say.
(40:44):
Okay.
Anywhere you buy books.
I usually just call thepublisher, but we're special here.
Anyway.
Anyway, guys, thank you.
I know you're going to staround for after hours.
That's going to wrap it thisweek for the radio portion of Barbecue
Nation for Leanne and myself.
I thank you for listening, guys.
You're doing great back there.
And we'll be back next weekwith another edition of Barbecue
(41:07):
Nation.
Remember our motto here.
Turn it, don't burn it.
And try to do something nicefor somebody out there.
Take care.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions, an association
with Envision that works inSalem Meadow.
Be a group.
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 Don'tBurnet studios in Portland, here's
jt.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to the nation.
That's Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with my co hostand co pilot, Leanne Whippen.
Camaro Dave and CommanderChris are roaming around here somewhere.
(00:33):
And we're coming to you fromthe Turn It, Don't Burden it studios
in Portland.
We'd like to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef the way nature intended.
If you don't have PaintedHills in your area across the country,
you can go to their websiteand they have a store locator there
and you can buy stuff fromthem direct.
That's Painted Hills NaturalBeef dot com.
(00:53):
Well, we've got a couple ofcharacters from New York with us
today.
And it's normally when people.
Guys, when people.
I'm going to introduce youproperly in a second here, but we
don't think about barbecue inBrooklyn very much.
But you guys are making it happen.
Matt abdu and Shane McBridefrom Pig Beach.
(01:15):
They've got a new cookbook out.
And again, I'll do it.
I don't know if I can do thiswith this.
Never works with the greenscreen, but it's there.
It's a great book.
So just take my word like aghost book.
I like it.
Yeah, yeah, it's there.
Anyway, there you go.
Fantastic.
Leanne doesn't use greenscreens like I do that.
(01:37):
She locks her cats in herbedroom right now.
Yep.
Mine roam around in the house here.
So first of all, guys, I gottaask you.
I know, Matt, you're from NewYork, but what made you guys think
that barbecue would work inBrooklyn and Queens?
(01:58):
No, that's a great question.
I think the really interestingthing about both my path and Shane's
path to getting to barbecue.
Shane obviously has been doingbarbecue much longer than I have
from a very small town inupstate New York where when I was
a kid, a barbecue was.
And for those of you justlistening, I'm doing air quotes.
A barbecue was like backyardgrowing up, hot dogs and hamburgers.
(02:19):
Right?
And for all those listening,we all know that obviously that's
not barbecue at all, butthat's what I grew up thinking.
It was that and likespaghettini culture.
Because from where I am inupstate New York, the chicken or
steak on a skewer was, youknow, the biggest barbecue culture
that we had in upstate New York.
Uh, my.
I'm A classically trained finedining chef that primarily focused
(02:40):
on Italian food for themajority of my career.
And I met our current, ourbusiness partner and one of my best
friends, Rob Schager.
We started doing this as ahobby on the weekends, fell in love
with it, had a ton of fun withit, and just kind of progressed that
hobby into a passion.
That passion led us intofinally competing.
And, well, we started offfirst competing in like, local small
(03:03):
New York Long island barbecue competitions.
And then we somehow finagledour way into Memphis in May, back
in like 2014.
2014, yeah, it was 2014, andour first year down there, we left
with a second, second placewhole hog trophy.
We finaled, which was insane,and a first place poultry trophy.
And we sort of were like, wow,we're onto something here.
(03:26):
And we sort of took thatcatalyst of Memphis to open up Pig
beach as just a pop up, asummer pop up in Gowanus, Brooklyn,
where we currently.
Just to see if we had what ittook to do it.
And obviously we had a lot ofgrowing pains getting to where we
are today and a lot oflearning things to do, but we finally
got to a point where we madegreat, great friends.
And one of the greatest thingsabout barbecue for us is that barbecue
(03:48):
family of just how amazing allthe people are that we've met along
the way.
And we've become really,really close friends with like, some
of the greats, like peoplelike Chris Lilly and Tuffy Stone
and Skip Steel and John Wheeler.
And I mean, the names can goon and on and on and on.
And we got a chance to cookalongside these guys and they really
helped progress us into wherewe are and what our program is today.
(04:09):
And we just had so much funwith it that it was, for me, an opportunity
to escape the sort of rigorouspressure cooker of a fine dining
environment and get to havinga chance where I could really just
enjoy doing what I love to do,which is cook for people, put smiles
on people's faces and embracethat love of family.
I like to Matt how you kind ofintegrated some of your Italian background
(04:33):
in your dishes into the book.
I mean, you got some lasagnain there and you got some other stuff
in there.
And maybe Shane did that, Idon't know.
But I thought that was prettycool that when I was going through
the book, I went, oh, yeah,there you go.
What we wanted to do with thisbook was obviously, you know, we're
from New York and we certainlyrecognize that.
(04:54):
And one of the first andforemost things that we wanted to
do with this book was, youknow, give the praise and the homage
of where barbecue culturecomes from, all the specific regions,
and sort of just boast abouthow great barbecue is and how those
regions have really sort ofinfluenced what it is that we do
in New York.
And since we are from a nontraditional barbecue region, it gave
(05:15):
us the opportunity to be ableto say, all right, we're going to
study and learn from the bestguys or the guys that we know that
do this really, really well inthese specific regions and find out
how that makes it authentic tothat area.
And then we wanted to comeback to New York and do our version
of that and do our sort ofbest representation, taking our sort
of chefy mindset and palates,and not to say that we're doing anything
(05:37):
better because these guys arethe best in the crafts and best in
the business of who we'vegotten the chance to work with.
But adding that sort of funflavor profile of what we're able
to do here in New York anddoing dishes like smoked duck lasagna,
where we're taking duck thighsand we're smoking them, confined
them in the smoker, and thenfinishing them on the smoker and
then pulling that meat to putit into a lasagna or doing it, whether
it's a bowl of ramen or havinglike, really, really fun flavor profiles.
(06:00):
Like, we have an entirechapter in our book called Fun with
Ribs where we're taking thatsort of obviously very signature
iconic barbecue dish of a babyback rib.
But we're adding some flavorprofile notes that are certainly
non traditional in barbecue,but being inspired from the amazing
melting pot of cultures thatare within here in New York City
of some of the most iconicflavor profiles of dishes, things
like Al Pastor and Mojo.
(06:22):
We have some Mediterraneanseasoned ribs, Char Sioux ribs, and
so on and so on.
So we're just able to have alot of Swedish ribs.
Well, the Swedish ribs didn'tmake the book.
They were very delicious, though.
Well, I'm from New Jersey andnow in Florida, and I'm bummed out
that I don't live up there, soI can come visit your restaurant,
but I definitely will.
(06:43):
I think you were kind ofstriving for a more upscale beverage
program when you started yourfirst restaurant, I think, because
I noticed in the book that youhave some amazing craft cocktails
in there, too.
Oh.
You certainly do.
And the cocktails are.
I'm not going to be all takeup all the air, she's got to talk.
(07:05):
But the cocktails are part ofthe One of the best things about
barbecue are the drinks andthe people you get to hang out with
while you're doing it.
Right.
So we had to definitely have achapter about that in there.
Yeah, I mean, we have anamazing cocktail program we kind
of built.
I'm a big whiskey and winedrinker, and I like a good cocktail
here and there.
And I think the one thing, youknow, it's interesting that you brought
(07:28):
up the subject about, youknow, we tried to do, you know, barbecue
in New York City.
Like, you know, there is somesort of religious ritual that we
have to take it out of thedead hands of a southerner.
So, you know, I wanted to have.
In New York City, you know,you have to have a good drink program
(07:49):
no matter what.
If you want to have asuccessful restaurant to pay your,
you know, they always say thefood pays the rent and the drinks
make you money.
We needed to have the rightdrink program to go along with our
barbecue.
And we just have fun with it.
You know, we're not seriousabout it.
We're not.
We're not mixologists.
You know, we just like to havefun, kind of beachy drinks that go
(08:11):
great with barbecue.
I think people forget that in restaurants.
Sometimes they just.
In barbecue, predominantly,they focus just on proteins, and
they don't take a look and tryto make the sides the best, the desserts
the best.
But I really.
Yeah, because we couldn'tagree more.
And as.
And again, as being chefsmoving into this amazing culture
that is barbecue, like, welove it all and we want to eat it
(08:35):
all.
And just like you guys, I'msure when you go out to a barbecue
restaurant, you want theprotein, but you also want the collard
greens.
You want the Mac and cheese,you want the cornbread, you want
the baked beans, you want afroze or a big batch fun cocktail
or a perfect glass of rose orsomething that's going to go with
it, or craft beer, ipa, youname it.
And then finish it off withsome, I don't know, banana pudding
or key lime pie or some sortof fun, super delicious.
(08:57):
Exactly.
Some sorts.
We wanted to put that alltogether, and that's really what
we strove to do, strived to do.
Shane is much a better writerthan I.
That's definitely the onething that sets.
If you go to the temples ofbarbecue in the south, you know,
(09:19):
none of them have cocktails,you're lucky if you can get a beer
right, you know, because itcosts money to have those liquor
license too.
And it's not a.
There's also you know, peoplehave religious views that don't allow
them to have drinks and thingslike that, so.
Well, I think that being NewYork, I think that it lends itself
(09:42):
to you being able to have asuccessful program.
I had a place in Chicago and Idid the same thing.
It just goes hand in handwith, you know, the people that are
coming to your restaurant andit kind of rounds it out.
So it's cool.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So I have a.
What's that?
You said you were from New Jersey.
Now you're in Florida.
(10:02):
Tampa.
And I see you haven't openedup your West Palm beach yet, but
very soon.
I'm rocking the Florida hat aswe see that.
So we'd love to have you comedown and check us out, let us know
if you're free.
Oh, for sure.
You guys did pop ups therefirst, right?
Yeah, because we found thisgreat space and we were doing pop
ups out of it.
And then the pandemic hit andslowed this entire project down for
(10:25):
about two years as it has justsort of derailed everybody in this
business.
But we're almost there.
The space has come together beautifully.
It's going to be an amazing spot.
So we're super excited to getthat one up and running.
So who's going to.
Who's go.
Who's moving to Florida?
Back to my hometown.
That's where I'm from.
Oh, are you?
(10:46):
Yeah.
You couldn't get me to moveback there with a.
God, it's gorgeous down there.
Gun to my head.
So I got a question for you.
You talked about, you know,you and I read about it in the book.
You take these trips to the,the major meccas of barbecue.
How did those boys and girlsin West Texas feel about two guys
from New York coming in, Stufflike that.
(11:07):
So how were you received?
Well, I think that's a reallygreat question and to be very honest,
and I'm not going to speak forShane on this, but for me personally,
that's again, it's one of thegreatest things I've loved about
this barbecue family is thatnobody ever rejected us to say per
se.
Nobody ever was kind offrustrated with the fact that we
were from New York.
(11:27):
They were more of welcome.
Check.
Check out what we're doing now.
I guarantee not everyone wasshowing us their secrets and they
were whatever expect them to,but the hospitality is just.
It's been amazing and it'sbeen awesome to just sort of wiggle
our way into this space, asacred space, and have these amazing
people take a liking to us.
In the sense where they'rewilling to show us or tell us a few
(11:47):
things here or there's.
So it's been really, really great.
Okay, we're going to take abreak here on Barbecue Nation.
We're going to be back withMatt and Shane right after this.
You're listening to BarbecueNation on the USA Radio Network.
(12:10):
Hey, everybody, it's jt andthis is a special version of Barbecue
Nation.
It is brought to you in partby Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef you can be proud to serveyour family and friends.
That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
(12:31):
Welcome back to.
Excuse me, Barbecue Nation.
If you'd like to email us,it's really easy.
You just go to the websiteinstead of giving you 20 email addresses
and just.
It's barbecue nation, jt.com.
that's bbqnationjt.com.
there's an icon there on thebottom of the main page.
You can just send it right to us.
(12:52):
That comes to me.
And if you've got complaints,I send them to Leanne.
If they're fun stuff, I keepthem myself.
We're also on Facebook,Twitter, and a gazillion other platforms.
And so it's not hard that.
Not too hard to find.
We're talking to Matt Abdu andShane McBride.
Pig Beach.
Guys, they've got a newcookbook out here.
(13:14):
It's a great book.
It's a beautiful book.
And I gotta tell you, we get alot of books.
We do a lot of cookbooks.
They're all nice like that.
But when I look at the qualityof this book, and I'm not talking
about the binding or anything,but just the quality of effort in
the writing and the photography.
I knew you guys were seriousabout this after I went through the
(13:36):
book, so congratulations on that.
I'm sure you'll do very wellwith it.
I do have to say that you talk about.
You didn't, but I do stereotypes.
And I just always had thisvision of barbecue in New York where
some guy comes up, I want somegrilled onions on that, too.
You know, like, you know, I'vebeen to the hot dog carts in Manhattan
(13:59):
and stuff, and I'm like, oh,okay, how big of a change was it,
you guys?
The both said, and it's verywell documented that you're both
classically trained chefs, buthow big of a change was it to perhaps
either integrate those skillsthat you learned over the years or
let some of them go whenyou're jumping into barbecue?
(14:20):
That's a good question.
We've asked that people haveasked that one about.
I'll touch on the letting go thing.
The things that I've let go islike wearing pants to work.
I get to wear shorts every day.
I don't have to put a chefcoat on anymore.
I don't have to wear a silly hat.
(14:41):
You know, those are the thingsI've let go.
Everything that we learned isapplied to what we do every day.
I mean, sure, the restaurantbusiness is always a restaurant business.
And if I can make somethingbetter with a technique that I learned
in, you know, fine dining,that's what I'm going to do.
I'm not going to forget those things.
Right.
I've had.
I've had more fun doing thisrestaurant stuff with Matt than I've
(15:03):
had in decades in therestaurant business.
You know, I don't have to.
Other things I can say.
I don't have to worry aboutbuying wine glasses or expensive
silverware, you know, platesthat cost $100 each.
You know, I.
I have a question just fromhaving a restaurant background and
I.
I don't have the experience infine dining like Italian, French
(15:27):
and what have you.
Do you find that barbecue ismore difficult as far as keeping
the quality because it'slonger, slower process?
Do you find it's moredifficult and I guess more challenging
than the other cuisines?
I think that's an absolutelyfascinating question.
And this is kind of how that Iequate all of that, is that there
(15:50):
are certainly more variable tocompletely ruin a day in the restaurant
doing barbecue, because as youjust said, if your briskets didn't
come out right or somethinghappens, you're not making them on
the fly to have them ready for service.
So.
But in the same token, if youare able to have that sort of great,
solid core team along withyou, and you really, prior to opening,
(16:15):
invest a lot of time into thatteam and making sure that they know
the program, how you like todo things, and you have that sort
of attention to detail.
It's from my experience, it'sbeen easier to have that sort of
consistent cook than having infine dining.
There can be like a.
And correct me if I'm wrong,but there can be sort of like a rotating
musical chairs of who's onwhich station for the night.
(16:36):
And each person that's on astation does things differently.
And most fine diningrestaurants are set up where you
have a meat roast cook, a fishroast cooked, an entremat, which
is a person that does thesides for the meat and entre mat.
The person does the sides forvegetables and so on and so forth.
And those schedules, peoplerotate around pretty frequently,
and each person can be doingsomething differently and putting
together multiple componentsby a different person.
(16:58):
The variable for error cancertainly expedite much higher.
But however, there is anability to correct that faster than
there is in barbecue.
So there's.
There's give and take, Ithink, on both sides.
But yeah, it.
That.
The reality is that eitherside can make some pretty serious
errors if there's not a lot ofgood training and sort of attention
(17:19):
to that detail to eliminatethose variables for error.
But I found it easier to keepa consistent product here within
the barbecue realm becausewe're able to focus primarily on
a much smaller menu where theguys that are working the pits, they
have their, you know, five orsix proteins that this is your responsibility,
focus on these.
And it's usually one guy'sprimary role with like a backup,
(17:40):
like understudy that works hisdays off kind of thing, versus having
five or six different peoplethat might rotate into that rotation
of cooking that same sort of.
You.
Did you train these pitmasters, or did you recruit them
from areas of the country thatyou know, I wish.
We were able to recruit themfrom certain areas of the country.
(18:00):
All the guys that we've hadhere with us at Pick beach have been
people that we've taken in.
We've trained them with Shaneand my program of how we like to
cook our barbecue.
And we've been really, reallyfortunate, which is kind of insane
to consider New York City.
But we've.
The majority of our culinaryteam that's been with us has been
with us since day one.
And it's made it really,really great to, as we opened up
(18:22):
our locations and expandedupon, of making that transition be
that much easier and that much consistent.
Because we've had people sincethe very beginning of this project
seven and a half years ago nowthat, you know, we took.
I took people left with methat wanted to come and get out of
fine dining.
Shane had some people thatwanted to get out of his echelon
of fine dining to come with him.
And these amazing.
Like our chef, Steven Fugatti.
(18:43):
Fugate, I call him Fugattibecause I made him Italian, even
though name is pronounced Fugate.
But he's been with us sincethe very beginning, and he's now
like a partner with us,executive chef with us, you know,
and then just.
Are you going to take some ofyour New York crew down to Florida
then?
I.
You know what?
That is a great question.
We're hoping to get one or twoof the guys that want to transition
(19:04):
down to Florida.
But that's primarily thereason why I'm moving down to Florida
is to we've got a great chefand a great sous chef lined up with
us already down there that arefrom the neighborhood in the area
that are friends of of oursthat are super pumped for the program
that I've had a chance to cookwith for the last couple of years.
So they were starting withthere, but it's primarily going to
be, you know, we're trainingpeople over again to get those pits
fired up and it's going to beme and the smokers, you know, for
(19:27):
the first, however long ittakes until we're at a point where
I feel comfortable to let theproverbial rains go on.
We use primarily old hickorypits for the bulk of our barbecue.
Those guys, they do, I mean,as far as like commercial barbecue
restaurants go, they're one ofthe best in my opinion.
One of the best in thebusiness of consistent.
(19:48):
Yeah, that's what I started with.
Love them.
And then we've got a couple ofmoberg mobile trailers from.
We do some off sites as thosefun showpiece cookers.
We're doing some briskets andsome long cooked things on.
There you go.
There you go.
We're going to take anotherbreak here on the Nation on USA Radio
networks and we'll be backwith Matt and Shane from Pink beach
(20:10):
in New York right after.
If you're enjoying GT and hisshow, come check out my podcast around
the House with Eric G where wetalk home improvement and design.
Right here.
Where you catch this podcast,head to Aroundthe House online dot
(20:31):
com.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with LeanneWhippen and today we're talking with
Chris, Matt abdu and ShaneMcBride from Pig beach in New York.
They've got a new cookbook out.
It's called Pig Beach Barbecue Cookbook.
(20:52):
Go figure.
It's a great book.
But how much time do you spendwith Hollywood?
I caught that in the back ofthe book.
Don't you have a guy namedHollywood, you nickname Hollywood?
Yeah, I just spent the weekwith him in Memphis.
You all right?
He is.
No, not him.
You.
If you spend a week with him.
(21:13):
I'm good.
It usually takes Shane a monthto recover from the week of Memphis.
I was, I had to be barbecuedad this week.
I was the most responsibleI've ever been at Memphis this year.
So I'm sorry to hear that Iforgot something here.
We'd like to thank PaintedHills natural beef again, beef like
your grandfather used to raise.
(21:34):
And also David Malik and hiscrew over at Gunter Wilhelm Knives.
We appreciate their supportfor the show.
Now we got all the have tostuff out of the way.
There's who decided to sitdown and write a book.
You don't just sit down oneday and say, oh, hell, I'm going
to go write a book.
I mean, it's a big project.
And it takes actually, becauseI've done it and Leanne's doing it,
(22:00):
and it takes a lot of time.
You've got to get a lot of input.
I mean, you kind of are, youknow, author centric on these things,
but then all of a suddenyou've got photographers and food
stylists and editors and, youknow, proofreaders, and you've got
all this stuff.
Kind of walk us through thatprocess that you went through.
But whose bright idea was itin the first place?
(22:23):
So I think I was the one thatpushed for it more than Matt.
Matt was working with somebodyelse on something.
But my friend Judy Choate, whohelped us write this book, was in
my ear about doing something.
I've been trying to getsomething with her for years done.
Matt and I both have beenfortunate enough to help other chefs
(22:45):
write books, and I did onewith Judy in the past, so she's amazing.
I was kind of pushing for itbecause it's something that I would
want, that I've always wantedto do.
I'm a cookbook hoarder.
I have like 4,000 cookbooks.
Good man.
He has a whole room in hishouse, like a legit room, that probably.
That'S why he can't move to Florida.
(23:05):
He has too many books.
Never gonna go, never gonnamake it.
So it's always been a dream ofmine to have a cookbook.
And I think what Matt and Ihave done at Pick beach is special
in the sense that we've.
I've always called it nonbarbecue barbecue, where I've kind
of used smoke as and, youknow, slow and low as kind of a technique
(23:28):
and a flavor where it's notjust, you know, I'm not cooking ribs
and brisket and pork shoulderall the time.
It's all the other fun stuffthat's in the book has always been
my focus on.
On what barbecue is.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
And I think what we have is aspecial thing.
Judy had the time to do it.
Matt's other project wasn'tworking out.
(23:49):
Bada bing, bada boom.
Here it is.
That's a New York thing, isn'tit Shane out of Bing Bada.
Okay.
I learned that up here from Matt.
Okay, so how long did it takeyou to do the book?
Well, I'm sure as you know andyou're finding out the interesting
thing about the book is thatwhen the time came it was, you know,
you work on putting a proposal together.
We did that with Judy and wesent to the publisher.
(24:12):
Was it like 15 recipe ideas,some with photos, some without.
And once it got picked up frompublisher, they basically gave us
three and a half months towrite and shoot the entire book,
thankfully, which we alreadyhad the bulk of the recipes already
done because we've.
That's how we catalog our restaurant.
And the business is that everysingle thing we do has already been
(24:32):
reciped basically to the gram.
It was more about convertingfrom grams to like cups and ounces
and whatnot, all that kind of stuff.
So yeah, we were basicallygiven a three and a half month window
to turn around the entirebook, including photography.
And then from that time it wasa year from submittal to release
of.
Today, which we did before.
Three and a half months.
(24:53):
Oh, good for you.
The photography is absolutely fantastic.
By the way.
That's a big shout out to Ken Goodman.
He's an incredible photographer.
He's done a lot of barbecue cookbooks.
He's a fellow barbecue guyhimself and he's done, I mean, basically
everybody's books, barbecue books.
He's an incredible guy and welove him.
And then we had the amazingtalents of Katie Ceelo and Anthony
(25:15):
Contrino who are friends ofmine from Today show.
They're actually the foodproducers, food stylists for the
Today show team.
And when it came time to dothis book and we needed photographer
and we needed food stylists, they.
Ken is a good friend of ours.
We called him up right awayand Anthony and Katie were like super
excited to be a part of it.
So it just, it came togetherreally well and it was just an exciting
(25:35):
time to be able to work withall those guys to make this happen.
Good for you.
Good for you.
How did you select the recipes?
I mean, you had a bunch ofrecipes when you did the pitch, I
get that.
But there's a lot of recipesin this book.
I didn't count.
There are, there's probablyhalf of what we actually submitted
because they're like, we can'tdo A cookbook with 120 recipes.
(25:56):
Wanted to be this big.
Yeah.
So a lot of, a lot of therecipes that were chosen, some were
picked out by.
It was basically honestconversations of what do you guys
think is best fit for thisfirst book?
And we laid it out into thechapters that are in there, because
in every chapter that's there,there's probably another 20 recipes
that we had that could go in there.
(26:17):
And we just chose the onesthat we thought were the most special
and the most fun.
But again, it's like trying tochoose between, like, your favorite
child, like, which recipe isyour favorite kind of thing, because
we're just super proud of allof them and hopefully, God willing,
have another chance to do well.
You know how you said thatsome of the people that you learned
from probably kept secrets to themselves?
(26:38):
I want to know if you're, youknow, world champion.
First place mustard sauce.
It's in the book.
Is it the real recipe?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
But the irony about thatcompeted in Memphis, you know, what
was first place last yearcould have finished dead last the
next year.
And it's the same exact thingthat you've ever made, so who knows?
(26:59):
But we've won that with thatrecipe twice.
So anybody that wants to try to.
Submit it, I found itinteresting that it has ketchup in
it just a wee little bit.
Gives it a little bit of,like, an orangeish.
And speaking of ingredients,you use a lot of accent, which, you
know, in.
In today's world, people kindof are scared of accent, you know,
(27:20):
the MSG thing.
But you seem to be almostproud of using it.
Well, here's the thing is thatI think that particular ingredient
is something that's gotten alot of bad PR and a lot of the bad
rap to it.
And scientifically, the amountthat one would have to ingest in
order for that to produce sortof the stereotypical malefacts is
(27:41):
more than anyone wouldpossibly be able to humanly consume
anyways.
And a little bit used in avery responsible way, just adds this
layer of flavor of that umamifeeling that really kind of makes
recipes jump and pop.
And the one thing that I couldsay to everybody listening or using
the cookbook today is thateverything in moderation is a great
way of cooking, eating and using.
And certainly using a littlebit of that accent goes a real long
(28:03):
way and really kind of helpsthat flavor profile, sort of.
I agree with you.
I happen to be a fan of accent.
I am, actually.
I have issues with msg.
I have.
It does something to myhearing when I.
When I ingest it.
And I still ingest it.
Well, there you go.
(28:23):
You stand by your work.
I do, yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I'm happy that you enjoyusing as well.
And I, like I said, I think it's.
I think it's just that extralittle thing that you add to a dish,
and then it has people beinglike, what is this?
It's like, it's so savory and delicious.
I can't put my finger on it.
And then it's like, well, youknow, it's just a little quarter
(28:44):
teaspoon of that accent mixedinto that rub that just kind of gives
it that pop.
And you know as well as we dothat everybody still uses it in.
Barbecue, but it's just in adifferent bottle.
Yeah, perhaps.
So nobody knows pixie dust.
Yeah, I just got, you know,Bob, go get the secret ingredient.
Yes, there you go.
(29:05):
There you go.
Like that.
So I had a question about oneof your ribs.
You have some pineapple ribsin there, did you?
And I thought they looked great.
And next time I come to NewYork, which might be a while, but
I'm going to come by and Iwant to try some of those, if you
have them on the menu.
But some people kind of likepineapple on pizza.
They have a fit about it, you know.
(29:27):
And how has that been received?
And were you ever hesitantwhen you first started it or using
that, or did you just say,heck with it, this is really good,
and we're going to run with it?
Well, I think for thatparticular recipe, along with many
of the other fun with ribsrecipes in that chapter, they're
all inspired by iconic flavorprofiles of dishes that when you
(29:49):
live in New York City longenough, you're absolutely going to
have one way or another.
And then you have your versionof that from that spot, one or another
that's your favorite or whatyou think is the best.
So that recipe is a spin on anal pastor taco, which is typically
traditionally done with, like,achiote paste, vinegar, some oregano
and herbs marinating porkshoulder that's been, like, slow
(30:12):
cooked and roasted, shaved offand put into a taco with a lot of
charred pineapple and that,like, vinegar sort of achiote sauce
flavor profile, but justserved in a corn tortilla.
So what we wanted to do withthat chapter was take these iconic
flavor profiles.
And this was all inspired by.
There was one summer where wejust wanted to do a different flavored
rib every month and feature itfor a month of being like, you're
(30:35):
going to have our typical,like, peach and honey glaze baby
back ribs of what is on ourmenu, which we do every day.
And then once a month, we'regoing to feature a new rib, we just
call it the rib of the month.
And we were basically givingan ode to all the classic, iconic
dishes of New York City, ofthings that Shane and I loved eating
in our time off away frombarbecue restaurants.
So that Al Pastor flavor isprobably one of the more iconic dishes
(30:56):
in New York City that onewould get from either their favorite
taco truck or local taqueriathat they'd go to often and just
sort of extrapolated on,taking those same flavor profiles,
adding it to a baby back ribwith some of that smoke love, and
eating it up with some charredpineapple on top.
And for the people that werehere in New York that understood
it, they loved it.
(31:16):
And I would encourage allthose people out there that might
be a little unsure.
Try it before you hate itbecause the flavor is actually really
stinking good.
Yeah.
If you like Al Pastor tacos,it's pretty much the same thing.
Well, one thing we've.
In fact, we just did this withMeathead a few days ago.
We all love grilled pineapple,the three of us on this show.
And it's got such a uniqueflavor with, you know, the sugars
(31:40):
and this and that and all that.
And so I was really.
I was happy to see that in thebook because I thought it was different.
And yet now, like, youcouldn't get my wife to eat anything
that's above, like, two on theScoville scale.
Okay?
She just.
Her nickname around here isLily Lips, so something like that.
(32:01):
I actually showed it to herlast night.
She goes, can you make that?
I said, yeah, I can make that.
She goes, why don't you dothat this weekend?
So you've got a fan out here.
You know, that's all good.
We're going to take.
We're going to take anotherbreak, and we'll be back with Matt
and Shane from Pig beach inNew York right after this on Barbecue
Nation.
(32:30):
Hey, everybody, it's jt andthis is a special version of Barbecue
Nation.
It is brought to you in partby Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef you can be proud to serveyour family and friends.
That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
(32:53):
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
And the terrifying subject forMatt and Shane of barbecue, you just
heard it here first.
They're from Pig beach in New York.
If you were watching the Todayshow this morning, they were on their
frequent guests on there.
What do you think is your biggest.
(33:13):
How would I phrase that forboth of you here?
The.
You've had success, obviously,but what brings you the biggest pleasure
in Your restaurant and thendoing this book, you go first.
So I would say, for me, thebiggest pleasure is, like Matt said
earlier, we're going into oureighth year.
(33:34):
We have an incredibleretention of employees.
Things like one of ourmanagers, catering people, was a
cashier when she started.
She was a teenager.
Now she's a manager.
To have people come up throughour program, it's really gratifying
(33:58):
to have that happen.
Same thing we're going to take.
We're working on a restaurantin Louisville, Kentucky, and we're
going to take people that workwith us here in New York, and we're
going to move them there, andit's going to be their shop to run
so that, you know, doingthings like that, we're having people
that we've kind of broughtwith us, brought them up with us,
(34:18):
and having them do their own thing.
Now.
That's really always what I'veliked about the restaurant business.
I've had dozens of people thatwork for me that are now successful
chefs, which is always amazingto see as well.
You know, you feel like dadtype of thing.
Well, that's just all of it, right?
You are like a proud dad tosee family.
(34:40):
It's a family across the boardand, you know, and even with the
people that have been with usfor a long time, and they get to
a point in their lives where,for whatever reason it might be and
they need to do somethingdifferent or leave, whether it's
because of a family thing oropportunity thing or whatever, you
know, the best thing in theworld is to say, we're just proud
of you.
Just best of luck.
Whatever we can do to helpalong that journey, like, we're always
(35:01):
here to resource.
So that is certainly a very,very gratifying part of what it is
that we get to do in theposition that we're in now, previously
of just being the persongrinding it out and sweating it with
every aspect of your being ina kitchen, just trying to just keep
swimming like Little Nemo.
So it's certainly a.
You guys know that.
(35:22):
And obviously, you have a lotof presence and time that you spend
at your restaurant.
And now you're obviouslymoving to Florida.
It's hard as a restaurantowner to keep the consistency.
And now you're expanding toLouisville, there's only two of you.
And I know you've broughtthese people up and that sort of
(35:43):
thing, but it's stilldifferent from being an owner.
Do you think it's.
And I don't know what's on the horizon.
Do you plan on even Expanding further.
Beyond Louisville, I certainlythink that is always an option that
could exist out there.
And if the right place and theright time and the right opportunity
presents itself, it'scertainly something that could be
explored as we continue to grow.
(36:03):
But the biggest thing for usfirst is that before we ever expand
upon into a new footprint ismaking sure that we have the right
structure behind us andunderneath us before we build on
top of it.
And what you said is anexcellent and absolutely fair, honest
question.
And the great thing about whatwe're done to our point that we're
making earlier is that we'veliterally been able to create a program
(36:24):
and have a retention ofemployees, which makes this expansion
possible.
If we didn't have the peoplewith us that have gotten to a point
with us where we feel thatthey're ready and feel that we're
comfortable with them havingit, we wouldn't take on those opportunities.
But we've been very blessedand very lucky to have this incredible
family in this team with usthat's grown with us that gets to
the point where we're able todo these other projects, and we want
(36:46):
to encourage that and we wantto promote them for that.
Whereas far as we offeropportunities for people to become
a partner in the business whenwe expand, when we grow on, because
we want them to stay with us,we want them to fantastic grow in
this program that is us.
And we want to create anenvironment for many of these core
people within our lives thatmake them, you know, want this to
be their forever career.
(37:07):
That's something that comingup through in the fine dining like
we did, having that kind ofoffered to us was never.
It never happened.
You know, there's never like,I want you to stay.
Here's a piece of what happenshere that was never, never, ever,
ever an option.
And now that we have theability to do that, it feels really
good.
To be able to do that.
(37:28):
You know, we both have been.
I mean, everybody on this hasbeen through the restaurant struggle.
It's.
It's a hard business to be in,to start with, especially financially.
So if there's a way that I canhelp somebody get on and succeed,
I'm going to do it becauseI've been the person not doing well,
(37:48):
for sure.
Well, one thing I can say isyou'll fit in well down in Kentucky
because you know how topronounce Louisville correctly.
It's not Louisville.
Well, in addition to hiscookbook hoarding, he's also a hoarder
of some rare and incrediblebourbons, too.
So you better be able to knowhow to pronounce.
Yeah, well.
Yeah, that'll count.
That'll come in handy.
(38:13):
You guys are quite a dynamicduo, which is really refreshing to
see because I haven't pickedup anything today where it's all
about ego or attitude.
You guys just want to make it work.
I think that that's really.
Because I've interviewedthousands of people in my career,
and it's very refreshing tosee the enthusiasm.
(38:37):
And you obviously get along well.
And it seems to me.
And you can address this.
We got a couple minutes left here.
If there's a point of.
I won't say contention, but apoint of something that needs to
be worked out, you guysprobably sit down and work that out.
You don't start throwing crapat each other, you know?
Oh, I would be so terrified ifShane started throwing shit at me.
(38:58):
Run.
I'd run.
No, I think the greatest thing about.
And I'll let Shane, I.
I just get excited.
I call him Super Chef becauseI grew up.
Not grew up, but I came up inNew York City working as a line cook
in restaurants when he wasalready established chef of Tom Colicchio
establishment.
So I've always had the utmostrespect and admiration for this guy.
(39:21):
He's one of the best at whathe does, and he's amazing to have
as a counterpart to work with.
And I think the cool thingabout our relationship is that it's
almost brotherly, where thepoint is I look to him as like a
big brother, and he certainlymentors me at times as a little brother.
And it's just a great dynamicof what we have.
And when we have any sort ofissues, which we rarely do, because
(39:41):
we're both very.
Just honest about, and wefigure it out and we work it out.
That's another great thingabout pig beach and barbecue.
And it's sort of just being.
Is that for the most part,it's a lot less stressful to begin
with, and it's just a lot morefun to begin with.
So we're able to really focuson those nuances.
More so than.
(40:01):
Did this person do thisperfectly straight line with this
perfect dollop?
And was the acid, like,completely crisp in this particular
sauce to this, like, minutiaeof a window of acceptability?
You know, we're just able tohave a lot of fun and do what we
love to do, which is putsmiles on people's faces through
our food and drink.
And it's what I love doingevery day, to be able to come back
and have a chance to work withhim just makes even more fun.
(40:23):
Matt Abdu and Shane McBride,Pig beach in New York and their new
cookbook, Pig Beach Barbecue Cookbook.
I recommend it.
It's out now and so people cangrab it online, I'm sure from multiple
sources.
But, guys, thank you.
What?
Anywhere you buy books.
That's what they coach to say.
(40:44):
Okay.
Anywhere you buy books.
I usually just call thepublisher, but we're special here.
Anyway.
Anyway, guys, thank you.
I know you're going to staround for after hours.
That's going to wrap it thisweek for the radio portion of Barbecue
Nation for Leanne and myself.
I thank you for listening, guys.
You're doing great back there.
And we'll be back next weekwith another edition of Barbecue
(41:07):
Nation.
Remember our motto here.
Turn it, don't burn it.
And try to do something nicefor somebody out there.
Take care.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions, an association
with Envision that works inSalem Meadow.
Be a group.
All rights reserved.
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