Behind the Scenes at Paris’ Barbecue Championship: Judges, Prizes, and Local Impact

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I love food. I love cooking. Food brings everybody together. Food makes

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everybody happy, no matter what. If you have good food and you invite a

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bunch of people over, everybody's happy, right? Nobody's dropping in anybody

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if there's good food on the table. So food makes everybody happy and brings everybody

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together. Sit back and grab a glass. It's

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Wine Talks with Paul K.

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Hey, welcome to Wine Talks with Paul Kay. And we are away game today,

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way away in Paris, Texas.

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So see that pause there? So, yeah, comedic pause

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we call that. We're gonna have conversation with Laura Caldwell at

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the Alliance Barbecue. What's it called? Champions Barbecue. Alliance

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Champions Barbecue Alliance. Stephen White, last year's grand champion, and Paul

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Allen, president of the Chamber of Commerce. Such a pleasure to be here.

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Thank you. Now, I'm here because my, my daughter had her fourth child.

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Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Yeah. Three days ago. And

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so now it's a household full, right? Grandma, Grandpa got

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to come out. But I will tell you, they lived in New York,

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way north. And so it took us five hours to fly

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there, two hours to drive there. We're so happy to come to Paris, Texas, I

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can tell you. So we're glad you're here. Thank you. It's an incredible thing, but

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it's an interesting town. And as I drove around and we've been here now twice,

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and I'll come back at the end of the month is. There's such great

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camaraderie here, Paul. It's just amazing. The

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spirit, just this building alone here, the civic center, is amazing.

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Where does that come from? Well, I'll tell you what, that's kind of what makes

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Parish special. I've lived here all my life and

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that's kind of how we do things. We treat our out of town guests

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like they should be. And like you said, there's a lot of

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camaraderie within the community itself, through the businesses,

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through our schools. And so we're. I'm fortunate to be able to live here,

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I'll tell you that. And you've taken eight years as a. The president.

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Yes, I'm. I'm coming up on eight years being the president of the Chamber. Yeah,

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it is. That's quite amazing. My father was president, his local chamber,

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we've been involved in the social clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, all those things.

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And it takes. That's a lot of effort and a lot of work. It does.

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But you got to have a good team. And I've got a. I've got an

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amazing staff and we work so well together. I'VE got

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great boards that support what we do. So I couldn't ask

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for a better. Position to be in Paris is 25,000.

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A little over 25,000 in the city limits, and then 55,000 in

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the county, Lamar County. That's substantial. My town was

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25,000. I grew up and, you know, it was a hometown.

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It felt good. My mother was the first city councilwoman ever

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in my home. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. That was very controversial thing.

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But we're here this weekend for the. The

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barbecue blowout, which is a. Which is a sanctioned

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event from the Alliance. Yes, the Chimpanzee Barbecue Alliance. Yeah.

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Tell me about that alliance. Why. How did it start? Why does it

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exist? Our president, Fred and our

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Roddy used to be our best president, but Fred and Roddy kind of, I guess,

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headed it up. Fred and Roddy, yes. They kind of had it in all of.

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They're. They're two good friends and love barbecue. And then they had some,

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you know, they're. They wanted to, like, give more creativity to the

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cookers and stuff like that. So they created this alliance. It's all

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electronic in the judging room, so it's all done on devices.

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So there is no hand entering, you know, scores and

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stuff like that. So it's all done. So. But you sanction events

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throughout the state? United States, all of the states. We

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have even a handful up in North, Northeast. You'll go to

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California, where the rookie barbecue people are. We will, but they

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probably like a barbecue. Our guys. Barbec. Anyway, it's

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totally different, my hometown. And it's really bad. Oh, is it? It's really

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bad. We won't go there. There's definitely different flavors, profiles throughout the

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United States, but we have, I think five or six now up in the

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Northeast, so. And that's growing. We have a really good connection

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up there. And he's been spreading that. That's a really

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interesting point. I have. Was it Paul Rain or who? The famous

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barbecue book guy? You heard of this guy? And I've tried some

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of the recipes, tried to make them work, and certainly regionality

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is a huge part of barbecue. North Carolina. South Carolina.

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Yeah. You know, Memphis is that you guys deal with

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all those different regions and trying to. So the way it usually

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works. I mean, some of our guys from Texas do travel to those, you know,

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up in that area, but a lot of them are going to be locals and

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stuff like that. So they have their own flavor profile, and we bring the public

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in to judge. So typically, if we're, like, in

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Tennessee and Did one. Those Tennessee people would have a different flavor

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profile than we do in Texas. So we would use the public to come in

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and do it. So they're. Our goal is that the

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flavor profile for the public would match the cookers, kind of. It

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doesn't always work that way because if our guys come up there, they give them

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some Texas. That's interesting. What happen. With

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competition barbecue? What we're trying to do is build something balanced.

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We're not trying to be spicy sweet, nothing. We're trying to just

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have a balance so that any person can come in and go, man, that's

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good. No matter what. That's good. No matter where you live, California, New York, doesn't

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matter when you eat it. That's good, that's good. It's just balanced food. It's

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not. You stay out of. We say it in the cooking world, we say you

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stay out of the twos. Not too sweet, not too spicy, not too anything.

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You just try to be balanced so that you can go anywhere in anybody.

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So even the judges. We don't know where these judges are from that's going to

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come in. They could be. They could be you traveling in from New York

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and have some friend that, hey, let's go judge this barbecue. We don't know. So

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it's supposed to be all about balance. What do New Yorkers know about barbecue?

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And we do have some judges coming from a long way off. They're coming to

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spend the night, and they're going to be judging tomorrow. How do we find these

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judges? You just. You just seek them out, really.

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So you just look for. It doesn't matter if they have experience, they're on the

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Cooking channel or they're one of the, you know, they need. To be 16 years

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or older and like barbecue. Well, that's a strict. That's a strict.

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But that's fascinating, though, because I want to peel that back just a little bit

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more because there are regional differences that we just spoke about.

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And you're going to show up and you're going to make Texas barbecue.

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And you might be in Memphis or you might be in North Dakota

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or South Carolina, which. Let's just take mustards, for

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example. The mustards are entirely different from state to state. Right.

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And so that balance you're talking about comes from

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bringing that to the table, hoping people. Not hoping, but showing people that we can

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make barbecue throughout the country that everybody's gonna like.

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That's correct. At some point. It's pretty fascinating. Some of the cookers say,

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like, they don't want to be. They don't want to offend anybody. They would.

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If you like sweet, they don't want it to. If you like sweet, they don't

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want it to be too spicy. Kind of like he was saying, meat in the

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middle. Not too sweet, not too spicy. But they don't want to offend anyone in

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the judging room, because if you offend somebody, they're going to dock you on your

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card. You're going to get it. You know, in Europe,

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they protect this stuff. For instance, the French protect their cheeses by

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region. They protect their wines, of course, is what I do.

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And one of the things about America is we've sort of blurred

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those lines, right. You can get Texas barbecue in North Carolina or in.

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In New England, and you can get New England clam chowder in Los Angeles.

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But there's some. There's some authenticity from

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having it from where it's from. Right. You still have that author I see going

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on. So how many events do you guys put on a year now?

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I think we're right at the 30. Wow, that's a lot. No, we

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have, like, we probably have three to four a weekend, to be

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honest. I don't know the exact number, but we. I think we are either

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us at IBCA or Neck and Neck on being the biggest

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sanctioning body. And. And the alliance then organizes that reaches out

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to the Paul Allens of the world throughout the different parts of the city.

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It's opposite. He goes to us. He pays us to come in and

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sanction it so that the cookers come in and get their points. And then it

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goes into a. Overall. They. They gather points throughout the

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event to organize the event. Let's say he's the organizer.

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I just kind. He just. He just pays me to run that room and make

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sure everybody follows the rules. Good work, if you can get it, huh?

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Sometimes those cookers can be a little extra, but, yes, I love it.

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So it's really. This is, for me, it's quite fascinating to do. So

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from your standpoint, you come in. You come in the night before.

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Yes. You jump. Yes. And this is. This is in the. Each. Well,

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this one's a little bit different because this one's closer to home for me. So

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usually we drive in on a Friday, we cook Saturday,

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we'll say the night Saturday and drive home Sunday. So it's every weekend. So we

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cooked last year. I cooked 22 events last year. So,

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I mean, that's one every other weekend. Yeah, one every other weekend, basically. Well, of

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course, Christmas Yeah. And so I. In the parking lot here, there's

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smokers already set up. There's big Winnebagos. Oh, yeah,

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Trailers. These guys are coming from all over. The country

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going, we have somebody coming from what, Missouri? Missouri. I'm coming from Missouri.

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Arkansas. Yeah. Arkansas. Yep. Why do you do it?

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Let's wake. When you wake up in the morning, why do you say, I'm going

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to barbecue today, man, I'm gonna kick their butts right now. For

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me, actually, for me, it's. I love cooking barbecue, don't get me wrong,

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but we have a barbecue family. So

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this is our friends. We all cook in the parking lot together, and we all

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hang out together. This is our friends. So that's what we do on our weekends.

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I mean, we call each other during the weekend. Hey, where are you going? Where

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are you going? I mean, so, I mean, as ball. It's so hard

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because, like, for me, I'm kind of the central guy here, and everybody wanted to

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be clear, close to me. So it's. I just get in the middle and start

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stacking up from there because it's all our friends, you know, we all know each

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other. So it's a whole fraternity camaraderie the country.

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Yeah. And that wasn't hard to figure out. You know, this is our fourth year,

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and, you know, I've become friends with these folks that have

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been here before, and I talk to them throughout the year, too.

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Just, hey, how things going? Congratulations on your win.

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And so I keep up with these guys. And so it's a. It's a special.

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It's a special thing. And that's why everybody comes back to Paris,

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because he checks on them throughout the year. He cares matter.

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You know, we all matter in the parking lot. So. And they take

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extra good care of me in here, so I get spoiled. But.

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But yeah, that's why everybody comes back to Paris. What about this health

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food movement? And I'm a huge

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proponent of beef. You know, protein. I

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a protein person. Like, I don't care about the other stuff.

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Last night, all I had was protein. But is there any

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pushback on that? Is there any cognizance of that? Is there any sort of issue

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with the. People talk about this, like, wow, I'm got too much cholesterol here.

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And isn't that right? Isn't that the right way?

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Like, this is the way it should be. Like, aren't we programmed for this in

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the first place? They did it in old days. We ate protein, survived.

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So what's. What has. How Many years has alliance been around now

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for. We'll be pushing 4 in February.

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Have you seen an evolution in what. What's being cooked,

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the style that's being cooked? This balance you're talking about, is it changed at all?

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Is it. You're still sort of on the upward ramp trying to find that sweet

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spot. I think they're always searching. No pun intended. We're always searching, and that's

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the problem. I mean, that's what you get when you get off the street. Judges.

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Right, so we cook the same food. Pretty much everybody out here is going to

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cook the same thing they cook every weekend. The judges, Are you going to like

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it or they're not? Right. You're either going to win or you're not. And it's

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really in the judge's hands more than it even is in our hands, because all

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the cooks are cooking the same thing consistently every weekend. We're cooking the same

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flavor profile, the same thing. I mean, meat. Meat is different

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every time. Right. So the cow doesn't walk the same or the pig

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didn't do the same thing every single time. Right. So there's differences in there, so

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you got to know how to overcome that. But for the most part, we're all

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going to cook our same flavor profile and hope that we turn it in, and

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hopefully the judges like it. I mean, that's pretty much. That's pretty much what it

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is. That's where it is. It's all up to the judges. It's not really even

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in our hands. It's up to the judges. So. No, but that's an important part

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of that does kind of jive with

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today's movement, which is you are what you eat eats.

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Right. Like, I made some burgers the other night. They came out great.

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I grind my own meat. I blend my own blend. All that stuff happens at

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home, and people come over, they go, wow, this is really good meat.

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Yeah. Because you take a little extra care, and then you find the right beef

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and the fine pork, the right turkeys or chickens. So how

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do you do that? How do you sort of make sure you're getting from the

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beginning an animal that properly raised,

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eat the right. Eat the right thing. I mean, like, for most of these. Like,

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for me, I. I cook the same briskets every time. I cook

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the same ribs every time. The same. Same manufacturer. So I cook per.

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Naturals every single time. Ribs. I cook a Snake River. Write that

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down, pray. Fresh, fresh, naturals. I cook

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a Snake. A Snake River Farm Wagu brisket every

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weekend. I Cook the same thing every weekend. So I, I can pretty much tell

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you what the timeline is, when that's going to be done and what it should

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be at this point in time. And if it's not there, we can, I can

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make adjustments on the fly to get it back to where it is. So increase

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the temperature, slow the temperature down, whatever that is that I need to do

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to make that happen. So when you go to. Let's say you go to North

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Carolina, you're going to take Prairie Fresh Farms

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in the same. We would take them from here to go there because we know

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what we're getting here. Yeah. And the one thing I noticed too, when you're watching

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the TV shows, let's, let's talk about this pit master show. Is that real?

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I mean, is that. No. Is that, is that just phony? I mean, it feels

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phony. There's some realness to it, but it's scripting. Scripting too.

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So. Yeah, I mean, we cook against all those guys that are been on

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barbecue Pitmasters. We cook against them here. There's non reality tv. Yeah.

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So. So the competition itself is. Is real. They really had a competition.

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They really turned in stuff and the judges really did pick and they really did.

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There was a winner and they did make money. So I mean, there was. That

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part of. It's true. Some of the other things behind the scenes were scripted by

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far. Yeah, yeah. Like if you've ever watched it, Myron Mixon

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is actually really a super nice guy. And if you watch it, you think he's

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not a nice. Oh, yeah, he's the nicest guy in barbecue. But you watch the

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show, you would not think that about him. But he's a super nice guy. Well,

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there you have it. That's scripted already. But you think of these

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home barbecue, home smoking systems with the little briquettes. I mean,

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one of my managers back in the day at One of the Month club was

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he. He learned how to take his Weber and snake

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the. The charcoal and then have the smoke every five minutes, whatever

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that, know, whatever. He's chuckle wood in there somewhere. Yeah, right. An overnight

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deal. And then they come up with these. What is it, the Brickman or something.

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And they come this little disc and I mean, does that take the fun out

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of the reality out? I feel like this, man, you

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got to start somewhere no matter what. So, you know, if you don't want to

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stand out in the cold and, and monitor fire all day long, that's, that's, that's

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on YouTube. I mean, you got to start somewhere. Barbecue. So food in

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general, I love food. I love cooking. Food brings everybody

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together. Food makes everybody happy, no matter what. If you have good

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food and you invite a bunch of people over, everybody's happy, right? There's

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nobody's, nobody's dropping in anybody if there's good food on the table. So food makes

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everybody happy and brings everybody together. So any barbecue guy, I mean,

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you do whatever you got to do, make good food. People all love it.

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That's what it's about. It's about having friends and, you know, people that get

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together and things like that. So that's what you're. That's the whole thing with food.

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I think that we're in the same business because wine

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has that same impact. And I always talk about like, if you have

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Jack Daniels, which is great, that's one of my favorite spirits,

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bourbon. American bourbon is my favorite. But that

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there's a different type of camaraderie when you start drinking bourbon. You know, at the

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dinner table, you have a glass of wine and the proper food and it

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changes the whole dynamic. Last night I was up till late with my, my son

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in law. We were just talking. We had a bottle of French wine and we

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just, just went at it. And we had barbecue by the chef.

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We were talking about, there's some local barbecue houses that, that aren't here

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today. But man, I thought it was really good. We were at Shoals last night

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and I thought the, I thought the barbecue was great. We enjoyed it very much.

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So was this started like as a hobby for you or just for fun or.

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This whole camaraderie just started. It's definitely a hobby. It's a losing business by

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far. Yeah, we spend a lot of money every weekend. We travel a lot of

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distance, put a lot of mil on to go burn meat in a, in a

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parking lot. And for a judge to tell us that it's crap,

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that's the reality of it. This is definitely a hobby and it's. Definitely so

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attracting new hobbyists. How does this happen with the alliance? What do we

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do? Honestly, it comes with the promoters.

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You'll notice the cookoffs that are, I don't want to say dying, but have

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a lower team count are like, Paul

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is their, you know, they're promoters and they're giving away money. So they're there for

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that, but they're not there for the socializing or the

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promoter or the event, if that makes sense. Yeah, sure. They're just there for the

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money. Right? Typically with the smaller events, I would say

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now, the sm, the new smaller events, they're there to help grow that

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event. Typically, we have some back in Houston that are small,

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but the promoter is great. So those, you know, we're slowly growing

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and she's just so far away. So from everybody. But what

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is Today's prize money, Mr. Allen? Ten thousand

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dollars for barbecue and fifteen hundred dollars for

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turkeys, specifically because we have the National Turkey

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Federation as a sponsor for this. The National. There's such a

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thing as the National Turkey Federation? Yes, sir. Not heard about

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that in Los Angeles. So it

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is the same organization that takes the turkeys

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to the White House. Really? Yes. Well, they're just pardoned

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recently. Yes, yes. So the 50 is

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for Turkey, the 10,000, it's a one lump sum deal. No, it's spread out.

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You know, we want. We want as many people to walk away with something

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as they can, and everybody understands that. But

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it's important to give away money. Yeah, no, I'd show up. I show up for

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ten grand. A slight, you know, maybe cover the cost of the meat or not.

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Sometimes you went out and I did it. Sometimes spread out the

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payout. Usually it's the top five or five or 10 today. Or

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top 10. Top 10. So that 10,000 spread

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between four places or four, 40 places, I guess you could say 10

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for chicken, ribs, pork, and then brisket. So.

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And does that menu change? It's always the same menu. Well,

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okay, so CB does have an option, I guess, for some promoters, if they don't

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want to do points pork, I push the pork. Because

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Michael Kors, they love it. And they go to the Royal in Kansas City so

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they get to practice their pork. So.

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So you walk around with like a badge. It's like you're the official and you're

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calling people out on. Yeah, she does rule infractions and stuff like that. They love

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it. They. When they see me coming on that. Clipboard, they, you know

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what, we're just working here, all right? I don't even have to be in a

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CVA shirt and they see me coming, they think they did something wrong. I'm

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usually just checking songs. It's really not that strict, but

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we do have a few roles that are very strict. So, you know, I was

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playing with Chap GPT before I came over here and looking

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for ideas to talk about it. It's so funny because it's got all

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this emotional strain to this whole work. And

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like, how do you recover from a loss? I'm like, I don't think that's really

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an issue here. No, no, we drink it away if

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they lose. If I can't win, I want one of my friends to win. That's

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a liar. Y. We have. I got what, we have like eight

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in our group right now. And I mean, I want one of my. One of

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my buddies to win, right? I mean, yeah, if I can't win, I want one

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of my buddies. When obviously I want to kick all my buddies butts by far,

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but if I can't win, I want one of my buddies to win. So I

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mean, that's kind of how we go. And we have a great. I mean, all

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of our. We're all tight knit, so we love it. We cheer for each other

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when they get calls. It is your day. It's your day. I mean, like I

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said, it's all in the judges, so it's. If it's your day, it's your day.

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Well, I ask it for. I also was playing around because just wanted

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to see what it would say. I said, give me some puns to use.

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You really smoked the competition this time.

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Oh, really? How corny is that? You know, when,

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when in the wine world, my dad used to use this when we

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chose wines for our business. At the time, it was a Davis UC

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Davis scale of, you know, aroma,

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color, viscosity, all the stuff that you would try to determine why

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00:20:46,700 --> 00:20:49,980
when the judges are given their. Their sheets, what's on that

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presentation and. Then taste and texture. So the way it works is we

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show them the boxes. They never get to touch them for the presentation because we

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don't want them to mess them up or, you know, do anything with them before

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the next judge gets to see them. So, like, there will be six people at

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a table. We'll show the box and then we'll put it back on our table.

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Then the second I guess step is we would

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put them out on the table and they'll rotate your devices, will tell you what

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00:21:13,940 --> 00:21:17,560
box you're on. And so you'll hear me in the judgin. If you're in

352
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,160
there, like making sure the box numbers match your device numbers and stuff like that

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so that they're getting the right score and that's where they do the taste and

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texture. So that's the digital part you're talking about. It's all

355
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on the. All on little cell phones. That's incredible. Y. Is

356
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,600
there a UPC code or QR codes on the boxes? QR codes? QR

357
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:39,200
codes. That was a joke. There's QR codes on the boxes and there's QR

358
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,400
codes, like the devices I have to set them up so it goes to that

359
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category. So when you bring your box in, you have a little team QR

360
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,000
code and. And I'll scan that and then your box. So everything's blind on

361
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,720
my end. That's phenomenal. Okay, so here's. Here's the. One of the

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things when I'm watching the Pit Masters that I

363
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conjured up, this is years ago. I don't think I've watched it in the last

364
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few years. Was I like everything hot.

365
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Like when I go to a restaurant and I tell the chef, like some hot

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soup, I mean, I want the chef to go, you must be a nut. That's

367
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how hot I want it. So by the time you package up the food and

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you put it in the container and you rotates around, does it lose some of

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its temperature? And some of it. I mean, it does, but they put it in

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there. We have foil in the bottom for that reason, so that if it is

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too hot, it doesn't melt the foam boxes.

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There's been many times that I almost need hot minutes to show a box because

373
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they're so hot. So they're all still at

374
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least warm. We have a 10 minute before the hour window, but if I

375
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get all the trays in before that window's open, we just go ahead and roll

376
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it. So when the last box comes in, we go straight to the tables. Let

377
00:22:43,770 --> 00:22:47,210
me tell you what such a good husband I am. I have to do this

378
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for the rest of the world to know. My wife loves

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Starbucks. I mean, twice a day I miss Starbucks. And there's one here in Paris,

380
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as you know. And she wanted the little egg bites last night, yesterday

381
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morning, so I went to Walmart next door. I mean,

382
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Walgreens next door, bought foil, went to

383
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Starbucks, got the little egg things and wrapped them in foil. So by the time

384
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I got back to the house, they were still hot. Oh, nice. We do. That's

385
00:23:11,230 --> 00:23:14,430
sweet. That's something else. That's a great guy. Exactly.

386
00:23:16,350 --> 00:23:19,470
So that's the other question I had. If.

387
00:23:20,590 --> 00:23:24,350
If Stephen is putting his thing in the thing and there's a

388
00:23:24,350 --> 00:23:27,910
bell that goes off or a timer, they. They know their time.

389
00:23:27,910 --> 00:23:31,710
Yeah. You got to get it in. And if. What's the. What is the

390
00:23:32,030 --> 00:23:35,730
leeway there? There's 10 minutes before the window. So at noon, when

391
00:23:35,730 --> 00:23:38,730
the clock strikes noon, you're done. The door's lock,

392
00:23:39,610 --> 00:23:43,330
nothing can happen. Nope. You're out. Yeah. You drove all

393
00:23:43,330 --> 00:23:46,250
this way, smoked all. This meat, you should have been on time. I guess.

394
00:23:47,690 --> 00:23:51,450
And that's happened, has it happened? It happens. People get, I mean you,

395
00:23:51,450 --> 00:23:54,410
you lose track of time, you're not paying attention and, and you look up and

396
00:23:54,410 --> 00:23:57,370
go oh I got to go. And you don't have time. I mean so here's

397
00:23:57,370 --> 00:24:01,170
not as bad cuz it's all closed. But I mean sometimes you go. I mean

398
00:24:01,170 --> 00:24:04,910
it's an eight minute walk to get to the turn in period. So you have

399
00:24:04,910 --> 00:24:08,750
to go, okay, I have to be ready be walking by now to get

400
00:24:08,750 --> 00:24:11,790
out to make that walk. You should make your plan. And a lot of cookers

401
00:24:11,790 --> 00:24:15,190
will walk, walk the from trailer to turn in

402
00:24:15,590 --> 00:24:19,350
like today so that they know they'll do it. It takes me two

403
00:24:19,350 --> 00:24:22,230
minutes to get to the door. Nobody runs flanker like try to get in their

404
00:24:22,230 --> 00:24:25,510
way. A little football move there. People run.

405
00:24:26,230 --> 00:24:30,070
People, people run many times and usually we have a young lady at the door

406
00:24:30,070 --> 00:24:33,630
with the microphone. Like you have 30 seconds or 45 seconds or

407
00:24:33,630 --> 00:24:37,420
whatever. And what's the preferred beverage with barbecue? Beer.

408
00:24:37,820 --> 00:24:39,500
I know, beer. Okay.

409
00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:45,820
Or whiskey. Trying to move me into wine I guess. Wine. Oh,

410
00:24:46,460 --> 00:24:47,420
I don't know many.

411
00:24:50,700 --> 00:24:54,500
That's probably. Why would I call Paul? He goes, wine talks. Really? What are you

412
00:24:54,500 --> 00:24:58,140
doing out here? So tell me about

413
00:24:58,140 --> 00:25:01,250
the Paris community and their reception of,

414
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:05,240
of what you've done with this with the show. Well, the whole purpose

415
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,240
behind getting this started was

416
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,800
raising money for scholarships for our local kids. And

417
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,640
so we've really had a lot of buy in with that because it's, it's

418
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:21,320
going to a great cause. I want as many teams here,

419
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:24,800
I want them to have a great time. But the bottom line is I want

420
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,200
to raise money for these kids. And, and so we've been very

421
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,520
dose of scholarships for all of our local schools plus Paris Junior College.

422
00:25:33,650 --> 00:25:37,290
And we've been very successful with that. And so we want it to continue to

423
00:25:37,290 --> 00:25:41,130
grow for that reason. And we'll have all of our local schools here competing

424
00:25:41,130 --> 00:25:44,530
against each other in their own little category starting

425
00:25:44,530 --> 00:25:48,170
tomorrow. And that's a lot of fun. So the schools.

426
00:25:48,170 --> 00:25:51,730
High schools. High schools, yes. PJC is right here.

427
00:25:51,730 --> 00:25:55,450
Yes, I said it right. Pjc. I thought I was going to transpose

428
00:25:55,450 --> 00:25:59,230
that. Yep. Who else? Paris

429
00:25:59,230 --> 00:26:02,910
High School, North Lamar High School, Prairie Land High School, Chisholm

430
00:26:02,910 --> 00:26:06,590
High School and Paris Junior College. And this is, and this is kids

431
00:26:06,590 --> 00:26:10,030
that are interested in the subject that want to learn from the pros

432
00:26:11,070 --> 00:26:14,270
actually. Just they're just getting together and

433
00:26:14,670 --> 00:26:18,470
cooking barbecue and the public comes out and they get to vote

434
00:26:18,470 --> 00:26:22,110
on who their Favorite team is. But the thing that we do is

435
00:26:22,270 --> 00:26:25,950
whatever money we raise, we divide it equally among all schools.

436
00:26:27,510 --> 00:26:30,390
What a great community event. Yes. In

437
00:26:30,390 --> 00:26:33,710
camaraderie to do for the kids. My wife and I do a lot of that

438
00:26:33,710 --> 00:26:37,510
at our home for other causes for kids. But it's about

439
00:26:37,510 --> 00:26:41,350
the kids. When you're helping kids. Yeah. They must be very,

440
00:26:41,350 --> 00:26:44,790
very special. Yeah. Must feel very special that you do that for them,

441
00:26:45,750 --> 00:26:49,310
that you provide as a scholarship money to go to college or scholarship money

442
00:26:49,310 --> 00:26:53,110
for classrooms. Right. Where you. For college student.

443
00:26:53,110 --> 00:26:56,870
Wow, that's great. And so the rest of the community, they just. How many. How

444
00:26:56,870 --> 00:27:00,190
many am I going to see here tomorrow? You know, it varies. I think we're

445
00:27:00,190 --> 00:27:03,950
going to have pretty good weather. Yeah. And so I. I'm. I'm

446
00:27:03,950 --> 00:27:07,550
hoping that we have a great turnout, but it's been a great.

447
00:27:07,790 --> 00:27:11,270
It's. It's a great event already. Yeah. Just with the number of

448
00:27:11,270 --> 00:27:14,030
sponsors that we have and the number of teams that I think we're going to

449
00:27:14,030 --> 00:27:17,670
have. So we're really looking forward to it. That was. I

450
00:27:17,670 --> 00:27:21,210
was. I told my wife, I said, this is a state championship. We're not messing

451
00:27:21,210 --> 00:27:24,370
around here. We need to show up to Paris, Texas. You know, go look at

452
00:27:24,370 --> 00:27:28,210
the Eiffel Tower. Right. We're here for love. We're here for. We're in for a

453
00:27:28,210 --> 00:27:31,930
good time. What is your involvement when

454
00:27:31,930 --> 00:27:33,730
you started doing this? Why did you care?

455
00:27:35,490 --> 00:27:39,330
Laura, I've been in barbecue for probably six, seven

456
00:27:39,330 --> 00:27:42,810
years, and then I just. I'm not very much of a

457
00:27:42,810 --> 00:27:46,560
sitter, so, like, sit down and relax and enjoy. I want to help.

458
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,160
And just got into the judging room and started

459
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,960
helping, and then it just kind of went from there. Were you barbecuing at home

460
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,480
at the time? I mean, we do barbecue at home and just do the typical,

461
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,320
you know, tenderloins and stuff like that, like. But nothing

462
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,080
crazy. It's just being around people, to be honest. The

463
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,920
socialing. Social skills. Social socializing is what I'm

464
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,560
trying to say. Yeah. Just being around people and just hanging out

465
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,280
and enjoying it and having fun. So one Valentine's, when I

466
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,600
have three daughters, and I thought, I'm gonna make a brisket,

467
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,160
and I went out to the barbecue

468
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,240
and I sliced off a piece. It was unedible. Couldn't

469
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,440
eat it. Did you use hickory? I don't remember. I don't know why.

470
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:36,440
It was really bad, and I didn't. There's no way to recover from that. Right.

471
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,350
What do you do? I mean, what was bad? It was Too smoky. It was

472
00:28:39,350 --> 00:28:42,470
tough. Tough. And the flavor,

473
00:28:42,870 --> 00:28:46,590
maybe the. I don't know if I rubbed it, I remember, but it just maybe

474
00:28:46,590 --> 00:28:50,190
was the cut. So what I did was I went around the back of the

475
00:28:50,190 --> 00:28:53,590
yard, went to the market, got some New York steaks, came back to the

476
00:28:53,590 --> 00:28:57,430
backyard, put them on the barbecue, and came in as if I had just gone

477
00:28:57,430 --> 00:29:00,790
outside. So. But how does that happen?

478
00:29:01,270 --> 00:29:04,310
Like, you know, does it ever happen to you where it's just. It didn't work?

479
00:29:05,350 --> 00:29:08,670
I mean, it has before, yes. I mean, and it still does every now and

480
00:29:08,670 --> 00:29:11,430
then. It just. One of those things that, you know, it just won't get soft

481
00:29:11,430 --> 00:29:14,310
or whatever. Most of the time we're cooking,

482
00:29:15,190 --> 00:29:18,830
we cook to take a brisket almost to where it's falling

483
00:29:18,830 --> 00:29:22,470
apart, and. And we want to slowly just. We're riding that

484
00:29:22,470 --> 00:29:26,230
ragged edge of overcooked and. And. And cooked. Right.

485
00:29:26,230 --> 00:29:30,070
I mean, that overcookedness is right there. I mean, so it's going to

486
00:29:30,070 --> 00:29:33,660
be super tender. It's going to almost fall apart a little bit

487
00:29:33,740 --> 00:29:37,380
on the overcooked side. But then, like you said, as we turn in and it

488
00:29:37,380 --> 00:29:41,180
cools down, it all tightens back up again, and you have that window of. I

489
00:29:41,180 --> 00:29:44,900
mean, we're walking a fine line of getting it cooked enough that when

490
00:29:44,900 --> 00:29:47,740
it gets to the judges, it's tightened up enough that it's still together and it's

491
00:29:47,740 --> 00:29:51,380
not overcooked. So it's. It's a. And what is that? Same issue

492
00:29:51,380 --> 00:29:55,060
with turkey. Where is it that, like, you're

493
00:29:55,060 --> 00:29:58,700
worried about dryness with a turkey? Oh, yeah. 100%. You don't want that.

494
00:29:58,700 --> 00:30:02,060
That's. That's strictly time. Time and temperature. Yeah,

495
00:30:02,460 --> 00:30:06,220
And. And don't overcook it. And don't overcook it. It's temperature, really. Time

496
00:30:06,220 --> 00:30:09,220
doesn't really. I mean, it's temperature. I mean, time. You just have to manage your

497
00:30:09,220 --> 00:30:12,780
time no matter what. But you. You put a probe in it, click it to,

498
00:30:13,020 --> 00:30:15,900
you know, where it's done and wherever you want it, and then get it out

499
00:30:15,900 --> 00:30:18,980
of this smoker as fast as possible. I mean, you want it to rest. And

500
00:30:18,980 --> 00:30:22,460
so you use digital thermometers, type things to check the dungeons. I mean,

501
00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:26,260
wait a minute. You know, pit masters, the guy takes his thumb, and it's just

502
00:30:26,260 --> 00:30:29,260
like, if. What is that? You know, whatever it feels like here is what it's.

503
00:30:29,260 --> 00:30:32,510
Whether it's done or not, they don't do that. So, like, for me, I've run.

504
00:30:32,510 --> 00:30:36,310
I've run digital thermometers in mind, and they're just a monitor. Right. I'm just

505
00:30:36,310 --> 00:30:39,570
going. I'm looking for a number, like for brisket. I'm looking for 210.

506
00:30:39,690 --> 00:30:42,510
210. I'm going to start now. I'm going to start feeling of it and. Okay,

507
00:30:42,510 --> 00:30:46,150
where's it at now? And it should be close to being done by then. There

508
00:30:46,150 --> 00:30:49,630
is, there is in the wine world, when you pick a grape.

509
00:30:49,710 --> 00:30:53,550
When. When is it. Right. What's the question? When is the food done? And

510
00:30:53,790 --> 00:30:57,390
there's two ways. One is the mechanical way, the technical way.

511
00:30:57,390 --> 00:31:01,110
What's the ph, what's the sugar content? You know, where are we

512
00:31:01,110 --> 00:31:04,830
at in the sunshine as far as that day of picking? But there's also what

513
00:31:04,830 --> 00:31:08,630
they call phenolic ripeness, which is how it feels when I touch

514
00:31:08,630 --> 00:31:11,950
it and when I bite it and how that. Whether it snaps or not. Do

515
00:31:11,950 --> 00:31:15,790
you have that sort of balance when it comes to brisket in Turkey,

516
00:31:15,790 --> 00:31:19,510
where you sort of. Yeah, I got my thermometer in there. But there's also

517
00:31:19,510 --> 00:31:23,150
this sort of natural gut feeling when I'm, When I'm

518
00:31:23,150 --> 00:31:26,560
cooking. You're feeling of it. I mean, no matter what you're. You're feeling of it.

519
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,960
And I mean that those probes are just there as a. Just a guideline. I

520
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,720
mean, we're literally, from there, we're feeling of it, we're making sure. Okay, is it.

521
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,520
Is it done or is it not? I mean, all the way around. I mean,

522
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,560
and that's ever meat. I mean, chicken, you've got a probe in there. Then once

523
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,720
it hits the temperature we're looking for, you're going to probe around in there and

524
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,320
go, okay, everything is done. Get out of the. Get it out of the fire.

525
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,120
So that's, you know, that takes skill. I mean, how long do

526
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,150
you think. Yeah, how long do you think somebody has to

527
00:31:55,350 --> 00:31:59,110
stand over that smoker to get a

528
00:31:59,510 --> 00:32:02,950
reasonable understanding of where they're at? You know, the next time they do it,

529
00:32:03,750 --> 00:32:07,390
there's. Okay, but there's guys that hit the scene and they stay hit

530
00:32:07,390 --> 00:32:10,790
immediately. There's guys that hit the scene and they don't hit. They don't hit immediately.

531
00:32:10,790 --> 00:32:14,230
So you either have that ability or you don't. And I don't. I mean,

532
00:32:14,310 --> 00:32:17,750
that's interesting. You're not going to gain that ability if you, if you don't know

533
00:32:17,750 --> 00:32:21,050
already, like when you've touched something. And I mean, so now there's all kinds of

534
00:32:21,050 --> 00:32:24,650
barbecue classes, too. So everybody takes classes. And you take a class

535
00:32:24,650 --> 00:32:28,490
and, you know, you go eat someone's food and then go, okay, that's really good.

536
00:32:28,490 --> 00:32:32,210
Now, how do y' all recreate that? And that's what you kind of do. I

537
00:32:32,210 --> 00:32:36,050
mean, that's really what your. The whole goal is. It's different now

538
00:32:36,050 --> 00:32:39,730
than what, you know, I've been in this three years. Three

539
00:32:39,730 --> 00:32:43,490
years cooking heavily now, and the barbecue scene has changed a lot

540
00:32:43,490 --> 00:32:46,490
because there's every weekend somewhere, there's a class, just about

541
00:32:47,210 --> 00:32:50,130
every. All your big guys have a class somewhere out there. So you can go

542
00:32:50,130 --> 00:32:53,170
take a class, and they'll give you all their recipes, they'll give you all their

543
00:32:53,170 --> 00:32:56,610
injections, they'll give you everything that they do, and they'll show you all hands on

544
00:32:56,610 --> 00:33:00,290
what they. What they do. And so you leave there and then go, okay, now

545
00:33:00,290 --> 00:33:03,930
I gotta go recreate that. But they have all that knowledge in the very

546
00:33:03,930 --> 00:33:06,810
beginning that, you know, back in the day, they didn't have that. Everybody had to

547
00:33:06,810 --> 00:33:09,770
go learn their own. Right? You have a guy that hit something, and he just,

548
00:33:09,770 --> 00:33:13,530
okay, he's hit a seasoning, and now it keeps hitting. Nowadays,

549
00:33:13,530 --> 00:33:17,330
it's not the case because everybody cooks almost so much the same food because there's

550
00:33:17,410 --> 00:33:20,690
so many classes and so many. Everything out there, they all learn from each other.

551
00:33:21,250 --> 00:33:24,890
They're all kind of the same thing. So we're all cooking maybe a little different

552
00:33:24,890 --> 00:33:27,650
method here or there, but for the most part, all the guys are going to

553
00:33:27,650 --> 00:33:31,450
be cooking the same way. So. You know, my mom used

554
00:33:31,450 --> 00:33:35,250
to say, most recipes suck. Yeah, right. Like, you

555
00:33:35,250 --> 00:33:38,770
get a recipe from the LA Times or New York Times or the Paris Weekly.

556
00:33:38,770 --> 00:33:42,420
What's the name of the paper? Paris News. Paris News. And then you try it

557
00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:46,220
and it doesn't work. And I think that mostly because my interpretation

558
00:33:46,220 --> 00:33:49,820
of it, like, if I go to this barbecue class and I think I've got

559
00:33:49,820 --> 00:33:53,140
it under control because I have the paperwork and I bring it home, but then

560
00:33:53,140 --> 00:33:56,860
I try it. And you. I think you have to have the touch. You do.

561
00:33:56,860 --> 00:34:00,460
It takes time. Touch. You do. You do. You can give anybody your recipe, but

562
00:34:00,460 --> 00:34:03,500
if you can't cook brisket and you're. Not going to, I will give anybody any

563
00:34:03,500 --> 00:34:06,900
pointers ever. I'll tell you exactly what I do. At any point in time, you

564
00:34:06,900 --> 00:34:09,020
can come in my trailer and watch me all day long. It doesn't matter to

565
00:34:09,020 --> 00:34:11,540
me. You got to go execute it in the long run, and that's what the

566
00:34:11,540 --> 00:34:14,800
difference is. And. And you got to be able to overcome at times, like, you

567
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,520
know, not all the briskets cook the same. Right? So if that brisket's not done

568
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,320
or you're. You're following a pattern of time, and I'm looking at

569
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,560
temperature and time going, okay, I'm not going to make it here. I'm going to

570
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,400
have to do something, right? I got to kick my fire up. I got

571
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,440
to make some changes so that I make turn in, right? Or. Or

572
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,480
I had a hot fire today and burned some stuff up, and now what. How

573
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,070
am I going to recover that? Right? And so there's some of that stuff like

574
00:34:39,070 --> 00:34:42,910
that. I mean, like, you get carried away sometimes, and you got probes

575
00:34:42,910 --> 00:34:45,950
and stuff, and you're trying to hit temperatures, and next thing, you look at that

576
00:34:45,950 --> 00:34:49,750
probe, and it's, you know, like pork. You're looking for, you know,

577
00:34:49,750 --> 00:34:53,150
208 or 210, and you look at it, and it's 200. You look back at

578
00:34:53,150 --> 00:34:56,870
20 minutes later, and it's 220. You're like, what am I going to do? You

579
00:34:56,870 --> 00:34:59,990
got to be able to recover that stuff. And that's where that must make the

580
00:34:59,990 --> 00:35:03,670
good guys good. And the other guys, they just

581
00:35:03,670 --> 00:35:07,480
can't do that. They just don't have that ability. And so that's where you

582
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,880
win and lose. Barbecue competitions on the cutting board in the very end,

583
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,720
everybody cooks the same meat. For the most part, they're going to cook the same

584
00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:17,680
flavor. That's not a big deal. But you win and lose on a cutting board

585
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,720
when knowing what to do with that meat, knowing that it's too soft or it's

586
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:24,880
whatever else, or knowing what to put in a box, that is your best stuff,

587
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,160
you win and lose on a cutting board most of the time, generally. So

588
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:32,280
that's interesting thought, because during the show, of course, they. They decide

589
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,740
which steak. There must be 35 stakes on this thing. In this case, it's

590
00:35:35,900 --> 00:35:39,340
New York or something. And how they choose which one is which

591
00:35:39,580 --> 00:35:42,300
that they're going to take to the judges, and the rest are just sitting there,

592
00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:45,580
whatever they do with them. But, you know, it's funny, we were talking about this

593
00:35:45,660 --> 00:35:49,020
yesterday, Paul. There is that tonight, there's the FFA

594
00:35:49,340 --> 00:35:53,180
chili cook off, and I'm going to walk the grandkids down

595
00:35:53,180 --> 00:35:56,940
there right across the street. But one of the rules, when I read the rules,

596
00:35:56,940 --> 00:36:00,780
was if somebody asks you what meat it is, you must tell them,

597
00:36:01,860 --> 00:36:05,500
like, in other words, everything else. You're not required to talk about the spices

598
00:36:05,500 --> 00:36:08,820
and how you're gonna. How you prepare it, but you have to tell them if

599
00:36:08,820 --> 00:36:12,420
it's chuck or tenderloin or whatever. And I thought, well, that's

600
00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:16,260
interesting. Well, here we're talking about, you're willing to share everything

601
00:36:17,380 --> 00:36:21,100
with, with whoever wants to know. Yeah, it doesn't

602
00:36:21,100 --> 00:36:24,820
matter to me. I told anybody I love new cooks. I want new

603
00:36:24,820 --> 00:36:28,660
cooks. I want to help new cooks. I have a passion for helping new cooks

604
00:36:28,660 --> 00:36:32,260
and get in here in the scene. Because if we don't grow our,

605
00:36:32,260 --> 00:36:36,020
this, this whole hobby thing that we do, it's going to lose. The older

606
00:36:36,020 --> 00:36:38,780
people are going to fall out. If we're not bringing new people in, it's going

607
00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:41,660
to die at some point in time. And you already see, I mean, we already

608
00:36:41,660 --> 00:36:45,340
see you go to the American Oil every year. The American Oil is the

609
00:36:45,340 --> 00:36:48,780
largest barbecue cook off there is and the numbers are going down instead of going

610
00:36:48,780 --> 00:36:52,620
up. So we are losing tread in the industry. Oh, I see.

611
00:36:52,620 --> 00:36:55,490
In the world. So we have to find a way to get new cooks in.

612
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,600
But new cooks are intimidated by better cooks. Right, but you can only

613
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,800
get better if you go cook against them. That's right. And you go learn what

614
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:04,960
you're doing. You gotta go, you got to do it. You just got to go

615
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,640
do it. So everybody always asks, you know, how do I get in there, man?

616
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,880
Go do it. Just go do it. Go find a barbecue, cook and go cook

617
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,840
it. Or go find someone that, hey, can I go sit with you for a

618
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,600
day or can I come watch you or whatever, you know, whatever

619
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,280
you have to do, whatever you feel like is your best way to get in,

620
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,780
do it and jump in two feet in and go for it. Because that's the

621
00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:27,260
only way you're going to learn. I mean, it seems like scholarships for kids at

622
00:37:27,260 --> 00:37:31,060
schools, bringing them in here to cook against each other.

623
00:37:31,380 --> 00:37:34,940
Some one of these kids or 2 or 10 or 20 are going to say,

624
00:37:34,940 --> 00:37:38,700
this is really fun. Yes, I had a really good time doing this. I think

625
00:37:38,700 --> 00:37:41,820
it was last one of the competitions. We've had a high school team come in

626
00:37:41,820 --> 00:37:45,580
and they competed against the big kids and they, they didn't know a lot about

627
00:37:45,580 --> 00:37:49,020
it. And like I know a lot of these guys and I'm like, okay, well

628
00:37:49,020 --> 00:37:52,860
you do brisket, so you're probably gonna wanna go, you know, over here and they'll

629
00:37:52,860 --> 00:37:56,580
help you with whatever. Like all we have a good. They

630
00:37:56,580 --> 00:38:00,380
love it when I've Ellen told em to do something in the cook's meeting. Like

631
00:38:00,380 --> 00:38:02,940
if I have a whole bunch of new cookers, I'm like, okay, we'll go find

632
00:38:02,940 --> 00:38:06,780
this trailer. This trailer, this trailer. And you know, you know,

633
00:38:06,780 --> 00:38:09,460
go ask them Questions, you know, if you wanna know what to put in the

634
00:38:09,460 --> 00:38:13,140
box or if it's sauced or not sauced. You know, all the cook

635
00:38:13,140 --> 00:38:16,290
questions and stuff. Cause I do the judging stuff, but I don't cook

636
00:38:16,610 --> 00:38:20,370
typically. So I send them out to

637
00:38:20,690 --> 00:38:24,450
certain people that I know aren't going to be like, no. And

638
00:38:24,450 --> 00:38:28,210
we've got some folks that this will be their very first sanctioned event

639
00:38:28,610 --> 00:38:32,370
they're excited about. I want to meet these people. Yeah, they are excited about

640
00:38:32,370 --> 00:38:35,370
coming. Okay, so now let's just get to the fun part of some of this.

641
00:38:35,370 --> 00:38:38,290
Like, you've got all these guys out here. You get some smokers people coming in.

642
00:38:38,690 --> 00:38:41,290
Now, I was a boy Scout, and I'd go on a camporee and we'd hike

643
00:38:41,290 --> 00:38:44,490
into the Vietcong village of the Marine base or something, and then we'd all be

644
00:38:44,490 --> 00:38:48,210
stuck. And then you'd send out the tenderfoots to go do something that's impossible to

645
00:38:48,210 --> 00:38:51,850
do as a joke. They wouldn't know they're tenderfoots. They're new to this. Is there

646
00:38:51,850 --> 00:38:55,570
a little bit of camaraderie, sort of joking around with the newer. The newbies that

647
00:38:55,570 --> 00:38:59,090
come in here and they're giving something, like, I'll give you an example. One of

648
00:38:59,090 --> 00:39:01,970
the things you tell a kid, go get a bacon stretcher.

649
00:39:02,690 --> 00:39:05,690
And so they go around all the troops saying, well, do you have a bacon

650
00:39:05,690 --> 00:39:08,530
stretcher? And, you know, there's no such thing. I don't think I've ever. I don't

651
00:39:08,530 --> 00:39:12,240
think I've ever heard that. There's no, like. I think the

652
00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:16,000
reason why I don't do that is because the new guys are so intimidated,

653
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,800
and they see state championship and 10 grand. Like, some of

654
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,520
them don't come, but, like, in the cooks meeting, I'll ask them,

655
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:26,400
like, who has never cooked a CBA before? And I'm like, hey, guys, if you

656
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,480
want to come talk to me afterwards. Because some of those guys just don't want

657
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,120
to ask questions in the cooks meeting in front of everybody. Yeah, right. So.

658
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,640
But I can also grab a few of the cooks and be like, okay, well,

659
00:39:36,890 --> 00:39:39,650
why don't you go see Stephen or why don't you go see Aaron or, you

660
00:39:39,650 --> 00:39:43,490
know, whoever supports Amazing. But I also

661
00:39:43,490 --> 00:39:46,290
know the cookers that are going to help them, if that makes sense. I know

662
00:39:46,290 --> 00:39:48,530
the ones that are going to turn them down and ones that are actually going

663
00:39:48,530 --> 00:39:51,890
to bring them into the trailer and show them how to trim a pork butt

664
00:39:51,890 --> 00:39:55,650
or whatever. I used to collect sports autographs. I

665
00:39:55,650 --> 00:39:59,410
realized there's really no reason for it, but I had a painting of

666
00:39:59,410 --> 00:40:03,050
Arnold Palmer and I actually went to a golf tournament. Arnold Palmer was there. He

667
00:40:03,050 --> 00:40:05,530
happened to be standing right in front of me and I had this painting and

668
00:40:05,530 --> 00:40:08,060
he signed it me for me. And the artist told me, he goes, if that

669
00:40:08,060 --> 00:40:11,460
was Jack Nicholas, he would have sliced it with a knife. Yeah, he would have

670
00:40:11,460 --> 00:40:15,140
not supported an autograph like that. So tomorrow night you're gonna.

671
00:40:15,140 --> 00:40:18,580
Tonight, you're gonna meet here tonight. It's tonight. We're gonna be in here. Yes. So

672
00:40:18,580 --> 00:40:22,220
what's going to happen in the, in the, the grand ballroom here when all

673
00:40:22,220 --> 00:40:26,020
the chefs come? What, what are the. What's going to be laid out

674
00:40:26,020 --> 00:40:29,180
for them? Well, at 5:30, we have a rip cook off

675
00:40:29,580 --> 00:40:33,190
cooks meeting in the judging room. Just, it's a, it's a fun cook.

676
00:40:33,190 --> 00:40:36,630
A fun little rib shootout on tonight. But

677
00:40:37,190 --> 00:40:40,310
after that, Paul and his amazing team, they feed us

678
00:40:40,870 --> 00:40:44,350
burgers and hot dogs and stuff like that. And then in the main

679
00:40:44,350 --> 00:40:48,190
ballroom and then we do the cooks meeting. I thought maybe like quiche Lorraine or.

680
00:40:48,190 --> 00:40:51,910
Some kind of food. He's brought in some pretty cool people

681
00:40:51,910 --> 00:40:55,190
though, on Thursday nights before. So. So you lay out the rules. What do you,

682
00:40:55,190 --> 00:40:58,710
what do you do? Yeah, that's not. And it's just like a meeting people.

683
00:40:59,260 --> 00:41:02,700
Yes. Questions. They ask questions. Some of them will get their boxes.

684
00:41:03,020 --> 00:41:05,940
Paul tells them thank you for coming and tells them what we're here for. Like,

685
00:41:05,940 --> 00:41:09,500
we're raising money for the kiddos and stuff like that, so. But they all love

686
00:41:09,500 --> 00:41:13,180
Paul. Everybody knows who Paul is. We have guys

687
00:41:13,180 --> 00:41:16,900
that'll come up and just pop ups and drums. Like not even have somewhere to

688
00:41:16,900 --> 00:41:20,620
stay. They'll sleep in their trucks. Because he's, he's just. Because we

689
00:41:20,620 --> 00:41:24,420
don't have room in here. We'll take care of them. We do

690
00:41:24,420 --> 00:41:27,150
take care of them. We usually. I think last year, one of the years, it

691
00:41:27,150 --> 00:41:30,790
was raining really bad and we found like the walls for their canopy, because they

692
00:41:30,790 --> 00:41:33,990
didn't have any walls. We found some from other cookers and helped them have a

693
00:41:33,990 --> 00:41:37,830
little bit of a shelter while they're cooking, you know, so. Wow, this is this

694
00:41:37,830 --> 00:41:41,670
really quite warming, you know, the camaraderie and the

695
00:41:41,670 --> 00:41:44,830
sense of family. I feel like that's the whole point of it really, to be

696
00:41:44,830 --> 00:41:48,590
honest. Raise money for the kids and have fun and do all that.

697
00:41:48,590 --> 00:41:52,270
So. Well, this has been fascinating for me. We're already at

698
00:41:52,270 --> 00:41:55,650
45 minutes, if you can believe that. It goes quick sometimes.

699
00:41:56,130 --> 00:41:58,890
And so I wish you all the luck. Tomorrow we're looking forward to being here

700
00:41:58,890 --> 00:42:02,650
and bringing the grandkids. Kitties. Kitties are free. As Paul

701
00:42:02,650 --> 00:42:05,850
put it on a text, they need that much

702
00:42:05,850 --> 00:42:09,370
barbecue. My wife and I and my son in law will be here. We're looking

703
00:42:09,370 --> 00:42:12,610
forward to just chewing the fat, so to speak.

704
00:42:13,090 --> 00:42:16,890
That is not one of the puns that was on here. Cheers.

705
00:42:16,890 --> 00:42:20,330
Thanks for coming. We're glad you're here. Thank you for having

706
00:42:20,330 --> 00:42:20,930
100%.