Shownotes
The central theme of this episode revolves around the exploration of culinary creativity in barbecue, specifically through the lens of Brad Prose's new book, "Chilies and Smoke: Barbecue Grilling and Other Fire Friendly Recipes with Spice and Flavor." Prose articulates the motivation behind his work, which is not merely to compile recipes but to establish a lasting culinary legacy for his children, particularly in the context of his diverse cultural influences. Throughout our discourse, we engage in a detailed examination of various chili peppers, their unique flavor profiles, and how they can be incorporated into grilling practices to enhance both taste and complexity. Prose also offers practical insights regarding the preparation of grilled dishes, emphasizing the importance of marination and the nuances of using specific cooking techniques to elevate the overall dining experience. As we navigate through the episode, we endeavor to provide our listeners with a deeper understanding of how to approach barbecue with innovation and confidence, encouraging them to embrace the art of grilling as a means of personal expression.
Links referenced in this episode:
- oregondungeness.org
- barbecuenationjt.com
- paintedhillsnaturalbeef.com
- pigpowder.com
- chilisandsmoke.com
- heritagesteel.us
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Kia
- Heritage Steel
- Oregon Dungeness Crab
- Pig Powder
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt.
Speaker A:So fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker A:Now from the Turn It Go Burn it studios in Portland, here's jt.
Speaker B:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Welcome to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I'm jt, along with my co host and radio wife, Leanne Whippett.
Speaker B:Of course, she's a hall of famer.
Speaker B:We've got Dave and Chris roaming around in the back, and we'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker B:We're going to tell you about a special Painted Hills promo a little later in the show.
Speaker B:Well, we've got a fun fellow here, and he lives in one of my old hometowns.
Speaker B:I have multiple hometowns.
Speaker B:Brad Prose.
Speaker B:Brad's got a new book called Chilies and Smoke Barbecue Grilling and Other fire friendly recipes with spice and flavor.
Speaker B:Brad, welcome.
Speaker C:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker C:Appreciate it.
Speaker B:No problem.
Speaker B:We got to get through the standard questions first.
Speaker B:What prompted you to write the book?
Speaker C:I really.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:I'll keep it as short as I can.
Speaker C:I really wanted to write a legacy for my kids.
Speaker C:I'm adopted.
Speaker C:I don't have a cultural food background, and my wife is from Juarez down by El Paso.
Speaker C:So, you know, I, I cooked a lot of international food for her.
Speaker C:And I really, you know, just growing up in Phoenix and Arizona, I love chilies and spice and heat, and I just wanted to kind of write my own food legacy and kind of discover that through food.
Speaker C:So this has been in the works for a very long time.
Speaker C:I'm just glad I was finally able to put all the ideas down and get it in a book so I can share that.
Speaker B:Well, I think you did a really good job.
Speaker D:I do, too.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've been looking at it.
Speaker B:Leanne endorsed the book, so there you go.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker D:Well, that's because his online presence and what he does there, you know, it's just awesome stuff.
Speaker D:So I knew the book was going to be awesome, which it is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, thank you.
Speaker B:So we'll get into some of the recipes and the.
Speaker B:And the chili theories, as it were, but there's one thing I want to really compliment you on.
Speaker B:Right out of the gate, you took the corn husks and cooked the halibut in it.
Speaker B:I thought that was brilliant.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:You know what's funny is I remember writing that recipe, and when the book was coming out, I, I flipped to that page.
Speaker C:I'm like, nobody is actually going to make that recipe.
Speaker C:Sometimes in cookbooks you have that one crazy one.
Speaker C:Yeah, sure enough, like, third or fourth Amazon review.
Speaker C:Somebody made it, could not believe it, and they loved it.
Speaker C:And I was so excited because that's a complicated one, but it's so fun to make.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It kind of answers the question.
Speaker B:I come from the Northwest.
Speaker B:We have a lot of seafood up here.
Speaker B:Of course, Leanne has a lot of seafood down in Florida and that.
Speaker B:But, you know, people, especially people that don't, you know, grill or barbecue very much, always have trouble with fish.
Speaker B:They do, because they try to put it on a cedar plank or they've got some other apparatus they're doing, it still sticks.
Speaker B:Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker B:And I looked at that, and I thought, that's going actually way back in history, the basis of that to what the natives did and that type of thing, but also it holds the damn fish together.
Speaker B:So that's really important.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well, in Arizona, obviously, we.
Speaker C:We don't have a lot of seafood here.
Speaker C:Everything gets shipped in.
Speaker C:So I definitely wanted to have cedar plank something, and I wanted to do something that kind of reminded me of, like, tamales.
Speaker C:And I just.
Speaker C:I had seen somebody years ago cook a different fish.
Speaker C:I can't remember even what it was.
Speaker C:Might have been cod in a corn husk.
Speaker C:And I'm like, oh, my God, I gotta write that down.
Speaker C:So I.
Speaker C:That's been in my notes for probably eight or nine years, and I've done it plenty of times on my own.
Speaker C:It was just so fun to be able to share that one.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:But, yeah, we're not good at cooking fish here.
Speaker B:Well, like I said, I just thought it was brilliant because I had never seen that in a barbecue book before.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker B:And I've got a lot of them.
Speaker B:I can't say I've read every one of them cover to cover, but I had just never seen that.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:One of the things that.
Speaker B:It's in the title, Chili's, and you go in depth on a lot of chilies.
Speaker B:You've kind of got a dictionary or a thesaurus or whatever you want to call it at the front of the book, describing different chilies.
Speaker B:But one thing I'd like you to talk to our listeners about is the difference in chilies and the difference in where chilies come from.
Speaker B:You've got some recipes in there where I think you were using some chilies in some, like, Thai food or something.
Speaker B:Something from Southeast Asia.
Speaker B:And then, of course, you've got the Mexican chilies that we're also fond of and jalapenos and all that.
Speaker B:But I think maybe if you kind of give us a two or three minute dissertation on the difference of those chilies, it might help folks.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, I appreciate that.
Speaker C:And the, the chilies are primarily from the Southwest, because that's where I'm at.
Speaker C:However, I've been very inspired by food from around the world, too.
Speaker C:So I did include a few other chilies that are recognizable and accessible.
Speaker C:The biggest key for me in writing this book is I wanted to make sure that the majority of people going to the store would be able to find this.
Speaker C:There were about four or five chilies that I had to cut simply just because I wanted the book to be a little bit more saturated with the chilies that it ended up with.
Speaker C:So we've got a lot of the core Mexican and Central American chilies, like jalapenos, chipotle, serranos.
Speaker C:We've got a lot of dried chilies as well, like guajillo and ancho and chile arbol.
Speaker C:I also wanted to challenge myself and use bell peppers.
Speaker C:While they do fall into that category, I think that they're very difficult to cook with unless you stuff a bell pepper and throw it on the grill, which is good.
Speaker C:I just, I wanted to showcase different ways in using that.
Speaker C:We've got the Korean chilies, so both the chili flakes and gochujang, which is the fermented paste, shishito peppers, which are from Japan as well.
Speaker C:So really kind of moves around the world and ties into different ways.
Speaker C:And while I didn't have things like Kashmiri chilies or Thai bird chilies, they were, they were on the menu originally.
Speaker C:But what I did is I ended up consulting with some experts from different parts of the world in those cuisines and talking to them about, I guess, the right way to make some of those family blends like vindaloo or tandoori.
Speaker C:And I really wanted to make sure that if I was going to publish and say that this is a tandoori spice, is it okay for me to say that?
Speaker C:And, you know, through the research and kind of getting the thumbs up from some experts, I was able to do that and use the same chilies that were in the book.
Speaker C:So it helped me make it easier for the reader.
Speaker C:And that was really a big key, is I wanted it to be as as straightforward as possible so you don't have to go online and buy some exotic ingredients.
Speaker B:Yeah, they let me rephrase that.
Speaker B:Instead of they a lot of our barbecue brethren with their books or with their online stuff.
Speaker B:Jalapenos seem to be king, all right, but there's quite a number of people too, and they'll think I'm being blasphemous here, but don't care for the taste of jalapenos, just whatever it is.
Speaker B:That's fine.
Speaker B:I mean, they're fine with me.
Speaker B:But how difficult is in your work, have you seen a Brad to get people to move away from jalapenos or serranos or even anchos and try to work with some other chilies and other peppers?
Speaker C:You know, that was the main goal of this book.
Speaker C:And if you saw my process on writing these recipes, I look like a madman.
Speaker C:I had his big spreadsheet and I organized all my recipes by chilies.
Speaker C:And then I organized them by the process in which they were used.
Speaker C:I wanted to make sure they were fresh, they were in sauces, they were pickled, they were charred, sometimes a combo.
Speaker C:They were smoked, they were hydrated, blitzed, dried, whatever.
Speaker C:I really wanted as much variety with the processes as possible, which made it very difficult and I had to narrow it down and cut a lot.
Speaker C:But I feel that with the explanation, the beginning of the book, where it talks about the flavor profiles, the chilies, and really where they're at, if you read those, you should be able to understand what to expect on the flavors.
Speaker C:So when you go into the recipes, there's a good chance you'll be able to substitute those with something else that you like or that's very close, if that makes sense.
Speaker D:It definitely does.
Speaker D:I like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker B:We're talking with Brad Prose.
Speaker B:His new book, Chilies and Smoke Barbecue Grilling and Other Fire Friendly Recipes With Spice and Flavor.
Speaker B:Book question here.
Speaker B:Brad, did you do the photography or did you have somebody help you with that?
Speaker C:I did the photography.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It was, I would say, 80% in the garage, which is really funny.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker C:Oh, thanks.
Speaker B:How'd you decide on your cover shot?
Speaker C:That was a tough one.
Speaker C:So I had staged a couple other photos that I thought could be a cover.
Speaker C:And what I ended up doing is when we were submitting the photos, towards the end, I picked like my top eight or 10 that we thought could be good.
Speaker C:And the art team from the publisher ended up putting this together and.
Speaker C:And choosing that because we're going to do something totally different.
Speaker C:They had a bunch of chilies on the front, but at the end of the day, I think when you're looking at books and they're on A shelf.
Speaker C:Especially in the barbecue and grilling world, you want a big piece of meat.
Speaker C:Like that's really what draws you in.
Speaker C:And that's what we ended up deciding on with this.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of books out there that have chilies, you know, clusters and baskets of chilies and all that.
Speaker B:So I think you made a wise choice there.
Speaker B:What was the toughest part about writing the book?
Speaker C:You know, I had a full time job at the time.
Speaker C:I was a financial advisor for a big firm and I've got two kids and a wife.
Speaker C:So to be honest with you, it was just juggling with book number two.
Speaker C:Happens I'll be in a better, a better place to juggle all that.
Speaker B:Well, you've got all those recipes that didn't make the cut in the first book.
Speaker B:So you're halfway done, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We're going to take a break.
Speaker B:We're going to be back here on Barbecue Nation with Ms. Leanne and Brad Prose with his new book, Chilies and Smoke, right after this.
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Speaker B:You'll love it, I guarantee it.
Speaker B:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation on USA Radio networks and more podcast platforms than there are octopus in the ocean.
Speaker B:We figured that out the other day.
Speaker B:Leanne, one of the guys was talking to me and he said, you know how you say there's, you're like on 4, 000 of them when you're talking on the show?
Speaker B:I said, yeah.
Speaker B:He goes, you're pretty close.
Speaker D:Actually, it's a lot.
Speaker B:It's a lot.
Speaker B:If you'd like to email us, you can just go to barbecue nationjt.com There's a little Contact Us thing at the bottom.
Speaker B:You can send an email and either Leanne or myself will answer that.
Speaker B:And of course, we've got multiple Facebook pages and Twitter accounts and Instagram and Spotify and all that.
Speaker B:So we're pretty easy to find.
Speaker B:We're talking with Brad Prost today, new book out Chili's and Smoke.
Speaker B:One of the things you really hit on Brad in this is making the different sauces, like adobo and that type of thing.
Speaker B:Do you think that scares people?
Speaker B:Every day, folks, it's just easier for them to go buy it at the.
Speaker C:Store, you know, I do.
Speaker C:And one of the biggest frustrations that I have with cookbooks is you'll see this recipe, and it's got this awesome sauce, and they might use it twice.
Speaker C:And usually if they do, it'll be used in the same exact manner.
Speaker C:And I wanted people to say, like, look, if they want to step up their game, they can spend the time making the sauce.
Speaker C:It's going to make a couple cups, but I want to show them five different ways to use it at least, you know, so that way, when they're flipping through the book, they're not only used, but they're used in slightly different ways to give people ideas.
Speaker C:That way, when you make two cups and you use a quarter of it, you're like, I don't know what to do with this.
Speaker C:I wasted all this money making this.
Speaker C:So, you know, my goal is not just in the book to show that, but also through social media.
Speaker C:Now the book is out.
Speaker C:That's part of my content strategy, is I'm going to be using a lot of those sauces and rubs and continue to try to give people new ideas on how they can use those in creative ways.
Speaker B:Oh, that's.
Speaker D:You know, I find the biggest challenge with any kind of pepper is you don't know what you're getting when you buy at the store.
Speaker D:If you buy a jalapeno, you don't know if it's hot.
Speaker D:You don't know how many to buy, you know, just because some of them are hot and some of them are not.
Speaker D:So what do you suggest people do in a recipe if they kind of taste their pepper and they're like, wow, it doesn't have a lot of heat?
Speaker D:Do you say put more in to increase the heat?
Speaker D:But you don't really increase the heat if it already has a stable level, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker D:So should you add a different type of spicy pepper?
Speaker D:I mean, what's your recommendation?
Speaker D:If you get, like, flat chili peppers or peppers in general, that is tough.
Speaker C:Because, I mean, I've even had a poblano chili that has just burned my face, you know, so that's what makes it really tough.
Speaker C:I think Generally with jalapenos, larger ones are typically not as spicy.
Speaker C:More bright green ones are typically not as spicy.
Speaker C:And Serrano's are a close cousin and are significantly more spicier.
Speaker C:So I do think that over time, as you find what your produce is, that you have access to, you kind of learn what's consistent, what works, and you can adapt.
Speaker C:Most of the time, if people don't think jalapenos are hot enough, I say go ahead and use a Serrano.
Speaker C:But if you're in the heat of the moment and you're at home, what I'll do is sometimes I'll char the jalapenos a little bit first.
Speaker C:Kind of brings out the heat.
Speaker C:If you cook them too much, it'll start to mellow it down.
Speaker D:But if you maybe keep the seeds in, too.
Speaker C:Yes, the seeds and the membrane, that's a big, big key.
Speaker C:A little bit at a time.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:But also a good way to tell how hot a chili is is to cut it as.
Speaker C:As close to the stem as possible, because that's where most membrane and the seeds are, and that's.
Speaker C:You can almost smell how hot it is a lot of times.
Speaker D:Oh, interesting.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So if you.
Speaker C:If you're cutting all the way at the tip, it won't give you really much any indication as it will towards the end.
Speaker C:So that's a good way.
Speaker C:If you're nervous to step into the chili game and want to start small, slice it right by the tip and try there.
Speaker B:And don't rub your eyes.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker C:Oh, my gosh, yes.
Speaker D:Wear gloves.
Speaker D:Wear gloves.
Speaker C:Oh, my gosh, yes.
Speaker C:And it is funny because some jalapenos and other chilies are so juicy, too, that even just slicing down aggressively will spray juice in your face.
Speaker C:They're.
Speaker C:They're dangerous.
Speaker B:Yeah, they are.
Speaker B:I almost killed one of my co hosts on television one day.
Speaker B:I made some poppers, tried them outside, you know, off camera over in the prep area.
Speaker B:They were finding me, and we got doing the segment and this and that, and there was about a minute left and.
Speaker B:And she does not like spicy things.
Speaker B:This is Helen Raptis in Portland.
Speaker B:And I said, no, I ate them off.
Speaker B:And, you know, I ate them off camera.
Speaker B:They were great.
Speaker B:And she grabbed one and she bit into that thing.
Speaker B:Holy smokes.
Speaker B:She went down to her knees.
Speaker B:All you could see was her arm waving behind the counter.
Speaker B:And she kept saying, take us to break.
Speaker B:Take us to break.
Speaker B:I can't talk.
Speaker B:And I thought they were just nothing.
Speaker D:You know, everybody has a different level of heat.
Speaker D:They can.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So now she tells me, I tried to kill her.
Speaker B:I really didn't.
Speaker B:But I think that little clip's on YouTube somewhere, too, if you want to find out.
Speaker D:We'll have to look for that.
Speaker B:Yeah, we're gonna.
Speaker B:We still got a couple minutes left in this thing.
Speaker D:I'm curious what you retired from your other job and you say you're going all in now.
Speaker D:What is in a barbecue?
Speaker D:It sounded like.
Speaker D:So what does that consist of?
Speaker C:That's a great question.
Speaker C:So most of what I do is that I write recipes and shoot product photograph and videography, and then I'll review and kind of educate, like, create educational videos for brands.
Speaker C:So I've got a website, chiliesandsmoke.com where I'll publish my recipes.
Speaker C:But then I. I publish a lot of work for a lot of companies.
Speaker C:Some of them, if you Googled me, you'd find it.
Speaker C:And some of them, they don't tag me on who I am, but I'll kind of do some ghost writing for it, too.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:I like to be known more for flavor than just being tied to, like, one type of grill or one type of process.
Speaker C:So I have just about every type of grill outside, and it allows me to really learn about all the different processes used.
Speaker C:So it's really fun for me and my job because then I get.
Speaker C:I feel like I'm learning a lot more and have a lot more experience in various cooking methods.
Speaker D:Do you grow your own peppers?
Speaker C:I have.
Speaker C:We did at one of our past homes.
Speaker C:We moved into this home not too long ago, so we haven't here.
Speaker C:It is really fun.
Speaker C:It's also interesting when they get too close and you've got multiple kinds of peppers that are very close because they'll cross pollinate and create crazy hybrids, too.
Speaker C:So it's fun, but it's tough with the heat that we have out here, especially in summer when it gets up to 110, 115.
Speaker C:Even peppers don't last very well.
Speaker C:So it's a seasonal thing for sure, right?
Speaker B:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:If you've never been in Phoenix in July or August, don't touch your handle on your car.
Speaker C:I'll just.
Speaker B:I'll just kind of throw that out there and you'll figure it out yourself.
Speaker B:We're going to take another break.
Speaker B:We're going to be back with Brad Prose from.
Speaker B:With his new book, Chili and Smoke, here on Barbecue Nation right after this.
Speaker F:Hey, everybody, it's jt And I have eaten.
Speaker B:If you've ever looked at me.
Speaker F:You know that.
Speaker F:But I have eaten seafood all over the world, and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
Speaker F:If you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org.
Speaker B:And find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy.
Speaker F:It, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker B:Check it out.
Speaker B:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation on the USA Radio Networks.
Speaker B:We would like to thank Painted Hills natural beef, Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker B:Painter Hills has got a special offering for Barbecue Nation folks.
Speaker B:They redid their online store on their website.
Speaker B:And if you go to there and select something, let's say a T bone, you type in the code BBQ Nation and you get 15% off, and I'll ship it right to your door.
Speaker B:So go to the Painted Hills website, click on the store, place an order, type in BBQ Nation.
Speaker B:They thank you, we thank you, and it's all good.
Speaker B:And also pig powder trim tabs, daughter and pig powder matron.
Speaker B:Right now, Ms. Leanne is working and managing the pig powder empire there.
Speaker B:It won the best rub on the planet award.
Speaker B:It's used by a lot of winning pit masters over the last 30 years, and now you can buy your own online@pigpowder.com and like I always tell people, Leanne may autograph something for you because she's famous.
Speaker B:I'm not, but she'll.
Speaker B:She'll do an autograph picture.
Speaker B:You know, send her a couple hundred bucks and she'll do an autograph picture for you.
Speaker D:I was like, well, since we're doing a chili thing, you could do stuffed chilies or jalapenos.
Speaker D:Wrap it in bacon and put pig powder on it.
Speaker D:It's sweet with a little heat and it offsets the heat, and it's very good.
Speaker D:So there's a little recipe for you, sort of.
Speaker B:That works.
Speaker C:That works.
Speaker B:Sorry, I just think that's really funny.
Speaker B:Brad, when did you start getting into barbecue and grilling?
Speaker B:And now, did you grow up that way with.
Speaker B:With your parents, your adoptive parents in that or something that came to you a little later in life?
Speaker C:Barbecue specifically was later.
Speaker C:But I always did you grilling, just, you know, summer cookouts and stuff like that.
Speaker C:My dad would tell me, just keep flipping the chicken so it doesn't burn.
Speaker C:You know, the little kid stuff like hold my beer, you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker C:But when I got to college, right after my freshman year, I bought a Real small townhouse, and I got a propane grill because it was really affordable at the time.
Speaker C:And I learned how to barbecue on a propane grill.
Speaker C:So I would buy wood chips and foil packs, and I would smoke ribs and pork shoulder and steaks and all sorts of stuff like that.
Speaker C:And none of my friends like to cook, so they would come over and bring me food, and I would get to keep some, and then I'd help them meal prep.
Speaker C:So I just.
Speaker C:I learned how to, you know, get better, you know, just through trial and error with my friends and stuff like that, too.
Speaker C:And then I got my first actual smoker right after I met my wife and we got married.
Speaker C:I got an off brand, like Big Green Egg.
Speaker C:So it was a.
Speaker C:It was a black kamado.
Speaker C:Can't even remember the brand right now.
Speaker C:And it was.
Speaker C:That was my first actual smoker.
Speaker C:So that's when barbecue kind of really took off.
Speaker C:I was done with the propane barbecue.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And now you have barbecues popping up all over the backyard and small.
Speaker C:Yes, it's.
Speaker C:It's a problem.
Speaker B:You're.
Speaker D:You know, not for you, but for your wife, I'm sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was gonna say Leanne.
Speaker B:You know, we hear that all the time.
Speaker B:Maybe we should start some sort of intervention program with all these.
Speaker D:I think that for every grill that a husband buys, the wife should get a pair of shoes.
Speaker C:She probably like that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:There you go.
Speaker B:Don't tell my wife that she's already got 200 pairs of shoes.
Speaker B:So, like, when.
Speaker B:When you're.
Speaker B:When you're putting a book together like this, and we talked about sauces and stuff, but there's.
Speaker B:I want to get a little more into the variations of sauces, Brad.
Speaker B:You know, like Adobo, there's various ways you can make it.
Speaker B:I mean, you can really put your own signature on that.
Speaker C:Mm, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And so if people.
Speaker B:Again, let's go back to people that, you know, don't have a asbestos palate, but they are kind of working into this.
Speaker B:How can they take one of your recipes?
Speaker B:And like you said, we were talking about, you know, kind of smelling the jalapeno or whatever, but how can they gear it up gradually or with their version of a. Yeah, it doesn't have to be Adobo.
Speaker B:It can be anything, but, you know.
Speaker C:Well, I think Adobo is a great place.
Speaker C:You know, I created that blend based on the.
Speaker C:The balance of flavors with chili, because Adobo specifically is not intended to be a very spicy paste.
Speaker C:But you could do that, you know, if you had chipotle chilies and you saw that you had an ancho or a guajillo, those are the two main chilies in the adobo sauce.
Speaker C:You could remove one of those and add a few chipotles or some chili arbol and start to hone in on the flavors that you really like.
Speaker C:Maybe you want to roast the garlic or roast the onions before you add it in there.
Speaker C:So I think the big key is there are some certain recipes that the ratios are designed that way because the.
Speaker C:They.
Speaker C:They hold their.
Speaker C:They hold their own, like the guajillo ketchup or the chili verde sauce.
Speaker C:But you can customize the flavors.
Speaker C:I think as long as you keep the balance of the ingredients in there, it will absolutely work.
Speaker C:So let me.
Speaker B:Excuse me.
Speaker B:Let me ask you.
Speaker B:Gosh.
Speaker B:So what happens when you quit smoking?
Speaker B:If you talk to folks in Texas, and we've got a lot of friends in Texas, and a lot of people listen to the show down there, but Texas is Texas, and if you, you know what I mean by that?
Speaker B:They, they jump higher, shoot straighter, best brisket in the world, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker B:And that's all fine and good.
Speaker B:But when you're in the.
Speaker B:The Southwest, like Arizona and New Mexico, which that's what I think of as the Southwest.
Speaker B:Okay, how do the flavor profiles differ with the actual chilies that you use?
Speaker B:Because in Texas, they're huge on jalapenos.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, they put that on their Cocoa Puffs.
Speaker B:So, I mean, walk through that for our listeners, would you?
Speaker B:Because I think there's a misnomer when you say Southwest.
Speaker B:You talk about to people that have lived there.
Speaker B:You talk about, again, Arizona, New Mexico, parts of, you know, southeast, Southern California, Imperial Valley, all that kind of stuff down there.
Speaker B:And that, to me, is a different flavor profile than once you cross the Rio Grande.
Speaker C:Yeah, it is the biggest difference, I would say.
Speaker C:And I know that people in Texas do this, so I'm not going to say nobody does.
Speaker C:But I. I see more pickled vegetables in the Southwest, especially in Arizona.
Speaker C:Like when you go to, you know, our taco stands, it's definitely a wider variety of different chilies pickled in different ways.
Speaker C:And sometimes they'll have a wider variety of salsas, the same chilies just cooked in different ways.
Speaker C:We'll have a raw salsa verde.
Speaker C:I'll have a charred one, a fresh habanero salsa, a charred one.
Speaker C:There's little taco stands out here that'll give you bags of carrots.
Speaker C:And pickled jalapenos, you know, together.
Speaker C:And I know that they have that in other places, too.
Speaker C:I think that our flavors are a lot more focused on that.
Speaker C:In Arizona, we definitely see more flour tortillas just because we're in the Sonoran desert, so we have that unique Sonoran wheat that's native to our desert, you know, so we have more flour tortillas where, you know, other parts of the southwest might be a little bit more corn.
Speaker C:So that's why I definitely see more bright flavors coming in as accents to our food.
Speaker C:It's definitely more chili powders, as well.
Speaker C:Kind of come through.
Speaker B:Well, I know that when I lived down there a long time ago, but you could go to the little Mexican stores and stuff, and they.
Speaker B:They would have the.
Speaker B:The strings of different peppers, but there was a lot of choices, you know, and when you walk in there, you didn't know what they were, and they were really kind and would explain stuff to you, and they'd say, like, this one's really hot.
Speaker B:Don't do it.
Speaker B:You know, whatever.
Speaker B:Like that.
Speaker B:I. I know they have that in Texas, but I still think the main profile.
Speaker B:And somebody will write a note to us on this, so I'll take the heat.
Speaker B:No pun intended.
Speaker B:But I still think the biggest flavor profile is the jalapeno over there.
Speaker C:Yeah, probably.
Speaker C:I think if you were to pick one chili for Arizona, I would say that we probably use poblanos.
Speaker C:That's a tough one.
Speaker C:I would.
Speaker C:I'm gonna put foot in my mouth and say, probably poblanos more over here.
Speaker C:We still do have a lot of, like, pickled jalapenos and stuff, but I see a lot more dishes on restaurants that involve poblanos.
Speaker C:So chipotle, I feel like everybody uses because it was delicious and.
Speaker C:Yeah, spicy and goes well with so many different things.
Speaker C:But the actual pepper itself, the apple blondos.
Speaker B:What's the biggest pleasure, Brad, you got out of writing the book?
Speaker C:Probably just being able to go.
Speaker C:I'd say one of the coolest moments is really going to Barnes and Noble, which is, like, a mile from my house, and taking my kids there, and then them seeing it on the shelf.
Speaker C:You know, the book was really great for them more than anybody, so that they just had some kind of marking on my food history.
Speaker C:So that was really a cool moment.
Speaker C:Very surreal.
Speaker C:You know, I've never sold any product before, so it was a really neat moment to go there and see that with them.
Speaker B:That's got to be really nice.
Speaker B:You know, kids, Barnes and Noble Buy them an ice cream afterwards or whatever, you know.
Speaker B:But to do that.
Speaker B:And that's got to be kind of a benchmark in your life too, I would think.
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, I mean, because, you know, this business was a hobby for an extremely long time.
Speaker C:And my retirement happened in January, so it hasn't quite been three full months yet.
Speaker C:So to be able to go and see, you know, fruit of the labor right there, right after, it's.
Speaker C:It's reassuring.
Speaker C:It's a nice feeling.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:There'll be no living with you.
Speaker B:We are.
Speaker B:We are going to take another break and we're going to be back with Brad Prose, who just wrote the book.
Speaker B:Every time I hold up a book there, you really can't see it very well, but can see the green.
Speaker D:Put it forward.
Speaker D:Push it forward a little bit, maybe.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:A little bit back.
Speaker D:It almost came up.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:I was gonna be real.
Speaker B:I was gonna.
Speaker B:I'll tell you this real quick.
Speaker D:I was gonna grab mine.
Speaker D:Maybe mine.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I was gonna be real tricky and put the.
Speaker B:A screenshot of your book behind us.
Speaker D:Can you see it now?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:There's Brad's book.
Speaker B:There's chilies and smoke.
Speaker B:Brad pros.
Speaker B:Anyway, we're going to take a break.
Speaker B:We'll be right back.
Speaker B:Wrap up the show with Brad and Ms. Leanne and then we'll jump into after hours.
Speaker B:Stay with us.
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Speaker B:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation USA Radio Network.
Speaker B:You can find us all over the web for the podcast version and then the after hours version which is not aired on radio.
Speaker B:That's where Brad can swear and scratch and do stuff like that, all that good stuff.
Speaker B:And Leanne actually cracks jokes in that one every once in a while, occasionally.
Speaker D:When I feel funny.
Speaker C:Anyway.
Speaker B:Oh, my word.
Speaker B:So Brad on The book.
Speaker B:On the book, you.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I had this mark dear.
Speaker B:You had a grilled chicken fajita wedge salad.
Speaker B:And, yeah, I thought that was very cool because you did the.
Speaker B:You know, you grilled the vegetables, you grilled the romaine.
Speaker B:You did all that.
Speaker B:Tell us about the development of this one.
Speaker C:I mean, I have made grilled salads, like wedge salads for a while, and the chicken fajita was definitely one that I needed to put in the book, partially because I really wanted an easy way to communicate how to cook bell peppers so that they taste better.
Speaker C:That was actually the goal of that recipe.
Speaker C:It's a very simple process.
Speaker C:The peppers are actually marinated very briefly with red wine vinegar and olive oil.
Speaker C:And I'm telling you that that slight difference in marinating those when you make fajitas is night and day versus just throwing them right on a grill unseasoned.
Speaker C:So the whole point of it was really to focus on the bell peppers, ironically, more than the salad.
Speaker C:But I knew I wanted to do fajitas.
Speaker C:I knew I didn't want to do it with tacos, and I wanted to have something that would be healthful, that isn't common in barbecue.
Speaker C:So it really came down to trying this.
Speaker C:And I love grilled vegetables, especially different, more sturdy, leafy greens, grilled celery.
Speaker C:It brings out the flavor.
Speaker C:It really draws more of that sweetness and that natural flavor.
Speaker C:You know, the downside is if.
Speaker C:If you do it for too long, it can be a little limp.
Speaker C:So it's definitely one of those things.
Speaker C:You got to cook it and serve it.
Speaker C:It's not something that can sit, but all the flavors are more intense when you do it that way.
Speaker C:And I just.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It was so good, that salad coming together.
Speaker B:So if you're doing, you know, vegetables and greens like that, do you recommend.
Speaker B:And I know you do in the book, but do you recommend a lighter dressing instead of, like, dumping a half a gallon of ranch on it or something, you know?
Speaker C:Yes, I definitely do.
Speaker C:Because what happens is when you grill the vegetables, especially like the romaine, it will wilt a little bit.
Speaker C:So if you start drenching it in, like, heavy ranch, it's going to make the salad really soggy.
Speaker C:So I do.
Speaker C:I think having really high quality ingredients, like those marinated onions and peppers.
Speaker C:The thing is, is that they almost bring their own dressing because of that olive oil and red wine vinegar.
Speaker C:So you don't need to add so much flavor because the chicken is juicy and marinated, the vegetables are marinated.
Speaker C:You've got a little drizzle.
Speaker C:I put the mojo rojo sauce on there, which is later in the book, but you can use any of the sauces in the book for the.
Speaker C:For the salad, and it's delicious.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:So I've got one more technical question for you.
Speaker B:When you were doing.
Speaker B:You were doing ribs in the book, and you said something that.
Speaker B:That kind of caught my eye.
Speaker B:You said when you spritz them, you only sprit.
Speaker B:Spritz the edges.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And most people, when they grab their bottle of apple juice or whatever they're doing, they.
Speaker B:They hit the whole thing.
Speaker B:I do that.
Speaker B:I don't know what Leanne does, because we've never.
Speaker D:I do the whole thing.
Speaker B:Yeah, we've never spritzed together.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker D:But put that on the to do list.
Speaker B:Okay, we will.
Speaker B:We will.
Speaker B:How did you come up with that?
Speaker B:Or what's your thoughts behind that?
Speaker C:So the one thing to point out is in the book, they are baby back ribs.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:So not spare ribs.
Speaker C:If I were to do spare ribs there, I would probably go ahead and spritz the whole thing.
Speaker C:I find that with the baby back ribs, they're so meaty that sometimes the edges can get dry.
Speaker C:It really just depends on your smoker.
Speaker C:And I'm just doing it to try to keep them hydrated.
Speaker B:Right, right, right.
Speaker C:Personally, I've never had a problem with baby backs just because they are so meaty.
Speaker C:I tend to find that more with spare ribs, which are more common in barbecue books, too.
Speaker C:That was actually a tough decision.
Speaker C:I originally wrote it for spare ribs and decided to go switch it just to be that different.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But really, for.
Speaker C:For me, in my testing and all the years of doing it, I've never.
Speaker C:With baby back ribs losing moisture just because of the.
Speaker C:The extra thick layer on there, that was really it.
Speaker C:But I would definitely be spritzing the entire thing if it were spare ribs, because they're a lot thinner.
Speaker C:Got it.
Speaker B:You know, we learned something when we had Harry sue on, because we were talking about that before we recorded this show, and Harry put those two little wooden blocks under his brisket so that the juices wouldn't pool like that, and I found that fascinating.
Speaker B:I had never seen anybody do it, so I actually tried it at home, and it really works.
Speaker B:It works.
Speaker C:It totally does.
Speaker C:Totally.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:Sometimes I'll do it with, like, a little piece of foil or something if I don't have the wood, but, yeah, it totally works.
Speaker C:Little things like that make a big difference.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, it was.
Speaker B:It was great.
Speaker B:It was great.
Speaker B:Brad, where can people find not only the book, like you can go to Amazon and get the book or whatever, but where can they find the book, where can they find your work and where can they get ahold of you?
Speaker B:If somebody has a question, Great question.
Speaker C:I'd say the best place is probably my website, which is chilisandsmoke.com.
Speaker C:I've got a link for the book on there.
Speaker C:You can email me from there as well.
Speaker C:I'm also very active on social media, primarily through Instagram.
Speaker C:You can message me on Chili's and Smoke.
Speaker C:I try to respond to everybody as best as I can.
Speaker C:And if you do buy the cookbook and cook a recipe in there, please tell me.
Speaker C:I will share it.
Speaker C:I love to see what people make.
Speaker C:Even if it's a spin on a recipe, I get very excited about that.
Speaker C:So I love to share what people do.
Speaker B:I'm gonna do corn husks and shrimp.
Speaker B:I'm gonna.
Speaker D:There you go.
Speaker B:Because I love shrimp and it's nothing to grill shrimp, you know, I mean, that's easy.
Speaker B:But I'm gonna.
Speaker B:I'm gonna fuss around with that and I'll send you a picture at some point.
Speaker B:As soon as the monsoons quit here, as they call it now, the atmospheric rivers.
Speaker B:We used to call it the Pineapple Express, but where I live it's very wet right now.
Speaker B:But when we can do that and I can really get outside and fuss around with it, then I'm going to do something with your.
Speaker B:With your corn husk deal.
Speaker C:That's a fun one.
Speaker B:Yeah, it is.
Speaker B:Brad pros Chili's and Smoke, his new book there.
Speaker B:Thank you for being with us and Brad so much.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And Brad is going to stick around for the after hours abuse from Leanne.
Speaker B:So he's going to like that.
Speaker B:We're going to be back next week.
Speaker B:I think we're going to be talking some barbecue race cars next week.
Speaker B:I'm not sure, but I think that's on the schedule there.
Speaker B:And for Ms. Leanne, the hall of Famer.
Speaker D:And yeah, Jeep beach is coming up in Daytona.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker D:Yeah, End of the month.
Speaker D:So we gotta get the lowdown.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:We'll be back.
Speaker B:Remember our motto here.
Speaker B:Turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker B:Take care and go out there and be kind.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD LLC Productions in association with Envision Network and Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
