Shownotes
The paramount focus of this podcast episode is the intricate relationship between cooking and community, particularly within the realm of barbecue. I engage with John Bowlsby, known as Spinnaker, from AmazingRibs.com, who elaborates on his journey through the world of barbecue and the importance of fostering a welcoming environment for both novices and seasoned enthusiasts alike. We explore the scientific principles underpinning effective barbecue techniques, emphasizing the necessity of precision in culinary practices, especially when it comes to meat curing. Furthermore, our discourse highlights the significance of utilizing resources that encourage learning and sharing, thereby enhancing the collective knowledge of the barbecue community. Throughout our conversation, we delve into various cooking methodologies, illustrating how the art of barbecue transcends mere food preparation to become an enriching communal experience.
Links referenced in this episode:
- amazingribs.com
- oregon dungeness.org
- barbequenationjt.com
- thecowboycook.com
- gunterwilhelm.com
- heritagesteel.us
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- AmazingRibs.com
- Kia
- Heritage Steel
- Gunter Wilhelm Knives
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker A:Now from the Turn It Go Burnett studios in Portland, here's jt.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to the nation, Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT along with Camaro, Dave, and Commander Chris.
Speaker A:Coming to you from our Turn It Don't Burn it studios in.
Speaker A:I won't say downtown Portland anymore, because I don't have the studio down there anymore.
Speaker A:We're on the south side of the city where there's no treachery going on.
Speaker A:This portion of Barbecue Nation, brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:The beef, our beef, grown the way nature intended.
Speaker A:And also, we're gonna be talking a little bit about AmazingRibs.com today, so I'll throw those in kind of gratuitously, if you will.
Speaker A:We're talking with Today with John Bolsby Spinnaker, and we're gonna find out how he got that handled just very shortly in our tunes today.
Speaker A:We went way back in the record machine and got Dave Clark five.
Speaker A:So I'm sure John probably wasn't even born then.
Speaker A:And I was like, one.
Speaker A:So, anyway, John, welcome.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So on Amazing Ribs, you are known as Spinnaker.
Speaker A:Okay, spill the beans.
Speaker A:No pun intended.
Speaker A:On how you got that handle.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:I'm a pretty big Tom Clancy fan, actually.
Speaker B:This is kind of a.
Speaker B:Interesting story.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:He's kind of a reoccurring character in some of the.
Speaker B:Some of the Tom Clancy novels.
Speaker B:And I just.
Speaker B:I kind of wanted a name that was associated with kind of online stuff and everything like that.
Speaker B:And that's kind of what this character is in these novels.
Speaker B:And when I first started at Amazing Ribs, I was like, oh, this would be kind of a cool handle.
Speaker B:And then, you know, I didn't really think of anything being barbecue related.
Speaker B:And then as I got more and more involved in the site, you know, I was like, should I change the name to make something more barbecue oriented?
Speaker B:And then I kind of got to the point where I was like, well, if I change it, then people are going to realize who I am and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:And so I just kind of, like, stuck with it.
Speaker B:And so it's not really related to barbecue anyway.
Speaker B:And I frequently get sailing questions because I know it's a.
Speaker B:It's a sale, like, on sailing boats.
Speaker B:Right now I'm in Minnesota, which is pretty much geographically as far away from an ocean as you can Get.
Speaker B:So I'm not a sailor or anything like that, so.
Speaker B:But it's just.
Speaker B:It's just something from.
Speaker B:From these novels, and there's really no barbecue connection to it or anything like that.
Speaker B:But I just got so far into the weeds that I was like, you know what?
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker B:It's not worth changing.
Speaker B:People know who I am.
Speaker A:Yeah, just go with it.
Speaker A:Just go.
Speaker A:Well, you're up there in the Edmund Fitzgerald country on the lake.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Right now I'm right on Lake Superior.
Speaker B:And it's beautiful day today up here and colors are changing and it's a great spot to be.
Speaker A:Are you doing a little fishing or what are you doing?
Speaker B:Yeah, we're doing.
Speaker B:Went out fishing this early this morning, and then I think this afternoon we're gonna get out and do some.
Speaker B:Do some grouse hunting.
Speaker A:Oh, excellent.
Speaker B:Yeah, it should be a.
Speaker B:Should be a great day for it.
Speaker A:Cheers to the season.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, I kind of miss that.
Speaker A:I know we're not talking about barbecue, folks, but you're just gonna have to bear with us.
Speaker A:But I used to do a lot of hunting.
Speaker A:My brother was a much bigger fisherman than I was, but I would go fish once in a while.
Speaker A:But I was a big hunter, and so this time of year, you know, I was.
Speaker A:We were always hunting antelope, which was a little earlier.
Speaker A:Late, late part of summer.
Speaker A:And then regular deer season would be about right now, and then we would have some of the after seasons, and then we would have elk after that going into November.
Speaker A:So every once in a while I walk by in my shop where I've got a pile of my old.
Speaker A:Couple of tubs and some chests and stuff with all my old hunting gear in it.
Speaker A:And I think, man, I should go out and do that again.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So how did you get hooked up with amazing ribs?
Speaker B:I got started pretty close to one that when the forum went on, went live.
Speaker B:So the original website had been up for quite a long time.
Speaker B:And, you know, being that I was always so into barbecue, ever since I was a little kid, you know, I really loved live fire cooking and all this stuff.
Speaker B:I always just kind of felt like something was.
Speaker B:Something was missing.
Speaker B:And it was just, you know, every cookbook that I found out there was.
Speaker B:So, you know, it was kind of all over the place, you know, one.
Speaker B:One book and tell you this, one book could tell you that.
Speaker B:And a lot of it was kind of found was a lot of wives tales and myths and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And then I didn't know, you know, which.
Speaker B:What was right and what was wrong, I just couldn't get a consistent product.
Speaker B:And so, you know, I began going online and trying to find recipes, and then I found amazing ribs.
Speaker B:And what really drew me to it or kept me coming back was, you know, it's based on the science of cooking, which is now it's, you know, it's very prevalent with.
Speaker B:Especially with, you know, books like the Food Lab and stuff like that, where, you know, it's not just about, you know, here's a recipe.
Speaker B:You know, this is why, you know, this is why the food cooks like this.
Speaker B:This is why you use this, or temperature, different types of cookers, stuff like that.
Speaker B:And so I found that, you know, using a few of Meathead's recipes and technique, techniques and stuff, that I got a really good foundation.
Speaker B:And I felt like I could pretty much cook barbecue on anything.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And so I, you know, I kept coming back the site, back to the site, and.
Speaker B:And then I kind of felt an obligation to support it because they were doing so much for me and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And then I got roped into the forum and kind of getting on there and talking with people.
Speaker B:And, you know, one thing about our forum is it's just a.
Speaker B:It's just a great group of people, and, you know, people are, for the most part, very low key.
Speaker B:And it's more just about discussion around food and techniques and stuff like that, which is.
Speaker B:Which is what I want, you know, and there's so many other forums out there that are talking about so many other things, whether it be politics or religion.
Speaker B:And, you know, that stuff just kind of muddies the water.
Speaker B:And so I found, you know, I found this great online community and, you know, it really, really helped improve my cooking and my understanding of how everything works.
Speaker B:And, you know, and then one day, Meathead just kind of shot me an email and was like, hey, would you like to, you know, start, you know, helping us out on the site with moderating, you know, answering some online questions on our.
Speaker B:On the free side of the website and stuff like that.
Speaker B:So ever.
Speaker B: I've been doing that since: Speaker B:And so ever since then, it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's just been.
Speaker B:It's been a really great experience.
Speaker B:And I really found that teaching other people stuff about cooking, too, has taught me more about it than anything.
Speaker B:You know, I continue to learn all the time, and it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's been great.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I really like it.
Speaker B:I love the people I'm working with.
Speaker B:And again, the people on our forum are just, you know, it's a great collection of people.
Speaker A:Yeah, it really is.
Speaker A:And one thing, one of the successes of Amazing Ribs is that.
Speaker A:And I guess I can say we, because I'm part of it in a kind of an ancillary sense, but there's no politics.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you go off the rails, you're probably going to get deleted.
Speaker A:And if you do it too much, you'll probably get booted, you know, and it's.
Speaker A:It's there.
Speaker A:We're there to do one thing, and that's talk about cooking and food and barbecue and, you know, all the good things.
Speaker A:And like you said, I found that I learn a lot.
Speaker A:Not always.
Speaker A:It's not always what not to do, it's what to do.
Speaker A:And then you get other people's take on it a little, you know, their.
Speaker A:Their perspective.
Speaker A:And I think it's been.
Speaker A:That's been really good because when I sat in on the one Fireside Chat, or whatever we are calling them, you know, there was a whole group of us in there, excuse me, and you can hear people's explanations of what they were doing.
Speaker A:And the questions that we answered were.
Speaker A:They weren't raw, basic, but they were basic enough that then they'd say, well, what about this?
Speaker A:Or what about this?
Speaker A:Or I read this somewhere like that, and I think it was a really good resource for people.
Speaker A:A huge resource for people.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, I think one of the main things that we really try to do is, you know, make it a.
Speaker B:An open and welcoming environment where, you know, you have some other sites that, you know, if.
Speaker B:If you come in with a question that, you know, someone perceive as elementary, it's, you know, sometimes you get answers like, you know, how do you not know this?
Speaker B:Like, you have no idea how to cook.
Speaker B:Or like, you know, our thing is we just want more people to get into the world of barbecuing.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And we realize that not everyone is.
Speaker B:Not everyone's been doing it their whole life.
Speaker B:Some people, you know, they inherited a charcoal grill from their grandpa's house, you know, or something like that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I've got this grill now, and I need to figure out how to do it.
Speaker B:And though, I mean, those are the people that I personally like working with the most because, you know, we were all there at one time, you know, and, yeah, you know, if you.
Speaker B:If you can.
Speaker B:If you can help someone, you know, find out how awesome it is to do barbecue and how, like, you know, relatively easy it can be, you know, it's.
Speaker B:It's really rewarding.
Speaker B:It's it's, it's really cool.
Speaker B:You know, it doesn't always have to be, you know, cooking a whole hog on a, on a huge pit and.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Pulling a fire.
Speaker B:And you know, especially now, I mean, there's so many ways you can do, you can make barbecue and make good barbecue.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, and I like it too, John, that, that there's no wrong answers.
Speaker A:There's answers and discussions that might need a little bit of correction.
Speaker A:But most, most of the questions and the convo back between people, the moderators and people asking questions and stuff, even if it's very elementary like you were talking about just moments ago, or if it's kind of higher level, it's all welcome, it's all good and you will, and you will get some answers out of there.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, that's, I mean that's the thing is like, you know, you have, you know, you have some people that really have no experience at all and you know, you don't want to have them come in and, you know, talk to people that are, you know, way more advanced but won't give them the time of day to try to help them along and try to give them, you know, try to share their knowledge a little bit, you know.
Speaker A:Sure, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, that just, that just turns people away and that's obviously certainly not what we want.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So we're going to take a break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with John Bolsby, I E A K, A whatever those letters are.
Speaker A:Spinnaker from AmazingRibs.com and we'll be back in just a minute.
Speaker A:Please stay with us.
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Speaker A:Hey everybody, it's Jeff here.
Speaker A:I want to tell you about something really cool.
Speaker A:Heritage steel cookware.
Speaker A:I just got mine.
Speaker A:I do a lot of cooking and it's got five ply construction, stay cool handles.
Speaker A:It's titanium strengthened.
Speaker A:It's got all the great stuff.
Speaker A:Just go to HeritageSteel us and find out more.
Speaker A:You'll love it, I guarantee it.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation here on the Sun Radio Network would like to give you a couple little bits of news here or information.
Speaker A:Our website very simple is barbecue nation jt.com barbecue nation jt.com if you want to email us, you can do it from that website.
Speaker A:Or if you want to get to me kind of more directly, it's info atthecowboycook.com we're also on Facebook, Twitter, 17 podcast platforms.
Speaker A:When the show's done airing on the radio network.
Speaker A:And so we got all kinds of stuff.
Speaker A:Also, I'd like to thank the folks, Kel Phelpson and his crew down there at National Barbecue News.
Speaker A:Been working with them.
Speaker A:We're doing some giveaways with them, so pay attention.
Speaker A:I'll be posting.
Speaker A:When the show airs, I'll be posting a question that will be worth a couple of free subscriptions to National Barbecue News.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're talking with John Bolsby, I. E Spinnaker from Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:You're big into cast iron.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And was that something that kind of was also ingrained in you as growing up, doing the camping and hunting and fishing and stuff, or was that something that came a little later?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I used to, I mean, my, my uncle's got a farm just outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Speaker B:And so, you know, we used to do a lot of, you know, hog cooks and stuff like that down there.
Speaker B:And, you know, my grandma would always be there and she was always cooking with, cooking with cast iron.
Speaker B:And that's kind of how I originally got into using it.
Speaker B:And then, of course, you know, doing a lot of camping and fishing and stuff, you know, cast iron was always, always around.
Speaker B:And I, I mean, I really just love live fire cooking.
Speaker B:And there's nothing better to cook with, right, with liver than cast iron.
Speaker B:And so, you know, I'd always, I'd always kind of had my pan when I was a kid, and that was kind of what I would make my breakfast on and do that kind of stuff at home.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And then as I got a little older, I actually got into kind of going into some old farmhouses and estate sales around my uncle's farm.
Speaker B:And I would find, you know, these really old cast iron vintage pieces.
Speaker B:And then I kind of got into restoring those and then ultimately collecting and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And so now I've got, I mean, probably close, close to 200 riddles and all kinds, all kinds of stuff that had been restored.
Speaker B:And so, you know, and I have a, I have a very strong interest in history and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And so I kind of, I kind of found that I could tie, you know, my interest in history with cooking and stuff like that.
Speaker B: at was originally cast in the: Speaker B:It's something that's pretty cool and it just kind of adds.
Speaker B:Adds a little bit more.
Speaker B:More fun to, to the cook and stuff like that.
Speaker A:So, so here's.
Speaker B:I still, I mean, I have a couple of, I have a couple of steel pans at home, but for the most part, the only thing I used to cook on is cast iron, so.
Speaker A:Sure, yeah.
Speaker A:So, John, here's a question for you.
Speaker A:And I know that if you go on the Internet, you can find a bazillion different answers, literally.
Speaker A:But if somebody goes to an estate sale and they find, you know, a 12 inch pan or whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
Speaker A:And you talk about restoring them, what's the best way to clean off the rust and the dirt and re season the pan?
Speaker A:Because we're going to.
Speaker A:You're now officially the barbecue nation cast iron expert.
Speaker A:Okay, so what's the best way?
Speaker A:I know how we do it.
Speaker A:That works fine for us.
Speaker A:It's probably very similar, if not exactly the same way you do it.
Speaker A:But I get asked that question a lot, truly, during the year and sometimes when you, you know, it takes a little work, not too much and that.
Speaker A:But I want to, I want to hear your take on that, please.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean, it depends on the condition of the pan.
Speaker B:You know, if, if you have some that have been sitting for a really long time and there's a lot of really heavy rust on them.
Speaker B:The, I mean, the best way to do it is through a electrolysis bath, which kind of sounds daunting, I know, but it's really, it's really pretty simple.
Speaker B:So you can take, you know, I usually use a, like a 25 gallon plastic trash can and I'll fill that with water.
Speaker B:And then you use like 20 mil tea detergent.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So sodium carbonate.
Speaker B:And you do about 1 cup per gallon, the ratio, and then you mix that up and then you hang the pan down in the water and you use a, like a manual battery charger and you actually, you hook, hook the positive end to the pan and then you can put an anode in the water.
Speaker B:So that would be a piece of like sheet metal.
Speaker B:So you could use, you know, go to your local hardware store and just get a small piece of steel or you can reuse rebar or something like that and plug the charger in and it'll actually, I mean, it, it pulls the rust right off the pan.
Speaker B:So you can have the rust, the old seasoning, anything else that's on the pan and it will, it'll pull it all off.
Speaker B:Typically I leave them in for about 24 hours and it's amazing what you can, what you can do.
Speaker B:I mean, you can take a pan that you thought there would be no chance that it would ever come back, but I mean, you really, that's, that's if you have a pan that's really, really rusted up.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:But I mean, other than that, like, if you have one that's not quite as bad, just heavy duty oven cleaner with, you know, you got to make, check the label and make sure it's got caustic in it so that it'll eat through, you know, any of the proteins that are on there.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Take care of the rust.
Speaker B:And then I just spray those and then put them in like a, a plastic trash bag and just let them sit for a few days and then rinse.
Speaker B:And most of the time that's pretty much all you need.
Speaker B:And then as far as like actually the restoration part of re seasoning, you know, I'll run the pans that are cold water, use a, like a scotch pad and just scrub and try to get them as clean as possible.
Speaker B:Try to get all the residue off.
Speaker B:And then I, towards the end, you want to use cold water because if you're using hot water and you're drying the pan, you're going to get flash rust on the pan.
Speaker B:And then as far as like adding the oil, I like to use flax oil just because it's high, you know, it's high in omega 3s, which is, which is really good for creating that base seasoning layer.
Speaker A:We're going to take another break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with John Bolsby I E Spinnaker from Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:Stay with us.
Speaker A:This, we've got more great stuff coming your way.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's JT and I have eaten.
Speaker A:If you've ever looked at me, you know that.
Speaker A: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 A:If you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker A:Check it out.
Speaker A:This is non core.
Speaker A:Hey, welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm J.T.
Speaker A:we'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef and also the folks at Gunter Wilhelm Knives.
Speaker A:Painting Painted Hills, of course, is great beef that you can be confident in serving your friends and family and consistency in their flavor and texture and everything that's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:And also, like I said, Gunnar Wilhelm back there, I was fortunate a few months ago to get some Gunter Wilhelm knives.
Speaker A:And I love them.
Speaker A:So you can check them out@gunter wilhelm.com We've got John Bolsby with us from AmazingRibs.com right now.
Speaker A:John's taking a break from his hard day of fishing and hunting up on Lake Superior to talk with us.
Speaker A:And I'm grateful for that.
Speaker A:I, you know, we were talking about cast iron and kind of cleaning and seasoning and that what happens.
Speaker A:Because I've seen this happen personally, and I will not take responsibility for it because somebody else was trying to help me.
Speaker A:But when they, but when you get too much oil on the pan and like you said before, it gets sticky, can you just go wash that off and kind of put a light coating back on and rebake it or what are you gonna do?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean it.
Speaker B:Well, first I will say that if, if the pan gets sticky, there's two things.
Speaker B:It's either you have too much oil or not enough heat.
Speaker B:So if you have a pan, you know, if you're taking a pan out after, know you're doing around a seasoning in the pan, it's, you know, that's sticky.
Speaker B:Yeah, you can really, you know, up your oven temperature and let it bake for longer.
Speaker B:And that'll.
Speaker B:It'll bake that stuff out.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:It's gonna take, it's just gonna take longer.
Speaker B:But if, you know, if you don't want to go that route, you can put it back into, you know, put it back into your sink, use a pretty coarse pad.
Speaker B:And I'll use.
Speaker B:A lot of times, I'll use really, really coarse kosher salt and put it in there and scrub the pan.
Speaker B:Then you can give it a rinse, and that should take most of it off.
Speaker B:But if, I mean, if you're, if you're to a point where there's a lot, where it's really, really sticky, I will put it out on my.
Speaker B:I'll put it out on my grill and crank the grill up and just bake the stickiness right off.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:Maybe not a great thing to do in the house because it can get a little smoky.
Speaker B:A little.
Speaker B:Which is why, which is why it's Perfect to do outside.
Speaker A:Sure, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, people run into that sometimes and the main cause is you're just using too little heat or too much oil.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:The other thing too, I wanted to ask you was there's a big push today on, you know, Dutch ovens, but if you go to one of your kitchen stores, they're not the Dutch ovens that you and I think about, which are cast iron.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:These are enamel coated Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray specials like that.
Speaker A:So what's the difference in care and then also what's the difference in cooking with those.
Speaker B:As far as care?
Speaker B:I mean, the main advantage of having like an enamel coated or porcelain coated cast iron is cleanup.
Speaker B:Like they don't, they, I mean, they claim that they don't stick as much, so they're technically easier to clean.
Speaker B:But if your cast iron is non stick, like you're using it correctly, that's not really an issue.
Speaker B:That shouldn't really be an issue.
Speaker B:But, but as far as cooking differences, I mean, the one disadvantage I find with enamel coated cast iron is you're not a supposed, you're not supposed to use it over open fire or on the grill.
Speaker B:Especially on a grill because of the chips.
Speaker B:You know, once that chip happens, it's just, you know, it's just like any paint job, it's just going to keep and keep, keep cracking and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And so.
Speaker B:But I mean the main selling point behind those, other than they're, I mean, they're beautiful pieces of cookware is they're supposed to be easier to clean.
Speaker B:But as far as I'm concerned, I find them to be a little bit limited in the fact that, you know, you can't use them.
Speaker B:You're not supposed to use them over by a fire or on the grill.
Speaker B:I know people do.
Speaker B:And I mean, I've got, you know, I've got some like Crusade, you know, enamel coated.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Pork coated Dutch ovens.
Speaker B:And they're awesome.
Speaker B:I mean, they're great.
Speaker B:But I primarily use them in my oven and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But you know, as a live fire cook, I try to stay away from them just because, you know, that's not, they're not really meant for the, for the outdoors, but for, you know, if we're in the kitchen and stuff, they're great, they're nice.
Speaker A:It's kind of funny, when I started cooking on TV and they, they said, oh, are you gonna do all Dutch oven cooking?
Speaker A:I said no.
Speaker A:They said, why not?
Speaker A:I said, because I don't know of anybody that can build a campfire in their apartment in Manhattan, you know.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So it doesn't work out very well.
Speaker A:And they kind of looked at me like I was goofy, which I am at times.
Speaker A:Excuse me.
Speaker A:But I think, you know, people got to understand the difference there because a lot of people, when they envision that, they envision Julia Child making her, you know, beef bouillon and all that.
Speaker A:Well, you can do that too.
Speaker A:In the, in cast iron over a fire, It's a little, A little tougher.
Speaker A:I mean, it's got to pay attention a little more.
Speaker B:I would argue more, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It is more fun.
Speaker A:Yeah, but you can do that.
Speaker A:I know this, that when we used to go packing on the horses and stuff when I was a kid and it was a very long day, you know, and you got there, and especially if the weather had turned, which it did more than once in my little packing career, that it.
Speaker A:All of a sudden it was pouring down rain or sleet.
Speaker A:There was nothing like a cast iron skillet with some fried potatoes and onions in it.
Speaker A:When you got just really warmed you up and got you going.
Speaker B:Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker B:Good animal fat in there.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:So when.
Speaker A:When.
Speaker A:When you say you cook over light fire, what, what, if you will, style, do you like, do you like stickwood?
Speaker A:You like charcoal?
Speaker A:You being.
Speaker B:I, I like, I like any variation.
Speaker B:I mean, I do a lot, I do a lot on my Kamados.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I use a charcoal and.
Speaker B:But I also have, you know, I have a, I have a stick burning smoker, so I use logs and stuff for that, which I really love.
Speaker B:I mean, if I'm trying to, if time is not an issue, you know, I've got a. I've got a Saturday blocked off where I just kind of want to sit back, relax at home.
Speaker B:Like, I just love firing that thing up.
Speaker B:And I really like cooking, cooking with that, but I also love, like, you know, campfire cooking.
Speaker B:You know, I do a lot of backpacking and stuff in Montana and northern Minnesota and stuff.
Speaker B:And you know, I just love, I love being the camp cook and cooking over.
Speaker B:Cooking over live fire, whether it be with cast iron or, you know, typically if I'm backpacking, you know, I'm using like a carbon steel pan or something like that.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:To shed a little bit of weight.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, that's important.
Speaker B:But I mean, between cast iron and carbon steel, they're.
Speaker B:They're fairly similar.
Speaker B:You just, you know, carbon steel pan gets hotter quicker, so you just have to kind of be careful there.
Speaker B:But, but yeah, I mean, I like all kinds of open fire cooking.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:I mean, I actually started.
Speaker B:The first smoker I ever had was actually an electric smoker and I didn't last long.
Speaker B:I just didn't find it to be very fun.
Speaker B:You know, I just like, this is just not, you know, I, it was an economy or an economic decision to buy that one and you know, it just, it didn't have the same, the same lure to me as being able to kind of play around with the fire and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I've got a.
Speaker A:And sorry folks, you're listening because you've heard me say this dozens of times, but I've, I've still got a offset stick smoker that I bought for 150 bucks back in the early 90s.
Speaker A:I still got, it still works.
Speaker A:It's not really photogenic anymore, you might say, but it still works.
Speaker A:And I, and I smoked some fish and stuff on it still and it works really good.
Speaker A:So are you a.
Speaker A:Do you like to do the caveman style stuff?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I'll just, I mean you got to use, you got to use lump to do it, you know, just because, you know, Kingsford, albeit it's a great, you know, Kingsford's a great charcoal but binder.
Speaker B:So there's a lot of, there's a lot of ash.
Speaker B:So you want to use a good, a good clean lump.
Speaker B:And you know what I like to do is I'll cook it.
Speaker B:I'll, you know, get the lump fired up really hot and like that.
Speaker B:And then in my Kamados, I have the, I have a basket that holds the charcoal and you know, I'll put my grill gloves on and give that basket a shake just to get any excess ash that's on those coals.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Knock through and then I'll just throw the steak right on.
Speaker B:And it's, it's awesome.
Speaker B:I mean, it's kind of, I mean, and it's a fun discussion piece with people that are over because they're like, I can't believe you're doing that.
Speaker B:I'm like, just, just wait, wait to try it because it's awesome.
Speaker A:You know, I figured out, I, I figured out, John, why I, I have a semi aversion to that and that makes no sense.
Speaker A:But I finally figured it out a couple of days ago when I thought about it, doing this.
Speaker A:I mean, really, I have no problem with it.
Speaker A:I'm just not a big fan of it because it brings back childhood memories like my s' mores falling into the fire.
Speaker A:And you can't fish one of those out and eat it.
Speaker A:No, that's.
Speaker A:You're done on that deal.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You know, and we used to catch crawdads in the crick and we, and we'd get a pot of water and, you know, get them boiling and put some pickling seasoning in them or whatever you wanted and do that.
Speaker A:And a couple of times the little great that we had collapsed and all my crawdads, you know, died in vain, you might say.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So I think maybe that's it.
Speaker A:Maybe I have to get a little therapy to overcome that.
Speaker A:You know, I don't, I don't know for sure.
Speaker A:But, and I will say this, I have seen people do that and they have not taken the care that you just described as far as shaking out the excess ash and stuff and then doing it that way.
Speaker A:They just kind of throw it in there.
Speaker B:That's important to do.
Speaker A:We're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with John Bolsby Spinnaker from Amazing Ribs and talk some more about his cooking styles and techniques right after this on Barbecue Nation.
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Speaker A:Hey, everybody, J.T.
Speaker A:here.
Speaker A:I want to tell you about the Hammerstahl knives.
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Speaker A:If you're really into cooking.
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Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Hey, welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm J.T.
Speaker A:we're talking with John Bolsby today.
Speaker A:Spinnaker from AmazingRibs.com a couple of things, John.
Speaker A:What's the kind of either the weirdest or the hardest question that you think you've had to deal with on Amazing Ribs?
Speaker A:I kind of caught you off guard on that one.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, but.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:Oh, geez.
Speaker B:I would say the one of the weirder ones that we've had was a guy from this was and I don't know how many years ago now, probably five years ago, maybe a guy was asking about smoking moose Ribs.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I mean, I, obviously, I had never thought about that.
Speaker B:But the main, the main thing was how gigantic the rack was.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:He hadn't, it didn't appear that he had like, even really cut him down that much.
Speaker B:And I would say that I was just like, I don't even, I don't even know where to start on this one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I would say that that would be like the, the oddest thing that I've had someone ask how to smoke.
Speaker B:And I honestly, I would imagine that would be fairly straightforward.
Speaker B:But, but I would say most of the.
Speaker B:Most.
Speaker B:Some of the more difficult questions revolve around curing meats.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:It's because you have to, I mean, you have to make sure that your calculations are correct and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And, you know, everyone has different variables.
Speaker B:So, you know, some stuff, some people are curing stuff bone in, or they're using a different size container or they're using, you know, different ingredients.
Speaker B:They want to add stuff or take stuff out or stuff like that.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And with something that needs to be very exact in order to be safe, I find that those are usually the most challenging stuff with curing.
Speaker B:But we have a couple of really good resources on our website that thoroughly explains curing.
Speaker B:We have a calculator on there that you can put in, you know, your liquid measurements, the weight of the meat you're cooking, the thickness, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:It'll give you a complete readout of the exact amounts of nitrates you need to put in there and stuff like that to make sure that you're being safe.
Speaker B:So we try to make it as easy as we can for people, but, you know, it's one of those things where we want people to be safe and do it correctly.
Speaker B:And so, I mean, it's not that it's that challenging, but it's, you know, it's something that you want to make sure you get right.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, you know, but I was.
Speaker A:Going to tell you, I smoked a number of times deer ribs, and they were.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You just got to remember when you're doing that, at least from my perspective, is there's not a lot of fat in venison, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So they can, yeah, they can turn into bone in jerky really quick.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And this, this gentleman that wrote into our site too, had a.
Speaker B:Had the picture of the rack of ribs, of the moose ribs that he was smoking.
Speaker B:I mean, it was, it was comical just, just to look at him, you know, and I'm just like, I, I Think your main issue is going to be finding something big enough to cook those in.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:But I was going to say, I don't know if you saw this, but a few months ago the picture was making the rounds on different social media platforms and there was a guy and he had this huge cooker.
Speaker A:It was an old oil drum, I mean like an in ground oil drum thing, but it was a bigger than I had ever really seen before.
Speaker A:And there was this big kind of skinned carcass on there and it was a camel.
Speaker A:And he actually put that whole camel in that cooker and I don't know what he was 12 hours or 16 hours or something like that.
Speaker A:And it came out.
Speaker A:Now I've eaten camel, I've been in the Middle East, I've eaten camel.
Speaker A:Wasn't my fave, I'll just put it that way.
Speaker A:But a little chewy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Flavor wasn't that bad, but it was just a little chewy.
Speaker A:And, and when I first looked at that, I thought, is he doing a whole elk or something or what in the hell is a buffalo?
Speaker A:And then I read further and it was a camel.
Speaker A:And, and yeah, he had just like removed the legs and it was on this rack and everything else was skin and you could see the hump and everything else.
Speaker B:And he just kept the hump on it.
Speaker B:Huh?
Speaker A:He kept the hump on it and he put it right in there and he smoked it.
Speaker A:And I don't know how it turned out.
Speaker A:I mean, it looked good from the pictures, but I was like that.
Speaker A:You got to have some real confidence in yourself, in what you're doing.
Speaker B:I mean, I'd love to try it.
Speaker B:It would be awesome.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I, I just, I was so odd because it did look like maybe a, a buffalo or an elk or something.
Speaker A:Just because of the way you couldn't really tell.
Speaker A:But I wouldn't.
Speaker A:All the work it takes to like hunt an elk and bring it down.
Speaker A:First of all, you never bring them down whole like that if, you know.
Speaker A:And secondly, I, I wouldn't smoke the whole elk because there's so many really good parts to it.
Speaker A:But that's a different story that, you know, you'd want your steaks and things.
Speaker A:But anyway, that was just kind of the one of the weirdest things I had seen as far as smoking like that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We haven't had anyone ask about camel before, but you never know.
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was.
Speaker A:There's, you know, of course we still have wild camels.
Speaker A:Not too many of them.
Speaker A:But around the southwest desert and you go to Australia, you know, there's a few of those still roaming around out there.
Speaker A:So, of course, when you get over in Africa and, you know, up in the desert areas there, northern Africa and Middle east, there's camels there.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're.
Speaker B:They're eating them for a long time.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:It just makes you scratch your head is the only thing I can say.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Hey, I'll try anything once, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I would think the toughest part of that, that would be monitoring.
Speaker A:Monitoring the temperature and keeping it consistent on a.
Speaker A:On a cooker that big and.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, I mean, that would be.
Speaker B:Well, you just.
Speaker B:On an animal that big, you'd have such different.
Speaker B:I mean, the meats are going to cook at such different rates across the animal that I think that you have to be very skilled to do it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Yeah, that would let me out.
Speaker A:I mean, I'm.
Speaker A:I feel I'm fairly skilled at things, but doing something that big would be kind of weird.
Speaker A:Anyway, John's going to stick around for the after hours, which you can hear on, of course, the podcast version of this.
Speaker A:But if somebody has a question for you directly on Amazing Ribs, can they get a hold of you?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So they can.
Speaker B:If they're a member of our forum, you know, they can.
Speaker B:They can just look my name up in the search bar and they can, you know, send me a direct message.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Which is very easy to do.
Speaker B:Or they can.
Speaker B:They can always email me@spinnakermazingribs.com and, you know, I've got.
Speaker B:I've always got my email with me and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:You know, I always try to.
Speaker B:I always try to get back to those as quickly as possible.
Speaker B:And then, you know, we also have comments on all of our recipes and techniques and stuff like that on our main site, which is the free side of the site.
Speaker B:You know, you can.
Speaker B:People can write questions in there, and then either myself or a few of my other colleagues on there can jump in and answer those questions, too.
Speaker B:But I mean, if anyone has direct questions, I mean, your listeners are more than free to email me directly@spinnakeramazingribs.com John.
Speaker A:Thanks for being with us on this show and look forward to talking to you in just a couple minutes on the after hour.
Speaker B:Yeah, thank you very much at.
Speaker B:I really appreciate it.
Speaker A:No worries.
Speaker A:We'll be back with more Barbecue Nation after this.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by jtsd LLC Productions in association with Envision Networks and Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
