Shownotes
Join us for an engaging conversation with Brett Galloway, co-founder of the State Cook Off Association (SCA), as we dive into the exciting world of steak cooking competitions. Brett shares insights on why he and his partner, Ken Phillips, established the SCA, highlighting the need for standardized rules in the competitive cooking scene. With a focus on inclusivity, the SCA encourages backyard cooks to participate by providing ribeyes and allowing them to cook using any method they choose, whether it’s on a gas grill, charcoal, or even sous vide. We also discuss the upcoming event at the Shed in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which aligns with the National Barbecue and Grilling Association (NBBQA) convention, promising to be one of the biggest steak cook-offs of the year. Tune in to learn more about how the SCA fosters camaraderie among cooks and creates a welcoming atmosphere for both seasoned competitors and newcomers alike.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- NBBQA
- SCA
- Whalen Willie Seasonings
- Shed
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:I wanted to welcome you to a special edition of barbecue nation.
Speaker A:Ms.
Speaker A:Whippen didn't get in on this one.
Speaker A:She's tootling around in Florida off to do a special event herself today.
Speaker A:But there's a big event coming up at the Shed down in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Speaker A:I always, you know, Brad, I always say Mississippi, trying to make it sound like I'm from down there.
Speaker A:And we had Kel Phelps on last week talking about the NBBQA convention and all that.
Speaker A:Well, today we've got Brett Galloway.
Speaker A:Brett is, if you don't know, is a co founder of sca, the State Cook Off Association.
Speaker A:He's an author, Whalen Willie Seasonings.
Speaker A:He's got a lot of stuff going on.
Speaker A:And him and his partner in crime, Ken Phillips, started the SCA a number of years ago, but they've also got an event at the Shed that ties in right in the program of the nbbqa.
Speaker A:You know, there's too many letters, Brett.
Speaker A:I mean, it's just we're all Alphabet people now.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're going to cover all that and more.
Speaker A:But Brett, welcome.
Speaker B:Thank you, buddy.
Speaker B:Glad to be here.
Speaker A:We were emailing last night and I said, I remember meeting Ken, but I didn't exactly remember meeting you.
Speaker A:But my out was I was hanging around with Brad from the Shed that week.
Speaker B:I can relate to that.
Speaker B:I have had the same experience.
Speaker A:So thanks for that, guy.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker A:But it was a little fuzzy.
Speaker A:Come Saturday.
Speaker B:Yeah, you won't remember much.
Speaker A:So let's take it from the top here.
Speaker A:What prompted you and Ken to start the sca?
Speaker A:I think it's a marvelous idea myself.
Speaker B:So we were steak cookers and we went to some events and we realized quickly the rules were different in every event.
Speaker B: e Steak World Championship in: Speaker B:And, you know, things changed after that.
Speaker B:We would show up at events and the promoters would come to app to us and ask us questions.
Speaker B:Well, you know, we're.
Speaker B:We had our grow great special in our hand.
Speaker B:We're trying to win $2,500.
Speaker B:And they'd come up and like, hey, somebody turning two stakes.
Speaker B:What do we do?
Speaker B:Like, well, was the guy an a hole?
Speaker B:Was he, you know, was he rude?
Speaker B:He's like, no, no, it's a good guy.
Speaker B:I'm like, well, just throw one away and judge the other.
Speaker B:Yeah, because we, we had no idea how they ran him.
Speaker B:And so it went from there and we decided to start our own deal and came up with a set of rules.
Speaker A:Well, it's taken off.
Speaker A:I know it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:You guys run sometimes contiguous to another event, and then you're sometimes your standalones, and that's no different than anybody else.
Speaker A:But I think to me, Brett, the, the, the draw to the sea is for people who don't want to.
Speaker A:Don't want to go in the.
Speaker A:The full fledged, you know, got to do a brisket, got to do pull, got to do all this stuff.
Speaker A:And yet you still want to compete at some level.
Speaker B:Well, in the end, it's.
Speaker B:It comes down to dollars and cents.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, if you're going to enter a barbecue, and I've been there, I.
Speaker B:I competed for years in barbecue, and I had to buy two briskets to make sure my first brisket was right, one or the other.
Speaker B:I bought four racks of ribs.
Speaker B:I bought two pork butts, you know, and I can't tell you how many chicken thighs because I was never a good chicken cooker.
Speaker B:But in sca, when you sign up, they give you two ribeyes.
Speaker B:It's a level playing field.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, we draw poker chips and pull them out of a crown royal bag.
Speaker B:And whatever your lot is, is what your lot is.
Speaker B:So you get two steaks and you make the best of them, but it's all included in the price.
Speaker A:Can they cook on anything they want?
Speaker B:Dang.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I mean, there's guys that have cooked on gas grills, because that's what they have.
Speaker B:And they have one.
Speaker B:You could sous vide.
Speaker B:I mean, any fire heat source.
Speaker B:And what we see is guys come out and maybe they do great and they win, and they're on a gas grill, and then they look around and everybody else is cooking on the charcoal grill, and they end up cooking on a charcoal grill the next weekend.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:But we want to be inclusive instead of exclusive.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I think you've hit.
Speaker A:I think you hit the numbers on that, Brett, because I will, I would hazard a guess to say, in my humble opinion, which isn't always so humble, but it is.
Speaker A:More people are gonna.
Speaker A:More people in general out of the population are gonna cook steaks than they are a brisket or even a rack of ribs or even a pork butt or even 10,000 burnt chicken thighs here.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:They're going to get that rib eye, and they're going to try to get it to, you know, 125 or whatever their preferred temperature is and serve it.
Speaker A:And that's what people do.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, you know, if you can cook a good steak at Home for your wife and your family.
Speaker B:You have a great chance at an sea event.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, it's not that micro miniature window that you have to hit a good is good.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Well, and you guys have worked with Brad and Brooke before down at the shed, haven't you?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, they're great people.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now personally I've not been to the shed because I live clear out here on the west coast, but I've had a lot of interactions with them in there and, and mama shed, of course, you know, and, and all that.
Speaker A:And they're, and they're great.
Speaker A:I'm going to have to make a trip sometime down there to one of their bashes like this deal coming up for the Kelf Phelps and his crew.
Speaker A:But if, can anybody sign up to go to these events, do you have to be a member?
Speaker A:I mean, tell us the rundown on how you can actually get in that draw.
Speaker A:Get a couple of ribeyes and go for it.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:No, you don't have to be a member to cook in SCA event.
Speaker B:We encourage anyone to cook.
Speaker B:We want the guy that's in his backyard to come out and try it and see what he thinks.
Speaker B:You know, a lot of times they'll say, hey, do we have to join to cook?
Speaker B:No, please, no.
Speaker B:You know, come out, see what the atmosphere is.
Speaker B:Because I think we have the best atmosphere out there.
Speaker B:These guys, our cooks are willing to share knowledge with everybody.
Speaker B:We're, you know, generally we're not under a big, not in big RVs.
Speaker B:We're under a 10 by 10 awning.
Speaker B:So I guarantee you most of these guys will tell you everything you can do.
Speaker B:It's up to you to do it.
Speaker A:Well, that's a good thing because I know there's a lot of folks that.
Speaker A:I'll tell you a quick story.
Speaker A:I went to a local competition up here a few years ago.
Speaker A:It was down the valley from us, 50 miles or whatever and there was a older gentleman there and I take it it was his granddaughter, she was pretty young.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then everybody else had their, their pop ups and their smokers and what have you, you know, guys there with big trailers and stuff.
Speaker A:And he had a little Weber kettle and he evidently recognized me from the radio or something.
Speaker A:Anyway, he said, can, can you help me?
Speaker A:And I said, what do you need?
Speaker A:And he started talking to me and I said, hold on a second.
Speaker A:And I went over and got one of the compet knew, brought him over there, got those two talking.
Speaker A:I knew I left him in good Hands.
Speaker A:I have no idea what the end result was, but I knew he would be back after that.
Speaker A:So that's kind of the camaraderie I think we get out of these things.
Speaker B:Well, you know, that's what, that's what built us, is that camaraderie.
Speaker B:And, you know, you could teach anybody or you can explain to anybody what you're doing and everybody can do it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But if you share the knowledge you have with somebody, they're invested.
Speaker B:And that's, that's kind of what's helped us grow.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:It's not us, it's all the cooks that cook SCA that have helped us grow.
Speaker A:So give, give us a rundown, Brent.
Speaker A:By the way, we're talking with Brent Galloway, one of the co founders of the sca, and he's been on a video shoot all day.
Speaker A:And it's later in the afternoon down in Texas and there's snow on the ground.
Speaker A:So there I've set the scene for you.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:But you go, you sign up, you're gonna cook, you dry your chip, you get your steaks.
Speaker A:What, what's the procedure after that?
Speaker A:I mean, assuming they're cooking, okay, we will push that aside.
Speaker A:But what happens?
Speaker A:I mean, is it like KCBS for people?
Speaker A:Do they like at the shed this week?
Speaker A:Are they gonna cook their steak and, and put them in a box or put them on a plate and take them to somebody?
Speaker A:I mean, what's the rundown there?
Speaker B:Sure, once, once they get their stakes, it's up to them what they do with those stakes.
Speaker B:You know, some guys like a sous vide process.
Speaker B:Some guys will marinate or.
Speaker B:Guys, I say, but, you know, we have our last champions have been females.
Speaker B:So I shouldn't use the word guys, but the competitor will.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:You know, they have a lot of time.
Speaker B:You know, you get your stuff at 10 o'clock, you don't turn in usually until 2 or 3 o'clock.
Speaker B:So you have a lot of time to decide your process with those steaks.
Speaker B:And you know, some guys will marinate, some, some guys and girls where, you know, they'll do a dry brine.
Speaker B:It's really up to them what they do.
Speaker B:Yeah, we generally are turning is say 2 to 2:30.
Speaker B:It's a half hour window.
Speaker B:Much different than barbecue because.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, it's not before or after.
Speaker B:It's, you know, we go by 2 to 2, 2 to 2:30.
Speaker B:We don't have a fancy clock that's sitting on the table, you know, and if, if it hits 230.
Speaker B:What we do is we've coached the people that do turn ins.
Speaker B:When you walk outside, we want you to look left, look center, look right.
Speaker B:If you see anybody coming, they are in.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So, you know, I'm not going.
Speaker B:We don't want to disqualify somebody for five seconds.
Speaker B:If we see them walking up, they're in, we'll tell them to slow down.
Speaker B:We got you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so it's, it's, you know, a little bit different.
Speaker A:And the judging parameters, Brett, I mean, you know, kcbs, they.
Speaker A:They've got their own system and other associations have their own system.
Speaker A:What is the sca.
Speaker A:Because you're.
Speaker A:You're just doing one piece of meat, you're not going to get, you know, shoved three more times, so to speak.
Speaker A:Your palate can really enjoy it, if you will.
Speaker A:If you're a judge, I would think.
Speaker A:So what's the process there?
Speaker B:So once a steak is turned in, if you are a cook, I want you to know once that steak is turned in, your steak is not going to sit there.
Speaker B:It's going to go to one of however many tables there are.
Speaker B:You know, because we run multiple tables, I'm going to use a shed as examples.
Speaker B:Let's say we have 100 teams.
Speaker B:I don't want my judges tasting over 15 bites.
Speaker B:So it's probably six tables, maybe seven.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:As soon as the state comes in, they go to the first table that's available.
Speaker B:So if you're going to rest, rest it.
Speaker B:Oops, sorry.
Speaker B:Once we rest, I want you to rest it at your camp.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:That didn't work.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker A:Now we'll get it fixed.
Speaker A:No worries.
Speaker B:So once they let it rest, it rests at their camp.
Speaker B:It goes to the table.
Speaker B:Those five judges will judge that stake that's in front of them.
Speaker B:They're not going to compare it to any other state.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:How do they feel about that state?
Speaker B:It's judged on appearance.
Speaker B:Appearance, doneness.
Speaker B:You know, our goal is a medium.
Speaker B:We have a picture that we put in front of every judge.
Speaker B:You know, they look at the steak, they look at the picture.
Speaker B:And if we're at a cook's meeting, you're a new cook, please ask us.
Speaker B:We will show you the picture.
Speaker B:We'll actually let you take a picture of it because we want everyone to know what the standard is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so we compare to that and that's our doneness, and then it's texture, textures up to the judge.
Speaker B:We don't tell them what texture is you can overdo any texture or underdo by overdue.
Speaker B:I mean, you can marinate it too long and it tastes like baby food.
Speaker B:The texture is compromised.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I've got a really technical question for you here, Brad.
Speaker A:You're going up and you're going to run the competition in Missouri and your partner Ken is going down to Mississippi.
Speaker A:Which one's going to have more fun?
Speaker B:You know, I think that's a hard question, but I think Ken may have a little more fun.
Speaker B:And I'm pretty upset they're on the same weekend.
Speaker B:Actually, I'm a lot upset because I love the shed event.
Speaker B:It's a great event and all the barbecue world and the SCA world will be there.
Speaker B:But you know, I'm pretty lucky too because we're running our vet in Cape Girard, Missouri.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And we've got 40 teams my fills up with within 10 minutes.
Speaker B:And it's indoors, it's at a basketball arena and we're in inside on the bottom floor of the basketball arena.
Speaker A:Oh, there you go.
Speaker B:They're both great events.
Speaker A:I noticed that the on the sheds menu, if you will, the lineup.
Speaker A:They're also doing a pork chop down there.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's a kids pork chop.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's something different.
Speaker B:You know, the kids, you know, we started with pork chops to give the kids a kind of an entry level entry into sca.
Speaker B:But you know, I think also we have a competition there where the kids are cooking ribeye.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that's the future of our kids competitions is we want them to get used to a ribeye, you know, that way.
Speaker B:That's what they cook when they get older.
Speaker B:But do you remember pork when, you know, when your grandparents would talk to you?
Speaker B:I'm sure it happened to you because my grandpa did.
Speaker B:My grandma was not the greatest cook in the world.
Speaker B:I loved her to death, but, you know, she would undercook her pork.
Speaker B:My grandpa was in the background, said, well, you know, you're gonna get trigonosis from that.
Speaker B:And like, no, no, no, no.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's burn bread out of cattle for like 80 years.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So we don't judge doneness when we do a pork chop for kids just because we don't want any judge that remembered their grandpa saying so, you know, both Ken and I agree, you know, that's an old school deal.
Speaker B:And going forward, we're going to encourage the kids to cook a ribeye because that's what they'll cook when they get old enough to Compete in sk.
Speaker A:I hate to tell you this, Brett, but my father was a pan fried guy.
Speaker B:Oh, nice.
Speaker A:Every steak we had growing up, we raised our own cattle.
Speaker A:You know, we had our own feeder steers.
Speaker A:Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:Was pan fried.
Speaker A:And then when I discovered two things I was probably.
Speaker A:I was watching.
Speaker A:He's a good friend of mine now.
Speaker A:Graham Care, the Galloping Gourmet.
Speaker A:His TV shows were on when I got home from school, got off the bus, Right.
Speaker A:So I'd run in and watch it.
Speaker A:I learned about broilers, and I learned about, you know, kind of cooking with other heat sources from not just his show, but other shows were starting to come in like that.
Speaker A:And I remember the first time I broiled the steak.
Speaker A:I like my steaks medium rare, maybe even a little more on the rare side.
Speaker A:My dad wouldn't eat it, so I know exactly what you're talking about with your grandfather like that.
Speaker A:That, you know, they had to be like the shoe leather stuff.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was.
Speaker A:It was terrible.
Speaker B:You could serve them a steak or a pork chop now.
Speaker B:It would change their world.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:You know, I like my pork chops kind of juicy, and I don't mind the pink in it.
Speaker A:I mean, that's fine.
Speaker A:We all know the science now.
Speaker A:So, you know, whatever it is.
Speaker A:Like, what is the rhinestone deal, though?
Speaker A:So they.
Speaker A:They have a rhinestone cowboy SCA cook down there, and I'm honestly not familiar with that.
Speaker B:That's sweet, Linda.
Speaker B:Mama Shed is it.
Speaker B:You know, the first year it happened was when it was actually our first year with MBBQA and our first year with sca.
Speaker B:You know, we came to the conference with, you know, we had no expectations, and we got there and, man, we met so many important people, so many big people in the barbecue and steak world, and it really catapulted us for our first year.
Speaker B:And it was when we went there, we had three events.
Speaker B:We left with 19 events the next Monday.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:So we met different people there, and it was really, you know, a blessing that we met the mbbqa.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And Linda.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, I like Mama Shed.
Speaker B:Oh, Mama Shed's a great.
Speaker A:I've spent a number, you know, and.
Speaker B:She came up with this deal.
Speaker B:You know, it's a rhinestone cowboy, they call it.
Speaker B:You know, it's a hat and she bedazzles.
Speaker B:The whole thing would almost make up for my bald spot if I had one.
Speaker A:But why do you think I wear at.
Speaker B:No, I get it, man.
Speaker B:I get it.
Speaker A:Oh, that's great.
Speaker A:It's going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker A:And that is, that's at the shed and I think the convention starts on the 15th and it goes through the the 18th.
Speaker A:So you got 15, 16, 17, 18, got four days live fire cooks, SCA competitions and it's at the shed and I think that's all we need to say about that down there.
Speaker A:You have a lot of fun.
Speaker B:They are, I would venture to say there are premier event other than the World Championship.
Speaker B:They are probably the biggest event in sca.
Speaker B:It's because of, you know, what they put into this event.
Speaker B:Brad and Brooke do an amazing job.
Speaker B:Mama Shed does amazing job and you know, they take care of the cooks.
Speaker B:They have a breakfast for the cooks.
Speaker B:I mean if I was a not founder of sea, I would be out there cooking this event.
Speaker B:I just don't believe in cooking in my own organization.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:But if I wasn't, I would be there because I think it's an amazing event.
Speaker A:I was going to ask you something too and I'm kind of skipping backwards for a second, Brad.
Speaker B:That's okay.
Speaker A:Can people, you say they cook it any way they want, sous vide, whatever can they use?
Speaker A:Are they limited on anything they can use for seasonings?
Speaker B:No, no, no.
Speaker B:It's up to them.
Speaker B:They can use any seasoning, any marinade they want.
Speaker B:Once they get the steak, it's up to them what they do with it.
Speaker B:You know, everybody's got a different profile.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we leave it up to them.
Speaker A:That's really good.
Speaker A:How many participants or members do you have now with SCA roughly?
Speaker B:SCA we got about 7,000 members, about 24,000 contacts people have cooked.
Speaker B:SCA may not be members, but they're at least contacts that we communicate with.
Speaker B:And you know, we've been in 21 countries now.
Speaker B:We just added Romania to the list.
Speaker B:So that's neat.
Speaker B:You know we're, what we're doing is building up to the SCA World Championship in March.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:You know we have 410, did the math, 497 individual people or teams that are signed or qualified for the event.
Speaker B:So it's going to be the world's largest state cook off again.
Speaker B:And we're just excited that, that many people are excited to cook our event.
Speaker B:Oh actually teams coming from Europe, from Australia, from Germany, from Canada, Guatemala, Brazil.
Speaker B:I mean 21 countries that are coming.
Speaker A:So I got another question though.
Speaker A:How, how did the Romanians deal with the Texas cowboy?
Speaker B:Well, you know, Ken's a Texas cowboy.
Speaker B:He shows up in his cowboy Boots and boots.
Speaker B:And I show up with my long hair and my.
Speaker B:The same shirt I wear every weekend, which I'm wearing now, and a pair of shorts.
Speaker B:What's funny is I went to an event in Guatemala and I walked down there and I met the promoter event and he's like, you know, you look just like the pictures.
Speaker B:I seen him like every weekend I travel, every weekend I throw these in the same suitcase.
Speaker B:I wash them and put them right back in the suitcase.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:I did that for years.
Speaker A:How can people find out more?
Speaker A:Because I know you've got stuff on the website about what's coming up at the Shed, but your other competitions and joining and all the stuff they need to know.
Speaker B:Brett, Our website is steak cookoffs.com.
Speaker B:that's cookoffs with an S on the end.
Speaker B:It's plural.
Speaker B:You can just go on that site and if you hit events, there's different levels you could choose.
Speaker B:But if you hit events, it'll tell you our next events coming up.
Speaker B:You know, you never know where they're going to be.
Speaker B:So we've got events around the world and you know, we're very thankful and just come to the, come to our site, see what you find.
Speaker B:If you have any questions, email me@spritestatecookoffs.com or Ken.
Speaker B:Actually call Ken.
Speaker B: His phone number is: Speaker B:Give him a call, see what happens.
Speaker A:Okay, we'll do that.
Speaker A:We'll do that.
Speaker A:I'll actually put that in the social media post too when we do this.
Speaker A:Please do.
Speaker B:He'll love.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Brett Galloway, one of the co founders of the sca.
Speaker A:There's a big event coming up at the Shed and also in Cape Girardeau up in Missouri, the one down at the shed, there's.
Speaker A:That's tied in with the nbbqa.
Speaker A:Brett got took the assignment.
Speaker A:Well, he, he chose it to go to Missouri and Ken will be down in Ocean Springs.
Speaker A:But Buddy, thank you for being with us today.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me on, Buddy.
Speaker B:I appreciate it and anytime I get talk about s.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker A:You got it.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:This is our special little broadcast of Barbecue Nation and we wish you all a great weekend and remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker A:Go out and have some fun, everybody.
