Shownotes
The salient point of this podcast episode is the introduction of Clint Cantwell as the newly appointed president of AmazingRibs.com, a position that he has embraced with enthusiasm and ambition. During our discussion, we delve into Clint's extensive background in barbecue, exploring his evolution from a backyard griller to a pivotal figure in the barbecue community. We also examine the influence of social media on contemporary barbecue culture, highlighting the challenges faced by seasoned pitmasters in an era where digital content can sometimes overshadow years of experience and dedication. Furthermore, Clint shares his thoughts on the significance of creativity in cooking, illustrating how he integrates diverse culinary influences into his barbecue repertoire. Ultimately, this episode encapsulates the passion and camaraderie inherent in the barbecue community, as well as Clint's vision for the future of AmazingRibs.com.
Links referenced in this episode:
- oregon dungeness.org
- painted hills natural beef.com
- amazingribs.com
- naturalbeef.com
- pigpowder.com
- heritagesteel.us
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- AmazingRibs.com
- Kingsford
- Meathead
- Heritage Steel
- Weston Kia
- 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 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 Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT along with hall of Famer Ms. Leanne Wippen.
Speaker A:And Dave and Chris running around backstage here.
Speaker A:We'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural beef.
Speaker A:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:And if you just happen to be in Fossil, Oregon, I doubt that.
Speaker A:But if you are, in October, Leanne and I are going to be over there doing a little hoop dee doo for the folks at Painted Hill.
Speaker A:So stop on by.
Speaker A:Today, we're very privileged to have the newly ordained president of AmazingRibs.com, clint Cantwell.
Speaker A:Clint has been called the backyard griller on Steroids and the mad scientists of grilling.
Speaker A:First of all, welcome.
Speaker A:And secondly, how did you get the backyard Griller on steroids handled?
Speaker B:Oh, gosh, that's probably something I made up.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:My background going way back is in PR and communications, so I would bet that I wrote my own bio and coordinated myself.
Speaker B:Idol.
Speaker B:But who knows?
Speaker B:Maybe somebody said it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:One day at a barbecue contest.
Speaker A:That's all right.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:We don't take care of ourselves.
Speaker A:Nobody else will, I think.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So let's start at the kind of at the top here.
Speaker A:Clint, we'll get more into your barbecue prowess and that a little bit later, but I want to know how you got ordained the new president of Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:I know you worked with Meathead for a long time, and he's been on the show dozens of times.
Speaker A:But tell us about that new position there.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's exciting to help start to form the next chapter in the AmazingRibs.com saga.
Speaker B:I've been working with Metad for quite a long time, going back to grilling.com which was a Kingsford property.
Speaker B:I was the editor of that site and helped launch it.
Speaker B:And Mitehead was actually one of the contributing authors for that site.
Speaker B:And after Kingsford shut it down, he brought me on to the AmazingRibs.com team.
Speaker B:And this was probably six years ago, maybe a little longer than that.
Speaker B:And slowly by surely he's given me more and more responsibility up until recently when he got pretty heavily involved in writing his second cookbook, which I'm sure you guys are very well familiar with.
Speaker B:Yeah, the trials and tribulations of doing that.
Speaker B:So it's really been a full time slog for him trying to get that together.
Speaker B:And so, long story short, I've taken over more of that day to day responsibility so he can focus on the book, but also focus on himself and going on vacation, which he hasn't done in a decade or so, and just enjoy the company of his wife and his life.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's mentioned that, hasn't he, Leanne?
Speaker A:That he would like to.
Speaker C:Yeah, but I never really thought he would do it and I'm very proud of him for doing that.
Speaker C:You know, a lot of people talk about it, but they just don't do it.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's hard to make time for yourself.
Speaker A:Definitely.
Speaker A:Okay, so let's jump into the how did you get involved in barbecue?
Speaker A:Standard question, but I know that you, you were born in Texas, you spent time in New York.
Speaker A:Now you live in the Memphis area.
Speaker A:When you talk about Texas and Memphis, you know, besides music, you think about barbecue and food.
Speaker A:So what was your, what was your path like?
Speaker B:Well, I moved around a lot growing up.
Speaker B:We lived in a new city almost every two years.
Speaker B:And I was born in Dallas, actually lived in Kansas City for a couple of years, and I'm now in Memphis.
Speaker B:So, you know, my path has included a lot of barbecue and grilling.
Speaker B:I remember my parents cooking brisket, staying up all night when I was younger, cooking for neighbors.
Speaker B:And we were living in Wisconsin at the time.
Speaker B:And one of the neighbors actually called the fire department because they thought the house was on fire.
Speaker B:They'd never experienced barbecue and low and slow cooking.
Speaker B:So, you know, that's a very early memory I have, but it's always kind of been a part of my life.
Speaker B:And when I got married and we bought our first house, the first thing I did was run out and get a smoker and a grill for the backyard.
Speaker A:Leanne did the same thing, I'm sure.
Speaker B:Oh, really?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, she barbecue.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, she grew up with a legend, so.
Speaker A:And now she's the legend.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:You know, I joke about in my backyard, my kids were upset that I had all smokers back there.
Speaker C:You know, no jungle gyms.
Speaker C:It was all smokers.
Speaker C:I did fit in a trampoline, but.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker B:You kids can play on the grill slide.
Speaker A:I'm just interested of what you look like on the trampoline.
Speaker C:That would not be.
Speaker C:I don't think I got on it once.
Speaker C:Really?
Speaker A:Oh, no.
Speaker B:We got the kids one, and I don't think they went on it one.
Speaker C:It's one of those things.
Speaker C:I want one.
Speaker C:Yeah, but no, they got into it.
Speaker A:I think that makes three of us because we bought our daughter one when she was little and we were living on the ranch then and we set up the trampoline and I think she went out and did like twice and then she fell off and broke her arm, so.
Speaker A:Oh my go.
Speaker A:Then she wanted to sell it, so that was okay.
Speaker A:Anyway, when you were doing your amazing ribs duties and you're, you're kind of in charge of the day to day stuff, but prior to that you were doing a lot of writing and contributing like that, how do you determine when you're sitting in a position like that, what makes it to out to the public and what stays kind of in the background or in the archives?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's kind of tough because I'm a little nuts.
Speaker B:So I'll come up with these crazy ideas in the middle of the night, like why can't I make a hot dog bun entirely out of bacon?
Speaker B:And you know, it's just these crazy ideas that I have.
Speaker B:And so a lot of times I'll go and execute them and it's, it's something cool for social media and whatnot.
Speaker B:But who really is ever going to go and create this thing that I thought up in the middle of the night?
Speaker B:So I do have to self edit a little bit because, you know, a lot of work goes into writing a recipe, photographing a recipe, getting it on the site and making all the technical aspects of it work.
Speaker B:So I really do try to, to focus my creativity as much as I can to create things that I really think are going to engage a broader audience.
Speaker B:Because, you know, we are the world's leading barbecue and grilling site.
Speaker B:So there's a lot of eyeballs on me and on me, Ted and the rest of the team.
Speaker B:And we need to make sure we're delivering stuff that actually helps further their backyard skills.
Speaker A:How?
Speaker A:Excuse me?
Speaker A:When you have, when you have an idea like a hot dog bun made out of bacon, how much I actually did.
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:When you do that, how many times does it normally take you to kind of perfect it before you want to go, go to press with it?
Speaker A:As they would say,.
Speaker B:Not a lot.
Speaker B:I mean, I really like to play things out in my head and figure out how to actually execute it before I go and put the time into, into creating it?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:You know, there's instances where I think something's going to work great and it fails tremendously and I just leave it on the cutting room floor.
Speaker B:But usually when I create a recipe, it's a one and done type thing.
Speaker B:If it doesn't work when I first try it, I'm not going to go and spend a bunch of money on another 50 pounds of bacon to try to make it.
Speaker B:I'll just cut my losses and move on.
Speaker A:And who eats the, the experimental parts?
Speaker A:You and your family or do you give it away?
Speaker B:Yeah, it used to be me and the kids were down to.
Speaker B:To one left in the house.
Speaker B:Out of the three and the two that are at college, one of them is now a vegetarian.
Speaker B:So it's, it's getting harder to find people to eat my recipes.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's gotta be awkward around Thanksgiving table.
Speaker B:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:That's tough.
Speaker B:But you know, we do now there's so many of the plant based foods that don't taste horribly.
Speaker B:We can actually introduce some vegetarian dishes into our, our holiday meals and regular meals and not feel like we're eating those hockey pucks of past, you know.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:The fake hamburger that's made out of corn and all sorts of dry ingredients.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That the.
Speaker A:I think it was the original garden burger came out of Portland here.
Speaker A:And I remember when they were.
Speaker A:They made a big deal about it and they put them in the stores and all that and then those guys bought an ad on the super bowl which they paid a million bucks for.
Speaker A:This is a little company.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it dang near put them under.
Speaker A:In fact, I don't even know if they're still producing stuff.
Speaker A:They may be.
Speaker A:It's not a section of the frozen food aisle that I usually stop spend much time at.
Speaker A:But I remember that they spent $1 million and that even made the news that that this little, you know, vegetarian company based in Portland.
Speaker A:Go figure that.
Speaker A:That they would do that.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, but they weren't good.
Speaker B:They were just dry and yeah.
Speaker B:Nasty.
Speaker B:So I mean that.
Speaker B:That whole segment has advanced so much in the last five years or so.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:They had them actually in a couple of the burger chains out here and that lasted about six to eight months because they.
Speaker A:People would order one and they would never order another one, you know, for good reason.
Speaker A:Yeah, there was.
Speaker A:You could only put so much secret sauce on those things and that you might as well take them out and fill potholes in the road with them like that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I found that if you top them with brisket and pulled pork, they're a heck of a lot better.
Speaker A:They are, they are, they are.
Speaker A:It just makes the sandwich look bigger.
Speaker A:So it's, it's all good.
Speaker A:We're talking with Clint Cantwell Today he is the newly appointed president of AmazingRibs.com but he's got his own life prior to Amazing Ribs and we're going to dig more into that in just a minute.
Speaker A:So we're going to take a break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:Clint, Leanne and I will be back in just a couple minutes after these messages.
Speaker A:Please stay with us.
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Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:If you'd like to email us, you can just go to our website, which is bbqnation jt.com and send us a message there and.
Speaker A:Or you can find us on Facebook.
Speaker A:And of course, we're on Twitter, not only personally, but the shows are.
Speaker A:Leanne just uses her handle, Leanne Whippen, and I use Cow Cook 57.
Speaker A:So you can find us there.
Speaker A:We're talking with Clint Cantwell today, president of Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:When you started, you told us in the first segment, Clint, that when you, you, your memories of growing up and the cute story about somebody calling the fire department on your, on your parents when you were living in Wisconsin, did that have an influence on you?
Speaker A:Not the Wisconsin thing, but just the, the cooking aspect of it and the barbecue aspect of it.
Speaker A:And then did your dad do most of it?
Speaker A:And did.
Speaker A:What did you learn from that?
Speaker C:He wanted to be a fireman.
Speaker A:He wanted to be a fireman.
Speaker B:That dream is still unfulfilled as of I'm running out of time to become a fireman.
Speaker B:But my, yeah, my mom was from Texas.
Speaker B:My dad was from Wisconsin.
Speaker B:So she was definitely the, the barbecuer in the family.
Speaker B:He was the guy that brought the brats and the cheese to the party.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker B:The brisket was done.
Speaker B:But it, you know, it did get me excited about outdoor cooking at an early age.
Speaker B:I think that my college experience, I went to college in New Orleans and that's really what Sparked me as far as my interest in cooking, you know, just being exposed to that very unique, almost.
Speaker B:Almost exotic or International Cuisine I.e.
Speaker B:Cajun and Creole cooking.
Speaker B:So, you know, I kind of became interested in.
Speaker B:In cooking during college, and then when I was able to actually start grilling and smoking myself, I kind of transferred that culinary interest into the backyard and kind of pushing the envelope as far as what you can do outside you think that.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:Let's just use the term kind of Cajun or Creole cooking.
Speaker A:Did that really stay with you over the years, coming into recipes and cooking from kind of that dimension in your.
Speaker A:In your noggin?
Speaker A:That's how you worked it?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It really showed me that backyard cooking can be more than hamburgers and hot dogs and brisket and pulled pork, that there are all of these other cuisines from around the world, and that it is possible to introduce some of these techniques and flavors and ingredients into the backyard.
Speaker B:And it started with that Creole Cajun influence, but then it kind of expanded from there.
Speaker B:And I don't know if you can see it, but my shelves in my office are just packed with cookbooks, and they're not all barbecue and grilling.
Speaker B:It's all sorts of different cuisine.
Speaker B:And I won't cook from them.
Speaker B:I'll just read them for inspiration.
Speaker B:And you'll take a Italian cookbook and look at the lasagna recipe and say, why can't I do that in the backyard?
Speaker B:Why can't I make a pulled pork lasagna, add some barbecue sauce to the tomato sauce, substitute the pulled pork for whatever meat is in this lasagna recipe and.
Speaker B:And kind of take it to a different level.
Speaker A:I see you got Praise the Lard back there, too, on your show.
Speaker A:Yeah, sorry there.
Speaker A:I happen to have that.
Speaker A:You can't see mine because they're blocked out, but I have.
Speaker A:I'm sure Leanne probably has a litany of cookbooks and barbecue books.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, they had up.
Speaker B:They add up very quickly.
Speaker C:They do find I'm a collector of signed cookbooks, so, yes, I like to have them signed.
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:You think barbecue overall is in a good spot?
Speaker A:I mean, the.
Speaker A:Obviously, we've got 100 million Americans that grill, smoke, or barbecue do something.
Speaker A:That's kind of the area of the numbers I've seen of.
Speaker A:Of late.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you think, though, that with all the shows on television, that the barbecue competitions and just the regular food shows have really elevated the backyard game?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, No, a thousand percent.
Speaker B:And I'll give Leanne a Lot of credit for this.
Speaker B:I think those early days of Barbecue Pitmasters, John Marcus, what he brought to the table with those shows, and, you know, with Leanne and Tuffy and Myron and all those guys on the early episodes, I think sparked an interest and an excitement in so many Americans and people around the world to get out there and really do something different, you know, challenge themselves on the Smoker Grill.
Speaker B:And we saw a huge spike in barbecue contest.
Speaker B:But I also think that people at home were starting to experiment with cooking brisket the way that they saw it on Barbecue Pitmasters or the early days of Food Network, when you had grilling and chilling with Bobby Flay, that was another show that really brought it to the forefront, brought it into living rooms of people's homes.
Speaker A:Leanne, do you.
Speaker A:Do you still get people recognizing you from those early shows you were on?
Speaker A:You've done a ton of them, so they would that.
Speaker A:But when people come up, I do.
Speaker C:I mean, it's really kind of crazy to me.
Speaker C:I mean, the thing is, when people were following the show, they kind of knew where each of us were from.
Speaker C:Like, Tuffy and I were from Virginia at the time.
Speaker C:But, you know, when I moved to Chicago to be recognized in Chicago, right before I even opened the restaurant, like, how does somebody think that I would even be here in Chicago?
Speaker C:And, you know, I'll watch TV and people, and they can walk in front of me 10 minutes later and I won't recognize them.
Speaker C:So to me, it's kind of baffling.
Speaker C:And it does happen to this day.
Speaker C:I mean, I was in the grocery store the other day and, oh, can you sign my Bobby Flay cookbook?
Speaker C:You know, and it's just like, really, it's.
Speaker C:It's humbling, but it's.
Speaker C:They keep re airing the shows, so it is like they're dead.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:So it isn't like our faces have gone away still after all these years.
Speaker C:They're still airing them.
Speaker C:So, yeah, occasionally.
Speaker C:It's not a lot, but occasionally.
Speaker A:And you still get your residual checks, right?
Speaker C:Oh, yes.
Speaker C:You know, it's just every day.
Speaker B:You're just trying to figure out how to spend it all.
Speaker C:Yeah, I just, you know, when is it going to stop?
Speaker A:When you get that check in the mail and it's 75 cents.
Speaker A:You know, I.
Speaker C:How you learn the way of the world after you sign the contract.
Speaker A:Okay, Absolutely.
Speaker A:We're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Clint Cantwell, president of Amazing Ribs and Mad Scientist of barbecue and grilling, along with Ms. Leanne and myself right after this.
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Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:Got a special guest today, Clint Cantwell, who is the new president of Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:Of course, you know, we've had meathead on the show I don't know how many times, but usually before all the major holidays and stuff, and.
Speaker A:And that, and he's passed the reins over to Clint.
Speaker A:But before we get back to talk to Clint, I want to again thank the folks at Painter Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:You know, you can go online and you go to naturalbeef.com, which is actually their website, and they now have an online store there.
Speaker A:So all you have to do is you can buy it because it's not in every market around the country, but you can, you know, you can get a T bone or a ribeye or a roast or whatever you want.
Speaker A:It kind of varies from time to time, but when you go to checkout, there's a little thing down in the left hand corner says you have a code, a promotion code, and you can type in BBQ nation and you get 15% off of that.
Speaker A:And also, drum roll, please.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:A pig powder, Miss Leanne's pig powder there, which was developed by her father, and she's carrying on the torch for that.
Speaker A:It's been coveted as the best rub on the planet.
Speaker A:It's used by pitmasters for over 30 years now.
Speaker A:I use it all the time.
Speaker A:I used it last night on some chicken and the night before, I used it on some green beans.
Speaker A:I was going to tell you that before we came on the show.
Speaker C:Very versatile, very versatile.
Speaker A:So all you have to do is go to pigpowder.com Leanne will make sure you get your pig powder.
Speaker A:See, I didn't even bring up the signed autograph pictures today.
Speaker A:You see that?
Speaker C:You just did.
Speaker A:Oh, I did, didn't I?
Speaker A:Okay, well, she will do that for you sometimes or.
Speaker A:But if you see her in person, it's.
Speaker A:It's much more likely you'll get her autograph.
Speaker A:But anyway, excuse me.
Speaker A:Go to pigpowder.com so let's get back and talk some more with Clint Cantwell, president of Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:What do you think has been your biggest achievement, Clint, all the years you've been doing this, and you've been doing it more than two weeks?
Speaker A:So, and I say that is kind of leading into the next question because Leanne and I had a great conversation a week or so ago with Ray Lampe, who's a friend of ours, and we'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker A:But what do you think your biggest achievement has been in all the work you've done in barbecue and smoking and grilling?
Speaker B:Wow, That's a loaded question.
Speaker B:There's been so many moments over the last two decades or so just familiarizing myself with the world of competition barbecue, you know, growing this passion of mine, doing the online stuff.
Speaker B:I will say that one of the coolest moments for me was at the Big Apple Barbecue Block party up in New York, and I got a chance to cook against, do a cooking contents test against Myron Mix.
Speaker B:And, and it was one of those, you know, secret ingredient type things.
Speaker B:And now this was back in the barbecue Pitmaster Club days, and I was a little bit of a fanboy.
Speaker B:I had never met him in person at that point, and I beat him.
Speaker B:And it was like, greatest thing that had happened in my life, meeting this, this guy that I had watched on television and everything.
Speaker B:So, I mean, that's, that was kind of the most fun that I've had doing this.
Speaker B:But, you know, just getting to go and meet all these wonderful people on the competition barbecue circuit and in the pitmaster club on amazingribs.com and, you know, I used to compete myself.
Speaker B:And all these folks just become your family and they're wishing you a happy birthday on Facebook on your birthday.
Speaker B:And, you know, you can reach out to them for cooking advice or, you know, if you need help at a barbecue contest or whatever.
Speaker B:It's just, it's a wonderful family to be a part of.
Speaker B:And I don't think that there's anything else, any hobby out there in the world that has that kind of love connected to it.
Speaker B:You know, I don't golf, but I can tell you that people aren't like family out on the golf course.
Speaker B:It's, you know, you play around of golf and you're on to the next one.
Speaker B:So it's, I think I kind of, kind of took your question and ran there.
Speaker A:But that's okay.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker C:In your new position, are you going to make any changes, or are you just going to move forward and keep everything rolling the way it is?
Speaker B:No, I'm making tweaks every day.
Speaker B:You know, slowly but surely, I introduce some of my own ideas into the website.
Speaker B:You know, Meathead has done a wonderful job building this thing over however many years now, so I don't want to completely move in a different direction from that.
Speaker B:But, you know, I've got my own creative ideas and, you know, he and I have figured out a way to work well with each other.
Speaker B:We try not to butt heads too often.
Speaker B:It can become a little contentious when I've got an idea and he's got a different idea, and we're trying to find a common ground between those, but we've got a really good relationship, and he does let me push the envelope a bit when it comes to creative thinking and ways to make the website look and the types of recipes we're going to feature and things like that.
Speaker A:Well, that's a good thing.
Speaker A:It's tough to hand over the reins.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker B:I mean, it's his baby, and it's, you know, it's.
Speaker B:It's not easy to.
Speaker B:To take something that you built and you put so much love into and.
Speaker B:And hand over the reins to somebody else.
Speaker A:Yeah, I. I went through that with my parents in their business a long time ago, and my dad was like, here, take it.
Speaker A:My mom was like, no.
Speaker A:So, yeah, that.
Speaker A:That kind of went along those lines for quite a while.
Speaker A:But it's.
Speaker B:How about your dad, Leanne?
Speaker B:Does he.
Speaker C:Well, you know, he.
Speaker C:He and I.
Speaker C:But it's a lot.
Speaker C:I mean, he's very stubborn.
Speaker C:I'm very stubborn.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:But he was always very creative in his thinking.
Speaker C:He was never in the restaurant world.
Speaker C:And some of the biggest challenges that I had as far as our thought process, you know, on creativity and whatever, he didn't understand the restaurant concept, and, you know that you can't take something that's going to devote a whole lot of time and recreate it in the restaurant.
Speaker C:So grasping that was difficult.
Speaker C:So we had some issues with that.
Speaker C:But the other creativity, like, for him to have, he suggested you should do the hog of the week and feature a different kind of hog on your menu each week, a mangalista or whatever it is.
Speaker C:And he was really creative in that sense, and those things worked.
Speaker C:But, you know, he's the reason I'm here today.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And we just shared it, you know, our whole Lives together, really.
Speaker C:I mean, it was.
Speaker C:It started way young in the backyard, and that pig powder has been around a long time and.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It really, truly has been my whole life.
Speaker A:Did he come and visit you at your restaurants?
Speaker C:He did.
Speaker C:Yeah, he did.
Speaker C:Even up to the deviled pig, you know, when he was not feeling that well, you know, at the end, he came there and, you know, saw the smokers and smiled and, you know, we took pictures and all that.
Speaker C:He just.
Speaker C:Yeah, to the bitter, bitter end.
Speaker C:He had me making.
Speaker C:I remember it was off of amazing ribs, actually.
Speaker C:It was chartreuse ribs, meatheads recipe, and he wanted me to make them, and he couldn't eat at this point, and he just wanted to look at them.
Speaker C:So I followed the recipe and I had never made it before, and I made it and I brought it into the bedroom, and he was just so happy just to see them, you know, and so.
Speaker C:Yeah, it just.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker A:That's actually a nice memory, though.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Special when you can share those types of memories between a father and a daughter or a father and a son, it's.
Speaker B:It's often hard to find things that you can connect with your children on.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yes, that is true.
Speaker A:So what I was mentioning before Clint was we had Ray on the show week or so ago.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we were talking about social media.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And you mentioned it at the top of the show, and we were talking about social media and all that, and Ray's comment about the three of us sounded like three grumpy old people on the show was.
Speaker A:I think that was probably well earned.
Speaker A:But we see a lot, a ton of stuff on social media from either different teams or individual pit masters or backyard cooks or what have you.
Speaker A:And Ray's point was he and Leanne and, you know, Tuffy and.
Speaker A:And some folks like that, and then you came along a little later and this type of thing.
Speaker A:But they earned that kind of respect and reputation for really being a pitmaster, if you will.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:But the stuff we see, some of these.
Speaker A:We've had people on the show, and you'll have to ask Leanne about that after the show's over, because I won't put it on the air or what she thought of a couple of our guests, but.
Speaker A:And I was right there with her.
Speaker A:But, you know, those people really created this, and yet they're still involved.
Speaker A:But now we seem to go through the advent of social media of some of these folks are feeling like they're getting a little left behind and maybe not getting the respect that are due, if you will.
Speaker A:I don't want to make a big deal about this, but it's not too hard to go out and throw a rack of ribs on a grill, take a nice picture and say, here you go.
Speaker A:Yeah, I wanted to get your thoughts on that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, the, the whole game has changed in the last five years or maybe a little more.
Speaker B:But you know, these smartphones are taking better and better pictures every day.
Speaker B:So like my skills with camera, I'm pretty good with a camera.
Speaker B:But now the phones do all the, the work for you.
Speaker B:So folks are taking these photos that used to take me, you know, an hour, two hours to set up and make them look nice for recipes.
Speaker B:They're doing it in their backyards and we're able to go on social media and play it off like, like they're the greatest barbecue and grilling cook in the world without putting in the hours and the miles that, that folks like Leanne, that legends out there have done.
Speaker B:And it can be a little humbling to see folks just step into the limelight that easily.
Speaker A:We're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back and wrap up the show with Clint Cantwell and then Clint's going to stay around for after hours.
Speaker A:So Leanne and I and Clint will be back momentarily.
Speaker A:Stay with us.
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Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:You can find us on any of the platforms for podcasting.
Speaker A:We're normally in the top 100 or 150 food shows because there's thousands of them.
Speaker A:So I'm very proud of that.
Speaker A:And you can stream us if you find one of our radio stations and but you're, you're not within the signal or something, you can stream it also.
Speaker A:So that's, they're usually have that RSS feed right there.
Speaker A:On the homepage.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're talking with Clint Cantwell today, the new president of Amazing Ribs.
Speaker A:What's your favorite thing to cook, Clint?
Speaker A:Absolute, bar none.
Speaker A:Favorite?
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:It's hard to say.
Speaker B:Like I said earlier, I usually create a recipe, cook it once, and then I'm never going back to the same thing.
Speaker B:So it's, I mean, I rarely have a dish that I, that I do twice.
Speaker B:Steaks I just love because, you know, once you figure out the perfect steak recipe for you and your wife, it's just something that, that's comforting to be able to pull that out of my, my arsenal every couple of months and just get a big thick ribeye, you know, 2 inches thick or more, and do a really nice rub on it, reverse sear it and, you know, finish it with like a marrow butter or some sort of compound butter.
Speaker B:And there's really nothing, nothing more delicious to me than, than that steak.
Speaker B:And my wife won't order steak at a restaurant because we just have it down to a science or I do as far as what we like, taste wise when it comes to steak.
Speaker B:So that's, that's really my go to.
Speaker B:But I love, you know, I love perfectly seared scallops.
Speaker B:I love everything.
Speaker B:I love food.
Speaker A:Yeah, I, I was gonna say, I'm with your wife.
Speaker A:I don't order steaks at restaurants anymore.
Speaker A:I'm, I'm a seafood guy or a pasta guy or like.
Speaker A:What's.
Speaker A:You miss the lobster?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker A:You had the picture of lobster.
Speaker A:Yeah, the pasta with lobster.
Speaker A:But we've got pecan pie instead today.
Speaker A:Yeah, but I'll, I'll eat that stuff like there's no tomorrow pecan pie.
Speaker A:I actually make a couple of them at the holidays.
Speaker A:One for me and then one for the guests.
Speaker A:So, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, it works out because I can stagger it over, you know, several days that way.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, it's.
Speaker C:You know what's really good?
Speaker C:I know this is going to sound gross, but it's to stick your pecan pie pre sliced in the freezer and believe it or not, you can bite into it frozen and it's delicious.
Speaker C:It doesn't get hard.
Speaker C:Yeah, it almost, it's, it's like, almost like candy.
Speaker C:It's really good.
Speaker A:I was gonna say, do you put a little popsicle stick in it?
Speaker C:No, it's, it's chewy like candy.
Speaker C:It doesn't get hard.
Speaker C:It's, I guess because of, you know, the, the corn syrup in it or whatever.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Butter and all that stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm gonna try that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm gonna try that.
Speaker C:Trust me, it's good.
Speaker A:Did you, did you find that out by actually not cutting one pre.
Speaker A:Cutting it and then try to cut it when it was kind of frozen or.
Speaker C:Yes, exactly.
Speaker A:And you're.
Speaker A:And your knife bent?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, you could cut it into pieces and throw it in a Ziploc bag and it's, it's a good snack.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:That's one of those happy little.
Speaker B:Happy little surprise.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Put that on, Put that in your pit masters club.
Speaker A:I'm not being sarcastic, but put that on the pit master's club and see.
Speaker C:What kind of even, even take the pieces and throw it on some vanilla ice cream.
Speaker C:I could go on and on.
Speaker C:You find out things by accident.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:That's how some of the world's greatest inventions happen.
Speaker B:By accident.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Are you still doing grillocracy or.
Speaker B:No, that's.
Speaker A:Let that go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That was a transitional site between grilling.com and amazingribs.com.
Speaker B:It was just someplace that I could kind of feed my, my creative juices when I wasn't actually working for somebody.
Speaker A:Are you going to be doing the Jack this year?
Speaker B:I should be.
Speaker B:You know, I, I've actually judged with Leanne while we judged together three or four years ago.
Speaker B:I haven't the last two years, but yeah, I've judged there 10 times so far.
Speaker B:So I'd like to make it back this year and judge again.
Speaker B:It's, it's pretty neat just to see the creativity that comes out, especially in the, the desserts.
Speaker B:It's hard because you're like six, six dishes in by the time dessert rolls around.
Speaker B:But, you know, you always find a way to, to power through and try all of those wonderful desserts that they cook up.
Speaker A:Well, I'll tell you what, if somebody's been listening to this show and they show up with a semi frozen pecan pie on a slab of vanilla ice cream.
Speaker A:I know, I know what the ratings are going to be from my co host here.
Speaker A:So that's, that's a, that's a good thing when you're cooking at home.
Speaker A:And this kind of will be close to the last question here, Clint, but when you're cooking at home and you're, you know, maybe you're using one of your tried and true recipes that you've done for the family, and then you're cooking and you look at it and all of a sudden the light bulb goes off and you say, you know, why couldn't I put asparagus on that or something?
Speaker A:You know, whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
Speaker A:Does that happen a lot with you?
Speaker B:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker B:I'm very good at identifying things in the pantry or in the refrigerator and figuring out a way to incorporate those into whatever I'm cooking.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, once you learn the basic skills of cooking and different cuisines and things like that, it does allow you to think a little bit more on the fly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you can cover up mistakes, too.
Speaker A:I have found when you go out and you look at something, you go, oh, that's not going to work.
Speaker A:And then you go run back in the house and say, what can I put on it or do to it to make it better?
Speaker B:Sauce will cover up a myriad of mistakes, whether it's barbecue sauce or some sort of fancy French sauce just poured over the top, and all else is forgiven.
Speaker A:When I was in college and I was living in a dormitory my first year, there was a guy there, different, you know, different measure and stuff, but it didn't matter.
Speaker A:And we'd all been out partying pretty much the night before, and I was down there in the shower, and I. I was hurting.
Speaker A:And he looked at me and he goes, jeffrey, shower can mask a lot of evils.
Speaker A:And so over the years, I've taken that a step further.
Speaker A:Just what you said, a sauce can.
Speaker A:Can cover up a mask a lot of evils.
Speaker B:So really can.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And butter.
Speaker B:Butter will do.
Speaker A:But butter will do that.
Speaker A:Clint Cantwell, the new president of AmazingRibs.com author, contributor, pit master.
Speaker A:The list goes on and on.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:And we're gonna have some fun here in after hours, and, yeah, it's our pleasure.
Speaker C:Congratulations.
Speaker A:Yes, congratulations.
Speaker A:Do you get a little plaque on the door?
Speaker A:It says present.
Speaker B:No, I'm still waiting for me, Ted, to show up at my front door with some sort of official coronation with, like, the sword and all of that.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I'll speak to him about that for you.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, that would be great.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'll do that.
Speaker A:Anyway, we're going to be back next week with another edition of barbecue nation, Ms. Leanne and I, and we want to thank Clint for being here today.
Speaker A:And as we normally say, our motto here, turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker A:And you take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by jtsd, LLC.
Speaker B:Productions in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker B:All rights reserved.
