Shownotes
This podcast episode features an engaging dialogue with Brad Polachek, the esteemed proprietor of Red Beard Seasonings. The conversation traverses various aspects of barbecue culture, offering insights into the intricacies of culinary practices and competition dynamics. Notably, the episode delves into the significance of understanding one's purpose when embarking on a business venture, as articulated by Polachek. Additionally, the discourse encompasses nostalgic reflections on early grilling experiences and the challenges inherent in the barbecue business landscape. We invite our listeners to explore these themes of culinary passion and entrepreneurial wisdom as we navigate the world of barbecue with sincerity and depth.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Red Beard Seasonings
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Welcome to Barbecue Nation with JT's After Hours conversation that took place after the broadcast ended.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's jt.
Speaker A:And this is a special version of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:It is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, welcome to After Hours here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:We've got Brad Polachek with us here to.
Speaker A:This is kind of out of sequence, if you notice this when you see this.
Speaker A:We had to shut off the interview early last week and then.
Speaker A:Anyway, you'll figure it out.
Speaker A:It's not that big a deal, but, Brad, welcome to After Hours, buddy.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you don't know much about this because we never share these secrets with everybody.
Speaker A:But the lightning round is where you have a lot of fun and kind of silly and sometimes thought provoking questions.
Speaker A:So we'll just get started.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Well, I can get all the frogs out of my throat this morning.
Speaker A:So, Brad, if you could cook for and then dine with a historical figure, who would it be and what would be on the menu?
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:How about.
Speaker B:How about General Patton?
Speaker B:I'd cook him the biggest, fattest porterhouse steak that I could find.
Speaker A:I think that's a good choice, man.
Speaker A:In your opinion, if you could work with one of your barbecue heroes, who would it be?
Speaker B:Oh, man, that's a really tough one.
Speaker B:There's a whole bunch of them, I'm sure.
Speaker B:I think I'd probably cook some ribs with.
Speaker B:With Mr. Tuffy Stone.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Tuffy's a good one to hang with.
Speaker A:He's a lot of fun.
Speaker A:Do you remember the first thing you ever grilled or smoked?
Speaker B:Grilled would have been back when, you know, dad and grandpa was teaching.
Speaker B:It would be burgers and stuff.
Speaker B:But the first thing I actually smoked was, actually was a chuck roast.
Speaker B:I did a smoked roast and then made like a stew out of it with some vegetables and stuff.
Speaker B:I didn't want to screw up anything important, so we went with a chuck roast.
Speaker A:Actually.
Speaker A:Actually, that's a.
Speaker A:That's a good idea.
Speaker A:You know, so if we name Brad supreme ruler of barbecue for a week, what would you, as supreme ruler decree?
Speaker B:I'd probably say that everybody just throws all the competition stuff out the door for a week and we just have a party and cook a whole bunch of good food and enjoy the company and the fellowship of having everybody around.
Speaker A:Hey, I'm down with that, bud.
Speaker A:I am.
Speaker B:No stress, no crazy stuff.
Speaker B:Just kick back and relax.
Speaker B:Take a week off.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:If we put your skills to music, Brad, what would the music be?
Speaker B:I'm a country music fan, so probably something country.
Speaker B:Upbeat.
Speaker B:Country.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Got any songs in particular you like?
Speaker B:Not that comes to mind to answer that question.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I like a little bit of everything.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?
Speaker B:Probably a cat, so I can just lay around and play all day.
Speaker B:They get a pretty easy lifestyle.
Speaker B:Everybody, not everybody likes cats, but I feel like they're just kind of laid back and they got the easiest lifestyle out there.
Speaker A:I know ours does.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:She sounds like a baby buffalo when she's running to the food tray.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:What's the hardest thing about owning your own business now?
Speaker B:Probably the.
Speaker B:Just the curveballs and the.
Speaker B:The behind the scenes, day to day stuff that.
Speaker B:That goes on, just, you know, dealing with issues that they develop, whether it's with inventory or product development or just a lot of little things that add up that you don't own your own business, you don't really think about or you don't know that.
Speaker B:Go on.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Well, there's a million details every day, so I can.
Speaker A:I can certainly appreciate that.
Speaker A:What's the biggest change that you think perhaps should be made in competition barbecue?
Speaker B:I know there's a lot of discussion going on right now about some stuff with the judging process and table selection.
Speaker B:I can't really think of anything off the top that would be something that I would change.
Speaker B:I don't really want to get into the whole politics of the.
Speaker B:Some of that stuff in the competition circuit, But.
Speaker B:I guess just maybe if there was a way to develop something that kept everything 100%, you know, independent and fair judging, that way everybody's got a shot from, you know, the pros all the way down to somebody who's just starting and wanting to get into competition barbecue.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:Well, I got.
Speaker A:I got a little observation for that.
Speaker A:I worked in the horse world for many, many years, and I was a judge, and I was fortunate to go all over the world and do stuff at the highest level.
Speaker A:Doesn't somebody's always going to complain about judging?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, you know, no matter what.
Speaker A:No matter what.
Speaker A:But maybe there's a system that can be developed for barbecue that's a numeric system or something like that that is a little sharper.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I don't compete.
Speaker A:So would you describe yourself as corn fed or grass fed?
Speaker A:Brad,.
Speaker B:Being from Ohio, I gotta say corn fed.
Speaker B:We Got a lot of corn around here.
Speaker A:Okay, boxers or briefs?
Speaker B:Boxers.
Speaker A:Attaboy.
Speaker A:What was your favorite movie, if you have one?
Speaker B:I'm gonna have to go with the Ace Ventura movies.
Speaker A:Pet Detective.
Speaker B:Yep, Pet Detective.
Speaker B:All those ones.
Speaker A:Are you an animal lover, Brad?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Good, good.
Speaker A:Dire Straits, ACDC or Billy Ray Cyrus?
Speaker B:Acdc.
Speaker A:Attaboy.
Speaker A:Funny how a lot of country music fans love acdc.
Speaker A:I just noticed that over the years.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Sweatshirts or formal wear?
Speaker B:Sweatshirts, definitely.
Speaker A:Okay, if you were on death row, this one always throws people for a minute.
Speaker A:If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?
Speaker B:Probably brisket and a Philly cheesesteak pizza from Domino's.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What would this one?
Speaker A:Semi serious.
Speaker A:What would you say your success to failure ratio is when you're creating a new seasoning?
Speaker B:We've had pretty.
Speaker B:With our development, it's been.
Speaker B:We've had a pretty specific idea from the start, I guess, where we haven't been doing a lot of R and D behind the scenes and coming up with a bunch of things at once and then kind of selecting from that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I guess our process from the beginning has just been we've had a specific idea for something and went with it.
Speaker B:We've had some that we haven't been able to quite nail down.
Speaker B:So they've been slid to the back burner.
Speaker B:I'd say probably on the conservative end, probably 7 out of 10 have been.
Speaker B:Have been winners.
Speaker A:Good, good.
Speaker A:Have you ever eaten haggis?
Speaker B:No, I have not.
Speaker A:Do you want to?
Speaker B:That is.
Speaker A:Haggis is.
Speaker A:It's a Scottish dish and it's where they take a sheep stomach and clean it out and then they fill it up with like the liver and heart and lungs and they put a bunch of vegetables in there and they sew it back up and they boil it for a long time.
Speaker B:I'll pass on that one.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think most people do.
Speaker A:Most people do.
Speaker A:What in your opinion is the hottest new thing, if you will, that you've seen relating to barbecue or competitive cooking?
Speaker B:We don't do a whole lot of competing.
Speaker B:It's just not a thing here in Ohio, I would probably have to say just some of the.
Speaker B:The techniques and stuff that people are doing that are, I guess I'm assuming your questions asking, like equipment wise or.
Speaker A:Yeah, whatever is.
Speaker A:Pops into your head.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, probably just.
Speaker B:I think the competitions that we have done, people have started to do some.
Speaker B:Some different things to try and venture out from the norm processes and, you know, selections of rubs and sauces and Methods of doing injections and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You have a favorite barbecue book?
Speaker B:I have a bunch of them.
Speaker B:I don't think.
Speaker B:I can't think one right off the top that stands out though out of that bunch of.
Speaker A:I get it.
Speaker A:What's your least favorite food to cook?
Speaker B:Brisket.
Speaker B:Like to eat it?
Speaker B:Hate to cook it.
Speaker A:I got it.
Speaker A:I gotta tell you something.
Speaker A:I rail sometimes against on social media.
Speaker A:I must see 500 briskets every week that people cook and go, man, isn't this great?
Speaker A:And it's like, yeah, it looks fine, but it just looks fine.
Speaker A:You know what, it's.
Speaker A:It's not going to light the world on fire.
Speaker A:But it, you know, looks like you did your job.
Speaker A:What, what's.
Speaker A:You have a favorite concert and then a worst concert you ever attended.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B: as in Cleveland, Ohio back in: Speaker B: It was a while ago, probably: Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Was not.
Speaker B:But she played with a bunch of other people.
Speaker B:But that was not, not that great.
Speaker B:I think the best concert would probably have been Florida Georgia Line we saw in Toledo a few years back.
Speaker B:And that was a really good concert.
Speaker B:They played for like three hours long and they were just crushing it.
Speaker A:Oh, good, good, good.
Speaker A:If you could erase one mistake from your past, what would it be?
Speaker B:One mistake or one list?
Speaker B:That's a tough one.
Speaker B:I think I probably would have jumped.
Speaker B:Jumped ship on my full time gig sooner than later.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you can't predict the future, but it makes you wonder if you kind of started and went full force into things a little bit sooner where things could be at now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But that kind of leads into my next question.
Speaker A:If you could start your career over, what would you change if anything?
Speaker B:I don't think I'd change anything.
Speaker B:Honestly.
Speaker B:I started my.
Speaker B:My initial first big boy career was in law enforcement.
Speaker B:I did that for almost nine years and then switched over to the logistics world.
Speaker B:And I think I've learned being a business owner now some valuable things from both of.
Speaker B:Both of those careers that have contributed to know my success today.
Speaker B:It's all about learning, experience and what leads you to the next thing.
Speaker B:I think, sure.
Speaker A:What does a fantasy day for Brad look like away from work?
Speaker A:No, no barbecue stuff.
Speaker A:But what is your.
Speaker A:What does your fantasy day look like?
Speaker B:Even though I sunburn very easily would probably be sitting on a beach in.
Speaker A:Mexico somewhere and, and having something cold in your hand, something cold to drink.
Speaker B:A couple of them.
Speaker A:A couple of them.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:One last question, Brad.
Speaker A:If you could give advice, just advice to somebody starting a business or advice in life to, to people, what would it be?
Speaker B:I think the biggest thing for advice as far as starting a business would be to figure out your why and your purpose first, because it's easy to lose sight of those things.
Speaker B:And if you build a business around your purpose of why you're doing it or what your intention is to accomplish, the rest of it kind of falls into place.
Speaker B:You got to keep, keep the important things first in order to focus on the end game.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Thank you, Brad.
Speaker A:Real quick, share with the listeners where they can find you and where they can find Red Beard Seasonings.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Redbeard Seasonings.
Speaker B:You can find us on our website, www.redbeardseasonings.com.
Speaker B:Some of our products are also listed on Amazon.
Speaker B:You can find us on social media, Red Beard Seasonings on Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Brad Polachek from Red Beard Seasonings.
Speaker A:If you, if you're seeing the video of this, you'll understand why it's called Red Beard Seasonings.
Speaker A:But thanks, buddy.
Speaker A:I appreciate it.
Speaker A:You're welcome back anytime on the show.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:I appreciate it.
Speaker A:You bet.
Speaker A:We'll be back next week with another edition of after hours.
Speaker A:We used to say, you know, grilling some poor unsuspecting soul, but we'll just say we put them in the spotlight now.
Speaker A:So, Brad, thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Have a good week.
Speaker A:Remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it, and be kind out there.
