Chris Marks - Chief BBQ Expert of Three Little Pig Rubs and Sauce - Afterhours
In this engaging episode of Barbecue Nation After Hours, we delve into the nuanced intricacies of the culinary arts with esteemed guest Chris Marks from Three Little Pigs Barbecue in Kansas City. We explore the essential tenets of barbecue, emphasizing the importance of experience and passion in mastering this craft. Our dialogue traverses various topics, including the whimsical yet practical question of what one does with an errant ice cube, and extends to profound reflections on historical figures with whom one might wish to share a meal. Moreover, the conversation touches upon the significance of respect within the barbecue community, urging aspiring cooks to appreciate the depth of knowledge acquired over years of dedication. As we conclude, we are reminded to savor the joy of cooking, advocating for a genuine connection to the culinary tradition we hold dear.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Three Little Pigs Barbecue
Mentioned in this episode:
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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Barbecue Nation with JT and Leanne After Hours, the conversation that continued after the show was done.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:It is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef, Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to After Hours here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT along with Leanne Whippen and Chris Marks from Three Little Pigs Barbecue Kansas City.
Speaker A:He's got stuff everywhere, so we're just gonna put it that way, and you can figure it out.
Speaker A:So this is the part of the.
Speaker A:The podcast version of the show, Chris, that ask you some kind of interesting.
Speaker A:I'll put it that way.
Speaker A:Questions.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:And I came up with a new one.
Speaker A:Leanne, I think you'll appreciate this.
Speaker B:Oh, good, good.
Speaker A:Okay, here's a new one.
Speaker A:If you're filling your cup out of your ice machine and your refrigerator, and you pull.
Speaker A:You got all the ice you want, and you pull the cup back, and there's always that one ice cube that falls out.
Speaker A:At least it happens in our refrigerator.
Speaker A:A do you pick up the ice cube or two.
Speaker A:Do you kick it under the refrigerator?
Speaker C:I actually pick it up and toss it to my dog.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:I kick it every time.
Speaker A:I'm with you.
Speaker A:I'm with you.
Speaker A:I kick it in the kitchen, and Marvin come.
Speaker A:Marvin's.
Speaker A:My cat comes over and swats it around till it melts, and then he gets ticked off and leaves.
Speaker B:Even if there's two or three, they're all going.
Speaker A:They're all going.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:My dog would take care of all the ice for you.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Chris, if you could cook for then dine with a historical figure, who would it be?
Speaker C:Historical figure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And what would be on the menu?
Speaker C:George Washington.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:And on the menu being.
Speaker C:Being a lot of pork back then.
Speaker C:I do pork belly.
Speaker C:And then I would come back with some kind of primitive steak, probably cooked on coal, probably cooked directly over fire.
Speaker C:So, yeah, love to meet George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and all those guys.
Speaker A:Sorry about that.
Speaker A:What's the oldest item in your refrigerator.
Speaker C:That'S a little concerning cryovact and frozen.
Speaker C:I would probably go with some pork butt that I probably did about five years ago.
Speaker C:It's been sitting in the bottom of my freezer.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Just waiting for the right time to bring it out.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:What's your favorite lifesaver flavor?
Speaker C:Oh, cherry, by far.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker C:When I was growing up, in high school, I could eat a whole row of the cherries.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:I used to buy those Luden cough drops.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, because they were.
Speaker A:I never had a cough in those days, but I love those stupid Luden cherry cough drops.
Speaker C:How about blackjack gum?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:And then, you know, I know it.
Speaker A:Oh, you didn't.
Speaker A:Blackjack.
Speaker B:No, I never even heard of it.
Speaker A:Oh, it turns your mouth black.
Speaker B:Well, no wonder.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And then you'd stick it under the chair and the girls in the height, like in grade school, high school, you stuck it in the chair, the person in front of you, you know.
Speaker A:Well, that's what we did in those days.
Speaker A:Hey, when you get in the car, you said you're a driver.
Speaker A:When you get in the car or the truck and fire it up, what's the first song you look for on the radio?
Speaker A:Or serious.
Speaker A:Whatever you have.
Speaker C:You know, you can't judge me on this.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Well.
Speaker C:Well, first of all, I like yacht rock, so SiriusXM.
Speaker C:I like yacht Rock, and I love the Doobie brothers and Michael McDonald.
Speaker C:What a.
Speaker C:What a fool Believes.
Speaker C:I mean, don't.
Speaker C:Don't judge me, please.
Speaker A:No, no, no, no.
Speaker B:That's a tune.
Speaker A:So if Leanne gave you a box with everything that you'd lost in your life, what's the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker C: Probably the: Speaker A:Did you lose it?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:How do you lose that?
Speaker A:Well, you lost a watch throwing it in the water.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:You remember that?
Speaker A:Yeah, I remember.
Speaker B:I've lost some things.
Speaker B:Yeah, but that's a big ring.
Speaker C:What I do is I.
Speaker C:Usually when I.
Speaker C:When I work, I'll take it off because I can't wear gloves over the ring.
Speaker C:I'll put it in one of my pockets.
Speaker C:One of my million pockets.
Speaker B:Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know.
Speaker C:I have to order another one.
Speaker C:That was the one that was my dad's.
Speaker C:That was the one right before he died, like a month before we won that invitational.
Speaker C:And that was his ring, so.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker C:Yikes.
Speaker A:Is there a barbecue hero you would like to work with if you haven't had that opportunity yet?
Speaker C:Well, I have a lot of barbecue heroes.
Speaker C:One of them is the one who got us started, and that was Paul Kerr, who unfortunately just passed away.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And we love Paul and Guy Simpson, and they were told two old school KCBS guys.
Speaker C:And I've never cooked with Paul because we'd be yelling and screaming at each other.
Speaker A:That's about right.
Speaker C:But he was Good friends with my mom and dad and myself, and we loved him to death and his snarkiness.
Speaker C:I just loved it.
Speaker C:I just loved.
Speaker C:I just played right along with him the whole time.
Speaker A:Yeah, he was.
Speaker A:I had him on the show several times before Leanne became my co host.
Speaker A:And it was always an adventure, I.
Speaker C:Hope to tell you.
Speaker B:Yeah, he will tell you like he.
Speaker B:He no holds part.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:He'll tell you like it is.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Chris, if Leanne declared you supreme Ruler of barbecue for a week, what would you decree?
Speaker C:Oh, I gotta be careful with this one.
Speaker A:Go for it.
Speaker C:No, I don't want to go for this one.
Speaker C:It would be too much on.
Speaker C:Yeah, probably what I would decree is that.
Speaker C:Ooh, that's a hard one, too.
Speaker C:Again, you have to.
Speaker C:Have to watch.
Speaker B:I really wish you would tell us what first popped into your mind.
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker C:No, no.
Speaker C:What I would agree is probably under people.
Speaker C:I want to understand our hobby.
Speaker C:Learn our hobby.
Speaker C:Don't assume that everybody knows everything about our hobby.
Speaker C:Learn the hobby.
Speaker C:Learn the science of our hobby.
Speaker C:The smoke, the fire and how it all works, and find where you fit in this.
Speaker C:You don't have to be.
Speaker C:You don't have to be the master of none.
Speaker C:You don't have to.
Speaker C:Everybody doesn't have to be your friend.
Speaker C:You know, find out where you fit in our hobby of barbecue and make it you and your family.
Speaker C:And again, it's about the passion.
Speaker C:Have a great passion for cooking.
Speaker A:And I know.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker C:And that's sort of where I take it in that direction.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I just thought of something, talking to Chris today, Lee.
Speaker A:And no, nobody's ever asked me these questions and that there's a reason for that.
Speaker A:But I will say that if Leanne made me Supreme Ruler.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:What would I do?
Speaker A:I would say you cannot write a barbecue cookbook until you have had at least 10 to 15 years experience, you know.
Speaker C:Beautiful, beautiful comment.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:We've had a few of them on the show, and it was like, would you just cut and paste this?
Speaker A:Anyway, that's what.
Speaker C:And that, you know, that.
Speaker C:That's a great point, too.
Speaker C:And again, it's a lot of people don't respect the experience that we have in this hobby.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Again, they, they just sort of think that, you know, we're old people and just sort of step over and.
Speaker C:But they, you know, it's.
Speaker C:It's a lot of.
Speaker C:It comes down to respect and treating people right.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And it's just, again, I think a lot of that's lost through the social Media piece of this.
Speaker A:Red or green relish?
Speaker C:Oh, God.
Speaker C:Green all the way.
Speaker A:Okay, okay.
Speaker A:What's the worst place you've ever had to cook?
Speaker C:Well, I was just in Utah and I was on bear patrol because they had a bear that was eating all the briskets.
Speaker C:I'm ser.
Speaker C:We had to stay up all night because of big brown bear.
Speaker C:Okay, that's an easy one.
Speaker C:But the worst place I've ever had to cook was.
Speaker C:Well, really two of them, and each were extremes.
Speaker C:One was a tornado in McCloud, Kansas.
Speaker C:An absolute tornado on the ground with hail.
Speaker C:We actually cooked through that.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:Which we were stupid.
Speaker C:We were in a trailer too.
Speaker C:And a tornado did touch, and that was a little bit too close.
Speaker C:The other was one of the years at the American Royal.
Speaker C:We had the ice storm, and that was just miserable the whole weekend.
Speaker C:And it was cold, it was wet, it was icy.
Speaker C:And, oh, by the way, we didn't have a trailer back then, so.
Speaker C:Oh, we were outside most of the time.
Speaker A:Yeah, you kind of answered this already.
Speaker A:But if we put your skills to music, what would the music be?
Speaker C:Rocking the casbah.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:What would you describe yourself as?
Speaker A:Corn fed or grass fed?
Speaker C:Right now I'm.
Speaker C:I used to be corn fed.
Speaker C:Now I'm grass fed.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Why the change?
Speaker C:Open heart.
Speaker A:Ah, okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Another thing that was blessed by my parents.
Speaker A:Do you remember the first thing you ever grilled, smoked, or barbecued?
Speaker C:Actually, I do.
Speaker C:It was Italian sausage at Tom Pernice's Grill, and it was the best Italian sausage.
Speaker C:They use a lot of fennel.
Speaker C:Oh, I do too.
Speaker C:And it was just.
Speaker C:It was just that licoricey, so.
Speaker C:And yeah, a couple more here.
Speaker A:Chris, favorite movie?
Speaker C:Yeah, don't laugh at me on this one.
Speaker C:I'm a Star wars freak.
Speaker A:No, that's fine.
Speaker A:I made my.
Speaker C:I made my sister sit down with me and go through every Star wars in the right order.
Speaker A:That was sis at the end of the viewing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:She's like, what the hell you make me do?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Like once in the time in Hollywood with Brad Pitt.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:That I love.
Speaker A:I love.
Speaker A:That's a fun, fun movie.
Speaker A:Boxers or briefs?
Speaker C:Oh, boxer all the way.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Last one here.
Speaker A:Oh, two.
Speaker A:Two more here.
Speaker A:What's your least favorite food to eat?
Speaker C:Great point.
Speaker C:My probably least favorite to eat.
Speaker C:Pretty much eat anything that doesn't eat me first.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So heads up.
Speaker C:Probably lamb.
Speaker C:How about specifically leg of lamb?
Speaker C:Pork chop.
Speaker C:The chops are okay, but Lego lamb just has that gamey, wild taste to it.
Speaker A:Okay, and last thing here.
Speaker A:What would be in your last meal if you were on death row?
Speaker C:Brisket all the way, baby.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker C:Burn ends.
Speaker A:There's no limit on how much you can eat at that point.
Speaker B:You can have dessert, too.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can have dessert.
Speaker A:You can go back for seconds or thirds or whatever.
Speaker A:Doesn't matter.
Speaker C:Burn in's cheesecake.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker C:And I'm.
Speaker C:That's all I need.
Speaker A:Leanne makes a kick ass pecan pie too, if you like pecan pie.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:So Leanne is a pecan or pecan.
Speaker B:Pecan.
Speaker A:Pecan.
Speaker C:You know where that comes from?
Speaker C:I got my butt chewed out in Texas because I was doing a class down there and I called it pecan.
Speaker C:The lady basically told me that's what we put under our beds.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker A:Chris Marks, Three Little Pigs Barbecue is a pleasure to meet you and talk with you.
Speaker A:I really enjoyed it and it was very enlightening.
Speaker B:For sure.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:I really enjoyed it, too.
Speaker A:And we will have you back sometime.
Speaker A:How's that?
Speaker C:Yeah, just give me a holler.
Speaker A:Well doer.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker C:Oh, just.
Speaker C:Just a pleasure.
Speaker C:And again, I.
Speaker C:A lot of times I'm.
Speaker C:I say what I think and I think a lot of times people sometimes just need to hear it.
Speaker A:Oh, I agree.
Speaker C:It's very important that understand that, you know, we're out here with all our skills and don't negate our skills because we're not all over social media.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker A:Couldn't agree more.
Speaker A:Anyway, Chris, thank you, Leanne.
Speaker A:Stick around after the show, Leanne.
Speaker A:I will if you will.
Speaker A:And that's going to wrap it for us here on After Hours on the Nation.
Speaker A:So until next week, go out, have a good time, eat some good food, cook some good food, and remember our motto here, turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
Speaker C:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:You're very welcome.
Speaker A:It was important.
Speaker B:And Jeff will send you the link when this is going to roll out.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Thanks, Chris.
