Dirty Dick (Richard Westhaver) Dirty Dicks Hot Sauces - Afterhours Encore
This podcast episode features an engaging conversation with Richard Westhaver from Dirty Dick's Hot Sauce, delving into the nuances of culinary creativity and the art of barbecue. We explore the intricate process of recipe development, with Richard revealing that he often composes twenty recipes to yield a single successful creation, underscoring the dedication required in the culinary arts. Additionally, he shares insights into the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the food industry, emphasizing the relentless nature of managing a business. The dialogue further touches on personal reflections, such as the impact of past decisions and the aspiration for continual improvement. Listeners are invited to appreciate the depth of experience and passion that defines the world of barbecue and hot sauce.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Dirty Dick's Hot Sauce
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Barbecue Nation with JT and Leanne.
Speaker A: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.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Welcome to after hours here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:Today we've got Richard Westhaver from Dirty Dick's Hot Sauce, along with Leanne and myself, and we thank Dick for sticking with us here.
Speaker A:This is something that we do every week.
Speaker A:This part doesn't go actually on the radio.
Speaker A:This is just a separate part of the podcast version.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:We have these kind of off the wall questions we like to ask and see what your responses are.
Speaker A:Are you ready?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Let's get it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right, we'll start with an easy one here.
Speaker A:If you could cook four and then dine with a historical figure, who would it be and what would be on the menu?
Speaker B:Benjamin Franklin and I probably have a prime rib roast.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:Mashed potatoes.
Speaker A:Yeah, I like that.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:Dick, if you started your career all over again, would you do the same thing or would you do something different?
Speaker B:Probably.
Speaker B:What, in terms of food?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Whatever you wanted to do.
Speaker A:I mean, did you have something?
Speaker B:I've had an interior landscaping company for 40 years.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I'm a horticulturalist.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:That's the day job.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Dick was cooking.
Speaker B:Cooking at night.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What would you say your success to failure ratio is when you're trying to create a new recipe, like a new sauce recipe?
Speaker B:I would say I probably write 20 recipes to get one.
Speaker B:And I have plenty of critics.
Speaker A:Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker B:Critics.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Friends try.
Speaker B:They've been doing this for all these years with me.
Speaker B:I let them try.
Speaker B:Ah, horrible.
Speaker B:So I get a lot of feedback.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Ultimately I decide, but they helped me get close, and then I finished it.
Speaker A:So if we put your skills to music, what would the music be?
Speaker B:Stay away to heaven.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:If.
Speaker A:If Leanne declared you supreme ruler of hot sauces for one week, what would you, Dirty Dick, decree?
Speaker A:As supreme ruler of hot sauces, you're.
Speaker B:Only allowed to eat and drink Dirty Dick's Hot sauce.
Speaker B:I know others.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:If you could erase one mistake from your past, what would it be and why?
Speaker B:That's too scary.
Speaker B:I could erase one.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It'd be.
Speaker B:I have to think about that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:We can come back to that?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Come.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What does a fantasy day look like for.
Speaker A:For you?
Speaker B:Me?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I like being in the Caribbean and swimming.
Speaker B:Go for a swim in the ocean.
Speaker A:You still go down there Every year.
Speaker A:Okay, Good for two weeks.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What was the worst place you ever had to cook?
Speaker B:It was down south.
Speaker B:It wasn't the place.
Speaker B:The worst place to cook.
Speaker B:It was the worst place to stay.
Speaker B:Because if you go some of those hotels and motels in Virginia and Tennessee, you know that you go to find a hotel, even in New York, you'd find a.
Speaker B:You know, you don't know.
Speaker B:You're looking at all these lists of motels and you got to book rooms, and then you get there and there'd be someone, you go, did they throw up on the ceiling?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:How could it be that horrible?
Speaker B:So I would say that's the worst part is picking the wrong road.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker B:Fly by night place.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That is true.
Speaker B:They were all pretty the same.
Speaker B:Pretty much the same.
Speaker A:When you were competing in barbecue, did you have a favorite event like the brisket or the ribs or whatever, a.
Speaker B:Favorite thing to cook?
Speaker B:Yeah, I would say probably briskets.
Speaker B:I like to cook brisket.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:That was the most.
Speaker A:But didn't it.
Speaker B:Didn't you win first place at the Jack cooking chicken?
Speaker B:Yeah, I also.
Speaker B:I've done.
Speaker B:Won a lot of chickens.
Speaker B:Yeah, very good.
Speaker B:And I used to use breasts, roaster breasts.
Speaker B:And no one ever understood it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I used to just put sliced white meat in the box and it'd be just like tender and juicy.
Speaker B:And that won a lot of first places, you know, So I won the most with chicken.
Speaker B:But I like cooking.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What's the hardest thing about owning your own business?
Speaker B:You're a slave to it.
Speaker B:You got to keep it up.
Speaker B:You can't.
Speaker B:You know, every day there's something going on.
Speaker B:There's always issues.
Speaker B:So I would just say, you know, you.
Speaker B:You got to do your work.
Speaker B:You gotta work and leave it alone.
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:You remember the first thing you ever smoked, grilled, barbecued.
Speaker B:Was probably in Montserrat.
Speaker B:We ate a lot of chicken.
Speaker B:That's what they had, Chicken.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's what the locals ate.
Speaker B:So that's what you could buy, you know, because the beef, you know, they kill it.
Speaker B:If you go to the.
Speaker B:The market at the.
Speaker B:Every Saturday, they'd, like, butcher a goat and they'd be like, hanging the goat.
Speaker B:Hanging.
Speaker B:It was kind of disgusting.
Speaker B:He had no refrigeration, so it was rough, you know, if you didn't get There early to buy your meat.
Speaker B:I mean, that's how the old Caribbean was.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I need that stuff.
Speaker A:I was in Mexico.
Speaker A:Well, I've been there many times, but I was in there one time and I went to an open air market and I grew up on a farm and we, we, you know, we raised animals to eat and stuff, so none of that stuff bothered me.
Speaker A:But they had butchered a hog and there was, you know, the ribs and some shoulders and the standard stuff, if you will.
Speaker A:And then there, then there was the entrails.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Then there's the organs and then there was the head.
Speaker A:And this head was huge.
Speaker A:And I did.
Speaker A:And there was flies and all over.
Speaker B:Oh, my God, I remember the flies.
Speaker B:And then it was gross.
Speaker B:They had no duration.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:God, I remember that.
Speaker A:It was just like it was yesterday, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Lives were a lot harder than us.
Speaker A:What do you think was the biggest mistake you ever made in a barbecue competition, if you made any at all?
Speaker B:Oh, I made plenty.
Speaker B:I would much smoke.
Speaker B:That was a big deal.
Speaker B:And you don't want to drink too much the night before.
Speaker B:No, you want to concentrate on the.
Speaker B:The smart guys didn't overdo it.
Speaker B:They concentrated on the cooking.
Speaker B:I'd say that was a big deal, is concentrate on what you're doing and not, you know, it's not a party thing.
Speaker A:So kind of like a four beer limit or something, you know, however you.
Speaker B:Do it, you don't want to lose control.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You want to concentrate on what you're doing.
Speaker A:I get it.
Speaker A:Did you, when you were judging a lot, did you.
Speaker A:Did you have a favorite area or competition that you like to judge at?
Speaker B:You mean a contest or a category?
Speaker A:No, a contest.
Speaker B:Well, we used to have this local grilling contest, the Pig and Pepper.
Speaker B:And I always competed in it, but once I stopped, I used to like doing that.
Speaker B:It was kind of the local place.
Speaker B:And of course, Jack Daniels.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, that's a pinnacle.
Speaker A:Is that your favorite, Leanne?
Speaker A:The Jack.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Because you've judged it a bunch.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:No, it's.
Speaker B:I think it's the hot, the best food.
Speaker B:This is a lot of every contest, you know, a third of them are newbies and they really don't understand.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So you gotta deal with those guys.
Speaker B:You're gonna try to be fair to the people that don't know what they're doing.
Speaker B:And so you just have to realize that kind of be kind.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Most people.
Speaker A:Well, let's go back and see if we can find out if you want to if you could erase one mistake from your past.
Speaker A:Now, I gave you some time to think about it, which I'm sure you probably didn't.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:I think I should have stayed in school longer.
Speaker B:I should have got in, you know, So I got a degree in economics.
Speaker B:I wish I went further.
Speaker B:I thought if I.
Speaker B:We should have got a master's degree and should have taught it.
Speaker B:That's what I think I should have done.
Speaker A:Where did you go to school?
Speaker B:Boston State College.
Speaker A:Did you then?
Speaker B:I used to take classes at Harvard at night, and I did.
Speaker B:I studied a lot of real estate, like, I used to har.
Speaker B:At night, study real estate.
Speaker B:So I.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But that was.
Speaker B:That was interesting.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Okay, last question.
Speaker A:Last question, Dick.
Speaker B:All right, I'm ready.
Speaker A:What would.
Speaker A:If you were on death row, what would be your last meal?
Speaker B:I like a black and tenderloin with remoulade and probably baked potatoes and sour cream.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's delicious.
Speaker A:You can order as much as you want because they can't tell you to slow or speed up eating, you know, so you can.
Speaker B:And hopefully they cook it right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know if you can send it back to the kitchen when you're in that situation or not.
Speaker B:Throw.
Speaker B:Probably not.
Speaker B:Maybe they put a little extra effort in it.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker A:Yeah, maybe.
Speaker B:Let's say if I had to have a last one, that would be good.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Dick west, saver from Dirty Dick's Hot Sauces.
Speaker A:Thank you, buddy.
Speaker A:And again, anytime.
Speaker A:Dirty Dick Sauce dot com, right?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Www.dirtydickshotsauce.com.
Speaker B:that's the official.
Speaker A:Okay, perfect.
Speaker A:We got that, Dick.
Speaker A:Thank you, Leanne.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:And, folks, thanks for listening.
Speaker A:And we'll be back next week with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:Until then, remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker A:Go have some good food and have fun.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
Speaker B:Thank you.
