Ercole Chila - Grand Champion at The Jack 2023 - Encore
Ercole Killa, the grand champion from Uncle Pig's Barbecue, joins JT and Leanne Whippen to share insights from his recent win at the prestigious Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue. The discussion dives into Ercole's journey in competitive barbecue, starting from his humble beginnings and evolving into a formidable competitor. He emphasizes the importance of persistence and adaptability, highlighting how each competition teaches valuable lessons that shape future successes. The trio also explores the nuances of barbecue judging, including the varying preferences of judges and the significance of presentation. Through their engaging conversation, they celebrate the camaraderie within the barbecue community and reflect on the personal stories that add depth to the competition experience.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Heritage Steel
- Hammerstahl
- American Royal
- Jack Daniels
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
JT:Now, from the Turner Burnett studios in Portland, here's jt.
Jeff:This is an encore.
JT:Hey, everybody.
JT:Welcome to the nation.
JT:I'm JT along with Leanne Whiffin, hall of famer, I might add.
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JT:So there you go.
JT:As you know, the Jack just ended a very short time ago.
JT:Ms.
JT:Whippen was one of the judges there.
JT:And now we are very fortunate to have Ercole Killa from Uncle Pig's Barbecue, who was the grand champion at the Jack with us.
JT:Yay.
Leanne:Congratulations.
Leanne:Probably heard it a million times.
Ercole Killa:Quite a few times so far.
Leanne:Yeah, you deserve it.
JT:They've already had him on Fox News in the Morning nationally, so that's awesome.
JT:I think that's very cool.
Ercole Killa:So Urkel, that was actually our second.
JT:St there, you say?
JT:What?
JT:I'm sorry, that.
Ercole Killa:That was her second time there.
JT:Oh, good, good.
Ercole Killa:That first time was when we.
Ercole Killa:We did have the state champion, New Jersey.
Leanne:Great.
JT:Did you know that for that, it was pretty cool.
JT:Did you know that Leanne is a Jersey girl, too?
Leanne:I am, yes.
Ercole Killa:I do.
Ercole Killa:I do know that.
JT:Oh, good, good, good, good.
JT:So, New Jersey, you were second in pork, first in the ribs, fifth in the brisket, ninth in the dessert, and fifth in chef's choice.
JT:That's a lot of calls.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, it was busy.
JT:It was busy.
Leanne:It's a lot of money.
Ercole Killa:Pretty cool.
JT:Was that your best?
JT:I mean, I know you won grand champion and all that, but that too, at any event, was that your best placings in.
JT:In the group like that?
JT:I mean, those are some pretty high marks with the competition you had.
Ercole Killa:No, we did a little bit better.
Ercole Killa:I think it was wise or Galaxy Virginia.
Ercole Killa:We had three first place calls and a third place check in one 1 and 1, 180.
Ercole Killa:So that was our highest finishes, but that was that.
Ercole Killa:This was the most important one.
JT:Yeah.
JT:Right now.
JT:You'd been there.
JT:Gosh, excuse me.
JT:The weather's changing up here, so.
JT:So is my voice.
JT:You'd competed at the Jack, what, five Times prior Four.
Ercole Killa:This is my, this is my fourth time.
JT:Okay, and when you went this time, did you have any, you know, gut feeling or anything like that that this was going to be the one?
Ercole Killa:Well, we actually, I started like four or five weeks prior to going to the jack when I started making arrangements and changes to try to do the cook for the jack.
Ercole Killa:And I was tweaking and tweaking and, and I told my wife, I said, if we don't win, it won't be because of the food.
Ercole Killa:And that's, we really focused on making it tender and getting it, you know, a good taste out of it.
Ercole Killa:And I thought we would have a chance.
Ercole Killa:I mean, just like I guess everybody would thinks that they have a chance at these things.
Ercole Killa:When it starts happening, you're like, what the hell's just happened?
Ercole Killa:I can't believe this is happening right now.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, it was crazy.
JT:Yeah, it's all good.
JT:You didn't start out your career in barbecue though, did you?
JT:Or call?
Ercole Killa:No, I, I'm in a gas station repair shop.
Ercole Killa:I still, I still do that.
Ercole Killa:The barbecue's a part time deal.
JT:But don't you support.
Leanne:He has to support his habit.
JT:I get it.
Ercole Killa:That's, that's the water that floats on my boots.
JT:What have you learned?
JT:I'm starting with some basic questions here.
JT:We'll get more in depth as we go along in the show.
JT:But what have you learned over the last five trips?
JT:This being your fourth or fifth trip to Lynchburg?
JT:I mean, each time, even if you didn't win, it's got to be a big learning experience.
Ercole Killa:I guess.
Ercole Killa:The first time we did well too.
Ercole Killa:We became.
Ercole Killa:And then the next time I think it was.
Ercole Killa:And the Last time was 58.
Ercole Killa:So I, I learned to be.
Ercole Killa:Have my expectations, not be super high all the time.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, because sometimes even though your food's good to you, it just doesn't really hit judges all the time.
Ercole Killa:So I guess patience in being hard headed and quitting.
JT:You gotta watch those judges though.
JT:They're.
JT:They're a slippery lot, I can tell you that.
Leanne:Well, obviously we did an excellent job this time.
Leanne:As far as he's concern.
JT:It's.
JT:It's all good.
Ercole Killa:You did a great.
Ercole Killa:If you were like, if I was on your table.
Ercole Killa:You did a great job.
Leanne:Well, thank you so much.
Leanne:If I was, I don't know so.
JT:Well, I'll tell you how you can figure it out.
JT:So, Urkel, what kind of dessert did you make?
JT:Leanne's a big dessert fan, so I am.
Ercole Killa:We made A pumpkin cheesecake with a pumpkin caramel drizzle with.
Ercole Killa:We actually made pumpkin chocolate.
Ercole Killa:We cooked it and we cooked it and made it.
Ercole Killa:Refrigerator got it, like, for little.
Ercole Killa:Little chocolate piece on top of it.
Ercole Killa:It was pretty cool.
Leanne:I did not have that, but it sounds delicious, and it sounds like something you can have for the holidays coming up.
JT:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, it was pretty good.
Ercole Killa:It was really good.
JT:What separates your.
JT:Well, just say your ribs from somebody else's.
JT:What.
JT:What are your thoughts on that?
Ercole Killa:When we actually go for.
Ercole Killa:We push to the very verge of over tender, right.
Ercole Killa:So sometimes we get.
Ercole Killa:Be getting myself in a pickle by going a little too tender.
Ercole Killa:But 80% of the time, where we cook them at, where we get them done at, is pretty good for the judges.
Ercole Killa:The ones at the jack were converge of being over.
JT:What did you use?
Leanne:You should say that when you're taking the class on how to judge and get certified by kcbs.
Leanne:They tell you that you should take a bite in the rib and it should not fall off the bone, and you should see the little moisture bubbles on the bone.
Leanne:And they say that's the perfect bite.
Leanne:But I remember going to a contest, and I was doing a video right before, and I said, you don't want to have your ribs like this.
Leanne:And they were overcooked, in my opinion.
Leanne:And I did the same thing for turn ins, and I ended up winning first.
Leanne:And I was kind of blown away by that, you know, because the judges are taught one thing, and then I knew they were overcooked, and I was like, I don't have a chance.
Leanne:And then I took a first, and I was like, whoa.
Leanne:So I kind of agree with what you're saying.
Leanne:It might be a little bit of a crapshoot, but people like them really tender.
Ercole Killa:But I realized oak ribs or any addition, like, for 10 for me, that's why I push them farther.
Ercole Killa:Does.
JT:Does that include your.
JT:Your taste profile?
Ercole Killa:Yeah, it does make it to me.
Ercole Killa:It.
Ercole Killa:It.
Ercole Killa:To me, it does make it taste not completely like my ribs.
Ercole Killa:They won't fall off the bone.
Ercole Killa:They were.
Ercole Killa:They were close.
Ercole Killa:I mean, they were.
Ercole Killa:They were.
Ercole Killa:They were close, but you could still bite both sides and still have a piece left in the middle.
Ercole Killa:They were still there like that.
JT:When you.
JT:We were talking about the ribs and the.
JT:The flavor profile a little bit.
JT:Is there anything special you use in the flavor profile?
Ercole Killa:Not really.
Ercole Killa:I mean, I.
Ercole Killa:I make a.
Ercole Killa:I use a slurry.
Ercole Killa:I make a slurry up for my.
Ercole Killa:Like everybody else's.
Ercole Killa:You.
Ercole Killa:There's brown Sugar on there and.
Ercole Killa:And, you know, maple syrup and stuff.
Ercole Killa:I make a slurry up that I use on it.
Ercole Killa:Instead of having to put everything individually on it, I make a whole batch of stuff up.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, I use a squirt bottle.
Ercole Killa:That's probably the only thing different I would do.
Ercole Killa:I mean, other than the rubs and stuff.
Ercole Killa:I don't know if what everybody else is using, but I use commercial rubs.
JT:Yeah.
JT:You ever try pig powder?
Ercole Killa:Yes, I do have that.
Leanne:Oh, good stuff.
Ercole Killa:Your dad stuff.
Ercole Killa:I do have one bottle that my girl in my trailer all the time.
Leanne:See, there you go.
JT:It's a winning combination.
JT:What can I tell you?
Leanne:Proof.
JT:Yeah, it is.
JT:So let's talk about, like, your pork.
JT:Anything special about that?
Ercole Killa:Right on the verge of over tender.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, that's also on the verge of over tender.
Ercole Killa:But, I mean, I really take a lot of pride in two.
Ercole Killa:I box it.
Ercole Killa:I do like rows of money muscle on an angle, and then I put chunks in the middle, and then I have pools somewhere else.
Ercole Killa:I mean, it's.
Ercole Killa:And box is heavy and it's full and it's.
Ercole Killa:You know, I.
Ercole Killa:It looks really good, but, you know, still, on that particular day, I did get a.
Ercole Killa:Even though I had a 180 and ribs, I had.
Ercole Killa:I had an A4 appearance in one, and I had two or three eights for parents and pork.
Ercole Killa:I had three eights for appearance and brisket.
Ercole Killa:Is this.
Ercole Killa:That appearance score really gets me.
Ercole Killa:That's.
Ercole Killa:That's.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, that's the thing that gets me the most.
JT:Do you.
JT:What do you use for your.
JT:For your garnish, for your green?
JT:Do you use kale?
JT:Okay.
JT:Oh, another kale guy.
Ercole Killa:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:I mean, I like parsley.
Ercole Killa:Looks better.
Ercole Killa:I.
Ercole Killa:I seem to be able to do that faster.
Ercole Killa:But when I get done with the kale box, I actually, I, I spray it with Pam so it doesn't stick onto the food, doesn't stick on, and looks really shiny.
Ercole Killa:So I've been using that for the last couple years.
JT:See, I, I made the comment.
JT:I was, I was there, of course Leanne was there.
JT:And when I was walking around on Friday, I ran into some guys from Texas, and they must have had four or five cases of kale.
JT:And they were very methodically.
JT:There was four of them sitting at the table, pulling it apart, kind of measuring it, putting it in boxes, and doing all that.
JT:My comment was, finally somebody felt found a good use for kale.
Ercole Killa:I agree with that.
Ercole Killa:I agree with that.
JT:Yeah.
JT:Yeah, it was tough.
JT:Does your wife go with you sometimes?
Ercole Killa:Once Once in a while she went with us to the Jack and a couple other wild wood.
Ercole Killa:She went with us.
Ercole Killa:My kids and all, they plays a lot of softball.
Ercole Killa:They travel a lot for softball.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, I have twin, I have twin girls and my twin.
Ercole Killa:I have a 21 year old daughter too.
Ercole Killa:She's just finished in college.
Ercole Killa:So I have all girls and the twins are pretty heavy in the softball.
Ercole Killa:So is my oldest.
JT:But good for you.
Leanne:No, I want to know what, what, what'd you do with the 25 grand you won and then some?
JT:I don't know.
Ercole Killa:He's only seen it yet.
Ercole Killa:I have to be checking the garage.
Ercole Killa:This is about as far as I go with it.
Ercole Killa:Now.
Ercole Killa:We.
Ercole Killa:I bought another trailer.
Ercole Killa:I bought a like a 35 foot southern dimension trailer and that's going to pay for some of it.
Ercole Killa:I already paid for most of it but that was just a good finished payment, I guess you can say.
JT:Yeah.
JT:Did you get to keep the big check?
Ercole Killa:I get the big check, yeah.
Ercole Killa:They could probably kept a little check if they wanted.
Ercole Killa:I wanted the big check.
JT:You got to have that.
JT:All right, we're going to take a break.
JT:We're going to come back with Urko Chilla from Uncle Pig's Barbecue who is the grand champion at this year's Jack.
JT:And funny thing is all three of us were there and didn't know it.
JT:Okay, we'll be right back.
JT:Don't go away.
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Jeff:This is an encore.
JT:Okay.
JT:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
JT:I'm JT along with Leanne Whippett.
JT:We are on all the social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that.
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JT:Today we're very fortunate to have Urkel Sheila with us from Uncle Pigs Barbecue, the grand champion at the Jack.
JT:How'd you get the name Uncle Pigs by the way?
Ercole Killa:Well, I GUESS probably about 20 years ago we, me and my wife were coming home from picking up some parts for my my at the time I worked for a Gas station, a guy.
Ercole Killa:We were coming home, and my.
Ercole Killa:One of my brothers was in the backyard grilling, and.
Ercole Killa:And my other brother used to call him Uncle Pig.
Ercole Killa:So as we got into the KCBS stuff, you know, the same thing I told the guy from the news.
Ercole Killa:You walk in my front door, you walk out the back door, you have a nickname.
Ercole Killa:So his name, his nickname was Uncle Pig.
Ercole Killa:So when we got to do our first KCBS competition, they said, yeah, I needed to get a name.
Ercole Killa:So I'm like, what about Uncle Pig's Barbecue Pit?
Ercole Killa:And it kind of stuck.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, so that's where it came from.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, it was kind of named after my brother.
JT:It's a good name, though.
JT:I actually.
JT:I really like it.
JT:It makes you smile when you.
JT:When you say it, you know, when you started.
JT:We'll get more back to the Jack results in a little bit here.
JT:But when you started, did you just start out in the backyard, or did you have a family tradition of barbecue and grilling in the backyard?
Ercole Killa:Growing up, when I started out, we started right out in pro.
Ercole Killa:So I had a cousin that was.
Ercole Killa:I have a cousin, rather, that was a judge, and he owned a restaurant, and I was just messing around with some ribs in the backyard, and he's like, hey, you know, you ought to compete with that kind of stuff.
Ercole Killa:I'm like, compete?
Ercole Killa:What do you mean, compete?
Ercole Killa:He's like, you can do a barbecue competition.
Ercole Killa:I'm like, they have a barbecue competition.
Ercole Killa:So I went and I went and found one, and.
Ercole Killa:And he helped me, and.
Ercole Killa:Well, needless to say, we did lousy.
Ercole Killa:You know, Competition World and.
Ercole Killa:And Backyard World is two different places.
JT:Right.
Ercole Killa:And that started it off.
Ercole Killa:I mean, the second one we did, we got like a second place chicken, a fourth place brisket.
Ercole Killa:I'm a car.
Ercole Killa:This is easy.
Ercole Killa:I got this.
Ercole Killa:You know, I.
Ercole Killa:I understand.
Ercole Killa:I know I got to do now.
Ercole Killa:So we decided to find a third one.
Ercole Killa:Now, that was in Delaware.
Ercole Killa:And that made me realize I really don't know nothing about this barbecue thing.
JT:Yeah, well, it.
JT:It kind of sneaks up on people, I think, Erica.
JT:You know, it really does.
JT:It.
JT:I tell the story on the show once in a while when I went to a contest here locally.
JT:Are you having trouble with your earphones?
Ercole Killa:Yeah, I'm trying.
Ercole Killa:It's not really.
Ercole Killa:Not really playing right now.
Ercole Killa:I can't.
Ercole Killa:I can hear without them.
JT:Okay.
JT:Anyway, I went to a kind of a local contest, and there was an older gentleman there with his grandson, and he had just a Weber kettle, and he had never been to one before.
JT:He just showed up with this Weber kettle in the back of his pickup, and he really didn't have anything prepped or anything like that, so he stopped me and asked if I could help him.
JT:And I said, well, the biggest help I could do is introduce you to a couple of these guys that are competing that I knew I wasn't in any position right then with a group of people walking around with me to help him.
JT:But anyway, I don't know whatever happened to him, but I know those guys took good care of him and got him started down the right road so that, you know, you can always ask for help if you don't know what you're.
JT:What you're up against out there.
Ercole Killa:That's true.
JT:Yep.
JT:Okay, so let's get back to what you did there.
JT:Knife and brisket.
JT:You know, when people.
JT:When I.
JT:We call them civilians listen to this show, they're not competitive barbecue people.
JT:They're just, you know, backyard cooks and like, to tailgate or whatever.
JT:Why don't you tell us your process of how you prep and then how you cook your brisket?
JT:Are you low and slow?
JT:Hot, fast, Somewhere in between.
JT:What's your process there?
Ercole Killa:Well, basically, I trim, I take out of it.
JT:I.
Ercole Killa:My brisket's usually in the freezer.
Ercole Killa:I usually get, like, six or eight briskets a month.
Ercole Killa:When I'm doing competition, I'll take one out on, like, Monday.
Ercole Killa:Monday night, I go get chicken, and by Tuesday, it's ready to be trimmed.
Ercole Killa:So I trim it down to, you know, small size.
Ercole Killa:I really don't go with a crazy, huge brisket.
Ercole Killa:When we cook it, we.
Ercole Killa:We're actually hot and fast on a drum.
Ercole Killa:You know, just a typical.
Ercole Killa:You know, we have you.
Ercole Killa:We wrap it and cut it up and serve it.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, I don't know how much more you want me to get into detail.
Ercole Killa:I could waste a whole hour on that.
JT:Well, no, but I mean, but it's always interesting to people is, like, how much do you trim off?
Ercole Killa:How.
Ercole Killa:Oh, yeah, it's down.
Ercole Killa:There's no fat on it.
JT:No fat.
Ercole Killa:I go pretty naked on both sides.
JT:And do you take.
JT:Are you just using the flat, or what are you.
Ercole Killa:Well, unfortunately, it seems like the judges don't, like, burn ends anymore.
Ercole Killa:You know, when I turn them in, they're usually pretty good, but you'll get three good ones and three bad ones, so I just leave it out of the box.
Ercole Killa:I don't even.
Ercole Killa:I won't even bring it with me because I'm always tempted to cook it and always tempted to turn it in.
Ercole Killa:And most this year I did it like six times and it was pretty much a 50, 50 split.
Ercole Killa:You know, we've won the category three times and came in 27th.
Ercole Killa:The other three with three bad scores.
JT:Huh?
JT:Have you seen that, Leanne?
JT:We were talking about that yesterday.
Leanne:We talked about this.
Leanne:I told you why they're staying away from it.
Leanne:Bern ends are not the thing anymore.
Leanne:It's all sliced.
Ercole Killa:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:It's all slices.
Ercole Killa:As much as I want to turn them in because I feel that they're good, I just, I can't.
Leanne:The judges are too wishy washy on what their opinion of a burn in is and it's not worth the risk.
Ercole Killa:You know, we had a judge one time come up to us and at a contest three or four years ago and he asked if we had brisket and he ate brisket left there.
Ercole Killa:We gave him some brisket in the burn in.
Ercole Killa:He said, what tastes that seems like has a little bit of fat?
Ercole Killa:And I'm like, well, a burn in is like.
Ercole Killa:It's like 65, 70 fat.
Ercole Killa:It's going to have some fat in it.
Ercole Killa:And it was like milk kind of fat.
Ercole Killa:But they didn't have it.
Ercole Killa:He just didn't.
Ercole Killa:He didn't know it was.
Ercole Killa:It's like supposed to dissolve, you know, So I don't even take a chance doing it anymore.
JT:I don't.
JT:I really.
JT:I'm sorry.
JT:I don't understand why the judges wouldn't like them.
JT:I know you said they're wishy washy, Leanne, and I'm not a judge, but I don't understand because to me, burn ends are.
Leanne:Some of us like.
Leanne:It's just that people have different opinions of what a definition of a burn in is.
Leanne:Some people expected to be.
Leanne:And there, there is a true burnout.
Leanne:You know, it's kind of crunchy and then whatever.
Leanne:And then there's the ones that, you know, people are soaking in pans and it like is mushy in your mouth, that kind of thing.
Leanne:So it's, it's, as he said, it's not worth the risk.
JT:Well, on that I like.
Ercole Killa:He'S definitely a broad scope on how it, how they're judged.
Ercole Killa:There's not a certain criteria that's, that's for everyone and you really, really.
Ercole Killa:It's really hard to.
Ercole Killa:To put him in with.
Ercole Killa:With com.
Ercole Killa:With comfort and confidence.
JT:Yeah.
JT:We're going to take another break.
JT:We're going to be back with Eric Olchilla from Uncle Pig's Barbecue Grand Champion at the Jack right after this.
JT:Please stay with us.
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Jeff:This is an encore.
JT:Welcome back to the nation.
JT:That's Barbecue Nation again.
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JT:it's good stuff.
JT:I have a few bottles sitting right over here, but I'm not sure I'm going to share those with anybody.
JT:I think I'm probably going to.
Leanne:And the holidays are coming up.
Leanne:Great stocking stuffer.
JT:True, true.
JT:But I might get carried away.
JT:I know that's hard to believe with me, but I might get carried away and have to get some more from you.
JT:Anyway, we're talking with Urkel Chilla from Uncle Pig's Barbecue in New Jersey.
JT:You know, Urkel, I don't know if people actually think of New Jersey and barbecue.
Ercole Killa:Nope.
JT:I mean, it's just, you know, when you think barbecue, you think Tennessee or Missouri or Kansas or Texas or Georgia or someplace.
Ercole Killa:It's really funny.
Ercole Killa:When we were at the Jack, we were, you know, we were next to chicken fried.
Ercole Killa:Right.
Ercole Killa:Chicken fried barbecue.
Ercole Killa:I think heavy smoke.
Ercole Killa:And a couple of Texas teams were in line there, and some lady walked by.
Ercole Killa:Oh, my God.
Ercole Killa:I'm from Texas.
Ercole Killa:You're from New Jersey.
Ercole Killa:You don't got a chance, buddy.
Ercole Killa:She tells me.
Leanne:Oh, my God.
Ercole Killa:Like, oh, thank you.
Ercole Killa:Thank you.
JT:Showed her.
JT:Yeah.
JT:Well, we've had.
JT:Who is it?
JT:Ration is from New Jersey, too, I think.
JT:And Ray's, you know, written books.
JT:He's competed now he's a restaurateur.
JT:We'll have him back on the show after the first of the year.
JT:And so, you know, barbecue's growing, I think.
JT:Do you have.
JT:Are there barbecue restaurants around where you live?
Ercole Killa:Not.
Ercole Killa:Nothing.
Ercole Killa:We had.
Ercole Killa:I had a restaurant for, like, five or six years, and then I owned a strip mall, and I just.
Ercole Killa:I had to sell the strip mall because the people that were running from me didn't.
Ercole Killa:Weren't very on time with the rent.
JT:I got it.
Ercole Killa:It was either sell it or do something bad.
Ercole Killa:So I just decided to decide.
JT:Oh.
Ercole Killa:And so that's why I closed that down.
Ercole Killa:That was like.
Ercole Killa:We had that for, like, six years.
Ercole Killa:Other than that, there's, like, your mission barbecue that nobody really goes to and stuff like that.
JT:Yeah, more little.
JT:Little chains and little chain deals.
Ercole Killa:There's nobody.
Ercole Killa:There's a couple, I think, places opening up, but I haven't.
Ercole Killa:I haven't been to them yet.
Ercole Killa:They're one in maybe about a half hour away from my house, which we'll try.
Ercole Killa:I mean, we have.
Ercole Killa:I have no problem trying them.
Ercole Killa:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:Every weekend is a competition for me.
Ercole Killa:And right now, actually, I.
JT:We.
Ercole Killa:Since.
Ercole Killa:Since the Jack.
Ercole Killa:We did the Royal Oak Invitational.
Ercole Killa:Day one at.
Ercole Killa:Day two in New Jersey, double in Virginia this weekend just passed.
Ercole Killa:We GC'd that one.
Ercole Killa:And third place finished the day two.
Leanne:So.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, then I got one in North Carolina at Caratuck this weekend.
Ercole Killa:So.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, we're still at it.
JT:Yeah, I know when I talk you on the phone, you were laughing because you were like, well, I'm on my way to Virginia to do a.
JT:I was like, don't you take a break, man?
JT:No, we're.
JT:We're on the road.
JT:We're doing it.
Ercole Killa:A lot of windshield time.
JT:A lot of windshield time.
JT:What do you think?
JT:Besides your grand champion at the Jack or goal?
JT:What.
JT:What brings you the most joy out of doing this?
JT:Is it the competition side?
JT:Is it meeting the people?
JT:Is it, you know, getting away from your mechanic shop?
JT:I mean, what is it?
Ercole Killa:So for me, what's going on right now is.
Ercole Killa:Is.
Ercole Killa:Is some of the best things of it.
Ercole Killa:I never would have met you.
Ercole Killa:I really only would have known Leanne through tv.
Ercole Killa:I wouldn't have met all the People that I met in the barbecue world that I would meet.
Ercole Killa:I mean, there's just so many people that are out there that are friends now.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's crazy.
Ercole Killa:I mean, it's unbelievable.
Ercole Killa:And you never know who, really you're talking to.
Ercole Killa:You know, some of these people that barbecue could be, a lawyer or doctor or whatever, I mean, they're just.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It.
Leanne:That is the truth.
Leanne:That is the truth.
Leanne:It is everybody.
Leanne:So you can't predict what they do in life.
Leanne:You know, it's just, you know, everybody has the love of barbecue in common, but.
Leanne:Yeah, all walks of life.
Ercole Killa:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:I mean, I do.
Ercole Killa:I enjoy cooking.
Ercole Killa:The cooking aspect of it, of course.
Ercole Killa:You know, it's.
Ercole Killa:It's never.
Ercole Killa:It's never been for money for me, because, you know, you could win.
Ercole Killa:I could win the next 50 contests and still be broke and still be behind as far as money put in.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's definitely the.
Ercole Killa:The thrill of getting calls and the.
Ercole Killa:The chance of getting calls.
Ercole Killa:It just.
Ercole Killa:I don't know.
Ercole Killa:It's just all that in one big ball is what does it for me.
JT:Yeah, I can understand that.
JT:I know that Leanne and I are working on a TV show together, and I have another radio show.
JT:It's a golf show.
JT:And when I kind of started doing some research a few years ago and found out how many of, like, the pro golfers are very much into barbecue, a couple of them are into competing.
JT:They live in Georgia.
JT:Like, Stuart Sink, he's got his own barbecue team down there.
JT:I don't know if he does KCBS or what he does, but I know they've got a.
JT:They've got a team.
JT:Him and the head pro at the.
JT:At the club he belongs to and to.
JT:To find that out, you know, and these aren't people that are just going out to their Weber gas grill and throwing a steak on it.
JT:You know, these are people that are really getting into it, and it's really so spread out, as you were both saying, across every walk of life, that I find that very fascinating because that is very much a common ground.
JT:They don't care who you are.
JT:If you want to talk barbecue with them, come on in.
JT:Do you think that what you've turned in so far is absolutely your best work?
Ercole Killa:No, I.
Ercole Killa:I feel that there's still a little bit more finishing flavors that.
Ercole Killa:That I have to.
Ercole Killa:I have to master a little bit, you know, and sometimes it's.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's area as much as it is anything else, you know, you don't want to give something really sweet to, to this area, really, you know, vinegary that area.
Ercole Killa:So I kind of keep everything the same and sometimes that it helps and sometimes it probably does a little bit of a damage to my scores.
Ercole Killa:But I, I'd like to think that I.
Ercole Killa:The finishing part of it is, is where I got to get as far as finishing dusts and stuff like that.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, I think I need to be a little bit more stronger on that.
Ercole Killa:Once I get to that point, hopefully it'll, it'll, it'll be better than it was in the past.
JT:My worst own enemy.
Ercole Killa:Sometimes I think, well, that's, that's not your enemy.
Ercole Killa:That's.
Ercole Killa:That keeps you going.
Ercole Killa:That keeps you, that keeps me moving forward.
Ercole Killa:I mean, if you lay still, you're going to get caught and passed.
Ercole Killa:I mean, you just can't.
Ercole Killa:For me, I, I don't, I, I don't like saving necessarily change a lot of stuff, but I do tweak things, you know, after a little bit of time, you know, if it doesn't really hit like I want, like this year, towards the middle of the year, I was stuck in either a no call or bottom five.
Ercole Killa:So that's when, right before the jack, the first, like the last six, eight weeks before the jack is when I said I have to change something.
Ercole Killa:I had to change something to try to get this to be better.
Ercole Killa:And I, you know, after winning team of the year the year before, I kind of was like staying with, with it and staying with it.
Ercole Killa:I'm like, well, it's not doing what it's supposed to do.
Ercole Killa:So now it's time to change the channel.
Ercole Killa:So.
Ercole Killa:And that's me.
JT:Yeah.
Leanne:You can't change it after one contest.
Leanne:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:Wow.
Ercole Killa:And so after like, like six, eight weeks of not really doing did okay well, like you wanted to be, I just started to change things one meat at a time.
Ercole Killa:And finally I got to the point where I'm like, okay, this is all this stuff right now.
Ercole Killa:The way it's going, the way it's cooking is good enough to win.
Ercole Killa:So now we're going to put it to test of a couple contests.
Ercole Killa:And on day we did a contest in New Jersey and on day one, I made a horrible mistake and I used a tenderizer in all my meats and let it go for way too long.
Ercole Killa:And I just destroyed everything.
Ercole Killa:I still came in 11 somehow.
Ercole Killa:I don't know how, but the next day we, we scored a 708 and we reserved to Brad.
Ercole Killa:But.
Ercole Killa:And so I figured at that point, said, this is the stuff we're going to go with the rest of the way.
Ercole Killa:And that's where we.
Ercole Killa:That's where we were at.
Ercole Killa:And that's where we did use it to Jack.
Ercole Killa:And I really started writing a lot, a lot of things down in my book.
Ercole Killa:Because sometimes you make changes.
Ercole Killa:I don't even know you're making changes.
Ercole Killa:Why did I stop doing that?
Ercole Killa:It's just crazy.
JT:Do you go back and reference your book and your notes and say, that worked really well there, then it didn't work, but now it seems to be working again.
JT:Or I did X, Y and Z to that and now it's getting close to where I want it.
Ercole Killa:Right.
Ercole Killa:So every contest for me has a page.
Ercole Killa:You know, the Jack has its own page.
Ercole Killa:The New Jersey Day 1 has its own page.
Ercole Killa:The Virginia Galaxy, they all have its own page.
Ercole Killa:What I've done and what was successful and what not, it wasn't successful.
Ercole Killa:And I reference it all the time.
JT:That's.
JT:That's good.
JT:That's.
JT:That's better than I do it.
JT:I just try to do stuff off top of my head and usually my hands.
Ercole Killa:I remember my name sometimes.
JT:Yeah, I was gonna say you get older.
Leanne:That I have a lot of.
Leanne:I have a lot of those pages, Jeff.
Leanne:But the problem is you can't understand the writing, so.
Leanne:But I have the pages.
Ercole Killa:I was the same way.
Ercole Killa:What the hell was I writing right there?
Ercole Killa:Yeah.
Leanne:Yeah, I do.
Leanne:And then I, like, I'd run out of paper, end of the paper, and I'd go up the side.
Leanne:I'm like, was that for the ribs or was that for the chicken?
Leanne:Yeah.
Leanne:I start off really good and I put the name of the contest and the date, you know, and the brand of meats that I used and da, da, da.
Leanne:And then as it goes on, it gets messier and messier and then it goes sideways.
JT:Looks like it's written in Swahili or something.
Leanne:I have all of them.
Ercole Killa:So I most definitely, either before I start making my injections or after I'm done, I write everything out slowly.
Ercole Killa:Because I was like that I would write so fast.
Ercole Killa:And I'm like, I'll remember that.
Ercole Killa:And the other day, a couple months ago, I'm like, what the hell did I write there?
Ercole Killa:Was I medicine?
JT:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:What I wrote.
JT:Yeah, yeah, that's me every day.
JT:Unfortunately, we're going to take another break.
JT:We're going to be back with Eric Ochila from Uncle Pig's Barbecue.
JT:In New Jersey, the grand champion at the Jack this year and got more fun stuff to talk about, so please stay with us.
Jeff:Hey, everybody, it's jt.
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JT:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation on USA Radio Networks and all the podcast platforms you could possibly dream of.
JT:I'm JT, along with hall of Famer Ms.
JT:Leanne Whippen.
JT:We've got Urcol Chilla with us today from Uncle Pig's Barbecue in New Jersey.
JT:What part of Jersey do you live in?
Ercole Killa:It's South Jersey.
Ercole Killa:South Jersey, Actually, you can see my from my house.
Ercole Killa:I can see the Philadelphia airports.
Ercole Killa:Like, it's my house.
Ercole Killa:A road in the river than the airport.
JT:Wow.
JT:So are you a Steelers fan or are you a Jets fan or what are you?
Ercole Killa:I'm as far as Miami.
Ercole Killa:I said as far as barbecue goes in New Jersey.
Ercole Killa:I'm a Miami Dolphins fan.
Leanne:Okay, there we go.
Ercole Killa:A completely different thing.
JT:I got it.
Leanne:They're doing pretty good.
JT:Well, yeah, you know, you got.
JT:Leanne's living in Florida, so she's got the bucks, which are in her backyard.
Leanne:Yeah, but I'm a.
Leanne:I'm a Giants.
JT:You're a Giants fan?
JT:And when they're Giants.
Leanne:Oh, you can laugh.
Leanne:Yeah.
JT:When they take it on the chin, I gotta tell you, I text her and say, your Giants look like crap today.
JT:I don't get a good response, though, I'll tell you that.
JT:It's like that.
JT:Where do you think you go from here, Nicole?
JT:I mean, you won the Jack, you were team of the year.
Leanne:Yeah.
Leanne:Are you stay.
Leanne:Are you chasing team of the year every year?
Leanne:Is that, like, a thing for you?
Ercole Killa:No.
Ercole Killa:I mean, so at the beginning of last year, I, I.
Ercole Killa:When we finished, when we're finishing off last year, just like I was in the middle of this year.
Ercole Killa:I said, you know what I told the guy was, you know, cooks with me.
Ercole Killa:I'm like, I think we're gonna be able to make a run for a team of the year next year.
Ercole Killa:He goes, you think?
Ercole Killa:I'm like, that's all it takes is one or two wins in the beginning.
Ercole Killa:And then we know we're at.
Ercole Killa:And we'll just, we'll just run with it, see what happens.
Ercole Killa:And sure enough, it started, you know, we started winning a lot.
Ercole Killa:And so this year we start off at Lakeland.
Ercole Killa:We won Lakeland.
Ercole Killa:I'm like, oh, well, I mean, are.
Leanne:You gonna be at Lakeland this year?
Ercole Killa:Yeah.
Leanne:Okay.
Ercole Killa:Gotta be.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, I gotta defend.
Ercole Killa:So, yeah, maybe I'll see you there.
Ercole Killa:Yeah, my.
Ercole Killa:So, yeah, so I don't, I don't plan on it.
Ercole Killa:When you ever.
Ercole Killa:Anybody says they, they want to run for team of the year, you really can't say that because you don't even know if you're gonna win.
Ercole Killa:So if you don't win a little bit in the beginning, you're just wasting money.
JT:Yeah, right.
Ercole Killa:Run that hard.
Ercole Killa:But we're going to try to.
Ercole Killa:We're gonna, we're gonna try to.
Ercole Killa:To put some wins together in the beginning.
Ercole Killa:So we put some miles on that new trailer.
JT:There you go.
JT:There you go.
JT:Do you still have a catering company, too?
Ercole Killa:Yeah, we still, we still, we still do that also.
Ercole Killa:My wife does that for us.
Leanne:And I was gonna say, how do you travel every weekend and cater?
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:It's.
Ercole Killa:So.
Leanne:Yeah, your wife does it, so we.
Leanne:She has to help support your habit, too.
Ercole Killa:She's like my pusher.
Leanne:Yeah.
Leanne:Yeah.
JT:Well, that's good.
JT:Yeah.
JT:We've all had experience in catering, and it can be.
JT:It can be very fruitful, and it can also be very frustrating.
JT:Was my experience with it.
JT:I had a catering company for about six years and always enjoyed it, meaning most of the time I enjoyed it.
JT:Let me clarify that.
JT:And most of the time I met some really great people.
JT:There were a few, and I have them in my book back here right under my desk.
JT:Is there anything you, you'd like to do in barbecue that you really haven't done yet?
JT:And I don't mean just winning a.
JT:Like winning the jack, but is there an event or someplace you'd like to bring barbecue to that would mean something to you?
Ercole Killa:You know, unfortunately for the American royal and me, we had a disagreement two years ago.
Ercole Killa:I'd like to.
Ercole Killa:I would have Liked to went back there.
Ercole Killa:I probably never will.
Ercole Killa:I mean, because I'm waiting for two things.
Ercole Killa:Waiting for my dessert tray to get back to me or an apology for how they handled it.
Ercole Killa:And I don't think I'll get either one.
Ercole Killa:So I.
Ercole Killa:I feel that I'm missing that part of the barbecue in my life.
Ercole Killa:Not for winning it, just actually being there because it was nice to be there.
Ercole Killa:But, you know, that's up.
Ercole Killa:Like I said, I don't know if that's ever going to happen again.
Ercole Killa:As much as I would like it to happen, I don't think it's going to happen again.
JT:Somebody walked off with your dessert tray.
Ercole Killa:Well, yeah.
Ercole Killa:So my brother, before he passed away, made me a dessert tray.
Ercole Killa:He was only 49.
Ercole Killa:He had tongue cancer.
Ercole Killa:So we turned the dessert in.
Ercole Killa:I went to go get my tray.
Ercole Killa:They told me I can't get it after awards.
Ercole Killa:I went to get it after the awards and it was missing.
Ercole Killa:Now.
Ercole Killa:He said, well, maybe it got thrown away.
Ercole Killa:I'm like.
Ercole Killa:I said, all due respect, sir.
Ercole Killa:Then plastic ones on the table.
Ercole Killa:I could see being thrown away.
Ercole Killa:This was made of wood.
Ercole Killa:It had glass cups, metal spoons.
Ercole Killa:It didn't get thrown away.
Ercole Killa:I said, is it possible you can actually put this picture of this when you're jumbotron to say that it's missing?
Ercole Killa:And I don't care how it shows up, where it shows up, because what.
Ercole Killa:We can't do that.
Ercole Killa:You know, you're accused of somebody of stealing.
Ercole Killa:I'm like, forget it.
Ercole Killa:You can keep it.
Ercole Killa:I'm not even crazy with this anymore.
Ercole Killa:And we had a couple exchanges of words and said, I won't be back no more.
Ercole Killa:And so I haven't been back.
JT:Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
JT:That's.
Ercole Killa:And then this year they had a whirlwind of dessert trays being stolen, from what I understand.
Leanne:Oh, really?
Leanne:Yeah.
Leanne:And I will say I noticed at the Jack that the trays were specifically designed for the specific dessert they were making.
Ercole Killa:Yes.
Leanne:And also specifically for the Jack.
Leanne:And you could tell that so much thought and time went into just the vessel to deliver their dessert that it should be taken more seriously.
Ercole Killa:So ours was a barrel head.
Ercole Killa:It has a Jack Daniels distillery on it.
Ercole Killa:Jack Daniels Old number seven on it, rather.
Ercole Killa:And it had.
Ercole Killa:Has eight cup holders.
Ercole Killa:And we had.
Ercole Killa:We made the cup holders indented into the cup, didn't move out of there.
Ercole Killa:Then we had little, little, little hole holders where the drink went to.
Ercole Killa:It was just.
Ercole Killa:The shot glass went.
Ercole Killa:There was just a Lot.
Ercole Killa:And that.
Ercole Killa:That was something different.
Ercole Killa:We got that one back.
Ercole Killa:But the one in American World had a lot more meaning to me than that one.
JT:But I'm sure it did if it was made by your brother.
JT:Well, that's unfortunate.
JT:I always hate to hear stories like that, especially when I try.
Ercole Killa:And I tried everything I could to get him to.
Ercole Killa:To.
Ercole Killa:To.
Ercole Killa:To help a little bit.
Ercole Killa:And they.
Ercole Killa:They might have tried a little bit.
Ercole Killa:They said they would help me look for it, but it.
Ercole Killa:It really wasn't.
Ercole Killa:It really wasn't a good effort, you know?
JT:What the hell are you going to do, go through everybody's trailer?
JT:I mean, they could have.
Ercole Killa:They could have, like my said, if they could have just posted a picture.
JT:Yeah, right.
Ercole Killa:That's all.
Ercole Killa:That's all I asked them to do.
Ercole Killa:I mean, after that, if nobody had conscious enough to give it back, that's not their fault.
Ercole Killa:But when they said they wouldn't post a picture, I'm like, okay, that just tells me you don't care about what's going on right here.
JT:Oh, that's unfortunate.
Ercole Killa:But that was then, this is now.
JT:I like your attitude a lot, Urkel.
JT:I really do.
JT:I mean, you're, like, on to the next thing, and that's refreshing, really.
JT:Very much so.
JT:At least for me, because, you know, I'm Mr.
JT:Smiley all the time.
JT:And watch Leanne laugh.
Leanne:Bend over deep down inside.
JT:Yeah, yeah, there's a.
JT:There's something going on in there.
JT:I'm not sure what it is.
JT:Urkel, how can people find you?
JT:Do you have Facebook or website?
Ercole Killa:Or you have Twitter?
Ercole Killa:Instagra?
Ercole Killa:Snapchat?
Ercole Killa:I think they're there.
JT:So, Urkel, you're gonna stick around for after hours.
JT:That's gonna wrap it up for the regular radio show.
JT:We thank you, Urkel Chilla from Uncle Pig's Barbecue Grand Champion at the Jack.
JT:Good guy.
JT:Someday I'm gonna get to try some of your barbecue.
JT:I promise.
Ercole Killa:If I knew you were at the Jack.
JT:Yeah, I was kind of undercover.
JT:Yeah.
Leanne:Yeah.
Ercole Killa:Next year, I'm sure you'll be there.
JT:Yeah, we probably will be.
JT:Anyway, we're gonn here.
JT:Have a good week.
JT:Thank you, Leanne.
JT:And remember our motto here.
JT:Turn it, don't burn it.
JT:Take care, everybody.
JT:Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD LLC Productions in association with Salem Media Group.
JT:All rights reserved.
