Meathead - Author - "The Meathead Method" Afterhours
The central focus of this podcast installment is the introduction of Meathead's newly released publication, "The Meathead Method." This discourse features Meathead from AmazingRibs.com, where we delve into the intricacies of his latest culinary insights and methodologies regarding barbecuing. We explore the evolution of barbecue techniques and the scientific principles that underpin the art of grilling. The dialogue is enriched by lighthearted banter that highlights the personalities of the hosts, JT and Leanne, while maintaining a serious tone regarding the subject matter at hand. As we navigate through various questions and anecdotes, we emphasize the passion for barbecue that unites us, offering listeners a profound understanding of both the craft and its cultural significance.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- AmazingRibs.com
- Amazon
- Barnes and Noble
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 B:Hey, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:It is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker B:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Hey, everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome to After Hours.
Speaker B:This is the part of the show where anything can happen, including Meathead taking a bathroom break.
Speaker B:But we don't show that on film.
Speaker B:Anyway, we've got meathead from AmazingRibs.com today.
Speaker B:His new book, the Meathead Method, we talked about in the show.
Speaker B:I've come up with some different questions for you.
Speaker B:They're a little different, but I think you'll find them entertaining.
Speaker A:I hate this part of the show.
Speaker B:Oh, this is the fun part.
Speaker A:The quiz.
Speaker B:The quiz.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Very simple.
Speaker B:What's your favorite flavor of Lifesaver?
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:You know, I haven't had Lifesavers in a long time, but I was always a cherry.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Leanne, what did you say was the green ones, the lime ones?
Speaker C:No, I like cherry, too.
Speaker B:I like cherry, too.
Speaker B:The ones I don't like are the.
Speaker B:The pineapple.
Speaker C:Pineapple, yeah.
Speaker A:In any candies, the watermelon flavor.
Speaker A:I love watermelon, but the watermelon flavor just doesn't resemble watermelon.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker B:Okay, when you're buttering toast, do you go to the edges or you cut the crust off?
Speaker A:Oh, you have to go to the edges all the way.
Speaker A:I mean, I am meticulous that there are no.
Speaker A:And not.
Speaker A:Not just out of being some sort of neatnik, but want it to toast, and I want the flavor everywhere.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You know, my wife's grandmother told her.
Speaker B:Told Shelly that I was the guy she should marry because I buttered Grandma's toast clear to the edges.
Speaker B:That's a good test.
Speaker B:That's a good test.
Speaker B:If you.
Speaker A:It's essential for doing things like garlic bread.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because if you don't get the crust, it's going to burn.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:When you get the chance to splurge on yourself, what do you do?
Speaker B:What do you splurge on?
Speaker A:My wife and I are theater goers, and we.
Speaker A:We live in Chicago, and there's no shortage of great theater.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Almost every week we find ourselves in a theater, and either before or after, we go out to dinner and we usually eat nicely.
Speaker A:We, you know, not McDonald's.
Speaker A:So theater and a dinner are splurges Although, as I mentioned earlier, we are thinking about trying this vacation thing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Make sure your insurance is paid up.
Speaker B:What's the weakest part of your self control?
Speaker A:Oh, sugar, sugar, sugar.
Speaker A:And my wife's a baker and she's always.
Speaker A:She did some biscotti yesterday and she does it beautifully.
Speaker A:And they'll all be gone in a couple of days and she'll be lucky if she gets two or three.
Speaker A:I'll get them all.
Speaker A:If there's cookies, cake, candy, anything sweet around the house.
Speaker A:I can't control myself.
Speaker A:I have.
Speaker A:People don't believe you're.
Speaker A:You can be addicted to sugar, but there's no question.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, you can.
Speaker A:I'm addicted to sugar.
Speaker B:Leanne, what's your weakest part of your self control?
Speaker C:Well, as it relates to food or just in life.
Speaker B:Anything.
Speaker B:Anything in know that I'm a terrible.
Speaker C:Procrastinator, so I'm very weak when it comes, you know, to getting things done.
Speaker C:Right now.
Speaker C:Right now.
Speaker C:And my famous motto is procrastination pays.
Speaker C:And almost invariably because of my procrastination, something good comes of it, really.
Speaker C:And I just blew it on Amazon because I bought a piece of furniture and it was broken and instead of dilly dallying around, I decided to get it off and ship it away.
Speaker C:And then I get an email, you can keep it.
Speaker C:You know, it's like the one time I did things right away and then it.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:But yeah, I find that procrastination for sure pays for me, that is.
Speaker A:I think Amazon is doing a lot more of that now.
Speaker A:I think they've just decided that the process of shipping back and then fixing.
Speaker C:Thing, you know what I mean?
Speaker C:And if it's broken, what are they going to do?
Speaker C:Take it apart and figure out which part it is and put it back.
Speaker C:It's cost them more than the piece of furniture.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's like the old saying.
Speaker C:So for all you Amazon people, don't rush to return.
Speaker C:Go ahead and put the return through, but don't take it.
Speaker C:Give it a couple days.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's the old saying.
Speaker B:It's cheaper to keep her, you know, there.
Speaker B:Okay, Meathead, if I gave you a box with all the lost, everything you've lost in your life is in this box, what's the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker B:I told you these were new.
Speaker C:I know exactly what I reach for.
Speaker B:Well, you're going to tell us.
Speaker A:I'm going to give you the left field answer.
Speaker A:I've lost people.
Speaker A:Old college friends, used to be a Chinese restaurant that my wife and I went to when we were recording.
Speaker A:And the couple who ran it were marvelous, and they took marvelous care of us, and they cooked for us, and they had two little girls, and they would crawl around under the table, and they would practice their English on us.
Speaker A:And they called me Toyo ya, which meant smelly feet.
Speaker A:And one day they closed the restaurant and moved, and I.
Speaker A:I can't find them.
Speaker A:And I miss them.
Speaker A:They were so sweet.
Speaker A:I've had other friends who.
Speaker A:Who've moved or.
Speaker B:You lost track.
Speaker A:I just lost track of.
Speaker A:And I want them back.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Leanne, what about you?
Speaker B:What would you reach for?
Speaker C:I'd reach for my dad's watch, because my dad and I were.
Speaker C:We were parking our little Chris Craft into the dock, and he took his watch off, you know, and he wanted me to hand it to him as we're getting off the dock, and I went to hand it to him, and it fell down in the water, and it was like his prized watch.
Speaker C:And we never found it, even though it was, like, within reach, but we never found that watch.
Speaker C:So that would be one thing.
Speaker C:And then another one was I had a solid gold pig charm, and I used to perform in water ski shows, and I took it off before the water ski show and put it on a blanket.
Speaker C:I lost that.
Speaker C:So I'd reach for both of those things.
Speaker A:Performed in water ski shows.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:And the Poconos.
Speaker C:I was in the Seahawk.
Speaker A:I was thinking Weeki Wachee Springs.
Speaker A:So you were one of the hot babes in a bathing suit on the water.
Speaker C:Baywatch, we're mistaken here.
Speaker C:This is a ski Hawks.
Speaker C:And I was, like, 12.
Speaker A:Because I, I, I, I, as a young man, I would go to Weeki Watchee.
Speaker A:And those young ladies.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, they were.
Speaker A:They were things of fantasy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:You weren't thinking about Chinese food.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Now, Jeff, you answer this question.
Speaker B:What would I.
Speaker B:What would I reach for?
Speaker A:Yeah, what did you.
Speaker B:My dad.
Speaker B:Oh, my dad.
Speaker B:He was a very cool guy, very funny man.
Speaker B:You had to kind of listen to him to get the philosophy, if you will, because he would say stuff like you didn't really know what it meant or you didn't catch on to it in conversation, and then you thought about it later and you went, wow, okay.
Speaker B:And I just miss him because he was fun to pal around, pal around with.
Speaker B:He and I had our favorite Chinese place.
Speaker B:My family, my wife, my daughter and I, we still go there on occasion.
Speaker B:But he turned me onto that when I was in college, and he would say, come on, let's go to lunch.
Speaker B:Leave my mom at dad.
Speaker B:A retail store.
Speaker B:Leave my mom at the store for, like, two hours by herself, and we'd go have this fantastic lunch.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I would.
Speaker B:I would reach for my father.
Speaker A:What is.
Speaker A:Wait a minute.
Speaker A:I gotta jump back in here.
Speaker B:Yes, we.
Speaker A:I know we've done the rounds on this, but I know how close Leanne was to her father.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I know she would want him back, too.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:And when you.
Speaker C:When you started talking people, I'm like, boy, I sound kind of shallow.
Speaker C:I just picked out two materialistic items.
Speaker A:No, but the watch.
Speaker A:The watch symbolized your father.
Speaker B:I gotta.
Speaker C:That's exactly right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And your.
Speaker A:And your dad is the guy who created pig powder.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:And your dad.
Speaker C:That's the reason why I'm in barbecue.
Speaker A:I think you know this, but my.
Speaker A:For my first judging at the Jack Daniels, your dad was our table captain.
Speaker C:No, I don't.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker A:He was my table.
Speaker A:That's how I met your dad.
Speaker A:He was my table.
Speaker A:My first table captain.
Speaker C:Isn't that something?
Speaker B:How about that?
Speaker B:I didn't know that.
Speaker B:Okay, meathead, what is one thing that you regret that you did in school can be, you know, regular school, college, whatever.
Speaker A:I did so much bad stuff.
Speaker C:There has to be something that quickly popped into your head.
Speaker C:Come on.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, nothing specific.
Speaker B:I mean, hey, the statute of limitations is long expired, okay?
Speaker B:So you can say anything.
Speaker B:Well.
Speaker A:I fell in love too easily.
Speaker B:That was those water ski girls or what?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, no, I was a photographer.
Speaker A:I was interested in photography, and I did a lot of sports photography.
Speaker A:I photographed concerts and.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Janis Joplin from backstage and.
Speaker A:But the Florida alligator newspaper, the sales reps came up with the idea of, let's do a centerfold once a week where we have six or eight different campus girls dressed in outfits supplied by the local stores.
Speaker A:And the stores would buy the little sections that they were featured in.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And they hired me as the photographer, so I would spend a lot of time during the week driving around campus, walking around campus, saying, hey, you're really good looking.
Speaker A:Would you like to be a model for the Florida.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:That was a great way to meet girls.
Speaker A:And I did some nice photography, which, by the way, I don't know if you know this, but years later, when I sold my wine and booze magazine, I thought I'd try my hand at being a professional photographer.
Speaker A:And the first Gig I got was Playboy.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker A:I shot virtual reality for Playboy for their Internet site.
Speaker A:You could look at the pretty girl and turn her around or undress her.
Speaker A:And that was my.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:That was my first gig as a professional photographer.
Speaker C:And it was all downhill after that, huh?
Speaker A:Well, you know, I, I get the gig and I come home and I say, well, you know, I sold, I sold my business just a few weeks ago and I have a new gig.
Speaker A:Do you mind if I shoot naked ladies?
Speaker A:And there was a moment of hesitation and she looked at me and she said, go right ahead.
Speaker A:Those 23 year olds want nothing to do with you.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Leanne, what about you?
Speaker C:Let me think on it.
Speaker C:How about you?
Speaker C:Oh, you know what?
Speaker C:There was one thing in school.
Speaker C:I started a food fight.
Speaker C:It was like everyone was kind of razzing everybody about which one to throw the initial food.
Speaker C:And I got conned into being the first one.
Speaker C:And I was immediately.
Speaker C:I mean, I felt like I was arrested in front of the entire cafeteria and then of course, had to do my after school duties and all that.
Speaker C:So a little thing.
Speaker C:But I do remember that standing out as a regret.
Speaker B:When I was in school, high school, I was a freshman and they, we had a wonderful cafeteria.
Speaker B:The, the school system that I went to, where I grew up, they got money from the power company because the dams were on the Clackamas River.
Speaker B:And so part of the deal to put the dams in was the local schools would get a small percentage of money that would support the school systems.
Speaker B:They don't do this anymore.
Speaker B:That was taken away years ago.
Speaker B:But what they did was we had these marvelous cafeterias.
Speaker B:I mean, both of you would enjoy the food that was served there, I can guarantee that.
Speaker B:Well, then they switched because we had a lot of low income people in the area.
Speaker B:So they went to some sort of government subsidy and the food turned to crap.
Speaker B:It was just awful.
Speaker B:So I called a food strike.
Speaker B:Little did I know years later I would be so involved in the food business, but I called a food strike and got hauled into.
Speaker B:The principal and the superintendent were there because they had been football coach to my brother and track coaches to my sister, and they knew my parents and all this stuff.
Speaker B:And so I got my ass handed to me on that deal.
Speaker B:So that wasn't any good.
Speaker B:Okay, Meathead, two more questions here for you.
Speaker B:Name something you did not listen to your mother about.
Speaker A:There's a very specific incident comes to mind.
Speaker A:I was really into football in junior high and I was reasonably decent.
Speaker A:I was average size then.
Speaker A:I'm small now.
Speaker A:My classmates all grew bigger than me, and I was a defensive back, and we had a good team.
Speaker A:And when spring training came around for the high school, they came down to the junior high and plucked three of us and said, come on up and train with the high school varsity because we think you'll make the team next year.
Speaker A:And so I got up there and I practiced with them for about three or four weeks.
Speaker A:Had a ball, did pretty well.
Speaker A:They were much bigger than me at that time.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:And then I got in some trouble, and I don't remember what I did.
Speaker A:I got in some trouble at home.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:I was a difficult kid.
Speaker A:I was not always obedient.
Speaker A:And my parents grounded me for a week, which included the spring game, and I was grounded.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:I sneaked out the night of the spring game and went and watched.
Speaker A:I couldn't.
Speaker A:I didn't dress, but I went and watched.
Speaker A:And I would.
Speaker A:To this day, I wish I had gotten to play that spring game and I had been a good boy.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:And I don't remember.
Speaker A:I tell you something funny, though.
Speaker A:It's fun.
Speaker A:When I got in trouble, when I was a bad boy, my dad had a pair of boxing gloves he'd give me, and he had a pair of boxing gloves.
Speaker A:And my bed in the bedroom was in the corner, and he would not take off the belt.
Speaker A:He would not beat me or spank me, but he'd tell me, lace him up, and I'd put my gloves on.
Speaker A:He'd put his gloves on, and I'd stand on the bed and we'd box.
Speaker A:And of course, he'd beat the shit out of me.
Speaker A:But it was.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was boxing gloves.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:So I was never badly hurt, but I was embarrassed, and I did.
Speaker A:Yeah, I got banged up and bruised and knocked against the wall and stuff, but at least I had the opportunity to defend myself.
Speaker A:You know, when you're bent over a knee and they bring out the strap, you can't defend yourself.
Speaker B:You're hopeless.
Speaker A:I thought it was a pretty clever technique he had.
Speaker B:I'll.
Speaker B:I'll tell you this.
Speaker B:My mom was more of the disciplinarian, but she was a small woman, and she would always say the classic, wait till your dad gets home.
Speaker B:Well, off the old farmhouse, we had what we called the woodshed.
Speaker B:And so we would have to go out in the woodshed, and my dad would say, pick out a stick.
Speaker B:A switch.
Speaker B:They call it a switch.
Speaker B:It's like a willow switch or something.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:He would close the door and he would say, just stand over there.
Speaker B:And he would.
Speaker B:We had our barn coats hanging in the woodshed.
Speaker B:And he would hit the coats and he'd go, I want you to yell like, every time I, Every other time I hit.
Speaker B:Well, we were doing it, and we busted out laughing, and we got in trouble because my mom came through the door because she could hear us laughing out there.
Speaker B:I was supposed to be, like, crying or screaming or something like that so that we got away with that for a while.
Speaker A:But that's funny.
Speaker B:Eventually we got busted.
Speaker B:Leanne, you probably never did anything.
Speaker C:I was just gonna say, I can't think of anything that I did wrong, but I was the good daughter.
Speaker A:Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Speaker B:I don't buy that crap as much.
Speaker A:Let's, let's put a little reality on.
Speaker A:You're a beautiful woman.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:And when you were teenage college age, you must have been drop dead gorgeous.
Speaker A:You were always in trouble.
Speaker C:No, actually, I was a good girl.
Speaker C:I'm not kidding.
Speaker C:I really didn't do a whole lot wrong.
Speaker B:So are you blaming your sister?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:She made up for all the lost ground.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:She is the opposite of me.
Speaker B:If I ever meet her, I'm going to tell her that story.
Speaker C:She's a lot more fun.
Speaker A:I've met her.
Speaker A:I, I, I, I think you have.
Speaker C:In Chicago, maybe.
Speaker A:Pardon?
Speaker C:I think in Chicago.
Speaker A:Is she.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker A:Is she still here?
Speaker C:No, she's in la.
Speaker C:She lives in la?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, last question.
Speaker B:If you were born in another time, what would the time be?
Speaker B:And what would you be?
Speaker A:Do you ever see the movie Midnight in Paris?
Speaker A:It's the story of an American writer, and he's wandering around the streets of Paris, and all of a sudden he finds a car.
Speaker A:Come, an old car comes by and picks him up, and the car's got Hemingway and all the, all the, the paint, Picasso, and all the artists.
Speaker A:And there was a period, the golden age of Paris, where Paris was, where all the great painters and writers and Right.
Speaker A:Authors were there.
Speaker A:And that, that, that period, you know, the creativity, the excitement and the freedom, they were lustful, lusty, party, drinking, eating.
Speaker A:And in Paris, which to this day is the greatest city in the world.
Speaker A:So I'd go back to the, the golden age of Paris and hang out with Picasso.
Speaker B:And hanging out with Hemingway was no easy task.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So, Leanne, what about you?
Speaker C:Planet of the Apes, maybe?
Speaker C:You know, and everything was simple, nothing to worry about.
Speaker C:Just hang out all day.
Speaker C:I actually really like the era that I grew up in.
Speaker C:And, you know, I enjoyed the 70s and the 80s and rock and roll, and I.
Speaker C:I wouldn't even have minded maybe another 10 years earlier, you know, when it was more about the flower children and all that, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:That's a great point.
Speaker A:You know, I.
Speaker A:I, too, came of age.
Speaker A:I graduated high school in 67, went to college, got out in 72, 73, and, yeah, that was the flower age.
Speaker A:Hate Ashbury, which I visited.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was a good age.
Speaker A:There was a good era.
Speaker A:Good music.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's what I mean.
Speaker C:I like.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Kind of laid back, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:That was good.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:I would go to Hollywood when Hollywood was.
Speaker B:Hollywood.
Speaker B:Oh, you know, the classic era of Hollywood.
Speaker C:Frank Sinatra, kind of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:John Wayne, the Rat Pack.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Even.
Speaker B:Even before that, back with, like, Robert Taylor and Barbara.
Speaker A:30S.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah, that would.
Speaker C:I agree.
Speaker A:Maybe during Prohibition.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because there wasn't any in Hollywood.
Speaker B:No, but you think that, and you think of those classic movies and when they.
Speaker B:Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone and those guys, because when they showed up, they were usually in a limo or a classic car.
Speaker B:You know, people wore tuxes to Hollywood parties.
Speaker B:You know, that type of.
Speaker B:I've just always been fascinated with that stuff.
Speaker B:So, anyway, that's it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:We're done.
Speaker B:Meathead.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Don't forget, folks, his new book, the Meathead Method.
Speaker B:A Barbecue hall of Famer.
Speaker B:Secrets and Science.
Speaker C:Congratulations.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Get your presale on Amazon and Apple.
Speaker B:And Barnes and Noble is on the 13th.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's out there.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Well, thank you, my friend.
Speaker B:Leanne, thank you as always.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:We'll be back again with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I know you can't wait.
Speaker B:Neither can we.
Speaker B:So go out, have some fun, cook some great food, and remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker B:Take care, everybody.
