Super Snacks and Lindsey Loken

0:00Fire that thing up, lick the dons, and let's get grilling. You're tuned into the barbecue show. That's us, the barbecue show. Consider it fired up for a Super Bowl weekend. I am fired up for this weekend. The weather's gonna be good. I'm gonna be smoking some food, little just finger foods all day long, and just kinda like come and grab some food, watch the game, who cares, who wins, because I don't, and it's right. See where it goes. I don't want to get us off the rails. Okay. Alright, hold on. Let's start from the beginning. Super Bowl weekend, we're gonna talk Super Bowl foods today on the show. We'll dive into the mailbag as always, but we have a guest. We do. Lindsay Fulton's gonna join us from Blondie's Butcher Shop. She's gonna talk about the Minnesota Port Congress next week. She's super excited to hear from her. Do you notice how, and I think we can all relate to this a little bit, there's people you know, like they walk into a room, and the room just changes. Like they bring an energy to a room.

1:00They bring it. They put a smile on your face, no matter what day you're having. Every time we talk to Lindsay, the Blondie Butcher, I want to drive to her place right now, and just hang out. Yeah, she is a light bulb, for sure. And she's always just brightening on. Let's go. People pay attention. She's like a spark plug and fuel injection. Yeah, there you go. You still have spark plugs. Anyway, that's a different show. Here's what I was gonna mention, and a little bit of cross promotion. Yeah. We, as the barbecue show, were guests on another podcast last week. Strike from the service, check it out on Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. And one of the questions that was that, and I know why this just came on my mind. One of the things they asked, this is like, what's the strangest thing you've ever smoked? Right. Or ever seen, and we talked about Mike Altamari, a little plug for you, bud, and him smoking his ice cubes. Yeah. And I love to say, a smoked ice cubes. And people are like, what now? And then when you smoke the water, yeah, I can top that story though.

2:00What can you want? But it's not really barbecue. It's back to my youth, my wasted youth in Arcadia, Wisconsin. Okay. A small town school across the street from the public library. So during study hall, if you needed better resources, you could go across the street to the public library. Got it. And one of my friends, who was, let's just say, he might have struggled to get that diploma in high school. And his family was known to be kind of, a little wild and a little out there. And his mom comes in, while there's four or five of us sitting at a table, flipping through books and pretending to study, and she's returning a bunch of library books that I'll give him a plug, Richard Weaver, RIP Rich. I miss you, bud. Of course, why he had library books we'll never know. But she brought in a stack of like 12 of them that were all overdue. And the librarian says, oh, that looks like, well, no, there's one book that's still out. Do you know what happened to that? And the mom says, without missing a beat, oh, I think he smoked that one. Wow. Can't make it up. You can't make it up. He literally took the pages out and used it to roll tobacco and it smoked it.

3:01Oh, it was tobacco. Yeah, it was tobacco. Oh. It was probably knowing him. It was probably like pipe tobacco or something because he couldn't find it anyway. It doesn't matter. I digress. Welcome to the show. Super Bowl is here. The Super Bowl is exciting whether you're a football fan or not. It really is. I mean, you're in denial if you think, oh, it's a stupid weekend. Nobody cares. Like, no, it's still a big deal. It's still like the number one international sporting event. Exactly. Every single year. Just to give you a general idea. When it comes to, remember the old Nielsen ratings? The TV ratings? Yeah. They separate most watched television events. The Super Bowl has its own category because the number of people watch it, it's just not a fair comparison. Right. It's like, uh, it's like, steak to burger. It's not a fair comparison. See, a lot of people would have said apples, the oranges, but we're not that chill. That's correct. If you have to explain it, Jake, it wasn't a joke. Anyway, um, what do you've been up to? You've been doing any smoking? Not a lot. We did steaks though. Uh, Thursday night, 40 degrees on there. I was like,

4:01I'm going out to skunk railing steaks. And so, uh, we had some steaks and I planned ahead and I thought them out. So I use steaks that we already had in the freezer from, uh, some of them are from neighbors, I think. And I had, I just grabbed like three steaks out of the freezer and I put them out in the, in the train. I was like, we're planning ahead tonight, dear. Nice. And they just grilled them up on the charcoal. It tastes a real good. So, uh, planning ahead, and we talk about that a lot in the show, because it is important, especially with steaks, because it's, for us, it's such an afterthought. Oh, we'll just do steaks tonight. Yeah. You pull them out of the freezer and by the time you're ready to cook, they're good to go. Uh, I, can I steal this take? I'm trying it at my, claim it as my own, it's not my own. I stole it from Alton Brown. Uh, and I've done it a couple times. If you can plan ahead, and you know on Thursday or Saturday or Sunday, whenever you're going to cook steaks, take those steaks out and defrost them. Make sure they're good to go or buy them fresh. And then what he does, is he seasons them with salt on both sides, and he puts them on a dry and rack on a, you know, like on a cookie sheet or a pan thing, covers them with a paper towel

5:01and puts them in his refrigerator. And every day, he flips them over and puts a fresh paper towel on top, and he lets them sit in his refrigerator for four to five days, and it kind of dryages them. And I've tried it, and it's amazing. Really? It is, because what it does is it's a little bit of salt and a little bit of that cool refrigerator air. You're just drying them enough to take some of the moisture out, and it just intensifies the flavor of the meat. It makes the fat pop a little bit, so you get a little better render. And it's a lot of, it's heavy prep, but it's worth it. If you can plan ahead enough to schedule four or five days to let those sit in your refrigerator, if you have a separate fridge like in the garage, or they're not in the way, that's the ideal, of course. But it works. All right. Interesting concept. It's a heck of a good tip, and I highly, highly recommend it, if you have the ability and the time to give it a shot. Yeah. Right on. All right. Let's do this. Let's talk with Lindsay. The blonde butcher. She is, as the kids like to say, she's a hoot. She's a gas.

6:01All right. She's sort of crew call her. Yeah. She is next on the barbecue show. When do we continue? Right after this. We're back on the barbecue show, Stanton Jake, and our return guest. Absolutely. We'll give him back. Oh, yeah. All right. All right. All right, all right. All right. All right. All right, all right. All right. All right. All right. No, no. That's I didn't get down the road yet. But we'll work on that. So do the introductions. My man. That's bloody butcher shop Miss Lindsay Fullton. Hey. How are you? Yeah, great to be back again. Well, we're glad to have you back in with a good cause next week's Minnesota Port Congress is coming up and you're going to be in town. We had a pretty incredible honor to be named Port Promoter of the Year from the Minnesota Port Producers and they've done so much for me and my career over the last 13 years that this is a really full circle moment for me.

7:02Oh, that's so cool. So, yeah, very, very cool, but cool to also be back on with you guys, how have you been? We have been fantastic, I mean, it clearly not as fantastic as you. I always try to figure out if down there are blondes if it's just a meat market or if it's like a party house because it sounds like you guys are always up to something, there's something going on all the time. I know, I feel like sometimes you should interview my crew because I think they would tell a funny story. I mean, and they're so, what is the word? They're just so used to it all that, you know, a camera or a TV crew come walking through the door and they'd be like, oh, Lindsey must have forgotten to tell us something. And they're going with the punches, you know, they just pitch it or if you do a segment and they have to pretend to be a customer, they jump in and they act or, you know, they're pushing pig carcasses out or beef carcasses out and helping with demonstration. So, they're pretty fun.

8:03I feel like we should step backwards. We've gained a few stations since the last time you joined us on the show. And so, we should share that you're a butcher shop, I want a mingo, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so, it is one mingo, yeah. Yep. And you're in your in your famous for obviously the style of butcher shop has got a lot of character. But then you found yourself on TV all over the place as well. Yeah, I will say, you know, in in 2020, so I've always been a blonde, right? So, back in my EMS days, you know, I was always blondie, whether I was in a crushed car in a ditch or somebody was looking for me in the hospital. Just because it was such a male dominated field, it was just easy to spot me. And then when we bought the meat locker 13 years ago, the retired farmers would drop steers off and go to coffee and be like, oh, I dropped a steer off down to blondies. And it just became so universally known as blondies that I had to change the name of

9:06it. Because people are writing checks out to it. It was originally one mingo meat, you know, super original, but yeah, so 2020, we took the jump and called it blondies butcher shop and it's just, it's been enough to stand out that you almost have to stop in the place it's pink, you know, it's not, it doesn't look like your typical butcher shop for sure. It's very gaudy. Yes, yes. The photos. We'll share some photos online and be sure to share that with people because it is, it definitely stands out if you're doing the drive by like, is that a butcher shop or a craft market? That's a for sale or something. Yeah. So at one point in time, there's a sign in there and I think KSTP caught it when they came down to do an interview and it's on the door back to the cutting plan. It says, beyond this point, nudity is required. And when I first came into place to think, I had a couple gentlemen come in thinking it

10:07was a strip joint and I mean, I was so stunned. I stood there and looked at him like, um, um, not, not quite. We're not a strip joint, sir. We're a meat market. Yeah. Totally different. The other meat market. Yeah. Brilliant. I'm not going to use any more adjectives after that. Yeah. It does have to go on the radio. So there's that. Oh, we have a great sense of humor. Let's put it that way. Absolutely. Well, don't you find that you almost have to have the sense of humor just to kind of keep, uh, because running a small business or any business, it's just from day to day, you never know what's going to happen next. If you lose your sense of humor, don't you just lose it? Have everything? Oh, it's so the truth. I mean, I've been in it long enough to where, you know, oh, the steer got out and ran down main street. It is. You know, we'll catch it later. Yeah. He knows what's up.

11:07He's getting out. Yeah. It's fine. We'll get the 36 out. But, you know, yeah, it's just we go with the flow. We have a lot of fun with it. I happen to have a knack at meat cutting. Um, I just finished my master meat crafters, uh, two year program to University, Wisconsin. So that was super awesome. Um, and yeah, we're doing some great fun things this summer. We're partnering with the pork producers again to do grill fast. Uh, so I'm really excited about that. We'll be running pits up there. You guys should come up there. That would be fun. Where's up there? Grill fast is at CHF field. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Marcus down. Yeah, for sure. I, I will. I'll, I'll make sure to extend that to the pork producers that we, we need to have you guys come with. Yeah. It'd be really fun. Now, last time we talked, you had a big event that you were prepping for. I believe right outside of your place. Are you still doing that right? My gosh. Was that the rigged feed? Was that last time we talked? Yeah.

12:07It was. Yeah. That's insane. It seems like yesterday. Um, yeah. We survived. Well, great. Great. Here. Step one. It survived another year. There was no tragedy. I think we did 800 racks of ribs. So around 400 hogs we went through, um, which is insane. You know, I mean, it's kind of, um, it's a really laid back picnic table. We shut a street down. We got a bluegrass band that comes in and plays. And, um, yeah, we just, um, have a great time. You know, we just serve ribs and people drive up and drive away. And some stay in play and, you know, I think it was like hot as 80s this year, though, wasn't it? It was. Yeah. It was. Yeah. It was. I think it was a brutal one this year. So how far? I mean, I'll take key over being blown away. Yeah. That's true. The wind is never a friend when you're trying to barbeque. For sure. How far out do people come from? I mean, do you keep track of that one, especially with your bigger events?

13:10Like are people coming from all over the place? You know, I will tell you, just as a generic, I would say probably close to 90 percent of my traffic is from either the Twin Cities or Rochester and Northern Iowa. Wow. That is crazy. When you think about the fact, and I mean, it's a testament to blondies, of course, that people are willing to drive and, you know, make the trip just to go because, I mean, when you find a place you like, you found a place you like, you know? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And I mean, it's a testament to my crew, too, that they make it a fun experience when they come in. You know, it's definitely a personalized experience, and there's a lot of great knee lockers in this state. And I know you guys got Schmitz over by you. Yeah, they're okay. Yeah. You got, yeah. They got a few awards in the wall, I guess. I know. Just a couple of Ryan's got over there. No, you've got some great ones, you know, but you come to my place. And I'm just a hair different, you know, I'm a lot smaller, so it's a lot more intimate

14:16than, and it's just quirky, you know, it's the Minnesota quirky at its finest. Well, I could tell you, first hand, it was you the last summer, the barbecue show went on a road trip, and I think we hit seven or eight or nine different places, some food places, but we went into, that's awesome. I don't know, maybe a half a dozen different meat markets and butcher shops. Yeah. Five of them, yep. We had a different feel and a slightly different look and vibe, but the mainstay of them had that what I would call the butcher market feel, which was a little, I don't say cold, but just kind of like, yeah, next, what can I get you next? So if you have the right crew, which it sounds like you do, I can see where that just makes the, because you know, if you love what you, if you love the product and then you love the experience of going to get the product, that's, I mean, that's half the fun, isn't it? You know, and I think the other cool thing that we have that I didn't think was very cool for a long time, and now I'm digging it, we're very vintage, like our locker was built in 1934, so you walk in, you're going to see straight into the cutting floor and probably

15:20see a front quarter of a beef hanging there or a hog. It is not separated, so the interaction of, you know, a traditional old school butcher shop is my place to it, yeah, so much so people come in and they think they came in the wrong door. Oh, yeah, I mean, it throws people off, but you know, a lot of people really like seeing that because it tells the story and it gives them that connection back to where their food is coming from. So, you know, for me, Lindsey, the feel that I get from talking with you is like, and I think a lot of people in this part of the country can relate to maybe when you were a little kid and you got with dad or with grandpa and grandpa said, come on, we're going to the hardware store on a Saturday or we're going to go out to the dump and it was that adventure, you know, you're going to go with grandpa, you're going to go in there and you go to the hardware store to get some screws or a can of paint, but you know, it takes an hour and a half because you know, you're hanging around and you're talking, and it becomes part of that, that destination, you know, so I can see where people are grabbing

16:23their kids or grandkids and saying, we're going up to blondies and you know, we're going to be there for a little while, we're going to mill around and we're going to shoot the breeze and help chase down the steer that got loose and, you know, it's just right or hear the story. Right, you know, again, you know, yeah, you know, that's the thing, we try to have something for everybody. So even the little like one year olds that come in or two year olds, there's magnets on the wall they can play with, one mom and dad shop. There's always hidden fruit snacks, you know, for them in the back or maybe the wife isn't into being at the meat locker, but the husband's digging it. Well, there's enough funny signs for her to read that she is thoroughly entertained by the time they leave. She, it was not wasted stop on her, right? So yeah, and if they want to come to her and see the carcasses, you know, we, we welcome sharing the story of how we do things and, you know, we definitely don't shield it from the public by any means. So making it visible and putting it out there in front, it takes away the, it takes away

17:27the mystery. And sometimes what we don't know can be scary. And when people can see and firsthand, they go, oh, well, that's not what I thought it was. That's great. Yeah, that's a phenomenal way to put it, you know, I mean, it's a reality of life. And, you know, we view things of these animals when they come in, you know, are giving us the ultimate gift. So there is a lot of gratitude in our place and, you know, we always try to meet the animals where they're at and we make it fast and quick and we put really great food on people's tables. So that's our whole goal in the day. Wait a minute. No, you're not burning like sage and, you know, essential oils here. I don't know. I don't know. I can't remember the saying. I'm sorry. Yeah. We can spiral anything out of control on this show. Just give us a minute. No, I haven't done a cleaning, but I probably shouldn't. In my basement, there is a safe from the old mines up in Duluth for like the 20s, 30s.

18:33It was before my place was built because it was built into the basement. Whoa. And I've had little kids go down there and use the bathroom because you know, you can never return. You put a bathroom. Right. Obviously. Yeah. Yeah. Put it down. So what's in the safe? Just iron or? It's just a big safe. Interesting. The massive steel door on it and kids come up stairs and they'll be like, who's the guy standing in the back of the basement? And I'm like, I've heard it so many times now. I've never seen him, but little kids spot them all the time. They face friendly. They're not scared of them. So I don't know the story. Now even more intrigued. The blondies has a ghost. Is that what you're telling us, Lindsey, that blondies has a ghost? I do in the basement. That just makes it all that bad. Yeah, it does. That makes it all. I had one Halloween and I have it on video. I will post it this next Halloween to your page. But I want to open the carcass cooler door and I had one hind leg beef swinging away

19:37in there. Everything else is dead. Okay. Oh. Oh. Oh. I'm just saying. Yeah. Man. Just saying. You've got to age those steaks a little longer than that. Or we're just that good that the ghost even hang around. Yeah. That's what maybe it is. They're taking the vibe and the great thing is is the previous owners of the place. I'm the fourth owner and all the families from the previous four owners all stay in touch with me. And I was really nervous when we painted it pink if they would like. Still be my friends. Yeah. And they absolutely love it. So and they've gifted me back all the original cutting cables from the 30s. So there's a lot of cool momentum there over the years from all those families. That's really cool. Like I said, it's a destination. It's just it's a trip that's worth taking and pulling it all together. Lindsay, let's do this. I want to take a real quick break. If you got some time, let's hang around because we didn't really talk much about pork

20:39Congress and we touched on it, but I want to touch on that a little bit more. So if you can hang with us, we'll take a quick break. We'll be right back with more of the blonde butcher on the barbecue show for photographic evidence of the barbecue food like and follow the barbecue show on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. All right, we're back on the barbecue shows stunt and Jake talking with Lindsay, the blonde butcher and Lindsay again, thanks for joining us. I feel bad. We didn't really. Part of the reason we want to have you on today is because of pork Congress, Minnesota pork Congress, which is coming up this coming week. What is it? The 7th and 9th and 11th. 10th and 11th. There we go. I believe, right? Calendar. It's right here in front of me. I think I could read the film. 11th. Yeah. And you were being honored with the grand your award. Grand Pupa. What? I know. I know. Pork promoter of the year. Super cool. That is pretty cool. Super cool. That comes from the pork producers. Is there a nomination process or like what led to that?

21:42Yeah. So a member of the pork producers had nominated me and they had a big board meeting and they chose from all the nominations. So I was very graciously awarded this year. So without getting into the, you know, the complete nuts and bolts of it, I know if it came down to the most, the pork consumer that you're starting, I would be in the running. What is it? What is it? The pork pork promoter of the year does? Is that just the way that you go about marketing and your shop or what's involved with that? Yeah. I think, you know, it's been a long 13 year journey with me and the pork producers and I reached out to them when I was a wet behind the years butcher. We had just bought in the place. I didn't know anybody in the industry. I mean, I grew up in a farming community. So I wasn't blind to any of it, but I had connected with them and I just really was like, you teach me anything because I really found myself being a butcher in the protein sector

22:47having to really bridge the conversation between the people raising the animals we eat and the people buying the meat at the store. So I got stuck in the middle on a lot of things. So I knew in order to, you know, be my best self and run my best business. I needed to learn as much as possible. So, you know, 2020 hit and we had had such a social media, we had a post go viral with a local farm that we were helping out that had their semi-load of hogs turn around. We were trying to sell hogs and flip them before we had to use an isom and we ended up getting in with National Geographic and I called the pork producers and I'm like, hey, this is like your story, not mine. So they were awesome. They came over. I'm like, I don't want to represent you in any light that you don't want to be seen in. So they were awesome. National Geographic spent two days with us documenting the farmer that we were working

23:50with, my place, and then I believe Smithfield in Sioux Falls and kind of analyzing the difference. It'll be a future story at some point in time. It'll be one of those hindsight 2020 stories, but you know, I get to be on National Geographic with all my clothes on so that was exciting. That was exciting. Very cool. That's how you know you've made it. I'm sure everybody can say that, but no, the little portion of the award is just, you know, a really great partnership in promoting pork in the best light possible in the most, you know, consumer-friendly way out there. So. Well, and that had to be a scary time for those that don't remember or choosing to forget, you know, during the 2020-21 and the back one, there was that thing that came through. Yeah. I mean, there was no, there was no processing, you know, people had pigs they couldn't get rid of. You know, in our family, for sure, they like try to build their own processing center

24:51and figured it out how to do it because otherwise there was no option. Right. You know, I'm honestly surprised we don't have a wild hog population issue for how many that were probably turned loose. But I will tell you at that point in time when Smithfield shut down and thank God, Hormel, they were awesome. They kept their things running, they figured it out. But you know, when Smithfield shut down and the amount of hogs that we lost, they were probably doing around 15,000 hogs a day. So to put it into terms, if every single meat locker in the state of Minnesota had stopped butchering other species and strictly butchered hogs for these people, we would have maybe touched 1% of the hog population. Wow. That Smithfield was able to do. Isn't that insane? Yeah. It's just mind-boggling. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't care to ever do 2020 again. No. No. I don't think there are many people just for those signs of things in general, if the matter

25:53how it affected their lives with all that. No, Lindsey, just for the history of it. So you bought the meat market win in 2014. Okay. 13. So. And this, obviously, this episode in 2020 kind of helped put you on the map a little bit. What I'm getting at what I'm curious about is, you know, now, obviously being known as the blonde butcher, was it hard for you to, you know, sort of speak, break into the game as someone who didn't come from a long line of butchers and was a chick? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, I never think of myself as a chick. I just kind of dive in and do stuff. And it's kind of funny because that's just the mentality of being the eldest daughter of an all-girl family, right? No. Yeah. You know, your dad kind of grabs you and you're welding and you're doing all the stuff. So that, that part, I think, stunned people on the outside more than it ever did me.

26:57I will say the Minnesota meat processors group, the pork producers are amazing people. And I had a lot of them really take me under their wing and answer questions or let me come sit on their kill floors and watch how they harvest or cut meat or work a saw. You know, and really the bottom line of it is you just find the skill set and then the art comes later. You figure out your art and where you're good at it and stuff. So in that aspect for me, it was just, just keep trying. You know, I kind of have a motto where I'm going to make mistakes. We know that. That's the only way you learn. I think success is a joke in the fact of you don't get there. You don't learn anything from success. You learn from all the mistakes you made to success. But, you know, I always promise not to ever make the same mistake twice. So, and I've made some duties and I've learned from them.

27:59So, you know, for me, it was just about constantly evolving. And I knew in 2020 as unfortunate as that year was, the silver lining for me. I knew from a marketing standpoint. I knew media outlets were looking hardcore for stories and meat processing was like on the top of the docket, right? Yeah. You know, and you look at the names of a lot of places and I knew if I was going to put myself on the map, I had to fire in that moment. And so, we changed it to Blondie. So, you know, do you think a news media outlet would want to go to one of me go meats or Blondie's butcher shop? Yeah. Right. You know, it was good ticker tape for them and it was, it was the near, small silver lining I had that year, other than we all survived very healthy. But yeah, that was the year to fire and I haven't looked back since several and we've been gracious and fortunate that our customer base and clientele base has just continued

29:03to grow and expand. Yeah. Well, and I think I should preface what I said earlier, but you don't, you've never striked me as the person that would like look for a real like, well, I'm a woman so they're not going to take me seriously. That doesn't, that doesn't strike me as your personality type at all, Lindsay. You feel like the kind of person is like, we're going to, we're going to do this thing and we're going to do it bigger and cooler, right? Epic than anybody has and, you know, help out or get out of the way. Pretty much. Yeah. You know, put on your big girl panties and go. Yeah. That, that's just, I mean, that's just how I was raised, you know, the job, the job had to be done. I mean, even as kids, if you went to your friend's farm to play after school, you know, they said to be fed, cows had to be milked and before you could go play, it didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl, go feed the calves, you know, right, no, and that's, that's a good point. Yeah. Let's go. That's a great point. Well, and I think it tested with you also, Lindsay, and don't say they're self-short on this.

30:04The name and the attitude are fantastic, but if the product wasn't there, you know, if people didn't like it, it wouldn't work. And so I think it's, you've, you've checked all the boxes. Well, thank you. I really appreciate that. Speed of checking boxes. Hate to be the adult here. Back to our talk about Minnesota Park Congress. Yes. Yes, sorry. So what's all, what's all going to be taking place outside of you winning an award at Port Congress? What does that all entail at this event for those of us who will do not always go to this event? And don't be sorry, by the way, that's, that's in general how the show works. That shot was aimed at me, Lindsay, not you. Don't trust me. I'm sorry. I get gory, tiny object. Port Congress is going to be amazing. It's going to be vendors from all over the countryside. New technologies are going to be shown. More environmental stewardship, style, stuff, feeder stuff. A lot of awards given out, you know, I'm not the only recipient.

31:06I believe there's like five of us, but there's stewardship awards being given out, legacy awards, just a really great overall recognition of the industry as a whole. Everybody comes together this time of year, and it's fun to see the pig farmers in suits and ties. It's different. And I'm not going to lie. I've already practiced wearing my heels because it's been a hot minute since I won't do it. So nice. One of my best friends growing up, he had one shirt that was his, this is my getting dressed up shirt. They had a Minnesota pork logo on it. And that is what he wore when we were going out to go chase ladies over going out to meetings. That is the shirt he wore no matter what. That was the dress up shirt. There's only one above. That's awesome. Well, listen, Lindsey, congratulations on the award. I think it's well deserved and congratulations on your success. We got to do this again. We got to get you in the studio one of these days. And I know we know we need a trip to you as well. So that would be fine. Yeah, you can come meet my crew and get all the dirt.

32:09You probably did three shows down there just up and want to make it just getting all the info. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I'm sure we're going to see you for sure at Port Congress. It sounds so official like they're making rules. I know. I know. Congress. I think they're going to let us in. Is this what they mean by pork barrel politics? Very fancy. Yeah. I'm sure there will be some politics going on, you know. Well, listen, we've kept you way too long today, but we really appreciate the time. And it's always such a pleasure to chat with you because we just, you always have fantastic stories. I had no idea about the National Geographic bit, by the way. That's fantastic. Yeah, yeah. We'll see how old I am when it finally comes out. Well, hopefully it's still great talking with you guys. Well, we can't thank you enough continued success and congrats on the award and we'll see you at Port Congress next week. So great. Talk to you guys soon. We're back. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You want to dance? Yeah. Yeah. Barbecue show is back. Thanks so much for joining us each and every weekend. Remember, you can find complete barbecue shows wherever you get your podcasts as well.

33:13Yeah. Kind of stepped on the ramp there a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I should hang it up. Maybe radio's not my thing. Anyway, stunt and Jake, as always, thanks for joining us. It's Super Bowl weekend. I am a big fan of the Super Bowl. Even though I don't have a rooting interest, it's still just a spectacle. You still want to get behind the excitement that goes around it. People get pumped to watch the game, to watch the commercials. Of course, these will be a lot more fun when you saw them on YouTube every week beforehand. But I kind of, all right, I can't say, I'm old school, I don't go and watch them ahead of time. I don't either. I want the surprise of seeing them during the game. But the reality of them is, I just don't do the YouTube that much. No. Okay. Well, I do, but I also don't go searching for that stuff. No. And it's funny because I'm one of those guys you don't care about spoilers. Like, give me the end of the story. I'll figure it out when I watch it again anyway. But like for the Super Bowl commercials, it's just, it's something special about the actual games. Trust me, you don't care about the game. It's something to look forward to. Yeah.

34:13It is awkward when you're, when you're at a party and there's a large group because our Super Bowl party, which is finally RIP has, this is the end of it this year, it was supposed to happen last year. There was a medical problem. So we had to redo it quick and now that, that party, which probably went 15 or 16 years is no longer. But, you know, you got all these people sitting around and the cool commercial comes on and everybody, all the guys in the garage that are gambling on the game and having fun, that's when they start talking. Right. And that's what you want a lot. And I'm like, hey, how does this, you know, and then we have a guy who works in an advertising agency who's there and we have a couple of radio people. So everybody's always, you know, what was that? Those terrible. Yeah, we don't know better. We're going to spend $7 million as somebody's money so much better. Yeah. Believe me. Just throw this out. That's $7 million. I'll show you how to spend that. But, you don't need $7 million, though, to have a nice party and have a good time with great things. All right. Stuntlet's start here. What's the first thing to think about it if you're thinking about food for a Super Bowl get together? Well, I'm going to steal what you kind of, I'm going to honestly steal something I think

35:14you even wrote down already, which is the, are you grazing or are you having a meal? Like, right. You got to make that plan first. What are you doing? Because I think that's important about what you're going to cook after that point. Because if you want to make a full meal, you sure can. I don't think that's the kind of party I want to throw. I like the finger foods. The pick it up, grab a little small plate, kind of go back for mortaring during the commercials or whatever you got and grab something then. I like that method better. Right. That's what our method is always. We've always had like one big thing. Usually it's chilly, venison chilly. Perfect example of like something you can grab and go, though. Yeah. Which, if you're at our party, you want to dish that first because it's a thousand degrees. In these a whole quarter of the game just to cool off enough. But we literally take one dining table and just fill it with food. Yeah. There's everything from the pickle rollups to chips and salsa to bars to, there's always things like shrimp and one year I did fried wantons, which I actually fried right there on his back deck. I brought, I built them all, took them to the party, fried them up so they were fresh

36:16and ready to roll. And then you have that variety. But here again, you got to keep that in mind because everybody's sitting, you know, they're standing around the table and grazing and talking or they're sitting, like in our case, the guys were always out in the garage and like bag chairs. Right. So you got to be mindful of what you're trying to do with your food. But you can do a variety, I think, if you do it right. I agree. Yeah. I'm glad you said that. So let's talk about the difference between whether you're hosting and providing food or whether you're going to a party and you're bringing, you know, a pot luck, I think. Yeah. Okay. I'll say let's start with going as a party. Okay. Make sure whatever you're planning ahead to take is going to be a quick setup and also not going to be too demanding of what who your host is. Like, hey, I also need this cheese. Did you not give this cheese here? Do you need these spoons? Like, yeah. Have yourself be pretty self-sufficient when you get there. I always call it be a mindful, be a good guest. Yeah. You know, I'm also a big fan because I did not grow up in the depression. I'm a good big fan of disposable everything.

37:18Put it in the aluminum disposable pan or on a plastic tray that you got at the dollar store. So when the party's over, you don't have to mess with it. You can just throw everything away and not have to drag stuff back and forth. Yeah, like that. If you're crockpotting and things like that, you know, that is what it is. I go so far as if we're traveling with, with warm food like a crock pot or something along those lines, I take one of those cheesy, I call them Christmas cords, the little two-prong extension cords, just a little lightweight extension and throw it in the bag with the crock pot. Just in case. I mean, a good heart. You're just going to have, you know, power strips and things like that, but throw it in just in case. You never know. It doesn't hurt by any means whatsoever. Right. Communication is a key to any good party for food. Yeah, you don't want to double up on any meals going to a party, it's always party. Or even if they're coming to your party, if you're hosting, I'd be, like, I think at the last few years, I've been very clear, like, I'm going to have these five items. Whatever you bring, I don't care. Just know these five items will be here, also BYOB, you know? Yeah, exactly.

38:19This is a time, because we look at holidays in two different ways. There are holidays where you're all about the grill and you're showing off and you're having fun. And there's holidays where you want quick and simple and easy. If you are hosting, I like simple and easy. Like if I'm going to provide the big dish, it's going to be chilly or something like that that doesn't take a lot of, you know, I don't have to stand there. I can watch the game. I can prep the chilly the night before I just have it warmed up and ready to roll. If I'm going as a guest and I'm bringing something, then I'm showing off. I'm showing off. I want to bring something cool, something different, something a little unique that everybody's going to love or not love. But in that case, it just stands out. There's the standards, you know, wings, everybody loves wings, those chips, dips, things like that. There's always that one creative person who builds a veggie dip that looks like a football stadium, you know, the Pinterest thing. That stuff is great. I mean, that's half the fun of the Super Bowl is don't be afraid to buy into the theme and. That's just dead. Don't take yourself too seriously on some of those things. Enjoy the fact that you can have those football facing things or shape things and then

39:23or even for the fact of the matter, like you said, show off, bring something that's a little bit different because unlike the parties where we talk about where you got it, you can't be too fancy. You don't want to try someone for the first time. This is a perfect time for you to try something brand new as well because there's going to be plenty of other food so they don't like it. They're not going to starve. They're not going to be dependent on what you brought. Right. That's crazy. Like say, I'm going to bring ribs, bring ribs to eat, which means cook them, get them ready to roll before you leave the house, cut them up into individual bones, you know, things like that so that people can grab them. Don't be afraid if you're doing a finger food type party also, this is a little tip. You can French one edge of your ribs a little bit so there's a little more bone as a handle to grab onto. So you get, you know, you just French a little bit of the meat off and then when they cook you eat that little recess. Now they've got a handle. They're not. The other thing, if you're moving around somebody else's house and sitting in their furniture, you don't want to have barbecue sauce all over your hands, sticky and messy, you know, those kind of things. Yep. If it looks like that, bring a package of wet wipes, you know, I mean, it's simple. It sounds ridiculous, but those are little tips and little things that it'll just make

40:25it that much easier, makes the cleanup better. Would you do, would you ever consider like a smoked cream cheese and chips or crackers or some part of that? I had some at Christmas this year and my wife's cousin was like, oh my gosh, what do you put on this? It's amazing. Like they never had it before. And they were just flattered, like just flattened by it. Like this is amazing. Like how could you do this? I'm like, it's just cheese in some season and I wish I could take more credit than that, you know? This year I'm actually going to be making some smoked queso in the smokers. So, you know, kind of different kinds of cheeses. You got your block of velvita and then your hotel and whatever else season you want to put in there and some hot sausages, why I always use and let that go in the smokers and it would be fantastic. Another good way to show off and have some fun and you can do this on your smoker the day before or a couple days before. Dive into the smoke to cheese it. Make up your own checks mix type thing and throw it on the smoker and that way you can do that a couple days ahead of time. It's the day of, you're not tied down with all that prep. You can just grab and go and then be a rock star when you get there. Absolutely. There's always that one guy who orders subway, I can say go for it because it just makes

41:30our homemade stuff look that much better. Accurate. Pro-so-true. The key here is to be a good host, to be a good guest, experiment and have fun. Now go fire that thing up. For photographic evidence of the barbecue food, like and follow the barbecue show on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.