Best BBQ Show

A few weeks ago Brett's Backyard BBQ in Rockdale, TX had an anniversary party. That weekend Danny and Brenda came to town early to travel around a bit. We jumped in Eric Faust's (@thesmoketrail) truck and did almost 500 miles of driving around Texas eating and hanging out with our favorite BBQ people.

Sometimes you just don't have time to sit down and talk so I took advantage of our time in the car. Brenda and Danny have an amazing story and they work hard every weekend to create Texas BBQ in Orange County, CA. It won't be long before I'm out there again but until then enjoy this conversation with them right here in in Texas!

Mike and Mark Black grew up in Lockhart, TX which means they grew up in one of the oldest BBQ worlds. BBQ is in their blood, literally. (Listen and you'll know why). I met them a while back and if you haven't listened to my episode with Mark and Jason Hisaw it's a good one. They serve over 1000 briskets a week in what I like to call a brisket factory.

Mark and Mike have an amazing passion for good food, great customer service and truly treating their employees like family. They work hard to create a unique experience and serve BBQ later than most of the joints in town.

Enjoy this episode with two of the hardest working men in BBQ.

If you haven't heard of Buxton Hall you're going to want to go after this episode. The food, the beer and the vibe is so good I have had thoughts of moving to Asheville just to be near Elliott's restaurant. Plus there's more than 50 breweries in the downtown area of Asheville.

I first met Elliott at a special event in Houston where everyone was cooking to raise money for B's Cracklin in Atlanta. B's had a fire and the dinner was to raise money for the staff while the restaurant was rebuilt. Elliott spent the whole day cooking a hog and hanging out with the Texas BBQ family.

I hope you enjoy this interview. I know I can't wait to hang out with Elliott again and y'all need to go to his restaurant because the food and desserts are wholesome, classy and delicious. Thanks for listening!

Sarah Scott - Director of food service

Clint Walenciak - Packing Manager

David O’Diam - VP of retail

From the plant to the store or the restaurant. These three help millions of pounds of CAB travel all over the world. Whether you're cooking it yourself or waiting for it to come to the table, they have probably been a part of the process. Enjoy this conversation with the people that bring great beef to hungry meat enthusiasts all over the world.

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Dr. Sara Place works for the National Cattlemans Beef Association. She studies sustainability and keeps a benchmark at where the industry is at.

She studies sustainable management of livestock production systems focusing on researching opportunities to improve the economic, social, and environmental facets of livestock production in concert.

You can read many of her articles on cattle, sustainability and the climate. Follow her on Twitter @drsplace. If you want the true story on beef and the environment, you’ll love this episode.

We even talk about quantifiable low stress environments for cattle and how to manage a herd in the gentlest way. One of the terms is animal “husbandry”.

I even learned one out of seven ranchers is from Texas. So cool. She teaches at universities to dietitians, restaurant owners, chefs, small businesses, butchers and picks the best brains across the country in the cattle industry.

There's a reason I never waste a bite of BBQ. Dr. Place is the ultimate defender of meat and the environment. She epitomizes the respect that people of the beef industry have for every animal. So enjoy this episode with Dr. Sara Place.

Jeremiah Bacon cooks delicious steaks, burgers and other great beef at his many restaurants. Kevin Yon raises thousands of heads of cattle, many of which may end up on plates at Jeremiah's restaurants.

When I heard that they had switched places to try each other's jobs I knew this would be a great conversation. The funny thing was that they both said the others job was harder. Y'all know I love talking to hard working people. These two were a real treat. They are focused on a high standard and clearly care a lot about their industry.

I'm reporting from the Certified Angus Beef conference for the next few weeks, so get ready for some serious beef talk. If you want to learn more about CAB you can go back to the midweek update from last week and I'll fill you in on the brand.

Follow Jeremiah! @jermeiahmartinbacon. At the posting of this episode I haven't found any social handles for Kevin Yon.

Thanks for listening!

This week I talk about Certified Angus Beef, Bill Dumas, Southern Smoke, Sam Jones, Trudy's Underground BBQ, Kimchi Smoke and ATX food guy!

Troy and Stacy Hadrick and Debbie Lyons-Blythe are known for the high quality beef they produce. You don't have to take my word for it, if you google their names you'll find videos, articles and stories all about their ranches.

Both of their families have been raising cattle for 5 generations and they are proud to be a part of the Certified Angus Beef brand.

I got to sit down with them as a guest to the CAB conference in Asheville, NC. They invited me out to cover the event and talk to the people involved in the brand. I'll tell you right now that it was so much more than I expected. We all stayed in a giant hotel in the mountains and were treated to all kinds of interesting programming. After shaking hands and rubbing elbows with the people of CAB I know a lot more about the brand.

I'll be sharing the information I learned and stories from all the amazing people there for the next few weeks. I worked hard to cover different aspects of the people and the companies that are using the CAB brand. It's a deeply interesting group of people and I'm truly excited to follow up with them on a ton of topics.

I know y'all will have a ton of questions to ask after this one so feel free to send me a message, email, text or tweet. I'll make sure to answer them in follow up episodes.

Follow the Ranchers on instagram!

Debbie Lyons-Blythe: @debbiel_b

The Hadricks: @troyhadrick