It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker BNow from the Turn It, Go Burn
Speaker Ait studios in Portland.
Speaker AHere's jt.
Speaker AThis is an encore.
Speaker AHey, everybody.
Speaker AWelcome to the nation.
Speaker AThat's Barbecue Nation.
Speaker AI'm JT along with my co host, co pilot and co conspirator Leanne Whippen, along with Camaro Dave and Commander Chris.
Speaker AThey're lurking about somewhere.
Speaker AAnd we're coming to you from the Turn It Don't Burn it studios here in the Portland, Oregon area.
Speaker AWe'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker AYou can check them out online@painted hillsnaturalbeef.com well, if you're into competitive barbecue or just high quality barbecue and high quality barbecue equipment, you probably recognize this name, Old Hickory Pits.
Speaker AThat's O L E. And we've got the founder here, David Knight, with us today.
Speaker AAnd what an honor it is to talk to David.
Speaker ADavid, welcome to the show.
Speaker BWell, thank you so much for the invitation.
Speaker AThat's not.
Speaker CYou know what, you forgot something.
Speaker CI didn't hear you say restaurants.
Speaker CMy first wood chicks restaurant I had in Old Hickory in there you go.
Speaker CYeah, I had the big boy in Florida too.
Speaker CYeah, restaurants too.
Speaker CNot just competitions.
Speaker ARight, right, right.
Speaker AThat's my error.
Speaker AMy bad there.
Speaker ASo what was.
Speaker ALet's get this out of the way first and we'll talk about all kinds of things about Old Hickory.
Speaker ABut what was your inspiration to actually start this?
Speaker AI mean, you, you just walk down the street one day and go, man, I'm going to make some really high end smokers and grills and stuff.
Speaker AAnd that was it.
Speaker AOr what prompted you?
Speaker BOh, no, no, that'd be way, way too simple.
Speaker BThis actually started when I was in the first grade.
Speaker BI grew up in a little town of Poplar Bluff in southeast Missouri and went to Mark Twain School.
Speaker BAnd lo and behold, I met a friend in first grade whose family had a barbecue restaurant.
Speaker BAnd so it was a regular stopping spot for me after school to go by the barbecue restaurant.
Speaker BI was always just mesmerized by the whole process and so forth.
Speaker BSo then many, many years later decided going into business.
Speaker BThat's the business I decided to go into.
Speaker AWow.
Speaker AHad you had any experience besides on the consumer side of things with.
Speaker BNo, not really.
Speaker BBasically just hanging around the restaurant as a child.
Speaker BBut we, the, the boy I got met in the first grade became a lifelong friend.
Speaker BAnd in fact, he, he just passed away a few Years ago.
Speaker BBut he was not only a friend, but he was also a mentor on barbecue.
Speaker BAnd his whole family, they were all very nice about sharing ideas and so forth.
Speaker AWow.
Speaker AFirst grade, huh?
Speaker BYes, that's.
Speaker BBack then, we still had the stone tablets, you know,
Speaker Alittle chisel action there.
Speaker BOh, man.
Speaker BHomework.
Speaker BYou carry that stuff home and be worn out.
Speaker AWell, that's.
Speaker AThat's kind of an interesting statement to me.
Speaker AAnd because.
Speaker AAnd Leanne's been through this, if you do television shows and at the end of the competition or whatever you're doing, and they come up and some producer sticks a mic in your face and says, well, how does it feel or what does it mean to you to win the, you know, the oven mitt competition in Belle Fourche or something?
Speaker AAnd they want you to say, oh, it mean the world to me.
Speaker ABut you're the one actual person I've heard that said.
Speaker AI started in first grade and I believe you.
Speaker ASo that's a.
Speaker AThat's a good thing.
Speaker BThat's good to know.
Speaker BI got some credibility here.
Speaker AYou got some credibility.
Speaker ASo were you a success straight out of the gate?
Speaker AWell, I don't mean first grade in the Stone tablets.
Speaker AI mean.
Speaker BWell, my.
Speaker BMy first barbecue restaurant was a success.
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo right out of the gate, I guess with some good tutelage from my friends and a lot of hard work and so forth, I opened a restaurant here in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Speaker BAnd it's right on the Mississippi river, which they call Port Cape Girardeau.
Speaker BAnd it's in a historic building.
Speaker BIt was built back in the 1800s.
Speaker BAnd so to put barbecue into it, I had to come up with a method.
Speaker BAnd there was no technology whatsoever in 1974 when I opened.
Speaker BSo the choice was to build a brick bit or use a barrel.
Speaker BAnd this was a beautiful building at three stories high and arch windows and made out of brick.
Speaker BAnd so it was an easy choice to say, I'll build a brick bit there.
Speaker BAnd so it was kind of a, I guess by guessing, by golly, kind of thing, designing.
Speaker BAnd it had one really dangerous flaw.
Speaker BI had to put a damper in the flu.
Speaker BIt was three stories high.
Speaker BAnd so when you're cooking a lot of meat and it's going up a 18 inch diameter flu three stories high, it can really get out of handle fast.
Speaker BAnd the third time the Cape Girardeau fire department came to put the restaurant out, it dawned on me that there probably should be a better way.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo that's.
Speaker BThat started a long journey to find out Better ways of doing it.
Speaker BWhat?
Speaker ABut I think that experience, you know, cooking in a brick pit or whatever experience you had just besides eating barbecue probably helped you build that.
Speaker AAnd I don't mean physically, but mentally in your, in your design, in your mind, I would think.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AWell, you're lucky.
Speaker AI mean to have your first restaurant as a success.
Speaker AThat's a tough gig.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BThe odds generally about 4 to 1 on being a successful right out of the shoot.
Speaker BYeah, it's a risky business really to start.
Speaker AI've had a little bit of experience.
Speaker ALeanne's had a lot of experience in it.
Speaker AAnd I'll put it this way.
Speaker AI'm glad I do what I do these days.
Speaker AAnd yes, not in the restaurant business anymore.
Speaker CSo what, when did you get into pit manufacturing then?
Speaker BThat was several years later.
Speaker BIt evolved over a period of years and a lot of trial and error.
Speaker BTry this, try that.
Speaker BAnd eventually started making pits that people liked and grew from there.
Speaker ANow we had Meathead from Amazing Ribs on last week.
Speaker AHe's a frequent contributor to the show and they have a.
Speaker AAn article on the AmazingRibs.com website about not all stainless steel is the same.
Speaker AHow did you go through the trial and error to select what product and what grades and things that you use?
Speaker BOkay, well, we're not getting too far out into the weeds.
Speaker BLet me explain it there.
Speaker BThere are different gauges and different types of stainless steel but for food service generally 304 is, is okay.
Speaker BNow we do use three 16L stainless steel for the ones that we put on the Carnival Cruise line because they have to be marine grade stainless steel.
Speaker BSo it's a really much more pricey product than the 304 stainless that we use on other regular bits for, you know, non marine use.
Speaker AYeah, well, with the, I have a little experience on the ocean and it can, it, it's hard on, on any product marine areas, you know.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AIf you get in some of those big ships and you look around, it'd probably scare you to see how much rust and pitting there is sometimes.
Speaker ABut that's a good thing.
Speaker ADid you start out as just building a home product and then, you know, expand into more commercial or competition grade?
Speaker BIt was for the, for the first 30 years it was all commercial stuff.
Speaker BYou know, basically what I was doing was trying to create for my own business and then it just happened that go from there that other people were having the same fire problem I was having and went on from there.
Speaker AI see a couple of hard hats in the back on your filing cabinet there.
Speaker BOh, yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker BWell, actually, one of those is for a casino that I built here in Cape Girardeau.
Speaker BBack then it was the Isle of Capri and it's been sold two, three times since now.
Speaker BAnd that's owned by Century Casino.
Speaker BIt's just two blocks from the office here.
Speaker BBut anyway, that's the hard hats.
Speaker AI get it, I get it.
Speaker AI only have either cowboy hats or golf hats anymore.
Speaker AAnd I've never seen Leanne wear a hat.
Speaker CSo I might be in the snow next week.
Speaker BOne of those toboggan type hats.
Speaker AI'll get her.
Speaker AI'll get her one of those from Grumpy Old Men Walter Mathow hats with the little flaps on the ears.
Speaker AI think she would look good on that.
Speaker AHow have your home units if it.
Speaker AAs it were.
Speaker ADavid, we got a couple minutes left before we go to break here.
Speaker AHow have they evolved?
Speaker AAnd I know that's probably a long story, but.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AGet us started with that and then we'll pick it up on the next segment too.
Speaker BAll right.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker BThe, the small.
Speaker BThe challenge was to, to get it in the configuration.
Speaker BIt didn't take up so much room.
Speaker BSo actually I wound up spending many years to do it.
Speaker BI did it actually at the urging of a friend of mine who just passed away this last year, Mike Mills.
Speaker BHe kept saying, you're going to have to make a backyard model.
Speaker BAll these big pits.
Speaker BThere's more backyards than there are restaurants.
Speaker BAnd honestly, it took longer to do that than anything.
Speaker BAnd we've got two ways that we do them.
Speaker BWe have small ones that are like our big pits, have gas burners that fire the wood up to temperature automatically.
Speaker BOr we have ones that are strictly charcoal and wood fired and so forth.
Speaker BBasically same technology, just in different ways of starting the fire.
Speaker AOkay, we're going to talk about that.
Speaker AWe're going to take a break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker AWe're going to be back with David Knight, the founder of Ole.
Speaker AThat's O L E Hickory Pits.
Speaker AAnd I'm when you talk about me, I'm old on that.
Speaker ASo Leanne and I and David will be back right after this.
Speaker AStay with us.
Speaker AReady for a new ride.
Speaker AChoose from over a thousand vehicles of Weston Kia.
Speaker ALike a new Kia Sportage, Soul Forte K4 Sorento Telluride or Carnival Gas Electric or Hybrid, Oregon's all time leader in Kia sales.
Speaker AEveryone Wins at Westin 1994 to January 2026 Westin Kia sold more new Kia than any other Kia Dealer in Oregon, Reported by Kia Corp. Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
Speaker AI want to tell you about something really cool.
Speaker AHeritage steel cookware.
Speaker AI just got mine.
Speaker AI do a lot of cooking, and it's got five ply construction.
Speaker AStay cool handles.
Speaker AIt's titanium strengthened.
Speaker AIt's got all the great stuff.
Speaker AJust go to HeritageSteel us and find out more.
Speaker AYou'll love it.
Speaker AI guarantee it.
Speaker BThis is an encore.
Speaker AWelcome back to Barbecue Nation on the USA Radio Networks.
Speaker AI'm JT along with our cover girl, Leanne.
Speaker AWhip it.
Speaker AThat's good.
Speaker ANice job.
Speaker CThank you.
Speaker ANice job, David.
Speaker AIf you're really nice, maybe I can get her to autograph the COVID of Barbecue News and send you that.
Speaker BWonderful.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker BThat was really.
Speaker BShe was on the COVID of that magazine this month.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AIf you want to email us, just go to Barbecue Nation, JT.com and you can email us for Facebook, Twitter and all that.
Speaker AWe have the show accounts, and then Leanne and I have separate accounts and so you can find us out there.
Speaker ASo I wanted you to explain the convection technology to us in a.
Speaker AIn an overview.
Speaker AYou don't have to get down to the minutia, but what does that mean?
Speaker AAnd how did you come up with it?
Speaker BOkay, the.
Speaker BThe answer the second question first, that it came up the same way we do everything, trial and error and what worked and so forth and not.
Speaker BSo basically what it's all about is moving the heat and smoke in a way that continually is recycled and that.
Speaker BOr at least spends as much time in the cooking chamber as possible without being drawn out through the flu.
Speaker BAnd so it's a fine tuning of airflow and motion and that to.
Speaker BAnd of course, separating the fire from the meat so that it doesn't catch on fire.
Speaker ADoes it go in a.
Speaker AAnd this is just really a question for me, I guess, but does the.
Speaker AFrom the heat source, does it then go in a clockwise or a counterclockwise and is there a fan to push it out or how does that work?
Speaker BAll of those are yeses.
Speaker BSo it does go in a clockwise and counterclockwise.
Speaker BAnd so just to draw you a picture, imagine, if you will, the.
Speaker BThe firebox underneath the.
Speaker BWhere the meat is the cooking chamber.
Speaker ASure.
Speaker BBut it's separated with baffles and insulation, so forth, so that it doesn't wind up catching on fire like the.
Speaker BThe old styles used to.
Speaker BSo then the heat comes up the back of it and then comes up to a curved top, and that helps keep the.
Speaker BThe pattern of airflow in A manageable sense.
Speaker BSo then it comes up the back, across the top, and then down inside the cooking chamber in the front by the doors.
Speaker BAnd then fans then power surge it or boost it, if you will, to accelerate it and keep it move in this circular direction.
Speaker AOkay, so when you were creating this, how many.
Speaker AI don't know what you used as a test product, whether it was racks of ribs or a pork butt or just a, you know, a little piece of meat or whatever.
Speaker ABut how much of.
Speaker AHow many.
Speaker AWhatever you use for a test product, how many of those did you kind of burn up before you got it?
Speaker BWell, I'm going to be honest with you and tell you, not very many.
Speaker AGood.
Speaker BBy that time, I knew that we had to have the temperature, even temperature.
Speaker BAnd then, as Leanne can tell you, it's all about low and slow cooking.
Speaker BBarbecue is a slow process, and it's not like grilling where the meat's directly over the heat source and so forth.
Speaker BSo it was more just fine tuning the airflows and so forth, but not to the point where we were burning up meat.
Speaker CWhat's the difference between your technology and convection?
Speaker CBecause it sounds like it's kind of the same.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker BConvection is a generic term meaning that it is moving air.
Speaker BSo the similarity is that mine moves.
Speaker BIt moves the air, the heat and the smoke.
Speaker BBut it does it in in a unique way because it's for barbecue.
Speaker BAnd the fact that we're using live fire, but yet controlling it and making sure that the heat and smoke is evenly distributed inside the cooking chamber.
Speaker CWell, I have a challenge for you because it seems like you're up on technology.
Speaker CI want to know if you're going to make the first self cleaning barbecue pit.
Speaker BOh, yes.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYou can be my first customer.
Speaker CIt was always a challenge at the restaurant was taking the racks out, you know, and washing them.
Speaker CAnd, you know, the way you design your pit, it makes it very easy to get the grease out of the bottom.
Speaker CBut still, self cleaning would be a nice feature.
Speaker BSure enough.
Speaker BWell, but you're.
Speaker BYou're first on my list to call when we get there.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AI. I have a. I have a suggestion for you, and I've actually said this many times on the show, but I don't think I've said it since you joined.
Speaker ALeanne was.
Speaker ANow, I don't know how it is in Florida.
Speaker AI'm assuming it's the same way.
Speaker AI've seen these in Missouri, because I've been to Missouri quite a few times.
Speaker AI take the racks out and I take them down to the self car wash and hang them on the mat rack and blow them off there.
Speaker AIt works really well.
Speaker AAnd so for a buck and a half or two bucks, you don't have to clean up the grease in your own patio or backyard or restaurant.
Speaker AJust a little pro tip there.
Speaker BThat is a good.
Speaker BAn excellent way to do it, if you have access to that.
Speaker AYeah, it worked.
Speaker AWorks out really well.
Speaker ALeanne, what was your experience like in using Old Hickory's?
Speaker CWell, it was my first restaurant, and I.
Speaker CAnd I remember it vividly.
Speaker CI got an El Edx, which is equivalent to, like a Southern Pride 500.
Speaker CSo it wasn't the largest one.
Speaker CIt wasn't the smallest, but I needed it to be adequate enough to service the restaurant.
Speaker CAnd what I did was I faced it through the wall so it was actually outside.
Speaker CAnd I, you know, I was able to retain the square footage inside the building, which worked out great.
Speaker CBut as David was saying about, you know, the smoke and how you vent it out, I happen to be in a small mini mall, and I had to build a stack outside because every city is different on their requirements.
Speaker CAnd it had to be built so that it had a fan and it went outside the roof line, so it was very tall.
Speaker CAnd I thought it was going to affect the heat in the cooker, but it didn't.
Speaker CIt actually worked out just fine.
Speaker CYou know, from end to end to the center, if you set, you know, thermometers across those racks, you're going to find that the temperature is consistent.
Speaker CAnd then it goes in racks that go in a circular motion so it's constantly moving the meat, and it's just.
Speaker CIt's a miracle.
Speaker AThere you go.
Speaker AWell, speaking of miracles, we're going to take another break, and we'll be right back on Barbecue Nation with Leanne and David Knight from Old Hickory Pits and myself, who I'm just here today.
Speaker AAnyway, we'll be right back.
Speaker AHey, everybody, it's JT And I have eaten.
Speaker AIf you've ever looked at me, you know that.
Speaker ABut I have eaten seafood all over the world, and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
Speaker AIf you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker ACheck it out.
Speaker BThis is an encore.
Speaker AWelcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker AI'm JT and We are visiting with David Knight from the founder and mastermind behind Old Hickory Pits.
Speaker AWe'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker ABeef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker AAnd also Gunter Wilhelm knives.
Speaker AGreat knives, Great balance at a reasonable price.
Speaker AVery efficient in the kitchen.
Speaker AThat's Gunter Wilhelm Knives.
Speaker AFind out more@gunterwilhelm.com so, David, how are your barbecue skills?
Speaker BWell, let's see.
Speaker BHow shall I address this?
Speaker BI guess so they must be okay.
Speaker BI'm in the Barbecue hall of Fame.
Speaker BAsk me a question or something.
Speaker BWhere you want to go with this?
Speaker AWell, let's put it this way.
Speaker AWhen you were a kid and you were hanging around a barbecue store with your buddy from first grade.
Speaker BYes, sir.
Speaker ADid they teach you not just about how good the food was, because I think that's what probably drew you to it, was hanging around there with the food.
Speaker ABut did they.
Speaker ABut did they kind of teach you, give you pointers?
Speaker ADid they say, like, we make this by doing X, Y and Z to this rack of ribs or whatever it was?
Speaker AHow did that come about?
Speaker BYes, because there are some eccentricities to fixing and preparing barbecue.
Speaker BFor example, the ribs, for example, they have, they need to be dressed.
Speaker BYou know, really try to scrape the.
Speaker BThe globs of fat that kind of cracks over there.
Speaker BAnd then on.
Speaker BOn the inside of the rib cavity, it's kind of curved like that.
Speaker BThe inside curve there.
Speaker BThere's a membrane that you have to remove and.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BIt's called a peritoneum.
Speaker BAnd you very carefully get a hold of that and you can pull it out just like you're skinning a rabbit and then throw that away and then trim it up.
Speaker BAnd Boston butts, a lot of people like to trim a little fat off of them before they do it.
Speaker BAnd same thing with brisket.
Speaker BAnd then there's some people like to leave it on there, saying that that's going to give it more flavor.
Speaker BSo there's a lot of regional eccentricities that go into it.
Speaker ALeanne brought this up in the last segment when she was talking about using old hickory pits.
Speaker AHow easy is it to clean?
Speaker AI mean, literally, I've been in barbecue stores now, these much smaller individual patio style units.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AI've noticed this very few times.
Speaker AWill the, if you will, the husband ask about how tough is it to clean?
Speaker AHis wife will ask, because she knows the first time she looks out there and sees a fire on the deck coming out of the smoker or whatever they bought, and she will turn around and ask the husband, if she's cleaned it.
Speaker ANow, I've made a joke out of that, but it's actually kind of true.
Speaker ASo how easy is it to clean?
Speaker BOkay, There's a lot of hints that you can do, and Leanne kind of mentioned some of them, one of which is, as she said, using a power washer.
Speaker BIf you have a commercial pit, a big one, and you're cooking hundreds of pounds of meat a day, you're going to create some.
Speaker BSome grease and, and crust on the racks.
Speaker BAnd so your best friend is a power washer.
Speaker BAnd then also some people even like to take them out and let them soak overnight when.
Speaker BAnd use some degreaser and let it rest all night long.
Speaker BAnd then it really comes off easily.
Speaker BSo there's different methods and so forth, but a lot of it is.
Speaker BPower washing is a big help.
Speaker AIs there.
Speaker AExcuse me for my lack of knowledge, but is there an actual grease catch outside the unit hanging down or something or.
Speaker BIt's basically a drain and typically it'll be on one side or the other of the pit.
Speaker BAnd then it has a off and on valve so that when you're cooking, you leave it closed.
Speaker BAnd then when you're ready to clean the pit, you open the valve and drain the grease out into a bucket and then you can start your cleaning process and then drain all the water and soap and all that out.
Speaker AThere you go.
Speaker AIt works for me.
Speaker ADid you do that, Leanne, or did you have somebody do it for you?
Speaker COh, no, I'm very well aware of what goes into it.
Speaker COne mistake that people make is that they let the grease out, say at nighttime, and they go, they start the cooker the next day or whatever, and they forget to close it.
Speaker CSo reminder, keep the bucket under there always.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BYes, I did.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AYeah, guilty.
Speaker ANot on an old hickory, but on some other ones that I've had or.
Speaker AAnother pro tip, folks.
Speaker AIf you've got a smaller unit at home, you got to empty the bucket once in a while too.
Speaker BThat's true.
Speaker ABecause if you don't, thing you should
Speaker Cdo is get a recycle bin to recycle your grease so you can put it in the back of your restaurant or, you know, and you just dump the grease in there and then it gets recycled and you actually get paid a whopping penny or two per cow.
Speaker AI cheat.
Speaker AI use it on my burn pile.
Speaker BWe.
Speaker AWe can still burn here.
Speaker ASo I have, with all my shrubs and stuff, I usually have a big pile silver on one side of the property and I go over there and I'll pour it on there.
Speaker AWhen things are a little damp in the spring, you know, that helps them get going.
Speaker AI'll just put it that way.
Speaker AYou can fill in the blanks for yourself.
Speaker AWere you met with any resistance at all?
Speaker AI mean, when you came out with these, David.
Speaker AThe commercial ones I could see were, were restaurateurs and stuff are going, wow, that's really cool.
Speaker ABut when you started doing the home version, so to speak, they're spending.
Speaker AI'm sure I didn't look at the pricing, but they're spending.
Speaker ABut also, you know, people were used to half barrels and, and cutting them and, and putting racks on them and creating their own smokers and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker BDid.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker ADid you run into immediate acceptance or a little bit of wow, I don't know.
Speaker BWell, I.
Speaker BThat's interesting that you asked that because I was very fortunate to have a friend that was in the competition world.
Speaker BHis name is Doug File.
Speaker BHe lived down in Tennessee or Mississippi, but at any rate, he traveled the competitions serve circuit and he said, hey, can I.
Speaker BThat looks pretty snazzy.
Speaker BHe was up to the factory here visiting.
Speaker BHe said, can I try that out at the competition?
Speaker BAnd I said sure.
Speaker BAnd so he took it.
Speaker BHe had a trailer and headed off and he called me up, he said, hey, it works pretty good.
Speaker BI won and can I keep it a while?
Speaker BAnd so he kept it that season and as they say, the rest is history.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, I.
Speaker AWell, you know, there's nothing quite beats success.
Speaker BYeah, it is, but.
Speaker BAnd it's been these bits.
Speaker BFor example, if you'll take the big contest like Kansas City Royal and Memphis in May, you see them there and, and the people have had wonderful luck with them or success over the years with them.
Speaker BAnd there's one model, you know, in country music they got a saying, if you're going to go to Texas, you got to have a fiddle in the band.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BBut if you're going to go to Memphis, Tennessee, to the big barbecue contest down there and you're going to be cooking in the whole hog category, you better have an All Hager double wide.
Speaker AHow many different selections do you have?
Speaker AI looked at your website last night, but I didn't go through product by product by product, do you have everything from.
Speaker AWell, I know you've got them from the home version to play the game up to big, but do you also.
Speaker AHow many of those do you have and do you ever custom make them for people?
Speaker BWe do.
Speaker BWe have about six big Models, basic models.
Speaker BNow these have variations and it winds up being like 30 miles or whatever.
Speaker BBut sure, but, but the basic floor plan, about six big models and different in size.
Speaker BAnd then the small ones there is about three and a four, four sizes and the small ones and that they're varying in size and so forth.
Speaker BSo the, the one, the, the biggest one we make is called Hogzilla.
Speaker BIt's in fact, I don't know if you've ever seen a Hogzilla Leanne, but it, you can park a Volkswagen inside of it and yeah, it's big.
Speaker BIt'll hold a couple thousand pounds of meat at one load and then the smallest one would be about £40.
Speaker BSo anything from that to that.
Speaker CDid you find that your sales went up during COVID Yes, ma'.
Speaker BAm.
Speaker CThat's good.
Speaker CGood for you.
Speaker CBut I guess you couldn't get them made, right?
Speaker CYou could take the orders, but you couldn't make them because you couldn't get them.
Speaker BWell, fortunately, fortunately, being the eternal optimist I am and not knowing that the pandemic was coming or whatever, we, we took all that winter before everybody got sick and everything went back and that we were just building bits as fast as we can and said, well, it's not fresh produce, it's not going to spoil.
Speaker BYou know, let's see what.
Speaker BAnd so lo and behold, when we were under a mandate, at one point they actually stopped us from manufacturing for a brief while.
Speaker BBut then, but we were able to reopen because we do a lot of work with the emergency people that feed
Speaker Apeople in emergencies and operation, Operation Barbecue Relief and all that.
Speaker BYeah, that's one of them.
Speaker BWe sponsor that one.
Speaker BThat's when we helped start about, oh, 10 years ago.
Speaker BThat's been quite a phenomenon itself there.
Speaker BYou got these wonderful people that donate their time and energy to come and cook and feed people they don't even know.
Speaker BIt's pretty amazing.
Speaker BWe've fed over 10 million meals.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker AWe're going to take a break.
Speaker AWe're going to be back with David Knight from Old hickory pits and Ms. Leanne, our own cover girl, right after this.
Speaker AOn barbecue day.
Speaker AReady for a new ride.
Speaker AChoose from over on thousand vehicles at Weston Kia like a new Kia Sportage, Soul Forte K4 Sorento Telluride or Carnival Gas, electric or hybrid.
Speaker AOregon's all time leader in Kia sales.
Speaker AEveryone Wins at Westin 1994 to January 2026 Weston Kia sold more new Kias than any other Kia dealer.
Speaker AOrchid reported by Kia Corp. Hey everybody.
Speaker AJT Here I want to tell you about the Hammerstahl knives.
Speaker AHammerstall combines German steel with beautiful and functioning design.
Speaker AThey're part of the Heritage steel group, which also does their pots and pans.
Speaker ASo go to heritagesteel us.
Speaker ACheck out the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker AIf you're really into cooking, I think you're really gonna like them.
Speaker AThis is an encore.
Speaker AWelcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker AI'm JT along with Leanne Whippen, and we're talking with David Knight today, who is, as the founder, creator, and head mahu at Old Hickory Pits.
Speaker AMust be quite a life, David, that you.
Speaker AYou've created this and you've done it, and you've been very successful at it.
Speaker AAny changes that you, in hindsight that you would make?
Speaker BOh, hindsight's always 20 20, so it's kind of hate to second guess myself, but you're right.
Speaker BThe barbecue world is a fascinating world to be in, and Leanne can attest to that as well, because there's so many opportunities to travel, to go to barbecue contests, go to barbecue restaurants, and see what the rest of the world is doing.
Speaker BSo it's really a wonderful group of people all out there trying to.
Speaker BTo barbecue at their best.
Speaker AAnd do you ever go to the competitions?
Speaker BOh, yeah, Hang out with them.
Speaker BBut I've judged, I've gone to contests and all that.
Speaker AWe.
Speaker BWe don't compete, but we kind of help provide equipment sometimes to people that.
Speaker BThat need help and that.
Speaker BYeah, we go.
Speaker BI always go to the Memphis in May and also the Kansas City Royal.
Speaker BThose are.
Speaker BAnd you gotta.
Speaker BGotta be theirs.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker CI don't know if you remember this, but I was at the royal competing, I don't know, long time ago, and we ordered our meat to be delivered to our sites, and I ended up getting boneless pork butts.
Speaker CAnd you came along, and I was having a hissy fit.
Speaker CI'm like, I have to have bone in pork butts.
Speaker CYou actually.
Speaker CI don't know if you remember this, but you went out and you got me bone in pork butts and brought them to my site.
Speaker CAnd that's a logistical nightmare, you know, at the royal, because, you know, how wide.
Speaker CI don't know if you remember that, but I vividly remember that.
Speaker CAnd you saved the day and you got.
Speaker BThat's so sweet.
Speaker BThank you.
Speaker AThat's pretty cool.
Speaker AThat's a pretty cool story.
Speaker AWhat do you have on the horizon, David?
Speaker AWhat are you looking for now?
Speaker AAre you designing new things?
Speaker BWell, the first thing is to get that pit that cleans itself.
Speaker BYeah, that's number one.
Speaker BNo, no.
Speaker BWe are in constant pursuit of new avenues of getting a better product to the customers.
Speaker BOur theme is to let us help you barbecue at your best.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BSo we got our ears attuned to what people are cooking, how they want to cook it.
Speaker BDo they want to do it faster, slower?
Speaker BDo they want more smoke, less smoke?
Speaker BJust really kind of keep it.
Speaker BThey say if you keep your ear to the ground and your nose to the grindstone and your best foot forward, your odds are you can't even go to work because you can't move.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASo that's true.
Speaker BYou got to keep all those things going at once.
Speaker AI was going to say you get a dirty ear, a bloody nose, and a club foot doing that.
Speaker BYou got it.
Speaker BBut we do.
Speaker BWe do try to try to constantly improve and seek out the opportunities for doing some new stuff.
Speaker ARight, right.
Speaker AIn overall, this is a question we ask most of our guests.
Speaker AIs the progression of the barbecue, especially the competitive barbecue world.
Speaker ADo you.
Speaker AAre you happy with it, or do you think we should do something different?
Speaker AOr.
Speaker AJust give us your overview real quick.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker BYou mean as far as the rules?
Speaker AYeah, the rules, the competitions.
Speaker AYou know, we have.
Speaker AWe have people on here that I would say, and I think Leanne would agree with me, push the envelope as far as the.
Speaker AThe finished product, they're pushing out.
Speaker AAnd then you've got other people that have been around a little longer saying, man, it's, It's.
Speaker AIt's too much.
Speaker AWe.
Speaker AIt's like in golf, they always want to roll back the golf ball because the golf.
Speaker ACurrent golf balls fly so far.
Speaker AAnd, you know, and it's like that in, in most competitions, there's always a few naysayers, but overall, what's your take on barbecue competition these days?
Speaker BI think.
Speaker BI think it's.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BIt's pretty good shape, honestly, if you look at it.
Speaker BThe two biggest sanctioning organizations is the mbn, which is Memphis, and then the kcbs, which is Kansas City.
Speaker BThen we also have many, many state organizations that have their own rules and even cities.
Speaker BFor example, in St. Louis, barbecue organization, from my perspective, I think there's enough diversity of opportunity.
Speaker BIf you don't like this, go to the other one.
Speaker BAnd it gives a variety, a variety of items to cook.
Speaker BYou know, you, ribs and beef and pork, and even some of them do anything but beef or pork.
Speaker BAnd as a.
Speaker BAs a kind of an odd extra product.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BSo I think.
Speaker BI think there's a good balance in that, and I Couldn't come up and think of a critical thing I could say about it.
Speaker AThat's refreshing, actually.
Speaker BWell, the winners tell jokes and the losers say deal, damn it.
Speaker BDeal.
Speaker BYeah,
Speaker Athat is true.
Speaker ADavid, is there anything in barbecue that you have not done that you want to do yet?
Speaker AWhoa.
Speaker BHonestly, not off the top of my head.
Speaker BI mean, I was pretty well, seeing a lot of stuff.
Speaker BGive me a week or two here.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker CDo you sell your pits internationally?
Speaker BOh, my gosh, yes.
Speaker BYeah, we had them all over the world.
Speaker BAnd so now that's a fun thing, too, is to.
Speaker BTo see your equipment in a foreign country.
Speaker BAnd so I don't get to travel internationally near as much as my son Alex.
Speaker BHe.
Speaker BHe does a lot of our international stuff.
Speaker BBut anyway, we have pits in.
Speaker BIn all the continents and so forth.
Speaker BAnd, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker BIn foreign countries, I. I liken it to what in the United states, let's say, 50 years ago, where pizza was back.
Speaker BYou know, pizza at one time was not on every street corner, not in the filling station, this, that, and the other and so forth, but now it's a mainstay and.
Speaker BAnd so forth.
Speaker BBarbecue is following that same kind of evolutionary process to have at one time been that one place in town, kind of off the beaten path to now that's mainstream, gets credit in the magazines, and all of the accolades go to barbecue that it should.
Speaker ASo we're going to get out of here.
Speaker ADavid's going to stick around for After Hours, but we've been talking to David Knight from Old Hickory Pits and fascinating story with David.
Speaker AAnd like I said, he's going to be on the After Hours segment, so you want to track that down on the web.
Speaker ABut, David, thank you for being here.
Speaker BWell, thank you so much for the invitation.
Speaker AYeah, you're most welcome, Leanne.
Speaker CYou too.
Speaker CIt's been a long time.
Speaker ALeanne and I will be back next week with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker AAnd remember our motto here, folks.
Speaker ATurn it, don't burn it.
Speaker ATake care, everybody.
Speaker ABarbecue Nation is produced by JTSD, LLC Productions in association with Envision Networks and Salem Media Group.
Speaker BAll rights reserved.