It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt.

So fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.

Now from the Turn It Go Burn.

It studios in Portland, here's jt, everybody.

Welcome to Barbecue Nation.

I'm jt, along with my co host, co commander, wing lady.

And today, of course, we're doing a Fourth of July special.

So who.

Who else could do that with us but Meathead from Amazing Ribs, two Hall of Famers, as we like to on the show.

Absolutely.

You know.

Yeah.

And I want to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef for supporting the show over the years.

We appreciate that very much.

Anyway, welcome, everybody.

Happy Fourth of July in a few days.

Yeah.

Where did June go?

I think it.

I don't know.

It just kind of vaporized.

I.

I was having the same thing this morning.

I mean, where did June go?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Well, the whole year has actually gone by pretty quickly, as usual.

When did this show.

I have a few stats.

I'm not going to bore people with it, other than the fact of Calvin Coolidge was the only president that was actually born on the Fourth of July.

Really?

Yeah.

So there's George M.

Cohen.

Really?

Yeah.

Well, don't you remember?

I'm a Yankee Doodle Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July.

There's our tease for the show.

Meathead sings.

You know the joke, I couldn't carry a tune in a paper bag.

I'm terrible.

Yeah.

So let's start this.

Instead of just jumping into hot dogs and burgers and ribs and all that stuff, what does the 4th of July mean to you, and what's your favorite part of it?

Let's start with you, Meathead.

Well, you know, I mean, I think we should.

And all of us would talk about the underlying meaning that it was the event that commemorates the foundation of our great country.

And it's a time, I think, that I.

Well, it's a good time to think about how the country could be better, but I think.

I think that almost every day now.

Right.

But it has obviously evolved into a family event.

And of course, if you want to talk about Fourth of July, why not talk about the importance of the family in this country?

We host a 4th of July party at our house.

It's the one event we hold for the family.

My wife's family is here.

I have a sister in Florida, but she has two brothers, and they have a bunch of kids, and the kids have kids, and it's a big Italian American family, and I get most of the Grills cranked up and we whip up a feast.

And hopefully it's not too hot and it's a great time to catch up with them.

We've got kids going off to college.

What are you studying?

It's just, you know, it's a family event more than anything for me.

That's, that's good, Leanne.

Yeah, totally.

So I was raised on a lake in New Jersey, and we.

The big thing, of course, was to go out on the boats and watch the fireworks.

And I was Lake Mohawk Skihawk.

So we had our big water ski show, and it was all family, and the lawns would meet up with the, you know, with the lake.

So we would convene at one particular house every year.

And I just remember all the kids running around and, you know, just having a great time.

I agree.

It was.

It was, you know, cooking out, just grab and go food kind of.

It wasn't like everybody sat down, but everybody was just enjoying the time.

And it was.

It still is.

It's not as fun as when I was a kid for sure, but I think more now.

I think of it, you know, as.

As, you know, as us as a country and, and thinking about it more in that terms than just a party.

You know, I grew up on a.

A ranch, and we had a.

You've heard me speak of it before.

We had a.

We called it a cricket, but most people would call it a river because it was wide enough.

But we would spend the whole Fourth of July weekend, as it were, down there, and people would come, bring their horses.

It was a fairly big area.

And they would.

My dad would take them on trail rides and we'd have these big feasts.

And I remember my mom cooking pies for like two or three days ahead of time, and she would make these fresh loaves of bread, and there were.

There were grills, and there were built, permanently stationed grills down there that they could cook on, and lots of chicken and lots of hamburgers, and it was always a great time.

Kids would be in the creek from 8:00am to 8:00pm you know, and then when you did that all day, you were really tired, so you slept like a rock all night like that.

But we would have fireworks and, and all that.

And I think to me, too, it's about the country.

And, you know, maybe for one day, every once in a while, we can put our political differences aside and celebrate the country and celebrate family and friends.

Anyway, that's.

That's my thoughts.

I'm not.

Calvin Coolidge may have thought the same Thing.

Hell, I don't know.

Anyway, what's your favorite thing to eat on 4th of July, Leanne?

Hot dogs.

I love hot dogs, I tell you.

You know what.

What do they call them?

Death dogs or coffin nails or whatever.

I just love the flavor.

I mean, aside from the fact that they're easy to eat, and I often eat them naked now.

I mean, the hot dogs naked, not me.

That scared me for a minute.

Yeah, Yeah.

I mean, in Chicago, we have seven required ingredients.

Here in Chicago, there are more hot dog stands than there are McDonald's and Burger King and hamburger joints.

It's.

It's sort of the local food.

And.

And.

And it's.

It's illegal to put ketchup on them.

Oh, yeah.

I don't.

I don't know why or how.

On AmazingRibs.com, my website, I wrote a whole article about this, about why people take that position.

And there's.

There's great movie clips.

There's a Clint Eastwood clip where he says, you know, you got to be an idiot to put ketchup on a hot dog and stuff like that.

And it's done with tongue deeply embedded in cheek.

But I'll tell you, it draws so many vicious.

I'll put whatever I want on my hot dog, you damn Nazi.

So I have a theory.

If you put ketchup on a hot dog, it robs you of your sense of humor.

Yes.

I think that's good.

That's kind of a Darwinian theory there.

Yeah.

See, my hot dog favorites are.

Well, I love Polish polis, as you call them.

Yeah, me too.

You know, and I'll eat the kill bosses and all the other stuff, but I really love a good Polish dog.

And the way Leanne has it in her background picture.

Yeah, that's all right.

Way I like it, I do like a Chicago dog.

I miss the dogs up there with the sport peppers and the green relish and.

Yeah.

You used to live here so that you got into it.

I loved it.

Yeah.

But I'm with you.

I love the police.

We don't call them a poly dog.

Right.

It's a Polish sausage.

Right.

I mean, it's.

It's.

It's.

It's based on a Polish kielbasa, but it's different.

I guess.

What I've learned, I think is true, is that the word kielbasa applies to all sausages in Poland.

It's not a particular type, but here in the States, I think it's applied to the Polish sausage or a smoked sausage of some sort.

I'm not sure, but I've had them across the country.

Hot dogs generally across the country vary slightly.

There's little differences depending on the manufacturer, but polis very vastly across the country.

I don't know what they're like up by you in Oregon, but I had.

I had one not too long ago in D.C.

and it didn't taste anything like a poly here in Chicago.

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

I found some of the best police locally to be by.

Made by the independent meat markets, not the mass.

Mass package deal, you know.

Yeah, that's a really interesting point.

You know, hot dogs and sausages are almost always local.

Even in small towns, there's a butcher somewhere or a meat processor who makes a hot dog, and it's the local hot dog.

Everybody eats it.

You know, it's Vienna beef here in Chicago.

I can't remember all the names, but Detroit.

You're going to be in Detroit.

Detroit has its own brand of hot dogs that everybody swears by.

In fact, there's.

Are you aware there's two hot dog joints downtown side by side and really.

In the cheesesteak wars?

Yeah, this is a.

This is a hot dog war for these guys.

And I'll see if I can find the info on pass.

Yeah, I would love to know.

Yeah, that's.

That's okay.

So before we go to break, we got about two minutes here.

Meathead.

You and I spoke about this earlier, I think, in a previous show.

Green relish, red relish.

I happen to like them both.

I actually happen to like red relish on my hamburgers, green relish on my.

On my pulleys or my dogs.

Where do you stand?

Green relish.

I mean, I'm in Chicago.

There's.

You have no choice.

I walked into a hot dog joint once, and I bought a hot dog and fries, and I wanted ketchup on the fries.

Now, I normally don't.

I normally eat the fries naked also, but I want to catch up for this time.

And I asked the guy at the counter, where's the ketchup?

And he thought I was going to put it on the hot dog.

And they had a big old pump on the counter off to the side for their French fries.

And he looked at me and said, it's over there.

Go ruin the hot dog yourself.

He wouldn't do it.

Leanne, where do you stand on that?

Definitely green.

Yeah.

You don't care for red?

No, I'm not a ketchup girl.

I eat my fries.

No ketchup.

I don't like ketchup on eggs.

I don't.

I'm not a huge ketchup fan.

Meatloaf, maybe, but that's.

I'll put ketchup on a hamburger.

Yeah.

If it's mixed with mustard.

Yes.

Well, yeah, if I can put in a little plug.

I have a recipe on my website called Hamburger Guap.

And anybody listening to this, go to AmazingRibs.com put hamburger glop in the search box.

It's a really good hamburger sauce, but it's.

It's pretty similar to what everybody else is doing.

You know, the McDonald's secret sauce.

It's ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise.

Excuse me.

It's not ketchup.

It's barbecue sauce.

Mustard, mayonnaise, a little hot sauce.

And that little barbecue sauce takes it up a notch, especially if it's got a little liquid smoke in it.

There you go.

We're going to take a break.

We're going to be back with the fourth of July special, and we're going to talk more to Meathead about his naked eating right after this on Barbecue Nation.

Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.

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Foreign.

Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with Meathead from Amazing Ribs and of course, my all time favorite co host in the world.

And yes, I've had.

No, I've had.

I've had a few in my career, but you're my favorite.

Okay.

Leanne Whipping both of them hall of famers.

You can follow us on Facebook and X or Twitter and Leanne's big on Instagram.

It's.

We're out there and of course, so is me.

Did.

He's always dropping little nuggets and jewels out there and I love the way sometimes he pokes the bear on those things.

I do like that.

Hey, speaking of the bear, he's back.

Who?

The.

The TV show, the Bear.

Oh.

Oh, okay.

He's back.

We're taping this just before the first show of the season, but I really like that series and starts this week, so I'm ready for it.

You're ready?

Okay.

It's on my calendar.

Okay.

So let's, let's talk about food here in this one.

Of course.

That's what the show is all about.

But many, we talk about burgers and dogs police my fave, meatheads fave and all that.

But ribs, ribs, amazing ribs, ribs.

Leanne's ribs, my ribs, Everybody's ribs.

Love ribs.

Quick tips, meathead, on getting your ribs ready for the fourth.

Well, first is background.

I mean, for me, many holidays have a specific food.

Thanksgiving is turkey.

Christmas, for me, it's a beef roast, you know, ham for Easter.

And for me, 4th of July is ribs.

I will put hot dogs on there, and I will eat one.

I'll put hamburgers on there, and I'll put chicken on there.

I'll try to satisfy all my guests.

But ribs, I think, are the food of the holiday.

And then they're just so much fun.

I mean, they're meat on a stick.

You eat it with your hands, you don't care if you get it all over your face, if it gets in your mustache, you get to smell the barbecue sauce for hours.

So the key to making good ribs, and I think both of you will agree with me here, we may have some minor differences, is that now you got to think about your rib cage.

Your rib cage starts with your sternum at your chest, and it wraps all the way around to the backbone.

In fact, the rib bones attach to the backbone, and the different sections of the rib are a little different.

But they have one thing in common, and that is their job is to protect your vital organs.

Their job is to protect the heart, the liver, the stomach, the lungs.

And so they have to be tough now.

They have a little flex so that, you know, if you catch a.

If you're playing football, you can take an impact.

But between the bones, there's a lot of connective tissue and fat in addition to the meat.

And so it's not diet food.

You don't eat it every day.

But that connective tissue, when it melts, becomes really rich and succulent.

And the fat, when it renders, becomes really rich and succulent.

And the meat is very tasty.

So in addition to being fun to eat, there's just a lot of flavor there.

And to get the most out of them, I think you have to cook them low and slow in order to render the fat and melt the connective tissues and cook the meat thoroughly.

You just have to dial it back.

I cook it at 225.

I know some folks go to 75, 250.

225 is my magic temperature.

I just let it go, take its time.

And there are different cuts of ribs.

If you go to the store, there's baby backs.

Now, they are back ribs.

They attach to the spine and they have a curve.

They look like a hockey stick.

And then there's spare ribs.

And they take up on the side where the baby backs end and wrap all the way around to the chest.

And they have the meat mostly between the bones, where the baby backs have the meat mostly on top of the bones.

The baby back meat is a little leaner because it comes off of the, the, the muscle that makes the loin muscle on the back.

That's where you get most your pork chops.

So you've got pork chop meat sitting on top of the baby backs.

There's not a lot of meat on the chest section, the spare ribs section, because if you feel your own ribs, there's just not a lot of meat on top of it.

Speak for yourself.

And then if you take the spare ribs, a lot of cooks will square them up by cutting off the rib tips, which are kind of gnarly, and they go in different directions.

And they're very flexible.

They'll cut off the tip of the ribs, which come from the front, the chest, and they just take the side ribs.

And they're sometimes called St.

Louis Cut, or I prefer center cut.

But they, they're, they're straighter than the, than the back ribs.

They, they're, they lay flatter and there's not as much meat on top.

Most of the meats in between, they take a little longer to cook because there's more connective tissue.

But, you know, it comes down to your preference.

I occasionally hear people go to a restaurant and say, I ordered the ribs and they were just too fatty.

No, they're all going to be fatty.

That's what you get, you know, I mean, don't complain about ribs being fatty.

That's part of the pleasure.

Anatomically correct ribs.

I'll put it that way.

Leanne, you're a rib gal.

I know.

Yeah.

And I prefer St.

Louis because of the fat over baby backs.

Me too, by far.

And I love rib tips.

Yep.

I used to serve them in the restaurant.

I like those gnarly little pieces.

Yeah, they're kind of weird because, you know, you bite into them and then you got this little 2 inch section of the.

You got to roll them around on your tongue to get the meat off of them.

Yeah, we have a store here.

I'm sorry, Leanne, go ahead.

No, but that, that's pretty much where I stand on ribs.

I mean, I'll eat a baby back, but.

And I like my ribs dry.

You know, just with a dry rub.

I'm not a saucy girl.

All right, well, you don't.

Just to clarify, when you say dry, you don't mean the meat being dry, you mean.

No, like dry ribs, which are.

Just have a rub on them.

I like it with just salt and pepper sometimes.

Yeah, yeah.

Texas style.

You can go into the store and you can buy the strips of the rib tips.

And you know, if you buy ten pounds of those rib tips, you can feed a lot of people.

And it's a.

To me, I do those like at super bowl, small gathering of people like that because like you were saying earlier, it's kind of a grab and go type finger food.

It's also great for the person working the grill because they can eat that while they're cooking the ribs.

Yes, they can.

They cook faster.

And nobody will know.

Nobody will know.

We're going to take a break.

We're going to be back with Meathead and Leanne here on Barbecue Nation right after this.

Stay with us.

Thank you.

Hey, everybody, it's JT And I have eaten, if you've ever looked at me, you know that.

But 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.

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Check it out.

Welcome back to the Nation.

I'm JT along with my co commander here, Leanne Whippen, hall of famer and meathead from AmazingRibs.com we want to give a shout out to Leanne's pig powder in this section of the show like we always do.

You've got the 4th of July coming up if you're going to do ribs or you can use it on anything.

Excellent on ribs.

I mean, that's.

I've won a lot of first places with pig powder and a lot of people like to do a pork butt on, you know, for, yeah, pork sandwiches on 4th of July.

I sprinkled them on some salmon that I slow smoked and they were very good.

Yeah, so it is.

It's very versatile, sweet, with a little heat.

Spicier one is coming out and I'll post that on my social.

But yeah, one best rub on the planet and it's a survivor rub.

I mean, there's a lot of rubs out there.

These Days.

But it's been around for years, and it's tried and true, and a lot of the competitors still use it to this day.

So go to pigeon.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I wanted to talk.

Still the same that your daddy invented?

Exactly.

Same manufacturer, the whole.

Yeah.

The only thing that's changing on this new batch will be the label.

And it's just more of a facelift, but still.

Trim, tabs, pink powder.

It needed that.

Yeah.

So, yeah, it's all good.

So I want to talk about sides.

And because we have the world champion potato salad queen sitting here, I actually look forward to the fourth because of the sides.

Everybody has their mom's recipe or a recipe they created about things like potato salad or Mac salad, what have you.

And I, I like the sides.

Not that I don't like the proteins and all that.

Don't get me wrong.

I love them.

But the point is, I love to taste people's potato salads.

I like to try their.

Their Mac salads or, you know, if they have some sort of other crunchy vegetable salad, whatever.

I always really enjoy that.

Now, Leanne, I know you're not going to share your recipe for your world championship potato salad, but what are, what are things people should be paying attention to when they're preparing their potato salad?

I don't like a deli, you know, like that deli flavored potato salad.

I'm a Hellman's best foods mayonnaise girl.

There you go.

I also think it's important to drain your potatoes well, so they don't have a lot of water in them.

And like, Yukon Golds, I feel are too starchy.

I'll use a red, though, and russets.

And it's up to you if you want to peel them, but I think they should be peeled.

I think red.

Two of the most important ingredients to add are hard cooked eggs and bacon.

And always a hint of vinegar, because that kicks it up.

And if you're making it a day ahead, taste it the next day because it absorbs the salt and a lot of the spices.

So you have to adjust your seasonings the next day.

I like a little scoop of pickle relish in mine.

My mom likes it, too.

Yeah, my mom made her potato salad, and she always had green onions in it.

Not a lot, just enough.

She also put diced up radishes in it, which I'm a radish guy.

Okay.

I would like that.

That would give it a little spiciness, a little.

Little kick to it.

So she had those things in and she, you Know, had potatoes and base.

Of course.

We're best foods people out here.

We don't get Hellman's much.

Same stuff, but.

Right.

You know, like that.

But she made that.

And the other thing was.

And I think, to your point of a.

A manufactured salad that you get out of a deli, her potatoes always still had.

I don't want to say a crunch to it, but they weren't mushy.

Yeah.

You have to.

That's the critical thing about potato salad.

There is just a small window of time when those potatoes are perfect.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I.

And I always love that.

And how do you tell when they're perfect?

I stick a fork in them, and if the fork comes out rather easily.

But if it.

If you stick a fork in it and they start to fall apart, you're already done.

You overcooked them.

Yeah.

And also what I do is so they don't continue cooking when I take them out and drain them, I stick them in the fridge to cool them down, and they continue to dry out.

The water starts to come out of them a little bit, and they don't cook anymore.

So especially if you are on the verge of overcooking them, get them as cold as you can, as fast as you can.

So they don't cook anymore.

Yeah.

We're not making mashed potatoes here.

Right.

Right.

Like that.

Meathead.

What's your.

You're a connoisseur of sides.

I know.

You know, it's 4th of July, and I can't serve all of my favorites.

I have an audience.

You.

I think it's really crucial that you think of your audience, like when you choose what beverages, you know?

Sure.

I mean, if it were me, I would do wines and some beers and stuff.

But our crowd is into hard lemonade and some of these other things, so that's what we serve.

And the same thing for sides.

Potato salad slaw.

I have two really good slaw recipes on the website.

One is the vinegar slaw, and the other is your classic deli slaw with mayonnaise and sour cream blend.

By the way, a lot of people make slaw with just sour cream.

I mean, mayonnaise.

You get some sour cream in there, maybe even a little yogurt.

And beans.

If I'm doing ribs, I'll put a pan under the bean, under the ribs to catch some drips.

And with that drip comes a little of the seasoning off the beans, the rub, little big powder.

And the beans is very nice.

Yeah.

You know, we'll do lemonade.

Corn on the.

Yeah, corn on the cob.

See, I'm sorry, I'm.

I'm.

I just happened to see that up there.

But that's a, That's a.

Yeah, it's.

Not ready yet for us.

And for.

I'm.

I'm in the Midwest, North.

I'm in the Chicago area, Illinois.

Grows fabulous corn on the cob.

There are several of these new hybrids that are just brilliant.

And These are not GMOs, they're hybrids.

You know, like.

Like you are.

You're a hybrid.

You're a crossbreed between your mom and dad.

When they cross breed corn, it's.

It's different than gmo.

Not that I have anything against gmo, but I know a lot of people do.

But these new hybrids, there's a.

There's a hybrid called Marai, which is just awesome.

And one of the cool things about them are, you know, I used to have the rule, you start the water boiling before you go pick the corn.

Some of these new hybrids will hold their sugar and their carbohydrates in the fridge for days.

They're fantastic.

So check out some of the new hybrids that are out there.

Farmers markets.

We've got a few minutes left here before we get a break.

You touched on something, meathead.

Beans.

I like to consider myself a connoisseur of baked beans.

Oh, okay.

So one of the things, there are a couple of things that, for me to get smiling about baked beans, you have to have in the ingredients, you have to have some onion and you have to have some bacon or you can, you know, if you want to mess around with that, you could use side pork or, you know, whatever, but you have to have that in there.

And I'm also a guy.

If you're going to make baked beans and more of a, I don't know, semi traditional way, you have to have molasses in it.

Yeah, you have to have molasses in it.

You can't just dump some brown sugar in it.

Or God help you if you ever dump any, like the darker version of Karo syrup in it.

That's just not going to work.

So them's Yankee beans.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, Leanne will speak to this probably better than I, but in the south, they're not as sweet as they are in the North.

And that molasses comes from the fact that the colonies, Boston used to bring in just boatloads of molasses from the Caribbean where the sugar cane was grown.

Molasses is made from sugar cane.

And there's a famous incident that happened during colonial times, I think, where these massive vats of molasses exploded and they flooded the streets.

People drowned and died in the great molasses flood.

You can Google was pretty impressive.

Wow.

I have nothing against canned baked beans.

I'm lazy in my old age.

I don't want to go soak them overnight and all that stuff.

I will.

You know, if you want to make beans like that, go buy a number 10, 10 of bushes or B&M.

B M baked beans or whatever.

I tend if I do that, I actually rinse the sauce off that they come in and then start with the beans from there.

So what are your thoughts on that?

Absolutely agree.

The sauce that they come in can be salty, can make the meat mushy.

I drain them and I drain them and rinse them lightly.

But then I start doctoring them.

I put a little barbecue sauce in my beans, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Got to have that.

Leanne, what are your little key pieces of advice for making?

I like using different beans, like Great Northern and Pinto and just so just to make it a little different.

Definitely bacon.

Yeah.

Meathead.

Like a little barbecue sauce.

Of course, pig powder goes in there, of course.

But I don't like my beans super sweet.

But I use the dark brown sugar versus light brown because it has some of that molasses undertone to it if I don't have any molasses.

But yeah, we're on the same page.

Yeah, no, I think that's the way you do it.

And I cook them for, I don't know, three or four hours at least, low and slow, just like we're doing ribs and stuff.

But I'll pop them in the oven and doing that.

And when I serve them, I.

I put kind of quartered up strips of bacon on the top and I like to see my baked beans come out with a nice deep brown color on the top of the.

Of the bowl, if you will.

That's just the thing with me.

And so when they stick a spoon in, they can get it.

Piece of bacon right off the top.

They're going to get.

I put a lot of bacon in it, so they're going to get that.

But I like that.

I like that presentation, too.

Just that nice dark brown, kind of almost crispy on the top.

That's my deal.

So that make me hungry.

Yeah, we can do that.

Well, you got a hot dog right behind you there.

We're going to take a break.

We're going to be back with Meathead and Leanne here on the barbecue nation 4th of July.

It's coming up, folks, sooner than you think.

We'll be right back.

Hey, everybody, it's jt.

You know, I talk about painted hills all the time and we always say beef the way nature intended.

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Hey, everybody, J.T.

here.

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Foreign.

Welcome back to the Nation.

I'm JT along with Ms.

Whippen and Mr.

Meathead from AmazingRibs.com if you go to AmazingRibs.com first of all, if you're not a member, you should join the Pitmaster Club.

I'll do the pitch for you here.

Me dad.

You should, you should join the Pitmaster Club because it gives you access to things that you have to be a member to get.

If you just go peruse the, the Amazing Ribs website, there's thousands, literally, literally thousands of, of things that Meathead and other his staff have written about.

There's recipes, there's ideas, there's videos, all that, that thing.

So, but for the small amount that you pay for the pit Pit Masters Club every year, I think it's well worth it.

There's the AmazingRibs.com has 2,000 free pages of recipes, product reviews.

We have a guy full time who tests grills and smokers.

If you're trying to replace your old rust bucket, you need to go see Matt Good and read his reviews.

They're detailed and he calls them the way he sees them.

He doesn't know who advertises and doesn't care.

And then thermometer reviews.

We have an electrical engineer who tests thermometers.

And the pitmaster Club has 120 broadcast quality instructional videos just for members.

Yeah, there you go.

See, it's well worth it.

All right, so now it's time to talk about our favorite thing which is in this segment is not going to be beer, but it's going to be desserts up here where we live, of course, fourth of July.

Standard fare for desserts is like strawberry shortcake, because strawberries are in season.

They're beautiful.

Their local ones are really juicy, plump, sweet and all that.

The way I do shortcake is I make my own very thick whipped cream.

I make my own biscuits to do that.

I don't use the spongy stuff.

I don't like spongy stuff for some reason.

And when I slice up my strawberries and prepare them, I will put them in some water and maybe a little sugar in the water to really bring out the sweet and let it sit for a while.

So when you serve them, it's absolutely phenomenal.

I think my wife would eat a bowl of the juice and the biscuits, and she doesn't bother with the berries.

But what's the Chicago style on that meathead?

We, too, will do strawberry shortcake, but peaches are just coming in season, and I love grilled peaches.

The peaches are fruit.

They're like grapes in the sense that they are at their best in a cool climate where they get sweet during the daytime, but the temperature cools down and that retains the acidity.

So you get this marvelous sugar and acid balance, which all the great wine regions have.

And I gotta tell you, for that reason, I think Michigan peaches are better than Georgia and South Carolina.

Actually, South Carolina has more peaches than Georgia does.

But I love them down there.

They get very sweet, but they just don't have the crispness of a Michigan peach.

And they're fantastic.

And they're just around the corner from us.

And usually once a year, we make a run down to the fruit belt of Michigan and buy peaches.

And they just are spectacular, and they grill up nicely.

Key to grilling peaches to a couple of keys.

If you can get freestone, that means the.

The stone, the pit is kind of loose in there.

You slice them down the middle.

It's easy to pop the pit out.

If you get cling peaches, the meat clings to the stone and a little hard to get the seed out.

And you want to get the seed out so that when you slice them in half, you can lay that cut side down on the grill where they'll get grill marks.

And it's really crucial that you clean that grill grate both top and bottom.

You do not want meat grease or meat grease smoke in your fruits.

And.

And then I.

I just, you know, grill them until I get a couple of grill marks, which is caramelized sugar.

Flip them over.

Get.

Get them cooked on the backside.

And they actually have a similar recipe for this.

I have a rum sauce that I like to pour over it.

It's in my new book, the Meathead Method.

And a scoop of ice cream and a little warm rum sauce on the scoop of ice cream.

And the peaches is fantastic.

And if you want, you can actually gild the lily.

I've been known to paint the peaches with a little amaretto.

Yeah.

Or Captain Morgan.

There you go.

And they absorb a little bit of that flavor and gives it a little, amps it up a little.

So that's kind of fun.

Very good, Ms.

Whippin.

I'm like this big watermelon basket person during the fourth of July.

So with all different melons and strawberries and grapes, and you just dig in and get a whole bunch of fruit.

I like while grilling.

Throwing sliced pineapples on the grill.

I like that.

But, you know, we're into some more world, and there's so many variations that makes it fun for the kids to make, you know, s' mores, but.

And of course, you could do a cherry dump cake and throw some blueberries on it and get red, white, and blue action going.

That is true.

That is true.

Cherries are in.

We're getting them in from both Michigan and the Pacific Northwest.

And you can make a marvelous clafouti.

I have fear of flowers, so I don't know how to do a clafouti, but I'll bet Leanne knows.

I don't know.

But anyway, I like dessert, but, you know, I.

I tend to fill up on everything else and it's hot outside and you kind of lose your appetite.

So it would be nice if ice cream was a little bit more weather worthy because I would love a big dish of ice cream for the fourth, but it doesn't hold too well.

Well, yes, it is literally cream, but, you know, if you let it sit out too long.

No, I think there's a lot of amazing, no pun intended, amazing desserts out there.

The other thing you were talking about, cherries.

Meathead.

One of my favorite things in the world is a really good cherry cobbler.

I love cherry cobbler, especially if it's a crisp top, you know, like that.

I love that.

And I like, you know, you can do it with blueberries or apples, you can do it with peaches, you can do it with whatever.

The other fruit we have an abundance up here is pears.

We have a lot of good pears in the Northwest.

And I'll take a Pear cut.

Cut it in half, take the seeds out like that.

I'll put it on the grill with a.

A small little dab of butter and some brown sugar and some raisins.

Actually, I like raisins.

You don't have.

The raisins are optional.

And you can grill it that way.

You can put a little cinnamon on top or, you know, a little Grand Marnier, something like that.

It turns out very good.

It's more of an adult type dessert, but, you know, you can be very creative with fruit to make desserts out of it.

For sure.

Yeah.

Favorite beverage?

I'll start with Leanne.

Well, that's like lemonade.

I like fresh lemonade with whatever you want.

Lemonade?

Yeah.

I mean, there's plenty of beer around, but I don't, you know, on a hot day, I.

Outdoors cooking.

Really easy for the beer to go to my head.

Yeah.

And normally I'm a wine.

Wine drinker, but on 4th of July, I go for lemonade.

Yeah, well, yeah, I can do that.

I can.

Margaritas are good, too.

Nice.

Frozen margarita would be nice.

Yeah, anything like that, I think works out good.

We used to make this stuff called yucca.

Have you guys ever done yucca?

No.

You take a gallon jar, like an old pickle jar, it's all cleaned out and stuff, and you fill it full of ice, and you take a container of frozen lemonade and you put that whole big slug of frozen lemonade in there, the condensed version.

And then you take a fifth of tequila and you pour it in there and you shake it.

Some poor staff has to shake this thing for a better part of an hour, off and on.

But when it comes out, it is the most amazing beverage.

Word of warning, don't get over exuberant with the yucca because it will yucca you, I bet.

Especially in the heat.

In the heat.

But it is an amazing, easy kind of group cocktail, if you will, in the summertime.

Like that.

So I.

I don't have a lot of personal experience with it, but I heard about it through the grapevine, you might say.

But it's really good.

What's the highlight of your fourth of July gatherings, Meathead?

The ribs.

That's it.

I mean, every.

I cook a mess of ribs.

They go in a big pot.

I slice them up into individual bones when they're done and put them in the dining table.

And of course, everybody comes from Eathead's famous ribs.

Otherwise they probably wouldn't come at all.

You know, they don't like me that much.

They just want my Ribs, Leanne.

It's all about the food.

That's my favorite part.

And then fireworks.

You like fireworks?

Fireworks?

Yeah.

We don't.

We have sparklers.

We don't do fireworks.

We're dog lovers, dog owners, and that tends to freak the dogs out.

And also, I've been hearing lately about vets who are really freaked out by the explosions.

Right.

How about you, Jeff?

Where I live now, and you've been here, it starts a day or two before it kind of warm up drills with the fireworks.

But then the 4th of July, it sounds like Danang 68 for about 6 hours during the night.

It goes till usually about 1 to 1:30 in the morning.

It goes on all night.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then they'll.

And then.

Because, like, the fourth is on a Friday this year, you'll still get more fireworks on Saturday and Sunday.

And it keeps the local constables busy trying to track them down.

Last question.

In this part of the show, we've got some fun stuff coming up in after hours.

What's your message to the world, to the United States, leanne, for the 4th of July this year?

This is a little different show, but.

This is a toughie because there's a lot happening right now.

I mean, I won't even tell you what I just read on my phone.

But, yeah, it's just, you know, everybody stay safe, be mindful of our military and how they're protecting us and.

Yeah, just.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Well, interesting time.

Yeah.

I am the polar opposite of Elon Musk in the sense that I stay out of politics.

I own a small business.

I have employees.

It is my responsibility to my fiscal responsibility, fiduciary responsibility to not piss people off.

I have very strong political views, and I wish I could voice them publicly.

I have always had strong political views.

I have never missed an election, even local.

But I keep it to myself.

I do, too.

And I think Elon Musk demonstrated the risk in putting your politics out there.

He was running very profitable, beloved companies admired by many people.

And when he got involved in politics, he pissed a lot of people off, justifiably or not.

Right.

And I try to steer clear of it.

I do occasionally dabble in food politics.

When the government passes laws related to food and diet, health or something.

I will occasionally comment on that, but it's strictly nonpartisan.

It's strictly from a culinary basis.

So.

And I try to steer clear of those discussions at the Fourth of July because there's a variety of opinions.

But I gotta tell you one thing.

I have my message screen up here and the phone rang a few minutes ago.

I had to hang up on it before I could take it.

But my brother in law, my sister's brother, she has two.

One of them is politically the vast opposite of me.

And we have a daily back and forth debate and it is vehement and it is polarized and it is strong.

And every time I see him, I hug him and I love him to death because he's a nice man and I will not let politics get in the way.

And if I had any message about the fourth of July, it would be that there's going to be people who disagree with you politically.

Love them anyhow.

Yep, I would.

I couldn't really have said that better right myself.

So for everybody watching and listening, thank you.

We hope you have a wonderful fourth of July with family and friends.

Enjoy the festivities.

Don't forget, you can go to pigpowder.com for the above four mentioned pig powder.

I recommend it and also to amazingribs.com if you can swing it.

Join the Pitmasters Club there.

Meathead's new book, the Meathead Method is out.

And for me, I'm gonna go to the golf course anyway.

We will.

We're gonna, we're gonna jump into after hours here.

And so for everybody out there, go out, have a good time, have Fun on the 4th.

Remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it.

But most of all, be kind.

Take care, everybody.

Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD LLC Productions in association with Salem Media Group.

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