Welcome to Barbecue Nation with JT And Leanne.

After Hours, the conversation that continued after the show was done.

Hey, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Barbecue Nation.

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That's Painted Hills Natural Beef, everybody.

Welcome to After Hours here on Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with Ms.

Whippin today and Clint Cantwell.

I'm looking for my notes here if you missed the regular show.

It was a rousing session about food trends, especially this time of year.

It all started with Clint and I going back and forth on social media with pumpkin spice.

Just.

Just.

Just.

No, just.

No, don't do that.

You know, that's a.

A good synopsis of the last 50 minutes.

Yeah, just.

Just don't do that.

And we talked about some other different food things that over the years that we do.

And.

And, you know, I think the main thing is I have this vision when you talk about pumpkin spice or any of these things we were talking about.

When I think about that, because I'm a very visual guy, as we all are here, I don't see that vision in my brain as there's pumpkin and a little bowl of sugar or cinnamon or nutmeg, whatever.

I see chemicals.

That's all I see is chemicals.

I don't want to go off and be like Robert Kennedy Jr.

Here, because we don't do politics.

But that's all I see when you say stuff to me like pumpkin spice or any of these things you see on the store shelf, and you whip it up and you look at the label and it could say with kumquat flavoring, but there's no kumquats in it.

You know, that's.

That's the way I think.

Unfortunately, that's where we've progressed to anyway, is what it is.

What.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, which is coming up, Clint, what is your favorite thing to do on Thanksgiving?

Cook.

Food wise.

Cooking.

Oh, cooking wise.

I was going to say put on pants, since normally I'm at home working by myself, so I don't put on pants.

But when the guests come over, I have.

So that's.

That's rule number one on Thanksgiving.

Put on pants.

And.

But I don't really have, you know, I don't have some signature go to dish.

I have started spatchcocking my turkey on Thanksgiving because I think that it just cooks a lot more evenly and it cooks a little faster.

You don't have that Perfect little photo op at the table with the beautiful ground bird, you know, Norman Rockwell style.

But I think it's just a.

It's more effective, efficient way of cooking a turkey.

So that's.

That's the one thing that I do.

And then Brussels sprouts with bacon.

I'm a big fan of brussels sprouts, so that's my go to side dish.

I'm not really into to the baked goods on Thanksgiving, but obviously you have to have really good pies there.

Do you like dressing?

I do.

When it's done, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm.

I'm a dressing fan.

Yeah.

You know, like stovetop stuffing.

I'm just not.

No, no.

Down for that because it, you know, it kind of comes out as a mushy little blob.

Right.

But if you make it yourself, it can be really nice.

Yeah, I do that.

I do the.

The, you know, they look like miniature croutons.

And then, yeah, I do that.

And I put some mushrooms and celery and onions, and I actually put water chestnuts in it and some seasoning and a lot of stock.

I create stock from a couple days before, and I've got that.

And I usually have too much.

So I put some of that stock in the dressing as it's cooking and make a nice crunchy crust on the top of it.

But it's fluffy inside, not gooey.

And you don't.

You don't put it in the bird, right?

No, no, no, no.

I cook it.

I actually cook it in a.

An old roasting dish.

Roaster, electric roaster.

Got it.

Oh, okay.

You know, all of our moms had those, and I still got my mom's, which is.

God, that thing's probably 80 years old now.

Surprised it doesn't blow up, but, yeah.

My grandmother had one, and she would stick like an 18 pound turkey in there the day before, and it would cook for 36 hours and just dry as dirt in her little turkey roaster.

It always smelled great, but it was.

It was not her best dish.

You know why?

She kept going back to it every year.

My mom was the same way.

She would get up at 5 in the morning and put the turkey in the oven.

Yeah, we.

We didn't eat till like three or four in the afternoon.

Right.

And that thing was just as chewy as my flip flops here.

You know, it's just.

It's just like that.

But I wanted to go back to spatchcocking because Leanne and I have talked about this on the show.

And of course, Meathead He's a huge proponent of batch cocking.

It's just so fun to say.

Yeah, yeah.

And if they don't know what you're talking about, they kind of give you the eye, like.

But I think it's easier to cut the burn up too, once it's cooked.

It's easier to get the breast off and get proper amount of the dark meat and all that.

I just think it's easier to handle when you do that.

And so I always cook a couple of extra.

We got a store here that carries some big turkey legs, so I will put three or four extra legs in my smoker the day before.

Smart.

And because a lot of this crowd really likes dark meat, but we do make enough gravy to get through the white meat too, you know, like that.

And that's just the way I do it.

So I think we've evolved in that.

But there is absolutely no pumpkin spice involved in anything that I do that day.

And obviously you need mashed potatoes with lots of butter and heavy cream.

Yep, yep.

Or artery clogging whole cloves of garlic into my water when I'm boiling the potatoes.

And it mellows it out and it's really good when you mash it all up.

Oh, yeah.

Smart.

Very good.

Yeah.

Whole clove.

Just throw them right in the water when you're boiling the potatoes and then when you mash them up, they mash up with it and they mellow out and it's delicious.

How many do you put in?

I would say for a five pound bag, I would put in probably six or seven cloves.

So quite a bit.

That's really good.

I also add a little sour cream to my mashed potatoes.

Not a lot, but I just cup 3/4 of a cup or something depending on how many people we're having.

But I'm with the butter in the heavy cream, a little sour cream.

I'm going to try your garlic trick this year.

Yeah.

So very easy and good.

Yeah, I like that.

Anyway, let's get back to obnoxious foods.

Lima beans.

I do not do lima beans.

My mom would most vegetables, but lima beans are.

I don't know, maybe it's PSD or from.

From grade school.

No, I think they used to serve me lima beans in the lunchroom and it's turned me off ever since.

Pts not pst.

My.

My mom would make lima beans big pot and she'd throw some ham in there.

Probably a ham hock.

I don't remember, honestly.

But I knew there was something in There, like that.

And I could tell as soon as you opened the back door to go in the house, that smell would come.

Can't do it, folks.

You may, you may be a lima bean grower up in the Midwest.

I have no idea.

You're a fine person if you do, but I cannot eat lima beans.

What about black eyed peas on New Year's Day?

Do it every year.

Yeah, every year.

Yeah.

Yeah, I add those.

I make a black bean soup for New Year's Day and gotta do your greens.

Yeah.

And put some black eyed peas in there.

It's great.

So then there's a.

Isn't there a dip called like black eyed pea caviar or something like that?

It's.

I haven't had that.

Yeah.

Oh, cowboy caviars.

Oh, cowboy caviar.

Yeah.

Which is good.

Yeah.

So, you know, I like hummus.

If you're talking about those types of things.

I like hummus.

Not really big on tabbouleh.

To me.

It's a little bitter, but you could eat it.

But like that.

But yeah, I like hummus and any of that.

That type of stuff.

I'm always willing to try things.

I've never, never, you know, like that.

The one you talked about school.

One of the things that I cannot do.

I.

I think they've banned them.

I think they've actually made them illegal because the EPA said it's not good.

But is candied beets.

They used to serve as these diced candied beets when I was a kid in school.

Oh.

They never stayed with me too long.

Something about them.

I.

The janitor had to come clean up my lunch area several times till finally the janitor walked over to the head cook and said, quit giving this kid those goddamn candy beets because I'm tired of cleaning this up.

So I never had to eat them after that.

But square pizza.

Square pizza was huge.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

In the cafeterias in grade school.

Yep.

Yep.

I don't think you see it anywhere else outside of a cafeteria.

Square pizza.

Well, they never.

They probably never had the budget to buy a real round pizza pan, you know?

Yeah.

Because they multi purpose there.

So they were baking other things in them.

So we had square pizza too.

And it was usually pretty dang chewy.

Not.

Not real heavy on the cheese or toppings.

No.

But a lot of thick, chewy bread like that.

So I don't know.

We've come a long ways in the food world.

I think a lot.

And there's some things that.

Like what we've been talking about that hang on since we were kids.

But sometimes I really have to wonder how the new.

I don't know, what do you want to call them?

Foodies?

Something doing stuff.

Like we were talking about peanut butter and pickles and some of those.

I mean, they're, they're trying to be creative, like you said.

Clickbait.

Trying to start a fad.

Yep.

Not very.

Not very good.

You know, it's not like all of a sudden you're selling purple shirts or something.

It's.

This is stuff people.

You expect people to eat.

Is there a food, Leanne, that you just can't touch because you overdid it at a young age or you just can't stand the sight or smell of.

One thing that I just never ate and I won't eat.

I just, I'm not a chicken liver person, you know, so it wasn't something that I OD'd on and now I don't eat it.

I just don't eat it and don't eat it.

I mean, if it's with a lot of onions and bacons.

Bacon in there, I'll do it, but it's not my preference.

What about, like, I can't eat any liver.

My mom served me what she said was chicken fried steak.

Oh, God, it's about 12 and it was battered liver.

She thought she was going to fool me and it just turned me off the liver the rest of my life.

I believe it at a friend in college, he wouldn't eat liver.

He goes, liver tastes like dirt.

I don't eat it.

Would never eat it.

I happen to like chicken livers.

Small doses, like, you know, six or eight pieces wrapped in bacon or something.

About once a year.

That's.

That's enough for me.

But I'll eat them.

I like gizzards too.

And I like hearts.

Growing up on a farm, we had to utilize, you know, all the animals that we, that we slaughtered or harvested, you know, so we did that.

So we actually used to fight over me and the brother and sister, but they were much bigger and much older than me, so I didn't stand much of a chance.

But if, you know, a gizzard or a heart or something and I, and I got delivered because they wouldn't eat the liver.

So that, I guess maybe that's why.

Lucky you.

Yeah.

But no, can't do lima beans.

There was a few things like that.

My mom used to make oyster stew.

I like oysters.

I like oysters on the half shell.

Yeah.

You know that type of thing.

A few fried oysters Once in a while is fine.

But she would make this big pot of this milky, greasy.

You're really selling it here.

I am.

I am.

I'm trying to remember.

And it was kind of yellow.

Kind.

She put a lot of butter in it, too.

And then she'd put these.

She'd buy a, you know, a couple of pints of petites or something and put them in there.

And she thought this stuff was to die for.

Wow.

I just thought it was death.

I didn't want it to die for.

It was.

To me, it was just.

Yeah, it just couldn't do it in this.

Now, were you.

Did you grow up in a coastal area?

Why did she have this.

This abundance of oysters?

Her family was originally from Sweden, and I have no idea if that's applicable, but she always loved oysters.

I love clams.

I love.

I love clams.

Leanne knows.

I love crab.

I love, you know, fish like that.

But I just don't wanna.

You don't want a milky stew?

Yeah, I just think.

Yeah, I just.

That's just not.

Not good.

Just not good.

And, you know, if maybe the.

The toasted breads that she would serve with it, they were always good.

They always had, like, butter and garlic on them and stuff like that.

Yeah, I'd eat a ton of that.

But maybe a quarter cup of that oyster stew with no oysters, you know, in it, so.

Couldn't do it.

No can do, buckaroo.

It's like Leanne growing up.

Well, your mom and dad were both pretty good cooks, I think, and very good.

Yeah.

You know, is there something they made that you couldn't eat, Wouldn't eat?

So my grandmother had what they call a beaten biscuit machine.

I don't know if you're familiar with that.

It's kind of an old crank, and you run the dough through it over and over.

I guess that's why they call it beaten biscuit.

It had a marble top on it, and you just keep.

Till it's super, super thin.

And then you bake them off and they just tasted like a dry biscuit.

And that was like the thing to have with these old hams that my grandmother would get.

And mustard.

And it was good altogether, but that was like a tradition that I really.

I couldn't get into those beaten biscuits.

And I actually inherited that machine.

And I don't have it anym.

How much.

That's how much it meant.

Yeah, it would have made a nice table, I guess.

Well, yeah.

Yeah.

There was a.

I had an aunt that couldn't cook very well.

She tried.

She couldn't cook very well.

And I remember she made kidney pie.

We were going to her house for dinner and she made kidney pie.

And I remember my dad, when she set it down on the table and gave him some Helius, looked at her.

Her name was Myrtle.

She was about 5 foot 1, had a real scratchy voice, had a heart of gold.

But she put that on his plate and he looked at her and he said, mert, hell no.

So I, you know, there's things like that that I, I have never, I don't remember eating any kidney pie like that.

I don't remember.

I know people do eat them or cook them and eat them.

It just be like to me eating a chewy Super Bowl.

So I don't know, like that.

Well, fortunate for us, there's not a lot of those horrible foods coming off of most smokers and grills right backyard.

You're not gonna get a smoked kidney pie at my house.

Probably not.

Probably not.

What was there something and when you were young plant that a relative cooked?

Maybe not mom and dad, but somebody else.

And no, that chicken fried liver just sticks with me.

Yeah.

No, that overwhelms all of my memories of childhood foods.

But for the most part, my mom was very adventurous cook and a very good cook.

And, you know, from an early age she got me and my brother and my two sisters in there helping out.

So I think that kind of formed the, you know, the basis of my passion for food today.

Yeah, yeah, I would say that was true.

My mom was a, a very good cook.

I had one aunt in particular who was a very good cook.

They were farm wives.

They, they, they both worked jobs in local towns, but they grew up on farms.

And so it was always kind of farm oriented, ranch oriented food and, but they were both excellent cooks and they made, you know, they were big on pies and cakes and we ate a lot of casseroles and they were, for the most part, very, very good.

You know, there was just a few things that of course, I came along a little later in life and so maybe the, maybe the efficiency and technique was starting to slip a little bit by the time I got old enough to really realize what was going on.

But, you know, for the most part, it was good.

Wells casseroles are a great way to hide a myriad of mistakes.

Just throw enough stuff in there and nobody knows what's going on.

It's kind of like sauces, you know, gravies or sausages.

Sausage and sausages.

You can throw whatever you want in there.

Yeah, you can do it.

Anyway, I think it's time we get out of here.

Clint Cantwell, president of Amazing Ribs.com.

He.

He started it with the pumpkin spice thing.

Yes.

It's started.

It's my fault.

Fault, folks, if you had to listen to me ranting about pumpkin spice for an hour.

That's all right.

It's all good.

I apologize.

Never.

Leanne, we're glad that you're safe and sound.

Thank you.

Yes.

Like that.

And Leanne and I will be back next week with another edition of whatever it is we're doing here.

But Barbecue Nation, we thank you for listening and taking the time, your time to share with us, and we appreciate it.

So remember our motto here.

Turn it, don't burn it.

Take care, everybody.