There's No Such Thing As A Day Off

As we close out the month of January, we are once again faced with a major snow & ice storm blowing through our neck-of-the-woods later this week. Right now, the boys at the weather bureau are thinking we'll just get snow - some 5-7" and perhaps more. Here we go again, but the good news is no arctic blast behind this storm like the last one that rolled through here.

Spent my two "off" days making a massive batch of BBQ sauces; made the Original Recipe and my personal favorite, Holy Chipotle. I also cleaned the Ole Hickory Pit and put two pork butts on the pit so I'll have plenty of pulled pork for Wednesday.

I apologize for not posting more on this blog, but I have another blog at chaingangbbq.blogspot.com and we're on Facebook as well, so there's a lot to keep up with. Whew!

Mike Mills Is Truly The Living Legend Of BBQ

Since I started to pick up the BBQ torch from my Granddad many years ago, I decided to learn from the best. I've now taken three BBQ classes and two of them have been with "The Legend" Mike Mills, the man, the force and the drive behind the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, Illinois.

Not only does Mike run 4 BBQ joints in Illinois bearing the 17th Street moniker, he also owns 3 Memphis Championship BBQ restaurants  in Las Vegas. Now, I haven't been to Vegas in years, but to alter a quote, "7 come 11, Papa needs another slab of ribs" would be appropriate.

The 2nd class I took from Mike, his daughter Amy and Down Under BBQ guy, Paul Mackay was aimed at running a BBQ joint and the info was priceless; if you're thinking about opening a BBQ business, it is a MUST attend. You will learn and share with Mike, Amy, Paul and other class attendees and learn real-world answers to real-world problems.

The best thing of all, for me, is Mike Mills. I can now say that Mike Mills is a friend of mine; I am blessed.

Internet Polling To Decide Lunch Specials

I decided to try something new on lunch specials. A friend of mine has over 500 fans on her Facebook page, so she turned them on to the Chain Gang Facebook site. I started out on Facebook is 13 fans and three days after my friend "spread the word" I had 110 fans.

So, Tuesday, I put a poll on Facebook to vote on 3 lunch specials. Their choices were a hot link coney smothered in pit chili, a smoked meatloaf sandwich and a 1/3 slab of ribs. All specials come with a side, chips and a drink for one price. A few fans voted and today's special was the hot link coney, but what was cool was everyone who voted stopped by for the special. Tomorrow is the meatloaf sandwich with ribs coming on Friday.

I made a living off of marketing, but this Internet thing with sites like Facebook is a cheap way to advertise. Anything to build your business.

There's Always Room For Good BBQ

We've just completed our second week and I really think people who've eaten our BBQ love it, in fact, on Facebook, Chain Gang started last week with something like 16 "fans" as of this posting, we're now at 96! Now, we've not served eighty new customers, but word is spreading like wildfire.

I've always loved to BBQ and have always cooked for friends and family, but never for people who will pay for your BBQ. I am amazed at the comments from folks who've tried our food and those kind words just fire me up. You know with this nasty arctic weather we've had since I can't remember when, has really played havoc on our serving trailer; we had to re-wire the thing, then tanks froze and on and on. I appreciate everyone being so patient with the open and closed roller coaster. Next week: The 50's, oh yeah.

We also had our first catering job today for The Bridge Church in Nixa. We were proud to serve our award winning Pulled Pork to two groups of 20 who had different meetings at the same time. 20 folks wanted our baked beans and slaw as sides while the other group had a sorta "pot luck" with their sides and everyone brought something different. We slow smoked four whole butts and made the sides. Both groups said their food was wonderful. I know this sounds crazy, but when you BBQ as much as I do you realize that certain cuts of meat are like a personality in that they react differently to your process. I knew today when I began pulling the pork, these butts were exceptional; they were juicy and had an amazing flavor. Had I been at contest with those butts, a call in the top 3 would've been a cinch.

I also have to thank "The Legend" Mike Mills of the 17th Street Bar & Grill. I took a class with him in October, but didn't know a thing about catering, so when I got the job for The Bridge, I called Mike. They say the guys who know BBQ will always spend time with others to share their knowledge of 'cue and serve as a Goodwill Ambassador, if you will. Mike Mills spent an hour on the phone with me discussing catering, pits and everything in between. I couldn't believe he would spend that kind of time with me, but he did and I couldn't help thinking the whole time, here I am talking with Mike Mills! Not only talking to him, but one-on-one and I wondered, how many BBQ guys in my neck-of-woods have done what I'm doing?

So, our feet are on the ground and look forward to the path we'll go down because as long as I can BBQ, you'll get the best I have. And that's a promise.

Snow And Cold Go Away....Please!!!

Another brutal winters day in the Missouri Ozarks; windy and windchill values as low as -20. Too cold to tend to the pit. I can't wait until it hits 40 because this weather is literally killing me.

On the positive side, word is getting out. Some buddies of mine are spreading the word to their 400+ friends on Facebook that were unaware the Chain Gang had set up shop in Nixa. A free ad appeared yesterday in the Nixa newspaper and I've received a call or two about catering.

With my down day I decided to play around in the test kitchen this morning and came up with a killer marinade for Babyback ribs. It's an asian thing with loads of flavor, but no sugars as they would caramelize and turn black during the cooking process. It has some Sesame oil, ginger, dry mustard and even a dash of instant coffee and it tastes wonderful. So having done that, I snagged a rack of ribs, brushed the marinade on to let set a few minutes then topped it off with Pit Dust. In a few hours, I'll let you know if it was worth the effort.

We're gonna hang in there. Hey, Spring Training starts in about a month so winter won't last forever, right Al Gore?

Winter & BBQ Don't Mix

In a previous life, I really enjoyed Winter. After all, if you live in the midwest, it's usually the one season you don't have to worry about severe weather, hail or tornadoes, but so far, the Winter of 2010 is beginning to get on my nerves.

Upon learning of a record low coming our way, yesterday I went and bought another portable heater to accompany my Sun Twin in order to keep the temps up inside as they plunged outside. Now, we'd had some problems with blowing breakers since setting up to sell BBQ and the RV guy was coming to re-wire and boost our ability to run appliances, lights, heat and everything needed. Well, I went to the trailer today to meet my guy and BAM!, we'd blown the breakers and it was a balmy 29 degrees inside. I don't know when everything shot craps, but it did get down to -6 this morning. Everything was a frickin' block of ice. Sometimes, it feels like it would be like opening an outdoor Mojito Bar in Fargo.

So, guess what, we're going to be closed again tomorrow! As Homer would say, DOH! But then I thought about that question they always asked on "The Sopranos." You know the one, "Hey, whatta ya gonna do?" Nothing you can do, except put out a contract on that damned groundhog back east by telling him, "hey, you predict six more weeks of Winter and you'll be clipped."

Just one ray of hope. Spring Training is about 45 days away. Now, who wants to whack that groundhog?

I'll Make You Some BBQ You Can't Refuse

Well, after close of business Sunday marks our first week being open and things have gone very well. Although the weather has been cold and working through the New Year, customers have continued to increase each day. Today was our busiest yet having almost sold out of everything. When I closed tonight I only had two slabs of ribs left and maybe a pound of pulled pork.

Now keep in mind, we've not dropped a dime on advertising so I'm assuming our feeding the C of C worked out well and maybe some word of mouth advertising. One of my customers today bought two brisket sandwiches and took it back to their office across the street. Later, they asked me if I could BBQ two slabs of ribs for lunch next week, so obviously they liked their lunch, otherwise they would have never asked for more.

I am always amazed at how the pork butts and briskets come off the Ole Hickory Pit. Today, I cut up a brisket point for burnt ends and the juice from the meat was everywhere. And speaking of burnt ends, two guys, recent imports from K C were tickled to death that finally a BBQ operation down here was serving these little beefy, tasty tidbits. One couple stopped today and I told them about the burnt ends dinner, well, they'd never heard of burnt ends so I offered to show them what they looked like. I invited them to the pit, opened the Ole Hickory and showed them what the product looked like; they bought two of the dinners AND two pulled pork sandwiches.

Without looking at the tickets, I would guess and say we've had around 25 customers and that's not too shabby considering we weren't even there four days ago.

Stop by when you can.