How did you get into barbecuing?
My dad was a good barbecuer. Whenever there was a holiday, my family would build a concrete-block pit in the yard, fill it with wood and use grates that were gates from the junkyard. Dad would stand out there all day and do ribs. So that’s how I got my love for it.
But how did you become the Baron?
I didn’t get into competition until 1980. I was a chef, and my employer told me to enter the American Royal Barbecue and he’d reimburse me. In fact, when the mail gets here today, I’m going to see if the check got here. I was in two categories, and I took a first and a second.
Do you have any favorite barbecue sauces?
Well, I have mixed emotions about that because I don’t believe in barbecue sauce.
But you wrote the book!
Yeah. But a lot of people think barbecue is barbecue sauce. To me, the seasoning and the cooking process is the barbecue. The rub you put on the meat is more important. I don’t mean any hatred for the sauce. I enjoy sauce. But we’ll use your pit, your sauce and I’ll use my seasonings–I’ll take you on.
