How Full Moon BBQ Grew By Staying Traditional And Obsessed With Quality

Smoke you can see, stories you can taste. We welcome Full Moon BBQ David Maluff to share how a tiny 50–60 seat Birmingham spot with an open wood-burning pit became a 17-store stalwart without trading away its soul. David walks us through the choices that matter: hickory over shortcuts, open kitchens over back-room mystery, and a service mindset that treats every guest like a president. If you have ever wondered how to scale a craft built on patience and fire, this is a blueprint you can feel.

We explore the flavours that define the South and the details that define Full Moon. From the tug between sweet red sauce, vinegar tang, mustard heat, and Alabama white sauce, to the unsung hero—chow chow—that snaps every sandwich to life. David breaks down rub strategy by protein, why pork butts go in un-rubbed, and how a touch of oregano and the right granulated garlic can transform ribs, chicken, and brisket cooked low and slow. There is honesty here too: power surges that kill a brisket run, the hard choice to say “we are out,” and the rule that quality beats convenience every time.

Beyond smoke and spice, we get into the business of barbecue: training manuals, hiring for character, and keeping standards tight as stores grow from 1,800 to 5,500 square feet. The menu widens without losing identity—giant baked potatoes loaded with pork, chicken, turkey, or brisket; crisp salads; scratch sides made with care. Catering now fuels weddings, offices, and massive game days, where pits stretch 14 feet and a thousand slabs move in a Saturday rush. Through it all, community remains the centre: giving back, inviting people to see and taste the work, and making the pit a stage that keeps the team honest and the guests connected.

If you love barbecue, leadership, or simply a good growth story anchored by integrity, you will find plenty to savour. Hit follow, share with a friend who loves low and slow, and leave a review to tell us your favourite regional sauce—red, white, vinegar, or mustard?

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Transcript

Sponsors And Warm Welcome

Dan 0:00

Today's episode of the Meet and Greet Barbecue Podcast is brought to you by iOS Outdoor Kitchens. They are the staff's leading outdoor kitchen designers, selection specialists.

Meet David Maloof

Owen 0:19

Welcome to another episode of the Meet and Greet Barbecue Podcast. Today we are joined by David Maloof from Full Moon Barbecue. Really looking forward to today's episode. So without much further ado, here's David. David, welcome to the podcast. It's an absolute pleasure to have you here. Please introduce yourself. Let everyone know who you are.

David Maluff 0:39

My name is David Mulouf, and I'm in Birmingham, Alabama, in the U.S. And uh I sell barbecue for a living.

Owen 0:50

Perfect.

Dan 0:51

That's kind of like a home of barbecue to us being in the UK. I'd love to learn kind of more about the business and how you got into everything, David.

David Maluff 1:02

Let me see. Uh we got into it about uh over 30. We're we're celebrating our 40th anniversary this year.

Dan 1:09

Wow, congratulations!

Philosophy: Do It Right, Old-Fashioned

David Maluff 1:10

Congratulations. Thank you. Um, we're very proud of it. Um, the business was a um a very small um owner who owned a very small business, about 50, 60 seats. But um, I was we're and in Florida, moving want to move back to Alabama, and we saw an opportunity because the the guy who had it, very older gentleman, he used to be a coach at the University of Alabama, very well known. His name was Pat James. And uh, your typical coach smoked, drank, cussed, but he did love, but he he but he knew how to cook barbecue, and that's what he did. He, you know, he had like a little 50, 60 seat um little barbecue restaurant, did things right, made things right, and he was very personable that created that charm. And he was getting up in age, and uh, we made him an offer he couldn't refuse. You probably heard that in The Godfather. Uh so you know, I we love we turned we we loved this food. We loved everything about the charm of the place, the food, the his sod items, the way they cooked on the open wood burning pit, did everything old-fashioned. And you know, and I've always grew up is you know, you do things, do things right, do it the old-fashioned way, you know, because people are getting away from that nowadays, and they've really gotten away from it ever since we bought the business 30 years ago. So um we bought it and took it over from them, and when there was one store, 50 seats, and uh we knew that my brother and I we we we had to build the business up because we couldn't survive off a two people have two families surviving a 50-seat restaurant open only Monday through Friday, closed on weekends. So um we took it over with our restaurant experience that I knew there was charm and much more that I could offer to build the business where it should be. And today we have 17 stores, but it we're still sticking with the old-fashioned ways. The big pit, the barbecuing, you know, hickory, uh, wood burning pit, cooking everything on open fire for our customers to see it. And we just brought that tradition. Every time we did something, we do we always went back to our roots, the old-fashioned way, you know, like you grew up on and or your parents grew up on. So um that's what uh intrigued us about the whole business.

Owen 3:47

And and David, did you so uh you mentioned about running, you know, experience with yourself and your brother running restaurants before. Had you run barbecue restaurants before, or uh, you know, was this the first time moving into this kind of arena?

Hands-On Leadership At The Pit

David Maluff 4:01

Barbecue was new to me. I mean, I've done fast food, I've done steakhouses, seafood houses, um, but always worked in an organization where you know, keep it so understand your business, have passion for your business, show passion for your business, and get the community involved in your business. And we still do that every day. And that's what it we don't have a plan like we have to implement this plan. It's in our heart, it's in our blood. We we're Lebanese, you know, barbecue didn't run in our veins, you know. But what we did, we we had the great foundation of learning from others that taught us as we're growing up through family, through faith, that to do things, you do things right. Don't cut corners, don't shortchange yourself, don't shortchange the consumer. You know, give them the product you would want to sell to your family member every single day. And we do that, and we hold that to dearly to our in all of our stores today, you know, treat everyone like family. Uh, it doesn't matter if the king of England or the president of the United States walked in the restaurant, you shouldn't change anything to to help make sure he has a great environment. Everybody should be that king or queen or a president, you know, to feel you know, greeted and and make sure they have the best food possible and their and their food's delicious. You know what I mean? It's like uh if you have that kind of urgency every day, you'll be fine because no matter who walks in, they'll get the best you got no matter what. And they don't have to be somebody or something special. Everybody's special who walks in your restaurant.

Owen 5:46

I I yeah, I think I I couldn't agree with you more there, David. I think if you can, like you said, if you can give everyone that experience as if they are the president, then you know they're gonna keep coming back. And obviously, if this was your first time into barbecue, um bought a restaurant, sort of jumped into the deep end in in terms of barbecue. How how was your journey? Obviously, you you know you're very successful now with 17 stores, as you've just mentioned, but what about your kind of journey in terms of learning the bar, you know, barbecue and stuff, if that was kind of new to you?

David Maluff 6:22

When you take over a business, our whole philosophy is you have to learn the business or your employees will hold you hostage. Yeah, but in our in our business, in our mind frame that we've always done, we're hands-on leadership. So once we bought the business, I'm gonna run the pit. I'm gonna get there at five o'clock in the morning, start the fire. I'm gonna do everything they do because I have to show leadership. And if I don't do it, they they got me hostage. What you know, no one's gonna hold me hostage because it's a group effort, it's a team effort. We all grow together because I want to learn the business as much as you want to, as you know, the business, I gotta learn so I can be better at it than what it what it what we were doing. So hands-on leadership is very important to us.

Dan 7:12

That must be quite difficult over 17 stores, or has it progressed in quite a natural way that it feels less like juggling 15, 17 balls?

Scaling To 17 Stores

David Maluff 7:25

You know, you have to have a system, you have to have a uh a manual, and and and you write your thoughts down and implement each and everything as you will progress. And if you take, even though we have a our little store, we start off with 50 seats, our new stores have a 150. You know, went from a uh 1800 square foot restaurant to a uh 5,500 square foot restaurant, but you know, it doesn't matter if it's that small or that big, if you still do things the right way, you'll grow and you train and you develop and you and you make sure that everyone's on the same page. And the best thing about running a business is who do you hire? Does that person or that character fit in your organization? Because they can represent me and you every day when you're not there, so that's the whole point of growing is can you grow to a point of people standards and and passion for the business?

Owen 8:27

That's what's important, and in in terms of so uh in in in terms of the actual food and the cooking, as you said, you're you know, like you said, uh leadership, uh, you know, but you know, show that you're doing the do, getting on, you know, being on the pit five o'clock in the morning. So for you, what is the what what is the most enjoyable thing to cook if you have if you can say you have a favorite thing to cook, uh, what would you say that would be?

Wood, Fire, And Hickory Tales

David Maluff 8:56

I'll tell you what, I love cooking ribs. You know, you you cook them slow and low, and you take the raw product and you season it properly, and you let the fire the burnt the actual burning of the barbecue is gonna cook as long as you baby it, love it, and watch it. All your products will turn out the same. If it's the chicken or the pork butts or the or the brisket, you you watch over your products every day, and and that's why we have a masterclass of uh pit cook. You know what I mean? It takes years of years to understanding their trade, understanding the how the wood and the variance of the heat, how it maintains the proper temperature every day. You gotta know your fire. Your fire is gonna is gonna run you, or you gonna are you gonna run it? You know, keep it at a at a at a modest temperature. And it's just not how fast can you cook, it's how low and slow it can develop into something you're you want. And when you do that, it comes a product comes out wonderful.

Owen 10:06

And you mentioned about hickory earlier, um uh a short while ago. So do you do you cook exclusively on on hickory or or do you tend to use a blend or or or does it depend on what you're cooking?

Sauces, Chow Chow, And Regional Tastes

David Maluff 10:18

Well, in the south, you know, in different areas, you got what what's your abundance of of wood? A lot of people up north they use cherry, and a lot of them use oak. But in the south, we have a lot of hickory, which is a wonderful wood, and and it flavors the barbecue well. A little hickory, a little smoky, very flavorful, and um there's abundance down here, so we have the the use to be able to use it as we want. So hickory is my first flavor to use. That's my favorite. But one thing about being in a barbecue restaurant, which is funny, is all these restaurants we have, we have a pile of wood at each location. I mean, four or five pallets. I mean, that's a lot of wood. And then in the wintertime, what do people want to do when they see wood chopped up, stacked up high? They steal it. So, but if they don't understand when you steal our wood, we usually get a phone call a day or two later. Your wood ruined our house. The wood is smoky. Yeah, yeah. So if you put if you put that wood in your fireplace at home, it's gonna create an abundance of smoke. And and people just don't understand that, but when they do, they come back and say, I'm sorry, we took it. Your wood doesn't work. I'm talking the wood's not for a fireplace, it's for a cooking.

Owen 11:46

And so uh funny enough, so we we've um had a few episodes where we we've talked to a number of people um, you know, from from the states. Clearly, we're from the UK, so um, I think quite different. And what we got is that there is there is a lot of sort of regionality. You've just mentioned it there in terms of from a wood perspective, and um different people, depending on where you are, use different wood. But I understand the the flavor profiles right are different, source combinations are uh are different as well, depending on which region you go to. Is that that's right. Same for yourselves.

David Maluff 12:24

Well, the we're we're in the south that majority of our barbecue restaurants are used to have a um sweet sauce thick, you know, and some places like a vinegar sauce, some have you know a yellow mustard, some have um a white sauce that we do have a white sauce, which is wonderful. It pairs great with chicken and turkey, and it goes with salads, you know. It's almost like a very similar to like a ranch with a little spike in it, you know. Um it's very good. Really is. But we use we use a red barbecue sauce that um fresh ingredients we add to it. And I tell you what, we get picked honestly about once, maybe twice a year, of best sauce in the South. Just old fashioned. And I'd love to I will send you guys uh um one of our flavor packets, and it's got red sauce, white sauce. We have one thing that we it's called chow chow. Are y'all familiar with chow chow? No, I'm not it's almost like a relish. When we bought the restaurant, the this the old man is they put chow chow. It's like a it's a relish, a mustard-based relish. They put on every single sandwich and every plate. That's what out that's why we bought the restaurant. The chow chow made the difference because every barbecue restaurant has pickle, sauce, bun.

Rubs, Ribs, And Low-And-Slow

Dan 13:54

Yeah.

David Maluff 13:55

This one had pickle sauce, bun, and chow chow on every sandwich, turkey, chicken, pork, it didn't matter on the plates. You can actually eat as a side, but we'll send you some. And the the chow chow makes the difference. It's amazing.

Dan 14:10

So that'd be amazing. Yeah, so I mean, uh, in the UK, I think we're very guilty of we're still learning, you know, barbecue is not uh a leading cuisine in the UK, which Owen and I are trying to champion that it should be more so, and we should be more confident in it. But we're very guilty in the types of barbecue sauces and things that we have here. We we we tend to have very stereotypically sticky, thick sauces. And I mean, a white sauce to go with barbecue in the UK is almost unheard of. And a lot of Americans even kind of flinch at the fact that we very rarely have ranch sauce over here. You know, it's it's coming more and more often, but getting the opportunity to have those real flavors and be able to play with them and pair them with what we're doing from a barbecue point of view would be fantastic.

David Maluff 14:58

Sauces, and you know, I'm a big fan of red sauce, or red sauce, of course, but you know, there's a there's a lot of sauces I like, the vinegar-based sauces, very popular, very good. Um, and then I'm not a fan of the mustard sauce, you know, too much. But it all depends what you grew up on, you know, what you're around, what your surroundings are, and your and your taste. And that helps a lot with your region. But I think the gives your consumer, their palate, a taste, what they're looking for. But the meat is still the same, it's how your flavor profile you want it to be. Just like a salad. You know, people that do like six, seven, eight dressings that you put on top of a salad. You know, barbecue, barbecue is the same way, you know. You can put anything on it you want because it's your palate, what you want, what you what what your taste buds are, and that kind of gives you a variety. We don't have that, we only have two barbecue sauces, a red and a white. But some places I do like a vinegar, you know, and some areas I go to when you travel to Texas or you go up north, their flavor profile is different. Now it's all good, and but it's all what you what you're used to.

Owen 16:11

And what about for from a rub perspective? Um from lighter rubs, you know, yeah. Yeah. Well do you have a I don't know, like a single signature blend that you would do on mobile?

David Maluff 16:26

Um, it's very that's very important because that's where the flavor profile comes from. Um we don't rub our pork butts, um, because that's pretty much the when you buy we we use a pork butt, not a shoulder, and the flavor comes within itself. But as in the rub, we use it on our chicken, our turkey, and our brisket. And I tell you the and in our ribs, and we have a uh a chicken one, a rub, which is delicious, and it brings out the flavor of a chicken, and we have one for brisket and for turkey that brings out the flavor that you're cooking because it's it's those are very important because when you're cooking the product, you know, like 12 hours all night long in a smoker, like for a brisket, help break down and flavor the product. Because you know, well, as I do, the brisket is very tough. If you don't cook it low and slow for 12 hours, it won't come out tender. And the and the seasoning that you use will help break down the fat penetrating the meat over time. So when you bring it out, it's got a wonderful flavor because of the blends you put on top of it.

Owen 17:40

And would you normally go for something like a salt, pepper, garlic kind of blend for, say, your briskets, or do you tend to sort of air off?

Catering And Big Game Days

David Maluff 17:47

Let me tell you, it doesn't take a lot. Um, we use salt, pepper, green leg garlic. We use a little oregano, uh just a little tidbit that you don't need much of oregano because it adds the flavor so strong. And we have um a couple of those spices, almost like a uh Greek seasoning type, you know, that it helps break down the meat. And I tell you, it's a wonderful flavor. And you use it for lamb, you use it, you use it for everything. We'll send you some, we'll send you one of our flavor packets. I'd love for you to try it, look and and try it and see if you like it.

Owen 18:21

Yeah, no, that'd be awesome. I do know I don't think I've some salt, pepper, garlic for sure. Definitely, you know, definitely when we cook briskets, that's probably go-to. I've I don't think I've ever used a regular uh regular oregano, yeah.

David Maluff 18:35

And and we and we and when we cook our ribs, because we cook them on an open fire, we use a little we use some meat tenderizer because the ribs are tough sometimes. You just put a little meat tenderizer and you add a little um um um regano on top. I tell you, you'd be amazed how delicious they are. I mean, don't cover the whole slab on them with oregano sparingly, you know, yeah, on both sides. I'm telling you, it really comes out well.

Owen 19:08

So and are you traditionally pork ribs or are you doing beef ribs?

David Maluff 19:12

No, we just do pork ribs. We use pork ribs, which is a uh a slab, and we also use a baby back, yeah. So those we cook at a smoker because those take we cook those slowly, yeah, and they come out tender and delicious. But um it all depends what you want to eat, you know. What you enjoy.

Owen 19:36

Yeah.

Dan 19:37

Do you know what?

Owen 19:38

Or if you I'm presuming if you like a bit of everything, there's a few platters that you can choose from.

Dan 19:43

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. It's it's the pick and mix aspect that I almost love about barbecues, having all different things on a on a tray or a plate, um, and being able to just jump in.

Community First, Always

David Maluff 19:54

I mean, we got proteins, uh, you know, imagine the proteins that we have every day or just it it's like I call it a meat three instead of a barbecue restaurant. Because I tell you, you pick your meat, you pick your vegetables, because everything's is fresh, made from scratch. And and tell you, that's what that's what we are. You know, sometimes people call it a barbecue restaurant. We don't just pertain to barbecue, just because we cook on a pit, we have we have a variety of meats and the smoker or the pit, we got salads and baked potatoes, we have a little bit of everything, you know. It's uh it's a variety. So I'd I'll call it our place a meet and three, you know.

Owen 20:32

So uh as well as what as well as the restaurants, I was um I was looking on your on your website. I understand you do catering and kind of events and things like that. Is that also quite a sort of thing? That's probably about 20.

David Maluff 20:45

That's probably 20, 25 percent of our business. Because let me tell you, once you do things right inside your restaurant, people when they have um guests at their house or big events, if it's a wedding or if it's a baptism or it's just a get-together, people want our food at their occasion, and that's what we and and you do it right inside. That means if you start catering outside your restaurant, that means you're doing something right because it carries well.

Owen 21:14

Yeah.

David Maluff 21:15

So we do a lot of catering, a lot of catering, you know, sometimes a bit a lot at night, and sometimes we do a catering for lunches, you know, boxed lunches for for companies.

Tradition Versus Innovation

Owen 21:26

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Dan 22:23

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Owen 22:34

Visit ioskitchens.co.uk and you mentioned again, sort of going sort of right back to the beginning as you were introducing yourself and you're sort of talking about you know the traditional way you do things and you keep it right in the community. Um is the community aspect a really big part of what you try to to do with it, you know, with informal barbecue?

David Maluff 22:58

Let me tell you, the community is everything, everything from the from the time we grew up, we grew up around community, church, faith, and it comes natural because it's very important to have your community and to give back to the community. It's very important to us that we we show and give to the community of of all faiths, all religions, all people, because it's everybody walks in through that door is not brand A. They're brand A, B, C, D, E. Yeah. And if you can go out and make a difference in the community, it makes a big difference, at least to in our heart that we're giving back. That's important. But you, you know, to be successful, you gotta always thank the community and the people who come into that door every day and show them that you do want to give back and you do want to support and give. And so it's we're big on that.

Home Grilling And Steak Favourites

Owen 23:57

And I suppose in turn, it's kind of sit uh comes back around, then doesn't it, as well, in that they want to support you. It does be part of that community.

David Maluff 24:07

It's very important. Um, and we do a lot of things that you know, if the the uh community, some areas they can't afford to go out and eat, you know, four or five times a year, we give away packages and gift cards to the to the groups that are underprivileged to get them in and show them what a treat it is. And uh it's we do a lot of community work. We always trying to give back to the people of our community in each where the area story is.

Dan 24:42

That's a fantastic, fantastic story.

David Maluff 24:45

You gotta have love in your heart and understand it's just not a business, it's it's it's passion of doing things right, you know, starting off in the morning and do things right, make sure it ends up that way. And it's a good business practice to always give back to the community. Yeah, yeah.

Dan 25:02

Well, you're gonna be at the forefront of their mind when they want to be going out, getting food, meeting other people in the community, and showing that support. And it's such a wonderful thing to hear because Owen and I talk a lot on the podcast about for us, barbecue is about bringing people together and at the restaurant. It's so natural that you're doing that, but to hear you're doing these other things for the community as well is inspiring, really.

David Maluff 25:26

Well, we did a t-shirt when we first opened. Um, the three F's family, friends, and food.

Dan 25:33

You know, I was worried where you were going then.

Barbecue Fails And Power Outages

David Maluff 25:39

You gotta do that. I'm telling you, that's what we we always believe in. You know, it's it you you gotta be gets community involved. You got schools, you got businesses, you got everybody around you. You just gotta support your your community that surrounds your store, you know, and churches are big, so they support us. So we're here to support them too.

Dan 26:06

And um, I was thinking, oh, go on your throw your own you go.

Owen 26:09

Uh no, no, I was I was I was gonna try and just sort of move change slightly onto um you mentioned again about the the traditional elements, right? Of what you do, still food over fire, and you know, that low and slow smoking. Um how how how do you or do you still try and innovate in terms of you know uh trying out new things and how do you try and balance that with trying to do traditional barbecue, if that makes sense?

Open Kitchens And The Theatre Of Fire

David Maluff 26:40

Yes, we we did I did that in the very beginning of our of our stores when I innovated from we probably had like maybe two or three items, proteins and four vegetables. Good government is a small store, but you know, to to grow your business, and we have a like I said, we have a 5,500 square foot building now, and kitchens bigger, more seating. You you gotta get more than your barbecue lovers in your restaurant, so you have to be able to tweak your menu to get others in and be and but use your barbecue at the same time offsetting whatever you're bringing on board. So I brought on a um a big baked potato, you know, the big when I say big, ours are really big, probably the biggest in town by far. And it's um, and we we go through a lot of those. We're done for that, and we stuff them with your favorite protein: pork, chicken, turkey, brisket, and they're they're they're a big, big, big seller. People love them. So all of a sudden now you got your barbecue lover, you got your baked potato lover, you we do great salads made made to order with the same proteins on them. You you understand you you're building your business based on different projects, giving people different opportunities to eat with you every day.

Dan 28:10

And across your stores, um, do you do you find that you have different favorites in different areas? Uh, and does that and does that also change seasonally? Or does the menu stay the same throughout the year and you see the same sort of following?

Barbecue Bingo And Szechuan Pick

David Maluff 28:24

The menu stays the same throughout the year. I mean, we're pretty broad. We know we we we brought on a um we sell a lot of catfish in the south. And we brought a uh piece of uh southern catfish on, and that you know, during we sell a lot of catfish year-round, but you know, during the um Easter season, Passover, you know, we sell a lot of a lot of fish. So um, but pretty much we sell a lot of the basics every day, you know. We have we have high standards on our barbecue, about barbecue meats and our ribs. So week kids, you sell a lot of ribs, you know. But um overall, we we stay consistent or constant on what we sell.

Owen 29:10

So just on the same sort of note, but do you ever have do you ever cater much for vegans and vegetarians? Very well. And do you do you use the smoker in the same way to try and do things with you know a vegan or a vegetarian or alternative to still get the kind of barbecue taste the barbecue process, but not necessarily like with the protein?

Future Vision And Global Fit

David Maluff 29:39

Well, the only thing um we we we know, of course, we have things for people who want to who are vegan eat with us, like you know, we have the baker baked potatoes, we have salads, and we have um um let me see vegan. What else we have for our vegan? All of our vegetables are made from scratch every day. I mean. We have a different vegetable that we add on each day of the of the week. But all of our vegetables are made with turkey. Not we don't use any pork or beef in any of our vegetables. Our collard greens, our um casseroles, our beans, everything's made with turkey, which I you know in in in it attracts a vegan person um to that vegetable because it's it's it's uh not pork because a lot of people don't like pork, you know. A lot of people love vegetables, but they don't want the pork flavor. So we used uh we use the turkey wing, you know. But if you've ever seen a turkey wing, they're about the size of a hand of your hand, yeah. And we cooked we cook the turkey uh wing and the vegetables and it and it gives a wonderful flavor, yeah. So um we have a lot of vegetarians to eat with us too because it's a good option they can come to.

Quality Non-Negotiables And Sign-Off

Dan 30:58

Just thinking, David, with all of the kind of barbecue that you're doing at work, what's your home setup like? Is it is it that you do you have so much barbecue with with with work that you do less at home, or what does that look like?

David Maluff 31:11

Yeah, I don't do barbecue at home because our stores do such a great job, honestly. But what I do cook a lot of when I go with the house is my wife is a carnivore, she loves steaks. He wants a big steak. So I I still cook on a grill myself steaks um once or twice a week, and um and I always like to cook some chicken wings on the barbecue, you know, which is fun because you you can experiment different flavors, different rubs. That's a good product that I love. Um, you can do anything with rubs, seasonings. You can also change up the sauces for your flavor profiles. So I'm always doing it at the house, and and when I entertain that, get people to try them. And that's why I kind of get my sounding board, you know. They like it, don't like it, you know. So it's always have fun, regardless. But cooking all the steaks at the house, that's for sure.

Owen 32:12

What what uh what particular steak is the normal go-to cut?

Links, Thanks, And Listener CTA

David Maluff 32:16

Oh, most of the time we cook a ribeye, bone-in ribeye. What a flavorful piece of meat. Yeah, or you know, or a porter house. My wife loves a big porter house, a big bone. Yeah, you know, um, but most of the time we cook bone-in ribeys, but which are very flavorful. Yeah, good profile.

Owen 32:37

Yeah, definitely. So, David, one of the things that we hold really dear on the podcast is as much as you know, we all love to talk about all the successful cooks that we've done, um, we also like to celebrate some of the things uh the barbecue fails, some of the things that haven't gone as planned. So, do you have any stories for us? Uh whether that's yourself cooking or perhaps something that happened in the restaurant that's uh you'd like to share in terms of a barbecue fail?

David Maluff 33:06

Well, let me tell you what. With um ever since we started using those smokers, you know, we haven't always used a smoker, but you have to use a smoker if you're gonna cook brisket. We cook about honestly anywhere between six and ten brisket a day, more so on weekends. And when you have a power surge, you know, that smoker is out. So that means your product is dead and you don't serve it that day because it it's not gonna be ready. You can't get product ready that cooks 12 hours and three, four hours. Yeah, you know, that it's always that that's always and that still happens today, you know. You you rely on something like that, it's gonna fail. You know, you just you you can't sell the product and your customers get mad at you, but you it's life. You you know, it's not I don't plan that, you know, but it's upsetting because you know, it takes 12 hours to cook and do it right, and you can't make up time. You do it low and slow, or you don't do it at all. Because if you ever cook it filled in the oven, trying to speed, let me tell you ruin that customer's flavor profile, they will never come back, they won't like it. Yeah, so I'm a big believer. Do it right, even if it fails, you don't have it that day, don't sell it. Yeah, don't use, don't worry about it. Just tell the customer, hey, we messed up, we had a power surge, the smoker went out, you know, and that happens often. So um, nothing you can do about it, or they forget to turn it on at night, you know? Yeah, because it cooks all night long, takes 12 hours. So you can imagine when you're sleeping, you better hope that's cooking, but it, you know, a lot of times they don't.

Owen 34:49

So do you have people working around the clock then? If if you're obviously cooking, you know, brisket, etc., during the during the night.

David Maluff 34:56

No, we we we put our last load in at 9 p.m. You know, at night, and by nine o'clock in the morning, they get there at six in the morning. Yeah, so um they they we don't cook all night unless it's a big holiday, like a fourth of July on Memorial Day. Yeah, that's when we cook all night because that's because we do we do one week's worth of business in one day. Wow, so you can imagine the volume. Yeah, yeah, it's hard. So um, and this is our football season. So on Game Day Saturdays, we have several stores on in campuses around the and they do phenomenal. I mean, amazing. We I mean we'll sell a thousand slabs of ribs of that day. Wow. Um, I mean, we do it the volume is amazing, but that's hard on everybody. So you gotta have good people dedicated, you've got to have dedication.

Owen 35:50

They've gotta love it, haven't they, if you if you're doing that volume.

David Maluff 35:55

Lots of volume, especially on college game day with football. So it's our season right now.

Owen 36:04

When does the obviously I'm I'm not into American football necessarily, so when when does the kind of how long does that season last? That sounds probably really naive, but I don't know.

David Maluff 36:14

No, it lasts about six months, five months, six months. You know, it starts in August and ends in January. So it's every Saturday. So almost like the NFL, they're every Sunday.

Dan 36:28

So that's why I was gonna ask because I watch NFL. Um, thanks, Owen, for asking me that question. Um, but I was gonna say it's kind of like the Super Bowl, the end of the season for everyone. Um, and that's how it works.

David Maluff 36:41

Yes, yeah, Super Bowl ends the whole season for football completely. So um it's all it's always good because you want you want it behind you, but you always look forward to it.

Dan 36:53

From my point of view, it's a great excuse to have a big barbecue in February, right?

David Maluff 36:58

Absolutely. I tell you it's always fun to have a barbecue, it attracts friends and family, it's just nice, it's just easy, you know. So the um it's fun to feed in the masses, and barbecue can do that, you know. So um unlike a uh white tablecloth restaurant, we can cook in volume and feed volumes of people because it it we do it every day. You know, our pits are about probably 13-14 feet long by five feet wide. Yes, we could cook a lot on a pit.

Owen 37:34

Yeah, so what what what does the future hold? What what's in the plans? If you can appreciate you might not be able to say too much, David, but you know what are you uh hoping to to do with forming barbecue moving forward?

David Maluff 37:48

You know, we have a competitor, you know, and and barbecue is something that it's regional, but but you know, you I when I say regional, like I always telling you, it's it's a meet and three. And and and I think you can actually we can duplicate that and build in every state, every country, doesn't matter, because it's a meet and three. Who doesn't like fresh vegetables, who doesn't like fresh meats, proteins, you know. So, and but like what you said earlier, you have to have you have to have many sauces to see what their their flavor profile is in that area, you know. Everyone has a different flavor profile. So, you know, just say I was going to London, you know, you you or England's and you have to see what the flavor profile of what they like regionally, yeah, you know, and come up with a sauce and you do taste testing, and you and you try and you fail, and you see what the mass is like overall, and that's how you become successful, you know. So uh barbecue what we do can be in it. If you go to any Middle East country, everybody's called themselves barbecue, they everybody's barbecue, but how you barbecue is how you cook it, and everybody wants to see the pit. Everybody wants to see we all of our pets are up front so everybody can see the meats we cook on every day. That's important to me. Let your customers see what you're cooking, don't hide behind a wall where they can't see it. You know, show them and they and tell you that they they love it.

Owen 39:18

Oh, but uh yeah, I completely agree. I think that the theater of barbecue is something that you don't normally get in a traditional restaurant.

David Maluff 39:26

You don't, and it's fun, and then you know, even our kitchen's open because I want you I want you to go look at it. If you want to go out there and taste it, look it, cut a piece off, try. I don't care. Go ahead, make it fun, make it fun. You know what I mean? Let people see what you do and take pride in what you do. Show them your your passion for the product that you sell every day, show them you care, and that's how you get people intrigued and and love what you do because they want to eat with you and support you.

Dan 39:52

I always think that keeps you honest as well, as an establishment. If people can see everything, what's going on, uh and understands the the passion that goes into the cook every day and the heart and soul that goes into it, compared to having the whole kitchen locked out away at the back as kind of like a mystery, as it were.

David Maluff 40:10

Yes, we well put my kitchen up front. I want you to see everything. Uh and and I and I'm proud of our kitchens. I want you to see, taste, and look at everything we have. We have nothing to hide, you know. So um, you know, I grew up in restaurants, you know. I I grew up in food being of Lebanese heritage. We grew up of a family that cooks for volumes of food and and love and community and faith and church. We do that and we carry that on to our restaurants every day.

Dan 40:43

Well, with 30, 40 years of experience around kind of barbecue and everything else that you've done, I suppose the next part of the bar of the podcast will be very interesting to see what your reaction is. So uh every episode we do something that's known as barbecue bingo. Um for anyone who doesn't listen regularly, we have a spinning wheel of ingredients that previous guests have left. Um, Owen will spin the wheel uh that we've spent loads of money producing and creating, um, and it will land on a random ingredient that we'd love to get your take on what you would cook, how you would cook it. Um, in the past, we've had periods where people have been really kind with a lot of the ingredients on there, and so you can have quite a lot of fun. But I have a funny feeling currently there's a lot of interesting ingredients on this wheel. So it's worth also thinking about an ingredient that you would potentially like to leave on the wheel after you've had one yourself. Um, so for people listening to the podcast rather than uh watching it, uh it's only fair that I kind of run through some of the items that are on there. So we have things like scallops, uh rabbit, uh padron peppers, frogs legs, uh, tripe, kangaroo, might be hard to get hold of, uh, Vindaloops, uh, white pudding, monkfish, chicken heart, uh, chechuan pepper, that's hard to say. Uh blue cheese, alligator, beef cheeked, but we also have something that's called my signature dish. So if it lands on that, we'd like you to cook what you're most famous for. So, what would you say you're most famous for, David?

David Maluff 42:21

Uh, pork bites.

Dan 42:23

There you go. That's nice and easy. Uh, is there anything there that that is terrifying to look at before we spin this wheel?

David Maluff 42:29

Oh, I tell you, um I don't know. Um, I would think the kangaroo would probably be my biggest challenge.

Dan 42:37

Just get hold of some.

David Maluff 42:39

If I get a hold of one, you're right. But that would be that would be interesting.

Owen 42:43

Um to be fair, we've never tried it, David.

Dan 42:45

So uh I I've had a kangaroo burger once, uh, but I was much, much younger, and it came from a market in Wales that probably didn't have a clue what it was or what to do with it either. So I would say it was okay, but it'd be nice to hear what someone who knows what they're doing would do with it.

David Maluff 43:02

Yeah, that would be interesting.

Owen 43:05

I've never tried it. I'll uh I'll give it a spin, David. Let's see what see what it comes up with.

Dan 43:11

Oh, look at that. Chechuan peppers just missed out on chicken heart. So uh have you have you cooked with that before, or David?

David Maluff 43:20

I've never I've eaten Shushuan peppers before, I've never used them, but you could you could probably use a Sushuan pepper and pair it with some chicken, you know, um, or a turkey, stuff it with turkey and see how it comes out. Um be pretty flavorful, I can promise you that, and hot.

Owen 43:45

I'm a bit bad.

David Maluff 43:48

But um uh that'd be an interesting uh spice and product to use. Um it'd be tasty, you know. I'd tell you, chicken heart would be better. I could fry those up, it'd be delicious.

Owen 44:04

So what would you what would you like to leave for uh our next guests, David? As in any any ingredient, whether it's a protein or a spice or a vegetable or or fish, you know, what would you like to leave for someone else?

David Maluff 44:23

Oh I tell you, uh I would have to say um we use a lot of granulated garlic.

Owen 44:32

Okay, yeah.

David Maluff 44:33

Um it it adds flavor in dressings, it adds flavor. Um we also put that garlic when I when after we cook our chicken on the wood burning pit, we we season all the chicken with the granulated garlic. It accents the chicken like um amazingly. Um it it it soaks, it seeps into the chicken skin, and I tell you it's delicious. So how do we grow garlic?

Owen 45:05

Yeah, sounds good to me. I love garlic, absolutely love garlic flavor. Um David, so it we as we kind of come towards the end of this episode, is there anything that's perhaps we haven't covered yet um that you would like to talk about uh in terms of uh barbecue or or anything else for that matter?

David Maluff 45:26

Well, when it comes to the just the restaurant business and and and proteins, and we always want to buy the best product available. I don't sacrifice. I told you, if we don't have a product that's available to use to our to serve, don't sell it. My reputation's on the line, your reputation is on the line. You know what I mean? I don't I I won't make my customers happy when they come in, and if you don't do things right, don't use it. You know, yeah, just take a take a sucker punch to the and go, sorry, we don't have it, we screwed up. We'll make it up to you next time you come. Yeah, but always have passion and love of the product that you sell and cook every day, and that will represent who you are every day to your consumer.

Owen 46:16

Right. Uh and David, uh, just to just to do a full push for uh where people can find you, both obviously locally, but also online. Please please tell them where to go find full moon barbecue.

David Maluff 46:32

It's uh www.fullmoonbbq.com and you'll see us there. And um we have lots of uh we have a site you can go to and order our seasonings, our spices, our life, and everything. But what what I'm gonna send my girls to send both of you a flavor packet of what we do, and uh that's our best seller. We sell a lot of them. So um you'll see what we're all about when you receive it.

Owen 46:58

David, that would be absolutely amazing. Thank you.

Dan 47:00

Yeah, fantastic.

Owen 47:01

Thank you guys for let me on. Oh no, real real pleasure to meet you and uh all the best. Thank you ever so much.

Dan 47:07

Thank you, David.

Owen 47:08

Take care, have a good day. Thank you.

Dan 47:09

Cheers. Bye. Thank you so much, David, for taking the time to speak to us today on the Meet Your Group Barbecue podcast. Um, you can go to the website at Full Moon Barbecue and do a Google. You can find them on Instagram, the socials, and also find out the best places to go to find out where to find their restaurants. Uh, we'd love to hear from you. Uh please do uh get hold of us on our socials or go to our website and put any questions or anything that you'd like to hear us talk about, or even if you'd like to be a guest, please do let us know. We'd love to have you on. Um but until next time, keep on grilling.

Owen 47:58

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