The Top 5 BBQ Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Is something on fire over there? Burnt the steaks? Looking for tips to serve moist delicious barbecue every time? Learn from the pro - Gary Parker's been grilling, smokin' and standing in front of a barbecue for a LONG time. Let's listen.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good afternoon, Facebook and YouTube audiences. I'm Jennifer Norrie and I'm here with Gary Parker, the Pitmaster at Barbecue TU in Gig Harbor, Washington. How are you, Gary?

SPEAKER_02 0:11

I'm doing super duper awesome good. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:15

I am good. It's a busy week because we lost a day, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Yeah, we're all at we were rocking and rolling on Monday, man. That's barbecue day. We're going to have a barbecue day.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Yeah, I wondered if you guys were busy. I thought you probably might be. Um, so today, you say we've talked about this before. If we have, it's been a while. But everybody's getting their girls out right now because the summer is upon us and or the spring summer is upon us. And we we usually do a session about cleaning your uh cleaning your equipment and your pits and your smokers. We're just assuming that you've done all that. And uh we want to prepare you to avoid the mistakes. Say that again.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I'm gonna get on my soapbox about that for sure. So, you know, just get ready.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah, okay, that's fine. You're you're the boss. So um I'm going to prompt Gary through these top mistakes, but do you want to talk about cleaning your

Safety First: Cleaning Barbecues and Smokers

SPEAKER_00 1:11

pits first?

SPEAKER_02 1:12

It is. It's his memorial that was Memorial Day on my knee, and uh this is the start of barbecue season. And I'm gonna do this public service announcement every time I can, you know, because so many people get hurt by their grills, particularly, you know, um offset smokers and stuff like I use. Um it's not such a big deal, but in the things like the the the propane, um, the propane gives that are so um so popular, um, even some of the some of the more automated stuff. Um, guys, you gotta clean it. All right, you can't trust those connections, you can't trust those diaphragms on those bottles, right? They've been sitting out all winter, they've thermocycled a hundred times, right? And uh you're you know, you go out there and you turn the thing on, and you're expecting it to work like it did last September, and it won't because it's changed and you don't realize it's changed. So check your connections, check your diaphragms, get the bottle right, check the date on your bottle. You know, bottles have expiration dates on them, right? And they do that for a reason, um, because they will fail on you, right? And check your burners, make sure you don't have little critters that have crawled up in there by the burner area, because that's gross when that happens. Um, there's a ton of things. You know, if you're on your webers, make sure that um on uh you know, because you use charcoal in them a lot, make sure they're not too thin, right? People don't really realize it, but down there those ash, uh those ash clusters sit on top of that metal, right? And they collect moisture all winter long, and then you know, you don't realize it, but that's metal down there and that rust flakes and it gets thinner and then it will fail on you. Check on, you know, those things are not expensive. Go get a new one, and right, and uh, and those kinds of things. Um, anyway, done with my public service announcement because I want my barbecue buddies to be safe and have a good time and make great food, and it's always a bummer when these things happen.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

So, I have a question for you because our Memorial Day barbecue, we were cooking the variety of things on the same grill. Once you're grilling and you're creating that charcoal-y stuff on your grill, is that clean and safe to consume? Like that stuff that built up just from your basic grilling and smoking?

SPEAKER_02 3:35

I mean, it's carbon, right? So it's not like it's a poison or anything, but um, I don't want that crap on my new food, right? So I always clean my grills, right? And there's a number of ways to do that. And um, you know, same thing with uh same thing when the um um the grill starts to fail and uh they become rusty. Now the fact that it got rusty is not a terrible thing, but you need to clean it before you cook on it. And my favorite way of doing that is I put a lot of oil on it, right? Or something like that and get it hot. Yeah, and then I can get the brush, you know, the steel oil across it or brush like that, and then it's fine. You know, you're not putting a bunch of rust in your food, you know. Um, these kinds of things is is what I'm talking about. You know, proper maintenance makes great food.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Yeah, I agree. And I don't know how I feel about mixing seafood and hamburger and steaks on the same grill. It kind of grosses me out, even if it's safe. Is that even safe?

SPEAKER_02 4:28

What for cross-contamination? Yeah, is that what you're worried about?

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Um, at the temperatures in which grill surfaces are at, it's unlikely anything is alive. Right. Remember, when we cook a steak, right, we're trying to get that grill temperature to about 700 degrees. Okay, there's nothing that's gonna live, right? If that if that grill is cold and you haven't properly preheated and done all the things you're supposed to do, that's a different story, but it'll still burn off, right? Um, if you're really bringing it up to town.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, well, that's that makes me feel that makes me feel better because it was yeah, okay. All right, so our grills and and we go all the way around from grill smokers, barbecues. We're talking about that in general today. We know people have a variety of equipment. Yeah, what's that?

SPEAKER_02 5:20

And bullet cookers, they're there another. It's a variety of things, variety of things, all right. Cooking too hot too fast. Um, that is true. Do not get in a hurry when you're grilling. Um, when you're grilling, you're going fast. Let me say that. When you're grilling, you're going fast. Because if you're gonna make a steak, first of all, you're either pulling ribey's or New York strips or these kinds of things, and you've got your Weber or you got your gas grill going, um, and you know, you put that charcoal in the in the Weber, and it's hot, and you've got it going, and it's it's red, right? And you're trying to um you know, you you put your hand the rule is you put your hand right down on the grill. If you could hold it there longer, around a second before you pull it off, then you're hot enough, right? That's how you tell if you're ready to go for a steak. And the steak you're gonna sear the outside, right? Because that steak will come up to temp really quick. That core will hit 140 to 145 degrees in just a couple minutes. And uh, so that's the reason we always say it's two minutes on one side, two minutes on the other, and go put it on the plate and let it rest, right? That's a steak, that's fast cooking. If you're gonna go smoking, you know, like I do, right, with the offset cookers. Um, do you you know the only thing you're doing if you're trying to go fast, if you started late and you got to make up time, uh, here's your bad news, it ain't gonna happen. All right, smoking meats, smoking meats take the time they take. And um, you know, you may you you know you may have uh you know guests coming at five, but uh you you know you didn't start till 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. because you got busy or you had to clean the grill or something. Um make it up that time's not gonna happen. All right, you got you know, you gotta, and particularly today, I get sensitive about it because particularly today, you look at brisket um prices, right? Wholesale guys like me, you know, we're pulling in um you know $585 a pound, six dollars a pound, you know, we're bringing in tons at a time. You know, I was just at Costco here in town lately and uh and saw brisket for eight dollars a pound at Costco, right? I mean, you don't want to screw that piece of meat up, right? Yeah, you've done it right, you've already um you've already got uh your trim out on it, you've got your rubs on it, and you're gonna put it there. And and I've told you before about cooking brisket, it's gotta go through the process. It's gotta come up slow, it's gotta you know the the heat and the flow of the air's gotta be just right, the creature bark, um, and those cores have got to get up to the uh up to the plateau, and then um, and then you gotta wrap, and then you gotta wait for render to happen, then you gotta let it rest. If you don't, you're gonna have crappy food. It's just the way it works.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Yeah, yeah. So so if you're using equipment like this, can you confirm that this gentleman is not properly cooking state?

SPEAKER_02 8:16

He's fast.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Isn't isn't that a little bit isn't that a little bit hot?

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Yeah, it's a little bit hot. You know, he because what he's thinking about right there is he's thinking about, oh cool, it's gonna flame kiss, right? Uh that's not what flame kissing is. All right, flame kissing is when you have um uh charcoal, like on a Weber again. I like the Weber, the Weber's cooked great. Um, yeah, what's happening is the grease, you know, the meat heats up and the grease starts falling on the um on the coals and flaring up, right? Um, what he's doing right there is he's burning meat.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

No, he's just making it crispy on the outside and gross on the inside. I just thought I thought it was fine.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Well, you just said it's fine. We matter of fact, there's a whole set of cooking um about how to do that, about how to glaze and how about how to do these things, which is fine. What he's but what he what I'm saying, what he's doing is he's believing that he's flame-kissing that meat, and he's not, he will not get the flavor from it if you're doing that. It's gonna cook it because it's that meat's gonna temperature's gonna rise really quick. Yeah, it'll be edible, but it won't taste very well. No, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Okay, we're gonna get my other one out of the way before we move on to number two. This just gives me the willies. So, like, is the grill clean? Is the chicken gonna get done all the way? Am I gonna die if I eat my relative's chicken? I just think people undercook chicken when they barbecue it quite often.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Well, undercooking and what you're showing in that picture is two different things, right? Because again, I'll say what I said before. If you have the grill at the proper temperature, you know, everything's inert, it's gonna be fine because it's it's already it's basically sterilized at that heat level uh before they put the chicken on. You said something different, right? You said they don't cook chicken all the way through, which is a true statement. Oh, and if you're not, if you're not a pro at it, guys like me can look at chicken and go it and just look at it and say, Yeah, I'm there. Um, but if you're not cooking it every day like I do, you know, you need your temperature probe because you need to make sure that that chicken uh you know coming from raw to cooked is those corners at 165 degrees or better. Okay, and then you can take it from there, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Yeah, and we're gonna get we're gonna talk about the need for a thermometer pretty soon here. So, all right, moving on. The don't lift the lid constantly, don't be impatient, let it do its thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Um, that is uh we'll start with smoking meat. So if you're on your offset cookers and and you're lifting that lid to look at it, you're if you're looking, you ain't cooking, is what we like to say, right? That's the deal because you gotta keep that um you gotta keep that lid down, you gotta keep that airflow going and smoke meat and uh let it do its thing. Oh hey Indy, how you doing? Um the um um you know, especially on offset smokers, you can have your probe in there and you don't have to look at it, right? You can tell what's going on on your um on your weathers and stuff like that, it's more of a uh do what you need to do, right? So if I've got a set of hamburgers on there and I'm and I'm trying to trying to get that just right, I may I may you know the flavor it, I may put that lid on for a minute, right? Let the smokes and stuff build up around it, let it fling kiss on its own a little bit. That also helps with that coal because you're you're uh regulating the oxygen level, right? When you have that lid on. Um, so a lid on a Weber or or on a bullet cooker, um, you know, it's kind of it's one of your tools, right? To do uh to do the cook with. So you know, it's on, it's off, it's various other things.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

So yeah, you're locking heat in, right? Yeah, or cooling it off if you need to. But isn't lifting the lid also letting oxygen in, which would ignite the flame, or no?

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Well, like I said, you're limiting, you know, the the the volume of oxygen you have around your heat source is a cooking tool. Okay, so do I want to slow that slow that heat down? Do I want to speed that heat up? Remember, remember, heat is especially in a whatever, it's a radiant energy, right? And so, and then so therefore you measure it by volume. And so if you want to slow that volume down, you put the lid on and it'll it won't be so so dramatic. And you take the lid off and you let the air, you know, really go at those goals, then it's gonna get a lot hotter, a lot quicker. So you gotta be thinking about what you're doing, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:42

And yeah, I think you also just invite Gary over the first time you do this for the season because I can't even how many times have I talked to you about this? And I you can't you always bring something new up you've never said before. Like, wait, what, wait, what? Go back. I mean, it's crazy. Okay, Andy says, Do you know this guy? Hey brother, missed you guys low and slow is the rule. Just did a couple of pork shoulders last week, 225 for just under 14 hours and started the smoker at 4 a.m. I would think Gary approves of that. That's correct, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:11

What command? Indy's my buddy, he knows how to do this stuff, and um, yeah, I mean, he's sitting down there and um um he's probably doing shoulders. If you remember, um a lot of my friends and stuff, they like doing entire shoulders. I've in this series uh of talking to you, I've um um I've given you tricks, right, about how to get faster, how to go forward, and um, and so you know that I always cut mine up my my shoulders up in the fours or or sixes, right? And and I'm doing that because I want to get more surface area so I get more smoke into the meat, and so I elevate the flavoring of the texture. Uh at the same time I go a lot faster on porn, right? I've showed you guys how to do that. Um, you know, but that's that that's one thing on the on the other side of cooking a shoulder. Um shoulders are cheaper than brisket. Absolutely. Absolutely. And and and then we could talk about that too, because people are people are buying down the menu these days because of the economy. But anyway, um, doing large shoulders, complete shoulders, right? That's a lot of fun too. Okay. Um, because you can you can do it, you can do a lot of injections, you can set a lot of different flavor profiles, um, you know, when you're when you're doing those. And so um it's a lot, it is just a lot of fun. My technique um that I teach here with with the smaller chunks is for volume. I need you know, I need to move hundreds of pounds through the smoker, you know, daily, right? And so I have to develop ways to do that, and you know, and still have like a really quality product.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

I know I was all excited about getting pork belly pictures, and I talked to your manager and I said, Okay, I want to come by for when you guys take those pieces of pork and cut them up. He goes, Jennifer, that takes 90 seconds. We'd have to wait for you to show up. Like, I guess certain things that seem like they would be such a skill in your restaurant are just like, yeah, we got that done. Like, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Um yeah, we you know, times and people are knocking the door saying, Hey, you got that ready yet?

SPEAKER_00 15:09

You know, and then they get mad at you. Yeah, get mad at you when it's like get mad at you when you run out. Okay, so the other mistake you don't want to make is not letting meat rest.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

That's true. So what I know particularly things like brisket, you know, you gotta let it rest, it's gotta have its time, right? And uh if you don't do it, it's just it's just not gonna be the same. What you what do you want me to say? You know, you the process is the process, and it does it. And you know, at barbecue to you, you know, we we uh we got them hot, we run them about uh 207 on the cores, right? And then we just turn those ovens off and leave them sealed and they come down you know a couple degrees, you know, at a time. And uh by the time we get back in the morning, you know, they're those cores are 150, 140, right? And then we just go straight in. But you know, that was um six, seven hours of rest on those brisket, you know, and people would say, Well, why is your brisket? You know, how does it get all that flavor? How does it get all that bark? And I'm going, this is all a part of the process because when you let those things rest, especially in their juice in the in the pan, they will pull all that all that flavor and all that um um all that the all that juice back up inside them, or at least quite a bit of it, right? And that keeps them moist, right? And makes them really awesome. But if you come right off the smoker, you know, you've got it in and people do this. Don't get me wrong. Um, people do this, you come right off the smoker, you unwrap it out of your paper, and you start slicing and dicing. Yeah, it's gonna taste good, you know. If you did it right, it's gonna taste a lot better if you let it rest, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

But yeah, but tell them how you let meat rest. I mean, you're outside, you're on the deck, you're in your picnic area, and you don't you don't have a hot oven to go throw your meat in.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

So just use an ice chest. That's what I use. I just get an old big blue ice chest, and and uh it's still wrapped in the paper, and and I take it out there and just put it there, and I close that lid down, you know, it's gonna hold that heat inside the uh inside the ice chest. So, you know, and then uh at least give it at least give it a couple three hours anyway.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Okay, so it's not gonna cool it off and make it gross to cool.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

No, no, no, because you're keeping the heat. The point is that's why it's always a thermal, um, it's all about it's it's always a thermal unit that you stick it in, right? Whether it be an ice chest or an oven or whatever the hell it is, right? Um that time because you're you're just letting it kind of you're trying to get it to cool slowly.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Got it. Okay, I trust you. I'll try and trust you on that. Uh so not letting meat rest is a big mistake. And the next thing is don't use the wrong wood. And I know we've talked a lot about this, and Gary has all these opinions about whether you're in Louisiana or Arizona or Texas or California, whatever, and I don't know, all kinds of wood things we could talk about. So, what do you mean in general about wrong wood? I mean, that everybody wants a different kind of flavor meat. So the right wood for me might be a different wood for you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Well, the first thing I'm gonna say is a safety thing, use a wood that's uh that's that's for cooking. Do do people know how to use tell what a cooking wood is versus not a cooking wood? Okay, because a cooking wood is a hard wood, not a soft wood. So if you're going down, you know, cutting down an aspen tree or cottonwood or or something like that, or even something hard like a madrona up here, right? Um these things, these things are are weeds, right? They just look like trees, and uh you you throw that in your pit, you put a good piece of meat on it, it's gonna taste like crack, right? So you gotta know what your cooking woods are. Your cooking woods are your oaks, right? Your hickory's, um, your uh fruit woods, right? Um pecan trees, these kinds of things. These are your uh um low, whatever you do, do not use an evergreen in any way, shape, or form. Because that thing is so full of sap and resin, right? And you you believe me, you do not want to eat that, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Um because it'll because the taste of the smoke will affect the taste of the meat.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Um, so make sure you understand the species of tree. I'm gonna start with that. That's the that's the macro discussion, right? Then once you get into your into your improper woods, um, now let's talk about what it is you're trying to do. Understand what it is you're trying to do, right? Do I want Central Texas barbecue? Because you better start looking for either some post oak or you better start looking for some mesquite, or you uh are you want to start looking uh, you know, some white oaks and some of the stuff we have here in the northwest will work as well too. Um uh alder here in the northwest will give a really nice, uh really nice Texas flavor. Um, you know, but uh but let's say you're not looking to do that. Maybe you're looking to to put sweet, you know, put a sweet smoke on it, right? Um well if you're gonna do that, you better get over to Yakima and go get some of them orchards guys over there to give you a bunch of fruit wood, you know, because they just clipped them off their trees here in um um, you know, here in the here in the spring, you know, what they were getting ready for bloom. Um, and so um, yeah, I mean they they keep it over there, they get large stacks of it, and um, you can get some really nice woods over there, but that's if you want to do something sweet, if you want to get something really bitter, um, then go find yourself some pecan, right? Um, so you have to kind of understand what you're doing, right? When you put when you put rubs and and and things like that on a piece of meat, and if you're not thinking about okay, which what kind of smoke do I want to put on there? The accent is to make this all come together as a flavor profile, um, you're gonna get whatever.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yeah, and it looks like and he's saying it depends on the type of meat too. So, do some woods taste better with certain things? Like he says he likes pecan for pork. Absolutely. Yeah, factor that a little bit. Yeah, so there's a whole science to it. And I'm, you know, you have so much experience with all these different combinations. I'm sure someone could email you and ask you what they should do. Okay. The last thing we're gonna talk about, and then we'll get an update about the restaurant in general, but um is the thermometer. So do you mean just like the typical roast thermometer that your, you know, your family member uses for the Christmas roast, or are you talking about something else?

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Oh no. Um, I always use a um a fine point thermometer, right? I do have two reasons. One, I like it better, but also it's code here, and uh and I'm a I'm a licensed professional, so I have to stick to the code. Um, so I use the uh the hypoanergetic, they're usually purple, and they've got a really, really uh sharp point on the end. They're not big and thick like you're like the ones you typically see in a kitchen, right? Or if you're you know, if you look at uh when you're melting sugar, um, and you know, it's it's a big honky day thing, don't use that. You gotta have a really fine point. The thermal couple has to be really fine, and um, and so that's gonna give you a true and accurate uh reading on things, right? Um, and I and always recommend people who don't cook very much, you know, they do it on holidays or they do this kind of stuff. You know, safety is safety, you know, things like poultry's gotta be at 165 when you cook it. Um, then you can you can get in as long as it stays above 141, then then it's edible. Um, if not heat it back up, right? Um so then there's that layer of discussion around thermometers. And then there's things like um the full, you know, the the ones that I was talking about a minute ago where you where you're monitoring core temperatures as you go through a cycle, like you do with a brisket, right? And you're plotting that out, right? If you're especially if you're trying to learn how to um how to uh cook a brisket, right? And so you've got it on there and you're watching it, you know, it's cold, it's gonna be gonna be in the in the 40 degree range when you set it on the pit, right? And um you gotta watch it start to climb and you've got this probe deep into that brisket. So you're watching the cores, you're gonna see it watch it start to climb, you're gonna see it hit 160, um, and then it's gonna flatten out, and you're gonna go, what the hell's wrong with my cook process? You're gonna go back there and you're gonna throw wood on, and you're gonna do all kinds of things, and uh, but the advice is don't touch it, right? Because briskets have a plateau that they go through, and it's usually right there in the plateaus where I choose to do the wrap, right? Because those cores are the 160. I'm now gonna get it, start getting it hot, right? So I'll wrap it in the in the butcher paper, uh, the red paper, um, and then crank the fire a little bit and keep that fire up 275, maybe sometimes 300 in in uh cold weather. Um, and uh let that brisket come out of the out of the plateau and start to rise. And for me, I like 207 to 210 on the cores. I hold them there for a while, you know, and and um and then uh then I I uh once they once I think they're there long enough to melt up the collagen, then I put them down in the ice chest or do the do the thing I said in the store. Um thermometers are key to that if you haven't done tons and tons and tons and tons of brisket and you can look at it and know what it's doing, right? Yeah, and that's what I ask everybody to do that that uh that doesn't do it all the time, right? Because those little nuances of temperature and how that temperature is is is reacting and how it goes through that cycle is everything when it comes to making a great brisket, right? Because remember, you're cooking two muscles at once, one of them has no fat in it, and the other one is just full of fat, right? And so you're trying to balance this process in a way where you can manage those two cooking environments at the same time on the same piece of meat and have it all come out great. And if you don't pay attention with thermometers um coming through that cycle, then you're gonna mess it up.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Yeah, wow, yeah. I don't it's a science for sure. So, do you have a brand of thermometer that you recommend and or one that you recommend people stay away from?

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Nowadays there's so many brands are so ubiquitous that um you can uh you can get them. The the thing that I try to tell people, I just don't, I personally just don't like the big fat things, you know, big you know, they look like a nail that you're trying to drive through your meat. No, I like this really thin point thing, and um they're highly accurate, they'll tell you exactly what to do. Um they're a little bit they're you know, they're just an you usually find when you buy those probes um you know that they're a little bit more expensive because they're a little bit more fine-tuned type of uh type of a probe, right? So anyway.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

So no particular so I'm just gonna go over these again. Oh, you you cut out. Say again.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

I said that's pretty much what I can think about when it comes to say it again. That's about 11. What are you breaking up over here?

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Your sound your sound is being weird, yeah. Um so I was just gonna go back over these again real quick. So cooking too hot too fast, don't you know, don't be in a hurry. Uh don't lift the lid too constantly because it affects the environment of the meat drastically, and you just want to be careful with that. Um make sure you let the meat rest. He's skipping that. You can still have decent meat, but it'll be much better if you let it rest. Gary uses a cooler. And come on. Oh, there we go. Uh, don't use the wrong wood, which is there's a whole conversation there about what your flavor profile goal is. And then uh make sure you have a thermometer handy and you monitor the temperature of the meat. So, anything else you want to warn people about? Do you have a funny mistake story? Have you ever helped somebody that didn't take your advice and they ended up ruining their food?

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Oh, well, um or anything, any memory? Those things usually don't get admitted.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

No, nothing.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

So yeah, those things come out differently.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Yeah, that's right. So you're are you are you gonna admit that you've ever burnt a brisket?

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Have you ever burnt a really I've destroyed pieces of meat before.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Have you ever burnt a really expensive piece of meat?

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I've told I've told people, um oh, my mic is working right. I've told people a lot of times about um um, you know, I've spent over 20,000 hours at my trailer pit before, right? And um, I've had all kinds of things happen to me. I've made some of the crappiest meat on the planet. And um um yeah, it's uh and I've made some horrific mistakes. That's the reason I could be so confident about what I tell you to do, is because I've I've been on both sides of this envelope, and um it's uh um do it uh do it. It's like when I told you how to how to cook turkey, you know, you start out half frozen.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Yeah, well don't don't.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

This is fun.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

But anyway, um I've got to run here in a minute.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

I can't hear you. Just don't do it, don't do it. Okay, I can let you go. Is there anything going on at the store that you want to talk to people about?

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Uh, not really. Um, everything status quo there. Get ready for summer. The crowds have already started coming in. So um we are rocking and we are rolling.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah, plenty to do. All right. Well, thanks, Gary. It's always good to talk with you. Thanks for reminding us of the mistakes you don't want to make when you take that girl out and start making meat for your family. If you have questions or want to run something by Gary, he'll maybe get back to you at G Parker at TexasMDQTU.com. You can try, or you can run in the store. He's there sometimes. But anyway, always good to see you and thanks for the advice.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Yeah, hey Indy, thanks for hanging out with us today. That was really super. Maybe uh maybe we