Ep. #2 - Kevin VanDam On Bass Fishing BBQ And Bourbon

An eight-pound bass on the first stop is a pretty good way to start a friendship trip, but the real win is what happens after the rods go down. I’m Matt Pittman from Meat Church, and I’m joined by my buddy Kevin VanDam, one of the most accomplished pros in bass fishing history. We talk about what it’s like to chase excellence for decades, then “change jobs” into the nonstop world of TV, YouTube, and social media without losing the joy that made you start in the first place.

Kevin walks through how he got hooked early, what tournament life demands from your calendar and your family, and why bass fishing still feels like a puzzle even after a Hall of Fame career. We get into Texas bass fishing conditions, how cold fronts and spawn timing can shut fish down, and why accuracy with a baitcaster matters when the windows are tight and the cover is thick. If you love fishing education, outdoor skills, and the mindset behind high performance, you’ll get plenty to take back to the water.

Then we pivot into the other part of our overlap: barbecue, grilling, and bourbon. We taste a standout pour, talk Buffalo Trace barrel picks, and dig into practical outdoor cooking ideas like pellet grill temperature control, managing smoke levels, and reverse sear for steaks and tenderloin. We even swap stories about unforgettable meals like Kuby’s sausage and steaks, because food and fishing are really just two ways to make the same thing: memories with people you want to be around.

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of fishing, barbecue, bourbon, and the outdoors, and if this one hits home, share it with a friend and leave a quick review.

Transcript

Intro

Matt 0:00

Hey, I'm Matt with Meat Church, and welcome to episode two of the Meat Church Podcast. Today I'm joined by my buddy Kevin Van Dam. We're going to be talking fishing, cooking, and a whole lot of other cool stuff.

KVD Intro

Matt 0:53

So, KVD, four-time Bassmaster Classic Champion. The Bassmaster just came by a couple weeks ago, so we all know how big of a deal that is. Seven-time bass angler of the year with 25 bass tournament wins and over a hundred top 10 finishes. A member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame since 2018. Let me just tell you from recent experience with him personally, this dude can fish. Kevin, welcome.

KVD 1:22

Man, uh it's it's awesome to be down here. You know, I've it it took us a while to get this you know put together, but uh we finally got to get I got to get you out in the boat, and uh, you know, and I I've actually been to your store before, so it'd be cool to actually be there with you for a change. Yeah.

Matt 1:38

That's right. You uh you're such a good guy that you came in town and you knew I was busy and you didn't tell me you're in town so as not to bug me or you know make me leave my schedule, whatever I was doing. Actually, I was on a bourbon trip.

KVD 1:51

Yeah, you were you were you were on a bourbon run, yeah. Yeah, a special one too.

Matt 1:56

Yeah, I'd I'd uh I'd got I'd located in on some um Buffalo Trace antique collection that a friend had gotten for me in Dallas, and I was going to pick it up. So that says something that you let me go pick the bourbon up.

KVD 2:08

Yeah, no, it's uh we both that's the cool thing. You know, from the first time we met, you know, we share a lot of the same outdoor passions.

Matt 2:16

Yeah

KVD 2:16

Obviously, you I I love, I mean, we're our whole family, we're all foodies. We love to cook and do a lot of outdoor grilling and things like that. And um, so you know, once we started talking there, you know, and then I found out you like bourbon too, and you like to hunt and you like to fish. So it took us a little while to to actually get together and uh and and be able to let me show you a little bit of what I love to do, but we definitely have talked a bunch, texted a lot over the last handful of years.

Matt 2:45

Yeah, no, it's it's been awesome. Uh, you know, uh we we met each other at Luke Bryan's house. Uh we Luke has a charity called Redbird Games that we both support, which is awesome. For you know, I know you are very close friends with Luke, so for people that don't know him, um, amazing charity uh that that he event that he does with his family for the Brett Boyer Foundation. And we actually met there. Uh really cool event. I call it Redneck Games because you can you could fish, you could shoot ski, you can blow up stuff.

KVD 3:15

Blow up pumpkins, you know, with Tanner Aid. I mean, yeah, yeah, no, it's they they they really do a great job. And Luke is uh, as you know, man, he's he's an awesome person. I've I've gotten to know him really well, been to a lot of his shows, and um we fish together often. I mean, I've just man, it's like a month ago or so I was down at his place, fished with him and Johnny Morris and Bill Dance and Steve Harvey all at the same time. So I mean, yeah, and Luke was you know gracious to host us all and he he's got you know he's really passionate about it. He's got some some great fisheries and stuff, but same thing, you know, to be able to um to get you out on the boat here in Texas. And I know you don't like bass fishing is not your your thing. Well it's not your you haven't you just haven't exp spent a lot of time at it. Yeah. It's like anything. Um, you know, I mean you were just at the masters. I mean, I like golf, but I'm horrible at it. You should you should see me with a golf club. I I cannot I'm just and I and I wanna be. And you know, it's it just takes practice though. But sounds like you and I have another thing in common with those golf. Are you bad at golf too?

Matt 4:26

I I drink really well in the course. Well, that's the most important thing.

KVD 4:29

Yeah. You gotta have some cold beers for sure.

Matt 4:32

Yeah, so we've been talking about doing this for a long time. Um Kevin was gracious enough to invite me to be on his show, The Van Dam Experience. So we filmed that episode yesterday. Uh, we went to one of his friends' um private lakes, which was unbelievable. I mean, I know you fish a lot of cool stuff, but boy, yeah, that was special.

KVD 4:51

Yeah, John is the you know, the original owner of Strike King Lure Company, and you know, he's obviously um you know born and raised in Texas, and you know, he's kind of been all over this area, but uh he's really into into fishing, and he was nice enough to to let us come down and and spend a day on uh his place and caught some really good fish. So it'll be you know that show you know will air at my show airs on the outdoor channel, um, the television show. You know, as you know these days, you gotta we do everything. Oh, yeah. You'll see some stuff on social and um you know, we we got a lot of things to do it. But yeah, to be able to get you out there um and show you a little bit of my world, what it's all about, and that's daunting. It's kind of fun. Well, you I mean, we have we had a good day though. We had a great day.

Private Lake Fishing And Bass Curiosity

Matt 5:40

Caught a lot of fish. Picked a good weather day because we're gonna cook together today, and it's uh it's a little rainy. But um, you know, I told you that I love to fish, and people that follow me know that I'm in the outdoors all the time, like you said, uh everywhere from fishing from Canada to Key West, all different types, but it's usually with friends that you know we're lucky we know a lot of people that a lot of pros. Honestly, I'll just say like through Yeti, you know, our uh in a minute we'll talk about some of our mutual relationships and business. But the Yeti uh relationships that I've met made over the years on Edge U as well. I mean, first big Yeti ambassador roundup I went to, I'm surrounded by like the who's who of fishing and hunting and bull riding, and and we all become really good friends. So I've been fortunate to fish a lot of people and I love it. And then I'm building a home on a little private lake. But I told you yesterday that bass fishing is something that just no one in my family was like necessarily really good at. So, you know, if we bass fish, it was like you're just jumping a pond and doing something. But um, I'm always so intrigued by there's so much to bass fishing.

KVD 6:42

There's so many different, you know, baits and just techniques, and it is wild in the time of year and the conditions, and so it's a science that's far from exact, and it's I mean, I again I I've been doing it, or I've, you know, I've fished professionally, you know, on tour for 33 years, and uh I still fish a lot. I started fishing, my dad started me fishing when I was like three years old. I actually wanted to ask you, so you got to tell us like I wonder how you got into it. Yeah, you so our family was kind of the same thing, you know. Uh my dad took me ice fishing when I was three. Makes sense where you know I had four brothers and I have two brothers and two sisters, so we have a big family. It's hard, you you know, when you're taking kids fishing, they're a lot, it's a lot to manage, five kids at once. So, you know, we he would um you know take turns, uh but we fished just for whatever growing up. Um and my older brother really got into into bass fishing, joined a bass club, you know, he's six years older than me, and he'd he would take me along. And you know, I started bass fishing at a probably five or six, but but I didn't really get into it um until I was you know a little bit older than that. I I fished my first tournament with my brother when I was 14. And we know we finished second and won some money, and I'm like, wow, this is pretty dang cool, you know, to to be able to do so. I I really jumped in at full time and when I got my driver's license, you know, at 16, joined the same bass club and just we you know, travel around the area. But I mean, within two years, um I was kind of all over the region and fishing tournaments and uh scaled it up. And I mean, I mean in my early 20s I started on tour, you know. So I mean, and it just I just was ate up with it, yeah, right from the get-go. And that's that's what it takes, you know. I mean when I went to school, there was lots of three sport athletes. I I played baseball and I got into it with my uh my coach who was one of the teachers when I was a sophomore, and I quit baseball to to pursue fishing, and he man tore me up and down for for doing that, and um it kind of worked out pretty good for me at the end of the day.

Matt 8:54

No, right. I get so I wonder now, you know, not to skip over your entire amazing career, but obviously you've kind of like you know, now in retirement, you're very busy.

Touring Life Family And New Media

KVD 9:05

Yeah, I didn't. I mean, I I I retired from I I don't even like that word. Yeah, yeah. I mean I I changed jobs basically. Yeah. So yeah, you know, after 33 years and just just the lot of for a lot of different reasons, but uh probably more than anything, um, just family time. As you know, I mean uh you work your tail off, you have to travel a lot too. You I mean, when you're on tour, you're married to the tour schedule. I mean, you can't miss an event. You you have to and they're you know, a regular like a Bassmaster tournament or major league fishing tour event, you know, they're week long. And when the schedule comes out That's your schedule. That's your that's what it I mean. If there's a anniversary or a birthday or a party or a wedding or there it's there's no missing it. Yeah, there's no it's not even like the PGA tour that you can kind of pick some events and you gotta go. You have to go, period. So I did that for 33 years, and so I've missed a lot, you know. I mean you and you know my my sons, you know, Jackson he he's loves to cook here. He's he's actually cooked for with you for for you uh at Luke's event before. So um, yeah, I've missed a lot and you know, a lot of a lot of different things, and my wife and boys have sacrificed a lot for me to pursue my career, and it's been great. Like, you know, I mean it it really I couldn't script it any better. Uh and I love the competition, still do, and I love the people around it. That's the cool that's the cool thing about our industry, and I'm sure it's the same for you, is that people are awesome, you know, and and your friends and kind of miss that camaraderie a little bit. I mean, you're still around it, but yeah, but but I not as much. You know, the big events of when I go to the Bassmaster Classic or go to the uh you know Major League Fishing Red Crest or we go to iCast in the summer, you you see everybody again. Yeah. And but uh it it's a lot less. When you're on tour, it's like second family, you know, and uh and we and I've you know forged a lot of great friendships and relationships over the years doing that. Yeah. But what I'm doing now and and in this day and age of media, as you know, it's a lot of work. You know, I'm I do the my television show. Um, you know, we were very uh visible on social media and same thing on YouTube, doing content videos and and educational pieces of that. You constantly have to be putting out content. Yeah, uh, I don't like the word influencer. Like I'm an I'm that's you know how brands and companies look at you is I'm just an influencer. You're you're an influencer. But I there's there's lots of people out there that do it. I consider myself a professional.

Matt 11:51

Professional. And I'm glad you brought that up. I actually was talking with uh Tuffy Stone a few weeks ago and another Yeti cover. Amazing guy, yeah. I love Tuffy. I know you worked a lot with him, but he he brought up that Carter Andrews said to him that you know I'm not an influencer, I'm a professional, which is one of the you know, not to just blow Yeti up in this podcast, but that's one of the reasons I love them because they have not succumbed to, oh, well, this person has two million followers. They work with the best in breed. And but I brought this up because I I love what you're doing. People come at me with the number one question we've gotten for years is why don't you have a restaurant? And I have to explain people my perspective. You know, I'm fortunate that we've built this brand and now ultimately it's not this simple, but I get to do what I want to do. Like my job yesterday was to fish with KVD, which was a pretty dang good day. But it is a ton of work. Like I've I don't sleep much. I, you know, drive and run around like crazy. I, you know, I sent a photo of our fish this morning to our friends in Austin, and they said, Man, you're all over the place. And I probably hear that every day. I'm like, hey, I already hear that from my wife. I don't need to hear it from you. But it you, you know, I know you're very busy. I can just tell through our friendship how you're all over, but you gotta be loving it.

KVD 12:59

Yeah, no, I I do. And look, the cool thing about what I get to do, and and I would say you're gonna say the same thing, is like it's really neat when people that are passionate about what you're like that cooking or grilling or whatever, they're gonna come to you and ask you, and you get you've gotten to meet, I've like I've gotten to meet, you know, both President Bush's and um lots of professional athletes and you know uh musicians and cut, you know, Luke Bryan and Steve Harvey. I mean, you you meet a lot of really cool people that just absolutely their thing is they would love to be in your shoes, right? They want to say, hey, I want to learn to bass fish like you, or I'd like to be able to learn how to cook 24 turkeys at one time for the NFL and you know make make it all happen. And that's the that's the neat crossover, is like you get to you get a view in other people's world, and and it's uh you know, people say the grass is always greener, but it it it is pretty neat. I've I've gotten to do a lot of and that's what this new venture, the Van Dam experience, is all about. It's not just about fishing. Um, you know, I I've done fishing shows my whole career, uh, but I've never had you know for my for Strike King and Bass Pro Shops and things like that, but now I get to do what I want to do, and I get to pick guests that I think people want to see. And and that's a whole thing that I'm going to do is like show the world who Matt Pittman is and what Meat Church is all about, and because you're authentic. This is like you said, about Yeti. I mean, it's not just some guy that's got a bunch of followers and they're just somebody's chasing around. I mean, your your recipes are legit. And you know, when you you it's it's no bullshit, no nonsense. This is how you spatchcock a turkey, or this is how you're gonna do a smash burger or grill a tenderloin, and your seasonings are just like like I've tried them all. My dad, my dad um loved to collect barbecue sauce. So that was his thing, you know. So he'd travel around and and do it, and we'd learn, we'd go to all these restaurants, and you want to learn um what's the best way to to cook this, or you change it a little bit and call it your own, you know, and different recipes and and things like that. And what I saw right away um with everything that you do is it's like you know, it's it's top-notch, top level. And that's why, you know, I'm sure you're at the you're at the top of the game in your in your field, you know. I mean, Tuffy Stone's a great friend and an unbelievable competition barbecue guy, but I mean, you have built something way bigger than what most anybody else in the space has done, you know. And they can they all cook amazing, yeah. But there's more to it than that.

Matt 15:44

Yeah, you know, we so uh funny, I met Tuffy January 2014. I was on Barbecue Pitmasters and he was a judge, and I'm working on my cookbook now, and he agreed last year randomly fishing in Key West together, that he agreed to write the foreword for it. And um, you know, he asked me a few years ago a little bit of help to try to start to to grow um his seasoning business and because he's realized how you can kind of pivot and whatnot. Um, but you know, when we started doing what we're doing, it was unique. There was no one doing it this way. Now there's a lot of people kind of trying to do that, but it's a ton of work, it's very rewarding. I was gonna ask you yesterday, I I it's a dumb question. I know you still enjoy fishing, obviously, but does it ever feel like work? Because I have to remind myself, it's not that I I love cooking. It cooking's what I do when nobody else is around. So it's my absolute passion. But you just get caught up in the how busy you are in life and what you're doing that I have to sometimes remind myself, man, you could be sitting in a cube doing IT work again, so it's gonna be okay. You'll you'll be all right.

KVD 16:40

Oh, a hundred percent. You know, I I love what I do, and and if the day that you don't, it's gonna show too, you know, and it it's gonna, it's gonna it's gonna reflect in the shows that you do or the content that you do. Show wouldn't be very good if you weren't enjoying it. No, I I one of the things that I love uh about what I'm doing now is I still get to, you know, I'm still traveling around the country to all, you know, I would have never fished Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn and Clear Lake in California or the Potomac River or Okeechobee or all these places if I wasn't on tour. And so a big part of what I'm doing now is is going back and revisiting those places and trying to time it at the right time of the year where the fishing's real good. And and you know, we we show some historical footage in our shows from from the tournaments that I've won and things in the past, but I I've man, I've jacked up. I mean, I love Texas. This is Texas is like probably the most iconic bass fishing state out there. Texas Parks and Wildlife manages their lakes and has done a an up such an amazing job that they're they're the model for most other states. I mean, Florida is following the same things. I mean, with you know, the restrictions like lake forecast, you know, with the slot limits and and things like that. So getting to come to Texas uh to fish to me is a treat. I'm I'm uh to get to go yesterday, you know, to in to fish with yeah at John's Lake there. I mean, I've I'd I could hardly sleep the night

Reading Conditions And Learning Baitcasters

KVD 18:08

before.

Matt 18:08

I mean, I I do need to tell everyone listening or watching what you said to me the night before, but you came in town the day before and you scouted it out. And when I talked to you, Kevin Van Dan was giddy. You you told me that it might have been the most special place you'd ever fished. And so regardless how it turned out for me, I was like, dang, this is gonna be cool.

KVD 18:25

Well, yeah, I mean, we we caught a lot of fish, but you know, obviously any you can only control the weather so much. And we looked at, you know, your schedule's busy, you had, you know, a couple of days that we we could allot to do in the show and then and then cooking together, you know, going to going to your place and cooking, doing the podcast and things like that. And the weather's, you know, like today, it's raining. And we we chose that, but obviously the big cold front came in, you know, when we got when we got to go out there in the morning, it was like 47 degrees. And it's they weren't real active. Yeah, it's it's late April, and they're they're they're in the tail end of the spawn, and that water temperature dropped, and I mean it it shuts them down. Yeah. And there's another factor.

Matt 19:07

I don't know that. And I I learned that a little bit.

KVD 19:09

Well, the day before I go there, the wind's blowing, and I'm and I'm just driving around and I'm looking, you know, and I'm see just see what stage these fish are in. And you know, you everyone that you'd throw near would would chase your my bait, and I'm like, I was trying to try really wanted to have you catch a giant. And you had plenty of opportunities to I mean, we had bites and stuff, but and that was the other big thing. It's like, you know, in because you ask me all the time, I mean, you as much as your son's into it, and he's got a great opportunity that the age he's at to, you know, it's a lifetime sport. It's yeah, it's like golf uh or whatever. It's you don't have to have a certain physical attribute or anything, but it does take time, it does take practice, you know, to and and with the stage that the fish were in, you know, casting accuracy was is gonna be a and then you gotta play the wind, and you know, every every bait you pick up is different. Yeah.

Matt 20:02

I mean you I had three day we should talk about fishing for a little bit, uh, you know, talk about yesterday, but um, you know, I I had three different setups with bait casters. And you asked me how you know how proficient are you the bait caster, and I said I can throw one kind of barely, but I knew we'd work on that. But that was part of, you know, I was like, hey, I'm coming in to learn. And uh to your point, well, we had I sweat of three different setups, but then you had to you had to throw this bait where it needed to go and have it working immediately. You didn't have time to get it right. We had little open windows of where there was sand where they'd be spawning.

KVD 20:32

That that lake is not the easiest because of all the timber. Um, there's lots of grass and algae and slime, and I mean the and the fish are in eight, some of them are in six, eight inches of water. It's crazy. So you just uh yeah, it's it's it's just different, you know.

Matt 20:49

Yeah, and we get out, we launch the boat, and you go out and rip out an eight-pounder right off the bat, like no pressure. And you were pretty stoked about it, which it was all it was awesome fish. And well, we had a great day. Um, I I didn't catch an eight-pounder, I did catch a pretty nice one, so I was I was super excited. I've caught a lot, and um, I'm not I'm not in mid-season shape yet. My left hand is sore from casting so much yesterday.

KVD 21:13

Yeah, no, it's it was awesome. It it's I I love it. And I and I love to um to show people that you know haven't had a lot of experience or that are learning. It's like the the recent trip I did with Steve Harvey. I mean, Steve Harvey's you know been fishing his whole life, but he's we just really seriously got into bass fishing like three years ago. And so he's he's like your son, he's a sponge, just asking questions the whole time. And and I I love that.

Matt 21:42

You know, what a picture you sent me, by the way, with with all you guys in these huge bass that you caught with Luke and Bill Dance and Johnny and Steve. It was an unbelievable uh day.

KVD 21:53

I showed it to my wife and she's like, Is that Steve Harvey? Yeah. He is So funny. You get you know, and you know how Luke, too. Luke is really those two together, and then you put Bill Dance in the mix, who's Bill's a prankster, and Johnny Morris, too. He's he's a sneaky Johnny and Bill. Uh, and I I we can't even talk about the you know, I mean, we we couldn't film it or anything like that. They pranked Luke and Steve, and Steve is the he is prides himself. I mean, he's that's his background, is you know, he's a comedian. And um, well though those guys got got him, got all of us, really. And I didn't know what was happening, but they were in on it together, and uh yeah, they they told us this story, and it was it was horrible. Like I was mortified. And then when they dropped it, the punchline, and I I wish I could it's just it's not for broadcast for sure, but it was epic, and uh it's something that I know that all of us will remember, and that's what that's what fishing's all about, man. It's about bringing people together and and having a good time, and and that's why you know fishing and you know cooking are so important, you know.

Matt 23:08

I mean

Tasting Pursuit Spirits Sakura Bloom Bourbon

Matt 23:09

well, speaking of good time, I'm gonna I'm gonna bust something out here because I'm gonna wait till this podcast is over. I brought a special bottle for you to try. If you're gonna call my podcast, you're gonna have bourbon. And I mean, I don't know what time people are watching this.

KVD 23:20

The only times you and I have ever gotten together, we always end up having bourbon.

Matt 23:25

Well, I'm not just gonna tell people it's 9 30 in the morning when we're filming this and we're doing it. Okay, so you know our friends at Pursuit Spirits. Yeah. So obviously you know Ryan and Kenny. So I don't know, have you had this yet?

KVD 23:38

No.

Matt 23:39

Okay.

KVD 23:40

So I've seen uh I've seen it on his social.

Matt 23:44

So this is his Sakura Bloom bourbon. Uh, and so let me tell you what Ryan did with this. So Ryan, uh uh Ryan Cecil, if you guys um we hear me talk about all the time. So Bourbon Pursuit Podcast, Pursuit Spirits, uh, the number one podcast in bourbon. But Ryan's a master blender with a master palette, and he is you know in a lifelong pursuit to make the best bourbon. And so what he did was he's tested all these various woods, and he tested this Sakura Bloom wood, and people are raving about this.

KVD 24:12

Like I've seen that it's people it's like it's blowing up the bourbon world right now.

Matt 24:17

People are saying potential bourbon of the year. Yeah, that's that's impressive. You want to try it? Yeah, let's do it. That's what they're made for, right? So I got you got you a little gift here. You know, spin that open. This is a Glenn Caron holder. Take that with you. So on your travels, you can put that in your Yeti backpack and it you won't break your glass. Oh, look at here. Yeah.

KVD 24:39

How about that? How about that? Deep etched. Yeah, I don't I don't have any KVD bourbon glasses yet. You I'm learning. Bet you will see when we're going on a bourbon trip this summer. That how about that? That was when you texted me and said, hey, what uh what what do you think about this? I'm like, uh yeah. So I've been to Buffalo Trace a f a couple of times and it's incredible. I mean, I would tell anybody, thank you. I would tell anybody, if you if you're gonna go on the bourbon tour, that's you have to, you have to go there. It's all my everything, all my favorite bourbons come from there. So we'll see if this one hang on. Sure.

Matt 25:20

Yeah, it smells so good. It's my breakfast bourbon, and I'm okay with it. Oh gosh.

KVD 25:31

It's it's really oh my gosh, that is so good. It's got a lot a lot going on, too. I mean, it is what is that? Is it curl?

Matt 25:41

It does have like it is all these various woods, and uh yeah, I mean, last week I saw uh this guy Tyler, a big bourbon influencer, say that it's his current bourbon of the year, and that's saying something. So it's quite good. I mean, I like their double oak. I mean, I love everything that they put out. It their rye is a a staple of mine in in old fashions, but I saved this, so they sent it to me and I hadn't opened it, and I told Ryan you were coming, and so I'm actually gonna send this home with you.

KVD 26:12

Oh, wow. Ryan, uh well, I met him with you at Luke's charity event. He was sampling there, and um, yeah, he he sent me um some different stuff. I mean, I just it it's it's weird for me um when I'm sampling bourbon to like the the the flavor notes and things like that. He is like he just he'll break it down and tell you all the different things right out the right out of the way, and I'm like now I get it all. It's unbelievable. Yeah.

Matt 26:42

So Christian He's got the gift. It's insane. Ryan will sit down, and if you ever watch it, they do these with he and Kenny do these whiskey quickies, he'll nose it and he'll tell you what he's smelling, he'll taste it. And I always joke, he'll say, Oh, I'm getting, you know, toffee and oatmeal cream pie, and and then you go back and drink it, and you're like, Oh yeah, I do taste that.

KVD 27:03

I could it's gift. I know. I mean, that's I need to be around somebody like that just to learn. But I do know what I like, you know. I mean, for sure. I know I like this. It's really, really smooth. So my and I and I'm like my wife, she's like, I just I don't understand it, or and people that have never you know experienced bourbon. I always say the third sip is the you know, you the first one you're gonna get the burn. Oh, yeah. The second one, and you just wait a little bit, the second one it smooths out a little bit. The third sip tells the story. And the third sip, oh this was four, this is sip number four right here.

Matt 27:42

I felt really bad. Oh man, that it's good. I drove out to fish you yesterday and I had this bag full of bourbon packed up. I left at four in the morning and uh no, I got up four in the morning. I left at four thirty, left the bourbon at home, so I'm making up for it. Don't worry. Send you home with send you home with some good stuff.

KVD 27:57

Well, I so the coolest thing to me, one of the coolest things about Matt Pittman and Meat Church is that you have that relationship with Buffalo Trace, and you get to go to go there and pick a barrel.

Matt 28:11

So Kevin's gonna go with me on our annual barrel selections this year.

KVD 28:15

This is year four for you.

Matt 28:16

Year three. Zach Martin's gonna go back with us, who went with us last year. Dallas Cowboy, um, future hall of fame, retired year before. He we went and picked a foolproof and a Buffalo Trace last year.

KVD 28:29

This year we are picking Yeah, because you did 107 and a Buffalo Trace.

Matt 28:32

The first year I did a Buffalo Trace and a 107, which are two of my favorites. The one yeah, the 107 is they're crazy. They're both great. I said I was about to say the 107 special, but several people thought that the Buffalo Trace single barrel was even better. This past year we did uh another Buffalo Trace, which yielded almost 100 less bottles in the barrel. Wow, yeah, leaky barrel, but very good barrel. It was really beat up. Like the one that we visually went in and said we want to try that one, ended up being the one that we picked, which was neat. And then uh we did a Wheeler Foolproof, which are gonna have that today. But when you go this year, we're gonna do an Eagle Rare and a Blanton's. Yeah, that's to be able to uh to yeah so that Eagle Rare 12 year is Oh man, it's it's amazing. We're gonna we'd have to butter Harlan up for that. You're gonna have to put to pull some fishing strings to go 12.

KVD 29:24

Well, if he likes to fish, uh we'll we'll we'll hook him up for for next year to say, hey, like or you know, a Rock Hill Farms or something like that. No, everything they make is I've told you that my kryptonite bottle is the Weller single barrel. Like that is my it's so smooth, it's just uh uh to me that's the yeah the CYPB is great, the foolproof is great, but to me that is the one.

Matt 29:48

That's my we're gonna have fun for my palette. It's coming up in August. We'll put that on YouTube. This is up there. This is phenomenal. So obviously, we're gonna go to Pursuit as well. They opened this tasting room on Whiskey Row that is super cool. A bar downstairs called Trial and Error, which my wife's like yours doesn't love bourbon. She'd love trial and error because they've got cocktails of all different spirits, but anyway.

Cooking As Memory And Relationships

Matt 30:13

Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna talk a little, I'm gonna talk a little a little a little cooking. All right. So you said something that perked my interest. You said fishing was about the memories, and I know yesterday I mentioned that we call it meat church because it's a make about making great memories around good food. I'm a relationship guy. I teach when I mentor um, you know, kids or whether it be my son's seventh grade class or I mentored some culinary students at Hawaii Food and Line last year. Um, I mentored culinary students uh a month ago in Fort Worth. I always tell them that networking is the most important thing, but I quickly say networking can be a very grimy word also. But I said life is about relationships. So in my corporate life, at one point, a company I was working for was downsizing significantly and there were major layoffs, and I was a victim of a layoff early in my career, and it stung because I didn't leave on my own terms. But I went to this outplacement agency and I thought, all right, these guys can help me find a job. And this guy looked at me and he said, Your next job is gonna come from within your network. And I was like, oh, whatever. But I'll never forget it. So I tell all these kids that I mentor relationships are so important because your next relationship, like boyfriend, girlfriend, your next job opportunity will probably come from someone you know. I also often say, good people help good people. So anyway, relationship guy, but to me, cooking's about the memories. Like we're gonna remember, you know, drinking this together. So it's funny. I always say that bar barbecue and bourbon have all these parallels, and you know, fishing outdoors the same way. Like you're gonna remember the time at Deer Camp. You're gonna remember the time you spent in a in a boat together. So um, for me, you know, that's what that's what cooking's about for me. So I'm gonna just jump right into. I normally would say, do you like to cook? But I know you like to cook, which is one of the reasons we did this. So why don't you give us a little bit of the background? I mean, obviously, I know Jackson, your son went to culinary school, and as you said earlier, we've cooked together, but tell me what cooking means to you and why you got into it or why you like it.

KVD 32:04

Um yeah, I I think uh really my dad instilled like, especially for for grilling. And you know, and we at at our at their lake house, he's got the whole deck is loaded with, I mean, we've got uh infrared grill, you know, Weber a regular Weber gas grill, we've got a pellet grill, we've got a charcoal grill, we've got uh flat top, and we've got a Cajun fryer because you gotta have all those things. And so we just it's just something that we always do. We get together for Sunday dinner as a family at my parents' lake house, and we cook stuff. I mean, and and it's our family now with my brothers and sisters, all the nieces and nephews now are married and having their own kids. I mean, a Sunday dinner for us is 35 of us. Yeah, so you're not cooking just a couple things, and we do, you know, um, you know, ribs and chicken, or we'll do steak and shrimp, or I mean, we uh we we cook a lot of wild game too. I mean, uh salmon or whatever, you know. I mean, it it's it's just and I've learned from traveling around to a lot of restaurants and things like that. And then obviously, once I started to get a little bit more into the barbecue world, um, got to got to know you, I've you know, texted you plenty of times, like, hey, about this recipe. And um, you know, I had a uh got a relationship with Weber. They're they're one of the brands that um is owned by the same people that uh some of some of our fishing companies are. So I I kind of got to to know those people. So Dustin Green there, and that's how I got to meet Tuffy. You say about networking. I mean, so I can I can text Tuffy any day of the week and say, hey, well, this is what should I do on this brisket? Or what you know, or you and to me that's that's amazing because anybody that cooks out or wants to grill, there's there's horror stories. It's like mistakes overdone, or it's a dry, or burgers, or you burn it, or or whatever. It's so easy now with the technology that's out there, um, with with these grills and griddles and flat tops to be a superstar cook, like to cook the most amazing stuff. I mean, all you got to do is pull up any one of your YouTube videos on any recipe, and it's going to lead you through it to make it simple, you know. I mean, and that's that's what you what you want to do. But I was doing that, you know, I've been doing it for a long time. Yeah, and both my boys, Jackson and Nicholas, they love it too. So we we've done a lot of things together. I remember our first the first brisket that I ever did by myself, and what we did is we copied Franklin Barbecue's recipe from you know, I mean what famous down there, and did a 16-hour cook. Um and at the time it was on a Traeger. That's you know, I had a Traeger then, and it turned out unbelievable. It was uh we did it for our family. It was like a 16-pound brisket, and it was gone in 30 seconds.

Matt 35:14

Nailed it.

KVD 35:15

And it, you know, I just that's a lot of work, 16 hours and staying up at night and and and doing it. So I've just always loved it, and I like uh I like the being creative and I and I and I like to be able to change things up a little bit. Like I'll take your recipe, change it just a little bit, change an ingredient, and then call it my own.

Matt 35:37

So our weatherman here, Pete Delkus, good friend of mine, he takes my recipes and he goes on there and he says they're his recipes, and I copy them. It's our little bit. I want I want to bring something up you brought to me yesterday.

Pellet Grills Reverse Sear Mastery

Matt 35:48

So when I've when I really dove into barbecue, I kind of poked fun at pellet grills, and I'm all traditional and all that. And obviously, you know that I've come beyond full circle, eight crow, big partner with Traeger, but I know that you love a pellet grill. And you've mentioned you already have you have all these cookers in your arsenal, but tell me about your love of a pellet grill and why.

KVD 36:06

So and I've had a Traeger, I've got a Weber um now, and it's just so easy because you know you got a temp probe. You if you're cooking a brisket or a prime rib, for instance, smoking a prime rib, oh my God, it's it's so amazing. Um, and because first and foremost, you've got a jillion recipes that you can follow and you can see the size and know how to season it and and all that, but the temp control is just to perfection. So to me, the best way to cook like a big thick steak is reverse sear. Yeah. And now these pellet grills are set up where you can go low and slow and get them set it at 200 and you know, cook up uh anything, whether it's a pork shoulder or anything, and and just time it out, and then at the end, you you pull it off, let it rest, crank it up, and like I I do whole beef tenderloins, and that's the way that I do it. Is just reverse, you just put a sear on them on the end, and what do you sear it on at the end when you're doing a bowl tune? 500.

Matt 37:11

Okay.

KVD 37:12

I I I go so the the the the w the Weber sear will go to 600, but I I just like I just I do I'm always afraid of scorching it a little too much. Um but and you and I've got five grills, right? So I could easily sear it off on charcoal or gas or anything. You just crank that pellet grill to 500 and you're 500 and and you do, but the flavor and the the the hard part for me is my my whole group. So my wife, she doesn't like it over smoky. And that to me, what I really like about the pellet grill is you can set the temperature to cook anything you want where you can be more smoke or a little less smoke, you know.

Matt 37:55

It's a great point because my wife's the same way. You can really tell that in desserts. We just did peach cobbler uh for some folks here last week, and they're like, oh, it's smoky. And I said on a pellet grill, but not too smoky. That's a bit I think that's a big deal with smoke. With I'm not trying to like call out wives, but more times than none, I hear a lot of wives don't like as smoky, but I like I like a little smoke in everything from a cocktail to dessert.

KVD 38:17

Oh, 100%. A smoked old fashioned is you know phenomenal, but it it me, I my favorite um smoke is mesquite. Like yeah, we're gonna have to make it. So some of my some of my best memories are are hunting. I was with John at their at the at the Burke Ranch in South Texas and cooking steaks, Kubi steaks, which we had. I'm gonna bring that up in a second. Yeah. Um down there and cooking it over straight mesquite. I mean, I've never had tasted anything like that before. And it's and it's it's it's part of who you're with and what what you're doing at, you know, the memories you make at deer camp or you're on a fishing trip and then eating great food like that. I mean, those are and and I I took my boys down there and did the same thing, and that's you know, they make this pot of Burke Ranch beans, just beans slow cooked with chunk uh whatever leftover meat and the Kubi sausage and all that, and they're like the best lunch ever. But it's it's where you're at and who you're with, right? That's a big part of it.

Matt 39:19

I mean, we had to talk about that last night. Um actually, um, before I talk about that, I want to call out one thing. Interesting. I asked why you like pellet grill, and what you said was the temperature control. I'm more times an ungo to the fact that we're just all busy and you can go do something else while your food's cooking. You can but you're right that you know you it's change the temp by your phone. Right. And it's just gonna control itself. Now, pellet grills eight, nine years ago weren't, you know, they refluctuate a lot, but now they're they're pretty dead on.

KVD 39:47

Mine mine stays locked if I if I set it at 250 or whatever. And the other thing that I really like is that you have all these different flavors of pellets. So like if you're doing salmon, and not that somebody's gonna empty their pellet hopper or whatever, but you know, I like I like to do salmon with apple wood or um you know, you can even a lot of people do birch or whatever, but you you have pecan, you I mean you you have oak, you can you you have all these different and and the blends are great too. And not that there's a ton of difference, but I like that I can get mesquite pellets. You know, I mean I I just I love the flavor. A steak over mesquite is there's tough to beat. You there's not one like it. Every time that I eat a steak with the mesquite pellets, it reminds me of the Burke Ranch.

Matt 40:33

Yeah. Those those memories that I've got.

Kuby’s Sausage Steak Night Stories

Matt 40:36

Well, okay, so let's just talk about this dinner last night. To your point. So, yes, I get to go to my friends and say I fished with KVD yesterday, but I also have already gone and bragged two friends this morning that I got to have lunch and dinner with Carl Kubi. And so, you know, for people that don't know Kubi's, Kubi's is a restaurant and I will say meat processor in Dallas, Texas, and Snyder Plaza, across from SMU. We learned yesterday in two years we'll celebrate their 300th anniversary, which is insane. But Kubi's, they make the most amazing sausage, uh, really cool restaurant. I've actually had deer process there. It's it's been a while because I hunt so far away that the weather's got to be right for me to get the deer. But the only reason I would ever do it, and I the last time I did it was in the dead of winter because their sausage is so good. But but um Kubi came and he made us, you know, it was a it was a simple lunch. It was sandwiches, but then he had his put his uh his uh chicken salad, which he said he sells like 1,500 pounds of a week, which my wife's already like, okay, go get me a quart. And then last night he uh he grilled some steaks over charcoal for us uh with some of their he had, let's see, cream spinach and twice-baked potatoes from Kubies. He brought some of his sausage.

KVD 41:51

The sausage is un Kooby's sausage is if and you can you can ship here, they ship anywhere. That their sausage is it's exponentially the best I've ever had.

Matt 42:03

It was crazy. And then he blew us away and said he has like 150 sausage recipes. They sell about 30, yeah, 15 gold, some frozen.

KVD 42:11

But didn't he say um I don't I don't know if it's 14th or 15 generations butcher. I think they're German. Yeah.

Matt 42:21

But uh his his dad came over from Germany. Came over to Corpus Christi and um he wasn't gonna work in his business. He went to SMU and said he was laying around one morning. His dad shook him at 4 30 morning and said, Come on, kid, you're going to work. And he said, I don't have a job. Next thing you know, he was processing deer. But such a humble dude, great guy. It was a treat for me to get to know him, exchange phone numbers. Like I'm fired up.

KVD 42:44

Well, I so I've been eating his steaks, and because him and John are close friends, and and uh, you know, down there at the ranch, they have a freezer full, you know. I mean, you go down there to uh just on the weekends or whatever, I go would go once a year, but you know, we we'd grill uh steaks or saw we're meat fest, right? I mean, we're straight carnivore when you when you're at the ranch. Yeah, I mean we we might grill uh you know uh back strap from a deer here and there, but we're we're eating ribu we're eating great food and stuff. And they those guys got dialed into like hey Koobies because they're they're all from Dallas. Yeah. They got dialed into Koobies early on, and uh it it is it's pretty special.

Matt 43:27

They have a big following. A lot of people I know love those guys, so uh I'm very, very excited, as you can tell about that. But yeah, the boss said, Well, look, why don't you go over and get me some of that chicken salad? So I'll have to be dialing that up pretty soon.

Guests Content Strategy And Networking

Matt 43:40

So all right, tell me what what do you uh what do you got coming up next?

KVD 43:44

No, so um I am with with what we're doing with the with the show and all that, it's it's very interesting to try to make a good blend of content, right? So just like what You're trying to do you. I mean, you you got your still dedicated educational cooking videos, but you also you're out doing events, you're doing barbecue festivals, you're doing cool things with the I mean, how cool is it to say you're the official pitmaster of the Dallas Cowboys? There's nobody, nobody that you know that can say they're they've got an NFL, you know, relationship. I appreciate that. You said I'm a Lions guy, you know, which I respect.

Matt 44:26

You got you got our Dan Campbell. Love that guy. And I love a lot of your players because I'm a Bama boy at heart. But you said that to me earlier in the year, and it meant a lot that you said it. Um, you know, it's been an honor of a lifetime working with the Cowboys, lifelong fan. Yeah. And you know, it's funny when you go on social about it, you get to hear the know it alls talk about the record, whatnot. It doesn't matter. It's it's the most first class organization, like within the organization and how they treat me and the opportunities they've provided in my family. The fact that we have a product with a Dallas Cowboys star on it, like it's in it means a lot.

KVD 44:57

So it's a huge, it's a huge deal. I I'm the you know, the Lions and the Cowboys, other than we have never won a Super Bowl. Well, not since whatever, the 50s or not, not in the modern era. Um, it's been a rough go of it. But so yeah, we we have similar postseason memories. And but right now the Lions are, you know, it's real positive. Oh, yeah. You know, my my producer Brandon, um, he's a season take it older. I go to several games a year. I I love it. I'm a I've I I love doing that. But so to me, that's the fun thing about what I get to do is I'm gonna do you know shows where I'm just out fishing by myself and it's very education driven. You try to teach people a new technique or a new system or how to be more successful on the water. And we try to do that in every show, even even if I'm yeah, you know, uh with a guest, but I also like to um show people unique guests and show their passion for the outdoors so that they're fishing. Yeah, it's it's fun, right? So I've got I've got some good ones lined up. I've like I say I filmed with Steve Harvey this year, uh, with Bill Dance and Johnny Morris and and Luke. Um uh Dustin Lynch is on my schedule. Dustin's a Dustin's an unbelievable country artist as well, and uh passionate outdoors guy. Loves to hunt, loves to fish. So I've I've got him coming up. Um, I think he's gonna come up to me. He his thing is he wants to catch smallmouth. So he wants to come to Michigan, which is something that I would blow your mind away, too. It's like it looks like Key West. Michigan is, you know, we we were blessed with some gorgeous water. But so yeah, so I'm gonna have a good blend of guests. And um we we do a lot of networking, same kind of thing, uh, you know, that's why we're we're doing this. I mean, obviously um it's it's fun, but you you you meet people and and it's great relationships, it's just like you talked about with the Yeti people. I mean, it's probably why one of the reasons we've known a lot of the cool people we know in the outdoors is because of Yeti. Totally. Carter Andrews has become a great friend of mine, yeah. You know, and and really a mentor in a lot of ways because he's been doing salt water, uh, but he's been doing television for a really long time. And when we made the transition to to start the Van Dam experience, I asked him a ton of questions. And he, I mean, we're not competing against each other. We maybe we are it with certain sponsors, but I mean he he told me everything, and it's it's no different. I mean, I love to bounce ideas off you business wise, and we're all we're all better for it, you know, to be able to do that. So and we both love bourbon.

Matt 47:38

I'm looking

Gratitude And Final Plans

Matt 47:39

real forward to this August trip. I do need to tell you before we wrap up here that I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I don't know if you have any idea how much it meant to me that you introduced me to Bill Dance. But the year before I met you at Red Bird Games, um, I I said this yesterday, you know, there were celebrities kind of rolling into Luke's thing, and my wife was with me, and so she's like, Oh, that's so-and-so, that's so-and-so artist. And then I don't I don't ever get nervous and I don't ever fanboy, but when Bill Dance walked in, I'm like, Oh my god, that's Bill Dance. And she was like, Well, who's Bill Dance? I'm like, So being from East Tennessee, and I've told you my papa wore a Tennessee hat, I'm sure, because of well, he's a Tennessee fan, but he wore the flat bill um or flat top. It anyway, and so the next year you introduced me to him, and such a you know, awesome guy, and like somebody I don't know, was like constantly on my papa's TV.

KVD 48:28

So that Bill is really special. He's been so good. Um, I've known him for a long, long time, and um he has just always been genuine. He loves my boys more than he probably likes me. But he, I mean, that's the first thing when I see him, he he and that's why he's Bill Dance. I mean, he asked me about my wife and my boys before he asked me anything about me. That's awesome. You know, but no, that's uh you know, in the fishing industry, I've gotten to to beat a lot of cool people, and you know, the guys that I grew up, like Bill Dance and Hank Parker and Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin, Johnny Morris, uh Rick Cloton, I mean it's on and on and on. Um, and when you sometimes when you meet people um that you you know think are your heroes, you you can be disappointed. Because I've I've met other people in other worlds um that have let me down. Yeah. But in in the fishing world, there's some really, really, really good people and and I've been been lucky and blessed uh in with what I've gotten to do, uh to meet people like yourself and and a lot of other really awesome Luke Bryan, I mean Steve Harvey, I mean it's uh both bushes, both president to be able to fish with those guys. I mean uh you have the Secret Service after you because you yeah, I I've got Secret Service stories for sure, but but no, it's it's been amazing the opportunities, and it just seems like uh in this new world that I'm in, uh the the opportunities just just keep coming, you know. I mean when when you're blessed, um blessings just seem to like go tenfold at times.

Matt 50:14

Well, you're a good guy, and you uh I mean what you did for me, like like you didn't have to watch me backlash your baitcaster all day long, but you did, and I appreciate you helping me with that.

KVD 50:24

Yeah, no. Good things happen to good people, you know, and and uh the harder I work, the luckier I get. You know, there's no shortage for that. And and you work your tail off, and that's something I mean you know that and see that, and nobody's successful. It just things don't just happen. You didn't just catch a lottery ticket. No, you you earn it, and I mean the what you've built with with Meat Church, it's it's pretty dang special. And it's it's not by accident. It happened because you you worked your butt off. You worked your ass off.

Matt 50:59

I think I'd like to have you on every week if you can.

KVD 51:01

Well, it's just it's just true.

Matt 51:03

It's it's you know it's an honor for me that you come down here, not only let me fish with you, but we're gonna go over and cook today. We're gonna we're gonna make a new variant of some Smash Burgers that I'm pretty excited about. Because I mean a smash burger is this may sound basic, but it's the most it's the best hamburger of all time. A smash burger is.

KVD 51:19

It's the only way to do it, you know. 100%. Get that crust on the burger. It's gonna be fun. Yeah, no, I'm it's gonna be tasty. I'm looking forward to the rest of the day, man. I've uh I love, I love, I'm always learning. My wife, I talked to her on the phone on the way down here, and she said, just make sure you take it all in. You know, that's cool. Be aware, learn, you know, enjoy it. He said, Don't you know? I've got a we've got another shoot tomorrow. Yeah, we're gonna I'm filming on the water tomorrow, but she says, Don't be in a rush, just enjoy your time. Uh, you know, that's awesome. Look and learn, see everything that you can see. Because, you know, we're in a parallel world, really. And you you cook, I fish, but we're we're we have the same business.

Matt 52:01

Yeah. It's the same things. Totally. I I'll admit I didn't, you know, realize that when we first started hanging out, but it's you know, as I spent time together and watched your show more. I'm like, it's it's it's the same, just a different vertical, you know, basically. So well, thank you so much. Uh

Outro

Matt 52:18

we got to get over to go cooking. Let's I'm I'm ready for a smash burger. Thanks, Kevin. Appreciate you guys listening and watching the podcast. If you're watching this on YouTube, be sure to like and subscribe and turn on your alerts. If you're listening to this, be sure to follow the podcast and mark the downloads for automatic so that you can listen to these podcasts no matter where you're at while you're on the go.