BBQ Podcasts - when your daughter wants to just listen to her headphones on a 6 hour drive to a Competition.

 
To all the Masters of the Grill, Chiefs of the Charcoal, King of the Pit, Boss of the BBQ - also known as the dude in the apron.

Podcasts have been around for years.  I used to think I was technologically advanced.  But not in the world of Podcasts.  I knew what they were, but never really bought in or followed any - Until this past off-season for BBQ.  One that initially jumped out was Pitmaster, an Old Virginia Smoke Podcast.  

https://pitmasterpod.podbean.com/

Old Virginia Smoke is a BBQ team from Virginia.  We had the pleasure of waiting in line at the Capital Barbeque Battle to load in on Friday night.  Washington, DC traffic is always a disaster, but close down Pennsylvania Ave during rush hour, you are bound to have problems.  That translated into sharing a few beers with Luke Darnell, Pitmaster of OVS.  

Once I saw the Podcast - I quickly started to follow it.  Driving long distances in Montana - having a Podcast that stretches those miles with you was great.  I pretty much knocked out all 70+ episodes in the week leading up to and the drive to the Montana BBQ cookoff a couple weeks ago.    What I enjoy is the Luke Darnell shares stories that are similar to what I experienced in the load in - friendly chatting, sipping on beers and really getting to know you.  He also has a great group of guests that he has on the podcast that have interesting stories as well.  I think one of my favorites was the podcast with Burnt Bean Company's Ernest Servantes whose complete honestly was fun and realistic.  From asking in regards to PitMasters season 1 - "why is Tuffy's beef injection so thick?" to his least favorite thing about social media today is the brisket squeeze, "everyone knows there is a strip of fat between the flat and point," Ernest had me laughing most of the show.

OVS podcast got me thinking - what other podcasts are out there - so this week I did some research on what I could listen to during my 6 hour drive to Miles City Cowtown Cookoff.  One that instantly popped was the ESPN of BBQ Podcasts - The BBQ Central Show.  Clearly a well written and designed show.  My first episode I listened to was with Malcom Reed (HowtoBBQright.com) talking about Brisket and Kosmo of Kosmo's Q Line.  I, then, had to go looking for the other parts of the 4 meat series with Malcom Reed.  

https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/u27qs-3e8ae/The-BBQ-Central-Show-Podcast

After a little research into Malcom Reed (other than his youtube channel) I found Malcom Reed's BBQ Podcast - "Malcom Reed's HowToBBQRight Podcast."  The episode I listened to discussed Competition BBQ.  While I have been doing competitions for eight years, I thought his advice to first time competitors spot on.  Both of these podcast were great.  "Doing a mock contest at home," was great advice.  I remember the first time I tried this - I quickly realized - cooking by myself was going to be tough.  Another advice was game planning for more than one smoker.  I had hoped I could just use one, but last comp I realized I needed my 2nd one.  Today, I am installing my 2nd BBQ Guru DigiQ.  Great information for those first timers.

https://howtobbqright.com/

A few others I checked out during my exploration were Live Fire Cooking Podcast, BBQ Nation, Kevin's BBQ Joints, but one of my new favorites is Tales from the Pits.  Pit Life BBQ was hilarious - New England BBQ, but overall they are super knowledgeable.  In reality - there are so many podcasts - I will need to do my research further to find more.

So we are on the road and this trip - I have plenty to listen to along the way.  Wish us luck.  We will keep you updated over the weekend via BigBoyzBBQ on Twitter and BigBoyzBBQMontana on Instagram.