RickAllen
Knows what a fatty is.
I'd appreciate you more if you told us how you really felt.
Here are two different examples of what I have seen on documentaries or heard in personal conversations with BBQ people.
1. "I learned from my father / mother who learned from granpa / grandma and we have done it that way ever since. People seem to like it."
2. "I learned how to cook as a classically trained chef in a highly regarded french restaurant. Then, I ran a successful catering business. Then, I went into competition BBQ and won many awards. Now I am taking all that knowledge and experience into building my own restaurant."
What's the difference here? One person gives a damn to learn new things, try new ways, and succeed in new endeavors. The other one probably hasn't learned a thing and might even be stubbornly proud that they haven't and even defensive against anyone who questions what they do and why.
Who do you think I would like to learn from? Which restaurant do you think I would like to eat at? Yeah, number 2 any day of the week and twice on Sunday. What gets me the most is that I am supposed to respect the person who has only done the same thing their whole life that one person taught them as if they are some model of success. No, they are the product of other peoples experimentation and success. Congrats to them for continuing to do what someone else learned to do well I guess? but place number 1 is never going to get better and place number 2 is always going to improve. I'll take place number 2 thank you.
What it proves is that anyone can start in BBQ and do better than most other people if they try. The guy or gal who is sitting there saying, "This is what we have always done" is doing it wrong. Instead, they should be asking themselves, "how can we do it better". The folks who come into this fresh with zero experience and pour into it seem to do far better than the places that always just did what grandma said to do. It's not a fluke or an accident. It's the difference between someone trying to do their best and someone just trying to do the one thing they know how to do, the one way they know how to do it.
Last edited: