Okie Smokin
BBQ Blunders and Blackstone Tales? The Okie Smokin' Podcast serves up laughter, lip-smacking recipes, and outdoor adventures - all sizzling hot. Join John and Dolores from their backyard studio in Oklahoma as they explore the wild side of grilling, from smoky surprises to lakeside feasts. You'll be hooked in no time!
Okie Smokin
Cooking Up a Storm: The Journey of Just Cook the Damn Food
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In this episode, John hosts Rich and George from the YouTube channel Just Cook the Damn Food. They discuss their journey in creating cooking content, the evolution of their channel, and the challenges of filming and editing. The conversation also touches on their podcasting experience, upcoming recipes, and the importance of community engagement in their cooking adventures. In this engaging conversation, the participants share their culinary experiences, from humorous cooking disasters to successful collaborations. They discuss the importance of family in cooking, the challenges of creating content for YouTube, and the vibrant community that surrounds cooking and food. The conversation also touches on safety in the kitchen, the growth of cooking skills, and the creative inspirations behind their recipes. Ultimately, they emphasize the joy of cooking and the connections it fosters among friends and family.
Visit their channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@justcookthedamnfood
I got to get that turned around. All right. Well, welcome back to the Okie Smoking Podcast. This is episode number 56, where we uh are going to talk some barbecue, some backyard cooking and all that good stuff that happens around the fire. And today we've got some really awesome guys on here. Got George and Rich from the YouTube channel Just Cook the Damn Food. Their channel is about bringing food, uh, you know, backyard cooking, kind of like we do here, hanging out with friends, cooking incredible food, a few drinks, uh 450 videos, 1,500 subscribers. So uh we're gonna get to know them here in a little bit. So uh welcome in. Uh so go ahead. Let's uh tell me the story. Uh how did you guys decide to start uh just cooked the damn food?
SPEAKER_05I'll I'll start it, George. Since I'm the one who started the channel, I'll start it. Uh me and my buddy Bruce, um I was at a uh uh cook-off and I was driving home and I don't know, it just dawned on me. It's like, so I called Bruce and said, Bruce, because Bruce at the time, Bruce was the only one I wanted to do the canvas. Other people could drag things on, and so I wanted to go a little faster. So I just called him and said, You want to do a cooking chat on a cooking chat on YouTube? He's like, Yeah, I'm coming over, let's do it. So uh that started it. And then we brought George in at um probably four months in or something.
SPEAKER_04I was in three months, three, four months in, and they needed a camera guy. And that's that's how that's how I got started with the channel. Um, and that kind of morphed in because uh I mean Rich will probably explain it, but um it that morphed into eventually after a few months, they decided to do some beer pairings with the food we made. And so that's when they brought me in front of the camera. So then like I was actually part of the group, and it's like, let's bring George in. The three of us would, you know, try a beer with the food we ate as part of the the editing of the videos that we did. And uh so that that's kind of how my face got on the k on it besides being behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_05So Yeah, ruin our channel from day one.
SPEAKER_06George is kind of the beer guy then.
SPEAKER_05Well, not no, not really. It was me and Bruce was a beer guy, uh, but we just you know, we just figure he's gonna be there, he's gonna try it also. Let's get his opinion on it, you know, at the time. Um we found that adding the beer made the videos too long. So we took we went away away from that. So so it's just food now. Um But yeah, George is a teacher, so he knows how to explain things better than a drunk or two drunks back in the time when it was me and Bruce. So I was like, Yeah, bring George, and that's why he started doing the uh the reviews at the end of the video. So you know, when we cook something, George doesn't want to t tastes it and he goes 'cause I just say it tastes good. Yeah, I I like that it it tastes good. Um I guess we've been doing it about five years. So it's uh you know, it's just fun. You know, we sit around and party on the patio.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I see. It looks like it's the channel was created in 2020. Uh yeah, it's been quite a time. Just cook the damn food. What where'd that name come from?
SPEAKER_05Uh we were trying to come up with a name for a while, and uh I would just hang out with Bruce one day watching football, and I'm like, how about this name? And he's like, Yeah, let's do it. So it just just popped in my head.
SPEAKER_06So what do y'all cook the most? What do you cook the most?
SPEAKER_05Oh god, we we actually have a variety of things. We we cook everything. Yeah, we what I I wish we would do more of, but uh we do try to do three videos in a day, um, and and have each one of us do a video. So it's hard to do a barbecue video like uh smoking a brisket or something like that when you do that way. So we do more quicker cooks, you know. Um so you know, a lot of burgers, a lot of you know, that kind of stuff, but now pasta. We do we do we do everything.
SPEAKER_06You know, fish. Yeah, I was doing a little uh nosediving into some of your videos. I saw one of them that caught my eye. You did a couple of deep fried ones, uh, deep fried burger, and you did deep fried ribs. Yeah. Sounds good. That don't that sound I mean, that's something I want to try right there. Deep fried ribs.
SPEAKER_05That was really good.
SPEAKER_03Were you there for that one, George? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Can you hear me? I can hear you, yeah. You can. Oh, okay. You and your you and your pixel.
SPEAKER_05Can you hear me now? Get a real phone.
SPEAKER_02You're all good.
SPEAKER_05Um, yeah, and now I've you know, we started doing those um uh collaborations a while ago. You know, and um you John, you were involved in some of the collaborations with with my channel and a bunch of other guys early on.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, we did a uh which one? Uh we did several of them, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um and then yeah, I've just been too busy at work to do them, so then we kind of get away from that. But I want to do that again. I want to get the collaborations going again. Those are always fun.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, sign me up because I'm ready for some of those. I think it was uh was it your collaboration? Was the uh the Guinness?
SPEAKER_05Well, no, I didn't do the Guinness one, but I wish I did now that you said that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Anything coming up soon that you're thinking about?
SPEAKER_05Nah, I'm trying to just get back into it, so probably do a slow one. Um, I know um Doug pointed out that there's an actual feature on YouTube now that promotes the collaborations, but he says it's only up to five people. And when I get into it, I want to try to get 30 people involved, you know, just get a bunch of people going. Um but I don't know. Hey, you got an idea? Suggested. We can we can get it started.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I have to. What what what I think uh what do you got? Any ideas, Lores, for some collaborations?
SPEAKER_07There's something with like uh a soda.
SPEAKER_06Soda.
SPEAKER_03So y'all think of that?
SPEAKER_04We can do it. Let's do it. Yeah, I could picture some Dr. Pepper barbecue type stuff going on with that.
SPEAKER_07Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I did some kind of a uh a Dr. Pepper infused uh, what was that? Uh pork, pork, uh I think I did a pork pork shoulder and and took some Dr. Pepper and and put it all in it. And it was one of those where I was uh filming it and the whole film messed up, and I I don't I don't believe I ever got it out. You ever had that happen where you're trying to get something together and it's all completely gone? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05It's like I have so many, like one I have videos where I lost sound. It's like uh okay.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and I'll have like uh sometimes we have a little external mic and I don't have it on and you can't hear nothing. Yeah, happens more than enough more than you'd want for sure.
SPEAKER_05I I went away from them because of that. I just I just go with the cameras that we got good rolling, and that's it. The main camera, yeah, but that's it. And that's right. Every now and then when you see us go to smoke and you can't hear us.
SPEAKER_07I filmed him where I didn't push record before.
SPEAKER_06Well, we should be filming the whole thing and then hit it, and then it started recording. Oops.
SPEAKER_04We do that when that happens, that's usually my fault on that on our channel. Rich can tell you.
SPEAKER_05We we go with three or four cameras at times, and so there's uh less lots of times there's one one of those cameras that's not started correctly.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, talking about that. Uh, how how is your setup? Because I noticed you got multiple shots. Like, do you have how many cameras do you typically have when you shoot? Because you'll have like one above.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we start with three. We got one above the uh like when we use the Blackstone, or I got the Vivor 2. Um, so we have one that's above for that kind of stuff, or even if we're frying. Um, and then we have the main camera, which is actually my tablet, my galaxy tablet. And then I have another camera over to the left, which is we call the nostril cam. So it's just there. So just to show that we're, you know, we got still have faces while we're cooking. And um, and then sometimes we bring the George cam in, which is we use his phone, and he puts a camera in a harness that's sitting there. So when he bends over doing it uh or trying to taste the food and stuff, he's got his close-up of what's going on there. And then I got my cell phone and it's got a really good camera, and I just come in for the close-ups. So really at times we go up to five cameras, but which makes editing very difficult.
SPEAKER_06I was going to say editing that can be a nightmare. Uh I hope you have something to where it syncs it all together.
SPEAKER_05It does. It does. I lose I use that, what is it, the uh 360? What the hell is this program called? Uh we're open and find out. I'm sitting in front of my computer. Power director. Yeah. I use Power Director 365. And you're the main editor on that. Yeah, I'm the only one that has edits videos. I'm the only one stupid enough to make that decision.
SPEAKER_04I shoot it and he edits it, you know, pretty much. And then you taste it. You eat.
SPEAKER_03That's how that's how I am.
SPEAKER_05But yeah, hey, you know, it's it's hard to do editing when you got a full-time job. It's like, uh, and you get home and you're tired, and it's like, uh, can I get 15 minutes of editing? Just slowly edit for this this week.
SPEAKER_06Right. And and I heard uh Doug was talking on one of the I think a live show that I was watching the other day, and he said he has like 20 or 25 videos recorded, like that he has not yet edited. Can you ma I can't imagine that like that?
SPEAKER_05I thought he I think he said he already edited them all. They're just ready to go.
SPEAKER_06Well, they're already edited.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and it's like, how?
SPEAKER_06He works full-time. Edited or not, I'm like I barely keep two or I I try to keep a few sometimes, but uh I I keep about ten.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07Is he is he the one that worked for the restaurant?
SPEAKER_06Yes, yeah, he's the one that worked for the restaurant. And and he said he had oh, that's pretty good. He he worked uh I he didn't I don't know what restaurant it was, but he worked for a restaurant, had a lot of celebrities. I think that's Wayne Gretzy. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was uh one of the restaurants in Kansas City that he worked at. Yeah, they it was I guess a high-end one that had a lot of the celebrities come in.
SPEAKER_02Good for him. Yeah. If you ever had a celebrity, who would you want to cook for? Anybody? Let's say Sydney Sweeney.
SPEAKER_05Um I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Maybe some let's cook for Gordon Ramsey. How about that? Oh, wow, now that's good.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, let's cook for Uncle Roger. Let's go for Uncle Roger. Um, I don't know, I'd say maybe like an old time celebrity, someone like a like Clinton Eastwood, because you know he's really old now, or uh you know, someone someone in that elk where I have a lot of respect for their talent, unlike a lot of the younger actors these days. Um you know, I don't care about. So maybe an old school guy. Right on, right on. Except I have a lot of I have a lot of respect for Sydney Sweeney. So how long have you guys been doing the channel?
SPEAKER_06It's probably been about the same length of time. And originally, um, if you go way back uh what was it? We were an indoor cooking channel. Okay. And uh we started with uh I said, oh, let's do some cast iron skillets. And so I did like five or six videos of you know cooking on the cast iron, and it's not the best with our setup. We don't have gas and we have an electric flat top. So one of my uh most popular videos actually goes with cast iron, and it's can you cook on a glass stove with cast iron? Still gets fused. And we did that, and then I said, Ah uh found a cell on a black stone, got it, and uh switched everything kind of outdoors, but there was a long gap. I think I did six, eight videos, and then didn't do nothing for maybe a year.
SPEAKER_07He has a pool channel, that's why. Like he does uh his his pool channel. So he was like doing that before.
SPEAKER_05Is that what you do for a living? You're uh you work for clean uh pool guy doing pool stuff?
SPEAKER_07No.
SPEAKER_05Or you're talking about the game pool.
SPEAKER_06No, that's that's actually the first uh YouTube channel I did, which I just go out there and always would just film film myself maintening the pool, and it's actually doing pretty well. And but no, my real job, I don't know if I mentioned I mentioned it, but it is uh pretty much hauling trash. It's nothing about food or pool. So yeah, 25 years.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_06So I drive drive a truck all day, uh, and then come here and and just do videos on the side, like you said, is a lot of long hours. And uh I try to I've been trying to put out like three videos a week. Kind of overwhelming, and then I've kind of cut it down to two, and then the podcast is something that uh that I really, really like to do because this thing will go out there on the audio format and everything, and it's pretty cool stuff. And and is it also in a video format too? Is that just on YouTube? Yeah, it's on uh the video format will be on YouTube, and this software that you had to download, it's gonna it's got an AI and it's gonna sit there and try to figure out how to edit it and make some magic happen out of this whole thing. And then that'll be uploaded to YouTube. The audio will be extracted, that'll be put on it's every platform. Spotify, it's I saw that, yeah. This and uh cast, and it'll it'll be on pretty much everything.
SPEAKER_05Okay, yeah, I need I need to start listening to it. I mean, Doug's been telling me for a while that you'd been doing this and he said it's really entertaining. And so I need I need to I need to get you on my phone and just start watching or listening while I'm driving to work and stuff.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I'm trying something new because uh she comes on uh because uh kind of helps with the flow then when you're just by yourself. Um trying to bring it out on Monday, and then I'm I do like a couple. I'm starting to do a couple where it's just me five, ten minutes, come on there and do a topic, just kind of sit there and yak to nobody. And uh pretty cool. Uh but yeah, what are y'all going on? So you're talking about doing some changes.
SPEAKER_05Yes. Uh well, it's mainly to the studio. We're we're adding a roof, you know, because when it rains, uh what happens, George, when it rains?
SPEAKER_04Uh yeah, when it rains, uh his cutting board and he leaves out for in in the hot sun warps and you know, all that fun stuff. Yeah. The tabletop is we have to wait until it, you know, clear it all off and debris all over the place, pine needles and cleaning it up before we even get started is his chore.
SPEAKER_07Where do you guys live? Uh Houston, Texas. Houston, Texas.
SPEAKER_05Just south of us here. We're part of the the the group that's not letting John come, you know, into Texas after uh uh what what'd you make? Do you said you can't come to Texas? Oh, you brisket.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I don't know if you've uh I'll have to pull up some of them comments. It is insane. Yeah, you're reading some of them off. Uh one guy he said uh if you come to Texas when you get to mile marker one, you just do a U-turn turnaround. And then uh had you know several of them just it's just it it's it's it's brutal. It's brutal. It is.
SPEAKER_05You know, uh us Texans you know, we we have a lot of respect for our brisket.
SPEAKER_06I was even called the Lincoln Riley brisket.
unknownOh god.
SPEAKER_05Uh yeah. I I'm I'm from New York originally, but I came down here and I I learned how to make a brisket. I can do brisket. But it it took a while. It took a lot of attempts. But it's a brisket's like 130 bucks now. It's like who's cooking brisket anymore? Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_06It is definitely up there.
SPEAKER_05How much did your brisket cost?
SPEAKER_06Uh no, mine was only uh it was four dollars a pound, so it was like sixty something dollars, sixty-eight dollars uh for the one I had.
SPEAKER_05Okay, I guess I guess our brisket's a bigger over our H E B. Because they're all like over a hundred dollars. Texas sized. The Texas size, yeah.
SPEAKER_06I don't even know where I got that thing. What was it's I don't even remember where I got it now. Walmart, maybe. Sands Club, something like that, probably. We don't have an H. What is it called?
SPEAKER_05I hear all the time, H E B or It's H E B and it's probably one of the greatest grocery stores ever.
SPEAKER_06What's so special about it?
SPEAKER_05Well, I mean, they have everything you're looking for for the most part, and it's laid out in a pretty, you know, easy way to find it. But even besides that, they have like when we had the floods here in in Texas uh what last year or earlier this year, I should say, um, they have their own emergency teams to come out to feed the rescue people and all the survivors, and they just come out with these giant trucks with briskets and all kinds of food, and they just set up, they bring portable bathrooms to help and you know, from no charge at all. This is just what they do when there's an emergency in in Texas. And I know they've gone to help people in uh in uh um actually what's what's that state next to us, George? You know the ones that make the Cajun food? Uh Louisiana? Louisiana, thank you. I might brain fart there for a second. Uh they're going to Louisiana to help people too. They're just uh, I mean, they're just the the company is set up to just make themselves part of Texas, uh part of your community. And it it's so I guess it decent.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, um one cool thing about HEV is that they're they find local people and they'll bring their products in, right? So it's very much also a local community type thing as well. Right. Um, and you get really good fresh uh meat. The meat department's amazing, and so is the produce department as well. So I mean they they just they're popular for a reason, you know, uh in our area. Yeah, I hear a lot of them.
SPEAKER_05That's a is that a Texas only I I heard that they came out, I want to say, I thought they went into Oklahoma with like one or two stores, but I could be wrong with that. I know they expanded a little bit, but it's mainly Texas.
SPEAKER_07Maybe we could go visit it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well, maybe maybe I'm thinking about Buckeys when I'm I'm talking about expanded out of Texas.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, we we have a Buckeys.
SPEAKER_05Buckies is another one we love.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And and uh they uh HB also has like a higher uh high-scale uh uh store they call uh Central Market. Um and then they have a really cheaper store that that's uh Joe V's. So they have a couple different you know dollar value, I guess, when you go visit them to uh you know for your budget. Central Market's pretty good kitchen in there.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it sounds pretty cool. I'd like to get over there and check it out one day. Yeah, I just hear a lot about it. You'll be seeing stuff, and that's where they always show show they're getting their stuff.
SPEAKER_05Um talking about the cover Texas, I'll take you to H E B.
SPEAKER_06H. E. B. Here we go.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'll take you. You come down, we'll get some beer, and we'll go to H E B.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, we'll be driving through Houston uh in a couple of weeks. We actually got to go to Galveston. We're gonna be taking a taking a cruise ship, so we got to 10 hour drive. We'll be driving through your town.
SPEAKER_05Okay, are you going with um Ryan? Because we're gonna go to the room. No, just me and Dolores. Okay. Well, Ryan's doing the same thing in a couple weeks, too. So Really? Yeah, so you might be you might be on a boat with a flat top noob. You don't even know it.
SPEAKER_06Wouldn't that be cool? Yeah, we'll be going on a carnival cruise, so that'll be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_05I guess you walk into the I walk into the restaurant, you're here.
SPEAKER_06Welcome, welcome, welcome. You know, he did some, I think I think he did a cruise one other time and did some footage on it. Seems like he's asking them if they wanted to buy candy bars or something. I can't remember. I'll have to go back and look. Yeah, speaking of that uh brisket I was talking about where you're talking about all those comments. Have y'all ever had a video come out somewhere to where all of a sudden it's like uh you know, just crazy, crazy uh upside. Down comments like that?
SPEAKER_05Uh not really. You know, I get occasional um someone saying something rude. And I just say, hey, we might not be for everybody, but thank you for watching. You know, I just leave it at that.
SPEAKER_07That's on TikTok though. Yeah, that was a lot of people.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's all on TikTok. That's a whole different crowd over there. I just post clips over there every now and then. Just for fun and stuff.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, but they bashed his brisket and the next they started bashing his uh the um the ribs. The ribs.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, there's one guy he goes, Oh, he's two for two.
SPEAKER_03What do you say was wrong with your ribs?
SPEAKER_07They're saying that it was like dry and all that stuff, but if you look at the video, you could see the drippings like in in the foil.
SPEAKER_05Like Yeah. These these people probably don't even cook. You know? Right, right. Now they're coming after you.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so you're new. So that new uh cover you're talking about, has it got like some kind of a roof cover now? So you ain't gotta worry about no rain coming in. You're gonna be able to chill them out there all the time.
SPEAKER_05We have a really strange angle, so uh we weren't able to get it actually cut in yet. Um so hopefully next time we have everything finished. Um but yeah, yeah, it's gonna cover the whole uh bar area, you know, because we cook at a bar. I made sure the bar has a cook top area too. We put the camera up above, but it also serves for when I have friends over and we sit around and watch football and you know it's a bar. So it's gonna cover all of that, and we're redesigning the bar and all that. So we we have a lot of work to do. Strike George, you got a lot of work to do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, Charlie, the the the third guy on our channel, he's uh he's the one that is masterminding the construction because he's a construction guy. Uh uh, he he had his own business doing construction for or just just his own personal business. And he did that for a long time, over 10 years. Yeah, so the the what Rich is not telling you is that we're actually the the bar is under a deck uh above. So like that's where there's a sliding glass door up there, and that's uh where rich Rich is right now, you know, where he is right now is above the garage, and this deck that's above our heads goes to that that garage room, and um, and so we're we actually film the bars right next to that garage on the bottom floor, and so we have a little bit of, but you know, it's a deck, so the rain comes right through. And now we're putting the roof underneath the deck, but we have to slope it. So it's so Charlie he has his work cut out for him for sure. You know.
SPEAKER_05Charlie's a dental assistant. He he dropped Charlie took a new job where he fixed uh dental equipment, so I just call him a dental assistant now.
SPEAKER_03And he's like, I'm not a dental assistant.
SPEAKER_05But you are to me, Charlie. You are to me.
SPEAKER_06So what do y'all got coming out here pretty soon?
SPEAKER_05Um we did some we have a couple good ones. We have um a couple of cheesesteak videos coming out. Uh one's a beer cheese one, and then uh the other one was uh I call it the uh Hot Italian. Uh you ever have the Hot Italian sandwich from like restaurants? Um I did a cheese I did a cheesesteak version of it and uh I thought it turned out pretty good. Uh we have a uh venison chicken fried steak coming out soon.
SPEAKER_01That sounds good.
SPEAKER_05Venison chicken fried steak. Yeah. They use the backstrap. So um that that that was pretty tasty.
SPEAKER_03Um what else do we have, George? I got like 10 video.
SPEAKER_04Oh, those are the ones that I remembered. You just mentioned them. So we're gonna be. You've got the editing block.
SPEAKER_05I'm sure you're gonna remember better than I was. We uh we do drink while we're doing these, so uh, you know. Uh oh, have you have you seen um the Bessemer stuff? Uh Doug likes to talk about them. It's the guy that makes that meat hash that he puts on top of the hamburgers and he puts a a sausage link on top. Have you seen those? I don't guess I've seen that. Okay, this guy's from Alabama, and um I think his channel's like Big Dogs or something like that. And he makes he makes a Smash Burger. Sometimes he makes up like three patties, but then he puts this, he has a meat hash that I don't know what he calls it. I call it meat hash. It's just ground beef, green peppers, and onions, where he gets all chopped up, almost like a chopped cheese, but there's no cheese in it. And he puts it on top of that. So you got like three patties, and you got this big giant blob of meat hash, and then he puts a freaking sausage piece on top with barbecue sauce and um mustard, and it's like this giant thing, but we made one single patty to keep George alive, and uh it was good, it was freaking awesome.
SPEAKER_02Sounds really good, yeah. Yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_05If if you don't have any heart problems, you should try it. If you had a heart problems, try it anyway.
SPEAKER_03See it half.
SPEAKER_06Cholesterol's going up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that's cholesterol.
SPEAKER_05I think mine went up just looking at Georgie that yeah.
SPEAKER_06One of the latest I was sitting here looking uh videos that I saw you do right here was the uh where is it here? Frito, what was it, that the Frito taco?
SPEAKER_05Oh, the Frito Pie tacos, yeah. I just I threw that together because it just sounded like a good idea. I mean uh Sonic, I don't know if you guys have Sonic where you're at.
unknownUh huh.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, we have this. Yeah, okay. They they sell the Frito pie wraps. And so I was just we made Frito a little bit. Yeah, I love those things. Oh, yeah, I made chili, so I was like, eh, let me make my own. Let's see how it goes. Take me a new cat, George. Yeah. I thought you didn't like it.
SPEAKER_06The cat. I don't know where our cat is. We got one roaming around here somewhere. I'm gonna send Chewy over there to chase that thing.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Chewy's gonna be good. Yeah, hold on.
SPEAKER_02I'll read that. Pull this up right here. See if you see this here. If it comes up, there we go.
SPEAKER_06Just cook the damn food right there. See the see some of the videos there. We got uh that oxtail stew. That looks pretty good. I haven't ever tried oxtail, and then you got this one here, but there's that Frito pie. So yeah, you have to right there it is.
SPEAKER_02Just cook the damn food. Lots of videos. I thought I'd pull that up real quick.
SPEAKER_05Got a little bit for everybody. We even have sweets on there. We don't have too many sweets, but we got some.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, we got we we've I've done a few uh sweets, and I like to uh do you cook those? I like I've cooked several of them, like in the smoker. You know, I've got the pit boss, and you I it's just like an oven to me. Oh, it is it is if you get a recipe and it and it says cook a pizza or cook a pie or cook a cake for say 300 degrees, I just throw it out there for 300 degrees.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we've done that plenty of times. The only thing I don't like is like raw pizza dough. Try to cook it. I don't like I don't like to smoke on a raw, you know, if you're taking a frozen pizza, that's one thing. I didn't like the texture of a uh putting in a raw pizza dough in there and cooking it. It was just kind of strange to me, I guess. But I'm a New Yorker, so I'm used to you know, New York pizza. So Red Baron. I really like it.
SPEAKER_04Hey Rich, tell them tell them about our first attempt at uh fried Twinkies. Oh. Was it fried twinkies or fried Oreos? I think it was Oreos. Wasn't it the oh it might have been Oreos? Yeah, talk about that disaster we did.
SPEAKER_05You know, you're supposed to freeze those things first. We just breaded them, we did it in there. It's like this big pile of what looked like waste. It just all went. I think I put that out of the video.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but the whole reason was that we we didn't know, I guess. Uh you're supposed to freeze those things before you you fry them. Yeah, otherwise it just dissolves and just what becomes this one big mess. It looks like a baby diaper.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that ain't good. I did a Snickers.
SPEAKER_05You ever done that? Yeah, we we tried that too. I think I did the same thing. There was another baby diaper. He didn't freeze. Thank God I have grandchildren, so we have diapers around. Oh, we got Chewy too. Chewy needs the diaper. We we put a diaper on my dog because he uh he's pretty smart, but the potty problem, yeah, he uh doesn't seem to uh he's got his own mind, let's put it that way. He's gonna go where he wants to go.
SPEAKER_06So is there anything, George, that uh he's cooked that when you went to the taste, you just you you just was like, no, that's uh that's not what I expected.
SPEAKER_04All right, George, be honest. There might have been one or two that been years ago. I don't remember now, but I don't know if you remember, Rich. There was one one that was like, you know, and at the end of the video, we're like, you know, you can't you can't, you know, you can't have a winner every time. Uh I just don't remember what it was. Do you have any idea?
SPEAKER_05Uh no, I don't remember that one. Do you remember when Noah cooked? And he never finished. He made those um was uh what was it? He was making the uh things on the uh Hawaiian rolls. It was making some type of sandwich. It was something pork, but he he thought he can cook the pork in like an hour. But I remember that. I don't even know if I ever put that video out. Yeah. That was my son-in-law. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04He uh he he he did one video and it was just um yeah, he he didn't time things right. But you know, he's young, you know. He needs to come over and redeem himself.
SPEAKER_05That's the thing, I guess. He needs to come redeem himself. That that's a thing. We will let anyone who comes over actually do a video with us. If they want to cook, we'll let them cook. You know, it's to give you the feel of just hanging out with your friends on the patio, you know. So go ahead and cook something. So that's uh that's how we end it. Actually, a fourth member, Mike, now we have uh Mike's the one who did the uh if you haven't seen that, your wife will love this. It's the strawberry shortcake French toast. And that thing turned out to be incredible. And it's just like Mike cook something, and he did.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's a popular video too.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it was in your your uh top favorites there, I noticed uh or top uh videos for sure. I'd actually just looked at that. That's one of my favorite videos.
SPEAKER_05Okay, yeah, that thing is good. And and Mike is Mike's an old high uh friend of mine from uh I've been working with for years and years, and uh he just came back into town, I guess two, two, three years ago. But yeah, so anybody comes over, they can cook.
SPEAKER_03Does that have a good idea?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's it's pretty much the same here, and and going back to uh what I was talking about you and and sometimes whether or not you don't like some. My grandson, uh he hasn't been in one in in quite some time. I can't remember what it was I cooked now, but he came over and we're doing a video. He's like was eight at the time, maybe nine, and he went in, we kind of cooked it, and I let him do a taste test, and he always tasted, you know, like it's good. And then he g he could give this little thumbs up, and then after we cut it off, he's like, I told him it was good. I think I've seen I've seen the videos with him in it, so okay. Sometimes his thumbs up's fake, you know. He wants to give a good review anyway. Hey, at least we've got your back.
SPEAKER_05So that's that's all it counts. He's definitely got my back for sure. So yeah, so okay, so a soda re uh collaboration. Does it have to be savory? It can be sweet too.
SPEAKER_07Does it have to be what?
SPEAKER_05Savory or can it be sweet also? Like the guess either or. Okay. So so people can do desserts also then. Um okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna put out in my Facebook thing, my uh challenge thing.
SPEAKER_06That sounds good, yeah. So the collaboration.
SPEAKER_07And then I know you also got the and you should tell them that you can't pick Dr. Pepper.
SPEAKER_05No doubt anything but Dr. Pepper. You're stealing my thunder.
SPEAKER_03This is tensions, that's all they eat, they all they drink. This is Dr. Pepper.
SPEAKER_05It can't be easy. Oh, it's gonna be tough for me because I don't drink soda. Yeah. Does does Coors Light make soda? Can I figure this out? No, I just have to do some re uh like they have the root beer that's actually got alcohol in it, right? So I can do that.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05That counts. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's uh yeah, dad's root beer. There's a couple of them, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's I've seen a couple. It may be all kind of soda, actually. We got uh a brand new liquor store in here. It's huge, it's got everything. Do y'all ever cook with like bourbon or anything like that?
SPEAKER_05Um, I mean I'm a diabetic, so I I stay away because beer I seem to be fine with all the time, but when I drink hard alcohol, it seems to hit my my blood sugar really bad, spikes it. So I stay away except for holidays. My birthday and uh New Year's, or if someone passes away. So but I love I freaking love uh bourbon. I got some Johnny Walker blue sitting there in my my car.
SPEAKER_04We actually uh had had an idea that we've never done. But we had an idea of using uh uh mad dog 4040. Oh, yeah, we've got to do that. Uh to um it's mad dog 2020.
SPEAKER_05Come on. Or 44, I can't remember. Was it uh whatever?
SPEAKER_04And uh to do that and put that in something. And we just we'd never we never actually it never came to be. And I still have the mad dog. It's been passed around a Christmas for a couple years now. What color is it?
SPEAKER_07Mad Dog sitting in my bar. What color? Because there's like several mad dog flavors. She says there's several though.
SPEAKER_04I'm gonna have to I think I still thought I saw it the other day. So maybe I'm maybe you've got a mad dog and I've got a mad dog.
SPEAKER_05I got the one that I got the one that Chase gave uh brought to the Christmas party as a gift, gag gift to people. I was like, I took it.
SPEAKER_07So is it is it the gift that keeps on giving?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Well, he he brought like uh Virginia Slim cigarettes and some. It was just a total gag gift. It's one of those uh white elephant gifts, yeah. Everyone else bought like real gifts and uh yeah, he must have brought it two years in a row. That would be Chase.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, this is the spiked.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, actually original. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07I used to work at this. Oh, sorry. I used to work at this convenience store, and that's all that would ever go is them MDs.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. When we grow growing up in the uh high school in the 80s, yeah, we drank a lot of MD 2020, I'll tell you that. It's either that or Boone's farm, Strawberry Hill.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, strawberry hill.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, some some slits mall liquor. Some of that get some of that bull, go for the bull.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, world.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it all works for me. I did a uh I was cooking with rum the other day and I kept thinking I was cooking with bourbon, but it all works.
SPEAKER_05So hey, rum guy I used to love rum. Captain Morgan Spice Rum, I loved. So now it's the cracking. I'm down to just Johnny Walker Blue and beer. That's it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just a little old Miller high life.
SPEAKER_05So that's approved.
SPEAKER_06That's approved. Thumbs up. Can of it goes in whenever you you say you don't do much slow cooks though, or long cooks, which ain't a bad thing because they take hours and hours. But a lot of times when I wrap it, just pour that right in. Good. Pour that right in, wrap it up.
SPEAKER_05I do do long cooks, it just generally doesn't be uh it's not in a video form. It's just I'm doing it for the time. Um I do have some on the channel, but not many.
SPEAKER_06You're on YouTube. Is there any other socials or anything that you have that you want people to know about or anything while you're here?
SPEAKER_05Um probably just the uh just the Facebook page. But the I we have our Just Cook the Damn Food um uh Facebook page. Um we got uh then the collaboration one. I have three, and then if you're a creator, I have one that's just I think it's what I'd name it, amazing videos. Um awesome videos, I think I named it. And it's just say if you want to post your videos, throw it up there people for people to watch, you know.
SPEAKER_02Um I need to get on there some more up, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And uh yeah, I'm not on I'm not on uh Instagram or anything. I I have an Instagram, I have a uh Twitter, but I really don't do anything on it. I don't have time. When I retire, when I retire, I'll have time.
SPEAKER_06Has there any been anything that uh when you started this channel that you've all that that has changed, uh, you know, made you uh uh learn about you know being on YouTube and everything?
SPEAKER_05Uh yeah, actually just my cooking skill has gotten so much better. Your cooking skills improved. I I still have the worst knife skills in the world, but but I vouch for that.
SPEAKER_04You know, he's uh he he's come Rich has come a long way with his cooking, I'll tell you, but not one ounce better at his knife skills. No, and it we make fun of him on the channel too. It's like just all the time, like you know, waiting for him to cut a finger off right there on the channel. Every now and then I'll just hand the veggies over and say, cook it.
SPEAKER_05Have me cut it.
SPEAKER_07When he when he used to cook, it was like he would come up with like concoctions, like noodles and like all sorts of stuff. And me and the kids would be like, Do we have to taste it? I'd always end up ordering pizza because it was so bad.
SPEAKER_05Poor God, poor God.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and the knife skills I I suck at. I've I've cut myself, you know, I don't know how many times, and so bad that you know you can feel you can feel the heart, you know, just pump, boom, boom, pump. Uh you know, it's it's pumping out and and going everywhere.
SPEAKER_07On the uh what was that thing?
SPEAKER_06So this Kathany act me, what was that?
SPEAKER_07It's a uh I have it on the channel that's sharp too, like sharp, sharp.
SPEAKER_06Shred meat and it's got like six or eight blades. I can't remember uh once for all meat slicer is what it was. And you put your so you put your piece of steak in there and you go back and forth and you and you slice it and you get done, and you just have all perfect slices all the way through there. Then you can take it up and turn it and do it again. All of a sudden you got ground beef with just a few. I mean, it's really an awesome, awesome product. So I was I was checking it out and doing a review on it. Well, I put my hand under the blade and then I start cutting, and uh I cut the meat and then go straight to my finger and and just uh sliced it and everything else. Yeah, I said, Well, we gotta read this.
SPEAKER_05Uh man, I I got myself with a freaking uh mandolin. Um my daughter came in, you know. Yeah, I don't see the kids all the time. And she walked in, I'm sitting there cutting onions with the mandolin, and I'm like, eh, eh, eh, eh, uh, that was figure. That was figure. I took a tip off. I had to go, I had to actually have the emergency room and have them put seal it so it would stop bleeding. And it's like, and I did that like three days later. I was like bleeding for three days. Yeah, it was a test.
SPEAKER_06A guest uh that I had on a while back from the blind kitchen, she has a product that she says I need to get, and it's it's it's like chain mail gloves. I haven't got one yet. Yeah, how does that, you know, you you just cut through and you ain't got to worry about it no more.
SPEAKER_05Oh, it doesn't cut through. It's just it's it they they have a very thin, it's a thin layer, so it's not like you know, you're a knight type of chain mail. It's a very thin layer, and yeah, it doesn't cut through.
SPEAKER_06You don't have to pull an axe out to go take orcs off or anything like that. Well, what else would you like to uh anything else on your mind out here today? Uh tell everybody.
SPEAKER_03Um Georgia's fantasy football team sucks. I'll throw that out, George.
SPEAKER_05Um I appreciate that. Yeah, any anytime. Anytime, George. Uh no, I just appreciate I would appreciate anyone who would like to come over and leave a you know, watch the videos and leave a message and uh let us know what you think. If you like it or not, doesn't matter. Just let us know what you think. Um, you know, whatever we need to improve on. Yeah, we're willing to learn at all times. Uh and um and we definitely appreciate it is that uh is that you sings the uh song? The what? Oh George sings the song, yes.
SPEAKER_04George is all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was my that was my concoction. Yeah. We still have to we still have to uh make sure the voice sits at the right spot on it because it it it was edited wrong. So I don't know. It it's just it's a little out of sync, the music and the voice, but it's it is what it is.
SPEAKER_05Well, George, I told you you can come over and do it yourself. You just have to go do it on the computer. Come on to my computer and we can fix it. Because I I was thinking more ACDC, and he we ended up with more Depeche Mode or whatever that was. But I enjoy it. I'm glad you did it for us, George. I tried. Did you guys ever watch um Sam the Cook Eye? Yes, I did. Okay. He has one out today. It's called the Rhode Island Sandwich, and it is basically um Chinese noodles with chicken in it. And they put it on a bun. And it's like that's weird looking. But according to him, it's like one of the greatest things you can eat. It makes a sauce, and so it's like, all right, well, we're gonna have to do that on channel, George. You're gonna have to put that in your pie hole, George.
SPEAKER_04Wow, yeah, that that sounds great for me to review at the end. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Yeah, and then you know, I'll I'll get a roll of paper towels and wipe my mouth with the whole roll. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06We're we'll do it. Yeah, so that that that's a great question. So is that how do you normally come up with all these ideals? You'll see so you'll see something on there, and uh, you just uh, you know, where do you get all these ideals from?
SPEAKER_05It's it's strange. I a lot of them, you know, maybe I've seen before. Some of them I just come up with. I don't you know how. It's like my dad said a long time ago, like I'm an artist, and my dad said, your ideas are always better than your art ever was. Because my art got better. My art's better. But um, I don't know. I just I just come up with ideas. But you know, a lot of them is probably something I've seen along the way and it's just popping in my head at the time, yeah. I'm sure I'm not that smart, so I can't I can't be coming up with a bunch of the stuff. Um but sometimes, you know, it's pretty it's unique and it's good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. A good example of that is uh which came up with the um, we just talked about it yesterday. It was the um the the toad in the hole. Oh yeah. And it was like it's like a meat donut, right, with a hole, and you put the egg in and you cook that and put that on a burger.
SPEAKER_05I think John made a made a copy of that after one of the one of the times, one of my videos. John did that too.
SPEAKER_06I was thinking of that at the exact time he mentioned that because I was gonna mention that, because uh you don't really know it, but Rich kind of is one that helped me get the big break. And I saw that video and I was like, that's really, really cool. So I I've got to make that. And and I made one similar to it. I think I tagged him in it. And uh yeah, that the toad in the hole. Yeah, put that egg in the back.
SPEAKER_05And then you did the sausage version, which I need to do. That that looked really good. You did the breakfast sausage one? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yes, yep. And and then I I have that leftover venison that I we did from Sunday. I have one leftover. I'm gonna do a venise chicken fried tote in the hole with the venison on top of a biscuit and put some gravy on it.
SPEAKER_04I'm doing that one tomorrow. But it comes, you know, the the back strap, it has you know that cutout in the middle, and that's where he's gonna do it. It's naturally there. He doesn't have to form anything.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so I'm I'm excited about that tomorrow. I only have one, so I'm the only one eating it. So but I'll let my wife have a bite, I guess. If she wants it. George, what's your favorite sports team, John?
SPEAKER_06Well, I'm more of a uh college uh team. Uh so it's Sooners. It'd have to be the Oklahoma Sooners on the college team. And they're getting their ass kicked by Texas and and by Ole Miss and probably by a few more teams going down the going down the the line there. Uh I do watch or follow some of the uh OKC Thunder. If I I really just don't have uh a pro NFL team, although I might sway towards the Dallas Cowboys a little bit.
SPEAKER_05But I would say a lot of Oklahoma people sway towards Cowboys.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I'm I'm a New Yorker, so I'm a Giants fan, so I won't hold it against you, John. I won't hold it against you.
SPEAKER_06And I and I have I I I I don't know why, but uh in baseball you may say it's odd, but uh Angels all the way out in California. Uh oh really, okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, because they don't even have like a long history of being like one of the you know, you hear Dodgers and you hear Yankees. Angel's kind of strange.
SPEAKER_07I'm from California.
SPEAKER_05So okay.
SPEAKER_06So the so she was some of the games out there and stuff, so it's kind of uh just kind of you know, I didn't have anything, so I just kind of swayed her way on that, I guess.
SPEAKER_07He didn't sway my way on the LA Lakers, though.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, no, I don't I can't stand the Lakers.
SPEAKER_05I can't either, but I'm not a big basketball guy. I'm much more football guy. Probably because uh I I sh I shoot like a white guy when I was trying to play uh basketball. I couldn't hit anything. So I was like, okay.
SPEAKER_04I'm totally too white for this. I can't do this. Uh Charlie is our resident Californian. Just uh I don't know if you knew that. Charlie, our third guy.
SPEAKER_05The only guy who used who puts veggies of uh veggies in his videos? Yeah. Charlie. He told me one time he's just gonna do a total veggie video. And I said, you can film it. I'm not editing it.
SPEAKER_02No vegetarian. Nope. Not for our channel. Y'all do anything else other than cooking for your spare time?
SPEAKER_05Um, yeah, we know we actually have a lot of parties and stuff. Um, yeah. Uh George's family hosts a big Italian day. Uh his dad is an old Italian guy who uh makes a lot of fresh pasta. George took over that role though. Um, close to 30 people come over and hang out and just eat fresh made pasta and pretty much everything. Yeah. That sounds awesome.
SPEAKER_04It's uh it's uh it's pretty big deal. It we we prepare it months and months ahead. My dad has a garden and that's where the tomatoes for all the sauces come from, and all the you know, the we do the stuffed peppers, you know, the Italian stuffed stuffed peppers with prosciutto and and mozzarella and all these. We just it's a big deal, and we you know we have the recipes, the family recipes, and we throw them around and 30 people get to enjoy it every year once a year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it's always good.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I was uh I planted a bunch of peppers this year and a bunch of tomatoes, well not a bunch, but probably six plants each. And then I woke up one day and they were all gone, so none of them grew. They started to grow, they were, I don't know, three inches, couple inches tall all the way along. It had rained and they all disappeared. I don't know. It's like a gopher or uh something just come and ate them all, so I so we didn't get any. Yeah, so somebody benefited from it. So I'm not sure what happened there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I don't know how my dad keeps that garden going. He must be standing around with a 22. I'm not sure what he's doing. God, and your dad's what, 80 something?
SPEAKER_05How old is your dad? My dad? No, he's 75. Oh seventy-five, okay. I'm thinking it's Cindy's parents. My wife's parents are all old. Uh yeah, and we we we keep a bunch of friends around. We uh we try to go out to a happy hour like once a month. So, you know, just old high school friends and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, we're just yeah, life's too much.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, one of the b best things I think about this uh YouTube channel, and you might might agree, I don't know, but it uh before we go here is just talking about the community and everybody that's come in, you know. Don't you just meet a lot of people? I mean, it's it's crazy how many people I met that uh I've never met, but online. Right. You know, from you guys to uh the you know, you're talking Doug and Ryan and uh Rob and which I've been trying to get on here, but he hasn't made it yet. Uh so but you know, it it the community of this uh whole barbecue, I think, is because I have a uh a poll channel which she mentioned before and the community sucks. I mean, no one there's nothing. But but on here it's just pretty cool how everybody kind of comes together and and it and feeds off everybody, welcomes everybody, and and and the community, what do y'all think of that?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I agree 100%. It is, you know, yeah, I go on on on Rob and Ryan and uh and uh Doug Show every now and then, you know. I'm always watching, even if I'm not on, I'm watching, you know. And uh it's you know, it's it's a lot of fun. It's just that you know, people that other people they will shout out people if they're like, hey, I got influenced by this, I'm gonna do this, you know, and that type of thing. And it's it's yeah, it just it just seems like a cool crowd, you know, just everyone's nice and yeah. It's there's a few people who don't react to you, but yeah, but you know, who cares? Yeah. Uh it's a it's a good community. As long as you're happy. Yeah, as long as as long as you're happy. That's all it is. I was gonna tell George the first thing I was gonna tell you today I didn't is that I sit here and I listen to your dinner on a budget videos, right? And and you're so soothing with your voice. It's like John's voice is like if I was gonna like commit suicide, I was gonna call John. John, talk me off. Talk me off. Like, it's just so smoothie, it's just so smooth ways doing it.
SPEAKER_06It's like just real, just mellow, you know, minor. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. But it's like I can't stop watching it. Stressful day at work. I gotta watch John.
SPEAKER_06Well, anything else you got on your mind before we uh uh wrap it up today? Been on here for about an hour. So what else? Uh any closing statements? Any final words?
SPEAKER_05Uh well final words, simple. Ready, George? Just cook the damn food.
SPEAKER_03Just cook the damn food.
SPEAKER_05I appreciate you having us on. Uh it was it's a good time.
SPEAKER_06Well, I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did, and I hope they enjoyed being on the show as much as I enjoyed having them. That was Rich and George from just Cook the Damn Food. And they have many videos. I'll put a link in the show notes below so you can find their YouTube channel. I mean, we're talking, I'm looking here, strawberry short coat uh shortcake French toast, which we talked about, cast iron pork chops, they've got some chili cheese dip. I'm looking at some of their most popular videos right now. Maxi Melk Sourdough Pizza Burgers you gotta check that stuff out. Excellent stuff right there, but that is uh some great content that they have put out. And I do appreciate everybody from listening to the channel. We've got people from Portland, Orlando, Springfield, uh looking here at some of the people, Miami, Brockton, lots of people listening to the show. Um if you would like to leave a comment or uh you know be part of the show, you can email us at podcast at oakesmoking.com. Of course, you can always text us at 405-458-5513. You can also call that number and leave a voicemail. And we just might play it back on a later episode. We had Mike text in uh this last week, and just want to give a shout out to him. It is his birthday. And he sent in a text that said, This is Mike out of Laray. I hope I said that right, uh Virginia. L-U-R-A-Y, uh, Larae, Virginia, uh 50 today. And he was uh this was a few days ago, but he said he was celebrating with ribs on the smoker and a beer and is a fan of the show. So thanks for tuning in to Mike. Give you a shout out. I'll see you guys. I'll talk to you guys soon. This is the Okie Smoking Podcast. Have a great evening. Keep on firing up that grill.
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