Slap Yo Daddy BBQ Blog

Season 1 - TLC's BBQ Pitmasters

Site of Johnny's Texas Rib Throwdown

Read season wrap-up commentary from the Executive Producer John Markus

It seems like a long time ago from Episode 1 in December 2009 where Lee-Ann from Wood Chicks BBQ summarized the sentiment of the pitmasters cast by saying, “ain’t scared of no California BBQ team.” That rallying call turned full circle in the season finale Episode 8 where we show that we can take on the best BBQ teams in America, including two World Champions, and beat them at their own game. As a second-year team with no pedigree nor much experience, we relentlessly worked on our recipes and flavor profiles the entire series until we eventually win over Texas Master BBQ judges far away from California.

Shooting dinner segment

This episode was shot over 3-days as a Texas BBQ throwdown and promo shoot. There were surprises and I laughed so hard especially when Jaime of Greer Pits BBQ burned the wax off a judge’s ear with an extra spicy cayenne rib bone for being mean during judging!

Heavy artillery lined up

My girlfriend Shilo and I arrived Tuesday for the dinner shoot at the Double-J Art Ranch located a couple of hours from Dallas Fort Worth airport. This was the season finale and Johnny Triggs, the Godfather, would be hosting dinner and a Rib Throwdown the following morning. I suspect Johnny picked ribs to his advantage because he’s a Texas rib legend having won many rib awards and championships. Johnny drew names from a hat and we each were allowed to pick an Igloo with spares and loin-backs in them. That way, no team had an advantage.

OTF - On The Fly interviews

Since Johnny offered a trophy but no prize money, the pitmasters turned upon each other like sharks which resulted in everyone digging into their wallets for a winner-takes-all pot. After several calls for $100 each, the competitive bragging jacked the pot to $500 each for a total of $3,500 for the seven pitmasters. Several side bets developed after some more trash talking. Tuffy from Cool Smoke was gunning for some easy money from me so I agreed to bet him $100 that our California ribs would place 1st or 2nd; not an easy feat considering that Myron, Johnny, Jaime, and Tuffy are among the top ribs cooks in the country having won the Rib category countless times (like when Jaime and Johnny won 1st and 2nd in Episode 7 at the Big Pig Jig at Vienna, Georgia, amid the best 125 best rib cooks in the nation).

Johnny and Paul fixing a delicious dinner

The dinner was delicious and we had Johnny’s home-made chili, Chef Paul’s smoked chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce and salsa, and Trish’s Mexican casserole. Lee-Ann finished it off with her very yummy perfect 180-score chocolate with peanut brittle and Kahlua syrup.

Ladies helping with dessert

The next morning, my $200 bullet smokers were lined up at the tail end of a row of heavy artillery of $50,000 worth of pits including 4-Custom Jambos, 1-Jacks Old South cooker, and 3-Green Eggs.

Our tiny smokers against some heavy artillery

The rib cook went smoothly thanks for help from Shilo since this time since Mark and Gary had to work during this mid-week shoot. Baby backs were turned in at 3 pm and spares at 5 pm. There were 4 IBCA master judges and 3 newly trained judges. The twist this time was that our meat was turned in on a cutting board and we watched the judging via tape-delayed closed circuit TV. It was nerve wrecking yet fascinating to watch the judging. For example, one judge killed Lee-Ann by saying her ribs smelled and tasted of lighter fluid. Also the judges complained the ribs were bland so this caused Jaime to spice up his ribs so much that his 5 pm spareribs set the judges mouth on fire. Jaime figured he was finishing towards the end anywhere so he didn’t care. When the dust settled, I was amazed to find out I won the Johnny Triggs Rib Throwdown! I edged Johnny’s 2nd place by 1 point. Every dog has its day and today was our day. This was a fantastic finish to our Episode 8 Season Finale adventure!

They also flew out a well known NY photographer George Lange and his crew to shoot stills for the advertising print and commercial promo for the show. It took a whole day for wardrobe, food styling, make-up, hair, and setup to shoot our BBQ promo with George. It was clear why he was an award winning NY photographer as his work was creatively stupendous. Since my character was the newbie on the show, they shot me holding a fire extinguisher as if my pit was burning out of control; slapping a cooked pork butt; smelling it; and injecting it with a large syringe. We also did a fun montage of shots reassembled to look like a video (ala Amazon’s Kindle’s ad).

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Cast and Crew hamming it up

Our Calif. buddy Chris joins us in Vienna

The Big Pig Jig in Vienna, Georgia, was an MBN event which meant on-site judging with live judges in the categories of whole hog, ribs, and whole shoulder. Since our team utilized small Weber smokers, there was no way we could cook a whole hog or shoulder in our tiny pits. Consequently, we stuck to cooking ribs only. Since I was only cooking one category, it would be a very easy contest.  To keep things interesting, I decided to cook an elaborate Friday evening dinner for cast and crew. The reason was two fold: one, it would be nice to share a hot meal with the cast and crew after being on the road together for three months, and two, it would be great to cook something other than BBQ. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy cooking and eating BBQ but I also enjoy cooking other foods. After much thought, I decided to prepare a no-holds-barred an Italian dinner for 40 persons featuring:
• Salmon Carpaccio over Organic Tortilla Shell and MicroGreens
• Grilled Rosemary Garlic Crusted New Zealand Lamb with Porcini Polenta
• Make Your Italian Grandma Cry Tennis-Sized Meatballs with Spicy Marinara Coulis over Spaghetti
• Grilled Portabella Mushrooms, Asparagus, Corn, and Sweet Peppers with Balsamic Glaze

Italian Dinner by Harry

It was fun getting the other pitmasters Lee Ann and Paul into helping cook this Italian dinner. Everyone loved the meal and many got seconds. I even got Johnny to eat the raw salmon. That’s two Soo-shi items I’ve successfully fed to Johnny this season!

Johnny Triggs w Raw Soo-shi

In the contest on Saturday, we came in 16th for chicken and 22nd for ribs. Not bad considering there were over 100 teams. The weather was beautiful the entire contest and was a welcome respite after the rain and cold in Dover, Delaware, the previous week.

Beautiful Weather

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Windy, Cold, Wet, and Brutal

One word sums up the Diamond State BBQ contest aka Episode 6 in Dover, Delaware: brutal, as is brutally cold, wet, and windy. It was already raining with temperatures in the 40’s when we touched down in Philadelphia enroute to our hotel 70 miles away in Dover. With the “licking” from the American Royal Open two week ago behind me, I wondered how we could push ahead, dig deep, and bring on our A-game amid the dismal weather conditions. Dismal, at least, to a Californian like me, who likes to dress in shorts and tee for a BBQ contest. Being swaddled like a Michelin man in winter-wear and soaked to the bone cooking BBQ outdoors was really not my cup of tea.
Gary arrived safely at our hotel in Dover after a 16 hour marathon drive from St. Louis where our van was parked after the Royal. The next morning, we suited up like gladiators battling wind, rain, and cold with thermal undergarments, sweaters, and jackets as ventured out the contest site which was the center oval of the Miracle Mile NASCAR racetrack at the Dover Downs Casino complex.
Mark and I cooked this contest without Gary as he struck out on his first solo contest and first outing on the East Coast. Since Gary learned many secret details about how I cook, it would be like a Star Wars plot where Anakin the Paduan tries defeats his Master Obi-Wan. Gary combined the BBQ secrets he learned being on our team with his formidable skills as pitmaster of his Notley Que team to try to defeat us using equipment borrowed from other teams after posting an SOS on the Internet BBQ forums. The specter of two California teams cooking to win at this windy Siberia-like contest motivated both teams to do well amid the 80+ teams who showed up.
We were wet and cold by the time we finished setup Friday morning. I was worried because I saw several teams wearing tees saying “I survived Dover 2007” as a badge of honor as tornado-like conditions swept through then and sent many EZ-ups to the dumpster and many teams home prematurely. I was nervous as we tied our EZ-up down to the van as the wind was gusting.
I had to put our two WSMs under our 10X10 canopy so things were pretty cramped. I started the long-haul butts and briskets at 8 pm instead of our usual 11 pm due to the adverse weather. Our crude water heater blanket insulation around the WSM worked quite well and I had to refuel after 6 hours when temperatures dipped in the early morning. During the night, Mark and Gary sought refuge in our rental car and ran the engine and heater while I retreated to our minivan for shelter.
By daybreak, I was hoping for a respite from the rain and cold but that was not forthcoming. The contest by now was becoming an endurance battle and my focus shifted from winning, to finishing the contest. I was tired and chilled to the bone. I was thinking about my new tee which would say, “I survived the wet, windy, and cold Dover”. Of course the other East Coast teams that stopped by were unfazed by the weather and were amused that a little weather would bother our California team. I would too if I had a nice warm RV or trailer.
At awards time, we edged out 52 teams and lost to 29 teams coming in 29th overall out of 81. Not a terrific finish but not a bad one. Congratulations to Gary who beat us and came in 26th overall despite us beating him in three categories: chicken, ribs, and brisket. For reasons unknown to me, the judges hated our pork and that low score really set us behind allowing Gary to edge us out in overall standings.
I’d like to thank the organizers, hosts, judges, and TLC for making it possible for us to cook our first East Coast event. Thanks also go out to our sponsors: T&H Meat and Sausage, TheSlabs.com, and Rock’s Barbecue Systems.
The rain finally let up as we boarded our plane back to LA. Gary will drive our van and park it at Dallas Fort Worth airport and fly home. I’m already thinking of how to improve in our problem areas: chicken and pork, for our next adventure. Stay tuned.

Awards time

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DIY cold weather mods for our trusty Weber smokers

Our results were dismal at the Sunday Open contest with about 500 teams taking part. I take 100% responsibility. I was exhausted from not getting much sleep Friday and Saturday night from cooking the Royal Invitational. I awoke startled early Sunday morning with that gut-wrenching feeling after realizing I overslept by 1 hour. I tried to recover by upping the temps but one mistake compounded the next and we had our worse finish ever as a BBQ team coming in 256 out of about 500 teams. Our chicken was 315th and brisket was 385th.  Major OUCH!

When I was an airline pilot, we had to study how airplane crashes occurred so as to learn from them. One truth that emerged was that there were always a minimum of 3 mistakes before the plane crashed. A mistake often led to an overcorrection which was exacerbated by a third error. When I awoke late, I upped my ribs temps then forgot that my chicken needed less time as it was in the rib smoker. As I worried that ribs would be underdone, I forgot about my brisket. In the end, the chicken and briskets were overcooked.

BBQ is a microcosm of everyday life with ups and downs. The Open was a downer for us. When you’re up, life is easy. It’s when you’re down that you’ve got to motivate yourself to drag yourself out of the hole.

To win in BBQ, just like winning in life, you’re got to have more than knowledge because knowledge can only get you so far. The greats like Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Kobe Bryant, et. Al., have all sprung back from defeat. To do so, you need more than knowledge; you’ve got to have the 3 F’s: Faith, Fire, and Focus. Faith refers not to religion but a unwavering belief in yourself; Fire is the passion you have for what you do; and Focus is the 100% concentration you need to stay completely on top of what you’re doing. To win, you must have both: knowledge and the three F’s. My focus was off and I got what I deserved.

I have two weeks before our next contest to put the “licking” from Open behind me, push ahead, and dig deep and bring our A-game and 3F’s to win!

Mark, Gary, and Harry at the Royal 2009

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Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ at the American Royal Invitational

The 7 teams on the BBQ Pitmasters TV show were scattered throughout the massive American Royal contest site in Kansas City so we couldn’t spend much time hanging out. We found two other California teams cooking in the Invitational: Smoking Yankees and Ric’s Righteous Ribs; as well as Larry Hill and Neil Strawder who were there cooking with the Fast Eddie and BBQ Brethen teams respectively.

There were 124 teams in the Saturday Invitational which was the largest Best-of-the-Best teams contest in the world as only teams who won a Grand Championship the previous 12 months were invited. There were a total of almost 500 teams there, combined, for the Sunday Open. The Open was a huge partyfest as many teams hosted lavishly produced corporate parties. For example, our super-nice next door neighbor Terry hosted a 200+ person party Friday night with a live band much like many dozens of parties in full swing.

Chris Juencke and Harry Soo BDay Party in Kansas City

Birthday Boys!

On Thursday night, I treated Chris Juencke, his Dad Fred, and our three-person team to dinner at Gates BBQ, a well known Kansas-style BBQ institution. We shared a combo platter with Mac w Pickle Juice, Beans, and Roasted Potatoes. The spare ribs were a little salty. The turkey and ham were good, and the brisket was outstanding – sliced thin and very flavorful. The sauce was not sweet and had a good tang and kick.

Our spot #890 was at the end of one of the BBQ alleys and luckily we were able to barricade ourselves behind bales of hay to keep the very drunk public out. We had our share of excitement Friday evening outside our booth with: two women arguing and almost coming to blows; two men fighting with one having his head kicked and the kaka beat out of him (they were supposedly friends); a young attractive stupid-drunk woman who was lost and disoriented whom Gary and Chris helped out as good Samaritans; our producer and camera crew were showered with rum and coke by irate mean drunks during an on-the-fly (OTF) interview with me for the show, a 32 year old guy wanting to pawn his foxy 22 year old girlfriend for “favors”, and someone tried to jack my minivan by testing to see if the doors were unlocked (I was sleeping inside). And, hot babes showing up after midnight with the line,”so-and-so team sent us to you because you have the best ribs so could we have a taste?” Of course, silly me being a first time Royal competitor didn’t realize that the hungry drunks were out to get fed and would show you their rack for a taste of yours! The other teams told me later that they cook ribs just to get flashed! Next time, I’ll cook ribs and get my camera ready!

Harry, Gary, Mark

The weather was beautiful and a little chilly when we had the Friday potluck dinner (Spanish Paella, steaks, spaghetti, vegetables) with the Juencke family of the Smoking Yankees team from Stockton: Chris, Bekah, Scottie, and Megan. Chris’ Dad Fred surprised the heck out of everyone by jumping out of Ric Gilbert’s car as none of the Juencke family expected him to make the trip after his recent successful cancer surgery. It was moments like this hanging out with close friends that is the essence of the American Royal experience. To win an award is nice but the real magic at a BBQ contest is the right-here-and-how spending time with great friends.

Our good buddy Kyle from The.Slabs.com dressed to impress

The overnight cook went normally. I opted to guess the Kansas flavor envelope again and tried to cook it sweet. Our results were respectable as we came in 51st of 124 teams (89th chicken; 72nd ribs; 53rd pork; 21st brisket). Nothing to write home about but we did finish ahead of 70+ GC teams in the process. We’ve been struggling trying to obtain contest quality meat while on the road. The butts flown in from our sponsor T&H Meats and Sausage from San Marcos were great but the chicken, ribs, and brisket we obtained from a local specialty butcher was not really contest quality.  A big shoutout goes to Tuffy Stone of Cool Smoke.  Awesome 3rd place overall finish among the 124 GC teams who showed up for this legendary throwdown.  We completed out first Royal Invitational tired but happy.

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This is the last new episode of the year with BBQ Ptimasters returning 1/7/10!

BBQ PITMASTERS
Cooking skills, nerves and patience are tested at the historic Riverfest Barbecue Cookoff in Decatur, AL as the Pitmasters battle for the $3,000 top prize. Paul tries to avoid last place placement, Lee Ann’s schedule is threatened by a power outage and Tuff Stone uses spreadsheets for BBQ?!?

With our Homer Simpson  minivan antennae mascot, clad in only tighty whities,  swaying in the wind,  my BBQ brother Gary Notley and I left California for our Decatur BBQ adventure on Tuesday, September  15, 2009.   With “Alabama Or Bust” on our dusty rear windshield, we dodged 14 radar traps, 3 border patrol checkpoints, and pouring rain, to complete our three-day, 2,100 mile Iron-Butt drive through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and arrived at the Riverfest contest  site in Decatur, Alabama.   Mark had to work so he flew in from Los Angeles to Memphis, checked out a rental car, and joined us at the Holiday Inn the day we arrived.

All the seven teams in the TLC TV shoot were invited to dinner at Chris Lily’s Big Bob Gibson flagship restaurant in downtown Decatur.  We were all expecting a BBQ meal and boy were we surprised.  Chris, who is the consummate Southern gentlemen with charm oozing from every pore, totally blew us away with the menu he personally created and cooked for us.  Amid the whirring of many TV cameras and fuzzy boom microphones in our faces, we were treated to appetizers of seared giant scallops wrapped in BBQ brisket, and shrimp with basil mousse wrapped in bacon with BBQ sauce.

This was followed by a delicious BBQ gumbo slow simmered with a dark roux for many hours topped with crispy fried okra dusted in cornmeal.  The texture of the fried okra contrasted beautifully with the rich gumbo which was served over steamed white rice.  Main course was a cranberry Caesar salad with Balsamic vinaigrette served with a perfectly grilled tender rack of lamb paired with the signature Big Bob Gibson BBQ chicken with the white BBQ sauce.  Hey, don’t knock white BBQ sauce if you haven’t tried it.  It was mayonnaise based and it worked well with the flavors of the BBQ chicken.

Everyone was stuffed by the last course but we had to leave room for dessert because Chris brought out four of his favorite pies: lemon, peanut butter, chocolate, and coconut.   I tried a piece of everything and it was heavenly!

After a good night’s rest at the hotel, we showed up at the contest site around 11 am.  All 7 pitmasters were tucked away in the corner of the parking lot while the rest of the teams (about 60) were on the grass.  It was good to be on asphalt as it rained so it was muddy and boggy for the teams on grass.  The cook went normally with the exception that we lost power at night.  We helped Lee Ann out as her rotisserie smoker does not run without power.  Luckily, the power came back after an hour or so.  We were not affected because with our trusty battery inverter power supply, we can cook without reliance on generator power.

Slap Yo' Daddy with Chris Lilly, BBQ Legend

I want to give to shoutout to Steve Blake and Bob Fite of the local Piggy Jiggy BBQ team.    These guys were fantastic as they purchased our contest ribs and chicken for us so we didn’t need to lug it from Los Angeles.  I cooked the California influenced recipes again we finished 15th of 60 teams.  Not too bad as we beat 45 good teams.   15^th chicken, 17th brisket, 28th ribs, and 30^th pork.

Mark and I flew back to LA on Sunday and our terrific Roadie Gary drove our van to the next contest location.    I want to thank and express gratitude to Gary Notley for being our third team member.  Gary was our arch nemesis in our 2008 Rookie year and we traded first places throughout the contest year before we finally cinched the ROY title in December 2008.  We had become BBQ brothers in the process and it was awesome that Gary could join our team and be in the show.

Our new team mate and awesome roadie Gary Notley

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BBQ PITMASTERS
The pressure’s on as the Pitmasters compete in one of the most difficult cook-offs of the year – the Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-off.   Lee Ann and Myron face off in the whole hog competition while tempers flare between Johnny and one of the local competitors.   Also, Harry Soo makes soo-shi?!?

Lee Ann tries to take down Myron “I’m the damn king” Mixon with a little southern hospitality.

The pitmasters compete in the grand daddy category of The Whole Hog.

We try our hand at a Memphis BBQ Network (MBN) sanctioned contest on top of cooking a regular KCBS contest.  The MBN is unique as there are three on-site judges you have to impress. We also have to decorate our cooked meat on our pit.

Slap Yo' Daddy On-Site Rib Entry

I get everyone to participate in a Pitmasters Potluck.  There were some amazing dishes as the Pitmasters are all great cooks in their own right.  I made my signature Seared Ahi w Maui Onion Dressing and Spanish Seafood Paella, both which got some airtime.  I even got  Johnny of Smokin Triggers to eat raw fish for the first time and it’s captured on camera!

There were lots of folks who had too much to drink and moonshine so watch the Episode as a drunk tries to tangle with Johnny.  It’s rumored Johnny has a gun tucked in his Texas boots. Not good to find that out the hard way!

We had a blast and came in 4th overall in the MBN rib entry with all three on-site judges awarding us perfect 10’s in presentation.  No bad for our first MBN contest with the new rules and the best of the best MBN teams out there!   In the KCBS, we did 18th overall; 11th chicken, 16th brisket, 24th ribs, and 29th pork.

Harry's Potluck Dishes - Seared Ahi and Paella

Johnny having soo-shi first time!

Randy Twyford (L) really helped us out; Johnny (C) hamming it up

Mike Mills, BBQ Legend, 17th Street BBQ

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The Casablanca Casino contest at Mesquite, Nevada, on September 5, 2009, was our first episode on the new reality TV show on TLC called BBQ Pitmasters which aired on the Season Premier on December 3, 2009. We were recruited a couple of weeks earlier and joined last minute as the 7th team. The show had been in development a couple of years and the six chosen teams were ready to go. It was by pure chance that I met Carolyn, a KCBS official, at the Stagecoach 2008 contest that set off a chain of events which resulted in the producer John Markus calling us. Apparently, John got a call from his friend Carolyn who told him that he needed to add two really nice IT geeks from LA to his new show.

John called me in the middle of rib turnin at the August Fairfield contest. I thought someone was pranking me. How else do you react when someone calls and says, “Hi, I’m John, a TV producer from New York, and I’d like to find out if you’re interested in being on a TV show.” Yeah, sure.  Please don’t do what I did. I thanked John for the call and told him I’d call him back Monday as I was busy. Hah!

I forgot about the call until Mark and I were making the 7 hour drive back to LA from Fairfield. I told Mark some dude claiming to be from NY called me about a TV show. We laughed as by now I was questioning whether I was having early Alzheimer’s! I called John and we chatted on Monday. He was a super nice guy and an Emmy winning writer formerly with the Cosby Show and had a string of credits and hits. What was a surprise; he was also a competition BBQer who had cooked with Chris Lily and Myron Mixon. We instantly hit it off like BBQ two bubbas. Lindsay the supervising producer, called me Tuesday and we were off on our whirlwind adventure.

John’s show features a behind-the-scenes glimpse of seven pitmasters as they compete for bragging rights and money in large BBQ contests across America. Lindsay, my assigned producer for Episode #1 flew in from NY joined a cameraman and production assistant. They met me at work (I took a vacation day) to shoot segments of my worklife to incorporate into the show. We shot segments at my office, meeting rooms, gym, datacenter, and me leading my meditation group at work. We then went back to my house and they shot Mark and me packing and getting ready for the trip. Brian, Amy, and Shilo were also in the home shoot.

I now have a lot more respect for TV personalities. It’s not easy to talk in front of a camera. Your brain immediately checks out the moment the camera starts rolling. It took me a while to get used to it. Thankfully Lindsay was patient and supportive as I eventually got the hang of it and stopped staring at the camera. Now, I know how good Anderson Cooper is when he does his natural talk-into-the-camera news segments. Trust me, it’s not easy and I flubbed what I was saying many times!

We left around 8:30 pm with the producer and camera man in my van. The production assistant followed in a chase van. During the 6-hour drive, they shot segments of Mark and I chatting about our game plan and thoughts on how to win at Mesquite. We arrived at the Casablanca Casino around 2 am and called it a night. Boy, it was a long day.
On Friday, we found that they plunked us right between two of the best teams in America: Pellet Envy from Kansas (the current #1 team in America) and Jack’s Old South from Georgia. That’s equivalent to being sandwiched between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson if you’re a golfer. No pressure. No pressure indeed.

Around us were also the other teams in the TV show: Cool Smoke from Virginia, Wood Chicks from Virginia, Smokin Triggers from Texas, Geer Pits from Texas, and Pablo Diablo from Texas. I guess we were the only team west of Texas in the show and the only non-professional team. Everyone else were fulltime competitors, restaurateurs, and caterers. We went around to meet and greet the six other pitmasters and their team mates. Everyone was super nice and friendly, and even shared their turn-in samples with us. What a treat!

Mark and I cooked our usual California-influenced recipes which worked for us in the past and we came in 13th of 47 teams (4th ribs; 13th brisket; 14th pork; 35th chicken). We also did the steak entry and finished 23rd of 42 and 21st of 28 in my dessert desert entry where I made key lime pie for the first time.

This would have been a routine contest if not for freak hail storm that hit us at 2:00 am. The lone camera person Carter who was on duty from midnight to 6 am was in our booth with camera rolling when we were hit with 50 mph winds, rain coming down in sheets, lighting and thunder right over us, and marble sized hail hitting us horizontally in the face. Luckily Dave Malone, my co-worker and fellow competitor from LA was in my tent helping to me hold on our EZ up for dear life. We thought we would get electrocuted on TV as we held onto our steel canopy in the midst of the lightning storm.

It seemed like an eternity but the storm blew by in about 20 minutes. The entire site looked like a war zone with torn canopies, blown away equipment, and tipped over Eggs. Our electrical power went out and our Stoker cooking computer was drowned out. Luckily, we brought a backup computer and battery inverter power supply so we resumed cooking in 20 minutes. Hey, being an IT disaster recovery project manager definitely helped. The Executive Producer who saw the segment clip later remarked that it rivaled the intense 60-foot wave storm scenes he produced for the Alaskan crab fishermen show. And all this happened in a casino parking lot in the middle of the desert! The TV show definitely got the defining footage for their season premiere episode.

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