Month: August 2021

Ask any true barbecue lover the “right” season for barbecuing and they’ll undoubtedly say, “any time!” Though summer weather inspires many of us to fire up the grill, the passion of die-hard barbecue fans defies rain, sleet, and even snow. Just ask legendary pitmaster, Moe Cason. This BBQ maven has traversed the globe year-round showcasing the art of ‘cue.

Cason is a Des Moines, Iowa native — self-taught with guidance from the traditions and techniques practiced by his grandmother. Upon leaving the U.S. Navy as a young man, he bought a home, fixed it up, and flipped it in hopes of buying a top-notch smoker. The sale allowed Cason to purchase his first trailer, too, which he drove to a cook-off in 2006 at the Iowa State Fair.

“I remember seeing all these different trailers, pits, and cookers,” Cason says. “I was just like, ‘Man, it’s just really cool! This is where I need to be.’”

After showing his skills in some 20 cook-offs that first year, the would-be chef was hooked and began branching out further to Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Tennessee. In the years since, Cason has competed in hundreds of barbecue contests in various countries. He’s also been a contestant, judge, and star on Destination America’s BBQ Pitmasters and BBQ Pit Wars — solidifying his reputation as one of the best in the game.
After meeting “Big Moe” at Austin’s Treaty Oak Distilling last month, I was amazed by his immense barbecue knowledge and his incredible heart. During our conversation, I asked him about his intro to ‘cue and managed to snag a seven-step guide to barbecuing his specialty, brisket.

Who or what got you involved in barbecuing?

My grandmother had 17 children – an awesome woman. And my mom had to work two jobs to take care of two kids. So my grandmother watched us a lot. My grandmother cooked a lot, and she did everything from scratch. So I observed and just took in when she was doing all the time cooking. A lot of that passion for cooking kind of came from watching my grandmother make really good food. I watched my grandmother cook all these awesome dishes. She was just cooking to feed her family, but she was just a really good cook.

Then, I would cook off and on in my backyard. We had a little 55-gallon drum cut in half. I would just kind of fire the grill up, and with a little charcoal and I’d be cooking whatever I could. I’d catch fish and grill them; hot dogs, pork steaks, hamburgers… and I just kind of always had a great affinity to the grill.

As a young man, I was in the Navy. When I got out of the Navy, one of the first things I bought was a smoker. It was a little smoker I got at Walmart, and I just cooked a lot of stuff. I’d try new things – ribs, pork butt, bone-in chops — and I’m just cooking to feed my family too. Then, I start seeing these barbecue TV shows which were totally new to me. I was just fascinated by it.

What I really admire about the barbecue community is how close-knit you all are. Who do you admire and consider also to be your competition?

I’m a confident man, but I’m very humble. So I don’t look at other people as competition. I never have. Even though you’re at a cook-off and you’re trying to win, I try to look at it as the competition is myself trying to execute my game plan. That’s a full-time job just worrying about me and then let the chips fall where they fall. I know that when it comes to competition, it’s all subjective. Your food is your food. I just never wanted to be that guy to kind of play the game and try to cook whatever everyone else is cooking just to get a call. I’ve always been confident in who I am. If you like it, that’s great. If you don’t, that’s still going to be great, because this is who I am. I believe in myself.

There’s a lot of good barbecue people out there. A small percentage of them that are arrogant, but they kind of exclude themselves because of their behavior. As far as who I admire, there are very few people that I do. Ronnie Killen is a friend of mine and Tuffy Stone is a friend of mine. Those are the guys that I respect. They’re just good people and they just try to do the same thing I’m doing. Ronnie’s doing obviously a much bigger scope because he’s got restaurants. He’s a really good dude and he’s helped me out.

You’re self-taught, but I feel like everyone has a mentor or someone that’s given them solid advice. So, what would you say has been the best piece of advice you’ve been given as a pitmaster?

That’s a good question. I learned by just doing it. I would say the person that has given me the best advice is Ronnie Killen.

And what advice was that?

When I was making my rubs, he kind of schooled me on ingredients – not recipes, because they’re all my recipes – but testing out and tasting because I made all my rubs in my kitchen. It was like make sure they bring in different black peppers because each black pepper berry has a distinct flavor. I learned that when I make my rubs, I only use the best ingredients that I can afford. I’m not impressed with a lot of rubs out there. They may have a catchy name, but they don’t do justice to the protein. That’s just my personal opinion. I really feel like a rub must be there in the beginning and at the end of the cook. It must lend itself to that protein and make a great flavor. That’s one thing I learned.

I love barbecue. I’m the stereotypical Texan through and through. Would you say it matters what type of wood a pitmaster uses?

Wood, like a seasoning, that’s what you do. If you cook steaks on mesquite or cook steaks on oak, they’re going to be two different flavors with the same rub because of what the mesquite is giving to flavor that meat. Same with the oak. I treat wood like a seasoning. To me, that’s important. I’ve settled on certain flavors that I like, like post oak and pecan. I use that for almost all my meats. My seafood is a little different. I go a little lighter. I go with the apple. I may go with a cherry. I might go with peach. It all depends. As far as most of my big protein meat, it’s pecan and post oak. I love the combination of the flavors – what it puts on the meat. And that’s the seasoning to me.

Fat cap: to trim or not to trim, Moe?

The fat cap on meat, I trim to a certain point. If there’s a really heavy fat cap, I’ll trim some of it. I always cook all my meat fat side down. I’m working hard to create a beautiful part and I don’t want it to be ruined by having the meat side down on the rack and having all that scraped off and bits and pieces of knocked off as the meat’s cooking and as it’s being moved around. A lot of these books that you buy say fat side up because of gravity. It’s the quality of the meat that’s gonna determine how good that piece of meat is – the marbling. The collagen, the marbling – that’s what’s going to determine how flavorful and moist that piece of meat is; it’s not because of the fat cap. The fat cap can be used as a buffer depending on the pit. That’s why I leave it on the backside.

I’m all about presentation. I’m a competition guy. So, if I create this beautiful crust, I don’t want it to be disturbed by being flipped up the other way.

What would you consider your staple and how can we imitate it?

I’d say brisket, collard greens, black-eyed peas with Jimmy Dean sausage, jalapeño cheddar cheese cornbread, and my hot pepper mac ‘n cheese.

Oh, that sounds so good. Now, I’m getting hungry. What’s a good tip for us in terms of how to do the brisket perfectly? [We’ve numbered these directions for ease.]

1. Obviously, start with the best quality you can get. Not everybody’s going to spend the money or want to spend the money on a prime or wagyu; but at least get a prime because with beef brisket, the higher quality of meat you get as far as marbling, the better that brisket is going to be period. It’s just a fact. So start with a good piece of meat. And that’s with all proteins anyway.

2. Find the seasoning that you want. I like to use a season that complements the protein. I got a couple of rubs – a beef rub and a brisket rub. It’s basic salt, pepper, and garlic, but it’s got some other stuff that makes it more savory.

3. I use a binder. I use oil or you can use mustard or whatever. I like to put oil down on the piece of meat after I trim the fat off on the meat side. Then, I’ll sprinkle my rubs on it as a nice coat of rub on there.

4. I let it sit for about an hour, and then it’s ready for the pit. By this time, I’d already have the pit up to temperature just waiting for the meat. So, I can cook at various temperatures on different pits. A good number is 230-240 degrees for a 17- or 18-pound brisket will take you about eight or nine hours.

5. Once the brisket gets to about 170 internal temperature, you’re going to need to wrap because you want to try to preserve that color on that brisket and once you wrap it, it’ll help speed it up and getting it done at a good time. I wrap it in butcher paper. I have a technique I do; I do two sheets of foil and the meat and then butcher paper on top of that, then clip it all around. So, then the butcher’s paper is on top that allows the moisture on top of that brisket to escape without making it mushy.

6. I put it back on the pit and I put the probe back in the center of that brisket for the remote thermometer and then once I reach 203-204, I start checking it. It should be tender. If you pull that probe out and push it in and out in the same position, it should be smooth and should have no resistance whatsoever. If there’s still resistance, that means it’s not done. But generally, 203, that brisket is going to be done. If you’re cooking a really high-grade wagyu or Kobe, you might need to go to 205 because of the higher marbling.

7. Then, once it’s done, the big kicker is letting that brisket rest. Pick a dry cooler, like an Igloo or Yeti or whatever and put that brisket in, don’t unwrap it. Let it rest for 2-4 hours. And that’s the magic of making really good brisket. Letting it rest is so important. It’s almost as important as cooking the brisket. During the cooking process, the juices are trying to push their way out from the center to the surface. Once you reach 205 and you start slicing it, you’ll get a lot of juice on the cutting board. It may look really cool, but that’s not a good thing. You want those juices to stabilize inside that brisket. Once you let it rest for 3-4 hours when you go to slice that brisket, just the brisket face will be juicy. You won’t have a pond of juice on the cutting board. You’ll have a little bit, but most of those juices will be held inside that brisket.

Hollywood has a long, unfortunate history of ignoring non-white people, both on-screen and -off. Indigenous Americans have arguably had it worst than most. Not only did they spend decades portrayed as blood-thirsty savages in classic Westerns, but they were usually played by white actors. It’s not much better now, as the showrunner for the upcoming FX series Reservation Dogs — about Native American teens in rural Oklahoma — pointed out.

As per The Wrap, Sterlin Harjo, who created the upcoming comedy with Taika Waititi, talked about the show during FX’s TCA press tour. It’s a rare thing to see a show starring Indigenous characters, played by Indigenous actors. In fact, it’s rare to see Indigenous actors, period. Harjo, who is of Seminole and Muscogee heritage, had a theory for that.

“The thing is, Hollywood makes a western every few years where Native actors get to come and get killed in front of a camp. It’s just not the most exciting work,” Harjo explained. “So, they’re not in L.A. beating down the door, trying to get these parts.”

So when the show needed Indigenous actors to play its Indigenous characters, they had to do some traveling.

“You have to go to these communities to find the actors,” Harjo said. “We went and cast in the communities, we went and got tapes from all over in indigenous communities. The talent is there. It just doesn’t happen to be on Hollywood Boulevard.”

Reservation Dogs — which follows four teenagers who get involved in crime, as befitting its Tarantino-influenced title — is the first show to ever have a writers room staffed entirely with Native Americans.

“Having an all-Indigenous room helped us not be afraid to go hard and tell the truth and also to be funny and sort of push the envelope,” explained Harjo. “There was a shorthand between all the writers and we were able to just go and write and try to make it the funniest, best and pull from our own experiences and make it real.”

Reservation Dogs premieres on FX starting Aug. 9.

(Via The Wrap)

Miami Vice is a cultural institution that still resonates today. While 90s kids are watching their clothing and aesthetic replicated by Gen Z, the 80s staple starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas has its fingerprints on basketball jerseys and anyone who insists on attending a wedding without a reasonable dress shirt. And it turns out the show’s long run on network television included a wild array of actors who went on to have much bigger careers than their crime-filled roles may have projected.

An artist and photographer named Daniel Holland went viral on Wednesday when he started sharing screenshots of notable actors who had fairly small roles on Miami Vice. Though it ran just five seasons, the show had 112 episodes of thugs, drug runners, and people with punchable faces cross television screens across America. And as the lengthy thread on Twitter made clear, many of them turned out to have long careers after the show’s run on NBC ended in 1990.

Holland started with a pretty jarring one: Married… With Children father figure Ed O’Neill as a coke dealer.

The show featured actors who went on to be some of the biggest names in moves, too. Both Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts got early mentions in the thread, which you really need to experience in full to appreciate.

Some of the tweets contain mild spoilers, but it’s really worth it to know that Willie Nelson once beat the hell out of Steve Buscemi on network television and it was considered normal in the 1980s.

Seinfeld star Michael Richards and Liam Neeson involved? Sure are!

There were a ton of musicians given parts as well, including Little Richard and… a very threatening Leonard Cohen?

The whole thread is something to experience, as there are simply a staggering array of people included here. It was enough to make “Miami Vice” trend on the platform on Wednesday, and maybe make a good number of people check out the show to point at their TV like Rick Dalton on their own time.

As Florida becomes ground zero (again) for COVID-19 cases as the Delta variant ravages the state, don’t expect Governor Ron DeSantis to accept any help from the White House. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden issued a message to Republican governors who are refusing to initiate mask mandates, or take any proactive measures against rising COVID cases at all, by telling them, “If you aren’t going to help, please get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing.” Apparently, that was a bridge too far for DeSantis.

During a Tuesday evening press conference that was supposed to focus on Florida’s economic situation, DeSantis fired back at Biden and essentially told the president that he is absolutely going to get in the way of efforts to stem the resurgence of the pandemic. Which is a bold stance to take because, again, Florida is seeing an unprecedented number of new cases.

Via Mediaite:

Let me tell you this: if you’re coming after the rights of parents in Florida, I’m standing in your way, I’m not gonna let you get away with it. If you’re trying to deny kids a proper in-person education, I’m gonna stand in your way…If you’re trying to lock people down, I’m standing in your way, and I’m standing for the people of Florida. Why don’t you get this border secure? Until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about Covid from you.

DeSantis is considered a frontrunner for the Republican presidential candidate in 2024, so this move can be seen as a brazen attempt to play to Trump supporters who have pushed back against any and all COVID mitigation efforts including the vaccine. Of course, there’s the question of how many Trump voters will be left once the pandemic is over, but DeSantis doesn’t seem to be too concerned with those numbers.

(Via WEAR ABC 3 on Twitter)

Mike Lindell credits God for saving him from following a self-destructive path of alcohol and drugs. He prayed on the night of January 15, 2009, as he wrote in his memoir, What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO, to never want to get high or drunk again. The next morning, “I could feel without question that my desire for drugs and alcohol was gone.” Lindell turned his life around and his company, My Pillow, has sold over 41 million pillows. He’s a millionaire many times over. It would be an inspiring all-American story of faith and determination were it not for another important milestone in Lindell’s life, this one in August 2016: that’s when he met Donald Trump. He replaced crack with crackpot theories, including that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. His trust in God persists, however.

While appearing on Real America’s Voice, Lindell told one of Satan’s minions, host Steve Bannon, that a reporter from CNN or Huffington Post or Politico or “one of the hit job articles,” asked him, “Why would God let this happen?” Here’s his unconvincing answer:

“You’re in the spiritual battle of good and evil and we now… think what’s happened since the election, if we wouldn’t have caught this, we wouldn’t have caught this, and all these things happened, all the things we’re going through, um, you know, it wouldn’t have revealed all the evil. The evil is revealing itself. It’s just amazing. It’s popping up all over like pocket gophers popping up their heads.”

Lindell added, “We need to pray that God gives us grace and it looks like we’re going to get that because all of these things that are happening.” Ah yes, “these things.” To quote my personal lord and savior (Donkey), I’m a believer, and it’s thanks to the pillow man.

You can watch the clip above.

(Via Raw Story)

According to a Deadline report, Apple is currently securing a deal giving them worldwide rights to Argylle, the upcoming spy film set to be directed by English filmmaker Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and produced by his MARV banner. This deal marks the second one struck between Vaughn and Apple, and could be the start of the two working together on even more films down the road, considering how happy the director is about it:

“I’m thrilled to team with Apple and bring the most compelling spy thriller I’ve ever read to the only streaming service that can create a franchise of this scale and quality for global audiences to experience.”

While the deal is officially only for one motion picture, it seems that Apple hopes the movie will be successful enough to launch a franchise similar to Kingsman and honestly — after seeing its cast — it seems extremely likely it will.

The upcoming movie — based on the soon-to-be-released novel Argylle by Ellie Conway — stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Witcher) as the world’s greatest spy, Argylle, who gets caught in a “globe-trotting adventure,” according to its IMDb page. In addition to Cavill, the film has an absolute powerhouse cast consisting of Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson, all in undisclosed roles. Lastly, pop star Dua Lipa is scheduled to make her silver screen debut in Argylle, and will also be providing music for the film’s title track and score.

As far as who’s behind the camera, Vaughn’s regular collaborators Adam Bohling and David Reid will be producing alongside the director and with a script written by Jason Fuchs ( Ice Age: Continental Drift, Pan, Wonder Woman). As of right now, Argylle is scheduled for a 2022 release.

Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami: Season 1 (Netflix series) — There’s so much blow in this trailer, which gives the documentary treatment to the excess-filled life of two childhood pals who transformed into powerful Miami drug kingpins over the course of decades. There’s a tiger and bullfighting and speedboats and money flying everywhere, it’s no wonder why “Los Muchachos” were so darn popular. They were also slippery fellows, due to their world-champ powerboat-racing status. A $2 billion empire eventually came crumbling down, but not without a valiant fight from the duo and their prosecuting opponents.

Cooking With Paris: Season 1 (Netflix series) — If you wanted to watch a cooking show with not-so-wonderful cooking, then you’re in luck. Paris Hilton can’t cook too well, and she doesn’t pretend otherwise, but she has friends who can cook, so she’s aiming to brave the kitchen to screw everything up. Also, she’ll go grocery shopping, so that’s gonna be strange.

Short Circuit: Season 2 (Disney+ series) — Nope, this show still has nothing to do with that 1980s movie starring Steve Guttenberg. Rather, this show follows Walt Disney Animation Studios employees who can pitch and create their own original short films. The series aims to highlight risk-taking approaches and stories that might otherwise never see a greenlight.

In case you missed these Disney picks from last week:

Turning The Tables With Robin Roberts: Season 1 (Disney+ series) — The host jokingly described this as a “tea party,” but really, it’s a gathering of groundbreaking women throughout the entertainment industry. Those ladies include Jamie Lee Curtis and Tig Notaro, along with several other guests who present their own incredible journeys and reveal how they found true purpose. The series aims for authenticity and vulnerability as these women reveal what led them to evolve and expand their careers.

The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse: Batch 2 (Disney+ series) — The Sensational Six (Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto) return for more adventures that traverse locations and time periods with special guests, so tuck in and relax with some retro entertainment.

As the promotional train for Marvel’s What If…? kicks into high gear, the studio dropped a brand new featurette that’s all about The Watcher. Voiced by Jeffrey Wright, the cosmic character has been a Marvel Comics staple who does exactly what his name suggests: watches. Whenever something major is about to go down, you can count on The Watcher hovering in the background as a witness. Granted, he’s never to interfere, but these are comic books we’re talking about, and following the rules has never been the medium’s strong suit.

In the new featurette, Wright introduces his version of The Watcher who will serve as a narrator of sorts for What If…? when it arrives on Disney+ next week. Wright also attempts to explain the reality-bending events of the animated series.

“Reality is not a straight line,” Wright pontificates. “Every passing moment is a chance for a new offshoot. A new variation. In fact, there are more realities than you can possibly fathom. An infinite number of, what if? The stories you thought you knew are nothing like you remember.”

The Watcher featurette arrives on the heel of a new What If…? clip that reveals what Steve Rogers will be doing in the alternate reality where Peggy Carter takes the super-soldier serum instead of him. Let’s just say he won’t be standing around missing all of the action or an opportunity to stomp Hydra.

Marvel’s What If…? starts streaming August 11 on Disney+.

Carmelo Anthony is headed to Los Angeles to finally, after years and years of rumors, team up with LeBron James. Anthony on the Lakers is an exciting prospect, as they will legitimately need him to give the team an offensive punch from the perimeter, but before he makes his way down to L.A., the former All-Star made it a point to show some love to the city where he’s played his ball over the last few years.

Anthony took to social media and expressed his appreciation for Portland, saying that playing for the Trail Blazers helped him reignite his love for the game of basketball.

“Portland, all I can say is thank you,” Anthony wrote. “Thank you for letting me love the game of basketball again. Thank you for welcoming me into your community, and supporting me both on the court and in your city. These two years were some of the most important ones of my career, and for that I’ll always be grateful.”

For all of his accomplishments and how quickly Anthony became an important rotation player in Portland, it is important to remember that there were real questions about when he’d play in the NBA next prior to his joining the team. Anthony and the Houston Rockets parted ways after 10 games in 2018, and then, he sat at home until injuries to the Blazers’ frontcourt meant they needed someone to step in and give them a boost.

Anthony managed to do that, and while he won’t go down as one of the greatest players in franchise history or anything like that, he was a productive member of the team. In two years, Anthony averaged 14.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game.

Detroit icon Eminem has been one of the biggest proponents of the emerging technology of non-fungible tokens, auctioning off an NFT collection of comics, action figures, trading cards, and beats this past April. The collection drew in nearly $2 million in one weekend — which might be the reason why Eminem is now looking to invest further into the tech, announcing his participation in a $30 million round of fundraising for MakersPlace, an NFT marketplace where users can buy and sell the digital artwork.

MakersPlace, launched in 2018, announced the results of its fundraising efforts on its website, noting that Eminem was joined by other notable investors including his long-time manager Peter Rosenberg, NFL player Larry Fitzgerald, and Sony Music Entertainment. You’d have to imagine that now that Eminem and his co-investors have seen the money to be made selling NFTs, they’d want a piece of the digital forums that host the sales as well.

MakersPlace might be one of the most lucrative options. In March, Beeple sold “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS,” a digital work created for Christie’s via MakersPlace, for the most expensive total an NFT sale has garnered to date, over $69 million.

Other artists to get into the NFT game include The Weeknd, Jack White, Gorillaz, and Jay-Z.