Hey Y'all! Welcome back to Que-Licious!
I thought I would take a few minutes and introduce the dynamic duo behind Whiskey River BBQ...
Stephanie (me) & JD.
My name is Stephanie and together with my best friend, love of my life, and partner in swine Jim (JD for short) we make up Whiskey River BBQ. It should come as no surprise that our first date was at a barbecue joint in West Virginia and I do believe the business plan for Whiskey River was conceived that very night. We quickly discovered we both had a love of smoked food, cooking for our family and friends, and creating memorable dishes with lots of flavor be it in the kitchen or in the backyard over a fire. As you may have guessed by our name, we have a "slight fondness" for Jack Daniels and we do cook with Whiskey...sometimes we even put it in our food. We believe that good barbecue is all about an unmistakable flavor combination that you can't get enough of and that the cooking method should be authentic by smoking quality meats low and slow over a wood fire. That's just what we do when we create our unique flavor combinations which has led us to the next phase in our barbecue adventure...packaging and distributing our products. I'll cover this part in future blogs so for now, just sit back and get to know who we are, where we came from, and where we want to be on this smoke-filled whiskey-soaked barbecue journey.
My facination of cooking with a wood fire dates back to my childhood, long before the Steven Raichlen's and Paul Kirk's of the world, sitting in my grandma's kitchen while she cooked on her cast iron wood buring stove. The gentle sound of a cracklin' fire, the sound of the cast iron skillet sizzling sage sausage from a freshly butchered hog, and her smile while she was cooking set me on the path I am pursuing today. The barbecue part didn't enter my life until the early 90's while living briefly in both North Carolina and Texas. Talk about lessons in barbecue! For JD, it was a similar influence when his dad use to cook his famous stuffed peppers, cabbage rolls, or anything else! His dad would take a few simple ingredients and create unforgettable flavor combinations. Imagine if you will picking the right pepper, stuffing it with a sensational pork sausage/ground sirloin mixture, and topping it off with fresh canned tomato juice...Oh My Goodness! The ability his dad had to combine just the right ingredients was not lost on his son...believe me! Just as my grandmother inspired me to use high quality meat prepared over a wood fire, JD was just as inspired by the flavor infused foods passed down to him by his dad. He became facinated with smoking food when his mom bought him an electric smoker one year and has been smokin' ever since. Together...we are cookin' up so pretty darn good food!
Some of the best memories in our lives were created at the kitchen table, surrounded by family and friends, and that is what we want Whiskey River BBQ & Catering to bring to your table. I guess you could say we've been preparing for this adventure in barbecue for quite some time. We are dedicated to preserving the memories of our mentors in cooking by keeping those recipes and cooking methods alive through our food and products we create because of their influence. And we want to share our creations with you!
So where do we want to be one, two, or five years from now...still smokin'! The next few blogs will touch on how we tested our product and how Whiskey River BBQ & Catering came to be. Believe it or not, it was as simple as a backyard Pig Pickin"!
Keep Cookin' Y'all!
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