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The Crude Life Podcast: Texas BBQ Celebrity and National Pitmaster Champion - Junior Urias of Up In Smoke BBQ
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The Crude Life Podcast: Texas BBQ Celebrity and National Pitmaster Champion - Junior Urias of Up In Smoke BBQ

The Champ talks about how BBQ is embedded deep in the oil and gas industry.

The Crude Life’s Jason Spiess interviews Texas BBQ celebrity and National Pitmaster Champion Junior Urias of Up In Smoke BBQ.

The National Pitmaster BBQ Champion tells the story of how he won the Destination America Channel’s Pitmaster Championship and was heckled a bit by BBQ icon Myron Mixon.

Urias shares how his experience on BBQ Pitmasters program taught him to appreciate the oil and gas industry and it’s ingenuity. Like the time he was on a national televised show cooking a $500 steak on a $20 grill.

Urias also talks about how he went to BBQ camp as a child to learn his craft.

For more information on Up In Smoke BBQclick here

Below is the raw, unedited transcript from our artificial intelligence translator.

My name is Junior, ... Junior

Junior Urais

yuri is on the line with us, barbecue champion, Is that right now you're, you're, you're a champion in some different competitions. I want to ask you about how you got into barbecue and then if you want to transition that into, I know ahead of time. So spoiler alert folks, he is a barbecue pit master champion. So start with the beginning of how you got into barbecue and transition into, you know, kind of some accolades you've gotten along the

Jason Spiess

way. I used to go to the public, you camp in which we would cook for like 600 people a week long every year and we would do it for seven days, breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything was done over campfires. There was no electricity, no ovens, no, nothing like that. The coffee was, was uh cooked over coals and you know, we used a lot of Dutch ovens and Anyway, that's kind of where we started, you know, I started going back when I was at least 12 years old and uh, at least 30 years we did

that and that's kind of where my barbecue expedition started. Then I started doing cook offs because I enjoyed the sport and people always told me that it was, but I was good at it. So I ended up continuing the barbecue competition. I started traveling all over, you know, texas and then all over the entire United States and we ended up on barbecue pit masters, we were chosen as one of the teams for barbecue pit masters, we went and did the barbecue pit masters and won the texas, you're

Junior Urais

on pit masters that show that I watched when I go in and the hotels and that sort of thing on cable. That, that show barbecue pit masters, the reality

Jason Spiess

show, Absolutely the America and barbecue pit masters and yeah, absolutely. We're on it, it still boggles my mind that we're on it and we did good and you know, it's just grown my business by far.

Junior Urais

I, I chuckled because I had, I wrote down Myron Mixon Pit Masters, I like it is what I got down on my notes and the reason I say that is I got rid of my television in 2007, got rid of my landline in 1997. So I've been like in an early adapter to new technologies, that sort of thing. And so when I go on vacation or travel for business, I get into hotel rooms and that's really where I get my television fixing and that sort of thing.

And I stumbled upon this pit masters show and I gotta tell you it was one of my favorite shows because I love the barbecue and I love the, you know, like the diners drive ins and dives food network thing and it kind of reminded me a little bit of that because you have, each person really has their own flavor and their own style and their own uh, chemistry if you will, when it comes to their different meats and everything.

So talk to me a little bit about that pit masters experience, you know what, what did you cook? What were your sides? Did you get a, get insulted by Myron Mixon? Come on now to share it,

Jason Spiess

you know, it's funny. Uh Jason, we were at san Antonio texas at another cook off. This was on a friday night. We had my trader set up, we're already cooking for the competition. And I got a call. The call was from the barbecue pit masters uh, auditioning person and they had asked me if that if I wanted to be on the show that I needed to be in florida by sunday.

So I was this sunday and he goes, yes, this sunday, can you make it? I said, give me your number, I'll call you right back. So the first thing I did was called several people uh, in florida, it's gonna be based in florida. So I was thinking, wow, I can't, I can't really get my trailer and everything connected right now and it's florida to make it on time.

I mean we have the entire, I mean we're doing the actual cook off. So we had, I mean, you can only imagine all the stuff spread out and we're just getting ready for the cook off. So I said, alright, I contacted one of my good friends lake in florida. I knew he was in florida, I just didn't know how close you were in florida. So I contacted him, he says, I asked him, hey dude, I'm gonna be on barbecue pit masters, I need to use your smoker.

He has a smoker that I used at the at the time. So anyways, I asked him, how far are you from the, where we're gonna film? He goes for about four hours. I said can you do me a favor, can you bring me the pit by sunday? I needed saturday evening, can you have it there for me? And he said yeah, I'll make it happen. So that's how that started. And then uh you know, I flew in from san Antonio to florida, me and uh my buddy that helped me out that weekend, his name's wade mclean and you know, we flew in

with just a couple of bags and some seasonings and uh we ended up, we need barbecue pit masters, the texas uh episode. And then uh anyway, yeah, Myron did give me a lot of help. Uh he was making fun of my pulling on in with just a bag of seasoning and uh some knives and that's it, a few clothes. And what was cool, was there was a steak challenge. So the steak challenge consisted of a, it's funny, I went to walmart before the entire cook off.

I went to walmart to pick up a grill because about you know what, we might need the grill for the quick challenge. So I ended up going to wal mart? I picked up $20 grill? So now a good thing that I say now is uh, you know, I basically cook a $50,000 rib eye on a $20 grill. A

Junior Urais

great story. What a great story I tell you. You know, I want to get to the oil and gas connection in just a second because you've got an interesting story to tell when it comes to your connection with oil and gas. And also I want to talk about some, just some barbecue overview would temperature time smoke water, that sort of thing. Uh Junior, you're aces on the, I'm sorry, Junior curious on the line with us up in smoke barbecue, a pit master champion and I wrote down primitive into

technology as you were kind of talking to answering some of the questions. And the reason I did that was when I first got started in the media. I I started um go back and say the radio days when they actually cut tape and spliced together things to do edits. And in the magazine world where I was when I was in that as well, we had light boards and we would use exacto knives and that sort of thing. And it was a very primitive, primitive way to do the media.

And you know, I, I did that for a few years and then when we transitioned into the digital age, it really gave me an appreciation how to use the digital technology a little bit different I think than a lot of people did you find that going to the barbecue camp and having those primitive barbecue smoke fire elements has really influenced your overall barbecue skills.

Jason Spiess

Yeah. You know, I think, you know, a lot of people are used to just smoking and that's all they know how to do. You know, I I I think for me, reading was a big part of my upbringing and my style of cooking. I think it's a unique way of doing things, you know, I include my grilling also with the smoking. Uh it's a lot of stuff that lot of regular pit masters can do and you know, I hope incorporate both.

I think it's a big need for me to be able to use both. Uh you know, skills, I think they're both different skills and you know, I think I've measured them pretty well. So now I like you said, you know use them together and it just makes me unique individuals out there in the cooking world,

Junior Urais

you know, and the grilling world has gotten pretty technological base too. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we're talking it's it's still time and temperature, isn't it?

Jason Spiess

Absolutely, you know, ... and stuff like that,

Junior Urais

Let's talk a little bit about barbecue itself, you know, what what style do you do? I mean? You know, a lot of people, they say their styles the best And I always say well what style works for you?

Jason Spiess

You know when you talk about, you know there's always ... uh you know even California got its own style but you know over the years like I was saying yeah I've been to cook off and two or three different organizations all over the United States and pick up each you know, trade of each organizations and I kind of incorporated it all into one and using my unique style.

I use it. I really don't have a texas style really so to speak. So you know I think that makes it more universal for me and kind of unique for me to be able to use all the different styles and put it together.

Junior Urais

Do you have a standard type of wood? Do you use a charcoal?

Jason Spiess

Well it all depends when we're cooking Jason but the majority of time we use and when I do my biscuits, when we do steaks we use uh some lump charcoal and also Mesquita. Uh You know when I do pork sometimes like using fruit wood with charcoal, I'll use fruit would you know being peach and sometimes cherry.

I think it imparts a good flavor in the pork. You know when we do rest. Also I all use uh you know come home and some peach or or you know any fruit wood will work good with pork. So that's kind of the way we do it and, and those stars that I used.

Junior Urais

How about when it comes to time and temperature? Are you low and slow or do you like to put a little heat and rush to it?

Jason Spiess

Well, once again, you know, I, ... I, I ... finish it off, you know, even even on steaks, I like, I like to do them hot and fast and I slow down the temperature and I finish them off to a good internal medium. Well, you know, it just really depends on the meat that I'm cooking and the style that I'm doing it for uh, you know, versus smoking. There's, there's a lot of ways of doing it, but for the most part, that's the way I keep it.

Junior Urais

Any opinions on marinades and, and, and dry rubs before after saucing it before and after and you know, spraying it with apple juice, those sort of things, you know, the, the enhancers, if you will, you got any opinion or comments when it comes to those.

...

Jason Spiess

Uh, not only just the flavor different flavors. So you know, for example, on ribs, what I like doing is I'll grind my ribs the night before after I got the trim. I'll use the salt water and vinegar brine for my ribs. So I'll soak them overnight and then that morning I'll prep it, I'll get my seasonings and stuff like that out and, and we do the cook uh, so, you know, you're wanting to have multiple flavors to the meat as much as you can just for the judges and stuff like

that. But you know, for my restaurant, I try to keep it simple, you know, simple sometimes the best. And quite honestly I would eat my restaurant rib over my cook off any day.

Junior Urais

How about when it comes to sides? Do you have a signature side? Do you have, does it vary on the seasonal part of things? Both. Maybe you know when you're doing a backyard barbecue, what do you recommend? Or maybe when you're doing a catering or maybe during a competition, How about, talk to me about sides,

...

Jason Spiess

potato salad? We do uh coleslaw, sweet slaw with a little bit of heat. And then we also do gingers, famous beans, we do some pinto beans, we soak them overnight and then we add some jalapeno and some of our in house made sausage with some onion and we just let that just sit um and slow cook for about 23 hours and well it's just, you know, it's just amazing. But those are some of the things that we do. How

Junior Urais

about sauce? You make your own sauce?

Jason Spiess

We make our own sauce for my catering business. We make our own sauce, we make it, we make a daily uh you know, it's a vinegar and tomato base sauce, you know with a little bit of heat. Once again, you know, I try to import a lot of favors from Kansas city, some of the Carolina because of the vinegars and then of course the texas with, with

the spice. So I incorporate all of them to come up with a unique sauce unique to us and to our business and it accommodates our brisket or ribs and our sausages and it just uh, ...

Junior Urais

barbecue pit master champion Junior yuri is on the line with us talking about barbecue and tips and uh, a few other items to note. And now we're going to transition into the world of barbecue and oil and gas because those two go together so well, I mean you've got guys at drill sites, you know, grilling and then you've got big company, uh, grill sessions and even community ones.

Uh, you know, crude, thinking about the bacon barbecue, for example, talk to me a little bit about your connection when it comes to oil and gas and, and kind of the whole barbecue connection generally with oil and gas as well.

Jason Spiess

Sure. You know, like I said, I started cooking competitions and stuff like that. And I think it's brought me to where I'm at today business. You know, I've created the craft barbecue, what we call it and you know, all of the customers. I love it. The old gas in my area is real big. You know, we're here in midland texas and it is a long gas. That's all it is.

Uh, and you know, we, we are a big company as far as catering. We cater to all the majority of the big old field names and we're very known for um quality high catering business that does very well with barbecue and steaks and stuff like that. We, you know, it's, it's honestly built my business to where it is now. You know, the whole, the whole field and the whole field companies around this area has been good to me and we've been good to them. So, you know, I think, you know, it's that's,

that's where I'm at now, as far as moving on to the restaurant, that's how we're getting built and we're really doing it because, you know, there's a lot of companies and stuff that want us to go ahead and build a restaurant and we're doing it. So I think it's a huge impact, you know, for us to be part of the whole business of oil and gas in this area. And you know, it's not my business to where it is today. Does

Junior Urais

the oil and gas industry ever ask for anything um, off menu I guess? Or do they pretty much just do the regular catering menu?

Jason Spiess

Absolutely. We do, you know, we do the traditional, you know, our chicken sausage, you know, we do that as a, as a normal catering, I would call it, you know, we also do steaks, we don't do steaks for everyone, but if they really want us to do steaks, we do steaks, we do it inch and a half revise. And I'm telling you, they just come out phenomenal. They're just just as good as my barbecue. You know, our recipes are good. So reduced aches also, uh, stakes instrument.

And when we do corporate companies parties, we do, uh, sometimes we get the request to do whole hogs. So we also do whole hogs. That's a, that's a big request that we get. And uh, you know, I think that might be a little, I think that's about where we limited because we want to keep everything. We just don't wanna, sometimes we get asked to do mexican food and stuff like that. But we really try to stick with our barbecue and our traditional menu. And how

Junior Urais

about outside of oil and gas restaurants. You mentioned also, I wrote down sauces. Are you selling distributing sauces anywhere? And what I guess is your restaurant in operation now, is it being constructed? Talk to me about your restaurant and sauces ...

Jason Spiess

On the market for over 10 years created. It actually ... created it. Now. That's, that's what created my thoughts as well. So, you know, our seasoning has been used by teams all over the United States and then now some important countries are using it and they're winning with it on a daily basis. So, you know, the really, honestly, my, my business became created because of my seasonings. That's how I started my entire business.

So junior's rub for grub is a big impact to my business and it's kind of how it was started. So we got that going and then you know we're currently building a restaurant now, Jason, we got the walls up Uh it's a 2500 square foot building, we're gonna make our craft barbecue and you know, so that's that's kind of where we're at right now at this point and we're looking for july late july to open up here in texas.

Junior Urais

Well exciting. You got some new endeavors and you got, it sounds like you'll have a new distribution location for some of your old endeavors. Alright. Any, I like to give guests final thoughts um to let the conversation go whatever direction they want. If they want to reiterate something, if they want to bring up something that we didn't talk about. Floor is yours. Junior Urias up in smoke barbecue.

Jason Spiess

I think being, being here in midland texas is gonna be a good deal for us. It already has been, you know like I said we built our business from nothing. We started from nothing. Uh we are where we're at because of the business here in midland. Uh we've created a good clientele with with the biggest names in the own gas industry. So you know I'm excited for our future in in midland and we will see how any other future cook offs might go as well at the at the time at the moment right now, we're

just gonna be focused with the restaurant, we're gonna try to get it going real good and you know, that's that's what I'm looking for, two right as we speak, and for the next couple of years, that's what we want to keep on pushing, so we'll see how it goes.



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Award winning interviewer and broadcast journalist Jason Spiess and Content Correspondents engage with the industry’s best thinkers, writers, politicians, business leaders, scientists, entertainers, community leaders, cafe owners and other newsmakers in one-on-one interviews and round table discussions.

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Living The Crude Life
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