From: bbq@listserv.azstarnet.com

Date: 7 Apr 97 06:12:42 -0500

Subject: I'm BAAaaaacckkkk!!!!

A big Howdy Ho to one, and all!

This is just a note to let you all know that I'm back home with a brand, spankin' new pit, and rarin' to go! Tomorrow will be spent cleaning all of the road grit off, and then taking it down to the DMV for registration. Then I think that I'll do few hundred laps around town to show it off! I think that I'll drive by the local Q shops real slow, just to let them know that there's a new boy in town, and he's well armed!

I bare my bald spot to Dave Klose and his gang on building me an awesome pit. I hope that my cooking abilities will do it justice over the years. Thanks Dave. And chances are, they will, thanks to Danny Gaulden.

Up until just a few days ago, I really didn't have any modern day heroes. Then I was fortunate enough to meet, and get to know Danny. This man is truly a master Q-man! And I mean a master!

I think that there are a lot of folks on here who have no idea just how knowledgeable he is about BBQ. I think that some of us have discounted his abilities just because he operates out of a Dairy Queen! Well, you/we are all grossly mistaken.

I did some number crunching one morning while I was there. It turns out that ol' Danny boy AVERAGES over 1,600 pounds a week of BBQ! And that's not counting the meats that people bring in for him to smoke! i.e. Thanksgiving turkeys, venison, and even the occasional rattle snake! And let me tell you this is all because he produces a GREAT product! There is not a single sign anywhere on the outside of his building that advertises the fact that he sells BBQ. The only place that it's mentioned is on the back lit, marquee type, menu inside the shop. That's it! At lunch, and dinner times, his parking lot fills up, whereas the other fast food shops in town don't. I drove around to see for myself, and they really don't. He just produces a great product, consistently.

I'll confess right now, that probably more than 60% of what I "thought" I knew about Q, has been tossed, and replaced with what Danny so graciously taught me. No longer will I waste my time with a lot of the "prep" that I used to do. Oh, I may have to do some of it for competition sake, ( which only makes me wonder how good competition level Q really is) but for my own personal, and commercial Q I will now do things a lot differently. No longer will time and inner temperatures be the deciding factors of when something is done or not.

Thanks, gratitude, and the tipping of the bald spot go to Danny Gaulden, Master Q-Man, Great Guy, and I'm proud to say, my friend. If any of you are wondering whether or not to attend the Chat & Chew in Carlsbad, NM this June, let me encourage you to do so. I promise you that it will be worth the trip! If for no other reason than to get a look at his operation and taste some really GREAT Q! Plan on being there!

I'll write more later of my trip through Texas and New Mexico and about some of the Q joints that I came across. Also, about the biggest white man that I've ever seen!

My thanks again to Dave Klose and Danny Gaulden.

Rock

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