Smoke(less)

Making great BBQ is easy. You just need a little patience… right? This week on Smoke(less), Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue, Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge and Vic Barry respond to the claim that anyone with a cheap offset smoker and a little patience can make great barbecue. The guys get into the huge difference between cooking a brisket in the...

What started as a backyard BBQ in Dallas has grown into something nobody could have predicted. This week on Smoke(less), Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge, and Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue sit down with Alice Laussade, founder of Meat Fight, the brilliantly weird BBQ fundraiser that has now raised more than $4 million for the National MS Society....

Before Texas BBQ became a global phenomenon, Wyatt McSpadden was already there — camera in hand, documenting the people, places and traditions that helped define it. For decades, Wyatt has captured some of the most iconic images in Texas barbecue, from the old-school joints of Lockhart and Taylor to the rise of a new generation that would completely transform the scene. In this episode of Smoke(le...

Why are so many Texas BBQ joints closing? Is the Texas BBQ Boom Over? Texas BBQ has experienced an incredible boom over the last decade, but lately some well-known restaurants have been shutting their doors — and this week, Nick Pencis, Justin Fourton and Wayne Mueller ask whether something bigger is happening. Is Texas BBQ simply too expensive? Have we reached peak BBQ? Is the market oversaturate...

Before Jess Pryles became one of the biggest names in live-fire cooking, she was living in Australia, bouncing between careers and travelling to Texas whenever she could. Eventually, she realised her life back home was essentially “on pause” while she waited for the next trip. So she made the move. In this episode of Smokeless, Jess joins Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, Wayne Mueller...

What BBQ advice actually matters and what’s just hype? This week on the Smokeless Podcast, Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ, Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue and Vic Barry get into the questions backyard cooks actually want answered. What should you buy if you want to start smoking brisket and ribs? Are expensive pits really worth the money? What’s the one meat that’s almost impossib...

Thinking about opening a BBQ restaurant? Watch this first. One listener from Oklahoma wrote to the Smokeless Podcast with a dream: to build a BBQ brand and eventually open his own restaurant. But after listening to the show, he started questioning whether opening a restaurant first was actually the right move. In this episode, the guys give their honest advice on how they’d start all over again in...

Sam Jones returns for Part Two with Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue and Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge. This time, the conversation heads deep into the wild places barbecue took them. Sam and Wayne look back on cooking in Maui, spending time at Shep Gordon’s house, feeding Willie Nelson and somehow finding themselves surrounded by chefs, musician...

Sam Jones joins Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue and Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge for a conversation about life, barbecue, friendship and the real cost of success. In Part One, Sam opens up about the serious health scare that nearly took his life, the lasting impact it has had on him and why it forced him to look differently at his work, his fam...

Is pouring beef tallow over brisket actually making it better—or just making dry meat look juicy for the camera? In this episode of the Smokeless Podcast, the guys call out one of BBQ’s most performative trends, break down the real uses for beef tallow, and explain why dumping it over sliced brisket might be more theatre than technique. They also get into the BBQ rules they no longer believe, the...

Tyler Frazer of Tyler’s Barbeque joins the Smokeless boys for part two of a wide-ranging conversation covering Texas beef ribs, rising barbecue prices, the new generation of pitmasters and life behind the scenes at his Amarillo restaurant. Tyler explains why he keeps his beef ribs at just $16 per pound, even as customers elsewhere are paying as much as $75 for a single rib. He also gives us a tour...

Tyler Frazer of Tyler’s Barbeque joins the Smokeless boys to tell the story of how he built one of Amarillo’s best-known barbecue joints from almost nothing. When Tyler opened, he had no money for a sign, paint or staff. His mother ran the register, friends stepped in to help, and the first summer became a full-on family-and-friends operation. Somehow, the business plan he created missed his first...

Fourth of July, fireworks, tornado stories, World Cup crowds, Buc-ee’s, Bass Pro, and the growing international obsession with Texas BBQ. The guys dig into why visitors from around the world are chasing the most American experience possible — and why that often means brisket, gas stations, beaver nuggets, and a trip to a Texas BBQ joint. Plus, an unannounced Texas pitmaster drops in mid-episode wi...

The World Cup is bringing a massive wave of soccer fans to Dallas… but what does that mean for Texas BBQ? In this episode of Smoke(less) , Justin, Wayne and Nick dig into what it actually takes to prep for huge event crowds, why guessing demand during something like the World Cup is almost impossible, and how every day in BBQ can feel like placing a bet. Justin breaks down the challenge of plannin...

The Dark Side of BBQ Success | Quetorials + Primitive Pits Success in barbecue looks like sold-out trays, packed restaurants, and magazine lists — but behind it can be pressure, burnout, unwanted attention, and a serious personal cost. In part two with the Primitive Pits + Quetorials guys, we get into the darker side of BBQ success: the pressure of being “the BBQ guy,” why cooking is often the eas...

In this episode, JJ and JD from Primitive Pits and Quetorials join the Smokeless Podcast for a brutally honest conversation about what really makes great barbecue. From the obsession with tallow and “secret tricks,” to the idea that buying the right pit will magically fix bad cooking, they break down why there are no shortcuts in BBQ. Great food still comes down to skill, instinct, fire management...

BBQ costs more than ever, brisket prices keep climbing, and restaurants are being forced to make some brutal decisions. In this episode of Smokeless, we revisit two of our clearest conversations on the beef crisis to understand why BBQ costs so damn much now. First, Bill Bullard from R-CALF USA explains why he believes the beef market is broken — from packer power and imported beef to country of o...

This episode we dive into how pitmasters handle stress and pressure. Evan LeRoy (LeRoy & Lewis) and Arnis Robbins (Evie Mae's) give us some incredible insights

This episode of the Smoke(less) podcast features three highlights from the show's archives, focusing on the people and stories behind the barbecue industry. Aaron Franklin (Franklin Barbecue):  The conversation explores the importance of the team behind a successful restaurant and the concept of legacy.  Joe Zavala (Zavala's Barbecue):  The discussion covers the personal and busines...

One year ago, three Texas pitmasters started a podcast with no real plan, no studio, and almost no equipment. Now, after conversations with Aaron Franklin, Daniel Vaughn, Tootsie Tomanetz, Matt Pittman, Joe Zavala, Arnis Robbins, Sam Jones and more — the guys behind Smoke(less) are looking back on the moments that defined the first year of the show. In this special anniversary episode, Wayne Muell...

What does it really take to work in a BBQ joint? In this host-driven episode of Smokeless , Wayne Mueller (Louie Mueller Barbecue), Justin Fourton (Pecan Lodge), and Nick Pencis (Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ) answer listener questions and pull back the curtain on the reality of life inside a barbecue restaurant. From fire management and overnight brisket cooks to hospitality, burnout, teamwork, consis...

They say you can’t rush perfection, and you certainly can't record it when the internet decides to pack its bags and leave. In what was supposed to be a deep dive into the world of legendary North Carolina whole hog BBQ with the iconic Sam Jones , we instead found ourselves in a two-hour battle against the digital void. While the "real" interview is being rescheduled (hopefully with a more stable...

Joe Zavala didn’t come from barbecue royalty. No family legacy. No blueprint. Just obsession, hard lessons, and an insane amount of grit. In this episode of Smokeless, Joe opens up about building Zavala’s Barbecue from the ground up, the financial pressure of running a Texas BBQ joint, the brutal reality of nearly running out of money, and how a cancer diagnosis changed the way he sees business, f...

For years, people have lined up at Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas for some of the most respected barbecue in the world. But this conversation is about more than barbecue. In this episode, the Smokeless boys sit down with Tootsie and Kerry from Snow’s BBQ for something quieter, deeper, and far more personal. A conversation about old stories, hard work, community, family, and the world that existed...

From cooking a frozen whole cow in a tornado to building one of the most talked-about BBQ joints in Texas, Evan LeRoy has stories for days. In this episode of the Smoke(less) Podcast, the guys sit down with Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis to talk about his journey from chef to pitmaster, the chaos of food truck life, what makes LeRoy and Lewis different, and how a wild path led all the way to a Mich...