Hello and welcome to the Life by Design podcast, brought to you by Strategic. This podcast is all about helping you live your great life.

Welcome back to the Life by Design podcast, where we're reaching out to some of, uh, some really interesting people on our network here at Strategic Financial Services to just hear about their life, their career, and, uh, their great life. So today I'm really pleased to introduce you to Matt Abdoo, who is the executive chef and owner of Pig Beach Barbecue, uh, locations in Queens, Palm Beach, Citi Field where the Mets play, and elsewhere.

Um, just a little bit of background about Matt. He's a frequent guest chef on NBC's Today Show, and he's also appeared on the Food Network, uh, as a judge on America's Beat Bobby Flay, The Kitchen, Battle of Brothers, Kitchen Clash, and more.

Uh, Matt got his start at the Culinary Institute of America. He trained in Italy.

Uh, he cooked in the North End of Boston and was chef de cuisine at Del Posto in Manhattan. But before all that, Matt got his start right here in Utica, New York at Cafe Canole.

Isn't that right, Matt? That's right.

My boys, Dean and Jason, they're the- the family that, uh, really just decided to take me in under their wing and start showing me all the ropes when I was merely 15 years old, and really had no idea what I was doing professionally in a kitchen but knew I just loved to cook. So they took a chance on me and I'm exceptionally and forever grateful to both of them.

So let's go all the way back then, Matt, and tell me kinda where you fell in love with cooking. And I kinda know the answer already but it's- it's- it's related to your family if I- if I'd have to imagine.

Yeah. Uh, 100%.

So, I mean, we grew up, right, like your backyard was literally up against my backyard, so, um, childhood friends. Half Italian, la- half Lebanese upbringing.

I had one side of my family always telling me to mangia and the other side telling me to. Both basically mean like eat and be happy.

And, uh, I was just inundated with food at a very young age. I loved how food brought family together.

But I just always loved food. My- my grandmothers on both of my sides always cooked for us.

My mother always cooked for us. And for me, food was that one thing that just always put smiles on people's faces, and I loved doing it.

So, like, my- my earliest food memory is probably when I was, like, 5 years old, making pancakes with my dad on a Sunday. And my dad does not cook.

He likes to say he could- he could burn water. Um, and he's very proud to say that he's been able to, uh, pay for everything that I learn or know how to do today, which is, again, thanks Dad, love you.

Um, but, uh, I- yeah, my first memory with him was probably making pancakes on a Sunday, and for whatever reason, my dad, like, flipped it It was probably Bisquick, Aaron, it wasn't, like- homemade anything. He probably, like, mixed, like, some eggs and water and oil- Yeah.

with box of Bisquick. Um, and he, like, flipped the pancake in the pan, and I thought it was, like, the coolest thing ever, so that became our thing for a little bit, and, you know, 100 pancakes in a few years later, it was pancakes on the ceiling, the floor, the stove, and just making a mess and bombing the kitchen, I finally probably landed one and just thought it was the coolest thing ever.

And thank God, my parents always ine- like, allowed me to make a mess in the kitchen and experiment, and they knew that I loved doing it, so e- it was just, like, my thing. Like, even in junior high and high school, I'd be making cakes and bringing them to school.

Um, in English class, like, d- demonstration pres- presentation was, "This is how you make a cake," you know? And it was, like, the stages, and the swap, and the magic of TV, and when we were coming up, it was just kind of the beginning of when the Food Network was happening and that was just a really cool thing.

And I always thought, "Oh man, how awesome would it be, to be like Emeril Lagasse and just be like, bam!" You know? And get people really excited about cooking and sharing my love and passion for food.

And I just So you had- you had the bug early, early on. You knew- you knew- See, when I was a kid.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

A- and- and, like, I think my parents even tried to slightly dissuade me from wanting to be a professional chef, 'cause, you know, most people know that it's not always the most glamorous lifestyle and it's a lot of long days, long hours. Yeah.

But, um, before I went to culinary school, you know, my dad was like, "I want to make sure you have a bachelor's degree in something. Like, just in case this cooking thing is a phase." Um, so I ended up going to SUNY Geneseo and got a business degree.

Um, prior to going to Culinary Institute of America.. Yeah.

Prior to going to culinary, yeah. But let's bring- Not thing to have.

Well, I mean, it's good. I had a little basic foundation of trying to understand small business and whatnot, so I guess that was beneficial.

But if we can rewind even more, the reason I got my start at Cafe Canole, and again, Dean and Jason, if you're listening, love you guys, thank you again from the bottom of my heart for everything- you've done for me and my family and giving me a- a chance to bomb your kitchen professionally and burn a lot of things- and- and- and still keep me employed. But, uh, I made a cake for my mom, who was working at the guidance office at, uh, Perry Junior High when my dad was teaching there.

And there was, like, some s- uh, staff or something get-together, and Ralph Polito tried this chocolate torte cake that I made and he's like, "Wow, Franny, this- this cake is delicious. Where'd you get it?" She's like, "Matthew made it." He- he's like, "Get out of town.

Really, Matthew?" She's like, "Yeah, I can't stop him from baking. All he does is bomb my kitchen and make a mess all the time.

But his cakes and cheesecakes are pretty good." I got, like, a Hershey's cookbook for, like, a Christmas present or something, and I was, like, cooking every recipe in the book and it was, like, cheesecakes- Yeah. and these chocolate tortes and whatnot.

So Ralph Polito was like, "Hey Fran, you know, I'm- I'm, you know, family friends with the- the Noels over at Cafe Canole. You want to give them a call- Ah.

see if Matthew wants a summer job?" Again, I was 15, I wasn't even old enough to drive yet. And she's like, "Oh my God, that'd be amazing." So, uh, I get a phone call that night and, uh, it's Ralph Polito, he- and he's talking to my mom and my mom's like, "All right, hey, Dean and Jason said if you want to work, like, be there tomorrow at 5:30 in the morning." I was like, "Wow, this is so cool.

I'm in. Let's do it." Yeah.

And then I looked at my mom and was like, "So Mom, can you, like, drive me?" Right. can we leave at 5:00 in the morning so I can be there early?"And, uh, my first day getting in there Again, I didn't even know Dean and Jason at all.

I was 15 years old. Um, I lived in New Hartford.

Cafe Canola was in Utica. I probably had pastries and cakes from there but- Yeah.

never I mean, I'm a kid, you never really put two and two together. And I show up there the first day, it's still dark out at night.

I walk in, say hello, "Hi guys, um, I'm Matt." "Uh, I'm here, uh, Ralph Polito sent me," kind of thing. And, uh, Dean was like, "Come on in.

Come over here." Or Jason, I even forget which one, that was probably Jason. And they put me on the dish pit.

They're like, "Just hang on over here, help wash some dishes until we get all of our cake orders filled. And then we can, we can get you situated and have you start working on something." So every day at Cafe Canola what they would do when they first got there, turn the lights on, turn the ovens on.

They'd f- uh, cut, frost, and fill all the cakes and then after that they'd go into production of all the cookies and baked goods and stuff that they would make. So Dean and Jason were making all the custards and the fillings and like the whipped chocolate sham- whip- whipped chocolate, Godiva cream frostings, the Chambord frostings, the vanilla frostings, and they'd bring these big whips from these floor model KitchenAid mixers, like these massive, like 40 gallon.

And they'd bring them over to the dish pit and there'd be like still like some cream was left on the whip and I'd be like, "Oh my God, this is so cool." I'd be like looking around making sure they weren't seeing me and I'd like wash the dishes and I just thought it was an absolute heaven. Till eventually Dean was done with doing cakes and, uh, he brought me over a pastry gag- bag and a five gallon bucket of cannoli filling.

He's like, "Hey, have you ever used a pastry bag before?" And I was like, "Well, as a matter of fact I have." Yeah, "I'm a 15 year old know-it-all." He's like, "Okay, cool, well, come over here." And he put me in the corner of the restaurant and gave me this 5 gallon bucket of cannoli cream, like 2 boxes of their homemade cannoli shells and basically just said, "Fill all these cannolis until the cream is gone and then we'll get you on the next project." And he showed me how to fill tip to tip. He's like, "Make sure you get all the way to the center.

You don't want to have a hollow cannoli, that's the worst thing ever." And I'm, again, like a kid in a candy store. I was piping the cannolis, like every 5th cannoli I was like looking around squeezing a little bit on my fingertip eating it being like- "This is the greatest thing in the world.

It was so cool." And at the end of the day they're like, "Hey, you did a pretty good job. Come back again tomorrow." And, um- That's how it started, huh?

So I worked for like about 10 years or so. Ah.

That's awesome. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, Del Posto, more high end, like, you know, if, uh, one of the nicest Italian restaurants in the country- Yeah.

in New York City. The only New York Times 4 star Italian restaurant in the city at the time, yeah.

In the city. Amazing.

Amazing. And you've had from there all these opportunities, TV appearances, I know you've been on The Today Show several dozen times now at this point.

Yeah. A couple, couple crazy highlights you can share with us, you know, you know, things that you've done.

I know you mentioned early on you wanted to be Emeril one day but you've cooked with Emeril so like- I have. have.

what are kind of like the standout, what are the moments that you just- Oh my- back and go- God. pinch yourself from the kid who was making cannolis at 15 in Cafe Canola to, "Hey I- I'm at the-" I, well, I think all of that, like meeting your heroes, man.

It's like you grew up watching the Food Network and then when I get a chance to like meet Emeril Lagasse in person and I'm flying on a private plane with Mario Batali to go to his foundation and big gala charity event, it's like, "Holy cow, is this really happening?" And, and then I'll never forget, I think I posted on Facebook when Emeril Lagasse followed me back on like Twitter or Facebook or whatever it was, I like screenshot it. I was like, "Oh my God, Emeril Lagasse is following me on Facebook." It was like the greatest thing in the world.

Um, getting to meet Mario Batali, working for him for 10 years was just like a life changing experience and opened up so many doors and got me to have the opportunity to be the chef de cuisine at this ultra fine dining super fancy restaurant which, again, was really quite surreal. I never thought I would ever get into super fine dining.

But, uh, the executive chef at the time, Mark Ladner, uh, was working at, he was the chef at Lupa, and as they were opening up Del Posto he's like, "Man, I'm gonna be at Del Posto, I'd rather you work for me there. I don't want, want you to work at Lupa." And I was like, "Well, you know, Lupa rustic Roman fare was really kind of what I wanted to do." Pastas and antipasti, salads and things.

He's like, "No, come work at Del Posto," and I was like, "Okay, cool." And I walked in and I was like, "Holy cow." And I'm like, "This is This is next level, this whole place." Yeah. If anyone's never seen Del Posto, go online, check it out.

It's beautiful, beautiful restaurant in, in lower Manhattan. Yeah.

And, uh, I, I just kind of worked my way up the ranks, eventually being chef de cuisine, and when I got to CDC, it just, again, opened up a lot of doors. I got to travel the, the world with Mario and Mark Ladner and, and cook and work with Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay and, like, you, you name it.

A fa- a fancy, famous celebrity chef, like, I got a chance to work side by side with them and just crazy. Like, I got to meet my heroes in the industry when I was- Yeah.

you know, doing all that. So- And it was spectacular.

it That's unbelievable story. Again, all, all from kind of humble beginnings here, hometown guy- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

and then the next thing you're Emeril. And then, like, getting the chance to do the Today Show for the first time, it was in 2014 and, uh, I They We whined and dined them and gave this, like, really spectacular feast.

I was going off with every course, I was shaving truffles, I put together a special menu 'cause my instructions were that Savannah loves Italian food, but it's more like spaghetti and meatballs and chicken Parm kind of Italian food. Back then is when Mark Ladner had made, uh, the hundred layer lasagna sort of a famous thing.

Yeah. So we did that, and I did my grandma's meatballs as a sidecar for it 'cause it wasn't something they offered at the restaurant, but it was something special we did for Savannah.

Savannah was like, "Oh, my God, these are the best meatballs I've ever had in my life." She's like, "Would you ever consider coming on the Today Show and doing these?" I'm like, "Are you kidding? 1,000% I'm in.

Let's do it." So they finished off their dinner, I gave them a kitchen tour at the end, they had a great time. Wasn't really thinking anything more of it than that.

A couple of weeks go by and then I get an email from Savannah Guthrie at NBC Universal and, like, my heart, like, jumped out of my chest. And she And it was like, Today Show Meatballs was the title, and it was like, "Hey, Matt.

Sorry this took so long. I wasn't kidding.

Would still really love to have you on the show. If you're interested, let me know." And I wrote her back, "Absolutely, 100% yes." She's like, "So happy to hear that.

And that was that. Like, it was my first time in 2014, she was probably, like, 7 months pregnant, um, with her first child at that time, and then it became like the talk of the town back in New Hartford and my mom and her friends, they made, like, a baby onesie that I gave to her at the end of the show that said, "Mama loves her, her meatball." And, uh, the Today team took a liking to me and they've been having me back ever since.

So I've been doing Today Show segments for, like, 11 years now, which is kind of- It's unbelievable. crazy Every time you're on, it's awesome.

It's awesome. You're buddies with Roker now, you guys are Oh, yeah.

Uncle Al. That's my guy.

That's my guy. No, everybody there has always been so incredibly kind to me, they make me feel like family every time I'm there, and they've also been super supportive, too, of the Jeff Michener Foundation, the foundation that we started for my brother-in-law when he passed away, my wife's twin brother.

So every year prior to the big benefit that we hold in New York for that, they have me and my family on and we, we, uh, get to do a food demo and then we talk about the foundation, we talk about Jeff, and what's even cooler is that we have Jeff's daughter on, my son on, uh, my nephew Samuel, so we get all the kids on there, um- Yeah. doing that fun segment to promote the foundation and the benefits.

I love you Today Show family from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for everything you've done for me and my family.

You guys are just incredible and I'm always honored every time I asked to be back on. So it's just a really cool story.

So Matt, let's, let's touch on that since you went there. Um, the foundation, again, you created, uh, for your brother-in-law in, uh, in his honor, and I think you just recently finished up, well, I think, like, the 7th or 5th, 6th, 7th annual- It was the 5th, the 5th annual barbecue benefit.

5th. Okay.

Uh, we missed 2 because of COVID. Oh, you missed 2 because of COVID.

I know it started in 2019. Yeah.

So tell us a little bit about the foundation and the event 'cause it's a pretty amazing event where you get some of the best- Yeah. Um, so Jeff Michener, my wife's twin brother, was the, one of our opening executive chefs at Pig Beach when we first started as a pop-up in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

The foundation raises money for scholarships for graduating students that share Jeff's passions of golf and culinary arts, it can be either or both, and it also helps provide financial relief for families that have lost a loved ones, helping to cover- Mm-hmm. funeral costs or therapy sessions or just networking, bringing people together to share whatever emotional experiences 'cause being together in a group kind of helps the healing process.

We pair it alongside with a bunch of, uh, spirits and beer sponsors like Tito's, Anheuser-Busch, huge supporters of everything that we've done, and, uh, we put on this awesome party, man. Like food from all over the country.

yeah. Like if you're in, if you're into barbecue, it, it's kind of crazy.

And it's just, it's crazy because the only other places where you get all these guys together in the same spot is like Memphis in May, the Jack, like the Royal- Competitions. which are the biggest competitions in barbecue in the country.

Yeah. It's something that's really special, it's really exciting, it's really fun, and, um, you know, if, if some form of tragedy has to happen and you're able to put something kind and good on the backside of it like this- Yeah.

um, it's just a way of getting to, to remember who, who Jeff was and have his little girl Haze kind of grow up, um, seeing her father in this sort of light and being remembered that way. Yeah.Very cool.

Yeah. So if you're in the New York City area in April, the, the annual benefit happens every year, and you can go.

Yep, every year, last Saturday in April. Put try some of the best barbecue in the country.

That's it, yeah. And even if you don't wanna eat, you can drink.

It's all you can eat, eat and drink, the whole day, so. So how did that happen?

And- Yeah. This all happened because of my co f- my, the founder of Pig Beach Barbecue, my business partner, one of my dear friends, Rob Schauger, he was an investor at Del Posto and a regular there, and we became friendly.

And during, uh, a summer, Mark Ladner was working on a new menu of Abruzzo, the region of Abruzzo in Italy, and wanted to see if there was any correlations with American barbecue to Italian barbecue in the region of Abruzzo. But anyways, our wine director at that time, Jeff Porter, was born and raised in Texas, he had a lot of connections, so he set up this awesome barbecue tour trip.

So he tagged along on this trip. We went to like 5 different barbecue spots a day for 3 days.

Um, I had to stop after day one and buy like fiber pills because I thought I was gonna like go into like a meat coma. And, uh, we became really good friends on that trip, and then he invited me out to his home in, in Long Island on the weekends.

I was, you know, I had weekends off 'cause I got to kind of choose my schedule and he's like, "I barbecue every weekend at my house. Anytime you wanna come over, spend the night.

We got an extra room. In my first year there doing it, we got first place in poultry and second place in whole hog, and it was like, "What the hell just happened?" Yeah.

When a New York team was called to final, the whole park got silent because they're like, "What are New Yorkers doing in Memphis in May and finalling?" Yeah, it And we did it rain or shine throughout the summer. Jeff was the, the, the chef there.

I was still the chef de cuisine at Del Posto as we were kind of transitioning to see if this project had any merit. And after the first year of doing it, uh, we had so much success and so much love from the community that they wanted us to come back year-round, and we, uh, I left El Posto.

We renovated the decrepit building that was attached to our gravel parking lot, paved the parking lot, got a bunch of picnic tables outside there, like put in, like, a Rinky Dink s- uh, sound system, and Pig Beach was born that year of, uh, 2016. Mm-hmm.

So since then, we've just been pushing hard and we opened up, um, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Gowanus, Brooklyn, got rezoned during- Yep.

kind of, like, the COVID era, so we got forced out of that location. But we saw that coming so we opened up another mega ship location in Astoria, New York.

we're in Citi Field for the Mets. If you like baseball, come see us.

And we just recently teamed up with a pickleball concept in Boston called PKL, where, uh, we're doing Pig Beach barbecue food at their PKL Pickleball Court place, which is just dynamite. Like, pickleball and barbecue, it's so much fun, such a cool space.

And- I saw pictures of that. It looks unreal.

So there's a full- Yeah. indoor pickleball facility?

Yeah. And- 5 courts, there's 55 indoor pickleball courts.

Yeah, there's, like, 2 shuffleboard courts, they have cornhole. It's a two big bars, it's just a cool hang.

Like, our whole brand about Pig Beach is we- we pride ourselves in our barbecue. Like, we like to say that we're chef-driven barbecue.

When we created our barbecue, we wanted to give ode to the classical barbecue regions, and I will never sit there and say to anybody that we make better brisket than Texans or we make better pulled pork or whole hogs than Carolinians, or anything like that. But what we do like to say is, we like to do our best representation of those classic barbecue regions and put our sort of chef spinny twist onto it with whatever flavor profilings or seasonings or spices that we do, because it's- it's, uh I will never, ever try to compete against a Texan in anything that they do.

Um, there's a lot of pride, and they make some really good brisket. But one of the best compliments I can ever get is when I do have a Texan come in, "Man, I'm from Texas and this brisket is just as good as anything we got down there." I was like, "Y- y- That's pretty good.

you Yankees are doing some pretty good stuff." So that kinda means the world to me, that means we're doing something right and we're resonating with those nostalgic flavors of- of people's youths from the area where these, uh, regional dishes were born. And that's really just what we wanna do, but more so than anything, we wanna create a fun, hip environment.

We love our sports. All of our locations have big TVs, or Jumbotrons for that matter.

Uh, we had a huge following and showing for the Knicks. Let's go Knicks- Yeah.

hopefully over points Queen- your Queens location is crushing the Knicks playoff run, huh? The Panthers, they just sneaked by Toronto in that last hockey game.

There we're pushing for the Panthers down in Florida. Um, I would like to say Boston, sorry Celtics, but let's go Knicks anyways, you know?

Yeah. know it.

But it's been, it's been a dream and I've gotten a chance to- to still cook for the masses within doing this barbecue project. And the reason that caused this transition outside of becoming friendly with Rob and winning these barbecue competitions and doing all these things, is that for me, having the modest means and growing up what it was and family was always like the center focus of everything, and food was always the center focus of the family.

I always wanted the food that I created to be available to the masses, and I just kinda- Sure. got to a point within Del Posto where it was price prohibitive for most.

Like, if you were to go there for dinner, you were in for a minimum of, like, 250 bucks a head, and that's if you kept it light. Um, but nonetheless, like I- I- I just kinda got to the point where I always wanted I always felt guilty when my friends or family wanted to come in and eat there.

And like to your point, uh, you know, $500 for a 2top, for me, that's a lot of money. I think- Yeah.

for anybody, that's a lot of money. Yeah.

I mean, that's for some people, making a week. And it was just a way of me still taking sort of that epicenter culture of food being the center for everything.

And, uh, she'd start that super early in the morning and then we'd have dinner on the table by 4:00. And for me that was barbecue, right?

Like, you woke up super early, or you went to bed really late, you put a brisket or a pork shoulder on, you let it- Smokers going. for 12 hours.

Yeah. And then you had a big feast of your friends and family together at the end of it to celebrate this meal that you- you'd created.

And that to me just kind of resonated a lot with my Italian heritage of my grandma doing the same thing of those low and slow long cookings and then bringing everybody together afterwards for a big meal and putting smiles on their faces. And for- for me, it was like, my mother and my grandmothers, like their best way of- of representing their love for us was the nourishment that they would give us and the food- Mm-hmm.

they'd cook for us. So for me, if I'm able to do that and I can put a smile on your face, or I can make you have a memory that says, "Remember that time we were at Pig Beach and we had this?

Remember that time at Pig Beach and that couple got married?" Or, "We had my 30th birthday party," or whatever, and I've been able to create this sort of memory that's been locked in time for you, then I've succeeded. And that's my goal- Yeah.

is just to put smiles on people's faces. Nurt- nurture them with the food that we create, create these amazing memories for them, and hopefully a big smile on their face where they'll keep coming back and supporting us so I can continue to have the opportunity to do it again and again.

Well, having known you for a long time, it's unbelievable to see your passion from when I met you in high school, through your work in college, to all the restaurants you've been a part of. I think I've been to almost all of them, if not all of them.

You have. You have.

You've been to, like, every single location I've ever worked at. From Boston, to New York, to d- I mean, it's amazing.

The D- yeah. But it's just- To Florida.It's just so cool to see someone who's been able to follow that passion and turn it into their career, but also their life and their way of giving back to the community, their family, and so many other people.

So, it's pretty awesome that you've been able to do that. That's what this podcast is about, is just hearing your, your story about, um, kind of, life, your great life.

So, um- Thank you. your story.

Uh, certainly your foundation for your brother-in-law. heading outside hopefully.

Mm-hmm. I've got a barbecue champion sitting across from me here.

Well, the best tip I can give anybody listening to this podcast, whether you're grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, or steaks or chicken, go on Amazon or go to your local hardware store and buy yourself an inexpensive digital instant-read thermometer. The only way that you can truly tell when those things are perfectly cooked is with a digital instant-read thermometer.

Um, another great 1 Everybody, everybody should get one of the, uh, like even though he's a little- Everyone ba- backyard warrior like me- Doesn't I should have one of those. Doesn't matter.

From the beginner cook to the professional, I still use mine every single day. It's a nece- Alright.

it's a tool. It's a necessary tool in the same way your computer is for entering in all your, your information and data- You can go out there and get the Pig Beach Barbecue Cookbook, um, written by myself- Let's go.

and McBride. It's got a lot of great recipes, a lot of great tips and tricks in there, and, uh, all the heart and soul of Pig Beach Barbecue basics that we do at the restaurant, which is really exciting and cool.

And for us, if we said we're gonna have a barbecue, it meant like hamburgers and hotdogs- a good hotdog, yeah. maybe some chicken skewers kind of thing, right?

Yeah. Beef kebabs.

But barbecue is fundamentally, um, low and slow cooking with the application of fire and smoke. Um, but you don't always have to fire up a smoker to have a great barbecue on the weekends.

Hm. Gas is obviously very convenient.

Right. Invest in a charcoal chimney, they cost about $25.

Chimney, mm-hmm. You can get little kindling tumbleweeds from Royal Oak.

definitely invest in a chimney starter if you're working on charcoal. Yep.

Best way to get that fire going. And the last thing I'll s- How about about, like, if- Oh.

every you know, I want to get out of the world of burgers and dogs. What's the next best place for me to go to really do something cool and unique that I, e- everybody can, kind of, do?

A- absolutely. Uh, well, what I like to teach people on is pork shoulder because it's an inexpensive cut of meat and you can be fully invested in a pork shoulder, 20 to 30 bucks.

It's gonna take yourself 10 to 12 hours to cook it. Don't you gotta wait.

You gotta let it rest for, like, an hour. The brisket and pork shoulder- Wow.

and all that time you invested into making it is just gonna be completely thrown away by getting too excited and wanting to eat it too soon. So let it rest.

And that's a hard to do. It's hard to.

I've been back- Sure, it at Smoker's behind Pig Beach, and I've seen all the unbelievable big cuts of meat, and I can say- Yeah. yeah, it smells pretty darn good.

It's hard to probably- Yes, it wait a little bit before you touch, touch it. Yeah.

That's the other great thing on the weekends, too. Your neighbors are like, "What are you cooking over there?" Yeah.

"There's really something fun happening." Other than they're calling the fire department 'cause they think your house is burning down, but, to each their own. That's awesome.

Well, I appreciate you giving us some tips for, uh, again, those of us who are just doing it, you know, at home on the weekends from a professional. Thanks for sharing your story.

Thanks for sharing, um, you know, your great life. And, uh, if you wanna find Matt, check him out online.

You can find him all over the place, YouTube, Today Show. Be on the lookout for Chef Matt Abdoo from good old Utica, New York.

That's right. go.

Humble beginnings, now professional chef. And look for more coming from Pig Beach in the future.

Awesome. Aaron, thank you so much for having me, pal.

This was such a pleasure and a treat to get to chat with you. Appreciate it, Matt.

Thanks for taking some time. You bet.

We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, brother.

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