What’s good out there?

Liquid Trucking.

Welcome to episode 13 of the Liquid Trucking podcast.

As always,

I’m your fearless host,

Marcus Bridges.

Thank you all for being here today.

Uh I want to take my hats off to everyone at Liquid.

I’m talking from the tank wash all the way to the top.

You guys really showed out last week,

we had our most downloaded episode uh,

since we started the podcast all those weeks ago was last week’s episode about the changing legislation for marijuana across the United States.

There was a lot of really good info in that episode and,

uh,

if you haven’t checked it out yet,

I’d be surprised because I think just about everyone has,

but it’s over there again.

Episode 12 in your feed,

just go ahead and click it and don’t forget to head on over to Liquid trucking.com and check out our new podcast page.

Uh We’re right at,

at the top there.

When you open that website,

you click the learn more button that will get you in touch with me,

that will get you in touch with all of our episodes.

And it will also show you a brief little picture of who’s coming on the episode and what we’re talking about.

So great resource for you there.

If you’re trying to uh make the Liquid Trucking Podcast,

part of your weekly podcast roster.

On top of that today,

I’m actually really excited about today’s show because it has to do with one of my favorite things in the world and that is simply food.

Uh We are talking about food on the road today and,

you know,

over the life of,

uh,

of me podcasting here,

I’ve gotten to talk to some really cool people and,

uh,

actually it was just over a year ago.

So Thanksgiving 2022 I was fortunate enough to talk to a lady who,

her name was Tammy and she made a Thanksgiving dinner in the cab of her truck while she was rolling OTR and then she would actually stop at various truck stops wherever she was gonna pull in for the night and share Thanksgiving dinner with fellow drivers at the truck stop.

It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard.

I had so much fun talking to her about it.

She got so much joy out of sharing,

uh,

really good meals with people and that’s kind of what today’s episode is about.

We’re gonna jump in and talk to polar bear as well as Matt Cle.

Uh,

of course,

if you don’t know him by polar bear,

then what are you doing?

Uh,

his name is Brian Elmquist,

but we call him polar bear.

And,

uh,

Matt Clee,

those guys cook for the entire employee Jamboree.

And when you hear how much food they cook for everybody at liquid,

uh,

it’s a little bit mind numbing.

Uh,

it’s crazy to know that they put in that much work and cook that much food for that many people.

But they also eat really well on the road and it’s because they take a little bit of time on their home,

time to prep some food to make some good stuff for their families.

Then they just get to take it along with them.

I’m also going to talk to Alex Shevchuk Liquid Driver for the second week in a row.

Uh because after we got off the phone last week talking to him and Alex Junior,

Alex was like,

man,

I got,

I got this Instagram page.

He showed me all these great meals that he makes.

That guy can get some stuff done in the kitchen.

All right.

And we’re gonna talk to him about some of the things that he does to try to stay healthy out on the road.

He’s got a lot of really good tips.

He’s even got a couple of recipes to share with you.

And I am also going to share with you a championship chili recipe later on in the show.

Uh What is a championship chili recipe?

I’ll explain it.

Just wait,

this is what we call a tease.

In the podcast industry.

Can’t tell you right now,

can tell you I was thinking about it my favorite meal,

hands down,

like,

let’s talk death row meals.

What are you getting the last time you’re getting it?

And for me,

I gotta be honest with you guys,

I think it’s a steak.

I think I just want a good seared steak.

Maybe.

Reverse seared,

you know,

where you smoke it on the smoker for a little bit and then you sear it off in the cast iron or you bake it in the oven for a little and then sear it off in the cast iron with some tallow.

I want a loaded baked potato man.

Give me everything on it,

please.

And extra bacon.

Um,

and I guess like a side salad or something,

but that’s just at this point we’re talking,

you know,

that’s semantics.

I don’t even care about that.

Bring it out if it makes you feel better,

but give me the meat and potatoes.

Uh That’s the type of guy you’re dealing with here today.

So understand that as we get moving on this episode about food on the road right here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Welcome to the Gold Standard of podcast for the Gold standard of Drivers.

This is the Liquid Trucking podcast with your host,

Marcus Bridges.

I’m very excited about this next segment as we’re gonna get a couple of drivers here on the line to talk about the gourmet food that they’re capable of making not only out on the road but in the parking lot as well.

Uh,

I’ve got one of your favorites on here with me right now.

It’s polar bear.

What’s good out there?

Polar bear?

Uh,

not bad.

Glad to be on air again with you and just running across the state of Ohio towards Pennsylvania.

Brilliant.

I love it.

And also joining us today we’ve got Matt Clee out there,

Matt,

how you doing,

buddy?

I’m doing great.

I’m down here in sunny Texas.

It’s 74 and I’m headed up to Oklahoma.

Perfect.

That sounds like a great weather out there.

I mean,

have you,

have you,

uh,

changed into shorts and gone with flip flops at this point or are you still in boots,

uh,

boots and jeans,

jeans and shoes,

just the norm?

Ok.

All right,

I got you now.

Polar bear.

Uh,

you and I have been kind of chomping at the bit to get on the phone with each other because we got to talk a little bit of football before we let this thing go everywhere or go anywhere else.

You versus me,

you versus me in the Super Bowl,

my friend 49er versus Chiefs.

How are you feeling about your squad right now?

You know,

um this is when both of them come alive.

I mean,

like I said,

this was Super Bowl 54 recap.

So I’m just like I,

when we took on the Ravens,

I wasn’t very confident that we were gonna win and,

yeah,

this is,

this is it,

do it or go home.

So,

I’m,

I’m really confident I really am.

You know,

the nice thing about the Super Bowl has always been,

uh,

if your team,

if you’re lucky enough to have your team make it,

you know,

that,

uh,

the Sunday following the Super Bowl,

you’re playing golf,

it doesn’t matter whether you win or you lose,

you’re playing golf.

So that’s the thing you want to do.

Exactly.

That’s the thing I’m looking forward to,

uh,

been a 49er fan my entire life.

And,

uh,

it’s been shaky for us here in the,

uh,

in the playoffs in the Super Bowl these last few years,

but we’re gonna try it again,

man.

It should be a good game.

I’m really looking forward to it.

Pat Mahomes is no slouch.

And to go back in history,

Lamar Hunt,

the owner of the Chiefs is who really got this started and going,

you know,

they’re 1969 is when the,

you know,

they decided to have the 68 was when they decided to have the best teams.

A FL and,

and NFC.

Then to go at each other,

figure out who the best teams were.

And I,

I’ve seen all that video of Hank Stram on the sideline calling,

uh,

whatever 65 Power Trap or whatever it was that he used to love to call.

Keep articulating down the field.

Keep articulating.

That was his favorite word.

Keep articulating.

You’re doing it right.

Yeah.

Well,

man,

if you ever want to start a football podcast,

Polar Bear,

you and I can talk about this for hours on end,

I’m sure.

So.

Yes,

we can,

can’t we,

Matt?

Yes,

you can do whatever you want be there.

Well,

I’m just saying on Monday morning,

uh,

we get together and I talk football and a couple other guys,

we,

uh,

we got what we call the teenage hotline.

We do the same thing here.

We got four or five of us together and talk about nothing but everything that’s important to us.

I get you.

I get you.

I’ve been curious about this teenage hotline since I heard about it.

Uh,

does that get its name from all the gossip or what’s,

uh,

why is it called the Teenage?

It got its name a couple of years ago.

It started out about three years ago actually.

And,

and just one driver went to the next,

started shooting the crap and then we added somebody in and then they stuck around and then we’d meet somebody and we’d throw them in.

We’d find out if they clicked with us and,

and then,

uh,

you know,

it,

it just,

it went,

kept growing and growing and growing.

We’ve had some leave and we,

we say if they’re gonna be it on the teenage hotline,

you gotta be thick skinned because it’s an aggressive room.

We do.

If you’re gonna do,

if you’re gonna do a podcast,

that would be the one that you’d have to definitely have paid because the FCC ain’t like it.

I hear you talk about everything.

So I’m sure that nobody ever bitches about their day on the teenage hotline.

Right.

That’s never something that yes,

we do.

So,

this is all today.

This is also where we have it.

So if somebody’s having a bad day or,

I mean,

we even get families involved,

you know,

what’s going on at home,

somebody’s gonna have tomorrow off because the kid’s gonna have a surgery or kids gotta go,

you know,

we even go that far.

I mean,

it’s,

I,

I don’t know if I’m,

I take credit for it.

I don’t know if I’m the one that called it,

but we’re just,

we’re just four or five or 6,

15 year old kids got nothing to talk about,

but we can stay on the phone for 1012 hours at a time.

That’s amazing.

Matt,

what’s the longest you’ve ever been on the,

uh,

the teenage hotline for?

I hold the record almost 15 hours with one of our previous drivers.

15 hours.

So that covers,

that covers you on your break,

that covers you hanging out,

that covers every part of your day.

Yeah,

we just,

sometimes you just hang the headset up and drive down the road and they’ll talk,

people will talk,

you mute it.

You’ll go,

you’ll go eat,

go unload,

go load,

you know,

do your stuff.

And,

you know,

there,

there’s three primary guys.

There’s myself polar bear and Johnny Fry.

Uh,

we all hold the call if I don’t feel like being the master of ceremonies.

B bear does it or Johnny,

vice versa.

And,

and so,

yeah,

I,

I hold the record though with a gentleman named Brad Johnson.

He’s no longer with the company,

but yeah,

it was him and I,

well,

let’s hope he didn’t get fired for being on the phone too much.

No,

no,

you got tired of bad choices.

You go through a lot of headsets.

I can tell you that.

I’m sure you do.

I’m sure you do fellas.

Well,

listen,

uh,

this is great.

We’re definitely gonna have to get the teenage hotline on the podcast at some point in time in the future.

I’ve always said that.

Yeah,

I think it would be fun.

Yeah,

there’s no reason not to.

I mean,

if nothing else just let me be a fly on the wall and,

uh,

you know,

I,

I can talk enough for everybody but I’ve learned to shut up in my day from time to time and just sit back and watch it happen.

So,

uh,

I would love to get you guys all on.

Yeah,

I would love to get you guys all on in the future.

I really don’t know,

feedback.

We should have shot out how long we can spend on the phone.

Yeah.

Well,

he,

he that out.

Yeah,

he shuts us off when it’s time though.

That’s the thing.

He has a call.

Yep.

That’s true.

That’s true.

I’ve got control of everything over here.

So,

you know,

I can leave this call.

You guys can keep talking.

That’s totally fine with me.

But,

uh,

oh,

we probably would.

Yeah.

Well,

guess what,

when you,

when you,

when you kick us off,

we go back to the teenage hotline,

they’re on the other line.

They’re just waiting.

Ok,

cool,

cool.

Well,

uh well,

we’ll definitely get the teenage hotline on the show sometime in the future.

I’d love to do that,

but I want to talk to you guys a little bit about why we came here today.

Um,

you know,

we were talking about doing an episode about food on the road.

We got a lot of drivers out there that like to do some meal prep.

They like to cook in the cab while they’re rolling.

Um,

and Jason Eisenman popped up and he said,

hey,

did you know that polar bear and Matt Clee cooked for our entire employee Jamboree?

And that was like,

you know,

a bunch of people,

I think he said somewhere around like 2,

300 people,

some crazy amount like 2 52 80 I think.

Yeah,

the total count was 280.

Wow,

that’s amazing.

So walk me through that.

First of all,

how do you go about planning a meal for 280 people?

And second,

how in the hell do you cook for that many people?

You got like,

17 kitchens at your disposal.

What’s going on here?

Just start to finish.

I’ve been,

I’ve been barbecuing now for all,

let’s say,

2020 plus years and,

and smoking and barbecuing and cook has always been a favorite thing of mine.

I,

I should have been a chef but I never was,

um,

it,

it comes about planning and,

and,

you know,

a lot of homework and research,

you know,

you gotta find out what meal speed was.

And so when polar bear came up with the idea to do this,

Jamboree said,

hey,

Matt,

reach out with Jason.

I reached out to Jason.

We got this rolling.

He said,

let’s get a number.

We got a head count.

As soon as we started getting the head count,

we started planning food and,

and once,

once you start planning the food,

you know,

you get an idea,

hey,

we’re gonna cook for 300 people.

What feeds 300 people as far as me.

And of course,

you gotta go off like a caterer side,

a website or like,

I’ve got PDF files that I look at just to see what I’m gonna do to feed that many people and then I just calculate it out.

It came down to,

I think we had,

uh,

it was,

what was the polar bear.

Uh,

how many racks of ribs did we do?

We did.

No,

it was,

yeah,

it was 100 pieces of chicken,

the chicken.

And what,

what kind of hardware did you have to do that much meat with?

I got an $8000 barbecue grill sitting in my house.

That’ll do it.

I hear,

uh,

well,

barbecue grill that’s worth as much as a car will definitely take care of 300 people.

Um,

yeah,

um,

can do up to 750 hot dog every 15 minutes.

Wow,

that’s amazing.

So,

it,

it’s a,

uh,

I got it from a group of guys down in Kentucky called Sling and Steel custom smokers.

Um,

it’s built,

it’s built by,

uh,

uh,

the Amish over in Pennsylvania for Sling and steel and then they ship it to you and I spent $8000 on it and it’s made its money back 1010 times,

I suppose.

That’s so cool.

I’ve done quite a bit.

I can do,

uh,

I can do,

uh,

what is it?

369 £20 turkeys at one time,

you know,

which isn’t a lot compared to some people,

but it’s a lot when you think about it,

you know,

when you don’t see it done.

Yeah.

II,

I,

the amount of times I’ve needed more than one turkey in my life.

Uh,

I can count on one hand so,

you know,

to be able to have nine at your disposal.

That’s a pretty cool deal.

So you guys pull this,

uh,

grill or this smoker right up to the terminal there and just do everything on site.

Everything happens right on site.

We fire it up,

it’s wood and charcoal fire.

There’s no propane so she can be a bit tasty,

you know,

when she wants to.

And,

uh,

you just get her up to temp and rock and roll.

Depends on what you’re gonna do if you’re gonna smoke,

you know,

less,

less heat,

less fire,

if you’re gonna barbecue like we did,

you know,

you get her up 6,

700 degrees and just let it go.

We started at 230 in the morning that morning to do that event.

And what time did you eat?

We served right at noon.

Yeah,

I mean,

yeah,

we served at noon but Matt and I didn’t eat until one.

I don’t even know if he ate,

but it was 1130 when I finally ate,

it was close to five when I ate something.

So that’s,

see,

that’s interesting.

Matt,

because I,

I,

my experience coming,

uh,

from my,

my tailgating for the Oregon Ducks football games.

I might have to cook for 30 maybe 40 people.

I’ve done,

you know,

once or twice and I notice all the time my wife is always coming around asking,

you know,

what can I help with?

What can I do?

And then the last question she’ll ask is,

have you eaten yet?

And I will have been in front of the grill for four plus hours at that point in time and I will have not put one thing in my mouth.

Why is it that those of us,

that man,

the grill don’t ever eat until it’s all said and done if you step back,

how much do you pick at it though?

Yeah,

I,

I’m not gonna say that because I don’t want anybody to tell me,

I don’t want him listening.

But,

uh,

yeah,

probably you,

you,

you’re,

you know,

you’re the head cook and bottle washer,

you gotta do it all.

You get to taste the food and everything,

you know.

So you pick,

you know,

um,

I don’t,

I,

I generally have a rule as I don’t eat and tell whatever I’m doing,

the people are sure and they’re,

they’re,

they’re going through it one or two rounds.

You know,

that’s a really good philosophy to have.

That makes you everybody’s favorite barbecue grill cook,

I’m sure because,

uh,

it means they’re never gonna go without,

you might,

but they’re not going to.

So,

I mean,

but he also does it for like somebody that has a party or get together,

he cooks strictly for it.

Then when it’s all done he leaves,

you know,

he doesn’t stay and eat with the group.

Ok,

I got you.

I’ve done family reunions.

Yeah,

I’ve done church events.

I’ve done some stuff for the Fremont fire.

Department.

That’s very cool.

What a,

what a cool thing to be able to do and,

and obviously you enjoy it.

So that’s probably a big part about it.

So,

before we get into meals that you guys have cooked on the road,

I wanna ask you both.

Uh,

and,

and let me,

let me start with you polar bear.

Are you a barbecue guy as well?

Are you a griller?

Do you like smoking meat?

That type of thing?

Yes,

I do.

All right.

So,

both of you guys,

what I do on my few times at home is I either grill or barbecue,

you know,

smokes to bring out here?

Ok.

So your favorite meal on the grill or the smoker?

Polar bear will start with you on the grill is,

uh,

is,

uh,

like a big pork roast or,

and then on the grill is any,

any steak,

uh,

you know,

a good,

a good sirloin steak or,

uh,

you know,

even,

uh,

cut up a loin and smoke or,

you know,

just grill,

all them got it.

And what cook do you like on the steak?

This is,

this is the real tester here.

Yeah,

I just,

I use like two different seasonings.

I get from Sam’s and I just season them,

let them set for about a half hour and cook them and then that’s,

I don’t put any sauce on it.

Nothing.

I just,

just the juices from it and that’s how I eat it.

And how,

uh,

what temp do you like it at?

Medium?

Medium?

Yeah.

Yeah,

that’s pass.

I’ll let you get,

but I like it just pass.

I got you.

Yeah,

I see.

I’ve been known to have a steak on my plate.

Uh,

that a vet could get back out in the field within 10 minutes.

And,

uh,

you know,

isn’t it?

Yeah,

it ain’t how I like it all the time but I will definitely eat one of them like that every now and then.

So,

how about you,

Matt?

You’ve got the grill at your disposal.

You can smoke,

you can grill,

you can do whatever.

What’s the top meal coming off of that thing for you?

Uh,

uh,

if,

if you,

if you ask anybody around me,

um,

I’ve got my own recipe for some big horn,

red ribs.

I call them,

I call them the big red ribs.

Those are probably my favorite,

favorite ribs.

That’s,

that’s amazing.

II,

I love a good rib,

man.

I also,

you know what,

I’ve started doing on my grill and my smoker a little,

a little bit more frequently here.

I’ve started to do a two part cook on my chicken wings.

Uh I’ll smoke them until they’re up to temperature and then I bring them in and drop them in the fryer for just a couple of minutes to crisp them up.

Oh,

my God.

Turns out amazing.

That’s a very good way.

You should try that.

With your ribs sometimes actually dropping the ribs in the fryer too.

Wow.

Ok.

You just enlightened me and I’m,

I’m on a whole new plane of existence now,

if I’m correct,

you’re from Oregon.

Right.

Yes,

sir.

So you don’t have Oregon barbecue?

You’re like Nebraska.

There’s just no barbecue,

you know.

You know.

So,

I mean,

you know,

you guys got seafood out there on the west coast and in Nebraska we just got beef.

So,

you know,

we both learn a little bit of something because I love smoked lobster.

Oh,

wow.

Yeah,

I see.

I,

I would love it too.

I can’t do shellfish at the house because my wife’s deathly allergic and she grew up on the Oregon Coast.

Uh,

so that’s like the biggest tragedy.

She ate the best,

most fresh seafood.

You can get your hands on until she was like 13 or 14.

And then all of a sudden one day her body was just like,

no,

and shut it off.

Yeah.

And so I can’t have shellfish around her,

but a good smoked lobster is amazing.

The thing that we have out here in Oregon that I,

I like about our cuisine is that there’s a lot of fusion because nobody that,

that started here in Oregon had like the roots to have barbecue like they do in the south or,

you know,

uh,

you know,

creole,

like they do down in New Orleans.

There’s,

there was none of that,

like culture here.

So we’re kind of this big melting pot.

You could find yourself like a Korean jazz,

uh,

pokey bar,

I’m sure.

And,

uh,

you know,

it’s,

if you’re,

if you’re looking for it here,

you can probably find it.

It won’t be traditional except for the seafood.

But,

uh,

you know,

I,

I try as hard as I can to,

to turn it around.

I’m always grilling classic stuff out at my tailgate.

But,

uh,

that’s invite only fellas.

So we’ll make sure we get you guys on the invite list.

But,

uh,

you know,

you mentioned,

uh,

one of you guys mentioned that you do like to when you’re on your home time,

uh,

smoke a little meat to take with you out on the road.

So,

let’s talk about that.

Uh,

your meal preps,

polar bear.

I’ll start with you again.

Uh,

what’s,

what’s meal prep look like for you?

What are you eating out there on the road?

What do you cook at home?

What do you cook in the cab?

I cook a lot of the same stuff I like.

I kind of hold back a little from the beef.

So like pork loin.

Um,

that’s what I’m having tonight.

I’m gonna have a pork loin and then I kind of doctor up my own salad,

get green pepper onion for my salad.

And then,

well,

because if I cook something at home,

like,

I’ll do a,

uh,

I’ll barbecue something.

I’ll,

I’ll go I’ll cook up a nice roast and then eat it with the family.

And then basically I just,

you know,

after we’re all done,

just put it all back in the,

in the wrapper and bring it all out here with me.

And I don’t carry a microwave in my truck that gets me out of the truck.

So I’ll go in and warm it up in the truck stop and have whatever with it.

I try to stay away from potatoes just because I’m at that age where it’s not great for me,

you know?

Sure.

At the age that none of us want to get to because a potato,

like,

it’s just,

it’s,

it goes with everything,

man.

There’s nothing I don’t want to have a potato on the side with.

So,

was that a rough transition for you?

Yeah,

it was.

Yeah,

because that’s how my family is.

I’m German and Swedish and Dutch and the other one,

I’m full of whatever,

you know,

that’s my four breeds.

But,

you know,

I mean,

that’s,

that’s the biggest reason I quit drinking too was for that reason,

you know,

just health reasons.

But,

yeah,

a lot of it’s just make do with what you need to make,

do with.

Yeah,

I,

well,

that’s Matt knows about everything I cook out here and Matt for you.

What types of stuff are you,

are you doing the same thing?

Cooking a,

you know,

a big family meal,

uh,

when you’re home at home time and then taking it with you on the road or do you cook specifically for prepping for your trips?

Do you cook on the road?

What do you like to do?

Well,

I do cook on the road.

Um,

I’ve got a little,

I got a microwave in the truck and I’ve got a George Foreman in the truck and I’ve got a little lunch box,

uh,

oven in here that plugs in its 12 volt.

It heats up to like 300 you know,

I,

I got pop or pork,

not a pot roast,

but a beef roast for,

uh,

tomorrow night.

But I’m,

I season up and put it in a,

in a bag and I’ll put that in the lunch box for tomorrow,

for tomorrow night.

But I do a lot of my prep at home.

I’m the only meat eater in my house.

My girlfriend’s a vegetarian.

So it’s a weird situation.

So I prep for me and,

uh,

I just buy like a steak and season it up back and then I’ll cook it on my George Foreman salads big on salads,

just like,

just like polar bear.

Uh,

how do you say it?

Polar bear,

vegetable vegetables gotta get him.

Uh,

so David and I do a lot of our cooking in the truck just because number one,

it’s easier.

Number two,

it’s healthy and it’s really what we want because most of the places,

you know,

it’s all chicken out here anymore.

It’s like Matt.

And I have said,

how many thousands of dollars have we spent eating in truck stops eating at,

you know,

a fast food?

Yeah,

I,

I did the transformation but then you got to be able to clean up well,

and,

and,

you know,

another thing to add to that is it’s,

that,

that fast food out there is only getting more expensive.

I did my normal order at,

at Taco Bell the other day,

which I,

unfortunately I’ve had to stop going there as much as I would want to.

But it cost me,

like,

14 or 15 bucks at Taco Bell.

I might as well go sit down and have somebody bring it to me.

Yeah.

Yeah,

for 14 bucks you could probably feed your own family tacos.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And Matt,

you brought up something interesting.

I,

I kind of had AAA little memory pop up in my head.

You said your girlfriend is a vegetarian?

But you’re a big meat guy.

Uh,

have you made any inroads with that?

Is she,

does she ever talk about coming over to the dark side or anything like that?

Ok.

So,

it’s really,

really weird.

Um,

if it’s,

uh,

if it’s like an all beef hot dog smothered,

I mean,

absolutely.

Like a five gallon pot with a hot dog and a,

and a thing of chili,

she’ll eat it.

Um,

um,

she won’t do pulled pork but I have seen her uh,

do,

uh,

pulled beef.

It’s a very little bit of beef.

A lot of barbecue sauce and a lot of bun.

Um,

she just,

it’s the texture for her.

Ok.

Got you.

So it’s not like a,

not an allergy or anything like that.

That’s good.

No,

no,

but there again I,

nobody can beat it when she makes cheese lasagna.

Yeah.

Yeah,

I hear you,

man.

Well,

you know,

the reason I,

I wanted you to elaborate a little bit is when I met my wife,

uh,

going back,

you know,

15 years ago,

she was actually in a phase where she was a vegan and she’s,

she’s,

you know,

athlete,

she needed a lot of protein,

but this vegan thing,

she wanted to try it.

And then she met me who just happens to be,

uh,

a hunter and have a freezer full of elk and deer meat that we can have whenever we want.

And I,

I knew she was vegan but the first time she came over,

I made her pasta with antelope meat sauce.

Uh,

let’s just say because she liked me.

You guys.

She’s no longer a vegan.

She now eats,

you know,

steak a couple of times a night or a couple of times times a week with,

uh,

with her husband.

So I,

I’ll score one for the good guys.

There.

There you go.

Yeah.

And like I said,

uh,

her,

she’s got a twin sister and her twin sister is a vegetarian too.

So,

her older sister,

Donna,

she’s a meat eater through and through.

It’s funny how it’s a meat eater.

I mean,

some of them will and some of them won’t.

It’s,

it’s funny how it goes.

But,

uh,

I’m glad to hear that.

She doesn’t try to pull you over to the vegetarian side.

She’s ok with letting you have a nice juicy steak.

Yeah.

Oh,

yeah.

She’ll never stop me from that.

That I’d end up eating my own arm before I become a vegetarian ditto.

Man.

I feel the exact.

Yeah.

And I don’t have a lot of meat on the moon,

but I get something done.

I’m telling you.

Well,

he would look like the big dog on the porch chewing on that,

on that bone that has nothing on it.

I hear you.

Well,

fellas,

I want to,

uh,

before,

before we got to get out of here today,

I wanted to talk to you real quick and see if there’s any advice that you had for some of your fellow drivers out there who are maybe thinking about cooking on the road a little bit more,

any tips,

any tricks,

uh,

anything that helped you guys kind of get away from,

from that fast food and truck stop meal life and get into this cooking amazing meals and bringing them on the road with you or cooking them on the road.

Uh,

Matt,

I’ll start with you.

Any advice for any of your fellow drivers out there.

Best thing I can say is spend a little bit of money.

Get you George Foreman or get you something you can actually cook with and,

and plan your meals,

plan it out,

you know,

just plan what you’re gonna eat and don’t plan on microwavable all the time.

You know,

it doesn’t have to be frozen food.

You can cook fresh in your truck.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And that’ll be more healthy for you.

Yeah.

And that’s more healthy for you too.

You know,

everything that comes out of a microwave.

Yeah,

you gotta kind of look at it out of the side of your eye for a second.

Yeah,

you do.

You do.

You know,

and with the preservatives and stuff and,

and that they put in this stuff,

like I said,

if truck drivers were talking,

you guys found out what goes into some of this food,

you’d all quit eating.

Amen to that,

man,

for sure.

But,

uh,

just try to cook as healthy as you can out here.

Yeah,

it’ll,

it’ll make your career a lot longer,

that’s for sure.

Uh,

no question about that.

How about you polar bear?

Any advice?

That’s the thing is having a refrigerator and you having something to cook on it.

But even just a crock pot,

you know,

there’s a lot of small meals you can make,

uh,

you know,

while you’re going down the road,

you’re using your power anyways,

just cook it while you go down.

Yeah.

And I,

I agree,

like all my vegetables,

I do all frozen,

you know,

I like,

I’ll have a pork loin tonight and then I’ll,

I’ll put a whole bag of vegetables in the,

in the microwave.

You know,

there’s like 30 some carbs in a whole bag.

You know,

there’s nothing really bad about it.

My other thing,

every,

I cook pretty much everything I cook.

Even in my chili,

I put green pepper onion mushrooms.

Yeah,

that’s about it.

I put that in everything.

Just the sauce is different.

I make a lot of,

uh,

chili pork alfredo.

I just the noodles and,

you know,

I put pork in there along with my green pepper onion mushrooms.

That a lot of variety in there.

Yeah.

And you know,

throwing those vegetables in,

into because listen,

I’m not a guy that you can hand just a bowl of straight vegetables to and I’m gonna get really excited about it.

And I think I speak for a lot of people when,

when I say that is,

but where I start to really enjoy vegetables is when they get mixed into things like that sauces,

uh you know,

stews,

soups,

that type of thing.

You just hide it in there and then you won’t know and you still get all those good benefits.

And you know,

the other thing that,

that bag of vegetables will give you that’s fiber,

man,

that’s keeping you regular out there.

On the road and because of what we do,

you know,

I don’t think like I got 100 ounce water glass.

I try to drink one of them a day.

And my other thing is I drink coffee pretty much all day.

So,

no,

you gotta have the water to help right through everything.

Yeah,

it’s just like keeping your engine lubricated.

Man.

There’s got to be something in there to keep everything moving around.

Very cool fellas.

I can’t do.

The other nice thing is,

is I was gonna say real quick,

like you make a beef stew,

you know,

you can put one of the containers in the freezer so that the middle of next week.

Well,

I know I’m gonna have a rough day.

You know,

it’s gonna be all day long.

I’m be cooking at 78 o’clock tonight.

You can be at the customer or use your own microwave and while you’re sitting there waiting to get unloaded or loaded or washed out,

you know,

you can throw something in the microwave and not cook it and still something that you’ve made.

It’s,

it’s amazing that you’ll,

you’ll see how much less money you spend when on the average.

If I don’t need a bunch for all week,

I can spend 4035 to $45.

That’s three meals a day for all week.

That’s amazing.

You spend that in.

If you’re going to a restaurant,

you’ll spend that in one or two sittings.

No question.

Yeah,

exactly.

And like I said,

we,

we’ve had a lot of discussions about different things and cooking and,

and that’s how I got that onto the lunch box oven.

I’ve had two of them.

I used to go out to Rhode Island every week and that’s how I would cook it on the way.

So that when you get stopped it’s done,

that’s great.

Warming up or cooking.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well,

fellas,

this has been amazing to hear about how you guys handle this and navigate and still eat like kings out there on the road.

Uh I really appreciate you coming by and sharing the insight with us and I appreciate you talking about that employee Jamboree too because cooking for 300 people is no small task and it sounds like you guys knock it out of the park.

Yeah.

Well,

I gotta start,

I gotta end with this when Matt and I,

we,

we went through our own trucks at about 11 o’clock,

Matt,

1130 about nine o’clock that night.

So at three o’clock in the morning,

230 I’m going around see his lights are on.

So I go and get him in the pickup so we can go over to the other building to cook just open the door.

And I looked at Matt said,

Matt,

I gotta go to the emergency room and he looks at me with his golf ball eyes.

Why?

What’s going on?

I’m like I am nuts for being up this early.

He’s like,

shut up.

Let’s go.

That was the best way to start it.

I love it.

Well,

Polar bear,

Matt,

thank you guys both so much for being here.

Please be safe out there on the road and I know we’ll be getting back in touch with you guys soon.

Let’s get on that teenage hotline and do a podcast episode.

All right,

you just figure out when it’s available.

If it’s Monday through Friday,

we’re all available.

Ok.

Very cool.

All right.

That’s polar Bear and Matt Cleage,

Liquid Drive or Liquid trucking drivers.

Sorry,

I had a little uh,

little brain fart there.

You guys,

you guys.

Ok.

All right.

Thanks Marcus for having us,

man.

Appreciate it.

No problem,

fellas,

take care.

You know,

it’s not too often that we get somebody on the podcast two weeks in a row,

especially not a driver.

Uh They’re busy guys.

They’re out there uh,

constantly changing the landscape of what they have to do every single day.

And we’re fortunate enough to talk to a driver that we talked to last week and this week we’re gonna get even more out of him.

It’s Liquid Driver,

Alex Shevchuk joining us on the podcast,

Alex.

Where are you at out there right now,

man.

I’m actually end up uh all the way in Greeley,

Colorado and I guess I’m missing one hour from central time.

Yeah,

we got our wires crossed a little bit,

but that’s part of the fun of being out here on the west coast and having to figure out what all the other time zones are.

But we really appreciate your time coming back here,

uh,

two weeks in a row with us.

Now,

the reason that we had to have you on two weeks in a row is because,

uh,

I heard through the grapevine that you were,

uh,

you were pretty good in the kitchen and you,

you’ve got some pretty crazy uh,

recipes that you like to use and you like to make yourself some food out there on the road.

You turned me on to your Instagram account and wow,

Alex,

you have been.

So I’ve been browsing your Instagram.

You’ve been sending me pictures via text all week long,

dude.

You are a dynamo in the kitchen.

How long have you been cooking?

Well,

uh long story short,

I end up to be growing up with no mother and I guess kitchen is my friend.

Well,

it’s,

uh,

you can tell.

So I always think this and,

and I’ll test my theory here but people that share a lot of pictures of the food that they make.

People that want to talk about,

the food that they make really enjoy their time in the kitchen.

Do you like cooking?

Is it something that kind of brings you some joy?

Oh,

yeah.

It wake me up right away and I’m ready to make some uh,

uh,

meatballs,

turkey meatballs for you guys.

Is that the recipe that you just texted me?

Oh,

that looks good,

man.

I can’t wait.

Well,

I’ll tell you next time I’m out in your neck of the woods.

I’m gonna let you know in advance.

Uh,

so if nothing else you can leave me a meatball to try at the terminal.

Ok.

And that sounds good.

So I’m happy to do that.

So before I get into hearing about some of the things that you like to cook while you’re out on the road,

uh I want to talk to you about cooking for a family.

The size of yours.

You have.

How many kids do you have?

Remind me?

We got seven in total seven kids and,

uh,

growing kids.

Obviously,

we talked to Alex Junior last week.

He’s a football player.

I know he’s got an appetite.

How hard is it to cook for seven plus you and your wife?

Uh,

it’s not actually a big deal.

Uh,

what I did is I had a little bit of knowledge on the kitchen with everybody.

Recipes that,

uh,

wrapping up together.

When I growing up I toss it on,

on my girls and they take it over.

I have Elizabeth is specialized on the cakes on the professional level.

She can do it on weddings days,

uh,

parties and everything else.

You got Emily kick in,

uh LLC specialized in the kitchen.

So we got the I actually turn in knowledge to my girls and then take it over our boys kinda slagging on it.

But all of them,

they know how to,

not,

uh,

forget about how to cook and they can throw it in steak on the grill.

They can do all,

all those things.

What I did.

That’s very cool.

I,

I love that.

You’ve passed that knowledge down and I did see you sent me a picture of one of the cakes uh that your daughter Elizabeth made and wow,

that thing is picture perfect.

I mean,

it could be on the cover of a magazine and it would be a perfect spot.

Yeah,

she actually fired up.

Um,

she getting closer to getting married,

so she fired up on her,

uh,

a little outside online,

a little business.

Uh,

is that right now?

And she’s taking orders,

uh trying to fight it up.

A little coffee coffee shop,

I suppose.

So.

Very cool.

Well,

I love it,

man.

I love my time in the kitchen so much.

So,

hearing about stories like that always warms my heart.

Uh Just knowing that your kids love to be in the kitchen,

my mom taught me pretty much everything I know about cooking,

uh that I didn’t pick up on my and it’s been really fun because my mom,

she cooks kind of by like taste and smell.

Now she’s got recipes and they’ve got measurements and everything like that.

But if I watch her go,

she’s more just a field person in the kitchen and I kind of like doing that too.

How,

how,

uh,

stringent are you when you follow your recipes?

Alex,

do you kind of freelance a little bit or you write by the book?

Everything measured to a t it’s actually,

um,

it,

uh,

the specific recipe that I have,

it’s very unique recipe and the meatballs,

you gotta follow the recipe cause you’re gonna screw it up.

So basically I’m reading it through and I can do it with closed eyes.

But uh it takes um uh really quick £2.5 turkey,

£2.5 of tenderloin or loin pork,

two cups of mayo,

four eggs,

one full garlic,

four full onions,

salt and pepper,

dried,

uh crushed bread crumbs.

And I send you a picture and they mixed everything together.

And um this thing on the road is the best thing I ever had.

If I have more time,

I’d be freezing up these things.

All you have to do.

Just toss them in a,

a little microwave toaster deal and you’ll have a quick meal.

I mean you can,

uh,

I have,

my wife actually bought it recently a little Instacart that are cooking.

It’s called,

uh,

it got me through it already.

I think second year I’m doing that.

It’s a barley beef soup and I just,

um,

I’m cooking that right now at home and taking that,

that they get me for four or five nights and a little,

uh,

side dishes of salad,

tomatoes.

I did a research and I’m probably did send it to you but,

uh,

tomatoes is one of them incredible,

uh,

sources of,

uh,

I read it and send it to you so you can have it too and support your heart,

blood pressure,

cholesterol management,

skin immune system,

vision and,

and God health.

Uh,

so all these comb combined together things that we need on the road.

Um,

just a single tomato,

you crush a little bit of onion,

olive oil and they give you a side dish and that’s just,

uh,

every day you can twist and turn these things a little bit of uh cucumber and I actually got apples with me.

I’ve got a good source for,

for the truckers is,

um,

is um pineapple.

I’m snacking on actually,

uh today because it’s a great uh antibiotic.

So you can take that little slice and snack on,

on your brakes and it’s really incredible.

So,

uh,

as we plan our trips,

uh,

it’s very important that you’re not hungry on the road,

especially weather wise and everything else.

So you gotta,

I realized there’ll be places like today,

it’s like an army drill.

I have no time to pull up anywhere.

It just go,

go,

go and I end up to finish up my day on the middle of nowhere.

Field customer.

There’s no close restaurants.

So I have my,

uh half a jar warming up soup.

Right now.

I have some,

I actually,

I grabbed the sausages with me at the smoked sausages and I got the fish product.

It was really delicious for the morning breakfast with the coffee.

A lot of protein with,

uh,

Alaskan,

uh,

smoke fish.

You put it on the bread and a couple cucumbers and here you go,

your breakfast.

So,

and you got my mouth watering over here,

Alex.

You’re eating better in the truck than I am at home.

This is amazing.

I I do you ever uh now actually there was something before I get to that.

There was something I did want to touch on that.

You said,

you know,

I hear a lot of drivers that have a big sweet tooth,

they like candy,

they like the sugar,

the the pop that they get from it.

Um But you brought up a really good point there man,

snacking on some fruit will really satiate that sweet tooth and it’s way better for you than uh than just your run of the mill Snickers bar.

Uh So highly,

highly recommended for me as well.

Pineapple is one of my favorite things.

A good honey crisp apple is unbeatable when it comes to a sweet tooth or a,

you know,

a little bit of a a sugar attack.

So,

so we’ve heard about your meatballs.

We’ve heard about your beef and barley soup,

the tomatoes.

You sent me some pictures of the tomatoes ripe off the vine that you were eating as well.

The Civic brand I go to Sam’s Club or a big store is a pizza tomatoes.

They’re really like a gold bowl size,

but they’re really precise package and they’re absolutely juicy.

And,

and I read,

I just recently get in on a website and I read these,

uh,

components and how good they are for your health and gut system.

Just a little bit of drizzle,

olive oil salt and you can squeeze a little bit of garlic in it.

Uh,

just one and you’d be good to go.

So,

absolutely.

And I love me some garlic,

man.

I,

I put garlic on almost everything that I cook with,

uh almost to a fault at some points,

but nothing better than a little bit of garlic tomato.

I mean that,

that right there,

you’re just,

you’re talking pizza sauce is what you,

what I’m thinking of,

you know,

so how hard is it or how hard was it for you,

Alex to,

to decide and make the decision?

And,

and of course,

this is probably something that’s been going on with you for a while.

Um,

but when you finally made that decision,

hey,

I’m gonna be healthy out here on the road.

I’m gonna make my own food.

I’m gonna eat,

you know,

fresh ingredients.

That type of thing.

Was it tough to make that transition?

Were you ever in a spot where you were eating out a lot,

maybe a lot of fast food or at restaurants or have you always kind of been this guy that’s,

look,

I’m eating healthy,

I’m eating fresh on the road.

Uh Not always,

they just nail us down the situation with economy.

Everything went up skyrocket.

If you go to the grocery store,

uh or just a restaurant,

uh if you wanna stay in the restaurant,

you’d be uh looking at,

I already tried.

You’re not gonna fit in $100 budget.

So I budget myself with uh those ingredients,

fruits,

bananas,

apples,

uh,

pineapple.

And I’ve got,

um,

just one fresh made uh bread that we buy from local store in our town and,

um,

got soup and got tomatoes.

I can manage 45 bucks for the,

for the,

uh,

for a week.

Uh,

on the road trip,

it will get me through the five nights and I’ll be home empty and my,

my wife glad to rest my food and I’ll be out of hours.

So I’ll be using up to 70.

So I gotta get back home to resupply myself for sure.

Well,

Alex,

this has all been awesome to hear about this,

uh,

from you.

I,

I really appreciate you coming on and sharing some of your,

your recipes and just your ideas behind it.

You know,

it’s funny earlier in the podcast,

I was talking to uh Polar Bear and Matt Clee and they’re both big with their food prep too.

They like to,

when they’re home on the weekend or whatever it is,

they like to cook up a bunch of food for the family a lot like you and then take it with them on the road.

And I,

the one thing that kind of stood out about talking to them and talking to you is that,

uh,

that $45 mark.

That’s right where they keep it too.

They,

they said,

you know what,

if you,

if you think about this,

you plan it out a little bit and spend a little bit of time thinking about it,

you can eat five days,

three meals a day for 45 bucks a week.

That’s,

and,

and what I,

what I said during that interview and a lot like you just touched on,

you can’t eat twice at a restaurant,

a sit down restaurant for 45 bucks anymore.

I mean,

there might be some places but you gotta wonder about the quality of the food that you’re gonna get.

And,

uh,

you know,

$45 doesn’t go that far,

sitting down and paying somebody else to make it.

But it stretches a long way when you’re doing it yourself,

doesn’t it?

That’s exactly right.

And one of the time I had,

like,

pull up wasn’t,

was in,

uh,

was busy day.

Uh,

and I,

at the end of the day I pull up,

I was hungry,

I run out the supplies so I run in a regular day in the evening and actually got poison from it.

So I realized people,

they’re not really good,

they’re trying to save up every single little bit of whatever they have left over from the day before.

And I got poison from it.

So I said,

uh,

no more,

uh,

going out because you could,

uh,

like I said,

you can stretch your v valet and 45 per meal.

It end up spending over $100 just to go out and then that’s standing on the line waiting for the food.

I’m not talking about in the morning in the morning in Laos,

we have points that you can grab,

uh,

your muffin and then get going and with the coffee.

But if I have something I choose in a truck piece of bread and a lot of protein fish on top with the cheese cream or just,

but that,

that was it,

that will give me protein will go through the half day.

And then I got barley soup and last night,

uh,

my family left to,

um,

meet the A and I was on the right way back to Costa Colorado.

So I end up to be stop in favorite place if somebody,

you know,

have a little bit of money left.

I stopped at the Ruby Tuesday.

What I did is jump off,

uh,

quick on the north plat exit and I just get to the salad bar.

12 bucks salad bar.

I got big box.

So I eat two days on the ro road for 12 bucks just loaded with protein,

tomatoes,

cucumbers.

Some good is that you,

you need it on the trip,

you need to stay healthy.

So it’s 12 bucks only.

So that’s great advice,

man.

A $12 salad bar that’ll feed you for two days and you’re being healthy at the same time.

That’s just win,

win,

win all the way across the board,

man.

I love it.

So I,

I do wanna ask you when you were,

when you got food poisoning,

how long were you out for?

Did you have to take a couple of days off to recover?

No,

I will end up to be uh not feeling good right away when I eat what they end up to be doing.

They saving up the food,

uh not uh enough employees to uh cook it uh fresh and I end up to be,

you know,

a lot of fellows out there,

they can uh uh share the stories as I,

as I’m saying,

the same story right now that you could run into those places.

You can get picked up,

uh you know,

poisoned food.

So,

yep,

it’s happened to me plenty of times and you know,

it always makes me wonder when I was a high schooler.

I,

I had a couple of jobs in the food service industry.

You know,

it wasn’t fast food per se,

but it was uh I was working in a restaurant with very little knowledge of how to be clean and how to make sure that everything was sanitized.

And I often when I find myself in a restaurant and looking around at kind of kitchen staff and wait staff,

I want to know how old these kids are because I know that when I was employed at 1516 years old,

I didn’t pay any mind to making sure that things were sanitary and everything was safe.

And,

uh,

I really hope looking back that I wasn’t the cause of somebody getting sick like you did.

But look,

it happens and it happens a lot.

It’s easy.

You don’t get food poisoning,

eating at home or eating home cooked meals.

That’s one thing that seems pretty,

pretty straight across the board.

I,

I’ve cooked,

I cook probably four meals a week for my wife and I,

uh,

I’m the,

I’m the guy that spends the majority of the time in the kitchen because she’s so busy and we don’t get sick.

You never have a time when you just accidentally get food poisoning,

making yourself good food at home.

Yeah,

exactly.

Right.

That’s,

uh,

to be,

uh,

preplan has to be organized.

Uh,

you get,

you know what you’re getting from home and you get used to that routine.

It’s like,

um,

almost like,

um,

you know,

you’re going to,

um,

a little,

you know,

away from the family on the road trip.

You prepare yourself,

you get things you needed.

Same thing we are going,

like,

some guys are going t,

uh,

two weeks at a time,

I’m going for 56 days and you’d be running to the store and you’d be surprised.

I actually grabbed this this time.

I grab,

uh,

from local store.

They smoke the,

um,

sausages.

So I,

I cut that off and get great tomato salad with,

uh,

uh,

snacking on it.

If I don’t have anything,

I’m running out,

but I usually like the other guys planning out,

prepare the meal and I have this meal going for four or five nights and it’s healthy and then I know it’s not gonna go bad.

You could,

this is insta pa,

a little one.

You can get it for a couple of doll dollars in Walmart and you can take the middle piece,

toss it in the fridge and it will stay healthy and fresh.

All you have to do is push the button warm up and your meal ready to go.

Those insta pots are great.

Uh,

instant pots are a phenomenal thing to have in your sleeper.

Uh,

a crock pot is another thing.

Um,

and I’m actually going to,

uh,

to share on this episode,

one of my crock pot recipes,

Alex.

Uh,

I,

I actually do a little bit of chili in the crock pot from time to time and everybody loves it.

So I’m gonna share that recipe,

uh,

on this podcast episode so that everybody can go out there and slam that thing together in their crock pot.

It’s cheap,

easy.

And it goes a long way.

It’s a lot of food and it’ll last you for a full week for sure.

So,

uh,

that’s coming up around the corner for sure.

That’s awesome.

Thanks,

uh,

to,

uh,

uh,

get,

getting us that recipe because,

uh,

you know,

you can,

uh,

time to time you get tired to eat,

uh,

some bodily soup.

Somebody get tired to eat,

uh,

you know,

some salad fruits,

but you gotta have some protein and you gotta stay healthy out there because,

uh,

you rolling and we,

we don’t,

lately we don’t have no time for,

you know,

stopping and grabbing something,

you know,

it’s uh,

time-consuming as well.

So it really is.

Well,

Alex,

this has all been great.

I really appreciate you taking the time to two weeks in a row to join me.

Uh I hope everything goes well for you out there on the road in Colorado.

Make sure you stay safe and,

uh,

we’ll be in touch with you again,

man.

I know you’re gonna stay well fed out there,

so I don’t have to remind you about that.

Yeah,

I guess so.

Why I want a pineapple.

All right,

Alex,

uh,

keep,

keep the shiny side up.

We’ll talk to you soon.

Ok.

Talk to you soon.

Thank you.

You know,

I figured since I’ve been talking about the fact that I like to tailgate and I like to cook for a lot of people or just for myself all the time.

And I like to eat food.

Why not share one of my favorite recipes with you guys?

I’ve been asking Polar Bear and Matt.

What are your favorite recipes?

Talk to Alex.

What are your favorite recipes?

Now,

it’s my turn.

I am about to give you a crockpot chili recipe and I would like to note that back in 2009,

not to date myself here.

But I had another career back then.

I was on the radio and this radio station each year would do a chili cook off championship much like the one that they had recently at Liquid Trucking.

I don’t want to brag,

but this chili recipe that I’m about to give you is technically championship chili.

I was chili champ 2009 and 2010.

So if you guys feel like,

you know,

Marcus is just getting a little bit boring,

you could always call me chili champ if that’s really what you want to do.

But listen to this,

if you got a regular sized crock pot,

you know,

one of the ones that’s,

it’s big enough to probably put your head in.

Um,

this recipe will fill your crockpot up almost all the way to the top.

So I would definitely make sure that you don’t overdo it with some of these portions of the things I’m gonna tell you to put in.

Ok,

here’s what you need and listen,

this is all made with canned beans.

If you want to do this and,

and hydrate your own beans and use beans out of a bulk bag or anything like that.

You can,

I just don’t think that a lot of truck drivers have the ability to rehydrate kidney beans while they’re rolling down the road.

So this is all gonna be really easy made with,

uh with canned beans.

So what you’re gonna need here,

regular 14 ounce can of beans.

You’re gonna need 2,

14 ounce cans of kidney beans,

214 ounce cans of chili beans and in the sauce is actually good here.

And then I want you to go with 214 ounce cans of black beans really important for the kidney beans and the black beans.

Uh You wanna drain those off but leave the sauce with the chili beans after that layer all those into the bottom of your crock pot.

Ok?

Next up comes your favorite chili seasoning because again,

we’re doing this quick and we’re doing this easy.

I’m not going to rehydrate a bunch of guajillo chilies to make this chili.

I’m gonna go to my guy Lowry.

All right,

Lowry’s chili seasoning.

That’s the way you want to go costs you like a buck for a pack of it.

Get the whole pack,

dump it on in there.

Next up,

I want you to get two cans of the fire roasted tomatoes.

Um,

they can be any brand,

some of them even come with like some peppers in there.

If you like a little bit more spice two cans of the fire roasted tomatoes,

pour those on.

Now,

I want you to get a 30 ounce can of tomato sauce.

All right.

Just plain sauce,

not paste,

tomato sauce.

Dump that on in with your beans and your chili seasoning.

And now comes the fun part because you can go any direction you want to with this.

I’ve even made this chili recipe with bacon before my go to for this if you have it and it’s not always easy to get.

But I use Elk burger 100% Elk burger in this chili.

It’s not as strongly.

Um,

it’s,

it is a strong flavored meat,

but it’s not as strong as say venison would be if you were going to use deer meat.

You probably get a little bit more gamey.

The elk brings like a rich kind of depth and body to this chili.

OK.

But you can use anything brown up £1 of elk meat,

uh,

beef turkey burger works with this.

You could do,

uh,

shredded chicken if you really wanted to,

as I said before bacon.

Another thing that goes great in this is AAA roll of the Jimmy Dean spicy sausage.

OK.

Brown that up.

Throw it in with your chili mixture.

Cap that off and let it go for eight hours on low.

You can also do a quick one,

actually,

little fun story here.

2010,

my second chili championship with this chili recipe.

I forgot to make it the night before.

And so I woke up at two in the morning and I threw together a four hour cook of this.

The only difference is I just put it in the crock pot on high for four hours instead of on low for eight,

you can do that.

Obviously,

you know how much time you’ve gotten when you want to eat.

This chili goes great with some shredded cheese,

some diced onions or just some saltine crackers,

man.

And you could put this chili on anything.

I’ve actually,

uh one time I put a lot of this chili and a lot of sharp cheddar cheese into a waffle maker in an attempt to make a chili cheese waffle that did not work.

Uh But it was fun to try.

So there you have it.

There’s Marcus’s Thunder from down under championship chili recipe.

If you wanna spice this up a little bit red pepper flakes are the easiest way to do it.

Just shake as many of those things in as you want to.

Another thing that I’ve done before which again,

this might be kind of tough to do on the road,

but you can try it out.

I I will get a habanero and a jalapeno pepper and I will take those and throw them in a blender and I will blend them into a paste and then throw that in on the bottom of the crock pot.

Let it sweat a little bit,

maybe a tiny bit of oil in there.

It’ll sweat off and trust me,

the heat that this can bring,

you can make it as hot as you want to by adding these peppers and they don’t flavor it.

The reason that I use a jalapeno and a habanero is just for heat.

I’m not looking for that flavor at all.

Uh,

and it kind of gets lost in a lot of these flavors that Lowry’s chili seasoning is the way to go,

man.

So cook this up.

Let me know what you think you like it.

You hate it.

Do you think that my championship could go shove off or do you think that I was worthy of both of them?

Let me know by heading on over to Liquid trucking.com and click it on the podcast page,

you can email me directly there and if you have any rest PS that you would like me to share on this show for other Liquid drivers to hear so they can try them,

send them there as well.

I would love to put those out there for all the rest of the drivers.

Happy chili cooking.

Stay safe out there and uh,

I guess we could probably get to wrapping this up.

Yeah.

All right.

Liquid Trucking,

that’s gonna wrap it up for episode 13,

food on the Road.

That was a lot of fun.

Um I am definitely going to try those meatballs,

uh that recipe that Alex gave us and I’m definitely going to uh try uh smoke a fry and some ribs there.

I was not aware until my conversation uh with Matt and polar bear that you could smoke your ribs like normal and then drop them in the fryer for crying out loud.

I can’t wait.

I got a frozen rack of ribs in the freezer.

I’m doing this this weekend.

I’ll report back to you and let you know how it turns out if any of you decide to craft some championship chili a La Marcus.

Uh Let me know,

I do uh when I make that stuff extra spicy,

I call it my thunder from down under chili.

But in its true form,

it’s just,

it’s,

it’s championship chili.

Ok.

And you can call me the chili champ or you can call me Marcus.

But one thing you can call me for sure is out of here because we’re out of time today.

I’ll see you next Wednesday 5 a.m. for a new episode of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Stay safe out there.

Drivers.

Thanks for tuning in and being the gold standard of drivers on the road.

Be sure to like and subscribe to the channel and tune in next week for another episode of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.