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Who says Thanksgiving has to mean turkey and dressing? This week, we’re shaking things up with a full-blown Texas-style feast. Think truffle mac and cheese, sweet corn pudding, bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapeños, and Dr Pepper ribs so tender they barely hang onto the bone.
And these ribs? They’re not just some recipe pulled off the internet. Award-winning cookoff champion Travis Bennett, yes, Sarah’s cousin-in-law, rolled up with his custom grill-on-a-trailer and shared some of his grill-master secrets for getting ribs just right.
If you love food as much as we do, you’re not going to want to miss this episode. This just might be the start to your new Thanksgiving tradition!
Creators and Guests
Host
Guest
Andrew
Sarah's BFF's son
Guest
Coco
Friend of Sarah's Family
Guest
Grayson
Sarah's BFF's Son
Guest
Levi
Friend of Sarah's Family
Guest
Liam
Friend of Sarah's family
Guest
Liliana
Sarah's Daughter
Guest
Louis
Sarah's 12-year old son
Guest
Milla
Friend of Sarah's Family
Guest
Simone
Travis's Daughter
What is Let's Talk Local?
Join host Sarah Zubiate Bennett on Let’s Talk Local as she uncovers the stories, people, and places shaping Dallas, fostering a stronger and more connected community—let's get to know the real Dallas!
Hi, everyone. I'm Sarah Zubiate Bennett. The holidays are here and if you're ready to break free from the same old turkey and dressing routine, this episode's for you. My family and I put together a true Texas Thanksgiving with white cheddar truffle mac and cheese, sweet corn pudding, and my cousin-in-law Travis Bennett's award winning ribs. Get ready for some fun, flavor, and recipes you'll wanna make every year.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for tuning in. Okay. We are coming to you from Athens, Texas at our ranch house, and this is just a special way that we not always, right, Lynette? But we kinda do Thanksgiving, and there's oftentimes a lot of us, a lot of cooking. And so we have had some family pass away.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:My mother and my father have passed away. Travis, who's making the famous ribs, his dad recently passed away. So in kind of our best way to honor the generation that came before us, our existing generation, and then the generation that is coming up. Right? We have our wonderful friends, our family, our friends.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:This is my best friend from El Paso. And we're just gonna show you some fun little recipes. You might wanna take some. You might not. But we're just gonna have some fun while doing it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I wanna introduce you, please. Mila Mila Gooden. Mila Gooden. And? Liliana Derazette.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Simone Bennett. Levi James Parrott. Levi James Parrott. And Lynette Pierel. Lynette Lynette Pierel.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Here we go. Okay. So right now we're making sweet corn pudding. It's serving 25 people because we have a whole ton of people here. If you see people moving in and out of the camera, just ignore it because it's part of the normal shtick out here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I'm like, there's always noise in the background. We're making sweet corn pudding. Alright. So we're gonna start with five well, no. What we're learning, girls, is that we always read the directions.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:First, after making sure that we have all the ingredients prepped. Right? So we have to first twist together the eggs, sugar, cream, and butter. We've already pre heated the oven to 350 degrees. We have our Corningware over there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And first, we're gonna add eggs, sugar, cream, and butter. So starting with the eggs first, we have some cracked, but we need your help, ladies, to please crack the remaining ones in that carton. We're gonna start with miss Levi. It's okay. That works.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It's perfect. Yay. Then Simone. Beautiful. Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Then Lily Beer. I think it called for 20 eggs. It did. 20 eggs to serve 25. Do you wanna try do do you want me to help you?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Who you think she can do it? Do you crack it? Crack it? Woah, vanilla. Good job.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes. That's a day. It's okay. I know. It's a little sticky.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yeah. Good job, Levi. Perfect. Awesome. Everyone's hands are nice and clean.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You ladies can go wash your hands if you want to. Come over here so that you're not full of sticky eggs. So we have the eggs. And do do you want me and Mila to pour it? Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So Mila and Liliana, if you can pour the eggs in there. Beautiful. Okay. First round of ingredients up. Awesome.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Now the next is what? Sugar? And it calls for two and a half cups of sugar. Do you guys wanna do that?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Here. Girls, you wanna pour this in? Let them do this. Oh, that was satisfying. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Cream. Alright. Where is the cream? I saw Oh. The cream?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I was looking for the Yeah. We'll do the cream. Okay. You know when that's gonna make sure you guys all get this Let's all try. Alright.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Don't drop it. There you go. Woah. It's beautiful. Wow.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's good. Do we need a whisk? Do we need a whisk to whisk in the gonna need to whisk this altogether, but we still have one more ingredient. Right? So butter Oh.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And the cream. So it called for five cups of heavy cream, two and a half cups of melted butter, but it has already been melted. Okay. So how about day four one, and then we'll form one. That's a wonderful idea.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Right. How we do this one. Ready? So have a let's go first. Ready?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And yay. Smells so buttery now. It's perfect. Smells so good. And the sugar's still there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Does it smell good? Now we're supposed to whisk this. Right? Where's our whisk? So I'm gonna ask you two over here to whisk this.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And while you guys are doing that, just whisk the whole thing. What are we gonna do? You all are going to add all the other ingredients, which are one and one cup flour. Hold on. So let let that get hold on.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Not not quite yet. There's a. And then you got some sweet jog. You can, like, squish it. You're may I see that really fast for this?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You gotta make sure when you're whisking, you kinda turn it to get this, and then you kind of beat it like so so that you're breaking the eggs up, and it becomes part of the mixture. Does that make sense? Yes. Here. Try that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And then we'll pour it in after it's like and then they'll gonna have to mix this, and then we'll gonna Yes. Then you all are gonna be adding the rest of the ingredients for all these. That can be much vegan. It is. So you're adding in as soon as as soon as we can't see any of the more any of the yolk.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So we can't see any of the yolk. We're going to add in that flour, one and a half cups flour, baking powder, and then they're gonna keep whisking. Right? They're gonna be the whiskers? Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Do you want us to add this now? Yep. Ready? Pause, please. Do it slowly.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Yep. Yep. Go ahead. Stop.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:In a minute. Oh. I'll spread it out around a little soak. There we go. Does.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Keep whisking, girls. You girls keep whisking. So let's Five pans. Five pans.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. So Lily and Mila, you will split these. You just Okay. So there's these, and you start Okay. So you do dumping them in there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You do these five? It's two and a half teaspoons. Yep. Just pour it in as we're whisking. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You go first. Pour you pour the creamy. You pour that. Ready? Perfect.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Now your turn, Barry. Okay. Two and a half of this. Looks It looks good. Yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Layer turn. Turn. Alright. I was like, who's it? So we have all the ingredients.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Bowl, guys. Yeah. Me too. Right? Oh my gosh.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Was mommy right? Mommy was right. Definitely. Downstairs to look for something big enough that would be able to pour easily into these dishes. It is thick.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Right? Mhmm. Looks watery, but it isn't. When you're trying to, like, be really healthy. That's okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That Okay. Can I just start holiday tour? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Ready? Can we try to get up for, like, start rolling it? Do okay. So Ready? You know what you can do?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You can, put it like that. But let me exactly. But we're gonna keep this way so the handles are out of the way. Alrighty. So Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Now I think because that's good. Is the whisking all done? Yes. Can. It's nice and yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh my gosh. That looks amazing. Okay. So listen. Whenever you get the the ladles, make sure you go to the very bottom to pick up the corn.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Ready? And just You go first. It in half portions. Oh, gosh. Can you tell?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Can we do that? Yes. Woo hoo. That was so fun. Oh my gosh.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:My heart's so happy. Four. Four. Keep going. Keep this one has a little a little Do want me to keep on going?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Go farther. Okay. Okay, girls. Can I do one more? Can you do me a favor?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:No. Yes. Take the ladles over there, Lily. Yes, ma'am. No more.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Right now. Take your ladles Yes, ma'am. And and give take these and have miss Sherry or miss Kenisha help you girls place it into the oven that is heated. And then Tina, Lynette, and I are gonna do this part. Oh my god.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Here. Okay. Gonna just scoop that. Yeah. All the All the thing.
Travis Bennett:Of course.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:There we go. I think that's good enough. Okay. You're get the hot tub. Okay, girls.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You wanna take that one and place it in there right as well? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. That's Sherry.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's miss Kenisha. Hey. Girls, thank you. Oh, we can't wait to try this. I'm so excited.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I know. I know. Now we're doing the next one. Okay. The boys are.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. What we're making for some of the moms right now is we're Yes. Kind of in an intermission space waiting for the next recipe to happen. My friend, our friend Ashley Palmer's husband makes these amazing Morgan Rita's. You can get them at Lovers Seafood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And if you wanna splurge, it's like a $130 per. Yes. You gotta enjoy it. So worth it. Isn't it?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes. So we are kinda lightweight. The other ones who are imbibing with us are not so much lightweight. So hers and I are gonna be a little less strong. Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Alright. So we just pour about maybe that much. I might pour a little less. Yeah. Little less.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Don't know. And we cut ours with Topo Chico because they will lay you out. Yes. It's definitely a perfect holiday splurge to share with your friends when everyone's It's delicious. It's and our yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:One of my let's see if it's the one with jalapeno or not. Right? Yes. First, I don't even Before you. Sorry.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Here. It's okay. Okay. It's so good. Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I like to top mine with tajin. Oh, I do too. I do. I don't think it's the jalapeno ones. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I don't think this is the jalapeno ones. So pour a lot of tajin. I pour a ton. Or like I don't know if you know. I do.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:El Paso in in the house. Yes. Alright. There, I'm just probably gonna put your hair straight. Alright.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes. Is yours too watered down? I really like how mine tastes. You do? Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Do need you maybe a little more of yours? Maybe. Okay. Perfect. This is amazing.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So this proprietary recipe, apparently, that Morgan came up with actually, darn it. I I need to get him to tell the story. I'm gonna have him record it on his phone, and I'm gonna be like, send it to us. Because it's great how he came up with the recipe. It's super delicious.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And the fact that you could just go buy them in jugs Mhmm. Whenever you're wanting to celebrate, if you're wanting to just not have to do a lot of the work, it's really nice. Yeah. Having it ready to go is so easy. To go, convenient Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And delicious. Freaking delicious.
Travis Bennett:Alright. So now we're gonna make our rib sauce. This will go on the ribs as we wrap them. So we're gonna start with two pounds brown sugar. Obviously, this is a lot of sugar because we're making nine racks of ribs, but usually it would be less than half of this.
Travis Bennett:And then you pour some Doctor Pepper on it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And
Travis Bennett:then I like to use Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy. It's a really good sauce. It's not too much spice to it, but this will give us our thick paste part of it. That one. One.
Travis Bennett:And then I like to use the local Texas honey, the Kelly's. The whole thing of that. Honey comes out a little faster than that sauce. It's pretty
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:thick. So
Travis Bennett:that's our setup. And now what I like to do is stir it nice and evenly, and then I set it on my pit to start heating up. As it starts heating up, it'll start bubbling. And as soon as it starts bubbling, you know it's perfect to start putting it right on the ribs. So this will take about probably ten or fifteen minutes.
Travis Bennett:And then we'll pull some ribs out and start rubbing them with the sauce. And then I also like to add a little bit of seasoning, not too much, but just a little bit. That's it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Have these different types of ribs.
Travis Bennett:So we got baby back ribs and then you have St. Louis style ribs, which St. Louis style ribs is what you typically would cook for most people. Then this is just a little fattier. It's a higher up on the rib cage, a big.
Travis Bennett:But this is your typical spare ribs. You'll have about, you know,
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:eight to eight to 12 bibs depending on how how well you cut it.
Travis Bennett:Okay. So our next phase is checking the fire, making sure we've got a good adequate smoke. You got clear smoke coming out of the top. White smoke's bad. Clear smoke's good.
Travis Bennett:That's a good clean cook. Unfortunately, I forgot my sprayer today, so I'm going to be have a little bit of redneck ingenuity, and I'm going to be making my own homemade sprayer. So I'm gonna take a little bottle cap, pop some holes in it, put some doctor pepper in it, and open this pit up and spray some ribs. Make sure they stay nice and moist throughout the process of the cook. Put it on here.
Travis Bennett:We'll check out these ribs and see how they look. So ribs been on here about forty five minutes. Check the fire. Temp's perfect. It's two fifty.
Travis Bennett:So they're gonna have a little bit of smoke on them. Not much difference. But what we like to do is pull it out, Not keep it open too long. Spray it just quite just a little bit to get some moisture and that Doctor Pepper flavor on there since these are Doctor Pepper ribs. Man, this is actually coming out a lot better than I thought it would.
Travis Bennett:So those are nice. Uh-oh. We're fizzing a little bit. No. It's hot.
Travis Bennett:Italian? I like to use the tool if I can. Looking good. Got some juices flowing down from the top rack down to the bottom one. They're looking good.
Travis Bennett:Slide that back in there. Close it in. Let it rock and roll. So now we're gonna prep and make our jalapeno poppers. So you start with your ground sausage.
Travis Bennett:We did poor poor folks medium, so you don't get too much spicy, and two things of cream cheese. And what I like to do is mix it together here. To make a basically, like a paste. That way, when you're stuffing the poppers, you don't have two different flavors. It's all just one flavor.
Travis Bennett:A lot of times what you would do is you'd have meat on the bottom and then you'd put cream cheese on top and then it would not but it would give the full flavor on every bite. So this way, it's all mixed up a little bit, and it doesn't take too long.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's yummy.
Travis Bennett:And that cream cheese with that hot sausage, it melts pretty fast. And then and for some reason, we always seem to have we always seem to have the right amount of stuffing for every time I do this. I don't know why that is. Like the Murphy's Law. So that's ready.
Travis Bennett:And then now we're gonna cut and prep the jalapenos. So then you take a jalapeno. What I like to do, and there's thousand ways to do this, like I said before, cut it to top off, then I cut down the side. Try to usually get the side where there's a curve. And then you remove the membrane because that's essentially your spicy.
Travis Bennett:So you take all that membrane out. You can use your thumb. It's what I like to do. Get all that out of there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I think the ones yesterday that we had, they were a little spicy last night, right? Yeah.
Travis Bennett:From that restaurant? Yes. And it's most likely just they just didn't core them as much.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:As well.
Travis Bennett:And I've I've I've learned that you the flavor of the jalapeno is good. You don't really want the spice too much because, I mean, most people really can't handle that flavor of the jalapeno. Mhmm. So then you have basically a boat. And what I like to do is take just a little dollop of it, shove it in there like that, and then try to kinda get it back to as close to tight as possible.
Travis Bennett:And as you're doing it, that's pretty much what you want to create. Then if you wanna try that one, gonna on the next step. Perfect.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I think we just do it just a little differently, but it's essentially the same thing. Mhmm. Right? There's a lot of seeds.
Travis Bennett:Yeah. These were big jalapenos too. A lot of times you don't get them this large. Right. So now that we've got our jalapenos stuffed with our sausage and cream cheese, I like to take a jalapeno or the toothpick and kinda come not quite the middle, but towards the front.
Travis Bennett:You're basically using it like a stitch, and you're kinda holding it together. And that way, it's kinda held like that. And then you
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:How many? Just one? Just one. And it's a
Travis Bennett:whole solid. And you take a whole solid piece of and what I like to do, this is the strategic part, is you get that fatty piece, you put it on there. Mhmm. And what I like to do is go over the top to kinda create a a cover on it. Mhmm.
Travis Bennett:And then I hit the other one with that, and then you start just wrap and you roll it and you kinda just let it work its way all the way down.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Let me see. Did you when you covered it at the top?
Travis Bennett:Yeah. So you cover you go over the top.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Uh-huh. And then to
Travis Bennett:the side. Turn then it towards the front and start creating your your cover all the way around. Great. Like like a bandage.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Mine only got halfway through. How did yours go all the way around?
Travis Bennett:Just a longer piece of bacon maybe. So then I like to take a second toothpick on the final piece that's cut there, and then you poke it through right there, catch the other side, and you have You're doing good. Doesn't it doesn't have to cover the
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:whole thing because it's just I'm like trying to.
Travis Bennett:When you're smoking bacon, it's going to it's gonna wrap on this thing and it's gonna be great even if you have exposed jalapeno. It's even better because it's gonna get more smoke to the jalapeno and give some great flavor. So there's your and then what I like to do is we take it from this, and I like to lay it flat on the on the smoker to where the the section that's open is kinda facing up. So that way it keeps it like a boat where it's actually just sitting in there the whole time.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So like this. Okay.
Travis Bennett:Yep. Exactly. So now we're gonna prep 20 more and then we're gonna throw them on the smoker. See you soon. What we're gonna do, we're gonna pull out two ribs at a time.
Travis Bennett:We're gonna put them in the full pan. We're gonna pull the sauce over here and cover them in the sauce, and then we're gonna wrap them. So this is a new technique that I started using a couple years ago where it was a little easier to get them, and I feel like when they sit in this pan, it actually has moisture above them instead of just laying them on foil and wrapping them tight. Just don't feel like there's any air around them. So as I started putting them in here, made them, for some reason, a little more tender.
Travis Bennett:Having the space above it kinda like you're steaming something essentially. So it's sitting in that delicious sauce, but it's also got a little bit of air gap between. And it's a lot easier and a lot less mess because you just open it up and then you rock and roll. Those pants fit on the pit perfect too. So
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So these guys have been keeping crew out here. This is Marcel Perrell. He's trying to get away. He's my bestie also from El Paso, married to Lynette. He is godfather to Liliana.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Of course, you all know Travis. This is his famous rib recipe. Mar is acting as a sous chef. First, on that grill, is there anything that we need to see inside of it right now?
Travis Bennett:Absolutely. While we were making the sauce inside, Marcel was out here finishing wrapping them all up, and we actually got to put the poppers on. And you'll see a little bit of a trick of our trade is I like to take the leftover bacon, and I put it right above the ribs. So as it's cooking, it's dropping the bacon juice right on top of the ribs.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh my gosh.
Travis Bennett:So it gives it a little extra flavor. So now as you can see, the poppers are looking good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It's dripping onto the ribs. Exactly. That is amazing.
Travis Bennett:So and once this bacon is done Uh-huh. It is some of the best bacon you'll ever have. Smoked. Hickory smoked bacon. Oh, man.
Travis Bennett:So
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's amazing. Okay.
Travis Bennett:And you'll see this is our almost finished product.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And how long have they been in there?
Travis Bennett:About three and a half hours.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Three and a half hours. Yeah.
Travis Bennett:I'll let them go a little longer. Our our typical recipe is gonna be three two one. Three hours of smoke, and then we'll wrap them. And then I like to kinda get over here. And I'm gonna bring that sauce over here too.
Travis Bennett:Will you go grab that sauce, please?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Where's the sauce? I can go get it.
Travis Bennett:It's right there. Oh, So we got the sauce on top of the pit, and it's just starting to bubble. So that means it's perfect. So I like to take the spoon with the holes in it, put it right next to it, and then it's a little thicker than and you just kinda let it drip on there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Are you supposed to use the one with the holes?
Travis Bennett:Yeah. I like to let it just drip on there. Oh, okay. Don't want too much. Yeah.
Travis Bennett:Because if you get a spoonful, you're just gonna and then spread it around a little bit.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So if someone doesn't have a a setup as impressive as this as yours, Travis Bennett, is it fine that they just use a regular oven?
Travis Bennett:Oven's okay. You're not gonna
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:get do a grill. Use a grill.
Travis Bennett:Well, so what's really popular nowadays is the pellet grills, which I have one as well. And, you know, quick and easier, it you just set the temperature and you walk away. Yeah. But you're still getting that smoky flavor. And then wouldn't necessarily recommend it on, like, a like, gas grill per se, but people have done that.
Travis Bennett:People have done it, and you can do it in the oven. Some people boil ribs. I don't know why, but they do.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:But I know. I know.
Travis Bennett:For the most part.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Sounds miserable. Yeah. Sorry. No judgment.
Travis Bennett:Oh, yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:No judgment. There's some judgment maybe. Alright.
Travis Bennett:So now we've got the ribs nice and sauced up. So we'll take our foil.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:This is how I cook my brisket.
Travis Bennett:Yeah. Exactly.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:This is exactly what I do with my brisket, and I yeah. And I leave a little, like, mound so that all the steam and the juices marinade and soak in in ways that they otherwise wouldn't. Yes, sir.
Travis Bennett:And it goes back on the grill for two hours.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Back on the grill for two hours. Okay.
Travis Bennett:And these are the baby backs, which are looking really good. And you'll see it's still stiff. So if this thing was folding in half, they would be already cooked. So this is the point where you want the sauce to kinda get on it to where they start because and then at this point, they've received enough smoke
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Uh-huh.
Travis Bennett:To have all the flavor they're gonna need. And once you cover them, you can also crank the heat up to catch up on time because a lot of times, yeah, this whole spoon isn't working quite as much as
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I wanted to. So we're gonna go with the full spoon.
Travis Bennett:But, yeah, these baby backs look really good. Marcel, will you close that pit? Just keep the temperature good. Thank you. We'll tighten here.
Travis Bennett:But yeah. So what I was saying, you got pellet smokers are awesome. I've done competitions where people have used pellet smokers in the competition, and some people look at it as cheating. So because, I mean, you're technically just plugging it in Yeah. Letting it do its thing, and then and it's force feeding.
Travis Bennett:Because one of the most difficult parts one of the most difficult parts of barbecuing is keeping your temperature maintained and making sure that your fire is good. And we'll show you what, my process of doing the fire here in a minute. So throughout the day, as I as each time I spray, I also I also check my fire, move the coals around a little bit, make sure that there is a good amount of bed of coals because it could smolder out. Like, if you're not watching your fire consistently, it's going to smolder out and it's not going to maintain temp.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So how many competitions have you won, Trav?
Travis Bennett:Have I won? Uh-huh. Oh my gosh.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh my gosh. See, that's the kind of answer you want. I've entered a lot more than I've won. Let me tell you that.
Travis Bennett:It's some days hard? Some days, it's difficult because the combination of getting everything right on every kind of the, know, the the getting the chicken right. You know, I wanted to demo myself. Getting the chicken right, getting the ribs right, getting the brisket right, it is not easy.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Travis Bennett:And and for I think I've probably run won about 20 to 25 trophies. Jeez. My dad's probably got way more than me between
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:his Really?
Travis Bennett:Yeah. Well, he, he was an expert in the beans and chili.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's right.
Travis Bennett:And then my uncles would always do the meats. So as I got older, I took over the meats, and my dad always did the, beans and chili. So then he had more trophy way more trophies than I ever did.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Makes me cry.
Travis Bennett:I'll catch up. Don't worry.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Ugh. Makes me cry. So I was telling you whenever we started making the recipes in there how this is something that we love to do. And his father was just an exceptional man. His father and Nana, Monty's mother, were just two remarkable human beings and they're missed a lot.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:My parents are missed a lot. And to now be able to be doing this with our children and our friends for a fun Thanksgiving style meal, nothing better. Nothing better. Absolutely.
Travis Bennett:How's it looking, Shannon? What do you think?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh, that's amazing.
Travis Bennett:Once you start getting that sauce on it, it gets the color. Yeah. And then you'll still get a once we pull the the foil back off of it, that's when it really gets the congeal of the sauce will just thicken up on it. Oh, it's the best. Yes, ma'am.
Travis Bennett:And now we got two hours of wrapped, which will tenderize the meat and make them nice, pull off the bone, and then we'll be ready to pull them out and unwrap them and go from there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Let's do it. Let's move back over to the sides. Thank you, Trav. Thank you. Now this is the second side that we're making, which is a white cheddar truffle mac and cheese recipe.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It also serves 25 people. We have a ton of people here. I'm gonna have everyone introduce themselves. First is Cocoa. Parrot.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:What's what? Cocoa America Parrot. Cocoa America Parrot. In there at the camera. Cocoa America Parrot.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's amazing. Thank you. And then second is I'm Grayson Farrell. And then right over here is? I'm Liam Gooden.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Liam Gooden. And then, Luis, there's that. Andrew Perrell. My neck, Perrell. Seriously, you have to bet it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Here we go. So we have a big recipe here. As you can see, we've already had some of the ingredients prepared because of pasta, there's five pounds of pasta over there. And this white cheddar truffle mac and cheese, there's bits and pieces that we're gonna be asking each of these guys to help with. So since we already have the five pounds of pasta, it's cooked al dente.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:The second part, in a large pot, we're going to melt butter and whisk in flour for one to two minutes. So, Liam, are you able to help Andrew with this? Okay. And then after this, you too are gonna be helped by Lewis. You guys are going to be stirring in cheeses once we combine all of that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:This stuff over here that you guys are gonna be doing, Lynette, if you would help them. Yes. I'll talk them through it. Okay. So what they're doing right now in that large pot, she's melting some butter, and she's gonna whisk in the flour for one to two minutes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So how about Liam help unwrap that that butter? And drop that in that bowl. There you go, buddy. Of course, all hands have been washed. I know.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Perfect. And last one. Here's that one more. So we are doing two and a half sticks of butter, and then we're gonna be whisking in flour for one to two minutes. Now you just do that for one to two minutes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Thank you, boys, so much. And then we're gonna be adding in milk. Right? That has already been warmed because the recipe calls for 20 cups of milk. That's
Travis Bennett:a lot.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Quarts warm just because we're making it for 25 people. Okay. That makes sense. Yep. Now what we're gonna do, Louis, you're gonna come take Andrew's place.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You're gonna start whisking in the milk. Then I need to separate it with the. Okay. Boys. Yes, ma'am?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You're going to put the pasta back in here. Do me a favor. Put this pasta back in here. What kind is my hands? Yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It's it's nice and your hands are clean. Yes. Okay. Coco, come over here. Help grab some of this pasta and put it in here, sweetheart.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes, ma'am. Sounds like something. We're gonna use this. I'm gonna use this. Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yeah. Because what we're doing is we're having them move the pasta from that large dish back into these so that we can use this to be where we're focusing on thickening up the milk with the flour because this right here, it's not thick at all. Oh my god. And so we were telling the boys that sometimes when you're baking or cooking, you have to pivot. If it's saying that it's supposed to be thickening and thickening and it's not, so we're gonna have to use that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Andrew and Lewis, I need to go to kinda tag team this. Yes, ma'am. Of course. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Andrew, over here. Start whisking it if you can. Oh, you can't don't have to I can I can, like, go with the can you put pour that in there? Right now? Yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:As as it's kinda heating up. Thank you. Mhmm. Yeah. How about you Nina?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Go. Right. This is science. Like, it's not thickening. So we're just gonna have yep.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yep. We're just gonna be eyeing this. We added. So that's my teacher. Is science.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. So Coco, she's adding this is the This is the shredded. Cheddar. Yes. Shredded cheddar.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes. Please. Please. Please. Oh, sorry.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:There you go. Beautiful. Perfect. Thank you. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Next one. Mom, can I help? Like, you're here? Yep. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Thank you. Maybe one of you kind of picks it up. No. No. No.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yeah. Lower. There we go. Perfect. Perfect.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It's flashing a little. That's okay. It's alright. Careful not to have it burn you because Yeah. There you are.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Turn it over. Turn it right side up. How about you guys just grab it with your hands? Grab it with your hands and place it in here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:There we go. And now don't drop any. Don't drop any. Exactly. Don't touch the liquid in the pot.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh. Silver part. Okay. This is so slippery. I know.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:There we go. There you go. Beautiful. So satisfying. I agree.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I can see how you do that. Was so nice. Careful. Yep. Be careful.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Careful. Yep. Not to splash. There you go. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Now that's what we'll need. Yes. Mustard and truffle oil, salt and pepper. Alright. Here's that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay, Coco. This is some nice truffle oil. Truffle oil is gonna be what makes it. There you go. Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes. Yes. Yes. Coco. Thank you, sweet girl.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That's amazing. That's the truffle oil. Yeah. She's right here and the salt over here. I'm gonna be having you bring in the pasta into this.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Over here. Louis and Andrew, come over here, please, boys. Okay. I need you both to get one.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yeah. You have two hands, so that's perfect. And then, Louis, you use your uh-uh. Let him hold it. Let no.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:No. Let him hold it. Let Andrew hold it, and then you take it a little by little. And put it gently. Just like this.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Like or he doesn't even have to hold it, but he can tip it over if he wants to, or you both can just you just use your hands to there you go. Just get it in this pot. Nice and gently. Perfect. Perfect.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Thank you. Andrew, you wanna try it with your hand too? Yeah. And just set it in here gently? Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay, boys. We do the next one. I know. You and me both. All I wanna do is eat it, Liam.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It looks amazing. That's a lot of It's a lot of pasta. A lot. Five pounds of pasta. Here's the easiest.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Let me show you how to do it. So to make sure that you're getting equal amounts of pasta and or you and I can just do this. I don't know. What would you want? You guys wanna try it and then we'll try it in.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You'll try it? Okay. So then you come over here. Or you wanna hold this and do this? Let's go go over there, baby.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Let let Andrew try. We'll try we'll let every because it's hot at the bottom. Yeah. I don't want you to handle that. So I'll there you go.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Just come over here and spoon it right in. Perfect. And were you saying just wrap from the bottom? Yep. Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Perfect. All the Perfect. Is done. I think that one's good. I feel like that one's good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Alright. Then Nina's gonna take that to the side. I'm gonna take this next one. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Keep going. Okay. Alrighty. Come here, Coco. You're up next, little love.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Thank you, sweetheart. There you go. Gonna come right here. Mhmm. There you go.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Beautiful. Perfect. Good job, Coco. It's like girls are I don't know. Perfect.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Awesome, Grayson. It might be like Gordon Ramsey. Mhmm. Exactly like Gordon Ramsey. What is your favorite food to cook?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Probably shrimp. Shrimp? Mhmm. We love shrimp. Oh my god.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:How do you make your shrimp, Grayson? Probably It's a lot of I'll probably grill it and then cool it down and then put it with some lemon so we can get the spice or, like, the Flavor. Uh-huh. Citrus. Oh my gosh.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:This is a good one. I feel like we need to yeah. That's incredible. I'm like shrimp. Alright.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. That's beautiful. Thank you. I think that's okay. Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Alright. So we need to still add the buttered pan. Uh-huh. And And any of the bacon? Yep.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yes. Okay. So maybe let's do it. Ashley, maybe we do it here. I just wish it was more laid out for them.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Go ahead and No. That's perfect. Careful not to no. No. And you have look.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Watch. Watch. Here's what you're gonna have to do. Oh, like Make sure that you spread it, like, from here to here. Right?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:So it's not all just a dump because then it'll just be clumped in one particular area. So you see how that's more evenly distributed? Okay. Okay. Do this part over here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:That way. Yeah. That's good. That's fine. Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Andrew, come here, my love. Hold on. Let me just get the sides over here. I'm gonna do the perimeter myself just to reduce. Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You're doing this one. Okay. Make sure you evenly distribute it kind of line in a line form fashion. I think, yeah, Coco is like the because do do the littles maybe they do it with their hands. We'll let them do it with their hands.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely going to the pool. Well deserved pool pool fun.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Okay. Nice. Now, Liam, come here, baby. Alright, Grayson.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:This is your last and final bit of work. You're gonna do exactly what's Grayson's doing. Person and Liam, putting them Mhmm. Toward them. You guys are done.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh. Okay, sweet girl. Thank you for helping. Thank you for helping. Yes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Y'all are done. They're they're how the pudding is Is it out? Out? The pudding is not out. Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Thank you. Thank you. Good job, boys. That looks amazing.
Travis Bennett:So now we're gonna check the poppers. Pull that out. Looking pretty good. So right now, we're gonna hold them. These are hot.
Travis Bennett:So now poppers are done. But what we're gonna do now is remove the toothpicks, and then we're gonna cover them in our rib rib sauce. At this point, getting that little bit of sweetness on the outside of it gives them a little bit of a cool flavor profile that you won't wanna say I get at some of the restaurants that you'll get these from. They're looking pretty good. You'll see that bone.
Travis Bennett:The meat will start pulling back on that bone. That's when you know it's starting to get cooked. And plus, some people trim it up a lot to where you'd see that. But let's see what we look. Alright.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:It is 07:09PM. Does Travis have his thing on? Yes. The okay. Good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Good.
Travis Bennett:Alright. Ribs are looking good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Shannon, can you see this? Mhmm. Oh. October 18.
Travis Bennett:Oh, yeah. They're good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:An evening in October. Nice. So these guys were out on the property, and so we were just a hair late, but the meat looks not late at all. It looks like perfection. Right?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Mhmm. Like it couldn't it couldn't be any better.
Travis Bennett:Looks really good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Oh. There's Marcel over there. Can you see more? And, Trav, sorry that my camera light is in your face.
Travis Bennett:It's all good. Alright. Now comes the fun part. Cutting them up and make them look pretty. So a lot of times what I like to do, you can try to cut them from the top, it makes life easier when you flip these over and you can kinda see where the bone is so you can start cutting.
Travis Bennett:And this is what I mean by this section of it. It's hard to cut through.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:And this is a big strong superior.
Travis Bennett:That's why they usually cut that off.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Someone might might frame do?
Travis Bennett:What do you mean? To cut it?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:No. Because normally, whenever I get to this part, I just leave it and like, I don't even fiddle with it. I cut that, and these I okay. Yeah. So I see.
Travis Bennett:This is just the the only real part of it that's difficult. Everything else
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay.
Travis Bennett:It'll cut pretty easy.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Okay. Yeah. Mar, do you wanna do this one? Oh, it smells even better. Oh, of the sensory overload.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:The smell, the sight. Right? All the things. So good.
Travis Bennett:Cooking her rib. You want the bone not necessarily pull out because that means it's overcooked. But you want to be able to take a bite
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:the have some I have some of the It
Travis Bennett:just comes right off
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:the bone. So hold on.
Travis Bennett:See what it does.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:Lick my what? Oh,
Travis Bennett:yeah. Oh, I agree. Is
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:this my is this my worst taste? You get the trophy in my book.
Travis Bennett:Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:You get the bow trophy.
Travis Bennett:Yeah. Pull right off that bone.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett:I know. It's amazing.