A Week of Firsts

I won't constantly give play-by-plays, but while it's still new, I have describe it. And though I'm sure these postings are standard for commercial bbq'ers out there - those of you not accustomed to the sheer volume of a professional BBQ kitchen have to take a step back.

I'm actually losing weight here eating bbq everyday (no, I'm not tired of it yet - I'll get into the goodies at Head Country BBQ later), no shit - this business works you.

After the brisket-a-thon on Monday, the rest of the BBQ week was stimulating to say the least.

On Tuesday I loaded 1500 chicken quarters, filling an entire smoker (now that's 6 trays per rotisserie - 6 rotisseries in the smoker). That took a while, with a lot of lifting and bending - and this is their back-up smoker that I was using, the other was full with the day's regular cuts of brisket, ribs and some pork shoulder. A whack of chicken - every one of them shiny, trimmed and ready for the smoker courtesy of the great people at Tyson.

Wednesday was rib day, in prep for all-you-can eat ribs on Friday. That's 216 racks of side-ribs, averaging roughly 5 or 6 pounds a shot. Looking at them all is amazing.

Preparation for all meats takes place one or two days beforehand. The meat is rubbed with Head Country signature spice blend - it's great (I don't know exactly what's in it, and I didn't ask - I figured that would be bad form, they sell it). Then it's stacked in tubs in the walk-in until needed. This is also part of my duties.

Today shaped up to be a little more calm until I cut myself washing knives and had to visit the local walk-in for some mending. This was amazing for a number of reasons, though not for the slash itself - which was actually the worst I've ever had with knives (stuff was creeping out of the hole, and I'm not talking about blood).

This was the first time that I've needed medical help in the U.S. I was taken to the walk-in because I was told that the emergency room would charge double for the same work. Right. Filling out the myriad forms was entertaining, not only for the quantity of them and the useless info they were asking for, but trying to write while holding a cloth to bleeding hand (which they didn't give me while filling out the papers).

Additionally entertaining was explaining to the staff that I didn't have medical insurance and that this procedure would not cost anything in Canada - this explanation was continued in detail after stitching to the intense interest of the staff. They ultimately didn't care how I was hurt or who my insurer was when I paid for it with a credit card, $220 bones. Classic.

So after 7 stitches and nearly 2 hours later, I returned for the lunch rush.