Let's Talk Hog!!!

Hello all Let’s Talk Hog!!! fans, We have a great interview lined up for you all today, C-Dub’s BBQ Rub & BBQ competition team. I have known Charles & Allegra Wilson, for just over a year. I have not had the pleasure of meeting them in person, yet, but I have enjoyed watching their BBQ adventures, and corresponding with them on-line. During my short time here in the grand world of BBQ, I have come across many great folks, and Charles & Allegra, are among the top of that list.

The C-Dubs team considers themselves as a “fun and quirky BBQ rub and seasoning company” and from what I know about them, that is a very accurate description. I have tried their rubs in the past, and I do plan on doing a review in an upcoming post, if you would like to try out their great rubs for yourself, please visit there web-site at www.cdubsrub.com

Please enjoy this interview with C-Dub’s BBQ, I did!!!

LTH: Who makes up the team C-Dub’s BBQ, and where are you located?

C-Dub’s: C-Dub’s is a family and veteran run business nestled in a state best known for its coffee, Washington. Founders Charles (C-Dub) and Allegra (Alli) Wilson come from 2 different planets but met in Seattle, Washington;
Charles being from North Carolina and Allegra from Vancouver, B.C. Canada,
they were always BBQing for friends and family with requests for the ribs, brisket, and baked beans.

LTH: Where did the name C-Dub’s BBQ come from?

C-Dub’s: Charles was called C-Dub while he was in the Army, C short for Charles, Dub short for W.

LTH: How did C-Dub’s get started?

C-Dub’s: (Alli provided our answer to this question) We started in such a crazy way, I still can’t believe where we are at today! I worked in HR/Payroll at Weyerhaeuser for 12 years, then got laid off, so I decided I would go back to school. I decided to go into Web Development, there I met a guy taking a Small Business Program that was geared towards Veterans. C-Dub is an Army Veteran, and we registered immediately! The funny thing is, I started doing it for my jewelry business! Then on a drive to class one day, we started talking about BBQing, and we said instead of my jewelry, let’s do our rub!

LTH: What helped you decide to go into the spice business?

C-Dub’s: It’s a long story, but whenever we went to parties, dinners, potlucks etc., people asked us to cook our ribs, brisket, pulled pork, baked beans etc. The one thing they all had in common was the spice mix we made. It was a quick start; we have only been in it 1.5 years so far. We knew someone who wanted to get a space at a local fair and we went in on it, and the rest is history. We literally bottled and labeled product the day the fair opened, and we got everything going in less than a week! It was a whirlwind! We did pretty well since no one had a clue to who we were. In two weeks we hot a really good customer base, and we have been building on it since.

LTH: What are some of your long term goals for C-Dub’s BBQ?

C-Dub’s: We would love to get our rubs into more retail locations as well as restaurants. We would like to work on expanding the line to include a Sugar Free Rub and maybe one other flavor. Right now we have 3 Rubs, C-Dub’s Regular Rub, our VooDoo Rub and our Hot Wang. We would also love to focus more on cooking, but not necessarily a restaurant. At this time, Charles doesn’t want to commit the hours to a restaurant. He still wants to be able to compete and do all of the fun activities we do, like cooking for our Adopt a Unit. We have some ideas of how we want to move forward, but are keeping them under lock and key for now.

I know one short term goal for C-Dub’s BBQ, and that is getting onto season 3 of Pitmasters, please take a look at their audition video, I enjoyed it!!!

LTH: What are some of C-Dub’s BBQ recent achievements?

C-Dub’s: As far as recent, we have not cooked recently and keep missing deadlines to submit our rubs for awards. I would say the most recent achievements have been the ability to give back. We have an Adopt a Unit at Joint Base Lewis and McChord and, we cooked for our Unit when they arrived back from Afghanistan and Iraq. It was a great day! They loved the food and Charles felt great being able to reconnect as an Army Vet.

Last year was our first year on the BBQ Circuit, and our best achievements were at the Canadian National BBQ Championship in Whistler BC (Alli’s college day stomping grounds!!) We won 4 awards, and it was only our 5th BBQ competition. We won:

• 1st Place Ribs
• 5th Place Chicken
• 4th King of the grill and New Cook
  

  Alli showing off some awards!!

LTH: How would you describe your spices?

C-Dub’s: Our spices are all natural and organic. We use premium spices and process micro batches to insure top quality. We do not use salt as filler, so you are getting nothing but quality spices. We pride ourselves in the quality of our product.

LTH: What’s with the “Get Naked’ I see on your banners, and products? Is there a story behind that?

C-Dubs: Why yes Doug, there is a story behind the “Get Naked!” lol Where Charles comes from, when you order BBQ you say you want it Naked….no sauce….we feel that if you have a good enough BBQ Rub you don’t need sauce—so…..Get Naked!!! Sometimes to use sauce it’s to cover up a mistake, but we know there are good sauces out there, so we don’t want to offend anyone…it’s just our preference. However, we have conformed for competitions, where we also make sauces for turn-ins. We have also had an overwhelming request to bottle our rib sauce, so who knows what the future brings!!!

LTH: I plan on doing a review of your products in an upcoming blog, but do you have any recommendations on how to use your rubs?

C-Dubs: We have had our products used in a wide range other than BBQ. We use our rubs on our competition meats as well as home cooking; we like it best on Ribs and Chicken. It’s great on baking and grilling meats as well. Both our Regular and VooDoo work great on Steaks, Tilapia, Roasted Chicken, Roasted Vegetables, add a little zest to Macaroni and Cheese, Soups and a great snack on Popcorn. The Hot Wang is a very hot blend that can be used, of course, on Wings, but also in any of the ways above, it just depends on you tolerance to heat. Alli uses it in Chicken Soup, when she feels sick, it helps to  clear her up. It’s great to use in Spicy Asian type meals, users in Tennessee and Texas have been known to use Hot Wang on their steaks.

LTH: Any special recipes to use with your rubs?

C-Dub’s: Hot Wings…it is so easy!!!

5lbs. of Chicken Wings

Marinate:

1 Can Coors Beer

1 tsp. Hot Wang

Marinate overnight, if possible.

Why Coors Beer you ask??? Someone left one behind at our house and we thought let’s use that to marinate instead of one of ours! lol……funny thing is we now specifically buy Coors to marinate our chicken. You can also use Italian dressing or white wine for a marinade.

Drain well after marinating and place wings in a large bowl with a good coating of the Hot Wang Rub. (Since Hot Wang is very spicy I would start with a small amount for your first time cooking and work up from there).

How you cook them is up to you, we have tried Grilling, Smoking and Baking. All turned out great! Just make sure you cook the chicken all the way through.

When we first came out with the Hot Wang we sent it to several people throughout Canada and the U.S. for testing. One of the packages made it to Big Wayner and he did his first blog on our Hot Wang. Visit Big Wayner’s blog here

LTH: What has been one event or occurrence, since you have been involved with your company,that has stood out for you?

C-Dubs: I think being able to have our VooDoo Rub sponsor last year’s Smoke on the Water’s USA BBQ Championship in Vegas. We got to meet a lot of great people, and got our rub out to a larger market. Being from the NW, it is hard to break through to other areas where BBQ is huge.

Second we had a recent tragedy in the neighborhood where two little boys were murdered by their Father and their Mother was already “missing” . We were able to cook for the first responders who were on scene of such a horrible act of evil. Even though we cannot take the pain away from that day, we gave back the only way we knew how, which was BBQ.

LTH: Where are your products available for folks to buy them?

C-Dubs: They can pick up any of our products on our web-site, where we are running a special right now, a Combo Pack that includes all of our rubs in a 4oz. shaker size. We have it right now for $12, reg. $15. Please visit www.cdubsrub.com or get them on the Shop Now Tab on our C-Dubs Facebook page Click here for Facebook page

A HUGE thanks to Alli and C-Dub for a great interview, I really enjoyed working with them both here on Let’s Talk Hog. I hope we can work together one day on the competition scene. I know that C-Dubs BBQ will be competing in, THE AMC EXPERIENCE, the Academy of Country Music’s inaugural country lifestyle series of events, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 30 & 31, 2012 brought to you by Smoke on the Water Productions. This will be team C-Dubs BBQ first KCBS event, and I know they will be bringing their “A” game!!! If you find yourself in Vegas on these day’s, please stop in and see C-Dub and Alli, let them know Doug sent you!!!