Resident Culture Brewing Pitmaster Edmar Simoes

[00:00:00] We love barbecue in the carolinas and the south, but we don't hold a corner on the

[00:00:17] market of smoke and meat and cooking food over open flame. Plenty of other places on

[00:00:22] the planet have their own barbecue traditions that merit just as much love as

[00:00:26] whole hog and vinegar. At the same time, there's an increasing number of pit masters who

[00:00:32] are combining the favorite flavors of one meat-smoking mecca with all the other traditions

[00:00:37] steeped low and slow in the smoke of other barbecue capitals.

[00:00:41] Edgemore Samoa is one of those people who are fused in the flavors of his native Brazil

[00:00:46] with those popular barbecue preferences of the carolinas. Today we meet Ed and find out

[00:00:51] about his latest adventure as the executive chef at resident culture brewing company.

[00:00:57] Of course, a low and slow barbecue show partnered with the carolina barbecue festival to put

[00:01:01] a spotlight on Edgemore and all the pit masters are going to descend on Charlotte's Victoria

[00:01:06] Yorks for this year's festival April 5th and 6th. Find out more about this year's festival

[00:01:11] at carolinababyqfest.org, that's where you can buy tickets and if you use promo code Low Slow

[00:01:18] BabyQ, we'll hook you up with a discount. For today, we're going to hook you up with

[00:01:22] Edgemore Samoa's. He's doing some really cool things that want to show his fastest growing

[00:01:27] brewing companies. Enjoy your conversation.

[00:01:32] We're here today with Edgemore Samoa's from resident culture brewing company and a lot of other

[00:01:38] barbecue adventures. Edgemore, welcome to the low and slow barbecue show. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:01:43] It was a pleasure to be here. Yeah, we're so excited to have you and talk about some of the

[00:01:47] cool stuff you got going on in your world and certainly at resident culture barbie brewing company.

[00:01:53] But first, before we get into any of that, Ed, tell me where are you from and how did you get

[00:01:58] into cooking meat low and slow? I'm originally from Brazil. I've been

[00:02:03] Charlotte for 12 years but total United States I've been here almost 19 years, almost 20 now.

[00:02:12] But my background off the barbecue started with a Brazilian barbecue back home with my mom and my

[00:02:20] mom and my side of family. That's a passion for my grandfather, my uncles and it's out open fire.

[00:02:28] We love open fire and since I get a fire being a passion and then I always love it and then

[00:02:36] I have a thing for fire anywhere. I see fire. I'm going to get close. I'm going to.

[00:02:43] Yeah, cool. Well, tell me a little bit more about that tradition with your mom and your grandpa.

[00:02:48] What was it like cooking with them? It's amazing. It's super family and I think that's where

[00:02:56] I get the passion for the barbecue here in America because it's bringing everybody together.

[00:03:03] Bring the family together, bring the friends around. It's amazing how a simple

[00:03:12] type of cooking can bring a lot of people together. Just like smoking the air and the sign is up

[00:03:18] and people start to smell. Everybody started like, wow, what's coming? I think that's amazing

[00:03:26] and I love it. It's just the experience I have with my mom and my grandfather, my uncles

[00:03:34] is just like old school habits, old traditional. Make styles that you without any chemicals,

[00:03:41] without any preservatives and mix by hand and everything by hand, slice by hand.

[00:03:48] Back in the days, you don't have much machines and stuff.

[00:03:51] You know, yeah. So tell me while we're talking about the Brazilian influence in your roots there,

[00:03:57] tell me how that maybe is a little bit different than some of the stuff that you might do or

[00:04:01] we might be doing here in the United States. It's not a lot of difference, right? I think it's just

[00:04:07] a little bit on the style. So Brazilian barbecue is more like open fire. It's very close to almost

[00:04:14] like the Carolina style barbecue because you get the direct heat fire. It's very similar. I almost

[00:04:23] should have Carolina barbecue. I think that's what my passion with the Carolina gets so strong

[00:04:29] because I love burning wood, get the coasts, learn how to spread those coasts around,

[00:04:37] bring the heat. I need heat on this side. I don't need heat on this. I feel

[00:04:44] that's what's so unique. Yeah, well, so that's the cooking aspect but what about the flavors and

[00:04:51] the spices and the rubs and stuff? You use something different in Brazil or you're sticking with

[00:04:55] the same thing? No, we kind of like where I grow up in Brazil, we do a lot of like basically a lot

[00:05:02] of onions and garlic and herbs. That's what we use the most. But I like sometimes to mix a little

[00:05:11] bit like this. I do now at resident cultures, this small little skier that I do. I use a little bit

[00:05:20] of vinegar. I do garlic and so I try to mix a little between Carolina and diffusion.

[00:05:27] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what do you feel like your specialty is now that you're here in the USA?

[00:05:34] I say more like I do love open fire and barbecue and I want to stick to the old school and go back

[00:05:44] more to the old tradition. Okay, well so tell me about how you got connected with resident

[00:05:54] culture brewing company. How did that relationship begin? So that began with old chef we work together

[00:06:01] and he's getting taught you from me and we talking and I was like hey I think I done my side on

[00:06:09] this all the jobs so I think I want to go back to barbecue you know. And somehow he's like hey I

[00:06:16] may have somebody that want to do barbecue and maybe you guys can talk you know. And we start

[00:06:22] up an interview and we went from there and everything just followed right in. Yeah well,

[00:06:29] you know that's going to be a good thing when things work out so smoothly like that.

[00:06:33] But tell me a little bit more about some of your barbecue experiences here because I looked

[00:06:37] a little bit into your background and this isn't your first barbecue game here in North Carolina

[00:06:41] or in the USA but tell me a little bit about what your barbecue road and the states is look like.

[00:06:47] So I'd be working for barbecue here in Charlotte for over almost 10 years now.

[00:06:53] And I started a Southman's barbecue. It should be on South Trion and East Boulevard.

[00:06:59] Okay. And at that time we will only have like Max, Meade Woods, Bookhouse you know a couple of

[00:07:05] other places that do barbecue and that's where I really started and started to learn more

[00:07:13] and get my head back to the fire and just not going to find dying and just going to

[00:07:22] real barbecue. And when Southman's closed, no boys move open up in a place on Freedom Drive and I saw

[00:07:34] a post chef Jim Noble post about the he looking for a big masters and I sent him a text and I

[00:07:41] say hey you still looking for somebody and he's like only few serious about you know. And that

[00:07:46] question kind of like get on my head. I'm like yeah I'm serious about you know. Let me show you

[00:07:52] and I worked there for four years and after that I just keep, I just love it and I just don't

[00:08:01] want to change. Yeah so really rich Carolina barbecue experience some well-known names of brands

[00:08:07] out there. Now you're with resident brewing company and that's a brewing company Ed Marr so

[00:08:12] so tell me about it and I know you guys have just launched this cool new barbecue menu in February

[00:08:17] so tell me about how you've expanded that menu and why you guys have decided to try to do that.

[00:08:23] So I feel like Philip Dream is always a higurup eating barbecue and I think that's

[00:08:31] one of the connections that we have very well right now because he grew up doing that and

[00:08:39] I get here and I love what I'm doing and I cook for him and he's like let's do barbecue you know

[00:08:48] and we're planning to do a little smokehouse outside at the patio to create more

[00:08:55] that barbecue scene for us and we've played our only going to start doing some more beers

[00:09:01] that pair with our barbecue and the menu is going to be like Carolina barbecue and a little fusion

[00:09:08] between Texas, Brazilian so I have a little we have brisket we have pork and I do the picanha

[00:09:18] which I use for the espichinus that which is a skewers and so that's the kind of fusion I'm

[00:09:25] kind of doing and later on I'll bring a little more cuts different but for now we're just going

[00:09:31] to try to keep simple bring the flavors to the people so they can try and keep coming back

[00:09:38] yeah and I've seen some pictures of those biscuit egg rolls or brisket egg rolls man they look

[00:09:42] fantastic can't wait to get a sample of some of those and that's in some of the media that you

[00:09:46] guys are getting already so you know what is the response been like I know you guys are just

[00:09:51] getting it launched but how are people at the brewing company responding to your fans and

[00:09:55] and the people that are coming looking for a beer it's amazing being really good the feedback

[00:10:01] is awesome and it's great to see how many people that follow you sometimes you know and come see

[00:10:08] you and come visit come check your food and it's amazing and being great I can't complain about

[00:10:14] they cannot ask for more you know yeah so well tell me a little bit about the experience when

[00:10:20] somebody comes to the brewing company and I guess let's you are you at the south end location or

[00:10:24] yes okay so tell me a little bit about that experience what can somebody experience when they come

[00:10:29] to the south end location what's it like what am I gonna see what am I gonna smell what tell me

[00:10:33] the environment so the environment is gonna be more like we're gonna try to bring back like

[00:10:40] that brewer feeling where you can sit down have a good lunch you know we're gonna bring try to

[00:10:46] make our lunch is strong our dinner is strong we're gonna do some stuff for our families and kids

[00:10:53] where kids eat for free so we can start to bring the families back you know for people not just

[00:10:58] think we just a place where people just go for a beer we want to be a place where we recognize for

[00:11:04] a good beer and a good barbecue you know yeah fantastic so it's it's a brewing company but it's so

[00:11:10] much more than that did and also saw they've got some non-alcoholic beer they're selling there so

[00:11:14] really you're kind of creating a full full experience beyond just the drinks you're getting the

[00:11:18] food and the merchandise and the environment and everything right right this podcast is sponsored

[00:11:24] by Jackson Creative a custom communication agency located in downtown hickory north carolina

[00:11:31] specializing in online content creation to learn more visit the Jackson creative.com

[00:11:38] Jackson Creative we tell your story yeah and we have the coffee shop too we have a breakfast menu too

[00:11:47] which is amazing manual super simple delicious everything cooked fresh daily you know

[00:11:53] yeah fantastic so folks can be there anytime of the day while you're open and get any of those

[00:11:58] meal needs that they're looking for so let's talk a little bit about your fire I know you love

[00:12:03] the flames and you love the fire but tell me about what you're cooking on there at south end and

[00:12:08] what kind of water are you using uh south end i'm cooking right now it's gonna be

[00:12:13] pork brisket turkey and uh the top sirloin and later on i'm gonna start bringing

[00:12:20] a beef ribs uh pork ribs and some other cuts too but right now i was in hickory and that's

[00:12:30] what i'm like here in north carolina that's very popular it's easy to find it uh but sometimes

[00:12:38] depends on the special occasion i like a little pecan here and there you know but it's kind of hard

[00:12:43] to come across those in north carolina but when this possible it's great yeah so when you're

[00:12:51] cooking up all those different meats you tell me about that you're oven your smoker or you

[00:12:55] are you putting it all on a smoker if you got a black top you're using the open flame what how

[00:12:59] are you getting it all hot uh right now we're getting on in the smoker uh we've got a old

[00:13:04] black hickory smoker right now but later on we're gonna have offset smoker outside and we're

[00:13:09] looking for a whole hog smoker too yeah fantastic so you really kind of meet all those needs

[00:13:14] in the barbecue smoking realm so you talked a little bit about your your wood and one all

[00:13:18] your cooking there what do you feel like is so far the best item on your menu the best item um

[00:13:26] i do like our turkey a lot yeah and the pork that's my favorite too brisket's not where i want to

[00:13:32] be yet uh it's a lot of work i gotta do with those brisket but i'll get there yeah it's not easy but hey

[00:13:39] with that brazilian and texan flare mixing in with carolina that's that's something hugely popular

[00:13:44] around this area and increasingly more so um so what do you feel like sets what you're doing in

[00:13:49] barbecue apart from what somebody else might get elsewhere around around the carolinas um i think

[00:13:55] it was separate apart is a little bit of the flavor you know because i tried to fusion a little

[00:14:02] brazilian flavors a little more garlic a little more onions in here and there

[00:14:07] more herbs than usual people don't do a lot of herbs you know but i do

[00:14:14] if you eat like uh i have a lot of potatoes if you eat that it's it's a brazilian

[00:14:23] vinegarette which is almost like a picotigayo but so it's no statue will bring a difference you know

[00:14:29] yeah cool all right so you guys are gonna be one of the pit masters at the carolina barbeque

[00:14:33] festival and that's coming up april 5th and 6th that a victoria yards and charles is going to

[00:14:38] be a big part of the charlotte shout festival this year so tell me how you got hooked up with

[00:14:43] with louis donald in the in the barbeque festival well louis donald i always appreciate his work

[00:14:49] you know on the on the whole city and he always being on the barbeque scene forever and he just

[00:14:55] keep growing you know and he that's gonna be my first shield of the festival and Philip the owner

[00:15:01] of the brewer they won't get in touch with them and he mentions like hey i think we maybe have

[00:15:06] a pretunisher participate you want to be in i'm just brushing the brewer so i was like man that's

[00:15:12] a lot of moving parts right now you know but i guess let's do it sure hey nothing ventured nothing

[00:15:20] gained right right so i was i was a good for me my first year i think it's gonna be amazing because

[00:15:29] i know a lot of the guys there already i tried out the guys food already but never have the

[00:15:36] opportunity to work together and then put such a show together you know and i think it's gonna

[00:15:41] be a lot of learning experience and and and sharing what i know and it's amazing yeah really great

[00:15:48] community of people and i know that's a big part of the barbeque environment the the community

[00:15:52] and sharing tips and ideas and and learning from one another and and supporting one another and

[00:15:58] obviously they carolina barbeque festival big part of that is a barbeque for a calls piece and

[00:16:03] it's support and operation barbeque relief and in folds of honor hungry heroes you know tell me

[00:16:08] what does it mean to you to be participating in a festival that supporting charities like this not

[00:16:13] just learning on your own but but also supporting a good cause it's amazing you know it's

[00:16:18] amazing to bring a lot of people together to help others you know and i think we need more that

[00:16:25] and the more people we can bring and the more people we can touch and it's the more people we can

[00:16:32] help and i think that's the right thing to do yeah fantastic so have you figured out what you're

[00:16:37] gonna serve at the festival yet so we're gonna do the top sirloin the pecania yeah and uh with

[00:16:43] some chimichu here on top oh wow so that's gonna be a little bit different i know there's some

[00:16:48] barriottacos there but that's definitely bringing a little bit of a different flavor and i know

[00:16:52] that'll be see there yeah i'll bring more of the Brazilian flavor you know they'll be finished

[00:16:57] they'll be light smoke and uh finish on the grill yeah okay fantastic so you you mentioned this is

[00:17:03] your first time with the barbeque festival have you been on the festival circuit before is this

[00:17:06] this your really your first maiden voyage experience in any of this uh i did participate the

[00:17:12] taste of sharduk way back in the days you know and uh but i think like that's the big festival that

[00:17:19] i'm gonna be in yeah well so what what all is it gonna take to get prepared and get ready for

[00:17:24] the festival what kind of things will you do to to make sure you're there on the scene with what

[00:17:28] you need um make sure get all the ingredients i need prep everything ahead and just try to

[00:17:36] deliver the concentrate and focus on on on one thing you know yeah cool so let me ask you this

[00:17:43] you know we talked a little bit about secret recipes and secret tips have you got a secret

[00:17:48] that folks maybe can pick up and use it home to to bring a little bit of the the edmar flavor into

[00:17:53] their barbeque or or a secret recipe you'd want to share with our audience um my big secret it's uh

[00:18:00] burning the wood properly and keep your fire um in a certain point you know like

[00:18:08] find the perfect amount of air the how you burn that wood i think that's the big secret of any

[00:18:15] barbeque and i i think that's the main key of any barbequeous manager the fire yeah manage the

[00:18:23] fire make sure that you got the right heat where you want it when you want it right right

[00:18:28] so we're gonna dip a little bit more in the secret time here and uh want you to tell me edmora

[00:18:33] you know what do you really enjoy most about being a pit master um meeting people

[00:18:41] meeting people i think is open a lot of doors for me and you meet so many people in the city

[00:18:48] so many customers that have followed me around and it's amazing you know

[00:18:54] yeah and you talked a little bit about your family connection when you're when you're there on

[00:18:57] the grill and you're doing some of these special things how often do you think about your moms and

[00:19:01] your uncles and your grandparents oh every time i'm cooking yeah so how do you feel thinking

[00:19:07] about those guys knowing that you're kind of carrying on that tradition in a new country in a new

[00:19:11] place oh yes oh yes my mom my grandfather my uncle's alano yeah fantastic so what do you feel like

[00:19:20] it takes to be successful now that you've got a dozen or so years and under your belt and

[00:19:24] at a few different places what's it take to be successful in the barbecue business uh stake

[00:19:29] on system and keep it simple okay beyond that what do you feel like's the biggest lesson that you've

[00:19:35] learned all this time um not make mistakes and if you make them mistakes uh assume your mistakes and

[00:19:44] and just be good to people be nice to people yeah okay well so when we're looking for advice where

[00:19:52] do you turn who do you turn to when you you're trying to get better um i'm looking for other

[00:19:58] big masters that um out there you know like here in in Charlotte i talked to some of them i talked

[00:20:04] to some people in in Texas uh so there's a lot of connections online that i keep in and we share

[00:20:11] some information if i have some questions you doubt we smoke this you do this what temperature

[00:20:16] you take that you know and just those little tips that help a lot yeah fantastic so what is your

[00:20:23] favorite barbecue restaurant um here in Charlotte i do like john g's a lot um i like uh Lewis in

[00:20:31] Charleston mm-hmm i think that's my top two yeah of course john jesus has been on the podcast before

[00:20:37] and he'll be one of the pit masters coming up at the carolina barbeque festival and excited to

[00:20:41] talk to him again it when you go out and you order barbeque what is that what do you want to have

[00:20:46] what's your favorite dish or your favorite order on the menu um probably will be brisket and maybe

[00:20:53] some sausage yeah okay what about sides uh sides i go for uh i like greets a lot grits hey nothing

[00:21:05] wrong with grits that's definitely a southern tradition here do you have grits in brisul

[00:21:10] we do have some things very similar but uh the grain's a little different it's more it's a smaller

[00:21:15] grain you know it's not too grainy but i think that's the connection coming from yeah cool well

[00:21:22] ed you've been very generous with your time here we're gonna jump into the low and slow showdown

[00:21:26] here and again remind folks that you're with the resident culture brewing company and south in

[00:21:31] and you guys got a few locations around charlotte you can find out at resident culture brewing

[00:21:36] dot com they've got a lot of good stuff you go in there a little ways into the website and you see a

[00:21:40] lot of those cool pictures like this brisket egg rolls i was talking about of course we'll see you

[00:21:44] at the carolina barbeque festival coming up here pretty soon but but now it's time for the low

[00:21:49] and slow showdown we're just want to try to get some quick hitters here gonna see where your

[00:21:53] preferences on some of these things so first of all if you're cooking do you want gas charcoal pellets

[00:21:59] or wood wood wood okay and which wood is your favorite hickory and pickin hickory and pecan all right

[00:22:08] why those in particular uh the way they burn they burn more like hot than and they last longer

[00:22:17] okay so if you're cooking with a meat do you want pork beef chicken or something else

[00:22:24] um i do like cook chicken a lot okay well i chicken uh i think you feel cook chicken super well

[00:22:32] and i think you can make some good chicken best state in these united states for barbeque

[00:22:40] i think the axis texas now wait a minute i don't know i don't like the carolina barbeque show here

[00:22:46] you're at the carolina barbeque festival there's nothing wrong with texas barbeque but why texas

[00:22:52] i think uh it's just uh they have different styles you know and i feel like north carolina

[00:23:02] and now we can see like it's growing a lot you go some barbeque place you see chicken you see

[00:23:08] all the options but a lot is to just sport option you know nothing wrong with that i love it

[00:23:15] you know i love pork too but i'm more like i like to see more odd options gotcha nothing wrong

[00:23:22] with that so if you're picking a carolina barbeque style what's your favorite eastern western or

[00:23:28] the mustard stuff from south carolina um eastern why eastern uh i don't know i went there a couple

[00:23:37] times and i love up there yeah the whole hog in the vinegar there's nothing nothing quite like it

[00:23:42] so if you're if you're having your barbeque do you want it with sauce or without sauce

[00:23:48] no sauce no sauce you get that good flavor of the meat right right yeah so this is it the big question

[00:23:55] edmar is barbeque of verba or noun

[00:24:00] a verb it's a verb and that my friends is the lowdown from the man at resident culture brewing edmar

[00:24:06] semoas edmar thanks so much for joining the low and slow barbeque show we look forward to seeing you at

[00:24:12] the carolina barbeque festival yeah thank you so much thank you you've been listening to the

[00:24:20] low and slow barbeque show on the mesh dot tv network of podcast be sure to visit us online at

[00:24:25] lowslow babyque show dot com you can find out more about the carolina barbeque festival and the other

[00:24:31] pit masters participating in this year's event at low slow babyque show dot com you can also hear

[00:24:37] from operation barbeque relief CEO stand a's as well as other carolina pit masters like Jake

[00:24:43] would from Lawrence barbeque garing curtain and from john j's barbeque and ilia moss from moss

[00:24:48] and more these great carolina pit masters will all be at the carolina barbeque festival again that's

[00:24:54] April 5th and 6th at victoria yards and Charlotte visit low slow babyque show dot com for all the

[00:25:00] details if you like what you're here in the low and slow barbeque show please follow us and

[00:25:05] subscribe in your favorite podcast stream we'd love it if you gave us a five star rating and more

[00:25:11] than anything share the show with your friends special thanks to edge marsemoas at resident

[00:25:16] culture brewing company thanks as well to our producer andromous and the whole team at the mesh

[00:25:21] dot tv network of podcast most especially thank you for listening to the low and slow barbeque show

[00:25:27] remember for the best barbeque and the best barbeque podcast make it low and slow

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