Earl works with Capt. Len - My Food Truck Foray UPDATE

UPDATE!
Since my first time working with Capt. Len on his BBQ Food Truck, I have worked several more times, mostly on a Friday or Saturday night, but I have also done company parties and one gathering dedicated to Dog Owners. Working on a food truck  is much better than I anticipated, mostly because of the great customers! I had always understood that hungry people are hard to deal with, but that is not at all the case. Granted, I spend most of my time getting their food ready, but I have met older people, kids and even out of towners...WAY out of town, like Stockholm, Sweden!

The food truck community is a close knit group, not cut-throat businesses at all, really. Most Food Truckers want to try, and indeed request, food from the competition in exchange for their own. Many share space in a common prep area, and do so on an honor system of sorts. It is literally a "league of their own".  It is a business, with all of the challenges, but to me it is more like how it should be in business. Good people serving good products to happy customers!
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 (original article starts here)
Until now, I was the only member of my family that HADN'T worked in a restaurant environment.
But I ran into a longtime friend (longer than both of us care to admit), who was busy stocking his NEW food truck. He asked if I would like to help him, (I think half kidding), and I thought that it would be a great experience and said yes! His name is Capt. Len, and he abandoned his legal training to do what he loves and is very good at, winning competitions and awards. I have posted about his smoked pork and how delicious it is previously, and I even helped him sling baked beans at our class reunion last fall, but tonight I get the full experience. It is the longest day of the year and I am going to work in a small kitchen, in the hot evening. I think it will be great!

Let me be clear about 2 things. Len is the one who is really responsible for the cooking/smoking. My job was to make sure it got assembled properly and delivered to the customer as ordered. For my first time in the kitchen, they didn't really even let me handle a knife...but I did get cool blue gloves!

The second thing is this is not a food TRUCK. Rather, it is a TRAILER. And it is decked out with most everything one could want in a commercial kitchen on wheels, including a smoker! Len has developed his rubs and sauces over many years to give the best results possible, and that care and attention shows, or rather tastes. I find smoked food almost hypnotic in the way it attracts me to the source.

Ribs & Beans & Len's Sauce
Before & after I finished mine

The ribs are my personal favorite with the pulled pork a close second, but we got very good compliments on the brisket, so it really does hit the spot with everyone. I brought my wife some ribs following my little adventure and fortunately, she left me a little too!

I prefer mine with no sauce, but his sauce is a favorite and a special recipe he has developed for years.

Well, I have now worked in a professional kitchen. It was fun, funny, busy, hot and informative.  I will be doing it again soon. Thanks Len!