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I was leafing through the Feb. 4 issue of People Magazine while at a grocery store (OK, I bought it and was reading it at home). Anyway I opened it up and there was Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ .

Holy smokes. He did it! I met Ray many years ago at the one of the first “State of MI BBQ Competitions”.  This was at Berlin Raceway in Marne, MI. The Outdoor Cook was only a couple years old. I was new to BBQ competitions. Didn’t know much about nothing.

Anyway, I was cooking on two Big Green Eggs and one Hasty Bake. This big dude came walking by. Stopped. Shook his head sadly. “I don’t like those eggs at all. The Hasty Bake is cool, but those eggs….” He walked off shaking his head.

Well, that was my introduction to Ray Lampe. I met him another couple of times. Exchanged a few e-mails. But that was my first impression. An “egg-hater”. I was to find out that “egg-haters” were many. For some reason egg-heads were an early scourge of BBQ competition. Don’t know why. Eggs cooked great. Looked weird. Cooked great. But green ceramic cookers were different looking for sure.

Flash forward a many years and I start reading about a new egg-head “in-town”: Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ! Ray had become a spokesperson, egg-vocate, egg-vangalist, and egg-lightened BBQer.

Without a doubt, Ray is one of the hardest working  (and most talented) BBQers in America. He travels the country. Competes, writes books, teaches BBQ and still does some catering I think. But I get real kick out of his love for the Egg…

I have a good friend, Julie Applegate (aka Mrs. Dog).

Julie cooked with Ray at the American Royal last year and said she had a great time. Julie is one of the original egg-heads in Michigan. In fact, I think I sold more Eggs from Julie’s referrals than anyone else.

Anyway, it might not be interesting to anyone else, but life makes me laugh. You just never know. Egg-hater one day. Egg-head the next.  What’s next?  World peace?

Grilladelic: Making the world a better place one tender brisket at a time.

ps.  Ray won the Michigan competition that year.  I believed he was using a modified pellet pooper and Moe Pritchett’s Down Home BBQ Sauce! Now, Big Moe is another story (and another legendary BBQer whom I have known for many years!)