Larry’s Big Adventures

I found my love for cooking when I was a child, cooking with my Mom and my Grandmother. In those days we cooked in what was called “A summer Kitchen “. This was separate from the main house, due to the heat created during the preparation of soups, caning of fruits and vegetables from the garden. Also, baking of pies and cakes. We did not have air conditioning so this helped keep the main house cooler in the summertime. One of my most favorite things was making hard tack candy. For this process, my favorite task was taste testing.

In my teen years my cooking career took me into the fast food industry, with a job at alocal drive-in-style restaurant called Mr. Ed’s Drive-in Restaurant, a place for burgers, fries, and milkshakes. This was in the days of Mopar, big block motors and mag wheels. We had a sandwich called ”The Triple Decker “ that was similar to and rivaled McDonalds’ ”Big Mac”.

On to my early twenties, a good friend of mine helped me acquire a position as a cook on a shrimp boat off the shores of Corpus Christi, Texas. There I earned enough money to travel and work in many places and restaurants, from Deep Creek Lake, MD to Dallas, Texas. Spent six years in Texas training and learning from many Chef’s. The elite of my training came from two master chefs at the downtown Hilton in Dallas. This is where I acquired the titles of Executive Chef and saucier.

In 1986 I returned home to Maryland and was presented an opportunity to cook in Garrett County, MD. At that time the restaurant was called “The Gathering “ at the base of wisp ski resort. From this point on I cooked for various restaurants locally. Then in 1995 I opened an Open Pit BBQ, called “Hog Heaven”. This is where the two current businesses I own and operate were born. The first was Rent-A-Chef, a private Chef business where I went into homes and prepared gourmet meals for homeowners and vacationers to Garrett County. The second was a BBQ sauce I developed and eventually became known as “Chef Larry Lee’s Too Thick to Squeeze, The BBQ Dipping Sauce”. It’s a BBQ sauce that blends the four most popular flavors all in one jar: tangy, sweet, and a little smokey. For years, my clients asked me: “Chef when are you going to get this sauce into a jar, so we can get it anytime we want”.

The BBQ sauce business took off and is growing each year, with additional products coming to extend the product line. The journey has been good with ups and downs, but we’re growing each year as more products are created and added to the product line.

I love working side by side with my wife and best friend, Lana, at Keller Williams Premier Realty, serving Deep Creek Lake/Garrett County area homebuyers and sellers. With 3 businesses we are always on the move, and when we have a chance we love traveling together. When we’re home, we are loving on and caring for our little Beagle, “Homer”. Besides those passions, I enjoy hunting white tail deer, fishing, billiards, and sporting clay shooting.

Chef Larry Lee’s Too Thick To Squeeze

The BBQ Dipping Sauce