Porky Goodness

Happy National Chili Day! What a great opportunity to thank everyone for their LOVE of Chili Nelson! It warms my heart that it has warmed up so many of you and your families this Fall and Winter! ❤️❤️❤️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ THANK YOU!

That Porky camo hat got Watts his first duck in Arkansas! 🦆 Those ducks never saw him comin!

I met Clark Stallings, owner of Gesus Palomino Candied Jalapeños, about four years ago. We quickly bonded over our love of food and our passion for the small businesses we had just started. We became each other’s biggest champions. With his hilarious sense of humor and larger-than-life personality, Clark was a natural salesman who burned up the road. He got his delicious jalapeños into stores all over the Southeast, making friends and fans along the way. He never made a sales call without telling people about Porky Goodness—because that’s just the kind of guy he was—and I was always so grateful.

To thank him, I created a salad dressing using his candied jalapeños and gave it to him. I’ll never forget how much he loved it and how excited he was for us to bottle it. Before I knew it, Clark had me in a tiny commercial kitchen in South Georgia, mixing buckets of candied jalapeños with my ingredients—and Palomino Dressing was born.

Just a week ago today, I talked to him about another production run for the dressing. We caught up on each other’s lives, cracking each other up as usual. So when I got a call a few hours later that he was gone, it absolutely crushed me. Clark suffered a massive heart attack as he was heading home to Columbus on I-85 outside Atlanta. How could someone so full of life be gone in an instant?

I know I share my shock and devastation with so many of his friends, his beloved family, and really anyone who ever met Clark. He was a true character—authentic, hilarious, kind. He always had a story and a hug for you. But most importantly, he was a great dad who loved his girls more than anything.

We gathered earlier this week to share stories about Clark (and there were many) and to celebrate a life well-lived. I found myself eating cookies decorated like The General Lee—naturally—drinking a cocktail, and looking around at the hundreds of people who loved him. I was overwhelmed with gratitude that our paths crossed over some jalapeños, of all things.

Hug your loved ones, tell folks what they mean to you, fire up the grill, and drink a Miller High Life for Clark. I’ll miss him dearly.

Favorite easy summer salad for a real scorcher of a day! Fresh cut watermelon, crumbled feta and smashed pistachios (for a little crunch) over arugula tossed in my Palomino Dressing! If you haven’t tried this, you better get on it! 🍉