Boukzam.
A rescue dog with a name nobody could explain and an instinct for exactly when the brisket was done. The only business partner Jeremy ever took on. Co-founder of GarBBQ, page one of every menu, and the reason there is a foundation.
The name
He came from a Broward County shelter in 2019 with the name already on his card: Boukzam. No one at the shelter knew where it came from. Jeremy decided not to change it, on the grounds that a dog who had already been given up once should at least get to keep his name. He has since been asked to explain it on four podcasts and has four different answers.
The card said "boxer mix." The vet said "boxer, mostly." Jeremy says "boxer, and whatever part of him knew when the brisket was done."
The nose
Boukzam slept under the prep table in the garage. Within a month Jeremy noticed he would stand up, walk to the smoker and sit down about twenty minutes before a brisket probed tender. Not after. Before. Jeremy started timing it. The dog was never wrong. "I learned the stall from a rescue mutt," he writes in Low & Slow Forever. "Everything else I learned from books."
The co-founder
When the Cooper City pit opened in 2023, Boukzam sat at the front door for the entire first service, which sold out. The next morning Jeremy added a line to the menu, under his own name: Co-founder: Boukzam. It is on page one of every GarBBQ menu in every state and it is not coming off. Every pit has a water bowl by the door with his name on it.
Six days
Boukzam died in October 2025, at the Cooper City pit, under the prep table, six days before Jeremy was due to run the Chicago Marathon. Jeremy ran it. He did not talk about why until the memoir. Chapter twelve is called "Six Days" and the keynote of the same name is now his most requested talk.
Boukzam's rules of the pit
Posted in every GarBBQ kitchen, in Jeremy's handwriting.
- Sit by the fire. Don't poke it.
- You'll know it's done before the thermometer does. Trust that.
- Greet everybody at the door like they drove across a county. Some of them did.
- Sleep when the pit is banked.
- Never beg. Wait. Something always falls.
"Scott was supposed to be the one who stuck around. A shelter dog with a weird name did it instead, for six years, without being asked. Nobody tell me loyalty is complicated."Jeremy Garber, Kid Brother, chapter five
- Adopted
- 2019, Broward County
- Breed
- Boxer, mostly
- Brisket calls
- Never wrong
- Title
- Co-founder, GarBBQ
- Passed
- October 2025
- Legacy
- The Boukzam Foundation
The water bowl by the door
Every GarBBQ keeps a bowl at the entrance with Boukzam's name on it. Dogs are welcome on every patio. Dog-safe smoked meat is free on request, and the tip jar beside the bowl goes to the foundation.
The Boukzam Foundation →He knew the brisket was done before I did. Every single time. I'd like to think he knew I'd be fine, too.
Jeremy Garber, Six Days keynote
Feed a dog in his name.
The Boukzam Foundation cooks real pit barbecue, dog-safe, for shelters and rescues in eight states.