Elevate Your Barbecue Experience with Twisted Ribs

Owen: 0:00

Today's episode is brought to you by AOS Kitchens, the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.

Dan: 0:18

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meet and Greet Barbecue podcast. Today we're talking to Twisted Ribs, also known as John Fantastic cook. You guys asked to hear him on the podcast, so we've done that. Please do like, subscribe, follow the podcast on all of the different podcast apps, depending where you're listening, and do leave us a review. It really helps us reach out to more people. So, without much further ado, here's John.

Owen: 0:43

Well, hi, john, thanks very much for coming on to the podcast. Great to have you here. So please introduce yourself to our guest, to our listeners. Even You're the guest.

John - Twisted Ribs: 0:53

Thanks guys, i appreciate being brought on. Yes, my name is John. I'm usually known as JD, to be honest to you, to my friends, but obviously my. My grid on Instagram is Twisted Ribs, or previously known as Twisted Ribs Barbecue. I live in around the Leicestershire area, just outside of a town called Ashby De La Zouche, probably been grilling now for many, many years, but I think probably since 2019, i think I've really kind of taken it a little bit more serious and a bit more experimental in what I do. Yeah, and I love it. I love the whole community thing, the whole vibe about barbecue and that, and I guess every day we're all still learning, aren't we? Different techniques and so on. So that's really about me. Obviously, my partner Claire got a dog called Norman, who's an Italian Spanone. He's a big lump, less imposter, he's a right character And, yeah, it's a bit of village life, which is good. So, yeah, i can't complain, it's all good.

Owen: 1:50

Fantastic. So what we did this season is we reached out to all of our listeners and people that follow us on social media and said who should we interview? And your name came up, so obviously you've got a fan base within the barbecue community And here we are talking to you which is great. So, yeah, great, fantastic to have you on. So I'm interested to I suppose you mentioned you've been grilling for many years. Please kind of tell us how you got into grilling and barbecuing, cooking in general, and just give us a story backdrop.

John - Twisted Ribs: 2:28

Yeah, i think it goes back all crikey If I look at how I kind of got into food. So as a kid I grew up in London, coming from a background where my father was Irish, my mother was Indian. Living in West London is quite a big multi-cultural kind of residency, i say An interest in the food types. I was kind of growing up as a traditional Irish food, traditional English as well, but Indian, and pretty heavy into Indian food obviously, which is great. But I think learning a lot from your mum, like most of us do, which is great, kind of over the years kind of embraced that. And I think if we talk about kind of barbecue, i'd say probably about 20 years, being really kind of like bits and bobs, you know like cheeky and wings, sausages, all the normal stuff as we used to do, but then that's that kind of, i guess that kind of vibe over, especially over the last kind of five years. It's really kind of blown up, especially over COVID. That's when I was kind of thinking about taking it a bit more seriously. Honestly, i still try and keep my cooks as simple as possible. The reason being is because I grew up with them, i only tried to keep cooking very simple, with lots of simple ingredients, just to, i guess, knock out some cracking food, and that's that kind of vibe I go along. You'll probably see in my grid. Some of my ingredients I use is very kind of limited, probably four or five ingredients, and really what I'm doing is technically just cooking for myself as a. You know, it's been a meeting in my house, obviously my partner, claire, she's vegetarian, so I try and get the best of both, to be honest with you. But yeah, it's kind of interesting, it's interesting.

Dan: 4:14

If you're cooking for yourself, your portions are right up my alley when I'm looking back for you You've got like four racks of ribs on the go here which look fantastic, and there's such an eclection of what you're cooking. Do you think long and hard about what you're going to be posting about and what you're cooking, or does it naturally flow?

John - Twisted Ribs: 4:32

I wouldn't say naturally flows. It really depends what mood I'm into, to be honest with you. I mean, if you see, there's a number of posts on there where, like you said, there is four or five racks of ribs on there, those are because I've done from when I've been either entertaining friends or doing the cook, for you know, someone's requested Can I do some ribs Sorry, some ribs, or so on for an event? Yeah, fine, just get me the smoker and get them on. But yeah, i've got a freezer which is full of some leftovers, as they say.

Owen: 4:59

Yes.

John - Twisted Ribs: 5:00

Fat pack which is always handy.

Owen: 5:02

You can always hand it and knock out a few tacos with So yeah, it would be impressive if you could do, if you could do four racks in one sitting.

John - Twisted Ribs: 5:09

I could, i don't know what I want a mission to lose a bit away, because doing this part, you think I've definitely put a couple of stone on. But for the rest of me if someone put four, four racks of St Louis in front of me, i would take it down for sure. Not a problem, i'll probably do it standing on my head.

Owen: 5:30

You and Dan would get on very well Yeah.

Dan: 5:34

My records 50 chicken wings. I've done a few food challenges but yeah, i've polished off 50 chicken wings. There's a pub local to me I don't think I've talked about this on the pod before And they had this.

John - Twisted Ribs: 5:46

Exclusive.

Dan: 5:47

But it was like five chicken wings for a fiver, for seven You could have 10.

John - Twisted Ribs: 5:53

Yeah.

Dan: 5:54

For 10, you could have 20, or for 12, you could have 50. And I sat down, and why would anyone not go for the 50? So it's all right 50 and my friend quietly got his phone out, was taking photos of smashing through them And at the end you smashed them, i smashed them. The guy came over to collect it and he kind of giggled and I went has no one ever done that before? So no, i went do I get anything then? Is it like a food challenge? She went no And just walked off. Right, i like I've always loved food and big portions, so just flicking through what you've got on there, it's making me so, so happy. Yeah, what's your favorite thing to cook?

John - Twisted Ribs: 6:38

It's really weird. I mean I know obviously my tag is kind of twisted ribs. I think it always kind of has been. But I think I'm really kind of getting into. I mean, obviously I do quite a lot of tacos And I think that's really kind of a heavily come on over the last kind of 12 months, especially with my involvement with Spanish Darrow, the Mexican based road company, but also using up leftovers and then just trying to be a little bit creative. Be a bit creative in, i guess, what I'm going to cook for my dinner. But yeah, i think probably ribs would be the one, to be honest with you, i do like a good rack, yeah, and then following that is obviously steak tacos. That's my quick go to, to be honest with you, and I've got time available to her. But when I haven't got time and I need to get cook on, i'll do something really simple like that.

Owen: 7:30

One of the things we've been learning over over the course of season five is the difference about when people start barbecuing, And I'm interested in a second to get your, your take. We've we've spoken to people recently that started with an offset smoker. You know they've gone full in offset straight away. That's learning to gas to. You know, a cheap and cheerful barbecue. I'm interested to know where you started. What avenue did you go down when you first decided, right, I'm going to barbeque.

John - Twisted Ribs: 8:04

Yeah, so my first one was one of those dodgy, disposable beach type parafin paper, chemical loaded barbecue Because we used to go on the beach. I used to live in Cornwall for quite a number of years, so when you was down on the beach you literally catch fresh mackerel and then obviously gut fillet, cook. But yeah, for me I think I had a Webber Master Touch many years ago. You use that quite a lot, but then I might think my my next offset was I saw it I did on the web from a shop based in Devon in Barnes barbecue stores for a char grill, a Wrangler, and I had an offset box as well that came with it. It was quite a good unit actually, but it's very rare that I'd use the actual side box because I didn't really kind of understand the. I guess the the reason why it's there not researching it many years ago. But now I was being heavily into it now and realizing what that was for. You know that was probably a bit of a dumb thing on my side. It's not researching what you're buying. I literally just loaded it with charcoal and cooking on the top. Yeah, i mean, that was it. That's really kind of from from. My style was definitely the old paraffin jobby, as they say, disposable. Then I was to then to a Webber Master Touch and then a char grill, but I was quite a few barbies at the moment. Which is now, which is good, but it takes up a lot of space in the garden, as they say, you know, like an addiction.

Owen: 9:37

Oh, yeah, 100 percent is. And yeah, again, that's also quite amusing that you know most people we speak to it's just like, yeah, it's a bit of an addiction. Oh, i've got no room left in my garden. You know I've got no room left in my garden, so please talk us through what you've got. I'm always interested to hear.

John - Twisted Ribs: 9:54

Oh, OK, so, yeah, so crikey, two Webber Master Touch 57s. For me they are just absolute classics, using quite a lot when I get a chance to, especially when you come into that kind of spring summer time. Do use them in the winter, but again, it's one of those things that all depend on where I am. I don't actually have a shack as of yet, so I'm really kind of either cooking under an umbrella or or some form of shelter. I've got a Pro-Q XL upright smoker, which is great, fantastic. Again for those long and slow cooks, i'll say that was one I purchased back in 2019, just on the back of going to an event in Leicestershire and obviously meeting up with Ian from Pre-Q and so on. So I kind of saw that for the first time. Again, like I said, i hadn't really researched none of this previous to probably 2019, to be honest with you. Next rule I've got, say, traeger, ranger and Fairpata Traeger. That is a monster piece of kit. I think probably over the last couple of years I've knocked out quite a lot of my cooks on that And if you go from my grid you'll see what I put through that. But such an impressive grill for basically the size of a suitcase. It really is good. What else have we got?

Owen: 11:22

I think for you then if you're cooking on the Ranger, as you mentioned that, your partner's vegetarian, so the size of that must be really ideal for you if you just want to cook a steak on your own or just want to cook a small rib pat rack or something like that.

John - Twisted Ribs: 11:40

Yeah, it's perfect. I mean, the thing is, with Claire being vegetarian, i have an Artiflan Classic Fault Steak which is a 40-inch circular plancher grill, and when we have friends over I basically will dedicate a quarter of that space on that grill for vegetarian only, or even fish. So, yeah, kind of utilizing, i guess, the equipment that I have. So if I'm cooking for I don't know if I'm going to do something vegetarian on the grill as well, i will. Yeah, and obviously I've recently managed to pick up a Weber Smokefire EX4, but I wanted to go something bigger than the Ranger And I think that's kind of helped me do a lot more in regards to different types of food as well. So, yeah, i think we've burned the Smokefire. I think a few years ago I had a bit of bad press. There was obviously issues around the pellets not falling through the hop or through to the moving party, the moving party, argra, and that. But those are all sorted by Weber And I'll be honest with you, i absolutely love it. It's a beautiful piece of machinery and does exactly what I want it to do, do you have a favourite? Yeah, i do. I think it's got to be my smokefire, definitely, and I think just for the convenience of plug-and-play pellet grill, turn it on, set your temperature and then off. You go and then just monitor through the app, have it connected to Wi-Fi So I can, like most pellet grills out there, they link it up to Wi-Fi. I can literally put my protein on, set the temps, get smoke going, close it, leave it and I can go off and go shopping And I can still see the activity on the app. Technology is incredible. I want to change that down to temperature or low-village or low-village temperature, or raise it or even shut it down. I can do that remotely, which is superb. But yeah, i think that is definitely probably my favourite at the moment. For sure, gosmy, peter-raven who hasn't got a Gosmy and you've got a Rockbox.

Dan: 13:51

Well, I want to talk to you about that, because I'm very close to purchasing a Rockbox. And do you have the wood attachment or do you use just the gas?

John - Twisted Ribs: 14:07

I'm gas, just straight gas. Like I said before, i just like to try and, but on a pizza, rather, i don't think I've got the patience to then obviously fire up the wood and try and keep that kind of heat management going. I'd rather just flick it on and let the gas do its job. But yeah, gosmy Rockbox I've had mine now for probably just under a year And I'm just so impressed with that pizza kit. But also for myself, being an ex-professional baker for many years ago, obviously as a job to making pizzas at home and using your own kind of ingredients and so on, has been a game changer for us here, for both me and Claire, because while I'm doing, what I want to put on my top is to be cast of pizza. Claire's there. obviously. she's shaping up dough and panning out and then getting her own toppings on for vegetarian options. That is really really good for us in our household because instead of it's just going to be a meal for one, it's actually we're working together on a meal for both of us. So yeah, i definitely recommend the Rockbox. I've been super impressed with it.

Dan: 15:20

You've got the expander at the front as well, which helps kind of the launch and everything. Has that vastly improved it for you.

John - Twisted Ribs: 15:26

Yeah, it has. I mean, I've used it twice now I only recently come out from Gosney and I saw that and thought I need to get one of those purely on the back of If you're spinning the pizza sorry, you're spinning it obviously and then just leave it to rest. And I've actually got 50% and the 50% out. That's actually quite handy just to just keep spinning and then just bring it out onto the mantle. I was again bring it out onto the onto serving plate, but I think it's a great. It's a great idea. It gives you a little bit more space as well to, instead of putting the appeal in fully, you can actually bring the pizza out and just rest it on the mantle and then obviously spin and then back in and then just have it out, so long as you try not to burn, because sometimes I'll pound with the Gosney. So I kind of get up to temperature and then I leave that flame going and I really should turn it down in between each cook. I'm not overheating the, i guess the oven itself, because then that tends to cook the pizza too quick, and then while you're waiting for the cheese to melt or your toppings to cook as well, you know you'll then char in the dough, you know, which obviously then becomes pretty dark, and I've had a few of those accidents which I'll talk about later. But yeah, from the mantle that's a great addition And I don't think, you know, i don't think there's anything else you can add to it. To be honest with you, yeah, it's a good bit of kit.

Dan: 16:49

But what I'm trying to do is I understand how much easier it must be using the gas on there And the fact it's quick and everything. but in my garden I'm the opposite of Owen. Owen's got like five, six barbecues and he's looking at how he can kind of expand on them. I'm trying to go kind of minimal, like I've got a monolith commado which I'm really enjoying, but I've just loved the idea of a pizza oven. I love how they look and thankfully my wife does as well, and the other thing is getting the purchases past the wife, you know just say.

John - Twisted Ribs: 17:23

I'd say, just say you've won a couple of competitions. Always works.

Dan: 17:26

I've won a couple of competitions and don't check the bank, That's.

John - Twisted Ribs: 17:30

I should have said that, should I? Sorry, my wife doesn't listen.

Dan: 17:36

Why would she? She hears my voice all the time But from that point of view I kind of I'm trying to stay away from gas because I'm streamlining what I've got to me using the charcoal woods. But I've not spoken to anyone yet who has the wood attachment or uses it.

John - Twisted Ribs: 17:54

I don't know. I don't know whether Russell Davis has got the wood attachment Cause I know he's got. I know he's got a Gosmy. I'm not too sure, but it's worth actually putting it out there to be mostly on a story or whatever, and you know when you're grid like I said, I've got the gas purely because I like convenience. you know, especially with pizza, I just want to turn it on, get into temperature, not worry about the kind of, I guess, temp management on it and then replaning on the, on the wood and so on. I'd rather just get it on, get a job done and get it off, you know, and then just put it all away. But I get asked, like I said, to me that's just convenience, you know.

Dan: 18:31

Yeah.

John - Twisted Ribs: 18:32

I am a child. That's the problem, but that's a fair play, you know. I mean, the thing is as well, i think, with a with a wood fire pizza. a friend of mine owns quite a successful business over in the other side of Leicestershire, you know, and that you know. you go past his business thinking it's, you know, just a normal cafe, but what it actually is, you know weekends, because he's from Sicily, you know that becomes an Italian eatery, you know, and he's got a purpose built, a wood fire pizza oven within his, his kitchen, and the pieces it knocks out, it's fantastic. but the flavour as well is completely different. That's in my opinion. it's a completely different age, on wood for sure.

Owen: 19:13

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Actually, you made a comment earlier that you were an ex-professional baker.

John - Twisted Ribs: 19:22

Yeah, so yeah.

Owen: 19:26

Do you bake much still and do you use the bar to bake?

John - Twisted Ribs: 19:29

No, no, and it's something I needed, though it's quite interesting because when I left school I always wanted to kind of be a chef and I found it quite difficult to kind of get into hotels in London as an apprentice and even into college as well. So my only other route was to kind of look at other options and I got offered a job as a trainee baker with one of the multiples which actually I was with for about 18 years and kind of learned my craft there, also learning about new product development as well within bakery, because it's quite technical. Still, a few lines that I was involved in development of they're actually still sold by one of these mulls which I'm hugely proud of still seeing that on the shelf. But I think for me it's kind of I'd like to get back into it. I'd like to do it at home. Claire's a fantastic baker. She makes incredible and I think with the grills that I've got I definitely should start considering like those sourdough and so on, because I've got a number of Dutch ovens. I just don't use them enough and it's about thinking kind of outside the box now and utilising what I've got to kind of get back into it. So that's definitely on the cards, just obviously finding the time to do it.

Dan: 20:47

Please do, because I was desperate to call you a master baker.

John - Twisted Ribs: 20:53

I've been called worse. honestly, dan, i've been called worse.

Dan: 20:59

God, i'd written that down and I was like come on, come on, john.

John - Twisted Ribs: 21:04

Yeah, i just I knew something was going to happen. It often happens. You know, that's what I think I'd go down at. That's what I call a professional baker Brilliant.

Owen: 21:18

I just want to get my words out tonight. I did that about, please, dan, talking about the smoke fire and the fact that it's connected to the internet. You know having that technology is super helpful. It obviously adds to the convenience and you know I've got a pellet grill and I completely agree with that. Are you quite into the kind of techy side of barbecue that is now coming out? you know a lot of new generation barbecues have technology included. Is that quite an exciting thing?

John - Twisted Ribs: 21:48

Yeah, i mean it's a great feature that you know these kind of pet products you know the pellet grills have as addition. You know, when you look at the new Traeger lines coming in, you know the tech behind that, you know, is phenomenal. But to be honest with you, for me it's kind of I've never really been into that kind of like real in-depth technical side of it. You know, i just really wanted, for what I wanted to do is cook, you know, great, if it's got a halogen hob on it, fantastic. You know that's a great addition because you know that's always a bonus anyway. But yeah, for me I'm kind of just really into it trying to keep it simple. You know I just want to plug and play, cook something and then turning off, you know. But I know there's guys out there that you know go into nuts and bolts and so on and you know is for me it's a learning, it's an education, but it's great to listen to as well, because they've got a passion for it as well. You know which is important. You know should never take that away from anyone in respect to what they're into, kind of thing. Like you know this kind of this same for sure. I mean we can all talk about different types of charcoal and wood and so on, and you've got people who can talk about the techy side of you know, the electronic plates that go into it and everything else you know, and I just think it's fascinating. But for me it's. I just try and stay a little bit clear for that, because I'm not tech savvy at the end of the day.

Owen: 23:08

Fair enough, and you mentioned about keeping things simple, not using much ingredients, and you mentioned, obviously, you know, in terms of your parents and heritage, and that kind of fusion of different styles. So, yeah, do you, and I suppose, having that Indian style? do you have a? do you use quite a lot of then, spices, fragrances, within your cooking?

John - Twisted Ribs: 23:31

Within stuff I do without barbecue. Yeah. So in a home I'll cook curries and so on, not necessarily in a barbecue, but I kind of. I look at a number of dishes, what I learn from my mum. For example, like a chicken biryani, you know, that is probably about 12 different spices that go into that And that's probably one of the probably one of my most favourite dishes that I like to cook. But I tend to do that at home in the oven, rather than putting it into a barbecue. It's just easy for me to manage it in the end of the day. But again, i think, growing up in that environment, also learn to cut corners as well without having an impact on flavour, And there's a lot of pastes out there that replicate that kind of dry ingredients going in with oil to make it convenient. But yes, i'm all about simplicity. You know on the ingredients, i think you know you can turn out some good food with a handful of ingredients. You know, sometimes I'm being quite brutally honest. I mean, i've seen some posts on Instagram where you know someone's got 20 different ingredients going into. You know a cook And I just think you know why would you want to do that? Okay, like I said before, everyone said their own and I absolutely respect that. But you know, the result is just the same. As you know, knocking out a dish with half a dozen ingredients to kind of replicate it, you can really keep it simple, and I know it's not about impressing people or something, but I, like I said before, for me simplicity is the best way. You know it's simple is good. You know, if you can, if you can turn out a decent dish, also at a fraction of the cost of what it would be to load up with a load of ingredients, then you know, why would you? you know.

Dan: 25:16

I think as well with someone with your skill, I imagine simplicity but also means that you've got more time and money to think about the actual meat you're using, And the quality of the meat makes a big difference as well. I mean, it sounds obvious, but the more Mato Owen and I go down this journey and you speak to people, meat is almost or the quality of the product is almost 50% of the cook. So where do you source and get your meat from?

John - Twisted Ribs: 25:44

So I use a couple of places. I've used John Davidson's quite a lot. I'm in Scotland, i what I tend to do is if I if I'm looking to buy, say, some Louisville ribs, i really kind of only use Swift brand USDA St Louis ribs. Why? Because I like the quality of the product But at the same time I'll order a couple of Jacob ladder on there, you know, six bone in, i'll order some pork belly, i'll order, you know, black praline or whatever you know, just to make up the order. I also use British Butters. A while ago I buy a product from work as well, because within my, my employees, we have a significant meat business And and for me we have a premium brand which I trust. I know where it comes from. I've got full traceability on that product all the way back to, you know, to farm and beyond. So I tend to use that range of products as well. But also, if there's anything around me here in Leicestershire, i've got a couple of farms that are used as well. For me it's also important about supporting local where you can Okay, costs a little bit more, but you know you're actually, you know you're actually getting a good, a good product, you know, and it's traceable, it's trusted. So you know I'm not going to knock that.

Dan: 27:11

I think as well if you're putting, depending on what you're cooking, of course. But for example, if you're doing low and slow and you're putting 10, 12, 16, 18 hours into a cook, then it's worth spending that bit extra. So you know, the effort is going to be rewarded in a very different way.

John - Twisted Ribs: 27:26

Yeah, no, absolutely. I think you know you can go out, you can buy really cheap meat. The problem you've got with that is that you know it's about traceability And you know that's the first kind of question for me. I know, i know, i know in this industry we all know that there's some roads out there. I've seen it, you know out there. But for me it's about you know understanding where the products come from. you know, but they're, more importantly, you know the support, local. but the prices I said before is important, because there's nothing worse than going out and spending 150 quid on the brisket And it comes out absolutely crap. You know and you feel kind of, you know, you feel cheated by it, but I think at the same time you kind of question yourself when you cook it right. So I'm scared of that's my next step.

Dan: 28:17

So it's been a while since I've done a brisket. For that reason I've done two in the past. One I was okay with, the other I wasn't that happy with but everyone else around me was obsessed with, probably because they're not barbecue. As we've talked about that before, we are our biggest critics, right.

John - Twisted Ribs: 28:32

Yeah, absolutely.

Dan: 28:33

I feel like to elevate my game. I need to invest that much more in the brisket that I'm buying, because the fact, content and the marbling and everything. I'm also slightly scared to make that a jump if I then cock it up.

John - Twisted Ribs: 28:45

Exactly that, i think, with me. I don't. I mean, i've done a few brisket. I did a brisket It's a flat end Probably about six weeks ago, and I actually got that from work and I thought I'll give it a go because it was a roll brisket, you know. And the thing is, i think with brisket, you know, it does need a little bit of TLC, you know, because if you don't, you know it goes wrong. And that's going back to one of my bad experiences. I had a brisket a couple of years ago and it came out absolutely pants and that ended up in a pie, believe it or not, and it didn't even end up on my grid because I was that embarrassed with it. But that's just a fail, you know, we all have fails. But yeah, the brisket I got from work the other week, it was a flat end and it was fantastic, you know, and that was done in the smokefire And I couldn't believe it, you know. Obviously, being a roll brisket, you know, i've got my butcher to basically unroll it and just pack it into two pieces of me and then obviously just see how it comes out. When I cook one, i'll just shot myself. It was just super. But I don't do brisket a lot because, like I said before, there's only meat in this household and it can become quite expensive at the end of the day, and that's a lot of meat. Left over for years, right, yeah, and the rest, the rest.

Owen: 30:19

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Dan: 30:25

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Dan: 31:11

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Owen: 31:22

Visit aoskitchenscouk, i noticed that you worked with a couple of brands. Yeah, so, george, just talk us through some of the partnerships, that brands that you support and work with.

John - Twisted Ribs: 31:39

Yeah, well, yeah, i mean from a grill point, artiflame, obviously based out in the USA. That came from our link with UK Grills who are the agent over here for Artiflame. I was, i guess, well, correctly, i think I've been lucky enough to go on to that European team. I mean I don't think I was first choice at the end of the day. I think you know as whether it was kind of pushed on them to get me on it or what I don't know, but I was hugely chuffed to be invited to come on to it And that all came about me obtaining an Artiflame plancher plate for a 57 Weber And I was obviously knocking some food out on that and that kind of got noticed with the guys at UK Grills who have been hugely supportive, and that kind of conversation went a little bit further over to Arizona And then linked up with the guys who I flamed in. You know. Next thing, i'm on a, i'm on a kind of Zoom call with them to kind of get to know me and kind of, you know, see what the opportunity is to join their team, which is great. So that I must admit I probably used the plancher It was for the 57, a lot more than what I used to classic 40, because that is an absolute, that's a monster of a barbecue. But obviously now we're coming into the better weather, you know there's a lot I'll be looking to put on that grill, whether it's through the rotisserie, through cast iron, live fire cooking, trying to get a bit more out there, more content out there. On that I've got hands up. I've slacked on that for a number of months only because you know the weather's been pants and you know it's been time as well.

Dan: 33:19

But Time's going for everyone. There's no time for anyone at the moment.

John - Twisted Ribs: 33:24

Yeah, well, by the time this is played, you know we're into mid-summer art media, you know, and it's moving quickly. So, yeah, a bit more to do with Artiflame on there. And then Spanglish has to dare You know, relatively new to the UK market Been around since 2017 in Los Angeles. The history around the brand is phenomenal, obviously prior to Mexico, and I think that came through the link up with Artiflame. There's a relationship there between Spanglish and Artiflame as friends, and then myself and Elkies, the smoking elk, and Hillary barbecue lads, so I asked if we could have a look at some of these Mexican base rubs, obviously Chile-oriented, different levels, lots of cooks you can use with these products, And so we said yeah. So I've had this for probably coming on, probably near on, two years actually, when I got the first samples through. And then we were out in Arizona last April me, elkie, hillary barbecue lads and then Nick and Mike from UK Grills We invited to a social cookup Artiflame HQ in Camelback Mountain, which was in a fantastic four day event. That's 70 people there, so it's obviously got Team Europe. And then you've got Team USA And it was good. But yeah, kind of made the team from Spanglish I think at the same point, obviously with a Spanglish product we had, i think it was about nine Artiflame grills going on different levels within the property. But then kind of I think how can I put it without being big headed? I think when you're going up against Americans because they're bloody good at what they do, i think for the kind of British I think we're definitely coming up the ranks. And I think me, elkie, hillary and Nick and Mike went out there. We wanted to just kind of have a bit of fun but show, we could do So I've kind of incorporated Spanglish into a lot of the cooks I was doing, just to kind of give a bit of a right on it rather than normal that you see out there. So, yeah, presented a few dishes to a number of people out there and yeah, it kind of took off And for me, spanglish were looking at, you know, see, quite a few people in, i guess, the US as part of their Academy team. So I asked if I'd, you know, if I'd want to jump on board with that, which I was usually on it love the product. I do use other rubs, don't get me wrong. But yeah, and I thought well, you know I tend to use quite a bit of spice every now and then. I like chili, i love anything hot. The best thing about these rubs is that you know you've got different heat levels. You can apply it, apply them to different cooks. The application is really simple, just like any other rub. But, yeah, and that kind of led on to you know, being involved with Spanglish, which I'm usually proud of, you know. So, yeah, a couple of brands I work with, i think you know, to be honest with you, there's a lot out there on the market. I've tried lots of products out there, which is great. And then to be asked to kind of represent you know it will be part of the team just focusing on, you know, obviously, utilising that brand along with others. Yeah, absolutely fantastic, really chuffed with that Great.

Owen: 37:02

You've already referenced it a couple of times, so I think it's about time that we hear some of those stories. Barbecue Files, yeah.

Dan: 37:10

I mean, I mean, you get to hear what's happened John.

John - Twisted Ribs: 37:14

Yeah, Briscuit bad one. It was about a hundred and twenty quid, something like that, on a tiny bit of brisket, which, yeah, I completely overdone. And it was on for about what? was it about? 18 hours, I think it was, But the temp was too hot So absolutely annihilated it. It's all about a learning curve, isn't it?

Dan: 37:43

So what did you take from that? Was it that you misjudged the stall? Was it that you were getting temperature bleed through a thermometer? What happened, do you think?

John - Twisted Ribs: 37:52

It just my ignorance and just thinking, yeah, just rub it up, as they say, the binder, rub it, put it in a procure and then just have the temperature up on the coals, have all the vents open and just let it go, and just left it, thinking I was doing the right thing. And yeah, i found that the base of the product was kind of really kind of hard, gone, solid, dried through, yeah. So, as I said, the only way I could recover some of that was obviously I was basically putting a pair of gloves on and kind of then breaking down by hand and trying to keep the soft tissue, as they say, which is edible, when the other bits always seem to have been. So they ended up into a number of eyes and so on, but yeah, that was one of them.

Owen: 38:40

It's a lot of money to swallow as well or not to swallow actually for that matter, but it was a learning curve.

John - Twisted Ribs: 38:45

It was a learning curve, yeah, ribs yeah, though I love doing ribs, i think I do a pretty good job at them. Yeah, i've overcooked ribs before to a point where there's been elements where I've not kind of wrapped and I usually wrap to them. So I usually go two hours and then obviously spritz but then obviously wrap as well for a couple of hours and see how they come out. But yeah, i've done ribs before, pork as well, where you've had, for example, a traceranger. I've had that going at 450 pork chops in there, like obviously trying to get a nice color on them, but went way beyond nice color through this jarred And that was one of the first few cooks in my traceranger. But yeah, again, that didn't make my grid but my dogs loved it.

Dan: 39:41

So would you please send someone in the household.

John - Twisted Ribs: 39:43

Absolutely, but also as well, i think, with the Cosme. I had a go the other week of making a calzone and yeah, that was a car crash, absolutely car crash, because even though I kind of panned the dough out and then overfilled it, but I found that dough rises in heat, as they say, cooked through, and it got to two point where the top of the dough was actually more or less touching the top of the Cosme oven and at that point there you got something that was absolutely charred, completely thrown on the top and everything else underneath it. It was just where it's not cooked.

Owen: 40:27

So learning there Did you pre cook any ingredients?

John - Twisted Ribs: 40:32

I don't know what ingredients you used, but Yeah, i just did a simple mozzarella, some artanelles, some fresh basil leaves, and now I've frozen some rocket in there as well, and it was really a test, but again, because I like that kind of stuff and I would have ended up putting some salami in there and so on. dry cured meats is fine. Yeah, i would have enjoyed eating that, but yeah, it just didn't get to that point. That was straight in the bin. It was a shame, because I was really looking forward to it. Quite a few. what else is there? the sausages? we all burned sausages, didn't we? Mm-hmm, you know so.

Dan: 41:07

Or the other classic accidentally losing them down the grates or something you know.

John - Twisted Ribs: 41:11

Yeah, well, funny if you say that on that Artiflan Classic 40, before I got the There's a centerpiece that goes in the middle. It's basically called a footsaber because the Artiflan Plantry has a very small gradient going into the middle. So you know, the idea is that you know if anything is going to fall, it'll fall into the middle or roll into the middle rather than rolling off the edge, which is a little bit more dangerous. I ended up getting one of those because you're doing full English breakfast for a number of people. The amount of sausages that have rolled, or even the amount of fried eggs on there that you put in there, literally fried egg just literally runs down and it's literally into the fire. You know you lose it that way. So yeah, it's all a learning curve again. But it's all a learning curve, it's all fun, it's all good.

Owen: 41:54

Yeah. Dan yeah, absolutely, i've got a barbecue fail. that hasn't happened recently, but I'm not sure I'm saying You've just reminded me, john, i served up raw burgers by accident.

Dan: 42:10

Oh no, i've not heard this.

Owen: 42:13

I was, yeah, i was at my parents and I was giving it the big and I had to barbecue all this kind of stuff And the Six Nations was on at the time. So I was, you know, a few beers in two beers watching the England rugby team and just had some stuff on the webber and, yeah, i basically thought they looked fairly cooked on the outside. So I was just like, yeah, they'll be fine, gave it to my daughter. She took one bite in and it was still like proper pink in the middle where it did. So that's probably the only time that I've ever served raw food, but I think you know mitigating circumstances. The rugby and beer was more important.

Dan: 42:51

It's painful watching England play rugby, isn't it No?

John - Twisted Ribs: 42:56

It is actually being an idea supporter.

Dan: 42:58

Being Welsh this year has been appalling for me because it's not getting to it.

John - Twisted Ribs: 43:01

I don't know why I brought it up.

Dan: 43:03

I don't know why I brought it up.

John - Twisted Ribs: 43:04

Just going back to the failures, i remember probably about five years ago it was when I was, you know, just before I moved to Leicester I was living in Cornwall and I cooked a lot of chicken thighs up, and this is me cooking, but without a thermometer. And that was scary because you think all that outside looks lovely and brown and crisp and all that. But actually when I Because I used to literally just take a knife and fork and then just cut the plethora, just have a look at the bone inside to see if it's clear Yeah, yeah, served it and yeah, some of it wasn't running clear, so I took those off the table and back into the master touch. Yeah, i kept quiet about it. So for those who did get a little bit of food, boys and I'm sorry- I'm really sorry.

Dan: 43:49

It was just a shit weekend, that's all it was. I'm sorry.

John - Twisted Ribs: 43:56

I'm trying so hard not to square actually, but yeah.

Owen: 44:02

Oh, i also lost a couple of eggs. Talking about planches, i bought a plancher for not for my Weber's 57, and I was cooking I think I was doing smash burgers, but I also wanted eggs and egg smash burger, essentially and I put two fried eggs on and the ground that I was obviously having my barbecue on wasn't quite level and literally they just slid straight off down the. There's two tiny little holes in the plancher right in the middle and they both just zoop straight down and I lost both.

John - Twisted Ribs: 44:35

Isn't that annoying, that is so bloody annoying Yeah.

Dan: 44:39

It's a joy I've done for eggs. So I don't know if they still do, but B&M Bargains in the UK they do these five-pound brownie or cookie packs but they come up with little, tiny, tiny little cast-iron skillets. They're great for individual eggs. Yeah, i absolutely love them. For a fiver. You can't buy mini skillets for that, so not really the best quality, but just to get one of them and chuck an egg in it works perfectly.

John - Twisted Ribs: 45:11

You say that actually I bought two of those exact items you're talking about at the weekend. and the reason B&I bought those because, being clear, we like to go up to Northumberland a lot. Obviously, beach life up there, fantastic coastline food's brilliant, and we were at a pub. We stayed in the pub on our way up to Northumberland and we had some fantastic food in this pub. but there was a dish to clear out and she wanted to replicate it when we got home and it was basically like a potato cake. So it's new potatoes, we've garlic and butter through it And obviously you put it into that mold, compress it down and you've got cod loin, skin on cod loin, which is obviously pan fried, carofy butter, finished with brown shrimp, lobster bisque and then samphi and broccoli, broccoli spears or whatever it is. So we obviously wanted to do that weekend, which we did, and I think my mission was to go and find a couple of those kind of those egg holders. They were brilliant because they did the job and we replicated the meal that we had, but it was great. So, yeah, they're ideal. They're in the cupboard now. they're obviously part of the arsenal, as they say now going forwards.

Dan: 46:25

So good Little things like that, because it's very easy to fall into the trap of and there's some fantastic barbecue online shops. don't get me wrong. It's very easy to just stay in the same corridor and look in the same places. You can find some great deals and some great bits of kits if I look around.

John - Twisted Ribs: 46:41

Yeah, exactly that. I mean I kind of I tend to shop where, well, quirky, quite a few of the usual businesses that we all kind of use, but at the same time, if I'm looking for, like, say, i don't know if I want to expand on my props because, yeah, i like to take photographs of my food and I've kind of learned over the last kind of 12 months you know, there's been a lot of times where I've actually eaten cold food just by trying to get the ideal shots. But I think now I kind of expand on my props, as they say, like different plates and serving boards and stuff like that and cutlery, because I think it all makes quite a nice kind of appearance. You know, and even going to the age UK or cancer research shops, you know where you see all these kind of recycled cutlery and plates and stuff like that and some of the stuff you find is incredible. You know some of the stuff back from the 70s, believe it or not, you know, which is still quite on trend now. You know you've only got to open up a magazine and you'll see a lot of kind of old-school cutlery and so on being used. But actually it makes the food look bloody good. You know might taste shit, but it looks good It is.

Dan: 47:53

Well, i was looking on your feed. Like you have some of the American-style kind of barbecue trays that people can order and kind of buy from, like the big barbecue establishments out there which we don't kind of have in the UK. But it's things like that which, when you're doing posts and you're talking about them, it makes a big difference in how the food looks and we eat with our eyes, as well as our noses and mouths and everything as well.

John - Twisted Ribs: 48:15

Yeah, so when you say trays, are you talking about disposable, or is it the?

Dan: 48:23

Well, how you've kits it up doesn't necessarily look disposable, but you know where you'd get like I suppose you call it like a barbecue board or something where you get like a little tray like that and you'll have like the sausages across and then you'd have like the boots in there and like a whole chicken.

John - Twisted Ribs: 48:37

Yeah, sorry. Yeah, so those are basically because we supply the catering market. They're really kind of like three or not different size roasting trays, aluminium. So no, if we go to the mulch or whatever and we will buy generally a dark grey or a black roasting tin, you know, in my world because it's professional catering equipment, they tend to be kind of like aluminium colour. So I mean they're accessible. But yeah, i will use those. I've got a number of different sizes on those and, depending on what I'm cooking, i will use those with a bit of baking parchment. Do you want to see? just to present it out, to be honest with you, that really is what it is.

Dan: 49:18

So great tip though baking parchment. Most people like average person. If they're on a barbecue and they're serving to people, it makes a huge difference how it looks.

John - Twisted Ribs: 49:27

Yeah, absolutely, i use it when I use those trays. I tend to use it a lot, to be honest with you, and it's easy for washing up as well, believe it or not, because it is, you know, using your disposer here. But yeah, i kind of find that as well, that it helps in regards to how the product looks when you present it, because my view is, my opinion is there's nothing worse than just having a silver tray with just prude lumps on it Doesn't appeal. You want a bit of theatre to it. You know you want it to look a bit premium. So, yeah, but baking, normal baking parchment, paper cut to size, scrambled up, opened up, so it's all like creased up and so on. But put your feet on that and, yeah, really simple stuff, really simple. So, if you want to put, if you want to put like wet products and you're like, you know, a slaw of potato salad, you know you've got that protection from the paper rather than it running all over the tray and, of course, everything else.

Owen: 50:21

Yeah, shall we move on to barbecue bingo. We've been talking about some ingredients and things, so shall we? Yeah cool Barbecue bingo is brought to you by Lumberjack Food Company. Your ticket to Flavortown, okay. So loads of different ingredients which I'm hoping you can now see. Yeah, awesome, hey, i see that. Perfect. So the only the one there's one on there called My Signature Dish, which would be your signature dish. What so? would it be ribs?

John - Twisted Ribs: 50:51

I don't know ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs ribs. Yeah, i think it would be actually.

Dan: 50:56

St Louis Ribs, I'm assuming.

John - Twisted Ribs: 50:59

Yeah, st Louis. I like baby backscreens St Louis because they're a bigger area.

Owen: 51:05

Sounds good. Okay, so if it lands on that, you'll cook us some St Louis Ribs. Just have a little think about an ingredient you can leave for the next guest as well. So let's give it a spin.

John - Twisted Ribs: 51:19

I'll take that.

Dan: 51:21

Cool like a lamb.

John - Twisted Ribs: 51:22

Lamb Lamb fan Very much, absolutely Welsh, the best.

Dan: 51:27

Yes, represent.

John - Twisted Ribs: 51:32

And I'll say that That World Cup competition SoCal did Cooking around in the you know it was in a different country, the world of the World Cup And I pulled Wales And I was, i was, i was dreading what was going to come out, but then obviously Wales had gone, yeah, and I ended up doing some lovely Welsh lamb with some Welsh sea trout That's represented for my dish, so yeah, that's it, awesome.

Owen: 52:04

And what are you going to leave for the next guest? Are you going to be nice or are you going to stitch them up?

John - Twisted Ribs: 52:09

Yeah, i'm going to be, I'm going to be, i'm going to be nice, i think, i think, i think I've been in the loophaste.

Dan: 52:21

Oh okay. I love that because I mean, we get a lot of different kind of ingredients but people's go-to's tend to be like meat or something. That's the main thing. But I think, oh, and I get most excited when it's actually an ingredient to see how people will use it.

John - Twisted Ribs: 52:42

Yeah, exactly that. And I think for me, vindaloo is my go-to, and not just on meat but fish. There's so much you can do with it, even using it as a base or I'm not going to give too much away but even using it as a base for pizza as well. It's my base with Vindaloo paste, with seafood on. There's a lot of content that I've been knocking up over the last couple of months, which is all go on over the summer period. But yeah, just to just even using that. that's why you know, that's why I put it down, because I think it's so underrated. at the end of the day, everyone thinks, oh, i'm going to make a curry, but actually just think about outside the box a little bit, just push yourself. it's very rental.

Dan: 53:26

Curry paste on a leg of lamb is fantastic as well. Just slow roast that off.

John - Twisted Ribs: 53:32

Yeah, So I guess. So I guess I've got to do a leg of lamb, right.

Owen: 53:36

Yeah, yes, please, and when you do, tag us in on social so we can reshare it. Is there anything else that we haven't spoken about? John, that you'd like to talk about barbecue, or not for that matter.

John - Twisted Ribs: 53:50

No, i think just you know thanks for you know the invite on. But I think you know there's a lot of people out there that you know at the moment are struggling. You know, and what I like about this whole kind of barbecue scene within the UK to, you know everyone is kind of open to talk. You know to each other And you know I've spoken to people over the last kind of six to eight months. You know personal elements and stuff like that. They don't know me very well, but you know you kind of built that kind of relationship or rapport or conversation. You know, and I just say to everyone you know this, now we're all here for a bit of fun. You know all the support each other and you know and just look out for those around you at the end of the day but also don't be afraid to ask yourself. You know, believe in each other. So you know, just makes the world a bit of a better place And I think this kind of community that we have within this whole scene globally it's kind of proven that you know we're all built around food and relationships, you know. But yeah, no, absolutely That's my kind of stance, man.

Owen: 54:57

Brilliant Ghani. is there anything else?

Dan: 55:02

No, i think the only thing that I kind of wanted to finish on is, again, we've invited you on here because our listeners really wanted to hear from you And, with that regard and everything you've been putting out, are there any plans for 2023 that you have, whether you're either going to shows, whether you've got anything that's coming up from some of the brands you're working with, or what your plans?

John - Twisted Ribs: 55:28

Yes, i think with the Spanges there's definitely some bits and pieces coming up with Spanges, so trying to get together but also trying to do some live cooks as well, just using, i guess, product sharing, versatility of it and different things like that. I'm having an over to Preston in May for the Flamin' Food, which I'm looking forward to. A couple of things going on there which I'm super stoked about, to be honest with you, but I'll let the guys put that on their grid. I definitely want to try and get to Scissorfest this year.

Dan: 56:00

We cannot recommend it enough. Get there.

John - Twisted Ribs: 56:04

The reason. for the last couple of years I've been on holiday so I've actually made the effort to actually scratch it out of my holiday calendar Everyone and I treat it almost as our Christmas do.

Dan: 56:15

That's our podcast works Christmas do. We're there but we're not working. We're just there to enjoy and mingle. It's fantastic.

John - Twisted Ribs: 56:24

Yes, so it's the way to do it. I think coming up a little bit of overseas into Europe on a couple of projects, but I can't talk about that in depth because I'm doing a non-disclosure agreement, So I'm giving something away there anyway. But yes, so there is a little bit coming on what I'm doing. As I said, I'm just doing this for fun. This has been borne by me just cooking my dinner. Technically, I'm grabbing opportunities to help others as well, which is important at the end of the day, But also it helps my grid as well. That's about it.

Owen: 57:02

Awesome. Well, we're excited to see what happens for you in 2023. Again, for people that haven't seen your socials, where can they go to find you?

John - Twisted Ribs: 57:12

Yes, so they can hit me up on Instagram, which is Twisted underscore ribs. The same with Facebook. I tend to take what I put on Instagram to feed directly into my Twisted ribs grid on Facebook. I have got a YouTube channel. It isn't really BBQ, I've called it Twisted Ribs because obviously I want to reinvent the wheel on that one, to be honest with you. But everyone's got a TikTok, haven't they? So again, it's Twisted Ribs on TikTok. Again, try and replicate what I do on Instagram on TikTok as well, But I think I need to do a bit more on that. But yes, that's my kind of social to be honest with you. And also, if anyone wants to do any kind of collabs obviously live together just hit me up through Messenger. I'm more than happy to jump on and do a live on Instagram. For sure, Have a bit of fun, you beers and some good food.

Owen: 58:06

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on, john. It was a pleasure to meet you. Hopefully you get to Sizzlefest. We can meet you in person. Have a beer.

John - Twisted Ribs: 58:15

Yeah, but listen, i just want to take the opportunity to thank you guys for giving me the time that you've given. I know you're all very busy now Thanks to those who obviously messaging to find a little bit more about me. But, yeah, usually stoked to be given the opportunity to come and talk to you guys. And again, series five you're going for many more series at the end of the day. And just keep up the great work. I think I've still got to listen to Tina's podcast. Is there anyone I haven't listened to yet? They'll come caught with all the rest of them over the months. So, yeah, crack on and just keep the work up. Absolutely superb.

Dan: 58:53

We'll do our best to It's when Owen gets bored of me. I think It finishes, tony, dad 10 years ago Dan.

Owen: 59:03

Super. All right, john. Thanks ever so much. Thanks, john.

John - Twisted Ribs: 59:06

Take care guys.

Owen: 59:08

Thanks now, bye, bye. That's it for another episode of the Meet and Greet BBQ podcast. Thanks so much to John for coming on and chatting about BBQ, his journey and his journey and what he's up to for 2023. As ever, we want to hear from you. Please tell us what you want us to talk about on the podcast. Get in touch through the usual channels at Meet and Greet BBQ podcast, through social meet and greet BBQ podcastcom, and until next time, keep on grilling.

Dan: 59:43

Today's episode of the Meet and Greet BBQ podcast is brought to you by AOS Outdoor Kitchens. They are the sales leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.