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'A fantastic conversation with one of the biggest personalities in the BBQing community. Owen and Dan sit down with Steve from Mrbeads_bbq to discuss his love for wings, ribs and all things that can be cooked quickly on the g...
'A fantastic conversation with one of the biggest personalities in the BBQing community. Owen and Dan sit down with Steve from Mrbeads_bbq to discuss his love for wings, ribs and all things that can be cooked quickly on the grill'
Tune in to hear Steve's BBQ fails, his what could have been and how Man VS Food star Adam Richman helped Steve.
We back with another instalment of BBQ Bingo, find out Steve's challenge and finally we pick up from the last episode about BBQ tech.
See more of the podcast and our BBQ Bingo challenge on our Instagram & Facebook accounts.
Welcome to another episode of the meat & Greet BBQ podcast. This episode we are interviewing Steve Mr. beads on skull BBQ on Instagram. He also has a Facebook page and we talk all things grilling as normal, but also his love for quicker cooks, which a number of our guests previously have been obsessed with slow ones. Listen to find out more. Hello, Steve, thank you so much for coming on. How are you? Alright, thanks,
Mr Beads BBQ:guys. Somewhat How you doing?
Dan - Host:Yeah, good. Thank you. I'm guessing your final winners normal. Yeah,
Owen - Host:you know, happy to be here again. I've got a bought myself back.
Dan - Host:Well, as you know, Steve, we are here to talk all about food and barbecue. And just really to find out how people can take things to the next level. Really? How did you originally get into barbecue him?
Mr Beads BBQ:Yeah, so I'm, I'm, I'm a lockdown barbecue, to be honest. So I don't want to ponder on lockdown too much, obviously. But it's not been great. It's so I kind of started properly barbecuing about nine months ago now. And I've always kind of dabbled a little bit in the past and said that I think as everybody always did, it's like just for our Well, gas person in the in the Dean years gone by 90 More but like just throw something on the barbecue and and just chuck it out and then found myself with a lot of time come locked down after being made redundant or furloughed, and then redundant, twice. So yeah, and I think it's just like speaking to some friends and stuff like that, about some of the stuff that I was doing. It kind of made sense. You know, food has always been in my past, it's always been in kind of in my life. I went to cater in school when I left school for a couple of years and, and worked as a chef kind of really, really early in my career. But then in that, probably my only regret in life actually, to be honest. So did that for a little bit and went to catering college and watch a couple of hotels and stuff. But it's always been there in the background. So I've always been a bit of a a bit of a dabbler when it comes to stuff like this. So but yeah, but I think over the last nine months or so it's just kind of really picked up and just kind of, you know, skews the pump but stoke the coals a little bit inside and just kind of got that going, really.
Owen - Host:So if you become an addict over the last nine months,
Unknown:in my head, yes. I don't I don't think about much else if I'm honest. But time is always a factor. So I've you know, I I think that I think family obviously plays a massive part of that. I think most people would agree that obviously that if you work around the family, I mean, so I've you know, I've got two children myself from a previous marriage. My partner who I live with, she's got two children as well. Two of them are in exam. Yeah. So we're kind of getting through that by thing. Yeah, I think in my head, I kind of talk I think about it all the time. I talk about it all the time. That's probably an addict, right?
Owen - Host:I think I think that's if you'd look up the definition. Yes.
Unknown:When I when I brought my girlfriend and say, Oh, you're really you're really rare. She's really nice. Yeah. Yeah. It's a massive boss is a bit of a boss.
Dan - Host:Have you started having the barbecue dreams yet? No, no. So that's one thing that I own. And I have been barbecuing a lot over the last year like yourself anyway. But particularly since we've started this podcast, I've had a few times where I've woken up and thought, Oh, God, I've just drempt barbecuing for what feels like a very long in depth dream of what could be 20 minutes half an hour long and what would feel like real time? Is that sad? It probably is.
Unknown:I'm intrigued to know some detail. I mean, what are you cooking? Slot? First off, and is it any good.
Dan - Host:So the other the last one that I had, I was in my dream, trying to reverse sear steak. And I put in these wireless thermometers that I recently got, and they kept melting. So I kept having to go to the kitchen to get new ones out. What like anyone who like looks into dreams or says they will have meaning I would love to know what that means. Because it wasn't even like I felt like I was panicking. Like for an exam or something like Oh no, this is going well I just kept going God to take on Africa and get another cell is stupid thermometers out. And it just went on and on and on. I don't know what that means. But yeah, I You said you've been having dreams about barbecue as well. Oh
Owen - Host:yeah, I can't really remember what they are. But if you can imagine you like when you see a dog that's laying on the floor and you can see it you know, legs go in mind similar but I'm just kind of with tongues and returning, laying in bed turning me you know, some imaginary tongues. That's about as far as I go.
Dan - Host:He's it's worrying if you're dreaming about tuning meat, but hey, whoa,
Unknown:I don't I don't think I have she hasn't mentioned it to be fair. If I haven't, I can't. I don't really really called March anyway, so not not from I'm not. I'm quite a heavy sleeper. So it's, uh, I don't I don't drink that much, I guess and certainly not food. So but maybe I maybe I just like fill up from my quote or thinking about it and talking about it when I'm actually awake.
Owen - Host:This is exactly why we made the podcast before. Both of our wives got sick of us just talking about barbecuing. Me and Dan couldn't be on the phone to each other all the time. So yeah, hey, let's make a podcast,
Dan - Host:particularly as we weren't in work seeing each other every single day as well, that that makes a big difference. But again, it gives people something to talk about, and something to care about and put passion into it. You said, you've been doing a lot of cooks. Of course, since you started this sort of nine ish months ago. Was there one cook that made you think yes, I'm good at this. I know what I'm doing now.
Unknown:I don't think it was one cook, I think it was, I think it was one purchase, funnily enough, because I've gone through some barbecues in the past, and I'll get onto that in a bit. But I spoke to a friend, it was predominantly brought out by a friend of mine, his instagram name is Weber dot barbecue, his name's Eddie, and he's from South Africa. Now him and his wife, they're lovely people and, and it was really just talking to someone that kind of knew it, you know, he really does not, oh, my goodness, look at his page. It's an unbelievable page, what he does, and it was kind of that and we spoke about a few things and he kind of pushed me towards a certain barbecue, which was just a standard Weber kettle it was it was nothing but that it was that's all it was just a 57 Send me ago. And then it was just kind of the the different methods and things like that abusing you know, even as simple as charcoal setup, you know, it was something that I was pretty clueless on because I've predominantly had gas in the past. So So I think it was, the more I did it once I built the barbecue. And once I did that first Cook, which I think was you know, which was a rack of ribs and some wings. And it just completely changed everything because it was really, it was the first time I'd really kind of experienced cooking on a different coal setup rather than a gas barbecue. And rather than just laying the whole bottom of the building go, which is like obviously when one of those big things that most people a lot of people do now it's it was just that thing and I think it just kind of pushed on from that every single time because I think once that process got easier once you had that safe zone once you had the backup of that safe zone it just got a little bit more enjoyable and didn't have to stand there all the time with it either. But my partner's massively supportive of course, you know, she loves a barbecue she doesn't get it. It's like I don't understand we talked about and why you do this, why you want to stand outside and do that. But loves loves what comes out of it, you know, it's that thing and she is generally really really supportive about what we're doing and what I do. And you know, I think as it's gone along I mean of course we live with her children my children don't live with me but even with my children you know, I took my children camping just before lockdown funnily enough, and it wasn't it wasn't a real it was a lovely campsite, but it was a natural campsite. So literally it was in the middle of the woods we had a plot you put your 10 it had no flushing toilets or anything like that it had literally and a car wheel buried in the floor is your fire pit and it was like that's that and that was where I first introduced be one of my children into that and and they kind of picked it up really really quickly to be fair you know my son not so much though he's really not important but but yeah but the be picked up really really quickly and now she's like playing around with it she always talks about doing it and stuff like that but but yeah generally in the house everyone enjoys
Owen - Host:and suppose camping like you said if it's literally a sunken tire in the ground and using as a pet you cannot get more prime allistic than an open live fire Cooking Can you
Unknown:know you really not it was it was such a good experience we'd been camping before I'm a big fan of camping my partner not she likes I'm in the not camp to be yes she likes she likes electricity and all that kind of rubbish you know so but yeah, so I'm a big fan of camping and both of my children I think and that's that's probably the only really divide that we have in the fact that we like those things and so we'd been before but the natural campsite was a bit of a risk it was a bit of a pump just kind of to see what it was like it was something we'd never done be loved it she liked she absolutely loved it. Jake not so much. He was kind of a little bit like I could give or take where was B was like I could live in DEF definitely the type of child that would kind of get on in stuff like that just away from everything and I think that was a it was a really nice experience as well because to share that because it was literally just nothing and we sat there. We got I taught her to spatchcock a chicken and we did that just literally over the fire makeshift grill A few potatoes in the pit, you know, just just as simple as it got really, there was nothing else. No, there was nothing. It was funny.
Owen - Host:I suppose that's another positive about barbecue isn't it's about bringing people together that social element and actually just just enjoying some good food with the people that you love. From what you're saying couldn't have got any more perfect in that respect you and your family and a bit of open fire cooking.
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely. And it was It wasn't even it the cook wasn't even the highlight, to be honest, that cook wasn't the massive highlight. It was the it was just the sitting around the fire pit. Talking, spoke in, you know, every child becomes a fire master when something like that got the opportunity when the rains are off, and they just do in that very minute. I mean, they're 13 and 16. Now, so it was they kind of really enjoyed that part of it. And generally in the not washing.
Dan - Host:It's something that's quite often overlooked, even though barbecuing in the garden, part of the reason that people love it. Yes, you get amazing food. Yes, you get amazing flavours. But it's getting everyone together and having that conversation, there's no rush, it's all a bit more relaxed, people are outside enjoying themselves, compared to if you're doing something long and full of effort in a kitchen where it seems to be that much more stressful. But getting the family involved as well is so important. Does this be helped a lot at home? my niece's, she talks about it a lot?
Unknown:I don't I don't think so. To be honest, but you know, so when when we was out, so once we'd done the campaign, and then and then we kind of we meet up and I think we went to my mom's for a day. And she was like, um, bring bring the barbecue, bring a barbecue. And I'm like, Well, I haven't got a bob because I've got I've got to buy the barbecues are quite big. I said, I can't just throw them into the back of the car. She's like, Oh, but I really wanted to do this. So So I picked up a folding notebook BBQ from from go outdoors, it was like 15 quid, I think just it was flat, and then it just folds out in a bit of an x and it has a grill one and a charcoal bed on it. And it was perfect. And we spatchcocked on that. And it was tiny. And it was all hanging and we had to cook it in like four quarters wasn't it helps you with moving and you know, and we kept an eye on it. And it worked. And, and luckily enough, and interestingly enough, you know, my, my sister was there, and her son was there. And it was kind of like, they were like, Oh, wow, you know, you've done that. It's pretty amazing. You know, and it all it was was, you know, I can say now it's kind of a little it was just like spatchcock in a chicken and just cooked it over carpet. That was it, it was just no different to cooking in the oven. And then we talked about, you know, looks just like that. That kind of thing. So, so yeah, so it is, I do, I do want everyone involved in that, you know, I even even to the building elements of things, if I get anything new, and it requires building and stuff like that I always asked, I always asked the boys, you know, obviously the boys live here with us. And I always ask them if they want to come down and not always don't it's not their thing, which is fine. You know, that's the I'm not gonna force him to do that. But, but just the general part of being outside but they certainly like the product of it.
Owen - Host:Yeah, my daughter is, is really quite getting into barbecuing, which I'm so so pleased about. So I bought her own little barbecue for Christmas. And she Yeah, she's she gets involved, she's cooking sausages, burgers, she, she's actually getting involved in the prepping of it as well. And trying to get in with the rubs and just trying to sort of generally teacher as as also I'm learning, I'm still learning at the same time as well. But it's quite good to have that almost that a father daughter kind of time and actually teaching them young, and how to control fire, and how to look after it and how to cook safely. But also she's getting a massive amount of enjoyment out of it. And I'm also getting that joint enjoyment that she's enjoying it and learning something new. It's quite a special thing. Yeah, absolutely.
Dan - Host:The respect for the fire as well. So important for for any kind of children. But what they also don't understand is they're learning a life skill. Because yes, you're talking about barbecuing, be teaching them to cook as well, which is so so, so important to understand, eat, where food comes from be how much time and effort it's taken for someone to prepare a meal for you. And lastly, just they will have that forever. And they won't even realise that they brought it in and trying to teach your child something if they think you're trying to teach them something is a nightmare.
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely. And, and you know, but but both my children and at one of Amy's as well as her eldest, you know, we're heavily quite involved in things like scouts and venture scouts and stuff like that, which was great. You know, because it's the outdoors it's great. But you know, when we got to the campsite, you know be was I'd let me build the fire. And Jake was like, Yeah, beautify was always go looking for sticks, and they're looking for sticks. They're looking for wood, and they knew exactly what they needed to get. So, you know, I think there's a lot about, like those kinds of those kinds of things that children can still do that once you get past all of the health and safety element of it, obviously because you were told it has to be there. You know, and to do that, but I think the fundamentals of that are important because is a life skill, you know, I mean, just just having that and it is, it just kind of broadens that the scope a lot more, rather than just saying you know that every single thing you have to cook you have to cook inside.
Owen - Host:Yeah, definitely. And also, let's be honest, it gets gets in the way from screens. Yeah, of course, is a massively important thing as well. Absolutely. Yeah.
Unknown:And I think, you know, and I, you know, I'd like a screen I've done I'm gonna not gonna lie, you know, I like a screen. I have a Playstation and stuff like that, you know, my grand old age. But I think they're both important. You know, I'm not going to just say, like, every child needs to be outside because because as a generation, that's just not true. That's not the thing anymore. You know, we, we kind of embrace that in our house and we we know that that's what children do, because, you know, we're kind of saying you know, our our kids are still communicating with their friends via headsets and whales, you know, so you know, and of course I'm we're in a lockdown which doesn't help either, which means I can't go out but but you know, I'm sure when when the time comes and the revolution happens then electricity suddenly goes off all of a sudden then that'll be everywhere before.
Owen - Host:Yeah, exactly. You briefly mentioned earlier so you that you've got a kettle barbecue. So John, Jr. Talk us through about your grill space. What is your, your setup? What tools have you
Unknown:got? So yes, I've got a 57 centimetre webcal, which was I would, I would say my first I definitely don't refer back to anything pre that. I've also got a web of 57 centimetre master touch as well, which I had given to me. So I yeah, I had I had a friend messaged me, when the whole barbecue thing started and the page started to get a little bit, the Instagram account started to get a bit of traction. She messaged me, and she said to me, she goes off. She goes, I've got I've got a barbecue in my back garden that we haven't used for a couple of years. We've just bought a gas barbecue, would you like it? And I'm like, oh, man, I've been sitting there and everything like that. So I said, You know what I said, like I said, I'm not going to see one thrown in the bin, send over a couple of pictures. And I'll have a look at she sent back pictures of a really, really nice looking webmaster touch. I'll be doing five jumped in the car. And I'm just like, Y'all got clean out there. Now that rubber coating that I saw there, I'll do that, don't worry. They just lived on their own. And they just bought a Weber gas. They just bought Well, I can't remember what unit they bought. So yeah, and I so I picked that up, which again, it's it. It's just the little tweaks I mean, I don't see a massive difference between the kettle and the Master Touch apart from the removable centre part of the grill, like it says basically, that comes off the hand, but the lid holder, which is really handy that you don't get on a kettle unless you buy it. And that was really the two main biggest differences between those, that sort of kind of a barbecues I've got, I've got some accessories that sit on my barbecues as well. So I have a I have an electric rotisserie, which, which I bought a while ago, that was a while ago wasn't that long ago, but I bought it and I've used that I also bought a pizza oven converter by a company called only fire. I think they also just just some standard stuff. I didn't want to kind of break the bank on it. Like I say I'm locked down redundancy. So it's I didn't obviously didn't want to break the bank on what we wanted. But you know, but generally happy with with those parts. I mean, they certainly fit. We haven't used the oven yet. I mean, well in fact, my partner bought that for me from from my birthday in November. So we haven't used it yet. So we haven't really got down to it because of the time an element of that so and that's it and they see under I've got a little I've got a little grill pavilion something that I got from
Owen - Host:I did see that reason yeah. Did you put some lights and stuff around
Unknown:as well are mad you know what I did I put some lights around and it looked absolutely awesome. And then we moved it so my barbecue is over at the back of my garden. But I can't get Wi Fi up there. So we wanted to buy a shed. So we bought shed so we sort of said what we'll do is we'll move that will move the barbecues down the front so I moved the barbecues down the front, I thought I've got to find somewhere to plug my lights in so I kind of open the window, plug them in through the conservatory and then close the window which was great fun oh my lights aren't working I wonder what happened when I opened the window again the window had literally cut literally sliced right through it. So yeah, so we had to take them then I literally have got some new ones we were gonna do tonight because my girlfriend she's just put some lights up in our back garden. So yeah, so that was a bit of a bit of a downer but I've got replacements I just haven't got around to putting them up yet.
Dan - Host:So out of the accessories. What is your favourite bit of kit? Is it the rotisserie or is it the fact that having the covering and everything makes a huge difference depending on the weather and stuff?
Unknown:I think the rotisserie by far I think we I've only used it once. But even from just that one time using it. It was it came out way better than I expected it would I picked up a recipe for chicken shawarma I picked up a recipe from YouTube off of the smokin elk, right? So he's a, he's a good guy. So I picked up that and literally just followed it step by step. I didn't do anything different to what I've done and it came when we did that. I did that on New Year's Eve as a kind of New Year's party kind of thing. And it came out amazing. And it was it was just generally I literally put it on. And I just left it and I was in and out of the back garden all night. Because obviously it wasn't a great evening it was just cold but the kettle hairdryer and I think going on that as well. I think the pavilion helps keep that heat in just that roof covering and the vent in the roof that it has. I think it just allows just keeps the cold out just a little bit. Just just to work with so so yeah, I think definitely based on that experience.
Owen - Host:Is it an only fire rotisserie you've got? Yeah. Yeah, same. It's awesome, isn't it?
Unknown:Yeah, it is. And it was generally easy to set up and you know, it's an I take it off and I put it back on again, but I don't use it. So I one of the things that impressed me I think more than anything was the fit it just fitted so well on the barbecue and there was really and I kind of I was running my fingers around the bottom of it when I when I was when I used it and there was really hardly any like heat loss from from the joint part. Especially where the lid went on as well. So I was really impressed. Yeah,
Dan - Host:I definitely to get myself one. Like the last two three people that we've spoken to also get rotisserie rotisseries are amazing.
Owen - Host:Also, even when you smoke, I smoked pork loin big piece of pork on it the first time I used it. No, I didn't. That's a lie. I did a turkey pretty similar. Yeah, I did. I did a turkey and I smoked it. And again, I didn't even I didn't notice any smoke loss, you know, from between the actual kettle and the only fire kind of surround.
Unknown:Yeah, and I think it's just the just the possibilities are there and and I can understand why people have mentioned them before in the fact that I've kind of looked at him for well, what am I going to do on it? You know, I felt the chicken recipe online. That wasn't really too difficult. But since then I put I put something out on Instagram about about doing a chicken or anything like that, because a lot of things that I'd seen were like, do you do you tie and trust the chicken before you put it on and, and I got a really funny message back from man. I don't know the guy's name. He's massive, though. He's so big. I was so I was like, oh my god, I got a message from this man. He sent me a message back and he was like, Nah, man, just let it all hang out. He goes, it'll be fine. It'll hold he goes, just let it all hang so but it's again, it's just finding the time and the day. Of course, the shifts that I'm doing at the moment have completely obliterated any kind of activity that I have just to chime fill that void really. So
Dan - Host:you've mentioned your Instagram page and other people but you haven't really talked about your own accounts. So let everyone know what your account is how they can find you and what you try and do on there as well.
Unknown:Yeah, so my account is at Mr. Beads underscore BBQ. So I think my account is relatively basic, considering what's out there. I do generally a lot of the same stuff, I'm uh, I'm very much a ribs and wings person, but I'm a tweaker I'd like to tweak as I go along. So it's like wherever I'm, whenever I make a different rub, or you know, wherever just maybe a different source or something like that. So I'll maybe a different type of wood perhaps. So it's just really going through that and what I try to do is I train I think I'm in a position where from a from a skills and setup perspective, I'm okay, I'm kind of in phase one. And I'm at the back end of phase one I'm ready to perhaps jump into phase two if you wanted to phase it in that way from like kind of the basics you know, your, your sausages, your burgers, your kebabs, your wings, your ribs, all that kind of basic stuff that you would get at the front end and then move on to the biggest steps you know, maybe a joint of me maybe some like adding some potatoes maybe cooking a meal on there and things like that. And I've not I'm not I don't feel quite ready to make that step yet. One because of time more than anything. And the other one I think because of risk I'm not a massive risk taker so a VAT if it doesn't work not having that backup you know of something, you know, it's we've got a couple of drive throughs nearby so they could probably work as a bit but not ideal, really. So I think yeah, I think I'd position my barbecue at if if any person starting out wanted to start wanting to have a look at something then maybe my accountant would probably be the best place to go to have a look at the really basic stuff and not perhaps get blown away by the things they see and maybe get put off because I think that's one thing that I've suffered within the fact that you know, I'm I'm very critical of myself as I think Many people are. And I think I look at other people's stuff. And I'm kind of like, Man, I'm never getting near that Not in a million years, and certainly not now. And I'm a very realistic person in the fact that I could probably one day, but, you know, I'm fully aware of the time and the commitment that needs to go into getting to that point. And I am committed, time is hard, obviously, at this point, but you know, I'm patient, I'm not going anywhere for a long time. So I'm going to hang around for a bit.
Dan - Host:Oh, and I have had this conversation a lot between the two of us, the thing with some of those different cooks that you've seen, that makes you think I'm not gonna get anywhere near that you don't know what filters they're using. Also, a lot of these people are paid to do that. So if someone was paying you to do it, and you had the time to do it, because you're making money off it, I bet you'd be surprised what you can achieve. Finding that time and also understanding that a lot of stuff that you're seeing could be touched up as well. And you don't know you don't know what it tastes like.
Unknown:No, absolutely. That's it. And you know, if people are paying people to do that, then sign me up. Yeah. Anybody out there? Listen, Sign me up. Great guy. Really good guy.
Owen - Host:First, we'll find out, you know,
Unknown:I've seriously, but it's, yeah, I mean, I think I guess there is that element to it, you know, but even even you guys, you know, even your accounts, you know, they I reluctantly use the word intimidating, you know, in that sense, because of the stuff that you guys produce, for example, you know, and, and it's not, you know, I know, Dan, I know, you don't use feel as though it's something that you don't use, you know, you try to stay away from that, you know, so even looking at the stuff that you guys produce, is, is something perhaps to aspire to at some point. But I'm very much kind of I need to look after the here and now at this time. So I keep my feet on the ground with it. But you know, I am. I'm a massive lover of food. in all shapes and sizes, you know, I am massive, I'm such a big focus on real. Honestly, I go six, seven. And so I'm really tall. And I go, lots of stone in my size, so I love food. And I am part of a family that also shares that love for food. And I think that's part of it as well. The thing that works very well is my my girlfriend, she loves food. Her parents love food, my children, her children love food. You know, we got I mean her mom and dad, they're retired and her mom is a baker. Right? Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Just just unbelievable. You know, it's some of the stuff that gets delivered to our door. It's literally like having a delivery. Baker delivered to you. Wow. It's just it's you would think so? Yes, great. But it is and they and they all share that love of food. And I think that makes it so much easier. And I think I know that I'll know when I'm ready to move on. Because the time will allow it, you know that the time will allow us to push forward a little bit further.
Owen - Host:I just wanted to kind of go back to when you were saying about, you know, kind of basic, you know, cooks, burgers, sausages, you know, kebabs and those types of things. And I think we mentioned it, we spoke about me and Dan, before we had our first guests and you know, our kind of intro episode where we were talking about the kind of differences between, you know, your typical British barbecue and what kind of the American style barbecue is. And it's obviously, you know, Americans are this big, you know, huge pieces of meat lots low and slow, and they cook for a lot of people. Whereas typically, you know, the British barbecue is whack a load of sausages on black on the outside pink on the inside and get them off type scenario. But obviously, I think us three as well as all of the people on Instagram and social media are proving that, you know, a US as British cooks on the barbecue can hold our own with the Americans. But also, I think talking about like the basics. When they're done well, they're so good. I mean, even today, I just, I could cook some chicken kebabs, just some simple I did a barbecue rub on one. I did a spicy rub on and another set literally took 1015 minutes to cook them. But they were so so good. And I don't think I just wanted to kind of get that point across that actually basic doesn't mean not good food. I think just it might be easy to learn, but you can still cook some really fantastic things with just these basic ingredients. For sure.
Unknown:Yeah, I absolutely agree. You know, and I'm not I'm not devaluing the element of that, you know, it's definitely not I mean, for example, on the web, when I cooked on the Wednesday, we'd got some oven bake ribs to kind of cook with and I had some wings. I've got a couple of always keep a couple of packs of wings in the freezer, and I got them out but for the time it took my oven to heat up my coals were ready. Yeah, you know, I literally did them both at the same time. time and I think that's a big misconception in the fact that I haven't got time to stand there in like coals and I haven't got a dude and I'm like, well hang on a minute if you just if you do it properly if you just follow the very simple kind of whether you use a chimney starter or whether you I mean I cook my wings using a vortex Yeah, yeah, under so and I think heating up in that kind of speed that process up as well.
Owen - Host:I don't have a vault. chimney starter, but they're good.
Dan - Host:I absolutely love mine.
Unknown:Yeah, I love mine, too. Yeah, I think it gets it just it allows for the because the heat is obviously pushing so intensely at centre, it gets your barbecue really high. That's what I find is the get some much more intense heat, because I think it pushes and then kind of goes around the whole dome, obviously, if you have a kettle, of course. So it goes around that whole top of that dome. So there's not much heat loss from it and it heats up really quickly.
Dan - Host:I am so I did some burgers earlier, which I made using black pudding as well in the mixture. Oh yes. Incredible. Do it do it that that I don't think I'll be making burgers for myself again without black pudding in them put it that way. But again, I was using a plantar plate. And I was using the vortex to just direct the heat straight into that plate. And I had the lid down and came back to check the temperature I was like it's only kind of but like when 5160 was going on, lifted it blast of heat coming off the plate because the cast iron of the plates holding the heat so well. Because you said it takes so quick to light when you've got those bits of kit. It's just people not understanding what kits out there. So the vortex, one natural firelighter in middle. Put the coals on top light walk away. 15 minutes later, you're cooking.
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely the same experience. You know, it's actually funny you mentioned a planter, obviously that's on my wish list. I've got a little Amazon wishlist going like that think I need to get people to buy stuff on it.
Owen - Host:If you're listening and you want to buy Steve some stuff, check out his Amazon wishlist
Unknown:go to my only fans. I really haven't gotten it fans. But now I've got a picture of a stage. That's it I just stand there and just cook
Dan - Host:people nice breasts and thighs
Unknown:and the occasional rump so,
Owen - Host:I bet there's some people that will pay for it.
Unknown:You know what, man, there's a market. I have definitely marketable. I know that for a fact. But I think you know, the planter has always been an interesting new sign that that because the planter has been on my list for a long time or a planter has been on my list for a long time. And I've always been concerned about getting the heat on it. And I haven't, I've never thought of the vortex.
Dan - Host:Oh, it's perfect. Because he just directs the heat straight into it and there's no loss whatsoever. The one I've got literally goes in the centre. So you descend to the grill, it sits there. And I got it for Christmas the same time. So I got the vortex. And it's amazing because whenever I make burgers, I only do smash burgers. So like before I had this I was once I was getting annoyed at the burgers I was doing the barbecue was like I know I can do them differently. I know I can do them better. And it's just taking everything up that level because you also cook it on button as well. Which is a much better it's
Unknown:absolutely not much. No. And I think the way you use that as well the vortex in the fact that I think traditionally, you see it with narrow point up. Yeah. Listen, do you do you? Do you set yours into the centre hole?
Dan - Host:No, no, see? No, I don't do that. What I do, I literally I take pretty much all of the grill out a pot on the bottom level where you'd normally put the coals on. Yeah, put it on there. Yeah, Chuck the stuff on there inside the vortex. But depending what I'm doing, I'll still have the whole grill on top, whether it's the puncher or not, because of the way that the heats direct as well. I found it really good if you're doing two things at once for the direct and indirect heat. It's absolutely perfect for that. Yeah. I've always wanted to I've seen cooks where people have inverted it. I have flipped it upside down put the coals around the outside. Yeah. And I keep Yeah, I keep thinking about doing that for something like could be about chicken I just haven't got around to doing it. Because you've got the perfect area to stick the can the chickens not going anywhere. All the calls on the outside if you wanted to, you could sneak it but you didn't even have to sneak it if you didn't want to.
Unknown:Yeah, I think also as well in using using the vortex upside down. Just generally just upside down and just loading the coal into it. So you've got like this cone not have that just even trying that is just just it all that does is it it takes a bit longer to heat it up of course because the the airflow coming in is is narrower, but it gives you a wider surface. So if you want to, if you want to reverse your estate, for example, you know you've got a much bigger surface area over the coals directly to get that done. You know you've got that space rather than trying to get it over that small open at the top,
Dan - Host:particularly if you're doing it dirty as well. Just straight onto the coals. I still We've done that I need to do a dirty coke really?
Owen - Host:I did a tomahawk day, and it was pretty magic.
Dan - Host:So talk us through that. Why? Why would do you think it was so much better? And what extra feeling? Or was it just the fact you playing with fire makes it more fun?
Owen - Host:Well, yeah, obviously playing with fire more fun. I think only, I traditionally only use briquettes. Although I actually reached out to people today to see what lumpwood People are using. I think traditionally, people are using lumpwood when they're doing dirty stakes. So the only downside was it did get a little bit ashy. But you essentially just get a really nice crispy skin, you know, essentially on the outside. I quite like I like my steak quite rare. So it's kind of perfect, you know, super hot on the coals. Yeah, I just think it gives it a nice flavour because it's nice and crisp around the edge, you get the kind of charcoal Enos of it. If I was going to do it again, I would definitely do it on lumpwood. I think the briquettes, were there a little bit too actually. There was some crunchy
Unknown:Are you having to have obviously I know the process of it, but not actually seen it or done it myself? So is it a case of Do you have to kind of give the coal was a bit of a shake? Or just to kind of get that ashiness of them? Would that work? Or is it just a case of just going for it? And most of it doesn't stick anyway. Quite burns off?
Owen - Host:Will I think again? Yeah, well, I think with using lumpwood, you don't necessarily get you know, when when lump was first kind of lit. It's kind of stays together doesn't it's only when it starts to really kind of burn down that it becomes quite flaky. So if you're doing it when it's just lit, you won't get I think that much. I think I just let my briquettes get a little bit too white. I think I should have probably put them on just a little bit a little bit earlier. But it still tasted amazing. And I achieved exactly what I wanted to achieve in that it was you know, it's really kind of well done on the outside and had that kind of char that you want. And you know, pink is you like inside and really, really tender. But we're talking it was a proper Tomahawk piece. It was fed four of us it was a huge piece of meat. Yeah, but the only difference would be lump would have definitely do it. lumpwood.
Dan - Host:See, I didn't see you pulled out on Instagram earlier. So I pretty much only use lumpwood. I have been considering going back to 20 years progress, but I used the big K restaurants great lumpwood I just find that it gives you so much more heat and the consistency of the heat is longer than most lumpwood Because that's why you go for briquettes right, you get the longer burn by find that restaurant grade big K lumpwood is kind of like a nice middle ground. But it does mean it needs obviously more topping up than using briquettes if you're doing a longer cook, but someone like Steve, who said you don't do that many long cooks. Like the perfect absolutely perfect.
Unknown:Yeah, so I'm I use lumpwood as well. At the moment, I've kind of jumped between the two I started using briquettes because I think they were more convenient and much more easy to set up. And they were much I think the consistency of that is is quite common. And I've what I've done is I've gone through a process of buying lumpwood from so many different places. I'm not quite an area where I would probably go to restaurant grade as yet because I wouldn't need it. I don't think I'd need that intensity at this point. But I have stopped and settled on big K because I just I just generally get a bit of but and that's just a very standard red bag of lumpwood charcoal from Big Gay, nothing, no, nothing more than that just your petrol station forecourt because stuff. I've kind of settled there for the time being because I get the most consistency out of it. It's and, you know, obviously with the lumpwood you can get some really great pieces at the top of the bag. But the further you go through that bag, the smaller those pieces get, which is pretty general. So yeah, I've just literally started a new one and I've started to get the I got a piece of I don't even know the name of it. But the tube one is like the tubular one. I guess that's like the restaurant grade like the globe article, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like the hexagon kind of shaped ones. There was a piece of that in there. And then a herring go in there. Just in this bag of lumpwood obviously just a bag of from Big K It was obviously just the tubular one. So yeah,
Owen - Host:yeah, I mean, I traditionally use Weber briquettes which me and Ian the barbecue King were talking about last week and but what what I'm finding is again, for example, like this week, I cooked some burgers, just literally two burgers, one for me, myself and my wife. By then by the time I was getting, you know, these briquettes going, they were ready to go for three hours, three, four hours. Yeah. And I had to almost shut them down. 10 minutes later once I'd cook the burgers so I'm looking Do some again like today with the chicken kebabs that I did. You know, I use the broken keg. And it, it just keeps the heat for hours and hours. I'll put it on at about four o'clock this afternoon if I went out there now when I went out there just before we started recording, it was still at 200 degrees equally then I'm just burning through so much fuel unless normally I shut them off actually and kind of try and save them and reuse them but it actually I'm that I'm interested in just using some lumpwood just for a quick cook Wacka steak on, you know, Wacka burger on. It burns a lot quicker then it doesn't work out.
Unknown:And I think it burns hotter as well. Right. Yeah, I think yeah, as well. So
Dan - Host:yeah, yeah, it's about the type of fuel you use and getting the most cost effectiveness out of it. So I find with the restaurant grade stuff, although the bags are more expensive, they last me longer, because I don't need to use anywhere near as much to get the same sort of heat and sunlight to the chunks as well. Like one of the trucks I had earlier. absolutely huge. I'm trying to think of measurements wise. From a male's measurement point of view it was probably about me yeah about about
Owen - Host:oh, he's no sorry. Damn.
Unknown:Cujo, but that's massive. That's just like literally a trunk. Yeah, in the bag. I'll just like that on one end. Just wait for that to go through.
Dan - Host:It was insane. But again, like you were saying kind of starting and stopping and saving them that one piece or last ages? Isn't it for and it gets damned hot data.
Owen - Host:Do you guys do that? Do you do kind of once you're finished if there's if you can see there's still plenty of life in the in the charcoal. Do you shut it shut the vents down and yeah,
Unknown:yeah, I did. I did more more so with briquettes because they kept their shape a lot better. Yeah. Obviously with that so I think and I think also and Dan will probably notice as well I think using the vortex as well of course that burns more intensely much smaller proximity so it kind of burn it there's generally not much left after a quick cook even if you're just doing a quick a quick wings cook then there's not really much left after that anyway, I think, you know, but we've briquettes definitely, yeah, definitely reused.
Dan - Host:Yes, something we've never talked about on this, like, Do you have a methodical process for every single time you like the barbecue and every single time that you finish as well, because I the way that I set up and start is I literally go out there, open the lid up, take the grill out, and then I deal with whatever ash or leftover charcoal from the previous cook. And that's when I'll decide if I'm saving stuff or not. And then I literally just sweep it all the stuff I don't want into like the bit at the bottom empty that then I'm good to go by always do it that way. Whereas I'm sure other people will fully clean up and everything after each cook. Like immediately before you put it away who what do you what do you do Steve?
Unknown:Under the same as you actually I don't clean my barbecue after a cook. Interestingly enough, that's one of the things that my friend Etienne said to me in the fact he said, cleaning your barbecue after a cook is a very British thing to do. It's a very, very British thing to do. He said because, you know, so I will I will when I'm done I will close all my dampers on the barbecue I will lay a call right down and I will just cover it. I won't even look into it. I will literally once it's cooled down I will cover it. And then when I'm ready for the next one, I will clean out the bottom I will sweep it through good tip is that I bought a I went to like home bargains or something like that. And I bought like a wallpaper paste brush. Yeah, and I use that into sweep out rather than using a dustpan brush. I use that to sweep because I find the bristles are a bit harder. So it just kind of gets through the bottom of the the web of much better. So yeah, so I sweep that through and then I kind of brushed the charcoals as well so if I've got any chunks as I go brush them anything the soft enough will break and fall through anything hard enough I will keep in use on the bottom of my next what about
Owen - Host:your actual grill? Or you uh your washer or you just a let it heat up again and scrub wire brush it ready for the next cook?
Unknown:Yama heat up and scrape it kinda guy.
Owen - Host:Yeah, me too.
Unknown:Yeah Thank God I was so panicky that I'm gonna be doing it wrong. But no I'm I will leave it I won't wash it because because they're really hard to dry. I find them really hard to dry and the potential of rust and stuff like that on the grill is not something that I want to have. So yeah, so I am a I will literally heat up at the barbecue and then I will scrape it before I put anything on it.
Dan - Host:Yeah. What about you oh and do you have like a methodical way that you start like every single cook because my process is literally exactly the same. The first the first 15 minutes of any cook it literally exactly the same for me.
Owen - Host:It depends which barbecue I'm using.
Dan - Host:Oh, show off here. Yeah, we were depending on which one of the four come?
Owen - Host:Yeah. Nice. Yeah, basically, I'm the same, I will sweep out previous Cook, always use the chimney, unless I use the broking. And I generally just kind of put a mound, and you know, firelighter in almost just let them go themselves. Although the last couple of times I have used the fire starter, if I'm using the web is Smoky Mountain, I then I basically, almost fill the bottom grate with unlit charcoal, I'll use my kettle to light up in a in a starter chimney, a set of charcoal, and then when that's ready, pour them over. So then obviously, they'll work their way through that through that. And, you know, get the water pan and things ready. And then I go so pretty much the same, unless I'm using the smoker is slightly different.
Dan - Host:It's a kind of like getting into the zone for me, I'll literally stick in headphones. I'm out there. And I say I'm just in the zone ready, which I love. I think he's part of it. I actually think that comes into like the mindfulness of barbecuing, because it's part of the getting into the zone relaxing, and it's you time as well.
Unknown:Yeah, no, absolutely, I agree. And I do make a slight tweak on mine, depending on time. I have a chimney star. And I use that in a couple of different ways. So dependent on time. So a bit of a not probably a bit of a hack really to be fair. So obviously I love as I mentioned, I love camping. So I've got a single burner camping stove, which a chimney starter sits perfectly on. Because it's got it's got little rivets up the thing to fit different size saucepans on to stop them from sliding moving around if you want to heal or anything like that. And I find the chimney style. So if I'm a little bit short of time, and they cost about five pounds, go outdoors for a bottle of gas as well. So and I have literally put my chimney star on top of that one burner stove. And it's just an intense heat straightaway through it and I can get my chimney started going in like five minutes. Wow.
Owen - Host:You know, I've got a camping gas barbecue that I just keep up kaduk and I've never even thought that I could probably do the same.
Unknown:Yeah, it's some it's something that I just on. It was and it was from one of a previous trip that we went on. And I'm thinking I've got to get this going one way or another because it wasn't a very good chimney. It just wasn't a good one. I think I paid about four quid for it. It was just something that I literally began going oh yeah, I need one of those. And I just picked it up. I didn't even think about where I was getting it from probably from bargains. bargains. So and yeah, so I just thought I can't How do I get this going quicker and I thought, Oh, I'll have a go at that. So I literally and it literally just fitted straight on top of it didn't even move. And then I just turn the gas on. And it just it just literally blew through.
Owen - Host:To see more content on our social media channels follow that hashtag meat & Greet BBQ podcast. And for our cooking challenges. We set our guests each week, hashtag BBQ Bing.
Dan - Host:You talk about the fact that you tend to do shorter, quicker cooks. But of course with how long you've been doing your Instagram followers, you've got, you've been getting through a lot of cooks. What are your favourite things to cook?
Owen - Host:Actually, just to jump in before you answer that, a follow on from what Dan was saying. And one of the things that we regularly like to talk about is what is your ultimate barbecue? It's not your favourite, but what is your ultimate barbecue cook?
Unknown:I think because of the simplicity of it. I am a I'm a very social person, you know, so I don't want to be I don't want to be focusing too much on what I'm doing. And I'm I'm the kind of guy that likes to stand at a barbecue. You know, the good old the good old man thing to do like this all standard barbecue and just poke the meet and just go I wish I would have done it like this. You have a friend called Dave, but a friend called Dave I know everyone knows a Dave Right. So yeah, so I think because of that socially and I want people to try as many things as possible. My ultimate barbecue cook would definitely be along the lines of You know, as many different dishes I could get out, you know ring ribs, a couple of ways wings a couple of ways. Kebabs a couple of ways, you know, thighs, breasts, some different types of sausages, you know, some different types of burgers, you know, just to try and get people eating as many different things as possible, you know, just to enhance it and I think because I think what barbecue does is it the mindset that anyone gets in when they go to a barbecue is like no other. Okay? You would never ever go to a restaurant and go, right I'll have two sausages a burger. I'll have I'll have a lamb chop. I'll have a pork chop. I'll have a chicken breast. I'll have a kebab. You would never ever do that at any other time in your life.
Owen - Host:To be fair, you haven't been to a restaurant with Daniel It was Friday I've been to a few of them and he goes order like that. Oh man,
Dan - Host:I love science.
Unknown:You know I'm like man call me triangle man because I always have three sides it's like I want that in my life because it's I think sides make a meal I'm really have that have that set and but that's because I like to eat different things. I don't just want the same thing. I mean, I've had I've sat in one sitting before and I've eaten you know, a 32 ounce rump steak with onion rings chips mushrooms, peas, you know four pints of Guinness five scoops of ice cream muscles to start that was all in one go.
Owen - Host:That's impressive. That's all
Dan - Host:we need to go out for a meal. So oh, he knows I've mentioned it on here before I do food challenges are really I wouldn't say I'm like top level but I mean, I've done like the flaming grills have like a trash can challenge have done that I finished that I've done all their burger challenges of the mistake challenges. I've done one that was called Man versus burrito, which was like, it was like a two or three pounds burrito. And, and that to show off because I own a few berries at the time was like this isn't enough. So I layered it with butter on top. I was like yeah, what watch me do this. But um, what you were saying about the size made me laugh because oh in and I went to Exeter with some of our friends, we went to a burger joint an American style burger joint to start off with. And I had like one of their I think it's a triple decker burger. And then I asked for a change my face this week to fries. And then I had mac cheese on the side. I had garlic mushrooms on the side. And as I started to order a third side, one of our friends literally told me off. You don't need that much food, you're not going to get through that we're meant to be going out for a few drinks later. I was like, watch me. Watch me Be educated my friend. Because if it's edible, and I can purchase it, it's probably going to happen.
Unknown:So I can I can imagine you and me dan going to a restaurant ordering the food and they say would you like us to wait until the rest of your guests? There's no one coming just sit down. So I get I guess I'm saying but I don't know why. But why do you do that? Dan? Is there a reason why you do that? Is it the challenge? Or is it the food or the different parts of the food that that you want?
Dan - Host:My dad's the same as me. So we always normally we don't snack. We've always had big meals like people people would saying, Okay, that's a lot of food. Why you having that. But I also enjoy different flavours. So if I'm going to have a meal, I want multiple different aspects to it if possible. That's why I loved the trashcan challenge because it's like 567 different things. That and I'm always hungry. I'm genuinely always hungry. In work, they always laugh at me. They used to call me a hunter gatherer. Because if anyone was hungry, or if there was any available food in the office, I didn't have to be in the room. I could sense it. I would just disappear to go and talk to someone and come back with like three muffins and a pork pie. And like what have you done? That's hunter gatherer. But I've always been like that. I I can't think of a time where I've not been that obsessed with food. Apparently, when I was younger, I was quite picky. But even when I was picky, I would eat as much as possible of the stuff that I would eat.
Unknown:Yeah, and I think I'm the same. I think that's the same with me, I think it's the where the kind of the ultimate dish comes into it or the ultimate barbecue cook. It's just the multiple different things to taste to try the different flavours, the different textures, the different everything, you know, which is which is you know, in fact, that's, I think the best way to explain it. If you say, I love a buffet buffet, you walk in somewhere and there's a buyer, you're like, oh my god, there's a buffet. So on this buffet, it's unbelievable. You know, and it's not just like, it's literally going down that line in all you know, and it's and just taking that that that that that and going back with this, this huge plate of food and people oh my goodness, we've got all that food. I'm like, I've just literally got one of everything. Yes, it
Dan - Host:you know, I don't know why you do it any other way or buffet like when I see other people have normal sized plates at a buffet. What are you doing? What are you doing?
Unknown:I absolutely agree. Going back to the like cooking for those for the people in that sense. I want those people to experience the same thing. You know, I don't want those people to walk away from my house or God. You know what Joe? Well, Steve, those burgers were lovely. You know, I want them to say that God, everything was just so good. You know, the burgers were great, but the sausages were great, but the kebabs are great, but the wings were great. You know, what Rob, did you use? Show me how you make it, that kind of stuff. You know, they're the comments that I want at the end of a barbecue.
Owen - Host:And no one leaves hungry. That's the main thing,
Unknown:just just me.
Owen - Host:Yeah, when I was stealing your food
Dan - Host:you talked about the fact that you've not got as much time as you'd like, at the moment to do the cooking. Do you try and do multiple cooks at once because of that, even if it's just for yourself or for you and your other half? Do you think why? Because I'm firing up the barbecue. I am going to do wings multiple ways. But I'm also going to do kebabs at the same time.
Unknown:And we've done that once. Like I say, because we love food, you know, a rack of ribs between four of us isn't enough, obviously. So obviously, I'm assuming that that's normal.
Dan - Host:It's not for me, just just me, I
Unknown:was gonna say so it's like a, it's a different way. So it's like the boys don't necessarily like the ribs cooked with sauce on they like them cook dry. And then to add the source. So it will be you know, let's do let's do a couple of racks of ribs. Let's do one with a rub. Let's do one without a rub. Let's do one with a source. Let's do one without a source. I've had I've had the two Weber's going at the same time, I think maybe twice, where we had just lots of wings and a few kebabs and then we had some ribs going on the other side. So I will I will fire up another barbecue just for ribs because of course they take that bit longer. And they need that little bit of time. And then the faster cook stuff will go on the ribs or you know when it comes down to do the wings perhaps using the vortex because I find you get a much better you get a much better finish with the vortex on wings, you get the crispness, they get a bit crispy, and then maybe just some standard stuff on the other barbecue. But that doesn't really happen that much. Not from a time perspective as well as just saying out.
Owen - Host:So we've been talking about food and barbecuing quite a lot. But a segment that we always like to do is talk about drinks as well. So what is what's your drink of choice? Steve the barbecue or what you drinking today that you would traditionally drink?
Unknown:So I am an ale man. I'm definitely a big owl fan. I'm drinking Doom bar today. I've got some Doom Barmah massive Doom bar fan. Favourite. Yeah, it's amazing. So I'm not saying that I'm gonna dumb Doom barring. So it's, I think just and I think that the thing we've done just the simplicity of doing bar is just makes it amazing. It's just just such an easy thing. But anything's like that. Anything like that. I'm a big fan of BrewDog I'll be honest, I like the BrewDog stuff. I had the advent calendar this year, it was the first time I'd had that. And it was brilliant either because I love sour beers. I love a sour beer. So there was a couple in the calendar this year, which was quite nice. But so yeah, so generally it's it's that that that's where my main go to is I'm a big fan of gin as well. I've kind of hopped on the bandwagon of gin, because yeah, it's massive. And just the flavours I think more than anything, I'm a straight gin and tonic fan. I like gin and tonic. I'm a I'm a big fan of that flavour gin or,
Owen - Host:you know, straight normal.
Unknown:Yeah, I like both actually. So there's, you know, our Do you have some great flavour gins. In fact, one of the thing my girlfriend's dad showed me, which I never read a result before is the difference between Gen and Gen kill. You know, a lot of Gen accuse out there at the moment. So knowing to look for various genes rather than the Gen cures and finding those. But LD have a great selection of flavour genes. They do some really, really nice ones. And I'm a big fan of red wine as well. I like red wine. Me and my girlfriend's dad get through. Well have gone through many bottles of red wine. He's a great he's a great fan of wine. And it's always good wine.
Owen - Host:Just reference low Shiraz Cabernet.
Unknown:Not really I wouldn't know the difference if someone said to me like it's not like the Pepsi and Coke challenge. It's like I I would never really know the difference. I like I like the full bodied wines. So I like a Sheraz generally for the body Enos of it. I'd like a chateau nerve for the body a bit as well but just generally that but but yeah, I'm pretty flexible. You know, as long as it as long as it costs more than five pounds a bottle then I'm pre open. My girlfriend likes mirlo So she's a Milo fan. So So yeah, so she quite like that. So I don't I don't drink white though. I don't know white is one of the drinks. I went drink white wine that
Owen - Host:I agreed to. Big fan of mirlo not a fan of wine. So what are you down? What are you drinking this week? What's your three three drink setup?
Dan - Host:So the first thing that I had was an Irish Coffee as I always do with a 12 year, Glenlivet in it, I was gonna put a bourbon in it, but I didn't realise it already drank all of that. So that was a bit more decadent than I was expecting. That was nice. And I'm currently working my way through and I thought I was gonna enjoy this more than I am a sharp tongue that grapefruit Pale Ale from oldie from the hot foundry. I normally quite like a grapefruit beer, and they are sharp, but this is next level shop. I would argue this is borderlining a sour which is fine if you're expecting a sour I wasn't so I was expecting something that would have the flavour but slightly less than the sharpness and would go down quickly. Whereas this is like being hit in the face each time I drink it. You want to know about flavour? Of course you do. And I wouldn't say it's a bad beer just wasn't what I was expecting. And I had a bit of a heavy night last night as well. So that was a bit of a shock. I was like oh god memories, memories. I don't need that right now. And then finally, I'm going to be moving on to something that's called twice as nice, which is a double IPA. 6.6% again from the hop foundry, but who knows what that's like, because it's gonna take me a while to get through this. What about you and what you're drinking,
Owen - Host:so I went with a shepherd, Neiman co Kentish strong ale. So I thought I'd start with a nice six and a half percent triple hopped, you know, proper heavy Ale, which was actually really nice. I'm not a massive fan of really hoppy beers. But this was a pleasant surprise for me. I was expecting it'd be too hoppy but yeah, that went down a treat. And I'm just about to dip into similarly to you Dan. Going down the kind of citrusy kind of fruity I've got a citrus IPA never tried it before. Also by Shepard Nene. And the first couple of couple of tastes it's again really nice not like to citrusy that it comes again like sour. It's just got that nice. Yeah, nice. Just citrus that kind of clears the palate is quite nice.
Unknown:Yeah. Now like I said, I mean like I say I'm I'm a big fan of sours. I do like the sour beers. And that that started from a i i went to see a friend who lives in deal. And we went to an ale house that was there. And he said to me go, Steve, because you have to try this beer. He goes, it's like the most amazing beer. And it was from the NRA and forgive me if I pronounced synchronet But it was from the dogies brewery, which I think is Swedish. It was called Tropical thunder, which was like it was like drinking alcoholic and Bongo rice. But he said to me said he's Dave, you want to try it? He goes it's really really nice. He goes however, it is a little bit expensive. Okay, so I said okay, that's fine. I said, Well, I'll tell you what, let me get a couple in. I said if, if let's see if we like it. So I buy these two pints of beer. And the person says that'll be four, please, for two pints of beer. I bought four pints that day. Because it was just it just blew me away. It was just unbelievable. And I think that started me on the road to kind of sours and things like that. So I'm always on the lookout for a sow. I don't mind a porter either. I'm quite I'm quite fond of a porter.
Owen - Host:I subscribe to flavour Lee. And I can't remember which brand it was. But when my one of my first boxes that I got last year, I had a whiskey Porter. And it was heaven. Absolute heaven. But yeah, I haven't I haven't had too many porters before, but that one was,
Unknown:yeah, there's been there's been some good ones and some good milk stouts and stuff like that, that have kind of come out. I used to subscribe to beer 52 and got quite a few cases from them. And that they their cases were quite good because they were they were by country. I don't know. flavorfully does the same thing. But so when you got a case of beer from beer 52 It was like all from Ireland or from France or from you know, Scotland or Wales or something like that. So they were really off to Jamaica or somewhere like that. They were really random kind of selections. And some of those were obviously quite nice.
Owen - Host:So the one that you were saying is you say Tropic Thunder, tropical. Yeah. Can you get that? Can you buy that, you know, bottled or anywhere else? Or do you have to only go down to that brewery?
Unknown:No, or you can buy in the bottle, but you have to order it. I've never found anywhere. I've never found any shop or anywhere like that. That sells it. But so yeah, but I have found it online. So you can buy a case of it, I think but yeah, I think it's Swedish.
Owen - Host:Send us send us link. Or if you're listening and you want to send us it. Yeah, meat & Greet BBQ podcast.
Unknown:fit. Absolutely.
Owen - Host:To see more content on our social media channels follow that hashtag meat & Greet BBQ podcast. And for our cooking challenges, we set our guests each week, hashtag barbecue being
Dan - Host:I was looking through your Instagram account earlier, and an image came up, which I remember seeing for the first time thinking, Oh, God, what happened there? Talk us through the pavilion instant.
Unknown:Yeah, so when I saw I was building it, this happened when I was building it. So basically, so I, when I first built it, I put it at the back end of my garden. So you see the back end of my garden, my Instagram, you can see the picture of it like it's like a little sub box area at the back and the garage door is on the back end. So I wasn't too sure on the weather. So I thought you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to open up the box and get all the pieces out inside the Garriage. And then I'm just going to, I'm going to build it outside the garage. So I was building it and I had all these metal poles everywhere and they were quite thick. So I had two of the metal poles in my hand. And as I went to walk out the garage, one of the metal poles was actually like resting point end against the doorframe. So what I did is as I went to walk out, my foot got stuck in the hole of the end of the pole. So as I lifted my foot up because I was on the forward movement, as I lifted my foot up, the pole pivoted up on the door. And I because I had this, I had these two poles, so I was literally falling out of the garage door into my garden, which is all shingle pebble. But as I come out, I even I audibly said, You're going to fall over myself to say, you're going to fall over. And I have fallen over for a very, very long time. Catching up isn't really easy. But so what I did, but I was very conscious that I had two very solid metal poles in my hand. So what I did is rather than stop myself from falling, I threw the poles out in front of me, and literally just face planted the floor. But basically the injury on my leg was the I was still in the garage. So I took the full force of the fall on the doorframe. Yeah, yeah, on the doorframe, and it's just UPVC door. So it's got that like lip, but that little lip that comes up. But the funny thing is, I'm laying on the floor face down, and I'm thinking you've fallen over, I think I'm okay. I'm not sure. So I managed to roll myself over and I saw my leg and it came up so quickly. Like literally it came up straight away. So I literally casually got my phone out of my pocket, sent a text message to my girlfriend saying, can you come and help? I've just fallen over. That's all it said. She usually comes running out, usually sympathetic girlfriend. And yeah, so and then obviously, she helped me back into the house and my leg was pretty bashed up. And I bruise really, really easily. I'm on because of some medication I'm on. I've got blood problems and stuff like that. But my bruise I just went, my leg just came up and that actual swelling on my leg has never gone. It's still there now. I've been told that, Oh, it must be six months ago minimum. I've been to the hospital. They've scanned it. They x rayed it, they've done everything. There's no break. There's no chips. There's nothing like that on the bone or anything like that. It's literally just soft tissue wound. And it's still Yeah, it's all right now it's fine. But yeah, I forgot put that on there.
Owen - Host:But it was worth it. It was
Unknown:so worth it. You know, I finish. And even my gut was like, No, you got to go to the hospital. I said no, I need to finish the finish. He's got no. And I'm like no, I've got more I just give me some ice. I'll sit here for half an hour, which I did. And I went out and I finished that bloody pavilion and and then four months later she's like I think we should maybe then the family garden. So we picked it up it was easy. It's quite light anyway, so we kind of picked it up and moved it down the front of the garden. So yeah,
Owen - Host:I suppose that that leads us quite nicely into the next kind of segment that we like to talk about which is the barbecue fails. And some some of the things that hasn't gone so well and perhaps hasn't made your Instagram or perhaps would have if you've taken photos of your injuries
Unknown:well this is actually what I've been preparing myself for this because I've heard some of the ones from the previous podcast so I enjoy what I'm going to split this into two different because I have had epic fails with equipment and epic fails with food purely from a knowledge perspective. So if I if I if one kind of leads into the other so when I lived on my own for quite a period of time. I was watching I was really into man versus food. Yes, I Adam Richmond right so he's a brilliant brilliant person on the phone. love that kind of stuff I use. He's a I'm a big fan of his. And he was talking about this smoker this bullet smoker called a Brinkman. And I don't know if you remember, you can go back because this is a while back, so, so uh, Brittany if you can't get them anymore, but it was a Brinkman bullet smoker, and it was like top of the range at the time. So I'm thinking and I'm watching all these programmes and thinking, Yeah, I can do that look, I can do. So I tweeted, I put a tweet out and said are looking at the Brigman smoker. I said, my my girlfriend says, which I didn't have at the time, it was a complete lie. I said, my girlfriend says that if I can get a retweet from Adam Richmond, then she'll let me buy a Brinkman smoker. To which he responded, I'll come round for wings, right. I'll come round for the rings. And I'm like, Oh my God, he's responded. So anyway, so I bought this smoker. And I'm thinking right, so we are going to hit this hard. So I bought a rolled brisket and some sausages, some temple, and I'm like, I'm smoking them. Oh my god, this is going to be the most amazing, I'm going to invite I'm going to do one test on my own. And then I'm going to call my friends round. I made a rub, which I made loads of rub, it was so much rub, it was like a little box of it. And I thought yeah, I'm gonna use the smoker. And I did that. And I think the sausages were unbelievable. You know, they were so so good. They were so they came out so nice. Unfortunately, what the what the Brinkmann smoker did do was it turned that really nice piece of rolled brisket into a shoe quite possibly could have worn today, and it still wouldn't have worn out today. It was the I couldn't cut it. It was the most horrendous cook ever. And I literally could not cut this piece and everything like that. And in the end, I'm thinking I'm sure it looked a bit more moist than this on the telly. I mean, after made maybe it needs a gravy. So I'm may put a bit of gravy on it would be fine. But yeah, so I think you know, that was my first experience of me trying to do some long cook. And I cook that for about eight hours as well. I was up really early for that. But it was like a one kilo piece of brisket, which I cooked for like eight hours or something. never changed the coals once and never added water to it once just what was already in there. So obviously you hear all these things and you think thinking because when I watched it on the TV, they didn't show any of that and that was never on there.
Dan - Host:The fat content of the meat can be much different in America than it is over here because of what they do to their animals over their
Unknown:absolute That's right, and I'm thinking it doesn't, but it's rolled brisket. It'd be fine. I think I even unrolled it. I think I'm sure I did,
Owen - Host:too. What did that enrichment think Did you like it? Boom out. Adam Richmond What are you doing?
Unknown:Waste honestly loser. But yeah, that was me.
Dan - Host:Yeah. What if you look him up, not an easy vegan. He's lost loads of weight because when he was doing man versus food to keep the hunger up. He used to like run marathons on treadmills and stuff to try and a keep him healthy because the amount of food is consuming, but be also to keep the hunger going. Because you need the appetite but yet what was worth looking into is lost a load of weight and yeah,
Unknown:yeah, I knew we'd lost the load but I'm sure I'm sure I saw him on Tik Tok. He's been on Tik Tok recently like eating chicken.
Dan - Host:Maybe he's gone and vegan and he was definitely vegan for like two years free
Unknown:and vegan. Well, I didn't I really didn't know that I really really didn't know that. It broke my heart. So much respect on vegans. Anyway, back to stories. Yes, sorry. So I think I think the other fail is one of regret more than anything. So, when like going back before, before the Brinkmann funnily enough, I had, I had a barbecue, that it was a gas barbecue, but it was an Outback, flattop barbecue. I paid about 200 pound for it. It wasn't really anything special. But it had a cast iron grill on one side, and a cast iron planche a hot plate on the other. And all I really cooked on that hot plate was alumium burgers. I didn't know of Smash burgers. I didn't know of like Crispin bacon. I didn't know of domes I didn't know of anything like that. And I got rid of that barbecue without even really knowing anything I was. And now I've thought about that. Sometime now, thinking that you know what I was devastated in the fact that I'm now thinking, you know, you're talking about all this stuff. And you literally had that you literally had that in your garden. And you didn't know what you had and I just didn't know what that was all it was it was it was purely a case of then that's where that's where my journey has taken me. It's taken me to that point now where I can look back and think you got it so wrong. You know what you were doing and the things that you would do now and I know I've put out on the, I've put out on the Instagram and that about you know, and I think you and I and you and I think about a chat for chats. I think when you just got your Smoky Mountain, I think we were talking about that about I was thinking about, again, a smoker. And I'm still contemplating it. I'm not really 100% in it yet. I'm not at that point, because I still don't know what I would do with it because I'm still not drawn into the long cook element of stuff just yet. So yeah, so I think I think the other barbecue fowl is just the my I had the equipment I had what I could have had to make something amazing. I'm kind of fascinated by smash burgers, but I've never had one. Oh, neither of eyes. So honestly, and it's and this is all I get, you know, I talk to people all the time. I know so much about five guys, but I've never been. Yeah. And people say to me, how could you not go to Five Guys, you should go to five guys. It's the most amazing place ever. But the one thing I always say is, but it's been a it's a bit expensive. Yeah, but it's it's so worth it. So I said, Well, the funny thing is, I said, I said well, I said you know why? It's expensive, though, don't you? It's because they use Chuck and sirloin in their burgers. Mm hmm. And then I said, Well, how do you know that? I said, Well, I've researched it, but you've never had I'm like now I know when I made that burgers off, but I've never been
Dan - Host:thing do you think about five guys. And part the reason that chips taste so good as well is, I don't know if any other fast food places in the UK really do this. But all of the frying stuff. They use peanut oil. Alright, so it just tastes completely different. I've got a friend who's got like a mild peanut allergy. But he can't walk past the five guys. He wants to walk past the five guys on the side of his face swelled up.
Unknown:Really? Yeah. Wow. But you can imagine the difference?
Dan - Host:Well, yeah, but the flavour, the flavour.
Owen - Host:sponsor our show, please.
Unknown:Sponsors are like either No, some kind of allergy tablet relief or some parents in and five guys.
Dan - Host:My dream of us having dry roasted peanuts sponsoring this, this podcast has now gone down, but it's so good five guys think they know what they're doing. There's a reason that they're that big. And it's that expensive. And it's worth it completely worth it.
Unknown:Yeah. And they're dead. They're the message I get. And I think you know, going back going back to the gab back to the fires in that in that element is, you know, what I had could have produced that, I think, you know, and I don't have that now. And I'm obviously I'm trying to build up to that again, I've reached out to Outback and spoke with them because they do like a party six, like a six burner party barbecue, which is really similar to that one. And it folds as well. It's a folder one, it's really clever. They have actually responded me and said their 2021 Social media budget has now been sorted. So they'll get in contact with me later. But you don't ask you don't get right. So this Yeah.
Dan - Host:100% true. 100% true.
Owen - Host:So now we've brought that back up. And the fact that you missing that you going back to the beginning of the podcast when we were saying about me and Dan being sad that we're dreaming about barbecue. And I think that's that's teeing you up for tonight, dreaming of what could have been with your outback.
Unknown:And I say, and that's the thing. I think if that's the only thing that I could really go back to, I mean, even the Brinkmann smoker, but it was really similar to a Smoky Mountain in any shape and size. But I gave it to my next door neighbours. When I left when I moved, I gave it to them and said I'm not going to use it. So you might as well have it. Like I say it's only really been locked down that's kind of pushed me back out into the garden and in front of the barbecue.
Dan - Host:Talking about fails, I always offer up at least one of my own because I think it's only fair for asking people were speaking to I should say what's gone wrong. So back when I lived in old house, we had a gas barbecue. It was the first lot of times I'd cooked with it. You've got a big big gas canister, you attach it and even though you turn the gas on and off, I just left the canister attached. And then it got to the end of the season and it was still heavy as anything else like there's at least half this canister left in there one of the big what they like 20 litre gas kegs and I couldn't get the thing off. I could not get the thing off the attachment I was clicking it I was clicking I was like I'm sure I don't know what I'm doing wrong. So I quickly have a look and there was a button on the side of the of the actual gas canister that said he our release I thought that meant easy release so I thought okay, so I need to press that button while pressing the button on the top and that's why it's not coming off. Press that button and almost floor myself because I've hit the quick emergency release for the gas. So I dump probably about 10 litres of gas into my knock myself over. Think like obviously you wouldn't be using that indoors but I God if that had been an enclosed space, I don't know what could have happened. But it was just it was the noise that Instant Regret and then trying not to choke to death as I've hit the crawling away from this thing. And it cost me a lot of money as well because you've got to then refill the sodden thing. But again, if you don't know, these sort of things happen.
Unknown:Yeah, man, I've just, it's true. You know, I've I've learned I'm learning so much, you know, and I look back now I think I'm like, I made so many bad mistakes with Buffett.
Owen - Host:I did one one for me that sticks out was I went to a family barbecue or party and someone started a barbecue but then had too many drinks and just didn't really care and had all these guests. So I I ended up jumping in so don't worry, give me all that, you know, get them in the meat aisle, I'll take over the barbecue. It was a cheap and cheerful kettle didn't have a lead or anything. And it was really shallow. And I don't think the quality of the meat was that great. Is in I don't think there was sausages. I think they're bangers you know, like 10% meat quality type scenario. And as soon as I got the monster the grill because it was so hot, so shallow that sfat started licking the coals and all of a sudden, within 10 minutes, this whole barbecue was on fire. from room to room on fire and I had all these sauces and all I remember trying to do is just get these sausages and I was burning all my hands. I was literally throwing the sausages off the barbecue into the garden. lying everywhere. Just try not to burn these bloody things. And yeah, just this barbecue was completely knackered afterwards it just all this fat from the sausages, it just completely set the thing on fire. Luckily, we managed to get it under control. But yeah, needless to say, we didn't we didn't have that much food. So poor poor me poor equipment. And you know, a half drunk cook didn't didn't really make a good mix.
Unknown:Rub I've seen I've seen people who have kind of tried to have had that kind of problem in the same thing. I have literally seen people stand with a barbecue with tongs in one end, and a water spray bottle in the other hand. And while every time it flares up, they're spraying the coals with water, just to keep the flames down. So they literally turned to one end and spraying the coals, who was the other way to keep the flames from coming.
Dan - Host:The other classic is people not understanding despite the fact that it's written on every single bag of charcoal. Let the flames die down the coals go go white dash, that's your cooking time. That's when you cook. And I don't know if it's a British thing about Spees. But the classic thing is flames coming out the top of the grill and people like you said throwing around sausages, trying to make sure that they're black on the outside pink on the inside. And hope that no one needs to go to hospital after.
Unknown:Absolutely yeah, my my brother always used to say that barbecue was French for black on the outside red roar in the middle. But a baby, but even even now my brother is a pretty good barbecue as well, to be fair. So
Owen - Host:I'm pretty sure you remember sort of growing up and when my family used to have barbecues. It was all the old lighter fluid, fluid all over those charcoals. That's that's how you get it going. couldn't imagine doing that now. But
Unknown:interestingly enough, I was asked to cook for my mom, I think it was like a 50th birthday or something like that quite a few years ago. And she said, Would you cook for me? And I'm like, yeah, alright, then that's fine. And I just kind of thought, Hey, I've just got me Brinkman, I've just called out I've got a nice charcoal starter and everything like that. So of course, I've got this massive, like flat and barbecue that was probably a metre and a half wide 60 people, and I've got like one chimney of smoke. And it won't take long, it won't take long. It's fine. Everyone's hungry. So in the end, I think one of my uncle was coming on, I said, Look, we can't wait for this. But if you've got the bag, tip the whole bag out onto the bottom of the barbecue, the whole bottle of lighter fluid went on to it. And he just lit it. And it was like we just literally blew up and I need it goes where it goes. Just wait for that to die down a bit. And you're ready to go. And I'm like, I'm not cooking on it in the end. And I think I cooked on it in the end, but I wasn't happy. So I think that was more of an appreciation thing is I was just getting to a point where I was starting to appreciate the different elements of barbecue and but the impact that things like lighter fluid have on on the taste of the food and yeah, and that kind of stuff. So it was just something that I didn't want to do. But yeah,
Owen - Host:yeah, I think it's definitely a big no no. So one of the other things that we wanted to find out from you and see where you are in this and we spoke to Ian about it last week as well. We actually hadn't named it previously but we call it condiment corner. So you know we want to talk about kind of what you accompany your your barbecue cooks with what rubs? Do you use a more of a homemade man? Or do you kind of buy into brands and if so, you know what your what your favourite condiments that that you use for your barbecues
Unknown:were from a rub perspective, I've definitely gone down the road of making my own is something that, that I enjoy it I enjoy doing it's definitely one of the one of the highlights for me in what I'm doing from a barbecue perspective. I have bought from companies before, I bought a really nice selection from spice Anakie and got some good stuff from them. So that was good stuff. And I was using those on things like potatoes and stuff like that. So there were some really nice ones there. But, you know, and I think I put this out to the community as well. And I said, you know, where are people buying rubs from what, where's the place to go. And a couple of people come back to me and just said, you know, it's, you know, the ones that you buy in a great, but make this just know, you know, they sometimes just don't get that close to making your own. And what I've done is I've made a couple in the past and I've stuck with those. So I've got I'm a big cookbook fan. I like I like books, and I've got some really really good barbecue books. And I've made a couple from them. So I I have a baby back rib rub that I've stuck with that I've held on to for quite some time now. And I continue to use that. And I've just made one one of my on Wednesday actually was a barbecue chicken rub which which went down really well too. With regards to sauces. I'm a big sweet baby Ray's fan, the sweet baby Ray's barbecue sauces. For my birthday. See for birthday for Christmas. My girlfriend actually bought me three bottles of sweet baby Ray's online, she bought me the hickory smoked one, which you can't get over here. I think the honey one which you can get now. And the buffalo wing, sweet baby resource as well, which I used on Wednesday. They were amazing. They've always been nice and even even our youngest here in the house. He's moving from kind of catch up to barbecue sauce and he loves the sweet baby Ray's barbecue sauces as well. They're amazing. And even I've had friends who have said to me Oh man, that barbecue sauce that you put on your page. I've gone and bought a bottle and it is the best barbecue sauce I've ever had. So yeah, so I think I think anything like that. I'm a bit of a fan with from a source perspective. I have bought things from the source shop and stuff like that just to try those things out but but no nothing's really come close to sweet baby Ray's just yet
Owen - Host:Oh, God bought the sweet baby Ray's honey BBQ haven't opened it yet.
Unknown:is amazing. It's so nice and yeah, I think if you've had the bottle of the original the original was quite spicy. I find it a little bit spicy. Imagine that but without the spiciness. It's really nice. It's really subtle. And the buffalo blew me away you can't get the buffalo over here I don't think she bought from Amazon etc because they were well expensive to find them and we got them shipped over and she bought them for me so but yeah, the buffalo sauce I tried for the first time I am a massive fan of buffalo sauce. I love spice I'm not quite a spicy fan. And that was just delicious really really good.
Owen - Host:If you're a big fan of spice if you tried saucy
Unknown:bitch no
Owen - Host:got to give. So I've kind of done the reverse to you in that last year when I kind of up my barbecue game although I've been doing it for you know a number of years I launched my Instagram page last year I was always making my own rubs and I've actually then towards the back end of last year started to try and find you know different companies and sort of against by Santa key I love that there rubs Somerset seasoning I've just recently used some of theirs that brilliant and I've gone on to Angus anoint now but I tried saucy bitch last year again just came popped up on Instagram locally made in London and they have some incredible flavours but spice it as well. So they've got like a Mellow Yellow, it's called it's like a it's like a fruit source. But all of a sudden you just get this real punch afterwards with with with spices but you know sometimes when sources are so spicy that actually you can't taste the flavour. Yeah, yeah. And that really winds me up. Yeah, they you know, they've been so focused on making it spicy that you actually ruin the taste whereas, yeah, saucy bitch. Have a I mean, they've got a triplex and it is slight, ridiculously hot, you know, like kind of burn your tongue hot, but actually the rest of the rest of them are really flavorful, but spicy at the same time. I think Dan, you came over and tried to fit in you that time. Really good. Really, really, really recommend again go if you like spicy sauce?
Unknown:Yeah, I do. I really do. But I think on equal to that to what you just said as well and in the fact that you know, I like spice, but I like the taste of food. You know, it's a bit like, funnily enough, I had a conversation with someone about it tonight and he was talking about a very well known Portuguese chicken establishment. But we were talking and I said, you know, I said when when I go to like Nando's I like, you know, I like the medium sauce on my chicken because I like the taste of the chicken. But I'll I'll have a bottle of hot sauce on the table for like, my fries or in my coleslaw and my PS or something like that, you know, so, because I like the spice of that. So yeah, so I'm the same in the fact that I don't want the spice to ruin the taste of the food. I want it to complement it and add to that. I don't want it to just literally I don't want to be the only thing that I think about is the fact that this is hot. Yeah, I think one
Owen - Host:for me that is a bit that Frank's hot sauce. Yeah, I find it's just too spicy and bitter. But you don't actually get a flavour you know, you don't get enough of a flavour.
Unknown:Yeah, so with so Franks is a really good hot sauce to make buffalo sauce with. If you if you add butter to it, if you mix a bottle of Frank sauce with butter, and some cayenne and a couple of other bits and pieces, it actually makes a really nice buffalo sauce. And I think yeah, I think Frank's as just a standalone is too much. But I think the butter in that because you add you can add quite a bit of butter to it. I think the butter just takes that edge off it and perhaps makes it a bit sweeter. And just adds that edge to it a little bit. So yeah, so I agree with that. Definitely.
Dan - Host:I think making your own rubs and things is great, because you can bounce the flavours. My problem is I'm finding that I am not getting the same sort of depth yet, as I do from other places like Angus and oink also particularly that that brands they are quite like that they go out there with some of the flavours which I would never ever think about putting together in the first place. But the goal is to be at the point where I will happily make my own rubs. And then why would I need to buy anything ever again?
Unknown:I think I think Angus annoying is on my list. I think it's the one that keeps on coming up. It's the one that is very prominent in the market, I think at the moment, and certainly in the community as well. You know, certainly some names out there about like the the feather duster and stuff like that that is really, really popular at the moment. One of the things that I try to do with my brothers is I try not to add sugar to the mace one of the things I try to stay away from because of the burn element of that on a barbecue. But I find Yeah, I find like the chicken one that I made the other day was literally just five or six things. It's very simple, very plain, and just worked really, really well. So I think I'll keep trying with that. And of course, you know, as as things progress, and as things move on, I think you have to be in a position to try these things. You have to go and say, oh, yeah, I want to do that I want it's, it's a really I think the barbecue element of the community is the fact that I want to do and I want to try what everybody else is trying, you know, I want to buy some, some Angus and like rubs because people talk about them. I want to buy from spice Anakie because people talk about them. I want to you know, and I think that's, that's one of the things that kind of keeps pushing that through. I think it's yeah, it's definitely it's definitely worthwhile. But, but again, I think you know, with the depth kind of thing, I think the mix is part of that as well. I don't know if you've seen I use I use a protein shake mixer to mix my rubs in with the need to get the little silver whisk ball inside. Yeah, no, I literally bought a protein shaker for like about 80 Pence, I think from a shop that had a ball inside it and I make my rubs in that. And I shake it with the ball inside it and that I tend to find I get a much better mix, I get no lumps or anything like that in it. It just really the ball kind of adds as a whisk in there. So
Owen - Host:go go go old school when you use a pestle and mortar really.
Unknown:But you need to grind anything now. Are you? Are you using whole like peppercorns or whole seeds or anything like that in that
Owen - Host:it's a mix in that I you know, sea salt or rock salt. So I normally start by grinding the rock soul down or the pepper down. And then I think well I'm already using the pestle and mortar. So I'll add the powder to it. So and then kind of mix it you know, mix it that way. Yeah. And you just want to touch back on something you said about sugar. And try and that must be quite difficult because again, just from experience from my from myself and the cookbooks that I've gotten the rubs up, you know, I've done a home before almost all of them have some sugar in it. It must be quite difficult then what do you use a sugar replacement? Or do you just literally admit the sugar at all?
Unknown:I just take it out. I think one of the things I have I work when I'm when I'm when I'm not barbecue and I work in l&d, I work in learning and development, like training people and stuff like that in various things. And one of the things that I've trained in the past is how to look at a problem and how to do problem solving. So when we look at something, you know, when we, when we're kind of defined that if we want to change Something we need to add it. What people generally don't think about is that how can I make this better? What can I remove? And I think people don't think of it like that, I think people, what can I add in to make it better, when sometimes we don't always have to do that. But sometimes you can just remove something like a part of the process or a part of the recipe or something like that to make what you want. So I kind of took a bit of a punt with just not adding it. Because of the predominately because of the bone element, I'd made one really quite early for a rack of ribs, and I put it on and of course, because it was on right at the beginning of my cook, it burned, it just kind of the character had been on there long enough to burn rather than just caramelise quite nicely just kind of gone. So it was more of a case of, well, if that's burn, then I'm just going to leave it out. I'm just not even going to bother putting it in and then to see what happens. And then just that trial and error. And I think I'm more comfortable with that, because it's something that I've had experienced before that if I come up with a problem, I don't always look at what I could add or what I could change, I also look at what can I remove in order to get that and that's kind of helped me I guess in that element. If you need sweetness or anything like that, then there's other things you know about, like maybe adding some small amount of fabric or even mustard powder or something like that, just to kind of add that little, little piece of depth perhaps to that.
Owen - Host:It's interesting, because, yeah, as I said, I would normally just go ahead and put the sugar in and try and get that carmelization you know, on the on the meat. It's really not healthy that let's be honest, no, of
Unknown:course not. And I think but I know, I know what I'm missing out on by not having it in there. And it's I'm not I'm not always comfortable with missing out on that because of that caramelization. But I think until I get into I can build up the skills to kind of say like, I know when I know when that burn point is going to take place on what I'm cooking. So I know perhaps when to add it or maybe to add it later or maybe even add a like can I add it a different way? So if I'm if I'm spritzing a rack of ribs for example, can I add my sugar element to my spritz rather than my Rob and just perhaps changing it in that perspective and just trying to find the difference? Is that like an apple juice spray? Yeah, basically yeah, just something like that. Just kind of get the natural sugars out of that. And of course you're adding it a bit later or perhaps kind of more set times rather than just having it on there all the way through.
Owen - Host:To see more content on our social media channels follow that hashtag meat & Greet BBQ podcast. And for our cooking challenges. We sell guests each week. Hashtag barbecue pink. Barbecue barbecued bingo. I think it's that time. I think it's that time.
Dan - Host:So barbecue bingo, for those who don't know is regular feature that we have on the show where we effectively have a spinning wheel with a number of different cooks on it. And we ask our guests to cook whatever comes up to put it on their Instagram to tag us in and also use the hashtag BBQ bingo. And it's a great way of getting people to try and eat different things and cook different things, but also to showcase their skill because some of the items on here will be ingredients. Some of them will actually be meals, but it gets people cooking out of the comfort zone which at the end of the day actually makes you a better cook. But before we get properly into this Steve what would be your signature dish? What is your signature cook? Blimey
Owen - Host:I think it's got to be it's got to be wings isn't it? Yeah,
Unknown:I think so it is and you know what I've I've tried a few different things rings like so I've tried with the wings I've tried leaving them leaving them as whole as a three piece cutting them in into into three and or just cooking them cetera I like cooking them as a whole I find it retains a little bit more moisture flavour. But But yeah, probably wings
Dan - Host:will that'll be your signature dish if it comes up.
Owen - Host:I'm going to give the wheel spin. And yeah, as Dan mentioned, anything that it lands on, that'll be your challenge. And then if you can tag us in when you do that on Instagram, absolutely use the hashtag meat & Greet BBQ podcast and barbecue. Bingo. So here we go.
Dan - Host:Okay, wow.
Unknown:Good. Good luck, just as He says we have a winner at the top of it. I think we do do.
Dan - Host:She came liver now liver.
Owen - Host:So that's the first time that's the first time that that's been on. Brilliant. I that was added for you. How you feeling about that? Yeah. All right.
Dan - Host:I know what I do with it straightaway. I've got an idea. I've got a dog. So Well, I'll tell you what, I'll I'll tell you where my brain has gone with gone to straightaway and you can use that or you can go in your own direction of course you can, but straight with my broken chicken liver Patty, how can I use Patty in a cook? That that's where my brain would go?
Owen - Host:I'd say where my brains gone if that was me leave the call never contact us again.
Unknown:You're breaking up. You're breaking up guys. I didn't I didn't see the spin. So, hey, no, but you know what? I'm a fan of liver. I am a big my girlfriend really isn't? You know, I'm a fan. You know give me a give me a good old fashioned liver and bacon any day of the week? You know? And I'm a I'm a big fan of that but chicken livers may be slightly different. Yeah, I think Yeah, bring it on. Easy peasy. Do you guys have to do as well?
Dan - Host:Well, not last week. I heard that. Yeah, we got we got challenged and I've done mine. I don't think I'm not sure if I Winston his yet. So I
Owen - Host:haven't actually I don't eat lamb. But I did say to my wife, could you get yourself some lamb? And she hasn't done yet. So I do need to get on Oh, wow.
Unknown:Past that buck. And bananas. Right?
Dan - Host:Yeah. So my, my challenge is bananas.
Unknown:I listen to it. I'm like, listen to that. I'm like, Well, who doesn't like bananas? Oh, they
Dan - Host:they smell bad. They they feel bad. I mean, I know other fruits have a skin. But this thing comes self contained. Because it's like a nuclear bomb. When you open it. The smell is awful. I genuinely call them the devil's phallic fruit. They're awful. There's nothing about them that I like there's no redeemable features. So I was challenged to cook with it last week. So I did a kind of like almost like a banana split with it right? Cut it in half filled it with as much peanut butter as humanly possible trying to hide the banana flavour that I put chunks of dark chocolate in there, along with chunks of butter as well sprinkled brown sugar over the top, wrap them in foil and put them on the coals for 15 or 20 minutes. That's delicious. And yeah, served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well. And they were they were quite good because I couldn't taste the banana. It was fantastic. I loved it. That genuinely is the first Holbert honour I've ever got through my life. So it was I said to set fire enjoyed it that hopefully would blow other people's minds if they're into bananas. So I definitely give that a go if you may be thinking of doing
Unknown:you can't say like if I enjoyed it if it didn't taste it's like you could you could have put anything in there that
Dan - Host:I ate all of the banana as well. Like the at least the inside the skin there was nothing in it once I finished so
Owen - Host:it's quite I think is quite inoffensive thing to like dislike you know it's I don't think he's got a massive flavour or I don't think the textures you know, unappealing cute, you don't like cucumber. Cucumber is the same. It's just Samba there's not much taste to it. It's quite pleasant. It's refreshing in terms of the texture and how it feels. It's just odd.
Unknown:I think to be fair, and I think a dislike for bananas is really underplaying it. Oh no, I really don't. It's really blown vivid hatred for
Dan - Host:banana it's of course people can't see like the video feed of this my face changed it's one of those flavours I don't know if everyone does have one or I think for a lot of people it's linked to alcohol because of a bad experience they've had but banana the flavour physically makes me gag. I absolutely despise it. I don't know if maybe when I was young and I wasn't very well once I had like a medicine that was flavoured with banana.
Unknown:That's right. It's funny so that's because most children's medicines now the yellow light antibiotic medicine that you get is banana flavoured. It's not really doesn't taste like bananas, but it's it's certainly trying.
Dan - Host:Bananas are very trying. So there's that and cucumber going back to cucumber. It's offensive. Like the flavour in there. It tastes like you've got a glass of water, stuck it on the side of your room for about a week and a half. Like everyone did when they were a teenager or possibly when they were like a uni student and then you've accidentally picked that glass of water up and had a swig and it's just it sounds weird to say it tastes violently green to me is how I describe it. That's so weird. Like I can't just I also I like cold yet and a lot of people go How can you like couchette but hey cucumber has a different flavours mean the different different things? I God I have so what about
Unknown:if you scoop the middle of the cucumber and Is it is it that gives you that wateriness I guess in that so if you if you scoop the middle out and perhaps replace it with like a tomahawk steak or something like that
Dan - Host:The only reason I would scoop out the middle of a cucumber is to make sure it's dead
Owen - Host:I tell you what, Steve, that's an awesome idea, though. You know, you get these like jalapeno poppers that everyone's doing that wrapping by Oh, yeah. Cucumber and often put steak in the middle. And then the other half of the cucumber back on on definitely have an algo Do you know I'm
Unknown:thinking as well. So obviously, what's what obviously generally goes with cucumber is of course, tuna. So I'm thinking scrape out the middle of a cucumber, maybe some slivers of tuna steak or something like that. Put it together, give it a maybe a bit of a wrap in front of my father say bacon, everything tastes good wrapped in bacon to be fun. So yeah.
Dan - Host:Is there anything that you'd like to see one of us or both of us have gone?
Unknown:I think I think what, what I'm really interested in seeing is people going back to the proper basic and well, Owens kebabs, like, for example is like proper basic and stuff. I'd be really keen to see the burgers with the black pudding. And
Dan - Host:I literally stuck them up on there probably three hours ago. So you would have still been in work? Yeah, would have been working. So that I did a mix of statements sick about 60% of them black pudding about 40% and literally just worked, it worked it worked it into the patties, or we can have another giggle moment for mowing. More and more childish. Yeah, I just, I got I got both my hands in and amongst that metre and worked it until it was the right consistency stop. The great thing about it is I think quite often when you make burgers at home, that's probably the quality of mints you use is nine times out of 10 going to be from supermarket it's not going to be that high end, I made sure it was steak mints, but also the black pudding because of the fat content in the black pudding. Oh, my God, where these things moist is so so good. And the flavour level where it wasn't dominated by the black pudding, it just worked its way right the way through. And I finished it off with mozzarella as like the mountain rotten cheese on there. So I had considered even maybe putting a bit of blue cheese on there. But I thought no, I want all that cheese feel without the flavour dominating what I was having. But I'd definitely say have a go on black pudding burgers,
Unknown:are you using like a 20% Men's with that a 20% Fat men's I
Dan - Host:it was actually about 5% Because it was it was more of a steak. Yes. But then because of the fat content of the black pudding brought the whole thing back up. The other thing that I want to try at some point, which I've seen, I've only seen once or twice, but it's really not not confused me but I can't imagine what it will come out as so I tend to want to make my burgers I don't tend to use much binding agents. You see some people using bread crumbs and egg and whatever. But I have seen people use oats. Okay, and I can't imagine what they would do to the burger. How it would taste the consistency. What have you thought about that? Because I suppose some veggie burgers use oats. Right. So
Owen - Host:what do you do with beef?
Unknown:I don't know, I think because of it. Because they're really absorbing it. It's like that, that I think, you know, so obviously so I think inside the burger it's gonna absorb but I would worry about the consistency because they're gonna absorb and grow. You know, you don't want like a priority burger. It's like,
Owen - Host:you'd have to grind them down. Almost.
Unknown:So wow, like a finals. Yeah, maybe something like that. Because Because I think obviously the binding agent is used as a binder, it doesn't really have any other benefit. So holding that together, you know, the bread crumb isn't gonna absorb much of the, of the moisture from that burger and hold it in there. Whereas the oats might that the oats might actually act as a, as an A holding kind of place for the moisture in that burger. So there's certainly the potential of that happening.
Dan - Host:I think that's what gonna do. That's gonna be my challenge. This week, I'm gonna cook a burger and I'm gonna use oats in the actual mix and see what happens. I'm gonna have to think about how much do I use a small amount of definitely less than I would break crumbs. But that's what I'm going to do this week. Something a bit different.
Unknown:Where you could make a veggie burger. What the look on his face then.
Owen - Host:Socrates. Yeah, I
Dan - Host:had spoken about that a few episodes ago that I was thinking about it, but I'm trying to save that until I can actually see my vegetarian friends. Because if I'm cooking for myself, I don't eat meat.
Owen - Host:So talking about basic barbecue in and say more that I'm a big fan of the humble sausage. I haven't actually done a sausage Jenga picture for a while. Well just loads of sausages and get as high as I can. But I've actually got a duck sausage, it's in the fridge. So I'm going to give that a go next week. So I've never had a duck sausage before. I've had lots of different flavours, different meat, but not duck. So I'm looking forward to giving that a go.
Unknown:Yeah, that's quite interesting. So yeah, no, I'm a fan of sausages as well, I must admit, and it's, you know, but I think just obviously, the higher the meat content, the better. I think just just that is just, that's the only thing I really work with it to be fair family, massive sausage fans, so it's a weird thing. Yeah, I guess that, you know, I could be that selfish person. But, but, but I guess it's the other thing, I think it's like, you know, we've got, I've got I've got, I've got so many things in my freezer, it's, there's so much stuff to do in there in the fact that I've got, I've got rib eyes in there, wrap them up individually, because my girlfriend she's like, I don't wanna I don't want you the rib, I don't eat the fat sirloins in there, which we'll see if we show so we could sell and a couple of weeks back. We generally had fill it. So when we get affiliate, we buy a hole, fill it, and we cut that up, we add lines and cook them and then I don't really like that. So what we're doing with those at the moment is we're kind of defrosting them. We're shredding them up. And we're having them in for heaters. So we're having like the most amazing the fee is at the moment because we're using so which is like crazy. But no. So I think one of the one of the questions I was going to ask you was you're, and I haven't heard this in your, in your previous episodes, but I have heard some of the other guys mentioned that. And this is the your kind of thoughts about the barbecue community as a whole. For me, it's been a massive source of learning and information and everything like that, I think. And I think most of the people that you've spoken to already have said kind of the same thing, I think what you guys are doing is you're positioning yourself in a place where you're kind of bringing that together. So kind of what your thoughts are around the whole impact that you think the barbecue community has, and what you are going to have on it.
Owen - Host:I think it's a great thing. And certainly for me on my journey, it's been really inspiring to see what other people are doing, and how interactive people are and how supportive people are. And I think in not that I want to keep referring back to the last year or lockdown and things. But it does play an important role in this that actually, where we have been distant, it's been something that has bought people all over the country and I all over the world together with a common interest. And obviously, you know, again, a few months ago, Steve, we've never had any interaction at all. But again, through that love of barbecue, obviously, we've had a few messages prior to this podcast. And you know, we've liked each other's content and commented etc. So it's just bringing people together that just have that, you know that that common interest and a common love for for food, and barbecue in so I think a it's a fantastic thing. And I think where social media can be quite toxic in other areas, I don't I genuinely feel that we don't have that, you know, everyone's just out to learn and do better and interact with other people. And even if you can't, you know, even if you've Cook is not that good. People are not going to start criticising you for it. It's just Well done, mate. Give it you know, try again, type scenario. And that's the kind of support you get in the second part of your question in terms of where do we sit? Or where do we feel that we sit in that community? I've not really thought about that. You know, we've just put the podcast together, as I said to you earlier, just as a way to talk about something that we love and so passionate about. Haven't really thought about actually what that means for the community. Really, just, we're just doing something that we love, and we hope people love listening to it and gain something from it, whether that's ideas, whether that's just a bit of light entertainment. I haven't really thought about what actually it means for other people to listen to it.
Dan - Host:So I think the barbecue community, particularly on Instagram, haven't really engaged with it on Facebook and wouldn't know if there is a strong one on Facebook to be fair, and Twitter's not something I do because I just find it as a social media form quite toxic anyway, I feel like it's just an angry area you open Twitter and all you see is people screaming at each other and I don't need I don't need that in my life. Not only is it really kind of comforting in the fact that people are really supportive, but it gives me lots of recipe ideas and originally that's why I got into it because I want to be looked thinking of different ways I can use the barbecue and different flavours that I can access particularly where I can't find them somewhere I can buy in the UK easily. There's not many if any real barbecue establishments around here where we are or if there are I'm not aware of them and I've not been made aware of them but otherwise those flavours I can't really access easily. So I'm going to try and cook them for myself and so seeing what other people are achieving in the UK and also looking at some of the American and Canadian accounts for inspiration of how they're doing low and slow, because that's something I personally want to be doing more of, is fascinating for me. And so I see that community possibly a slightly different way that then Owen has mentioned in that for me, it's inspiring how I could be improving my cooking in regards to the podcast, and where I possibly see that fit. Well, another reason that we haven't mentioned at all before on here that I wanted to do this is before all of the current world crazy affairs kicked off in the pandemic, I used to do hospital radio, and I've done audio media since university absolutely love radio. But I haven't personally felt comfortable going back to do that during the pandemic, because that I have one or two underlying health conditions, I don't go anywhere near a hospital. But I've really missed doing this audio kind of the editing, that the talking that the putting things out, there is something that I absolutely love. And the one downside to Instagram, is you don't really see conversations because there's not that type of medium. You'll see people responding to each other and saying, Oh, that's a great cook, have you tried this, but there's no eliciting messages, and then you don't see it in a wider audience. There's no conversations. Of course, you have things like the sizzle show, which I think is fantastic, where people are talking and they set each other challenges and things. And you do see kind of things like barbecue wars. But to me that is different to what we're currently doing. Now, we just want to talk about food, and find out what people's inspirations are, how they achieved things themselves. And I personally hope that maybe this is something that can add to that community that maybe had a hole, I wanted to make sure if we were going to do something, not only were oni going to enjoy doing it and going to learn from it, because every episode I want to and currently I am taking something from every episode and applying it to how I cook. I'm hoping other people not only will do that, but also maybe start conversing more about it through messaging more people having these types of conversations, because I'm not sure if they're happening as much as they could or should be.
Unknown:Yeah, and I agree, I think, you know, this has been, you know, from, from the outset, from the outset of the first message, stuff like that I've got, I've told so many people, by the way, this episode doesn't get the most listens, then I will be bloody surprised, because I've talked to so many people about this. So but you know what, guys, I think from my perspective, and certainly what I've picked up in the initial three episodes in and in the intro, of course, including that, I think you know, the, it really, it's nice just to hear people and from a consumer perspective, it's nice to hear people talking about that. And it's nice to hear the experiences. And it's nice to hear the topics and the the points that you guys want to talk about and the things that people are bringing up because I think you're right, I don't think there's anything like that. And if there is I certainly not found it. You know, because I am a I am. I am a learning professional by trade I I feed off of learning and making and helping people learn and what they do. And I think this is a massive learning resource for a lot of people, particularly people in my position, I can't, I still can't believe I'm sitting here doing it with you guys. It's that learning element, you know, and going back to the part about talking about my page and what I'm trying to get in the fact that, you know, I almost want to be that that kind of Messiah further learning people to say, right, I will take you this far, my child, now you're ready to go to see these people go and see these people to the Beyond place and go and see them and go and see what they're actually doing. Because I'm happy in what I'm doing. And the community seems happy in what I'm doing. I mean, I've I've amounted way, way, way beyond my own expectations. In this community. From a follow in perspective, I was literally just doing it for a bit of fun and, and I gain traction really quite quickly, by not really doing that much. You know, so I'm absolutely immersed and in love with this community. And I think, you know, you guys are filling that space. And I think that's a space that is very much needs. Just to be able to listen and hear people like pretty real people to be fair, like no one no, has no Grace's, you know, everyone's just kind of doing what they're doing. And everyone's got that common ground. So, you know, so from my perspective, you know, thanks for getting on it and doing it and giving something for me to listen to on my dog walks and, you know, and in my car and everything like that, and it's you know, there's a space and you fill it and you're filling it really, really well. Thank you You know what man, and and if you can get to like episode 100. And Dan, you're still talking about your barbecue fails. Maybe you should give up, man, because after 100 episodes, you're still got a new one for every single, I'm joking, but
Owen - Host:he's gonna go out and create some.
Unknown:But you know what I think but the other good thing about that and the honesty is that, you know, I think we're all still gonna make mistakes, we're gonna keep making mistakes, and we're gonna keep doing things wrong and, and everything like that. And I think, I think in one of your previous episodes, and I think you said it down in the fact that, you know, you don't just want to see the good, Phil, nice, beautiful photos, you want to see the people that have made the right proper balls up and say, Man, look what I did. You know, everyone's like, Oh, yeah, and you'll do the element is, is that you're going to get about 100 people come back and go, Oh, yeah, I've done that. I mean, it's that that common ground of everybody that kind of fits it? Well. So.
Owen - Host:And that was, you know, what, that was one of the when me and Dan kind of brainstorm the ideas for the show. And actually, kind of some of the things that we did want to talk about, probably barbecue fails was one of the first things that we both agreed on that actually, everyone's not perfect. No one is a perfect cook. You know, I'm sure even someone like Aaron Franklin, you know, who's churning out hundreds of briskets, every single day is still not perfect. There's still improvements that he can make. And it's going to be no different. Right Down the Line to your people that have just picked up a barbecue for the first time. Absolutely. And we want to celebrate those failures. That's how everyone learns. And yeah, so that was pretty much probably one of the first, first things that we agreed to actually want to hear from people. Yeah,
Unknown:if you get the opportunity, if you're not seeing it, you get the opportunity to watch Aaron Franklin's masterclass, you know, and even he talks about some of the stuff that he made a mess of at the beginning. It's a brilliant, brilliant set of episodes to watch a little bit like way over the top in what he's doing and the way he does it, and the planning and the prep that goes into what he does. And the sheer mastery of what he's doing is unbelievable. But the first
Owen - Host:episode is like 14 minutes on just fire on words. Absolutely.
Unknown:How to choose it. He's kind of like, oh, yeah, I kind of like listen to the word and I know how long that's gonna burn for you. Like, really, you know, it's just the whole that whole element of it. But again, he's another person who, who isn't scared to talk about, you know, he talks about his first brisket and stuff. And what happened with that, and how that went so wrong. So I think, you know, that's, I think you're right, I think we're all going through that, you know, regardless of who we are.
Dan - Host:The other thing, which I'm personally enjoying is putting the questions out there asking people to contact us who's listened to the episodes and either ask questions, or kind of comment on it. And I know, again, this week, we had another person message, which are in picked up and sent through to me, which was last episode, we had a question about whether it's the goal of barbecue to collect all the kit, or does that take away some of some of the love, though, and then we had someone called, I believe it was joining the queue, on Instagram kind of come in and say, the tech thing is something that maybe we should talk about a little bit further and maybe even go a bit more in depth about it. So maybe we can do it now. But talking about the fact that you know, you can get apps for airflow on different things, you can literally make this hobby or passion as techie as you want it. What are your thoughts, Steve on on that? And is it possible to go too far? One way?
Unknown:I think the the whole part about going too far really is a personal preference. It really depends on who you are and what you want. You know, one of one of the most one of the things that I've discovered for all of this, and I'm being honest, I haven't I haven't used this on my barbecue, but I have I mean, one of them is a meat thermometer. That was one of the things I've never ever owned in my life. I've never ever owned one for all the times I've cooked barbecue, and I have now have a instant read thermometer. And I also have one that connects to my phone. That not it's not it's kind of wireless on obviously to my phone, but I haven't used it on the barbecue, but I have used it for cooking joints of me in my oven. And it has completely transformed the way I cook. Yeah, because I'm starting to trust the temperatures rather than the times. Yeah. And I think that has been a massive learning for me. In the fact it was over. I'm thinking oh, you know, I've got time to stick a probe in it and I'm not gonna do that. It just takes it's just, I'll get it you know, I'm gonna feel this part of my hand to know if my steak is rare. You know, that kind of stuff, right? But I haven't got the sensory for that there's no way. So I think depending on what you want, and depending on what you're trying to achieve. There is there's a piece of tech for everyone and I think you just have to make your choice as to what you want. You know, I read listening to the, the previous podcast with the cook for everyone, lady I forget her name of politics. Yeah. Which was, which was another great one she was talking about, like the gravity fed pellet, I think she has a pellet barbecue that she's using from traigo. And it's, you know, just using that from the phone, you can control it and everything like that. And I know you guys were talking about it last week as well. But for me, you know, you can you can do that with your oven. That of course you can, you can absolutely do that with your oven. You know, we've got we've we've got a smart home, everyone's got an Alexa or something like that, you know, we have five in our house, you know, and they control our lights, and then anybody does, we control our lights and everything like that. So, you know, so I love tech, but it has to be relevant. You know, and it has to be relevant to what I'm trying to achieve, you know, I have Alexa, switch off my lights, because I'm lazy and I can't be bothered to push the button. You know, it's part of that. But really, for the ones where the buttons are on the floor, you know, stand up, you know, and I think I don't think I will go any further. With any with what I've got, you know, like I say, I think of rotisseries tech. You know, I think because for me, it runs off electricity. So therefore, it's got to be some kind of take, it's like the only electric thing I have on my barbecue. Yeah. And I think just having that pride of coming back and say, You know what, not only did I miss out the food tastes amazing, I say yeah, but I also built the fire. Yeah, and I regulated the heat on the fire. And I did that. And nothing did that apart from a little slidy thing that I've got on my barbecue in order for me to keep checking that. So I think you know, Tech Tech is there for the people who want to achieve various things, because I think there's things that you can't achieve. Without it.
Dan - Host:I've been thinking about it from from the last podcast a lot, because I feel like I'm at the stage, I've been talking to my wife about it. And she kind of agrees where I don't know if it's that my grill isn't big enough. But I feel like I need a bigger cooking space outside. And possibly a larger or different style of barbecue that maybe I can do other things on, I'd still definitely keep this one. But I think that if I did make that jump, I would be tempted to get that type of cooking machine, but then I only probably use it apart from to mess about with if I was having a lot of people over and I needed to make sure that everything was done properly. Because if I'm cooking for myself, I enjoy, you know, working the fire and looking after it. But if I'm going to be doing a long Cook, I've got 12 1314 people coming over. In that situation, I don't necessarily want to be literally stood at that kettle the whole time. So in that, from that perspective, something like Masterbilt or a Treyger would take all of the worry and the effort out of that if you're doing something long, like a brisket or like a big pulled pork or something like that. And you know, you're going to get the right level of smoke through it. But from day to day stuff, I don't think I would use it for that.
Owen - Host:Yeah. So I think last week, I made it clear that I was leaning more towards less tech. Although again, I have a rotisserie. And I do have an instant read thermometer and I do use those. But if anything, the next thing for me is I want to go more fire. So I actually I if I was to buy another barbecue, I'd probably go for an offset smoker with a proper fire box where it's all wood based. And I'm having to control the temperature through wood. So if anything I'm here I'm always want to kind of move away from the tech a little bit more and actually get back to using logs a bit like Aaron Franklin that that masterclass, you know, and actually playing with the word, moving the word and making sure that it's actually you know, regulating the temperature, but perhaps you don't necessarily have to do with charcoal to some extent. Once you've got your charcoal going, you do your dampers, and that's it. Doing Wood is a whole different game. But, and whilst I do say this, and that's, that's my next step to kind of try and master fire more. There is something very appealing about gadgets and using a pellet you know, Pellet Grill grill like the Trager, or even the Wireless app that you've just mentioned. And we were talking about last week, Tech's call text fun generally. So there is always an appeal to that. So I think you're right, Steve, it does really depend on personal preference.
Unknown:I mean, to be fair, if if someone's going to offer me like a master bill like charcoal gravity fed barbecue, I'm not going to say no, you know, I'm not gonna go Oh, no, it's not really going to suit my needs so you can keep it you know, if I happen to win something through the competitions, which is another thing I love about the community by the way, if there's something like that, that I'm gonna win that is, you know, I kind of put in for those and everything like that, but, you know, I think you're right I think, you know, I'm one of the things Things that I am fat and you're talking about wood as well and is that one of the things I'm fascinated with is the ones that have the wood baskets in them and they're dragging the embers across like the open fire cooking, which looks incredible. You know, it looks so so good. You know, you build your fire, you wait for the embers to drop, you move them across, and then you cook over that which is probably as as probably natural as you can probably get without cooking on an open fire. I think you know, and I'm really fascinated with the Waco barbecues if you've seen these. So they're kind of like it's kind of like a waggon it's really weird. And it's just a circular drum. And it's got loads of attachment pieces on it, where people put cast iron skillets on and things like that. If you look at the way go barbecues, they just look amazing, and they are completely filled by wood. They're amazing. They've got a great tic tock page. I've got a great Instagram page. You know, they they look amazing, and they're they're coming in big thing to the UK.
Owen - Host:Is it like a circle? It's almost like the fire pits in the middle and it's almost like a big plancher that goes all the way around.
Unknown:I've seen Okay, no, no, it's not that. No, I know what you mean, though, with the circle intimate. No, I know what you mean. It's not a plant. It's literally just an open fire drum. It's this really that's all it is. It's like, I don't know, maybe an eight to 10 inch wall around the outside of it. And it's just like an open fire pit. And it has attachments on the side you cast. I mean, you look for it's got attachments with grills and pots and pans and stuff like that. They look great. But yeah, it's F weg I think it's like an Argentinian thing or something like that. But, and it's really just open fire cooking. That's, that's all it is. It's just that. So I think I look at those and I'm like, oh, man, they look so good. And they look so much fun. But then I'm kind of reminded of time and that kind of stuff, you know, because, you know, I'm finding faster ways to kind of get my charcoal is ready to cook on without waiting for embers to fall out of drag, be able to use those, you know, it's, you know, so it's kind of elements of that, really so but I think you know, everything has a purpose. I love gadgets as much as the next person. I'm a hammer, bloke, you know, I love a gadget if somebody is going to do so I'm going to play with it no matter what, you know, and it's, and I think just elements of that are dependent on what you want to achieve and dependent on what you want to get, you know if there's something and the good thing about it is there is literally something for everything.
Dan - Host:The more I think about it, it's about saving time, isn't it? That's why, again, I'd probably use them for Sunday cooks, I can definitely see why something like a trigger or Masterbuilt would fit what I'm doing. But it wouldn't be my main barbecue. But I'd use it for big events and things. Like I reckon that if I'm currently barbecuing three times a week, if I get the chance, then I'd probably use it once a fortnight.
Unknown:Yeah, I think Ian picked up and made a really good point in the last podcast and he kind of said, you know, if you've got if you've got a barbecue that kind of come regulate and maintain your temperature whilst also feeding the fuel for it and keep it steady temperature right, there we go, then you've just basically got an outdoor often. Yeah, and I think he said something like that. I think that's it, which I get, I understand that. But of course, the missing ingredient in all of that is the fuel with which you don't get from your oven, you know, so if you've got something that is regulating it, but you're getting the benefits of using the actual fuel source of use, and whether that be wood pellets or chalk or whatever that may be, you're still probably going to get the benefit from the fuel.
Dan - Host:And the flavour. Definitely, of course, definitely. Yeah,
Owen - Host:I suppose sort of talking about what you were talking about earlier, Steve about time. And when you make that next step from your ribs and wings, and you kind of classic British barbecuing to go into the bigger pieces, the longer cooks have slower Cokes, actually something like a pellet. You know, pellet fed Trager or master bill would could probably see you down to the ground in that you can control it from from work, you have put it on in the morning, and you know what the temperature is, you know how to control it. So that could offer a viable solution for you. You know, if time time pressures are a thing?
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely. I think so. I think it's, you know, and again, like I say, it's, it's a solution for everything, you know, it's like not saying, you know, I'd love to be able to go to work. And so what's for dinner tonight are actually I've got a barbecue on now. You know, and then right here it is, and I'm controlling it literally from my phone, which is bizarre, but equally quite exciting to actually say that, you know, where it's come on, obviously that far. You know, it's, it's Yeah, I mean, it's always a possibility, you know, and if and if they were, if they were marketed as a time saving tool, then, you know, maybe maybe that's what they need to be looking at in that in that sense, you know, but, but again, you're you're narrowing that down to the long cook and, you know, it's, you know, but if you can, if you can fire it up Get Started from your phone, then you know who's to say that it's not already done by the time you get home and you know, and you're already ready to go. By the time you get there, you've literally just got to come and literally throw the phone on. As soon as you walk through the door, it's already sand up, you know. So
Dan - Host:a lot of the pages that I've seen that are cooking on these types of machines, that is now their main source of cooking. Right, so so like, I really like an Instagram account called scale and Taylor, who's a Canadian woman, and every single day her main Cook is on her barbecue every single day. And it's a pellet formed and she openly says it's better and easier to use the my oven, why would I use anything else? I've got the added flavours, I suppose from that point of view, then yes, you've got an outdoor oven benefit achieving better things in your indoor oven. Why? Why not? But that's a different argument.
Unknown:I think so because you've got our add the fuel cost into that which you don't have with an oven really fussy because you pay for electricity anyway. So I think or gas, whichever you're using. But I think when you add another fuel source in it is not just the time, but it's also the additional fuel source as well as that.
Owen - Host:Ultimately, for me, I just I like collecting barbecues. I just thought I'd want to be honest.
Unknown:Yeah, I'd love to. I mean, I really would love to and I'd love to kind of take that step. But you know, it's now isn't the time for me. It's not my time just yet. You know, it's coming. It will come I know it will. It's something that I certainly aim to have. You know, and I do laugh at some things I've watched. I'm very audible when I watch TV programmes, and I talk along with the TV programme. I can't help it. It's just habit. But I watched the Tom carriage BBQ series. Yeah. So watch that. Yeah, you watch that, which is great, which is really great. And everything like that. And I remember sitting there and he said, Oh, we're just going to cook the good old British banger and everything like that. So get your barbecue lit up and he walks over to his big green egg. And I'm like, No, I got a big green egg in their backyard and may come on. I want you to walk over and pick up your for your trade barbecue. That would be a better state of rebound a cookie. I said because but and this is the thing. You know, it's about matching up to the audience. And I think that's what the community does is it you can find anybody who's got the same equipment as you. You know, you can do that when you're watching these people, you know, watching the Aaron Franklin masterclass, and he's using like a 17 foot offset barrel smoker that's with like, a 45 inch wood, like compartment on the side. It's just ridiculous. You know, and you kind of think that that's one thing that frustrates me in the fact that you watch these TV programmes and they go oh, yeah, come on, watch my BBQ TV programme. And he's using one of the most expensive BB like one of the expensive kind of atomic called Epic, I guess I don't call him a barbecue. But you know, I mean, one of the most expensive products that you can possibly get, which a very small percentage of people are ever going to have, or I've been lucky enough to have,
Owen - Host:we don't really talk about Facebook that much. And it's more Instagram. And I think to be fair, like yourself, most of our guests are more active on Instagram. And I think the platform suits itself better to the type of stuff that we do. But one of the good things based on what you were just saying is there are a dedicated Facebook groups for Weber kettle fans or Smoky Mountain fans. That's also another great thing about the social media side. And Facebook specifically, which you don't have necessary on Instagram is you can if you're interested in a particular barbecue, you can hone in on like minded people that have that piece of kit as well. Which is also really, really, really good.
Unknown:Yeah, definitely I have a Facebook page as well. So we're under the same name under Mr. Beats underscore barbecue is the same. And it's only really just started. So it's just really got a few friends on it and stuff like that at the moment, I put a few things on there. Because I find following the account pages are things like butchers and things like that are more prominent because the shops are connected a little bit better through Facebook than they are for Instagram that the user experience is a bit easier to work with. And I think yeah, there's a there's a really great group on there called the fellowship of the grill which is which is a really good patient but I think they're on Instagram now as well. But there's definitely there's a great Facebook following. Only a very small handful of people from the UK are in that at the when I when I joined it anyway, there was only a few in there. It's got a it's a very big American thing obviously obviously they do love that but but it's a great and again some great recipes, some great ideas, same kind of thing really, it's just really a massive resource for anybody who wants to get into any of this, you know, you can literally do anything. I learned to spatchcock chicken through YouTube you know it's literally just for YouTube and I only watched it once show off some some some people some people just Can people can just whip the backbone out of chicken with only just by watching it once it's not hard by hand as well. He didn't even know they're on now. I'm just using my teeth man.
Dan - Host:are just fine. Yeah, but no fan of tech, I'm not going to use a knife. I'm not going to use kitchen scissors. I'm going to use my teeth and my claws,
Unknown:just my teeth and just grow my nails. There's so much resource out there. It's hard to get and I mean, like I say, I've never I would never say I can't do that. Never. You know, I know I can do that because I know this. There's literally a tutorial for everything. You can literally do anything. It's just having the time and being ready to take that leap. When I had my Brinkmann rock, to the barbecue community wasn't so great. So just Adam Brickman who didn't come for rips
Owen - Host:Well, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on Steve, really appreciate you joining us. And I hope you've enjoyed it.
Unknown:And guys, thank you so much. And I like I say is, you know, the experience has been great. You know, and actually and you know what, putting, putting faces to the messages and the Instagram pages another big thing for this I think, you know, it's it's just another resource that we can all use and, and we can all get on board with and who knows, maybe we'll start releasing video podcasts one day and get people in or come I'll come to the studio.
Dan - Host:Thank you so much
Owen - Host:appreciated, Steve. We'll catch you soon. And we look forward to seeing what you're gonna cook chicken livers.
Unknown:Oh my god. I can't wait. Yeah, I've got my mind's racing already. So my dog is staring at me through the doors if the guy did use a chicken liver. Yeah, but I'll get on it and we'll get it sorted. Cheers guys appreciate it. Yes. Thanks a lot Cheers,
Owen - Host:guys. That's it for another episode of the meat & Greet BBQ podcast a huge thank you to Steve for Mr. Beats barbecue. Please go check out his Instagram and Facebook accounts. To find out more and see more about other content follow us on meat & Greet BBQ podcast, the hashtag meat & Greet BBQ podcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And if you've got anything that you'd like us to discuss in the podcast, please reach out to us either via social media or email us at meat & Greet BBQ podcast@gmail.com and from us. We will see you again next week.
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