Mastering Barbecue: Ethical Meat Sourcing, Game Cooking, and Budget-Friendly Tips with Alex from Hunter Gatherer Cooking

Get ready to uncover the secrets of exceptional barbecue and ethical meat sourcing with Alex from Hunter Gatherer Cooking. This episode promises to guide you through Alex's journey from a gas grill novice to a master of offset smokers, all while blending his passions for barbecuing, shooting, and country living. We explore the therapeutic aspects of outdoor cooking, the allure of live fire, and Alex’s surprising success on Instagram, despite his initial hesitation.

Join us as we delve into the emotional and ethical dimensions of hunting and processing game meat. Alex shares poignant stories about his hunting experiences, emphasizing respect for the animals and the importance of minimizing waste. We also tackle common myths about game meat, offering practical tips for maintaining moisture and enhancing flavor. From unforgettable venison burgers to delectable pheasant goujons, we highlight the pleasures of ethically sourced, locally hunted game.

Finally, discover how to barbecue on a budget without compromising on quality. We offer expert advice on transforming inexpensive supermarket cuts into culinary delights and share our enthusiasm for various grills and smokers, from the Somerset grill to portable options like the Lotus Grill. Laugh along with our late-night barbecue mishaps and gain insights into proper meat preparation techniques. Don’t miss our new interactive segment where you can submit questions and connect with our barbecue community. Tune in for a flavorful, insightful, and entertaining conversation that will inspire your next barbecue adventure.

Transcript

Barbecue Lifestyle and Supporting Local Businesses

Dan 0:00

Today's episode of the Meat and Greet Barbecue Podcast is brought to you by AOS Outdoor Kitchens. They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.

Owen 0:19

Welcome to another episode of the Meat and Greet Barbecue podcast. Today we're talking to Alex from Hunter Gatherer Cooking, a well-known YouTuber, live fire cook, really keen to understand a little bit more about his story. So, without much further ado, here's Alex. Well, welcome to the show. Alex, Really really pleased to have you on.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 0:45

Please introduce yourself and tell our guests who you are. My name's Alex. I'm the I don't know what I call myself, but owner editor of Hunter Gatherer Cooking. That is a food lifestyle blog that gets me all over the country, sometimes out the country as well, and it's split between barbecuing, uh, shooting country lifestyle, um all that sort of thing really. So I I like to support lots of small businesses in in different ways basically um, it's really inspiring the different food that you're highlighting on there.

Dan 1:21

It's one of the main reasons we want to reach out to you, because, I mean, it's beautiful just going through your instagram feed and your videos are engaging and inspiring. What originally got you into it? Um?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:39

so my barbecue journey like every kid is into barbecue because their dads do it and things like that, so that it started way back then. But it really started, believe it or not. Uh, with a gas barbecue for my um, for my 30th um, and that was going well. I had one of these big outback um six burner gas barbecues and somewhere I read or I watched a video about you could smoke on a gas barbecue and I tried it and it sort of worked and I was really enjoying it and I was getting up at you know four in the morning to put whatever on and that went, went really, really well. And then I got given a water smoker. Are you guys familiar with those little things?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 2:27

I'm not A water pan, no, so it looks a bit like R2-D2. So it's kind of yeah, it's sort of that shaped, and then you have, effectively, a bowl at the bottom with fire and then you have a bowl over it that has water in it which helps control the temperature, moisture, all that sort of thing. And then you normally have a grill, another grill and then R2's head, basically, and it was one of these cheapies off of Amazon. So the airflow and the design was absolutely shocking. It was one of those where you commit to it, you're down on your hands and knees and you are blowing until your chicken hits temperature, and that sort of thing. And I really enjoyed it, to be honest, even though it was hard work. And that then led on to me rescuing uh, I rehomed an offset smoker off of facebook and this blesser, this lady she had it on facebook for I think it was 10 pounds. She'd mounted it on backwards to the trolley. It was in a terrible, terrible sort of state. So I kind of, you know, I did it up, uh, repainted it, put a new shelf on it, put, put a little sticker on there and, um, to this day, that is my favorite way of smoking. In my opinion, offset smoking is the best way and the cleanest way to actually smoke food. And then, by that point, someone had said, oh, you should go on Instagram and I kind of I wasn't really up for it at the time and you know it was too many people taking selfies and all this sort of thing but I did, and then I got swallowed by the animal itself and, but I did, and then I got swallowed by the um, by the animal itself, and then the brand started coming and I teamed up with, uh, somerset grills which you can probably see one behind me and um, and and then, yeah, then then things snowballed basically. So that's kind of how I got into barbecue and just, I guess, the love of.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 4:23

I never really enjoyed cooking inside. I think anyone who cooks outside without being sexist, like most blokes, like that, there's some fantastic up and coming female barbecuers and things like that, but there's just something about cooking outside for me, with fire. So one route that I never went down, I never really went down the whole green egg or um or joe route, um, so for me, even though they're the comados, I call that lid down cooking and it just doesn't excite me. Um, there's nothing wrong with it. They're amazing bits of kits. I do have a comado I've got a barrel comando over there but for me I like the. I like the meat or the veg, whatever it is. I want to see it. I want to see it sort of change from raw to to golden and caramelize and eventually burn um. So that's that's, I think, the technical term is charred, isn't it?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 5:20

well, it depends. It depends on how far you take the chart, I suppose. But I I then, um. So my background I'm actually in recruitment, I'm a director in a firm in bristol and whilst all that was going on, that was quite stressful, um, being in that that sort of sales environment and part of what I was doing. I was getting up on a normally a saturday morning or sunday, sometimes in the week actually, and there was actually a guy over in, uh, america, you might have heard him. Have you heard of sasquatch barbecue?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 5:51

yes absolute legend of a bloke loved to meet him. His thing was he tossed the butter over his shoulder. It would land in the pan. So he was part of my inspiration, um, and I thought I could do that. I haven't quite got the Canadian backdrop that he had, but my goal was to kind of find some nice places, so I'd look for rivers and lakes and waterfalls. I'm in Bristol so I've actually done one right underneath the flyover looking at at suspension bridge and things. Where are you guys based?

Dan 6:28

so it's? Yeah, it's a good question, ipswich, but I'm originally from wales, so I know bristol quite well. Yeah, and I used to do a lot.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 6:37

I used to do a lot just looking out over the seven and things like that, so it was very much therapy like fire. Cooking to me is is therapy and it's just fun. And it doesn't always go right, does it? You know, a lot of things go wrong.

Owen 6:52

Um, we'll come on to that later. Yeah, yeah, all right that's half the fun though that's how I fell into it. It sort of engulfed me and and where did the other elements come in? So obviously you know, like you said, uh, kind of when in introducing yourself it's, it's about that kind of lifestyle. So it's barbecue, but you're also talking about shooting as well as so supporting local business in the name.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 7:20

I virtually pulled out my backside at the time. You know, when you're setting up an Instagram account I mean, even that process was new to me at the time and obviously you've got to choose a name. I don't know where it came from. I started searching and it was available, so I went with it, and then, when I was rolling with it for a while, I thought, well, I'm not a hunter. Um, even though I'm from the countryside, my parents were always sort of white collar, really. Um, but what I wanted to do and another massive, massive sort of part of the journey was there's a pub on the outskirts of Bristol and we were going there for a work incentive was like a, a really nice meal. Um, you know 10, 10 plates or whatever, with wine, flight and all that. And we jumped onto the website and I was really, really inspired because they had listed every single uh supplier that they use on there. So down to the ice cream, to the cutlery, the plates, the knives that the chef used like literally everything was there to try and support all of the, the different brands, and I made a connection that I didn't want to be.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 8:34

I thought at one point. I wanted to kind of be like a food um blogger. You know people that take pictures of their plates and things. Nothing wrong with that. But what I wanted to do is I was more interested in how did the food get on the plate and who are the people behind the food. And one of the companies who were listed on the website was actually one of my friends who makes ice cream, um. Another one was a quite a, quite a well-known knife maker and things like that, and I just thought, well, if they're doing it, other people are doing it. And what I would then try and eventually do is I would try and just get hold of them and just say love what you're doing, I'd love to come and see you, um, and and perhaps take some pictures and make some films and things like that, and that's that's. That's then one side of it, where I go out to small businesses and effectively try and put a little bit of promo together for them, cost-free, but at the same time I'm learning about what it is that they're doing and generally I'll go home with a bottle of something or a packet of something you know, that that they've made, and then I can then produce a little bit more content around it.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 9:39

So, that's so, that's that, and then so, hunter, gatherer, cooking was never meant to actually be anything. And then one oh sorry, the middle part is when I tried to fudge what I thought the name could be. I, I told people and I did believe this is that the modern um person, um, doesn't obviously hunt with bows and arrows and rifles and things like that. That's a very small percentage of the population. And I thought, well, it's a little bit cheesy, but we hunt with our debit card and our credit card and we go online and we buy these things and our weapon is our bit of plastic. And then, of course, lockdown came and all of the farm shops, all of the food and drink producers suddenly started doing home delivery, and so it was a little bit more relevant. It was very, very relevant, and so I did a little bit about finding amazing farm shops, and farm shops vary across the country. You know, you've got places like Daylesford which are like the Harrods of farm shops, all the way down to a farmer with a wooden cart, you know, just selling off a little bit of fruit and veg or whatever it is that they've got, and I really enjoy it. I really, really enjoy going out, finding new farm shops, seeing the different products, seeing the small brands coming up, because the British brands seem to be growing. Hopefully they're. You know they're doing well.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 11:05

And then about three years ago, just well, well, three and a half years ago, I was due to go to an estate in bristol and I had a message from a guy and he said, would you like to go on a deer stalk? And I was like, yeah, that would, that would be amazing. And um, I said he's. I remember the day he said um, can you make Thursday? I said I can't Thursday cause I'm going to the estate. And he said, well, I'm the estate manager for that, so let's just meet. So we, we met up, um, I had a tour of the estate, uh, for what I was doing with them, and then met up with Matt Um, and we hit it off instantly. You know, know, it's like two kindred spirits. Um, massively inappropriate conversations almost instantly.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 11:50

And, um, he took me out on a deer stalk and it was a absolute eye-opener. Um, so many firsts that night. I've never, I'd never, heard a gun being fired. Um, never seen an animal been shot, never seen an animal get processed, um, you know, and gutted and things like that. And I was just in absolute awe and I just found it fascinating the skills that he had to actually to to do, to do it, the um, I suppose, the guts of actually doing it. You know he's got the conviction to do it.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 12:33

And then I started questioning around you know again the brands, you know which companies are supporting him and things like that. And luckily, through, through fate he was, he had a lot high end kit and so that was a new focus for me was actually, you know, that kit and equipment, the sights, the thermals, all that sort of thing that enables him to take a safe shot, which sounds a bit daft because you're killing an animal, but the last thing anyone would want to do would be to injure the animal. They would rather completely miss and it just runs off and you know you go another day. Um, what, what all? Um, stalkers it's a weird one, they call them stalkers in this country, but I'll say hunters for now um, they want them to drop instantly. They don't want them to to feel anything, they don't want to know about anything. And the deer that was shot on the night that I was out it was in like a bowl and when we approached the deer, obviously it was dead and it had a dandelion in its mouth and that is the last thing it knew.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 13:38

And then when you compare that to the meat processing industry, where animals are taken from the field, taken from their family, as it were, put onto the back of a lorry which it's probably never been on, may or may not have food and water, sent to a place that must look and sound absolutely horrific, probably to meet a horrific end, I kind of made a decision that I quite like the other version of that, where they're out in the field and they know nothing about it, and something happened I don't know about about two years ago.

Exploring the World of Game Meat

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 14:16

Just less than two years ago, I switched. I never planned to take a shot and one day I just said I want to this and I applied for my license, took nearly a year to get it, and then I wanted to take it even further and get my own rifle and then a few weeks back, I ended up shooting my first deer with that rifle. I shot my first one a while ago up in Scotland, but it's just been an absolutely incredible journey, learning everything around that and harvesting your own food. There is just no other sensation like it, absolutely nothing like it. Have you guys done anything similar?

Owen 15:01

No, no, it's a short answer and again's one unity take it um.

Dan 15:10

I've been on like a course where they were kind of shooting rabbits, and I was there for the whole processing of that, which was a real eye-opener. But it's not something that I've physically taken a gun and done it. I think it. A lot of people have strange feelings about it, but it gives you a very different respect for the animal and the meat and I totally connect with the clean kill concepts that you're talking about as well and how it's far less stressful for the animal than what's happening across the country, across the globe.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 15:50

Yeah, there's a lot of people when you talk about the food industry and and um abattoirs and things like that, the first thing they do is la, la, la, la la. They don't want to know and I do get that. I get that completely. But when I had shot my first deer with my rifle recently, it was a really unique feeling because even though I literally literally had blood on my hands I almost felt like I didn't, because that meal was not going to be part of the abattoir journey I could safely say that that animal didn't suffer and it was really nice, because the I always get this wrong RN, is it RNLI? The lifeboats or RLNI? Anyway, the lifeboats, I did, I did a barbecue for them last week for their 200th anniversary and we took the two haunches from the venison. And you know I was telling people I shot that and you know it didn't suffer in any way and yeah, it was a fantastic, fantastic night, fantastic meal.

Owen 16:59

But to be able to stay? What sort of reaction did you get when you you, when you say I shot this you, you know people kind of taken back by it, or they were loving it.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 17:09

Um, you know, they said all first of all is, is that venison? And I said yes, it is. And then they said, well, where did you get it from? And I said I actually I shot that locally recently, um, and then started telling them and then actually, you know, we ended up looking at pictures and things like that and it's, um, it's, it's, it's a weird one.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 17:30

Um, my biggest thing is I hate waste, absolutely hate waste. That most of what I've I found is that even with um, games of pheasants and things like that, not a lot gets wasted as far as I can tell. It usually ends up being used, goes into the sort of the A food chain, whether it's human or animal. It usually ends up somewhere. But end of last year I was nominated for award with Eat Game.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 18:02

Last year I was nominated for award with Eat Game and I was in for best educator, which felt really, really weird because at that time, I mean, I still don't know much, but at that time I kind of knew even less and it felt weird to be up for an education type award when, you know, I'm an absolute amateur myself. But they explained it to me eventually and it was because what I'm, what I am trying to do, is I am trying to educate more people about one how good game is. You know the benefits of everything and just you know how much we actually have of it, and people don't realize it. We seem to be stuck on chickens, cows, pigs, lamb, you know all the usual farmyard stuff, but yet we don't eat um pheasant, rabbit, deer, um duck, uh geese. You know all of this sort of thing. That's, that's out there. We don't, for some reason.

Owen 19:04

It's, you know, a bizarre food fashion were you kind of always into game and eating game fairly regularly before this journey, or is it just a part of the journey?

Exploring Ethical Meat Sourcing and Cooking

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 19:15

no, I was, uh, I was part of the. I was part of the assumption, I suppose, that that game you know, venison is for Christmas and game is, you know a lot of people. What's it like? Is it gamey it can be, it depends on how long it's been hung for. But I mean, we went to the game fair the other week and one of the well, the best thing I ate there and probably the best thing I'd had for a year or so was there was pheasant goujons and they were absolutely spectacular. They were mind blowing how good these goujons were. I'm going to do some here and try and replicate one of their recipes, but you know their their particular recipe, that for the outside and the sort of you know deep fat fried pheasant goujons, they were just phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. Um, and then there was a venison burger which, well, it definitely was the best burger I've ever had. The flavor was unreal. They just absolutely nailed it.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 20:25

But you know, I don't just obviously eat game. I still enjoy steak and pork and everything else. But what I'm trying to do is I try and I try and source the meat, um, you can't say, as ethically as possible. You know, I try and go to a farm shop, that sort sort of supporting, like sort of eat local. And I do talk to the butchers and I do ask where it's come from and I, yeah, it's nice when it says, yeah, it comes from two miles up the road or whatever. So I'm trying to sort of do all that. Really, I'm trying to get into an abattoir to actually see what it's like. I think it will be a horrific experience, but I'd weirdly like to put myself through it just to say I've done it.

Dan 21:11

Yeah, I've got friends who've worked in. They went out traveling to Australia and they worked in an abattoir for a period and they both said it changed their perspective completely on food. One of them went vegetarian pretty much instantly, yeah, and the other pretty much tries to source their meat in the most ethical way possible, to the point of asking butchers where it was processed and everything in the first place and and I would be, I'd be interested in how I felt afterwards, like it could completely change you, couldn't it?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 21:53

um, I'd like to think I I wouldn't stop eating meat because obviously I enjoy it, but, um, it would be memorable, definitely, um, yeah, so, um, you know. So now the the idea is that I want to go out. I want to shoot more deer for myself I'm not not looking to go commercial with that at all, um, but to to sort of string it up here, um, and to, um, to skin it, put it on the butcher's block and slap it straight on the grills. Basically, that's. That's, that's my kind of dream at the moment, whilst making loads of content and trying to share ideas and create a few different habits, I suppose and I saw on your uh website that you can also you do some like classes or live fire cooking.

Owen 22:41

You potentially go to other people's houses as well. So in terms of kind of your educating about game and and uh, that kind of lifestyle as well, do you bring that to your kind of cooking sessions? Whether you're going to someone's house or not.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 22:56

Yeah, so, depending on what they want to cook, I'll always say you know what?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 23:00

What do you want to eat, you know? Do you want to cook game? Most people, most people, go for it. To be fair, most people haven't cooked it. You know what. What do you want to eat, you know? Do you want to cook game? Most people, most people go for it. To be fair, most people haven't cooked it.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 23:08

You know this perception that it's, it's dry or it will dry out, which it will. But I cook, I cook all meat the same. Basically, you know, you cook to temperature, um, I cook to color and and, effectively, dryness. So I like to keep basting it to keep it sort of moist and things like that. But if you cook to temperature within reason, you can't really go wrong. Um, it's only if you keep going and going and going. Yeah, you've absolutely murdered it and it's um, it's bone dry. But again, like game for me. I don't like it too gamey, so I don't want something that's been hung up for ages and ages. Some people love it. They love it when you know their, their venison and their pheasant honks. But that's, that's too much for me. I like it to, I like it to be meaty. Basically, yeah, and it's got you know, and it's it's got its own know and it's it's got its own flavors.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 24:05

And this journey has led me to meet with chefs. One in particular, jose Suto, is a game chef. His knowledge is absolutely phenomenal. He's the type of guy that can not only shoot it himself, he can tell you the ancestry of all of the species and he can cook it up and and prepare a, you know, a really top level feast as well. So there's, you know, we've just got into this habit of um, of of eating set food and going back to barbecue, because this is really what this should be about.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 24:44

I've got this, not theory, but I've got this thing at the moment where, um, I'm not against barbecue rubs, by the way, I I love them. I've used, I've used tubby toms tonight and it was spectacular actually I can't remember what it was called, but it was really good. But I've got this thing where I wonder if we are going for so many rubs because our meat has got boring, so, like chicken, for example, I've just had a lovely pasture-raised one full of flavour, but that's completely different to a supermarket one, and that's just purely because it's been living outside. It's been scratching around. It's twice, if not three times, as old as the other one, and I wonder whether our soil qualities have dropped. Um, you know, do our animals not taste as good? And therefore we load up on on rubs and things like that.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 25:41

I did a an open day at a farm and he had some pasture-raised chicken wings, basically, and all we did is we salt and peppered them. That's that's all it was, and we just did them on the grills until they were golden and crispy and we we served them up and people's like lids literally flipped, uh, you know, and they were saying what flavor is this? And we're like it's chicken, yeah, but what did you? But what did you put on it? It's like just salt and pepper. But when you've got product, that is that good salt.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 26:15

You know, I'm not a bottle, I'm not a bottle. I just want to say, anyway, it should just enhance that flavor and a little bit of pepper, if you like it. Um, so, so, yeah, so for me, I actually like to do less with meat, so normally it's salt pepper, maybe a bit of garlic, probably too much butter, like I'm one of them. Unfortunately, half a block of butter's got to be used each time, but I like the meat to talk for itself, basically, and and so when I taste it, I'm tasting what that meat is like, not what the rub was that I use. That's clearly going to mask it and things like that. But, as I said, I'm not against rubs. I just I just wonder whether we we lean on that because, you know, has food got boring, basically yeah, it's.

Dan 27:07

I always think it's fascinating when people at some point and I hope people listen to this, will try it make the flip to buying all of their meat from a butcher and different places and straight away, the difference in just chicken breasts when they're not pumped full of moisture and things. The color's different. Um, depending on kind of the chicken that you're buying, you'll notice that it's a completely different color and has a different feel and texture to it. And the more that you explore and go down that journey, you think well, what, what's happening to supermarket meat and how has it changed over time as well? And the flavor profile is completely different, even just going corn fed chicken, for example. Yeah, it's a different. It's it's night and day just looking at the two, let alone before cooking it, you know, yeah totally um, I think it's different for supermarkets though, isn't it?

Strategies for Budget Barbecue Cooking

Owen 28:01

unfortunately they're. They're in it for long shelf lives, maximize profit.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 28:06

So it's all about pumping full of water, weights and preservatives, and you know so I'm gonna do, um, I'm gonna do a video on this, and I'm fully aware that going to a farm shop and spending 15, 20 pounds on a chicken for some people is just it's just not ever going to happen. But, um, you know, going to red meat. So when I first started smoking, um, I didn't want to, I didn't want to ruin a really expensive you know bit of beef or things like that, so I was using aldi stuff. Basically, you know the cheap roasts, and the video that I'm going to do is actually you can take a cheap bit of supermarket meat and like a roasting joint. Now, normally that's the. The price is lower because it's probably been hacked apart by someone either with a large knife or a large chainsaw or something like that, and it's been thrown together in like a string net. Now it's a little bit hit and miss what ends up in that net and that's obviously. That's that's why the price is what it is.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 29:14

But the video that I'm going to do is is I'm going to say actually, if you take the net off and on the outside of the meat you start to remove all of the sinew, all of the silver skin, things like that. If you cut it open, start to seam it out a little bit more, then wrap it back up. You can actually cook something. I mean, I've had really, really cheap bits of supermarket meat and it's come out like fillet. It's just phenomenal.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 29:42

So I normally say, if your knife is struggling, to cut it, because it's horrible stuff that you'll cut off.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 29:49

If your knife is struggling, your teeth are definitely going to struggle and if, if you are serving something up you, you might have the flavor right, but the second someone can't chew through it, you you lose half all your points straight away because if, if you, if you've got that horrible chewiness, you just lose instantly. The other thing I say always have a little look at supermarket stuff is just in case there's any glands and things that end up in there, which happens more than you think. We cut we cut one out the other week, um. So anything like that, anything in a net that looks like it's sort of been thrown together, personally I would open it up, have a little look at it and just take out anything that's not meat and, yes, you might remove a fair amount, but you will have a much, much better bite through on the end result basically, much, much better bite through um on the end result basically much, much better. So that's that's definitely a tip.

Owen 30:50

If, if budget is, uh, is a thing, which it is for most people yeah like you said, I think often, um, going to a butcher's and spending 15 quid, 20 quid, 50 quid on a turkey or whatever, that's that's the thing that you do at christmas, isn't it? And that's that's just, and there's nothing wrong with that. But, like you said, it's about making sure that you can try and find the best quality for the best, for what fits within your budget, and sometimes you do have to shop around yeah, absolutely.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 31:21

But you know, british, british barbecue is is on the up. It has been for years and years and, you know, compared to the americans I mean, apparently that's where it, you know, sort of originated with, with everything I think we've got much, much better uh products, uh, and and meats and things like that than the americans, especially if it's, if it's sourced well, and I think that the chefs and the barbecue chefs and even the barbecue brands and manufacturers, they're coming out with such good stuff now that I I think british barbecue is is some of the best in the world, if not the best, um, and and it's, you know, with lockdown and things like that. Everyone turned to their kitchens and gardens, didn't they? Kitchen gardens, garden kitchens same thing.

Dan 32:08

Right, yeah, same thing. Um, on that point, uh, you mentioned the fact you've got the barrel commando. Talk us through the setup of what you're cooking on at home, but outside, outside your home as it were, um, so there.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 32:26

So that is a, uh, a 4k, um, ever jaw by haston, um, which is a nice little, a nice little barbecue. So it's an electric, it's like a hybrid barbecue. So you plug it in, it's got a heat coil at the bottom and it lights the charcoal. Um, what's next to it? Uh, that is a fire cage, which I love cooking on, um, and then over here we've got the somerset grill, um, and then over there I've got a della vita pizza oven, um, over there's the barrel, and then in the garage there's a load of camping barbecues and fire boxes and grills and things like that. So, um, so that's that's the new setup.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 33:06

But that was, I mean, we really finished that um, like two weeks ago, basically. So it's that's pretty, pretty brand new at the moment. But the idea was, you know, I wanted to create that not only to to to live in and cook in for for myself, but to do a load of content and filming and makes a nice little backdrop actually, um, it's gorgeous, it's? I thought of this about two minutes before dialing in. I thought, oh, that'll look all right, probably, hopefully and is there one, the?

Owen 33:38

is there one particular uh, piece of equipment that you do gravitate to during the week, or?

Barbecue Equipment and Outdoor Cooking

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 33:45

yeah, so the the somerset grill stole my heart years ago, um, just purely because it's just open fire cooking. Um, I really do like the fire cage as well, but open fire cooking is my favorite thing. But then I really like that ever jaw as well, because you can just chuck something on. We smoked a chicken tonight with a load of bacon and things like that. It's very easy, it's convenient. You can kind of shut the lid and you can forget about it because you put a meter in. Know, forget about it because you've put a meter in. Um, but if it was, uh, yeah, you know, if I'm choosing something, I want to stand there and hold the tongs and click them together and turn it and twist it and move it about and prop the fire, and it's really nice on the summers. Have you? Have you got or used a somerset grill?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 34:32

I haven't no, I haven't, you'll, you'll have to come on over then, um, we'll have a, we'll have, we'll have a session on it done, um, but you know you'll have to come on over then, um, we'll have a, we'll have, we'll have a session on it. But you know, you, you have to fuel it, um, and then the embers drop down, so you've then got to move them about, then you've got to refuel it and then you've got to make sure that your food isn't too close to that heat. Um, it's just good fun, like I love tinkering. I absolutely love tinkering, which is why I like, uh, offset smokers, because you've got to constantly keep fueling it.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 35:02

Same sort of thing again put too much on, you take the temperature too high, not enough, it might go out. Um, I don't like easy, that might change, give me 10, 20 years. But, um, anything like pellet smokers, I mean that again, they're amazing bits of kit, like absolutely phenomenal, but for me it's just, it's too easy. I like it to go wrong, or like the fear of it going wrong. I'll tell you what I did use the other day, though. It's one of those gravity, um master built.

Dan 35:33

This is the master built. Yeah, yeah, the gravity whatever it's called Bed one 580, I think.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 35:40

That was a brilliantly bizarre bit of kit to use. I was sort of just staring at it just like, how does this work? I mean, I kind of I knew, but it's like a. It's almost like an air fryer, but with charcoal, because it blows out this smoky hot air. Um, and your coals aren't underneath the tour, it's all to the side. Yeah, very, very clever bit of kit, really, really fun.

Owen 36:05

Um, but yeah, that was fun yeah, I've got one of their portable versions, so you have a little fire little firebox to the side and again a little fan assist. A little fan that you can either use on battery, because it's portable, so it kind of collapses and you can wheel it away, which is quite good for camping or being out and about. But I think it works similarly in that the firebox is to the side.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 36:28

They do like a smaller travel version, do they?

Owen 36:30

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I'll send you a link afterwards. Yeah, I'll have a look at that. It's about 400 quid. Yeah, I'll have a look at that, it's about 400 quid. So I recently we had a little caravan kind of holiday with the wife and kids and just back of the car collapsed it down. And it's super simple clicks back up and you've got a free working barbecue, one of my favorites, a camping barbecue.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 36:51

Have you heard of a Lotus Grill? Yeah, yes, they are. So they're just brilliant in terms of ease. They are so they're just brilliant in terms of like ease. They're not like. They're not the best in terms of flavor or you know not what I would call proper barbecue, but you can set it on your lap to cook. It's so, so easy to clean and you know, you can get going in minutes. I think it's just such a clever bit of kit and you often happen about, uh, in the taking things like your lotus grill I used to be out more.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 37:26

I used to be out a lot, lot more, um, and I was on my own cooking in the arse end of nowhere, and now it's. It's just a time thing, you know, with with work commitments and everything else, and then filming and things like that. It's just a time thing, you know, with work commitments and everything else, and then filming and things like that. It's just different. I mean, what I would like to do is almost bring back some of the past where I was doing that. So I'd like to actually go out, try and get a deer where possible, and then have a bit of cooking equipment with me. I do want to do a video where I eat effectively fresh meat, um, because normally well it does, it needs to hang, I think. So I'd like to do the experiment of just trying it literally fresh, um, but I would take some. I would take some stuff with me and then sort of cook it out and about. I'm I'm really really lucky because I get invited out um to places a lot. I'm extremely um lucky in that department, um, and it'd be quite nice to do it. So I had two major projects recently. One was one was this thing behind me, um, that started. Well, the I say the planning. There was no planning, but, like, the initial planning in your head started in march and I started digging random holes in the ground and it was like, oh, why don't we do this, why don't we do that? Um, and then the other project was actually um, getting a rifle for myself. So now those two are out the way.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 38:53

It is almost like what is the next chapter. So I think what it looks like is um, more deer shooting for me, which which makes the the table look better. Um, bringing it back here and actually sort of processing it and cooking it myself. Um, going out with other people and doing lots more bit things like this in a way podcasts and things like that, and, um, and more fire cooking, sort of on the hoof, as well as small businesses and camping and glamping and everything else that I seem to have done for the last five years. I enjoy it all really. You know, for me it's the people behind all the businesses. You know I'd like to sound good friends with sort of everyone that I've met, always stay in contact. You know, you never know. You never know who you're going to meet and how you might be able to help each other.

Owen 39:43

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Dan 39:49

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Owen 39:54

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Owen 40:22

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Dan 40:36

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Owen 40:47

Visit aoskitchenscouk. Can we just take it back slightly? So we were talking about, I think right at the beginning you were talking about some of the right at the beginning you were talking about some of the uh, you know, sometimes things don't go so well when you're sort of doing cooking, um, having that conversation?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 41:06

are we?

Owen 41:06

yeah, absolutely we yeah, we hold the barbecue fail so dear. On this podcast we love to hear people's stories about what hasn't gone so well. So have you got any? Hopefully some amusing ones for us.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 41:17

The absolute worst one was. So I say that I like an offset smoker, so my offset smoker was a cheapie. This thing I got off of Facebook so they're not that big, but you could get. What could you get on there? Three, three, maybe four chickens give or take. I put a turkey on it. Now technically it fitted and the hatch and the hat shut. But what I didn't take into consideration was that that turkey's ass was blocking everything. It had no airflow out through the chimney look, we've all been there.

Dan 42:01

Right, we've all been there.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 42:02

Let's not get personal yeah, so, so this thing is basically rammed into this drum and, uh, I didn't, I just I just didn't think it, it wasn't a thought that came into my head. There must have been a few gaps, because I managed well. So the meter went off, the turkey was done, apparently, which was a lot quicker than than it should have been done, and I opened it up and it was the largest, uh, lump of charcoal I've ever seen in my entire life. It was just completely and utterly black. Um, I've never seen in my entire life, it was just completely and utterly black. I've never seen a blacker material.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 42:44

Basically, and, yeah, it was completely buggered, basically, however, took it inside, knowing that it was. You know, it was cooked, you know, because the meter said it was cooked, it was all up to temperature, and I peeled all the skin away, which was, which was, I mean, the bacon that was on top. I mean, that was, that was long gone. It wasn't even leather, it was like space dust, basically, and uh, yeah, we peeled it away, but the meat underneath was absolutely magnificent still and it had like a really nice sort of that, that red smoke, I say ring, but it was just, you know, just just red and smoky and it was still moist. It was great, but yeah, it looked like a, look like a big lump of charcoal. Um, I'll send you. I'll send you a picture after this it was.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 43:31

It was impressively horrific I was awesome that you managed to sort of it was it's still edible and that it wasn't completely we, we, we had some, you know, as a meal there and then and then, um, like a lot of turkey that I do, you know, you end up turning into something. So I love a turkey and leek pie and things like that. So, yeah, turn it, turn it into to that. I mean, that's another thing that as a population, we we just waste so much. I mean, technically we should be turning chicken carcasses into stocks and things.

Dan 44:05

Oh, yeah, I, I used to do that and I need to get back into it. I blame both of my children because I lost the time, but um, I used to pick sundays what I called stock meals, and every sunday I would cook either a whole chicken or I'd take a huge piece of beef and I'd kind of completely break it down, portion it out, freezer it, or pre-cooked meals and freezer it, and then, if it was chicken, I'd then put the carcass back into a pot. Onion, celery, carrot water.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 44:36

It's easy, isn't it? Yeah, it is, it really is. But what is easier? Not doing it? Getting getting the pot of uh bistro out, or whatever it is, and adding it to a pan of boiling water?

Dan 44:50

but it's also like people don't realize what real stock is and the fact that like bits of it jellify and stuff and the flavor is so much different.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 44:59

You know, yeah, and if you can stretch it out to the next day, it'll be even better again. Um, I mean, like when I was in the in the early days, when it was literally just about fire cooking, I was out here, um, every day in the freezing cold and I was just fire cooking. I was just, yeah, really, really enjoying it. And if it was, you know, one degree and snow and things like that, I did this series called um, will it batter? And I dip random things in batter and see if it battered.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 45:33

And I was cold one day and someone had sent me a fruit and veg box, but it was like a, it was like a jamaican fruit and veg box and it had these um had some scotch bonnets in there and I just I sat down and I turned the camera on and I just put a scotch bonnet straight in my mouth and, uh, next thing, I know I can't breathe, I'm coughing, I'm nearly thrown up and then and then what's weird is, after you've done that and I did I did a few things where I did some like stupidly hot sauces, and then people think that you like it, so they give you more of it, and I'm like I don't like this, I don't enjoy it and I want to die whilst it's happening.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 46:18

And then, yeah, then you get chili oil sets for christmas and things like that, which I quite like, but uh, I don't like it too hot. I like a bit of heat, but I don't. I don't want to be in pain whilst I'm eating I did that.

Owen 46:32

Uh, I got bought for christmas that one chip challenge. You know that.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 46:35

Oh, yeah, that's that would be after that, because that's just a bit stupid, isn't it?

Owen 46:41

yeah, exactly, it's all provided but what's the um?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 46:45

what's the fermented fish one? Do you know the one? I mean oh yes, soul, soul school of water board guard, something like that. Yeah, the one, the one where you've got to do it outside and People throw up from the smell before they.

Owen 47:01

I was going to say most people, as soon as they open their tin, throw up, don't they? Yeah?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 47:04

Yeah, again I'd like to experience that I don't know why, just I'm wired up wrong.

Dan 47:11

It's on barbecue fails. I don't know if anyone else is guilty of this, but I want to talk more about a practice that I have that I should really try and reduce. So before, before we go into this, um, let's say to everyone please drink responsibly, you know, don't do anything that's bad. But I have an awful habit of wanting to barbecue and grill after a fair few beers, um, particularly if I'm doing low and slow. I mean last episode, which hasn't aired yet. But, um, I talked about a brisket I cooked when owen came over. That was after I went to london for a full day with friends and had been drinking and came back, uh, got back in about midnight and lit the grill. Then, um, I love it, I enjoy it. It feels like a nice way to cap off before going to bed, as long as you know what you're doing, of course. Definitely safe, yeah, a hundred percent safe, you know, and if it wasn't, I'd stop, apparently. Um, but it's. It's something I gravitate to after a few drinks. It's like a comfort thing. But I remember in the past getting so excited that I was going to be doing a low, slow pull pork. Um, I was doing it with different cuts. I hadn't done it with neck before, really excited about it.

Dan 48:24

Had some friends over during the day, had a few drinks and then kind of got to midnight. I was thinking, right, I need to put this on now and then I can check on it at four, six, eight. Hopefully it'll be done by nine or ten. Rest it for a few hours. One, two o'clock'clock. Bish, bash, bosh right. Set everything up, get everything out there, work out what coals I'm using. I've prepped the meat kind of get that ready. Put the chimney starter on. Think, right, I've got everything sorted. Pick out the woods like great. Went to bed. Alarm went off at four. Went back downstairs went off at four. Went back downstairs.

Dan 49:00

Went outside chimney starter full of coal still on the grill fire lighter on the side and everything just completely forgotten, to kind of light it, as it were. Um, which was a big fail, and you know you find out ways to sort it out, right. But, um, do you find that there's a certain time when you're drawn to fire cooking more than others? For me it's if I've had a hard week. I want to get out there on the grill, or, yeah, I've had a few drinks. I'm like, is there anything that anywhere that's doing barbecue? Am I over someone else's house and they've got a barbecue? Shall?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 49:34

I like the barbecue, honest, yeah, I'm. I'm probably so into this now, and I'm just constantly doing it, so I'm constantly drawn to it, but I I do know exactly what you mean. I'll tell you. What's really hard, though, is when you go around to someone else's house and you've been told beforehand not to say anything. If, if if you see something and you're sat there and uh, my brother, oh no, I shouldn't say name, should I?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 50:08

steve brother's friend's friend and, uh, you know you're. You're sat there and you've got a drink in your hand and everything's going well, and they've walked off and they've left the grill and you're like they'll be back though. Right, they'll, they'll come back because that's going to need turning in a second and it's it's quite hot as it is so. And then they don't come back and you're sat there thinking, well, I was told not to say anything, so I definitely shouldn't do anything. Um, and then they don't come back, and then, and then you get served this cremated food that they're saying is wonderful, and you're like, yes, can I have some more water please?

Butchering Techniques and Cooking Tips

Owen 50:49

I don't think I'd help myself. I think I I have just taken over before, oh yeah, but it happens, doesn't it like?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 50:57

even now, friends, family, it's like, oh, are you okay to do the barbecue? I'm like, yeah, that's fine, but to be honest, I'd rather do it because then you're more involved, aren't you? Um, yeah, I, I thoroughly enjoy, but how rubbish is going out for um, certain some restaurant food now it's not fire cooked. I I find it so boring sometimes, um, especially a steak, unfortunately, like I've had such good steaks, um, and I've cooked them myself, and then you go out and you just think I could do that one better. Um, so eating out, eating out is ruined, but actually when you do find somewhere, like these venison burgers that we had the other day, they were just spectacular, absolutely. And that's what I want when I go out for food. If I'm going to go out and pay, I want to leave thinking, oh my God, that was absolutely amazing, not meh.

Owen 51:54

Yeah, Dan, breakfast time. I think I quite enjoy it. So it's almost like fresh morning. Let's get some smoke going, Smoke some food, you know, right early in the morning it kind of sets your day right. You know that smell that you have all day because of all the kind of wood and fire and yeah.

Dan 52:14

I think we talked about that. It should be an aftershave that's sold somewhere, that kind of smoked smell, because people, some people, absolutely love it and want a smell of that the whole time, owen being one of them, right.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 52:27

I don't, I don't. Sometimes I can smell myself. I'm like I stink.

Owen 52:33

It's absolutely horrible a lot of times I've gone to bed and my wife's like, oh god, can you just not have a shower?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 52:38

and I'm like, nah, it's proper, smell, it's proper yeah no, it drives me up the wall sometimes, um, but again, what I really like is I really love a clean, a really clean smoke. I find, oh, I'm just insane. But again, when the smoke's dirty, I I hate, I hate, hate dirty smoke. I mean, I used, I used some grapevine tonight with the chicken and it's just, oh, it just came outside after being inside I was like, wow, so good. Have you ever used grapevine?

Dan 53:09

Funnily enough, we talked about this in the last episode I've got. I've recently moved and I've got a load of grapevine down the side of kind of kept in a wood store where the previous owner we've got a grapevine yeah, down the side of um kind of kept in a wood store where the previous owner we've got a grapevine here had been storing it and they just used it for burning random stuff.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 53:27

So I want to use it but and you don't it doesn't need to be like woody as such, doesn't need to be chunks. I just used, uh, you know, little little branches, this little off cuts, and I just put it around the outside of the coal so it can kind of smolder and things like that. But it's amazing, absolutely amazing. Any fruit wood works really really well.

Dan 53:49

On that point of dirty smoke, it's a great tip because so many people get into barbecue and they start smoking stuff and it's so easy, firstly, to get dirty smoke but secondly, secondly, also to over smoke bits of meat, depending what you're doing.

Dan 54:03

Um, what other great tips do you have? Because I hadn't personally ever thought about owen might be the same as me. When you get those joints in the supermarket, even taking off the silver skin, it's so obvious to anyone who preps a brisket for themselves once they bought it why I've never thought to do that with a joint before. I don't know. Have you done that before I went, or do you just stick it in the oven or the barbecue, depending what you're doing?

Owen 54:28

I mean if I would probably just have a go at first, to be fair, to trim it down. I never, very rarely, get it from a supermarket you.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 54:35

You've got to because the the, the crap that you pull off, um, I mean, it's not. It's not crap, it's just it's part of the animal, but, um, but effectively, you know, you go to a butcher's. They will clean it up for you. But that cleaning has a price. That's, that's why it costs more. But, like I said, you can get cheap, cheaper stuff. Do it yourself and and you can achieve some spectacular results because you're letting your as you, as you're holding it, you're letting your fingers do the talking. Your fingers will find what is soft and what is not soft and then, as soon as you find that that harder sinew and things like that, you just cut it out and you might end up, you know, you might have this netted joint that you end up effectively butterflying, but again it will. You know, when you slice that up down the line, um, it will just be so much better, um, and I think as well, knowing, knowing what you're cooking and whether it's an a grade or a b grade bit of meat is, is really important.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 55:43

I mean, people talk about cutting steaks in a certain direction, against the grain, and things like that. My personal opinion on that is if you've got a grade meat. Um, it doesn't matter what direction you cut it, because the the actual tenderness, the natural quality of the meat is good enough once you start going down to things like skirt and flank and all that sort of thing. That's that's when it comes into play. But things like fillet and ribeyes and sirloins and things like that, like it doesn't make any difference. Um, one thing that I I do always say is, if you have got a tougher, um a tougher bit of meat, even if it's a steak or a roast if you cut it thinner, your teeth will have to do less work and therefore, mentally it will be a nicer experience. So I did, um. Have you guys done a tom and jerry steak before, so sort of a disc through the leg?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 56:43

oh or you've got to do it, um, your butcher will hate you because it's a terrible way to well, it's not a terrible way. They can make more money, um, uh, butchering those joints of meat because they'll turn them into roasting joints so effectively through the leg. You've, you've got all of your, your, your roasting joints through there, um, but if you can get your butcher to my one will, um, if you get something. I mean we did it was about an inch, probably just over an inch, thick, and we have this huge, huge, huge, huge um tom and jerry steak with the bone, uh, in the middle, um, but because it's a, because those are roasting joints, you need to cook it slower. So if you cook it slower, um, it'll break down a little bit and then you sort of a high sear at the end, but then you, um, you cut it thin. And if you cut it thin again, it should be fine.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 57:38

I had one, um, when was it? I think it was earlier in the year, and the taste was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal, and really, really, um, really fun to do. And I always say, technically, if you're only cooking one steak like that, I mean that could feed 20 people, but technically you've only got to cook one thing, so you only turn one thing, you cook one thing and it all comes out. So if you can get your hands on one of those, definitely try that never even heard of it tom and jerry steak?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 58:07

no, we've heard of tom and jerry, right? Yeah, yeah, do you remember the? Do you remember the dog that used to fight over the big steak in his mouth, butch? What's it called? Butch, possibly? Yeah, I think you're right, actually, yeah, so that's that's as far as I know. I don't know if there's any other names for it. Well, or technically, I'll tell you what you could call it. You could call it an ossobuco beef steak. That's, that's effectively what it is. But it's not through the shin, it's up through, up through that, that big, thick part, um. But I'm going to be doing another one, um, in a couple of weeks actually. But let's just say it's going to be a lot bigger, a lot, lot, lot bigger. So I love cooking like big, big cuts, um are my thing. When we cooked a whole wild boar, that was. That was insane. 15 hours, whole wild boar strung up, that was absolutely insane. So I'd quite like to do sort of more whole animals or whole joints.

Owen 59:06

Yeah, boars lovely as well I think this is a really appropriate time to go on to our barbecue bingo right where we're, while we're talking about ingredients and meat cuts, etc. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to share my screen and you'll see our high-tech, high-cost uh wheel of ingredients oh, and I have to remortgage his house just to get this set up, so, um a lot of money, a lot of money, um for anyone listening?

Exploring Unique Meat Options

Dan 59:34

um, we've been, oh, and I've talked about this, um over kind of previous conversations about what we should be doing, and we've thought about the fact that some people be listening on kind of spotify etc. And so I should probably talk through what this wheel is exactly. So it's a list of ingredients that have been left by previous guests and we set the challenge that we'll spin the wheel. Whatever it lands on, we'll ask you to cook at some point in the future and also talk your talk through, kind of your thought process of what you might be swayed to or leaning towards when you look at it. So some of the ingredients in there in fact, I'll list them all for listeners um, you've got Szechuan pepper, duck, chicken hearts, monkfish, pineapple, octopus, goat vindaloo paste, andouille, sausage, beef neck, kangaroo, tripe, frog legs, hadron peppers, paella and the final thing is my signature dish. So that's meant to be what you're known for when it comes to cooking. So, with that in mind, what would you say is your signature dish?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:00:46

I can tell you what is not my signature dish. Who put tripe on there? I can't remember it's been on there for a while I will eat most things, but I draw the line at tripe. I've tried and it's just no, it just physically won't go down.

Dan 1:01:05

Here we go. You know what's going to end up coming out, as it were. Yeah, but like what are you? I don't want to assume, but I'm guessing venison right Is kind of what you're known for, or is it different in?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:01:23

personal circles. Well, what's the question? What I'm known for or what my go-to would be.

Dan 1:01:28

You can interpret it either way, I would argue Owen.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:01:31

Believe it or not. When I'm asked the question, what would you choose, land or sea I think I would go with sea. Oh oh, I don't eat loads of fish, but when I do, I just go to a special place in my head every single time. Um, you give me, I well, potentially boring rainbow trout or something.

Dan 1:01:58

It's not boring.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:02:00

I love just rainbow it just sends me to a really, really special place. Um, even even prawns, giant prawns, um scallops, um mussels, you know, in a white wine sauce, like all of that. That gets me, yeah, that gets me going a lot, um, but I tend to cook a lot of red meat and and things like.

Dan 1:02:26

We're going to make you go see, right, we're going to make you see all river. You know, depending on how you're feeling at the time, if it lands on my signature dish, I love rainbow trout. Getting whimsical now and this is going to sound more grand than it was. Growing up, we had a river in our back garden Welsh so you know, stereotypically, I have to live in a valley that that's the rules. Um, so we had a river that ran through and we used to get fishermen with waders on coming down the river and quite often if they caught something while they're on the banks of your garden there was an unwritten rule that they'd either give you that fish or one of the other fish they'd already caught.

Dan 1:03:04

Yeah, and on the weekends every Saturday, particularly when it was warmer my dad would light the brick barbecue that he'd built and he'd gamble on someone coming down and then put the fish, gut it and put it straight on there, and rainbow trout, when we used to have it, was phenomenal, phenomenal.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:03:22

But again, for me I like to keep it really simple Salt, pepper, lemon on most of the most of the fish I have. That's, that's what it, because again, I want to know what does it taste like? Yeah, um, I had my first experience up in scotland. Uh, we went salmon fishing on a, you know, on a scottish river and again, it was just spectacular. I didn't catch anything, I caught a little brown trout the size of your hand, but, um, yeah, just again, the experience was just phenomenal to uh, to actually be up there and uh, you know, trying to pull one out the river. Are you gonna spin it then?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:04:03

give it a go right so I've got to cook with it, and then I've got to put something back yes, have a think about that.

Owen 1:04:11

Yeah right, let's give it a go. Oh really, oh, oh oh goats.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:04:21

okay, that's really weird because I nearly got goat out tonight out the freezer. Okay, I will do you. What do you want? A recipe or what?

Dan 1:04:33

Where's your brain going in regards to goat? What are you thinking? Do you know what?

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:04:37

I went to a goat farm and they said, yeah, we're going to do some filming, and they were phenomenal Went up onto the hill, saw the goat they were. They were doing, they were using this technology, so they had like things around their neck and they geo-fenced an area and if the goats went outside of this geo-fence it would shock them or make the noise or both. Anyway, and it worked. It was phenomenal to see. And she said, look, we'll send you home with some goat. I said, amazing, thank you.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:05:06

And she said, whatever you do, don't do a curry. And I said, why on earth not? So I can't remember what I did. I think I cooked. Was it like a goat steak or goat leg? It might have been a leg of goat. No, it wasn't. It was a kid rack, so the equivalent of a rack, of a rack of lamb. Um, anyway, I did it and I just it didn't turn me on at all. Um, and I think there's a reason why people throw goat into curry is because it just makes it a little bit more interesting. I, I found, I found the meat very goatee.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:05:49

Basically, yeah, I struggle with goat's cheese ah, now see, I quite like it if it's, if there's not too much of it. Obviously it's very strong though, isn't it?

Owen 1:06:01

I just it tastes like agriculture yeah, yeah, yeah no I think farm yeah, it does

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:06:08

and I love cheese, things like if you, if you try and make people try food, there's certain things that you're almost certainly not going to win. Goat is one of them, lamb is usually another, and and fish as well. You know that they are very distinct, uh, flavors and and tastes, smells, aren't they? So I do, and same for game as well.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:06:33

I have got a theory that I reckon anyone could eat anything if it was cooked the right way for them, and I wonder whether people who say, oh, I don't like whatever it is pork, for example, and I wonder whether people who say, oh, I don't like whatever it is pork, for example, I wonder whether their parents or grandparents cooked a pork dinner once but mutilated it and therefore that's just what they think pork tastes like. So I do think that, because I never used to like liver and I had liver at a restaurant Don't ask me why I ordered it, I think I was drunk at the time but they, they brought out this lamb's liver, um, gravy, onions and mash, and honestly, it was one of the best meals I've ever had, and I don't know how they cooked it, but they cooked it like a steak. It was just phenomenal. So, yeah, I've got this theory that if you can cook it right, I reckon you could. You could eat anything, um, so I'll do you something goatee. What should I put back? Are you going to edit this in now?

Dan 1:07:35

or yeah, well, yeah, what? What? We're going to put it straight onto the table for the next person. So what would you like to leave? It can be something kind, something like people to try, or it could be something extreme well, there's nothing.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:07:51

It'd be quite nice to leave something gamey, wouldn't it? That's probably the theme, if it was appropriate yeah, yeah, should we go with rabbit, or should we go with venison, venison's like, let's go with rabbit, because that's a little bit more, that's a little bit more out there, you guys have had hair.

Dan 1:08:13

I've not had hair. I've had rabbit.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:08:15

A few times, yeah I've had rabbit, I've had hair and I've not enjoyed it well, I've not had huge amounts of games.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:08:25

To be fair, it's very, very strong from what I'm told, and this one was very, very strong. But yeah, hare's in a different league. I'll tell you the worst thing that I've ever had, which is one of the best things. So I got sent a meat box and it was one of these where there's like kangaroo and buffalo you know all this sort of these, where there's like kangaroo and buffalo, you know all this sort of thing. And there's two steaks in there and I looked at it and read the label Horse, horse, anyway. So it was the last one to be used. Obviously, we didn't want it and I thought, well, I can't throw it out because that's literally just a waste. I can't do that. So I'm cooking it up and I'm thinking you know, I hope this is horrible, basically, and anyway, cooked the steak up, seasoned it and it turned out to be one of the best steaks I've ever had. It was just phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.

Dan 1:09:27

So other countries do it, don't they? France my dad lived in france for a while. Yeah, I begged him to buy some horse when I was out there and he was just like nope, nope, nope. But I mean, did he? Did he say, nay, oh yeah yes, oh sorry. Normally it's me making the awful puns, um, but I've had zebra before, I've had kangaroo before, I've had crocodile before really nice um, so I, I, I want to try horse and, to be fair, I've probably had it in a findus lasagna back in the 90s.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:09:57

Let's be, let's be, honest right yeah, yeah, yeah, we all remember that outbreak. No, it was very, very nice, rich steak it was. Um, it was spectacular actually. Um, I would definitely try, but then you know, I'll tell you something controversial.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:10:19

Now there's a I won't say who there's a producer over this way and they are going to produce, um, effectively, horse meat, but from a breed of like a, like a shetland pony. So hello, it's, it's really really out there and they are um, they have um a really strong profile in supporting um soil biodiversity, um, you know, all the good stuff, regenerative farming, things like that and I said I said that's out there, that's really really out there, that you know that could destroy you potentially, um, and they, they came back strong and they said that actually, in terms of the market for some of these rare breeds of ponies not just ponies, pigs, cats, like all the other things as well is that if they aren't being kept as pets and being ridden and get to sit in their little fields and things like that, these rare breeds will die out yeah and so, to save the breed, they actually need to produce them, and and and effectively, they need to be eaten so that the numbers actually stay around.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:11:37

Um, I mean, that's just one perspective, but I I get it. You know, if, if they're not pets, they they could go, and then no one has them well, it's going to be a tough sell, though, to a consumer, isn't it?

Dan 1:11:50

Nah, if it's going to save Shetland ponies, let me have a nibble on a leg. Do you know what I mean? Get me in there.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:11:56

Imagine walking around a food festival with a leg of Shetland.

Dan 1:12:02

Or even like think about, you know, when they have like a suckling pig on a spit and everyone comes and looks just a Shetland pony spinning around.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:12:10

It's bizarre, isn't it? It's bizarre what is acceptable and not acceptable to eat. Yeah, you can eat a fluffy bunny rabbit, but yet you can eat a baby lamb and a suckling pig and all this sort of thing. It's bizarre. It's absolutely bizarre our population, but it is what it is.

Owen 1:12:31

Indeed. Well, I think, as we kind of come towards the end, alex, is there anything that perhaps we haven't covered yet that you think would be really kind of good to bring up? Obviously give yourself a plug in a second. Tell everyone where we can find you. Of course, yeah.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:12:52

Yeah, I mean, that's that's. That's it for me is I just want to keep growing. I mean, my my goal is to to have, ideally, you know, the largest network of people and businesses that are out there. I always want to be connected to as many people as possible so that, so that we can promote the right messages and things like that. So, yeah, if people can jump on the instagram and youtube as well, those, those are my two main main platforms at the moment.

Alex - Hunter Gatherer Cooking 1:13:17

Um, I just want to keep growing that. So, um, you know, hopefully I haven't put too many people off and what what I try and do is, even with the shooting, I try and do it in a tasteful way. Um, so I'm not, you know, I'm not showing the, the blood and guts as such on youtube. It's all there to be fair. But certainly, instagram, I'm not. I'm not putting those sorts of pictures up. For me, instagram, that's about the food, whereas perhaps youtube is more about the reality of what's going on. But, um, yeah, any support is is always appreciated it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you, alex.

Engaging With BBQ Fans and Subscribers

Dan 1:13:53

I've enjoyed it cheers, all right bye, bye, and that's it for another episode of the meet and greet barbecue podcast. Thank you so much, alex. If you haven't had the chance, go out there, have a look at him on instagram, all socials and youtube and get a real feel some of the great cooking and other bits and pieces that he does. Um, thank you so much for following us. Uh, please do like subscribe and all of that jazz. You know how to find us across all the different medias of social and your favorite podcasting app, but also check out on the link. You'll see something new in there, which is about asking us a question we'd love to hear from you. Unfortunately, doesn't give us the way to respond, so if you'd like to hear back from us as well, leave some contact details, a way that we can get a hold of you, and until next time, keep on grilling in.

Owen 1:14:53

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