From Novice to Aficionado: Simon's Barbecue Journey

What if your barbecue mishaps could lead to your most memorable grilling experiences? Join us for an engaging conversation with Simon from the Grill Shack, an Instagram sensation known for his unfiltered approach to all things barbecue. Simon shares his journey from novice to barbecue aficionado, highlighting the importance of cooking for sheer enjoyment and social connection rather than chasing perfection. From his unforgettable brisket challenges to the relativity of taste and standards, Simon offers down-to-earth advice and inspiration for both beginner and seasoned grillers.

Ever wondered how you can enjoy delicious barbecue while maintaining a healthy lifestyle? We dive into the delicate balance of indulgence and mindful eating, sharing personal stories and tips on counting calories without feeling deprived. Our discussion touches on how the COVID-19 pandemic ignited a newfound passion for barbecue, transforming a necessity into a fun and creative hobby. You'll hear firsthand accounts of losing weight, maintaining it, and navigating the occasional indulgence with strategic planning.

Explore the world of social media influence within the barbecue community as we discuss brand partnerships, content creation challenges, and managing social media fatigue. From amusing barbecue fails to creative cooking challenges, Simon's candid insights offer a refreshing perspective on building a supportive community through shared passions. Whether you're grilling up a storm for family and friends or managing the demands of content creation, this episode is packed with valuable tips and heartfelt stories that will resonate with all barbecue enthusiasts.

Transcript

Barbecue Tips and Wastage Prevention

Speaker 1 0:00

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

Speaker 2 0:17

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meat and Greet Barbecue Podcast. Today we're speaking to Simon from the Grill Shack. I've been following his Instagram account for ages. I can't wait to speak to him about all the different cooks that he does. But without much further ado, here's Simon. Hello, Simon. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. For anyone who doesn't know who you are, please do introduce yourself.

Speaker 3 0:40

Yeah, no worries, thanks for having me. I am Simon, possibly better known to some people as the Grill Shack on Instagram and all the other social stuff Part-time barbecue fan, full-time dad, husband, business runner elsewhere and boring stuff but barbecue is what we like to do to relax and whatnot, so that's what I wanted to talk about for anyone who hasn't seen simon's instagram account.

Speaker 2 1:11

Normally people wouldn't say this pause the podcast and have a look through, because that's how I first I suppose how many people probably found you. And looking through and the fact that you're cooking so many different things and you're bringing so much personality through as well, and I feel like there's no shit there. You're not fluffing anything up or anything, you're just telling it how it is and what's happening is happening right. Is that like a conscious decision?

Speaker 3 1:35

uh, that's just who I am like. So I I run a business and I've very much always gone with the I kind of say it as I see it type thing and sometimes you rub people the wrong way. But I think my natural personality is just to have a good time and stuff. So because I enjoyed cooking anyway and like I'm cooking was always like a means to an end, obviously you need to eat and stuff. It's only once I got into barbecue I kind of thought I can be a bit more myself here and I enjoy the social side of things anyway, the get-togethers and the meetups and the events and stuff. So just putting it on camera wasn't really an issue for me. Um, and I've had a few bits where they're not fails as much, but like things haven't really gone to plan, I just kind of rolled like so I'm kind of unedited.

Speaker 2 2:16

So some people's cup of tea, not others, but you know it's important, though right, because so many people will look on instagram, social media, facebook and be looking and trying to study and learn more about barbecue, and all they see is this fantastic content or people telling you how to do it better. But it's important to understand that we learn from making mistakes. It happens to everyone and you get involved. I think it's much more refreshing and you learn more from seeing that sort of thing in an account you know.

Speaker 3 2:46

Yeah, I think so. I mean I make more than enough mistakes. I mean I make plenty that I get to share with everybody and plenty more that don't make it that far because, frankly, the entire account will be full of making mistakes. The thing is, as far as I'm concerned, there's some people that I kind of look up to, some accounts I follow perhaps more than others with regards to what they're making, but it's for inspiration as opposed to.

Speaker 3 3:08

This is how you do it, because I kind of believe you know everybody has their own style, everybody using a different device, everybody prefers their ribs a certain way, and so on and so forth. So you can't really be wrong. Obviously you can overcook things to the point where you don't like them, but wrong. Obviously you can overcook things to the point where you don't like them, but some person likes it that way. You know there are some weirdos out there like well done steaks. Yeah, you just kind of see how it goes and I think, in the instance where I have made mistakes, like I'm quite critical of myself.

Speaker 3 3:39

So if I make something and people come over and I don't feel it's my best with that, we don't disrespect the people who are coming over. They're like oh, this is amazing. I'm like well, it's because you don't eat barbecue food that regularly. If you do, you edit one of those kind of poor chain restaurants and so this probably is quite good. It's just my standards quite high, so, um, I can kind of get away with it a little bit maybe I had exactly that the weekend just gone.

Speaker 1 4:02

uh, actually, simon, I'd cooked some brisket, uh, for some friends that we hadn't seen a long time, and it'd been a little while since I've, uh, cooked a brisket as well. So I always go to my local butcher to get mine, and it's just a farm just up the road but it's probably the leanest piece that I've had. Like I didn't have to do any tripping because the you know, there was hardly any fat cap or anything. Um, and I, you know, I just got on with it and smoked it. It took about 11 and a half hours to get to temperature. It stalled for quite a while, but because there was no fat, even though it was tender, it just wasn't, it was a bit dry I was again had the same situation where people don't eat it that often oh my God, this is great, and I'm thinking, no, no, it's not.

Speaker 3 4:48

I guess it's nice though, because I think if you're like I don't like waste One of the things I don't like to do I don't like to waste food. I've got two small children. I kind of instill in them, you know, don't waste food. And so if I do overcook something, cook something, I'm the only person who's going to be suffering what I consider to be that failure. There's something else you can do it the classic like oh, we'll chop it up, put in a chili and that sort of stuff so it doesn't go to waste. But obviously you plant this wonderful brisket and you had all these aspirations about how it was going to be, like oozing with fat, and you were like this is going to be amazing and we'll take the best photographs. And when you look at it you're like I'll pop the door open with that. Um, you know, but I guess popping the door open with it still wouldn't be a waste, it would just be an expensive doorstop.

Speaker 1 5:26

But you know yeah absolutely, and you're right again, food waste is is, I think, something I just can't get on board with at all. Like you, you will use every last bit of whatever you cook. Um, and I yeah, it's probably why I'm so fat, because I can't, I can't not eat things it does drive me mad, but I mean, everybody does it by accident.

Speaker 3 5:52

I guess no one intentionally makes too much food. But, um, over the last 12 months or so I've kind of got a bit more into training. I've lost quite a bit of weight and I've changed how I eat things just because of that training pattern, which means that I am eating more, I guess to somewhat of a schedule now, which means food weight is even less because it's semi-prescribed. But I'm having that even with regards to the amount of protein I need and so on and so forth. Um, which the I'm not really into the whole food prep thing of. When people are training, I don't want it to be like oh, here is all my meals for the next 16 years and stuff, and by the time you get to like week 38, you're like oh my god, am I eating this again? So I've been training for about a year. Um, I want to get fitter. Uh, I want to lose a lot of weight.

Speaker 3 6:35

I put weight on, ironically, probably a lot of it through barbecue, um, but um, holidays and some other stuff and nature of my job takes me to places where networking takes place at like pubs and stuff, and I just got sloppy and so I moved into a kind of phase of training with a particular trainer where they were looking at my diet, my exercise, my movement and so on. But it had me control my calorie intake a lot more and a lot of food prep to kind of a prevent wastage but b make sure that I was getting what I needed inside me as far as, like the protein and whatever the case may be. But the byproduct of that meant that I was um wasting even less because I wasn't even able to try to waste food. Now I was like I know what I'm having. Monday, tuesday, wednesday, friday sadly, sometimes usually eat up a little bit.

Speaker 3 7:19

Um still got to barbecue because a lot of the food for training is protein based. Um, so it's what you're putting away in portion sizes and stuff. But wastage is just a thing that just drives you around the bend, because I don't really think there's an excuse for it and I know there's just a laziness of complacency, I guess of people couldn't be bothered and didn't really think about it and stuff. But even when you're doing things like a spaghetti bolognese, it makes too much. But even when you're doing things like a spaghetti bolognese it makes too much, just put it in the tub, put it in the fridge, freeze it or whatever, have it later.

Speaker 3 7:46

And obviously the thing with barbecues I'm sure everybody's aware is more often than not most of the cuts that we enjoy to cook feed far more people than there are in your house, and if you only wait until people came around, you'd never be doing any cooking. So I tend I I bought a back seat and it's perfect for things like that. You do a brisket, you end up with far too much, but I can't just only cook it when I've got 25 people coming round. So I put it and I made some pastrami over Christmas and that was good to just kind of pack up. And then when you fancy some lunch sometimes you put it out in the morning. It's defrost real bugbear of mine I love leftovers.

Speaker 2 8:25

Barbecue is one of the best things for leftovers, I think, and it can sit in the freezer for as long as you need it to, and there's lots of different techniques and ways to bring it back to life, because I think a lot of people think that it might dry out or something if you freeze it. But if you've done a good, decent brisket and you freeze it lots of different ways, it won't dry out at all, and not only that, the flavor intensifies as well.

Speaker 3 8:49

It's so much more smoky yeah, so maybe, like when you had that takeaway the next day, it seems to taste better. Um yeah, with things like brisket and stuff like that, when I vac seal it, I tend to like faux sous vide it when I bring it back, so it's still in the vac seal and I pop in a pan of hot water and bring it to temperature, rather than like bunging it in an oven or a microwave where you don't have as much control over the temperature. It's not done particularly scientifically. I haven't got one of those ones and they're telling me it's at this temperature but it's just enough. You can kind of feel that it's at a point where you haven't overcooked, you just basically warmed it, defrosted it. Yeah, I completely agree. You sometimes find that that brisket that you thought looked great and tasted great at the time is even better the second time around, and the second time around all the guests aren't there to enjoy it.

Speaker 1 9:33

Yeah, actually just interested to take it back to the training part. Actually, obviously we talk a lot about kind of barbecue and you know there's the old kind of joke you should never. You know, the pitmasters get bigger as the more experience they get, more food they eat, blah, blah, blah. But just interested to know, have you had to change the way you barbecue to fit in with your healthier lifestyle, the change of calorie, the deficit, etc. That you were just explaining, or do you still get to have the same? Because typically, right, there's lots of sugars and you know if you yeah, an american style.

Speaker 1 10:14

There's lots of butter and you know it's not the most healthiest way to do things no, yeah, I mean I maybe tweaked it, but not not massively.

Calories, Barbecue, and Weight Maintenance

Speaker 3 10:23

I think part of it is, um, portion control, and portion control can be focused on the sides, for example, because you're having a mac and cheese and it's you know, it's got the pasta, it's got cheese, it's got full fat milk in slightly smaller portion, maybe put semi-skimmed milk in, and stuff like that. It's only like small changes because I was really keen to like I'm going to go commit to this. I need to be able to commit to it in a way that's sustainable and it'll stick. If you start kind of taking things out and you know, switching things up and it starts to taste different, then you're not going to stick with it because you're like, you know it's not worth it for the sake of how many calories it is. Um, and the the counting calories thing when you first start is pretty dull because it's almost like being in some kind of food prison. They're like, oh, you can't have this now, and I'd almost got to the point where I'd work backwards. What do I want for dinner? Ok, well then, what can I have for the rest of the day?

Speaker 3 11:14

Now that I've considered what the calorie total is for dinner, fortunately, with barbecue. So much of it is protein based and protein is like a core thing. But from a sources perspective, I'd usually give myself a bit of a pass, um, so I'd only really count the core parts of the meal. Um, I guess you have to ease up a little bit with things like butter and mayonnaise and stuff like that, because so I love mayonnaise, but then when I realized how many calories in mayonnaise I kind of cried a little bit because it's just straight up fat, right, you know you have a sandwich and you put butter on and then, like I don't know whatever, ham and asian cheese and then some mayonnaise and before you know it you've got like a 650 calorie sandwich and you're still hungry 10 minutes later. Um, so it's just been a bit more considerate. Things like, um, more protein in the sandwich, um, maybe a little bit less mayo and stuff, but I haven't made any dramatic changes. I honestly don't think I'd have stuck with it if I had.

Speaker 3 12:08

And I am at a point now where I'm maintaining my weight because I lost just over 10 kilos, I think, in total, and there's going to be some fluctuations because I've not long come back from holiday and I was all inclusive and I wasn't like, oh, I better watch what I eat. I was like'm paperless, said um, and then when I go to things like sizzle fest and whatever things like beers, that's just empty calories. You're obviously consuming calories but then there's no nutritional value to them. But I'm not like, oh, I better not have any. Um, I just try and make sure that I'm kind of smart on the days like today, for example, like I wasn't going there, wasn't doing anything yesterday.

Speaker 3 12:41

This weekend I've been away, had a few beers and stuff. So today I was pretty strict with what I ate all day, you know snacking. Make sure I stuck to a calorie target. Um, I'm not particularly hungry, so I've kind of got it under control now. But yeah, long story short, yeah, I'll. I'll let it slide on things like sauces and rubs and stuff, because in the grander scheme of things, the portion size you're having out of the whole thing probably is a huge amount of difference yeah, fair enough.

Speaker 1 13:06

So in terms of, uh, your, your kind of journey, then obviously you mentioned that you'd had an interest in, you know, cooking, because you had to, because you had to eat. But uh, obviously barbecue really kind of took, took it to a real passion. Um, where was that turning point? Where was the turning point of, oh, I just need to cook something to eat, to where you are now obviously sat with a number of barbecues, you're in shack and we'll go into other bits and pieces, I'm sure in a minute, but you know, where was that turning point for you?

Speaker 3 13:39

um, so, from a barbecue perspective, I can tell you exactly when it was.

Grill Enthusiast's Cooking Journey

Speaker 3 13:44

It was probably the same for me as it was for millions of other people. It was COVID, you're stuck, you need something to do, and because I already had an interest in food, it was just taking it to a different level, trying to do something else. It was we need to eat. Obviously, I've got to go out at some point. I'm only allowed to go out for so long. What can I get? And then how can I experiment with it? And I'll add, in my garden, you know, manipulating to a certain extent all the things that you're allowed to do to make it a bit more fun.

Speaker 3 14:12

Um, from an actual food perspective, I left home at 17 and I not to make it dramatic had to fend for myself. Um, and so I learned. I mean, I learned the basics when I was younger, I know, thanks to my dad, but, um, I had to learn how to cook a bit more anyway, and I didn't want to be that kid when I went to university. It was like I'm just going to eat noodles and toast, so I ate pizza as well, but I just wanted to cook because you'd get more food and it was fun and then it was a good way to bring people together and maybe, like I cook something and then we'd all have some beers and then we'd go out or something like that. Um, then when I got back to norfolk after I met my now wife, she can't cook. I won't say anything more than that. She can't cook one cook type thing. Um, but it's fine. That's why we work, maybe because I enjoy cooking, so one of us does cooking and one of us does something else. Um, and yeah, just from there, like trying to find the middle ground as to things that we both like and stuff like that, the barbecue thing was just a bit of a bonus, I think, because it opened up a whole new world that I've had barbecue and I wasn't naive to the oh, it's burgers and it's sausages, because I go to America quite a lot for holidays and for work and stuff. So I was aware of the barbecue scene. I just never really had crossed my mind about how to make that happen in my house.

Speaker 3 15:28

Um, and when I started I was on a gas grill, but I actually did quite well with a gas grill, so I felt by the time I moved into other areas, like we can do it. A gas grill, I mean. Fire management is a different thing, but once you can do, if you can make it work at a gas grill, you can kind of make it work on the other grills. So much so that we went to Florida a couple of years back, or maybe last year, I can't quite remember and obviously the meat out over there is insanely priced and we won't get into why it's insanely price, but it's cheap. And I found a Bacania in one of the supermarkets and it was massive and it was about $12 or something. I'm like rude, not to say the same. So I took it back to our Airbnb and I reverse seared this Bacania on a gas grill where I just lit one end and put it off the other end and then got it to. And I took my third pen on holiday with me, obviously, got it to the point where I felt it was about right, but I didn't quite trust to sear it over the raw gas flame, so I then sliced it up and did it like steaks. It's great.

Speaker 3 16:36

I've never been snobby about gas girls and stuff. I don't, ironically, don't have one now, so I'm bigging them up and whatever. I've got a charcoal over here, I've got the electric smoke about me, I've got the wood forward, slash gas over this side. But yeah, as I got more into it, I followed the people that we've all heard of. I bought DJ Barbecue's book, I bought Marcus's book, I bought Genevieve's book. I was getting everybody's books I can get my hands on to just be like knowledge, because it was something new.

Speaker 3 17:06

But after a while it kind of became quite clear that I think these people are great at cooking but they weren't telling you this is how you cook it, this is saying how, this is how we cook it.

Speaker 3 17:15

So I kind of got to the point of like, well then, I don't really need recipes now, I just need inspiration. Like after a while there's only so many different cuts of meat and then you've got to do more things with those cuts of meat, so whether you get the whole massive cuts of beef and then you slice it yourself. So I do enjoy watching the kind of butchery videos. They kind of explain what they do and how they do it and silly little things like I'm not going to get on my soapbox but tomahawk steaks. I can't quite get my head around them, other than they look nice and they're charging you for the fact that they look nice because there's a whole lot of bone there that serves very little purpose. Yeah, my opinion. Um, and then obviously they've realized that people like me have started saying that a lot we've made a cowboy steak and they've still left an inch of the bone.

Speaker 3 18:00

It's the same thing okay so then they cut that off and then it's a ribeye on the bone or whatever. I'm like can we just keep going? Let's get to the ribeye, because that's a bit every once, you know.

Speaker 3 18:09

I know, there's some people who fantasize about gnawing on a bone in a restaurant or whatever, but for me I'm just like let's just try and keep it simple. Um, yeah, and I like to experiment with the cuts of meat and the recipes and stuff, and I have to feed a house still. So I've got small children do you um, do you?

Speaker 1 18:33

obviously you mentioned a few different grills there that you've got. Do you gravitate towards one more so than the other, or are you quite fair in the usage?

Speaker 3 18:45

uh, probably not fair, but not because of any kind of preferential bias. The traeger was bought with the sole purpose of it isn't convenient. This isn't convenient for everybody, but certainly not convenient for me. To be doing these long, slow, wonderful cooks on a Wednesday night and my daughter's just come from home from school and she's got to go in the bath and blah, blah, blah, blah, and you can just chuck something on there and the phone will tell you what it's done and you hit, keep warm, and it's a little bit lazy, but at the same time it gives you the experience. It gives you most of what you would be wanting from another grill, just with a little bit less hands-on. So it does tend to do a lot of the work.

Speaker 3 19:24

Um, if I've got the time, I would tend to use the kamado. Um, a bit more of experience, a bit more fun. Um, and on other occasions, when I'm cooking loads of things, I just use them all at the same time. Right, so I can do a reverse here, where I do part of it on the drager and zero on the commander. Um, or whatever the case may be, because I've got so many things they don't all fit in the shack, so sometimes I end up to bring things out and put them back in the garage. Um, yeah, so I mean I I'd be lying if I said I had like a favourite, really, because if I started saying that my wife would say you don't need all the rest of them if that's the case.

Speaker 1 19:57

They're all my babies and I love them equally.

Speaker 3 20:00

Exactly, yeah, really.

Speaker 2 20:04

So, with that in mind, is there anything that you wish you had or you have your eyes on?

Speaker 3 20:08

as kind of a next little purchase.

Speaker 3 20:12

That is a tough one because I've recently just bought one um. I'd had my eye for a while and I couldn't quite tell whether it was fomo because everybody else had been talking about them, or whether I genuinely thought they had a need for one. But having a need for one's never really been on the list of reasons to buy a drill. Um, I bought a blackstone. They were there was someone selling them reasonably heavily discounted and I thought it's time because I've been meaning to get one for things like searing on something, because if you think about what I said just now, if you're smoking it on here and then searing it on the commando, it takes a while to fire the commando up. This is the ultimate laser just now where I've gone to the point where I can literally just fire up the Blackstone and heat it up whilst that's finishing in the tray, go in and blast, sear it off on the Blackstone. But I've had a bit of fun when they're doing things like a full English breakfast and stuff like pancakes and stuff All the classics. So I haven't got as far yet.

Speaker 3 21:09

As what else would I like? Mainly because I dare not say that out loud because my wife's pretty easygoing, but even she would be like you've literally just bought one, like just now. Part of her, I'm sure, is already fearing the fact that I'm going to Sizzle Fest because, who knows? You know, it's like anything goes. I've got a car, I'm coming back the next day. Who knows what might be in the boot? I won't realize till the next morning. So that's exactly what happened to owen the first time. We went few drinks down. I'm having my trigger. Now there we go. So, um, yeah, yeah, we'll see. But at the moment, at this moment in time, the wish list is lower than it has been for a little while I really want a fire pit that I can do like asado and stuff on.

Speaker 2 21:53

Yeah, I've wanted one for years, just firstly because fire pit's nice, right, but you can do so much with it and it's just getting around to do it. I'm probably leaning more towards kind of kadai, because you get the other bits easily with it. You can do so much more with you know. Yeah and although I've got a kamado at the moment, which is barbecue and I love so much I can do with it, it doesn't feel like real live fire cooking in the same way that that would.

Speaker 3 22:19

Yeah, I went to meet Turkey a couple of years ago and so many people were doing them over these fire pits and almost historically traditional barbecues because they were literally just cooking over wood and fire and coals and a bit of metal on the top. I would look at those things but'm probably gonna have to wait. I've got small children and a dog so at the moment it's hard enough with this wooden structure trying to keep them away from hot things and mine fire things.

Brand Partnerships and Social Media Growth

Speaker 1 22:44

So, um, maybe one for the future I don't have a wish anything on a wish list at the minute 10 grills is enoughills is enough.

Speaker 2 22:54

Is that because?

Speaker 3 22:55

someone listens to the podcast and you don't want to leak that information.

Speaker 1 22:59

No, no, genuinely. I've just given I think I mentioned in the last episode a gas barbecue away, but yeah, there's nothing that I want at the minute. I'm still enjoying playing with the Delavere that I got a couple months ago.

Speaker 3 23:15

Yes, I have one of those too. They're not in here, it's in the garage. I am quite fortunate that Dele Ville contacted me to work with him as an ambassador. I already have the Gosling. I have to rotate because I want to make sure that I use everything fairly. They're nice, they're a good bit of kit.

Speaker 3 23:32

Um, I've had some fun with it. Um, I am quite fortunate, I think that. So I had listen. I'm no more important than anybody else on instagram. In fact, I'm significantly less important than a lot of people on instagram.

Speaker 3 23:46

Um, but I had a little bit of air time thanks to the to jay at oldman's barbecue, old, when I was on restaurant roulette. Yeah, and off the back of that I've had so many people. Um, be nice to me, basically, and like go, hey, would you be interested in trying our staff, a product, a brand, a? Um grill, or do you want to come do some bits of that stuff? Like, and it's so nice? Um, I actually had to, this year, start turning things down because I'm like well, I so I'm a big football fan, I've got a season ticket, I'm a big NFL fan. So at this time of year there's a lot going on. I have a family and I don't really have the time to be like doing all these things. So I felt really bad. I'm like I really appreciate you getting in touch, but I literally haven't got the time to do any of this.

Speaker 1 24:33

Um, got a nice problem to have, I guess yeah, I mean again that you know he said it is a nice problem, but do you? I suppose it's also a nice thing that you can pick and choose right. So you're you. You're working with the brands, the products, the equipment that you believe in yeah, um, so I I believe in honesty in that there's no real.

Speaker 3 25:02

So I had a brand approach me recently I won't say they are, but, um, they wanted me to see if I could do it together and I just kind of said, look, if we did, it would have to be xyz, because I really don't want to use one of your grills. If it kind of does what I've already got, that wouldn't be fair on you and your grills. If it kind of does what I've already got, that wouldn't be fair on you and I'd be doing it because you gave it to me. And then it's because I've already got these things, like if you've got a couple that do some cool things and that'd be interesting to explore maybe. And in the end we kind of got to the point where I kind of said I'm not sure this is right for both of us. I feel like we're forcing it a little bit.

Speaker 3 25:33

But I think part of that comes from my business attitude, like I run a business and I'm very conscious of, like time management and not wasting people's time, people not wasting my time and stuff. So when I was kind of saying earlier about you know, some people kind of take me the wrong way. I'm very much of a I don't actually care, like I'm not here to make friends type thing in business. I'm here to make money. Um, it's a bit different on social media, because you are literally meant to be social. Um, it's annoying, isn't?

Speaker 3 26:00

it no I know right, yeah, um, I it's nice. Yeah, it's nice. I've not really been in the situation before where people are like contacting me asking me to do things with them. Um, I had a bit of a period and I was going to mention this anyway, because you, I know you guys did a whole podcast and I had a bit of a period where I kind of got to a point where I couldn't be asked with the filming and the videoing and the social side of things.

Speaker 3 26:24

I was still doing the cooking, but editing is time consuming and yes it is time consuming and, um, I I put a lot of time and pride into the videos that I make and I try my. My way of making videos is very like storytelling. So I'm trying to play a story, I'm trying to put music to it that complements the video and stuff, and I'm not saying people don't embrace their own way of doing it, but I just got to the point where it's like I can't like I love watching other people's content and I went for a good three or four months to the point where people contact me going are you okay? Where have you gone? I'm still on Instagram, still posting crap on Instagram stories every day. There's me in the gym, there's me in all day. Um, I'm just not recording the content because I want to eat it and go watch TV.

Speaker 3 27:10

Um, I did find a little bit of elisa life again and there was a few people I follow on instagram who I've seen had done similar, which kind of make me feel better. And then I listen to your podcast as well, to serve it. It's not just you type thing, um, and so I just banked on it, coming back again at some point. Maybe I'll just kind of be ready to do it again, and I was. But even then I've now kind of prioritized my time again, which is kind of what I was going at just now that I've had a school holidays to manage for the last six weeks with a six-year-old off school and we've been away on holiday and stuff, and I've kind of decided, all right, well, the six weeks holidays are really the time for it because I've got other things to do, priorities and stuff. I need to be using my time in different ways and then, if nothing else, at the end of the day of looking after a small child in your time, um. So I'm kind of hopeful that I'll kind of get that buzz back again, um, into the autumn stuff, and I have filmed a few bits and I'm going away, uh, just under three weeks to america to eat and drink and stuff.

Speaker 3 28:09

But that provides content and I always look at those sort of things as content opportunities. I will often film things, which is whether I can be bothered to edit them or not is the matter. Maybe I should hire an editor, but it's a very editing is a very personal thing. In my experience. You everybody does things in different way. I watch so many different channels on YouTube and Instagram and I enjoy the storytelling aspect of it from a different voice of like everybody does their own thing and you can kind of almost tell that some people I know who that is because there's one some people who do it in a very like first person perspective, when you know who it is, and some people do it with the voiceovers. And then there's people like um Poppy at Norfolk Smoke Pit is not a lot far from me, she's got her personality, just yeah, you know um and you find your place.

Speaker 3 29:00

And I think, probably my biggest issue in the past, I was just trying to be liked by everybody like, and I think one of the things with Instagrams particularly is that they do tell you to try and find your niche and focus on your niche. You want to be successful and that probably applies the same to the audience that some people like me, some people don't make content for the people that like you and hope that other people will change their mind.

Speaker 1 29:21

Maybe I don't know, yeah, I still think, um, obviously, yeah, you're right, we did that episode and we had a number of people contact us. Obviously you've just mentioned it there. It seems that everyone was kind of going through or has been of late doing that social, you know, a bit of that social media fatigue. Weirdly enough, I still don't think we've got it back.

Speaker 2 29:44

If you actually look at our page?

Speaker 1 29:49

we're not still not post. You know the fact that we run a podcast. We should be doing a lot more social media than we, than we are, and I'll put my hands up to that and that's my domain, but it's just. Yeah, I still don't know why I'm I'm actually not even again still cooking quite a lot outside. I can't remember the last time I got my phone out it.

Speaker 3 30:11

It's hard work, though because I think you, I think people now make memes about the fact that, oh, I put 16 hours of time into filming this and then I got three people watched it or liked it, and, whether you want to admit it or not, we are all here to get people to kiss our ass. You want people to like your videos and say nice things and stuff, but if you make all that effort, people don't Everybody's like oh yeah, but you made it. You must feel good about it. Well, do it. No one else likes it. So what's the fucking point? No, that's true, though. That's it, it's true.

Speaker 2 30:42

I also think that life gets in the way. So I do a lot less content when we're recording the pod and Owen and I do quite a lot of batch recording when we record pods. So we'll have five, six weeks where we'll record two episodes a week. Plus that needs the editing time to get it done. Plus we need to look at when we're scheduling it, when that's the post going up and everything.

Speaker 2 31:04

And then on top of that, if you've got things like school holidays, if you've got things like any sort of DIY or anything that's on, if you've just got busy with work and you've had to travel around a lot, you'll still cook stuff, but I'm thinking I cannot be bothered to sit there and take photos before I eat it, to film it, and that takes away from the enjoyment. That. And on my own page, I started doing something slightly different because a few people are asking me for tips on things. I was like, okay, well, I'll do some recordings where I actually talk through how to do this, how to do that, and I enjoy doing those and I got some quite good feedback on them. But I don't know if you feel this way. I feel like a dick sat in the corner of the house doing voiceover for like a video or real, I feel almost embarrassed.

Speaker 3 31:54

I cringe on the inside when I'm talking through it I see a lot of people who because I I can't tell whether it's a confidence thing or not giving a shit thing, because I think I can probably find myself comfortably in both those zones if you get the venn diagram together, um, but people who like walk down the street filming themselves, like I'm happy to film in here. I built this shack to give me the opportunity to cook and to film and stuff. I'm not. I don't know if I necessarily feel as confident like strolling around the street, like just talking into the camera, because you are conscious whether you about people just going off this ticket you know, so like, and the voiceovers are almost as bad because, like you're literally just talking to yourself I don't want.

Speaker 2 32:36

I don't even want my wife to hear me or what I'm doing, but I just need to sort something out upstairs. I've got like headphones in next, yeah yeah next, you take the skin off and you score it it's like you're okay in there I'll come out of the bathroom in a minute don't come in.

Speaker 3 32:54

Don't come in. It's funny you mentioned about the from the filming perspective, about like the having to take the pictures and stuff, because that's probably the bit, a bit of tipping point for me. But during Restaurant Roulette I have to put so much effort into making these like unique cooks and stuff. But basically I'm making dinner but before I can serve dinner I've got to make sure they get it all for instagram, because the whole point of it was to be like I was in some kind of like either a live vote or I'll make a video for a vote my wife's just getting this dinner.

Balancing Barbecue, Social Media, and Family

Speaker 3 33:23

That's cold like the night of the final. I'm stood in here and I did this massive barbecue spread like the whole length of this counter down, sat out now, um, probably one of the biggest barbecue cooks I've ever done. She stood like directly opposite me under an umbrella, filming it all because it was live. By the time she got to eat it must have was cold. I could see her look at her face like this would be nice 20 minutes ago, and then I didn't win. So I'm like well, yeah, here's your cold food for nothing. Um, yeah, I get it. I, I think, be, I'm listen.

Speaker 3 33:57

There are people out there now who make a living out of doing this sort of thing, whether it's barbecue or whatever, and I imagine even they get to the point where sometimes they're just like well, we're doing themself. You know, I need a few days off or whatever. But the ones who do it for a living are probably just paranoid because the instagram algorithm is so erratic, as it is okay if you just don't post anything for a week or 10 days because you fancy some time off and instagram's like buy that when you come back and you're like where are all my followers gone?

Speaker 3 34:20

where are my likes and where have I gone?

Speaker 2 34:22

they've just moved on and we found ourselves like stuff just drops off for no reason whatsoever. It feels like it's an update or an algorithm change and and you can again. We don't do this for anything other than the enjoyment of what we do, right? So I care slightly less possibly less slightly than Owen with kind of the hit ratio, but we went from one week posting something that got 16,000 hits in the space of a week to next week doing something was different, but the same sort of style, that got like 125. Something was different, but the same sort of style that got like 125. And you're like there is no reason obvious reason at all why that has happened in that way, and that can suck the life out of you as well if you focus too much on that right yeah, I, I think so.

Speaker 3 35:07

And then I guess the other bit that kind of bothers me a little bit is that my my account is a barbecue account, right, so it's the purpose of it is to log barbecue account. But a barbecue account, right, so it's the purpose of it is to log barbecue account. But sometimes I just don't want to talk about barbecue and sometimes something funny happens, or sometimes I go on hold, I want to make a video, something else I'm paranoid about whether I put it on the grid or whatever, because people like I'm not here for that man, um, so I do less of the videos. But I kind of got to the point of like again, I make it sound like I literally don't care about anything. That honestly, it's the case. But I got to the point was like, well, I'm just going to talk about whatever I want to talk about, like.

Speaker 3 35:40

So I did talk a lot about my training during that phase, because there were people who were contacting me after I mentioned it a few times, going who are you doing this, what are you doing, what are you finding stuff? And for that, trying to like blow my own horn. I was did pretty well, like the amount of weight that I shifted and kept off. Um, the people then asked me about it but I'm like well, this isn't a weight loss account, so I'm not. I'm happy to chat about it in these stories, but I'm not gonna start posting videos because it's just not who I am.

Speaker 3 36:09

But then I think, a few christmases back I made a video that I thought was funny and I just posted it and it did really really well and I got all these random followers but they came as soon as they. They left as soon as they came because they were here to see funny videos. So I cut up the Christmas tree when we finished and I lobbed it at the bin lid and it went into the bin and the bin closed and I put like, don't dream, it's over, playing over the top of it and I thought I'm funny, me like that, and then I went back to.

Speaker 3 36:40

I went back to posting barbecue again, and then all my followers. So, okay, yeah, if you could have an account that just talked about anything, you'd be having fun, but all of the experts tell you you have to focus on the niche you know. Just kind of get to the point. I'm like I'm doing this fun, like the videos and stuff should be a byproduct of me.

Speaker 1 36:58

Cooking and eating like so, going back to the cooking then, do you have a particular favorite? Obviously you've got. We, you know, we, we followed you for quite some time now know how varied your account is in terms of cooks, but is there something that is a go-to for you, a staple?

Speaker 3 37:18

um, I do like a good rib by steak. Um, because now I'm one of those knobheads who, like I'll go into a restaurant and I'm like that's not how I wanted it, that's not what I asked for, so and I'm like I'm to cook this there at home. I'm thinking this guy is a chef for a living. I'm just some bozo cooking it himself, but I know how I'm cooking it, that I can cook it to my idea of perfection. I am quite partial to the. Kenya is one of my favourite cuts. Obviously a bit more effort, but I don't mind putting the F in and then wings and stuff like. I'm a big American football fan and football season is about to start again, so it's a good excuse to just like bung out the wings or do some tailgate food and stuff like that. So I'm quite happy to do the longer cooks with the big win at the end, or just these. I've got enough devices behind me to be able to do whatever.

Speaker 1 38:07

I'm quite passionate about pizza now, as if you've been looking or thinking about an outdoor kitchen, then look no further nao-esque outdoor kitchens they are the south's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists their extensive showroom is based just outside bournemouth on the dorset hampshire border and, as well as numerous in-store displays, also features a live outdoor kitchen where they cook every week on commando grills, pizza ovens, and all filmed and shown on YouTube.

Speaker 2 38:38

They offer a wealth of knowledge on how to transform your patio into the most incredible outdoor dining area, with styles and options to suit every budget, and you can guarantee they will be able to create something perfectly suited to you and your home.

Speaker 1 38:51

They stock and supply everything that you're going to need for outdoor cooking, including barbecues, kamado ovens, pizza ovens, outdoor fridges and every accessory that you would need to become the ultimate outdoor chef.

Speaker 2 39:05

So if you want to make yourself the envy of your friends and neighbours, get in touch with them today to arrange a consultation and take the first step in transforming your back garden into the most incredible entertainment space.

Speaker 1 39:16

Visit aoskitchenscouk.

Speaker 2 39:22

On the NFL side. My brain is wired to connect NFL with barbecue because I've said before, particularly in like, my dad would do barbecues most weekends. But when I look back and I've spoken to him about it recently, it was because he was big NFL fan, as my mom was, and so every Sunday we'd have a barbecue and they'd have that with the first game that was on.

Speaker 3 39:44

Yeah, so I do that quite a lot. To be fair, that's a good way we one of the things that we actively chosen to do as a family because we don't do it for the rest of the year, I guess is to have a family dinner on sundays when the nfl season's on, because I can't really be like I'm just not around to help in the evening because the football's on. But that gives me a good excuse to say right, what do we want? I can cook something really nice, I can do this, I can do that, I can. You know, you want pork belly or you want steak, or you want just a chicken, but done on the smoker or whatever it can be.

Speaker 3 40:13

You're right, there is a direct correlation between the two. I've been to enough places now where whether retail gating or just going to cities that are famous for barbecue, where people put the two. Well, it's the three things it's the barbecue, the beer and the football. So yeah, I mean I find that as a good way to kind of make sure that the family are happy as well when I'm clear enough to watch football for seven hours straight on a Sunday night. So make sure their bellies are full first.

Speaker 2 40:41

I'm guilty of the fact that I don't do it as much as I should. With American football, I'm an Eagles fan and, for whatever reason, when they eventually won that Super Bowl that they've been chasing for years and years and years and years. I now tend to only really watch the super bowl and maybe one or two playoff games if they excite me. But um, I mean, it used to be every single sunday. I would cook something to sit down and watch for that reason. Do you think that's one of the things that got you into barbecue, that that link?

Speaker 3 41:12

I think, it leveled up.

Speaker 3 41:13

Um, so I obviously I started to kind of barbecue and stuff properly in covid but I'd actually been following football for what was that? 2020, so about nine or ten years prior and I enjoyed the barbecue side of things and I enjoyed going out and seeking the restaurants that were selling the food when the games used to be at wembley, before they inconveniently put skyscrapers and stuff up. There are lots of pop-ups for like hooters and whatever and stuff that you couldn't really get around. Um, if I go to football in America which I do reasonably regularly it always comes with like right, we need to go to get the food to then go to the football. It's just kind of a rite of passage. Um, so I'm going to a game in three weeks and I'm going to the tailgate beforehand and it's barbecue food already. I already know it's barbecue food, so to save me a job, I'm going to find something somewhere else. Americans see it as just their thing. I mean, like there are Americans who look at football like it's the most important thing on their week and if they say they want the food and they want the football and stuff, they kind of that message kind of emanates out of America and that's how everybody sees it. So the tailgates is a classic example.

Speaker 3 42:21

I was fortunate to be taken to like a traditional tailgate once. Ironically it was in Philadelphia. I was doing a trip at the East coast with my wife and a friend of mine. Her parents were in town and they were Steelers fans and the Steelers are playing at the Eagles and they said we'll take you, but we'll take you, we'll do it properly. So we'll go in the parking lot, we'll proper tailgate they were taking us again pulled in the tailgate, opened the trunk and whatever, got the table out, got the grill out, got the cool box out. It was one of the best days of my life.

Speaker 3 42:49

Um, I was absolutely steaming by the time I got indoors. I had so much to drink, I had all this food. It'd make no difference whatsoever. I can't remember what I ate, but I remember a lot. Um, but those things, I think they're quite impressionable. Moments like that's. That's just how the americans see it, and I'm I don't think the british are like wannabe americans, but like when you're what. It's their sport that we're embracing. So it comes with all the bells and whistles, you know. It comes with the barbecue and it comes with the razzmatazz and whatever else it is, and we as a group we go out to the host city the Super Bowl every year and we hang out and we just watch the game over there, because it's pretty depressing to watch over here at like 3am.

Speaker 2 43:31

That's my life. I'm so used to that I think. Well, I'd love to go over there and watch it in the city as it's happening, but that's one of my favorite days of the year, yes staying up until five, four, five in the morning, watching it, cooking the whole time.

Speaker 3 43:46

Owen doesn't get it at all and I've tried to get him to try it with me once, and he's like no, no, not at all everything you've just said in the last five minutes has gone well, I know a lot of people who are big into football, who book the Monday off because they want to be able to do it full ball and basically go right, we're going to eat, we're going to drink, we're going to stay up until whatever clock. So out of the last, I think, eight Super Bowls, I've been in America for seven of them and probably the thing that will haunt me till the rest of time the one that I wasn't in America for, thanks to COVID, was in Tampa. I'm a Bucks fan and when Tampa won it in Tampa which at the time had never been done by anybody, and I was sat in my lounge at 4am because I wasn't allowed to fly anywhere Was that Brady's first season?

Speaker 2 44:36

Was that Brady's first season there?

Speaker 3 44:38

Yeah, so that was painful. We've moved on.

Speaker 3 44:44

I've been to see some really nice cities and stuff. As a result, the food's a massive deal there too. So next year we're in New Orleans, which is one of the ones I've wanted to go to for ages. The food scene over there is huge. The kind of party scene with the way they do things like Mardi Gras and stuff, is huge. It's a massive football city, even though we as a Pucks fan we don't like New Orleans things. But they won't be in the Super Bowl so we don't have to worry about it and that for me they do go work very much hand in hand. Not necessarily always barbecue, because the food seen in New Orleans probably isn't barbecue. Heavy Food is food. Send me to a nice country that make nice food and I'm in.

Speaker 2 45:26

So, new Orleans, are you going to ask people for beads for Christmas to take over? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 45:32

I'll go over there. Like I'm a local. We've already started doing a little bit of research about places to go because I knew the obvious ones like the French Quarter and stuff like that. But I want to go over there. I've got a friend who lives in Tampa and is a Bucks fan and goes over to the Saints game every year and there's so many different types of cuisine in New Orleans because of all these different communities that have come together. It's many different types of cuisine in new orleans because of all these different communities that have come together.

Speaker 3 45:59

It's really one of those melting pot type cities where you can go and get the seafood at one place and so and so elsewhere, and then there's the french bit and they're famous for like coffees and donuts and so on and so forth. Um, whereas this year, by complete polar opposite, we're just vegas, which is like I know honestly. So I go to vegas quite a for work. So I was at Blase to it all.

Speaker 3 46:14

But as far as Super Bowls go, it was pretty bland, like Vegas do big all the time and they just happen to be hosting a Super Bowl and we were there for two days after and before we'd left they'd basically taken it all down as if it hadn't happened. There's not really a major Vegas food scene. They just have famous chefs making you pay lots of money on the strip for food you could have bought somewhere else for less. Um, so it's not not high on my list of favorite super bowls, but I'm very excited about new orleans, um, and I've got a couple other places I want to go to at some point in the future for food purposes so talking about uh, I'm gonna move it on because I don't know what you're talking about.

Speaker 1 46:57

Let's do some barbecue fails. Nice, smooth transition there. Yeah, it's so smooth, right, let's talk about some barbecue fails, simon.

Barbecue Fails and Mishaps

Speaker 3 47:10

Tell us some of the things that haven't gone so well. So I was thinking about this earlier because I don't think I've had too many like catastrophes, but the ones that have happened have always kind of made me laugh because I've kind of thought, yeah, I probably should have seen that coming like one minute. So the first time I have the, I've got the commando and the first time I used the basket, um accessory, the rotisserie basket. I'd been wanting it for ages. I thought this is gonna be brilliant. I had all these ideas about all these cool things you're going to do. It's going to make great videos, food's going to be amazing.

Speaker 3 47:39

And the first thing that I decided to do was a spatchcock chicken in the top and I was going to be all smug and I was going to put the chips in the bottom and I was like these are going't want um chips that aren't cooked. So I parboiled them first and I bunged them in the basket. It was turning around. I was like, yeah, this is awesome. And I filmed a couple little snips onto like stories and stuff and I was like you wait till this comes out. It's gonna be the best chicken chips you've ever seen. And I came back about half an hour later and practically all the chips had gone and I'm like what? I don't understand it. It was only then I kind of then realized obviously I'd parboiled them. They were quite fragile at that point, the baskets rattling them around and they were just disintegrate, disappearing out of the basket into the ashes, which basically left me with a chicken. So as far as like fails goes, so I went from having chicken and chips thinner to like literally just chicken. Um, it was lovely chicken, but it wasn't what I had in mind.

Speaker 3 48:36

Um, and I think a few of the other ones I've done have been where you they're honest mistakes, you get distracted or something like that. Because, like, if I'm doing a brisket, I will ensure there are no distractions. I'm like, listen, this requires my utmost attention, go away. But I've had a couple of times where I've done things like um tacos or something like that, where I've like I've got like a nice braise on the go and I've got a um bit of shin in there or something like that. It's been smoked and I'm all like, yeah, that's great, I'll leave that, and then the grill like flares up or something. I come back a bit later. It's completely baked to the bottom of the pan, like to the point where I'm like oh, I wonder if I just put a bit, a bit more juice in this thing, it'll no, what it'll turn into is a nice burnt, just juicy mesh um that they're I mean they are the ones who literally cannot serve food at that point.

Speaker 3 49:26

And then you have to kind of like think and you think because you don't want to go and those go. You know that dinner that I've been cooking for like eight hours it's not there anymore. I mean it is and also the pan's probably ruined. I am quite fortunate, I think, because I haven't had anything where I would like, I haven't had like a catastrophic fail on a brisket or stuff, because I've obviously listened to plenty of podcasts before where people have like really had some like absolute clangers. I like to think that everybody makes mistakes, to learn from those mistakes, and I'm quite fortunate, I think, that my mistakes have been relatively minor and they stuck, because I guess sometimes if you make a minor mistake, they're the ones you don't remember. You need like a absolute howler to stick at the front of your mind. Needless to say, when I have attempted potatoes in there since then they have been significantly larger and parboiled for much less time um yeah.

Speaker 3 50:16

So note to everybody you know, don't try and be clever, because you're usually not as clever as you think you are you just reminded me the first.

Speaker 1 50:24

So I've got a only fire rotisserie attachment for the Weber. Um, and then I chose to buy their basket. Um, there was nothing wrong with the cooking element. I cooked some wedges. I think I did wedges and it was. It was all all right. It was actually the cleaning it. There was ever so slightly in the where the kind of mesh bit meets the solid metal at the edge, there was ever so slightly a tiny little bit of metal mesh that was sticking up. So as I've gone over and cleaned it, it's literally gone straight through and sliced my finger. Wow, yeah, so that was a fail, but not a cooking fail, but using barbecue equipment.

Speaker 3 51:09

Well, if your finger's still attached to your hand, I hope this works, oh yeah, it wasn't like a hospital trip, but it was.

Speaker 3 51:18

uh, oh, that's, that's, that's doing a bit of bleeding yeah, well, on the other occasions where I have cut myself, I burn myself, they are generally because I'm not paying attention, like so, and I keep those as the little they're meant to be, like little battle scars, like barbecue battle scars. But, um, I put on my Instagram stories last week when I got the blackstone. I was seasoning the blackstone and I've I've seasoned a lot of metal over my times and never really done a very good job. I can't really get my head around it. It's like it's never even like I'm trying my best with like a paper towel or a whatever to like make it even and then it's a bit lumpy or whatever.

Speaker 3 51:53

Um, I was like no, come on, it's not a difficult thing to do, like let's get this right. And I had the burners up full whack and I spent so much time leaning over with this um spatula and a bit of kitchen paper and then after about 10 minutes, I was like that's my arm hot and the entire, all side of my arm down there was like bright red, with all the hairs on that side of my arm are basically all singed off at the moment they've all gone and it was all like pink down there like I'd been out in the sun and not put a suntan lotion on, and I put like a video on saying I've, uh, seasoned my blackstone and also my arm and it's probably the most liked story I think I've ever had. So I'm like he's basically laughing at my, at my pain.

Speaker 2 52:34

I. I accidentally managed to give my just under two year old a a face mask the other day. I haven't told you about this, owen, cause I've been saving it so out in the garden playing, and I'm sure everyone else is the same. But we're cooking the commando right. You get a lot of like ash that falls into the bottom tray and I just clear it out when I next do a cook right. So the first thing I'll do is put the little tray in the very bottom bit, get that ash out of there and then brush to get a second kind of thing through.

Speaker 2 53:07

Anyway, we're outside playing with his thomas toys and we were hiding them in different and he was finding it hilarious. I was like, watch this, come here. So took it over to like the monolith, opened up the bottom grill, put it in there, brought him over and he was laughing pulled it out and I was like oh, it's covered in dust. The second that I said out loud, he sneezed and all his eyes just flew over his face. I was like Steph's not outside. Quickly, baby, wipe, wipe this child down, wipe this child down. Nothing happened, nothing happened and the shock on his face was just covered in this stuff.

Speaker 3 53:44

I have visions now of you like desperately trying to wipe it off his face, but you've still got like a ring around his face like a mime artist at the end of a day's work. They got like a ring around his face like a mime artist at the end of a day's work.

Speaker 3 53:52

They're like he's got a mime artist and she's like what's up with his face? And you're like what do you mean? What's up with his face? He always looks like that. He's been in it for two years, for a second oh god, it's one of those things. Where it was, it was funny after I made sure not coughing his lungs up from all the dust he's inhaled yeah, it's the fact.

Speaker 2 54:14

He went absolutely silent and his eyes opened in shock when all this stuff came out over. I was like come here, wipe you down.

Speaker 3 54:20

You know, the worst thing is the first thing I thought of when you said that I would have whipped my phone out taking a picture. Then I cleaned her up.

Speaker 2 54:25

I wish I wish I'd thought of that. I just my instant panic was steph's inside and she's in kitchen. I know she's coming out in two seconds. Wipe the child down. Nothing happens. Nothing happened with this child. He's absolutely fine toddling around.

Speaker 3 54:39

Kids, though. They can't keep their things to themselves, so you might think that it's not being told, but at some point that story's coming out.

Speaker 1 54:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean she's going to hear it in a minute, Like she listens to this. She hears enough every day today. I mean you were playing. You were playing with thomas the tank engine. I mean part of working on a steam train shoveling coal. You're going to get black and dirty. So exactly that's what I'd have played. That's how I'd have played it yeah yeah, exactly, yeah, real live action, right.

Speaker 1 55:13

So shall we do some barbecue bingo? Do you fancy uh cooking something from an ingredient that uh a previous guest has left? Yes and no. I was gonna say I'm glad you didn't if you just said no full stop.

Speaker 3 55:26

That'd be awkward, wouldn't it? Yeah? So I've listened to some of these in the past and I and I thought to myself, but I wouldn't even know what to do with that. And then obviously, I hear people like trying to work out whether they're going to be mean or kind to what they then add. So I still haven't entirely decided which which side of that I'm on yet, but you've got, you've got a few, you've got a few minutes.

Creative Cooking Challenges and Sweet Surprises

Speaker 2 55:45

So yeah, it's. It's taken us what five, five series now, owen, to realise that we should probably read out the ingredients on there, otherwise people who aren't watching on YouTube won't know what's on this magical wheel of fortune that Owen's put together Not copyrighted, don't come at us. So some of the things on there we've got paella, scallops, rabbit, padron, peppers, frog legs, tripe, kangaroo pop in that vindaloo paste, white pudding, monkfish, chicken hearts, duck, szechuan pepper and then finally, something that we call my signature dish. So as a listener, you'll know kind of the premise behind that, but what do you think your signature dish would be, simon?

Speaker 3 56:31

it depends on you ask, because my wife's quite passionate to smash burgers so she basically, if I had to knock up food pretty quickly, it'd be smash burgers. Um, because I tend to do them like the five guy style again, trademark copyright etc. Etc. Where you like, put them in the foil and stuff and make it like it looks like a proper little meal. Um, and I know a lot of people when they come around do kind of ask for the burgers, probably that, although if you gave me a choice of what I was doing, it'd be some kind of rib-eye steak.

Speaker 2 56:58

Is there anything that you're?

Speaker 1 56:59

terrified. Is there anything on there that you really don't want?

Speaker 3 57:06

Not really. The only things that concern me is that my wife can't really eat spicy food, so if I get anything with spicy I've got to eat the whole thing myself. Vindaloo paste yeah, that's not going to bode well for her. And I saw um, I saw tripe on there and I I imagine people see that and go oh my god, and I don't want to make people think like I'm some kind of weirdo, but that used to be something I used to eat quite regularly when I was a kid. Uh, the, the um. I'm fromfolk so we'll just leave it as is. The chip shops on the market and stuff in Yarmouth used to sell like chips and tripe. It was a thing I was a kid, I don't know any better. It tasted all right at the time, although it was drowned in salt and vinegar. Who knows what it actually tasted like otherwise, because I know what it is now. So it probably puts people off when you know what it is.

Speaker 1 57:50

But I still don't know if I've had it, or if I had, I've mentally blocked it it does well.

Speaker 3 58:00

Things like, say, I've I'm not a massive fan of, like black pudding, and I don't know how much of it is, because I know what it is as opposed to what it actually is. And then I feel like I'm behaving a bit like a kid, you know, and someone says I don't like it, and you go, have you tried it? And you go.

Speaker 1 58:13

No, I just don't like it yeah right, let's give it a spin.

Speaker 2 58:20

See what comes out also, I'm a little bit upset. You don't like black pudding. Work on that probably.

Speaker 3 58:27

I swear that was nearly on Vindaloo poster Octopus.

Speaker 1 58:31

Oh, that was close.

Speaker 3 58:33

What can work with that? I think I actually tried Octopus for the first time like two weeks ago, oh wow, I was on holiday in Tunisia and they had it in the all-inclusive and I actually, for the first time, filmed some stuff they hadn't put out yet, but they had Octopus Ceviche, which I won't be attempting, because I looked at it and thought what the nerf is that. I tried it, it was lovely, but, um, I quite like squid, so I imagine the octopus isn't too dissimilar to squid as far as like cooking it and what you can do with it. If you overcook it, it tastes like a tire, so you should be careful. Yeah okay.

Speaker 1 59:07

So have you decided whether you're going to be nice or are you going to put some stick, try and stitch someone up?

Speaker 3 59:13

I guess that really depends on people's interpretation of what I'm. I guess. Um, it did help me a little bit because everything on there, as far as I could see, was really savory and so my I was intending to put something quite sweet, like a bit weird and quite sweet, yeah, and I'm going to do that. My kids love chocolate spread and I thought to myself you can make something with chocolate spread. And I would love to see if people thought they could be clever and make a semi-savoury dish with chocolate spread, because it's pretty easy to turn around and say I'll make a pizza and I'll use the chocolate spread as the base, but that's kind of cheating.

Speaker 2 59:53

So I'm not precious on which brand you use, but yeah, some kind of chocolate spread I'm just trying to think, savory, I mean, I I am very partial to dark chocolate and chili, so my brain would be like, okay, would you put it in chili? Would you put it in chili? Would you put it in some sort of other ragu or or stew type substance?

Speaker 3 1:00:18

It's more often than not with chocolate spread. It's very sweet because it's it's like. So the one that my kids have is a Cadbury's again flashing the brands over but it's very tastes like Cadbury's chocolate, cause I've tried the dark chocolate and chili thing and it adds like a depth of flavor. But I imagine if you put Cadbury's chocolate spread in there it doesn't do that.

Speaker 2 1:00:39

I wonder what would happen if you put a thin layer of chocolate spread on a thick cut steak and then sealed it because of the sugars, how that would kind of caramelize up.

Speaker 3 1:00:49

It's funny you say that because it was a video that I saw similar to that that made me think of it in the first place. A few weeks back, someone essentially like brined a steak in melted chocolate. Was that guga? Was that guga?

Speaker 2 1:01:05

I think you might have been. Yeah, yeah, I think I've seen it scraped it off.

Speaker 3 1:01:08

Actually, I think it was like a 300 wagyu steak or something. At one point I was like are you insane? Um grind it all off. And then um seared it because of his wagyu, so he didn't need to do much with it. But I don't actually remember what the outcome of that was.

Speaker 1 1:01:22

But what about? What about? I think something like a chicken breasts, where it's not really heavy on flavor, almost doing like a chicken kiev, but rather than the, the sauce inside the chicken is chocolate, and then the breadcrumbs you do with like a cinnamon, so you mix like breadcrumbs sweet as hell I'm not telling I'm not telling anybody so what they think they're about to eat is a garlic kiev, and then they buy into it.

Speaker 3 1:01:51

They're like what the hell does that? Like one of those blind test things to get you know yeah, is uh audi better than lidl?

Speaker 1 1:01:58

I don't know. Here you go let's find out.

Speaker 3 1:01:59

Yeah, well, that's, that's funky tasting what they've been doing. So I tried. I've got some of my most viewed like commented videos, whatever. Uh, sweet and savory combos um, I did like a burger series where I made like burger with a glazed donut, burger with a waffle. Um, I did like a star wars themed burger and stuff like that and the if you get the flavors right, the sweet and savory thing actually work really well, because it's a bit like when you have foods and you put the acidity in it kind of cuts through fattiness and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 1:02:31

Yeah, um, but if you are the sort of person and it's not like I have this most refined palate I should point out, I'm just a geezer eats food um, but if you are the sort of person who can, your brain can process that it tastes really nice. If you're not, then you're a person who's like what the hell's happened in my mouth and you just like to spit it out like a five-year-old. But, um, yeah, I'm interested to see if anybody picks it up or what they think they could do well, the other thing that I was thinking is like, classically, chocolate and brioche is a great combo, right.

Speaker 2 1:02:59

So again, I don't think it would be thick, but if you had a burger with brioche buns that you toasted off and then like a thin layer of chocolate spread top and bottom, that I don't see that going wrong per se.

Speaker 3 1:03:13

You know the problem is going to be now. I've been tasked with making something with octopus and now I'm gonna go off make something octopus and try and figure out what I can make with chocolate as well I'm interested, I'm definitely interested to think of chocolate I'm not about to go and put chocolate spread on octopus. I should point out for anybody who thinks that might be where I'm going no, you can put off-dose on chocolate spread.

Speaker 2 1:03:32

Stop it in the tentacles.

Speaker 3 1:03:34

Yeah, exactly, let's not get silly.

Building Community Through Barbecue Passion

Speaker 1 1:03:40

So is. Oh, I forgot what I was going to say.

Speaker 2 1:03:43

We've come to the end of the episode is what Owen was going to say, and we always like to say to guests that we covered a lot of topics, but it's now your turn to kind of pick out. Is we covered a lot of topics, but it's now your turn to kind of pick out? Is there anything that you want to talk about that either we haven't mentioned or maybe isn't being discussed or should be discussed, or maybe some of the barbecue communities on social media or anything you just want to natter about, really.

Speaker 3 1:04:08

We'd be here, all day if that was the case, do you know? So I thought about this and it's been on my mind a few things like a few times lately. I know it's been referenced on here before, so I'm not going to dive into the most of the details, primarily because I'm not necessarily the best place to do it, but, um, it crossed my mind the other day. Obviously there's a lot more awareness now with regards to mental health issues and it's been well documented and you guys have covered it and stuff, and I am fortunate enough to not have knowingly had anything that would be considered to be mental health issues. But then, when I got thinking about it, I did think that I think a significant reason as to why that is the case, because I have passion projects that I love, but they're very community-based. So you can probably see where I'm going with this because, like I, I barbecue and I'm in the WhatsApp groups and I'm in the Twitter groups and I'm on social media. I'm constantly sharing things with people to the point where I don't feel like I'm like alone or struggling Football for my sins. You go to watch your football team, even if they're not performing. You're amongst 25 000 other people. Um, it gives you the opportunity to talk and stuff and things like with my, my gym stuff, when I started talking to other people about it. So I almost feel like unintentionally, the topics and the things, activities I've chosen but notably barbecue um, I feel like they're perhaps a significant reason as to why I haven't had the misfortune of struggling in those sort of areas, because the one thing I I've always very much of, like you don't know what you don't know. But I've got a friend who's had some struggles and I've kind of said to him listen, I don't expect you to explain to me what these are, because that is kind of the point. Like everybody tells you you should share it, but the reason people don't share it is they don't really know what it is they're meant to be sharing because people won't understand where they're coming from.

Speaker 3 1:06:02

And I do again, I don't like I have a relatively simple life, like I don't try to overcomplicate things. I have a family, I have a, a business, I go on holiday, I do the things, but I have the same shit that everybody else deals with. You know, I've got small children, I've got the same problems everybody else has electricity bills are high and so on and so forth, but without really thinking about it. I regularly chat with people on instagram, in direct messaging, whatever, and on whatsapp. I've never even met this people like. I don't know these people other than the what they're sending me and what I'm seeing, and I'm taking them as they are, who they say they are um, and I believe that they are um, but that's something I hadn't really considered until recently that you know, maybe I'm fortunate that I've chosen this area and it just so happens. These people are here and they're good people and everybody's prepared to share stuff, because I've got people that I would genuinely say that they are like relatively close friends and I've never met.

Speaker 3 1:07:00

And then it comes to like events. You're now trying to make sure that you're going to these events the sizzle fest and the meetopias and whatever they are because you know that there's a chance that you might catch up with this guy that you've been chatting to for two years. I'm going to give you a prime example. There's a guy called Dale. He was Wooden Designs on Instagram. I barely know the guy, but he was handy with making things out of wood and he decided to turn his hand to making chopping boards. I was his first customer and we did like a big custom design thing. We named this amazing board out of three different woods with my brand, but it's in all of my videos. It's amazing.

Speaker 3 1:07:42

Um, he struggled a little bit with the whole instagram thing as far as, like, he wasn't really necessarily getting the engagement that he wanted and stuff, and I think it started to get him down a bit. But he's going to sizzle fest and I've never met the guy, but he's the guy I'm guarding for. As soon as I get there, they're gonna have a couple of pints with, just turn around and say you know, I've been waiting to do this for a while. Man, let's catch up, let's have some beers, let's get drunk, let's talk some shit. You know, um, if I did that with everybody that I talked to talk to, I probably wouldn't be sober very much, which would then be a completely, completely different community I'd be moving into um but, um, yeah, I didn't really want to like blabber on about it and stuff, because this I don't really have.

Speaker 3 1:08:21

I don't like to preach about things, but I wouldn't. I think it'd be remiss to not kind of cover that sort of thing, because having heard you guys talk about it before, having spoke about people in this community and having kind of really now, I guess, acknowledge that that is what it is, um, yeah, it's worth saying yeah, absolutely, and it is such a good community.

Speaker 1 1:08:42

And again, we've we've covered it before, but you know social media gets a bad rap because of the generally the toxicity that's, that's comes with it and and it is there absolutely, but you just don't seem to get that in the barbecue community and and I think it's probably such a strong community for that very reason, because you just don't get people that are dickheads basically.

Speaker 3 1:09:05

Yeah, yeah, well, maybe. I just think the thing with social media is social media in its very nature is obviously people kind of laying themselves bare for you to criticize if you wish, and it's a choice. It is a choice whether you choose to say nothing, say something positive, say something constructive, say something negative. And it's so easy, it would seem, to say something negative as opposed to, because I listen, I've got a few years under the belt and I was always taught that if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. But social media seems to be saying, hey, you've got platform here, say what the hell you want to whoever you want.

Speaker 3 1:09:44

And yeah, I just don't see that in the barbecue world, when it would be pretty easy to do it, you know someone could turn and go what do you think if I cook, people go look shit, yeah, but they, but they don't. They turn around and say, well, do you know what? Maybe I'd have done it this way, maybe try this. Or what did you do? What was your thought process? There's like an education, as opposed to just taking shots for no valid reason, because I'll never really understand it, nor should we get into it now, but I don't see what people get as a general rule of just bel belittling others because it doesn't make you better, it makes you worse and it doesn't make them better. So what have you achieved? Um, yeah, so that's just kind of what I thought I'd mention on that point.

Social Media Interaction and Feedback Management

Speaker 2 1:10:22

I think the only time that owen and I have seen that in the barbecue community is when you've put a post out that has not gone viral because that that's not the right word but it's got traction and you get people who are not in the community commenting on it. And Owen and I look at it in two different ways, because I'm a sarky bastard. What I want to do is kill them with kindness and be over-the-top sarcastic. So I did a steak video a while ago that did big on Instagram, did okay on Facebook, but ago that did big on instagram, did okay on facebook.

Speaker 2 1:10:54

But I started getting comments on facebook and one of them was like it's red, it's raw. And I was like, oh, look at this, don't engage with it. I was like, no, no, I will said thank you so much for your comment. It's really good to see people's feedback. Could you give me a bit more information about why it's raw? Because, as you can see from the video, it's, you know, 48 degrees. See it come up to 52 and a half, 53 degrees. In what way is that?

Speaker 3 1:11:24

raw by definition, because here's the definitions of them.

Speaker 2 1:11:25

I'd love to hear because, like it's red, it's raw. Thank you so. And then other people started to comment. I'm like, oh, it's lovely to see you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 1:11:32

I just you know the thing is as well I've heard this said before that um, that because of the nature of how social media works, any form of interaction technically is good. Now you don't want people taking shots, so you, you don't want people being mean to you and stuff. But as far as Instagram is concerned, someone commented on your post. So if you have the mindset to be able to do that and I am the most sarcastic person I know, like my wife, just like, and so we go to America quite a lot America don't really do sarcasm as much and I will very regularly get myself in a situation where I say something and the person just looking at me like what? But you can be sarcastic online and it be misinterpreted, but you can.

Speaker 3 1:12:23

The whole killing them with kindness thing is probably one of my favorite things which you can't be misinterpreted Like. You might not understand that I am being a bit of a dick, but as far as you're concerned, the literal translation of what I'm saying is basically no. Thank you so much for your feedback. It's very much appreciated, you know. I appreciate you're taking the valuable time out of your very busy day to give me this wonderful constructive criticism, you know um you don't put up with them, but, um, like I said, it's instagram want that.

Speaker 3 1:12:55

It's like, then you know. So I've used this, this, um, this analogy, a lot for work. That news, by definition, is new. So people who keep posting the same stuff over and over again, instagram don't want you to do that because they're like well, we've seen this, but what we haven't seen is Dave from wherever coming on taking shots of you for your undercooked steak, when he's completely underqualified to do so. Um, and then maybe at that point you're like I've got to start a new video series. It's me versus Dave. Um, here's all the ways he's wrong.

Speaker 1 1:13:31

I actually think Facebook. Historically, facebook has been worse for the negative comments, more so than Instagram we found?

Speaker 2 1:13:41

yes, but I also think because we never touched Twitter or X, which to me seems to be the cesspool of society, screaming at each other in a darkened void, trying to slowly bring down each other one by one. I hate it so much it's so.

Speaker 3 1:13:57

I used to love twitter when it was twitter because I could access a lot of things I needed, like sports news, and I had people that I knew. And then, the minute that it changed to x, they've got different ambitions, shall we say, now as to what they want from the platform, and they've opened a lot of floodgates to people to be able to do what they want, say what they want, and it isn't really something that interests me anymore. Um, and I have to admit as well, similarly with facebook, I go to facebook to find things that I don't really post. Many things. I don't really post a lot for the grill stuff. I don't post much for the sake of my friends and family either.

Speaker 3 1:14:33

Um, I'm more of the opinion, because it is mainly friends and family on there. I'm like, well, chances are you've seen me, I've told you this or you've seen it, so there's no point we put on there. And then you're going into these groups and then there is a lot of bitching and fine and stuff in there, and I'm just like I don't like this, like I might like a bit, but the fact is and I'm certainly not the only person in this situation if you have small children. There is always something more important going on in your house. Yeah, that isn't even remotely important in the grander scheme of things, but it's always more important than wherever that drivel is on facebook or someone's whining about whatever. I'm just like, oh, my kids just done this, or they've just broken this or knocked this over, or like.

Speaker 3 1:15:10

My wife came home today with my two children. One of them basically ran into the other one and now I've got a bruise in her chin. But tomorrow I've got to take it to nursery and I'll have to sign a form because I gave my child over with a bruise and they don't want to assume responsibility for it. And I'm like that's already on my mind now and I don't have to do that till tomorrow. So these are the stroke, these are my struggles, not like dave Sorry to any Daves out there, it's the first name that came into my head. I'm not taking shots at.

Speaker 2 1:15:36

Dave but.

Speaker 3 1:15:36

Dave, bloody Dave. No, no, out there, you know, just complaining for the second, complaining because they have nothing better to do.

Speaker 1 1:15:44

Yeah, yeah, well said as well, no just We'll do a little disclaimer for Dave at the end. My uncle's going to hate this. Yeah, any Dave that's been mentioned during this episode is not a likeness to actual, real people and it's all just factual bollocks.

Speaker 2 1:16:03

If anyone wants to claim the title of Dickhead Dave, please do message us and we'll start a series about you.

Speaker 3 1:16:10

You're about to go viral, when all the Daves are going to just like hate you as much as they can and they'll be sending you and this is when you're killing McCann. This is going to really come to the fore and every, every Dave in like a 120 mile radius is like hey, what have you been talking about, mate?

Speaker 2 1:16:25

please send your comments to dickheaddave at livecouk, I feel like now.

Speaker 3 1:16:31

I've got a little bit of time and I was about to turn around and say something else about this mystical man, dave, and I just thought there is a geezer out there called Dave. He's probably taking offence to this, so I better not. So sorry, dave.

Speaker 1 1:16:43

Simon, it's been a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 1:16:47

I've listened for a long time. Obviously I've seen you guys at Sizzle Fest and stuff. Yes, it was an honour to be invited.

Speaker 1 1:16:54

Yeah.

Speaker 3 1:16:54

Are you there next weekend? You're goddamn right. I've had a relatively inactive social calendar for most of the year, but then it seems like September's gone nuts. So I've got the return of the NFL, but it's Sizzle Fest. Then I'm in Tampa, then something else, and then I'll spend the rest of the winter in my garage watching American football, eating barbecue food nice, great stuff.

Speaker 1 1:17:24

Well, yeah, thanks very much for coming on and we'll see you in person in about 10 days time absolutely can't wait see you again thanks so much, simon cheers bye time.

Speaker 2 1:17:32

Absolutely can't. I See you again.

Grill Shack Interview

Speaker 1 1:17:33

Thanks so much, simon Cheers Bye. That's it for another episode of the Meat and Greet BBQ podcast. Thanks so much to Simon, aka the Grill Shack, for coming on. It's great to speak to him and find out about his journey, all the brands that he's working with and also what's coming up. So, as ever, we want to hear from you. Please do get in touch and, until next time, keep on grilling.

Speaker 2 1:18:04

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