One Promise, A Hundred Recipes, And A Cookbook That Gave A Community Its Voice

A promise to honour a father’s memory became a cookbook that rallied a whole barbecue community. We sit down with John Wilson to trace the gritty, very human path from “let’s do a book” to holding a 204‑page charity cookbook that climbed Amazon’s barbecue charts and put first‑time contributors next to big names.

John walks us through the real barriers no one talks about: post‑pandemic print costs that quadrupled, the tough decision to abandon a traditional print run, and the steep learning curve of Amazon KDP. He shares how AI became a practical assistant for formatting recipes consistently, while the painstaking work of proofreading, indexing and layout stayed stubbornly manual. Proof copies exposed mismatched fonts and an off‑by‑one index that demanded days of fixes. Hitting publish brought 72 anxious hours, then a wave of support as cooks opened the book and found their recipes on the page.

There is heart at every turn. We unpack the legal care required when naming charities and using logos, the slim KDP margins that still make the project worthwhile, and the moments that made it all land—like a young contributor presenting his printed recipe at school and earning an award. John also reveals a bold plan for volume two: a global live‑fire collection with curated regional dishes, a “Live Fire Legends” chapter, and a smarter submission flow to avoid duplicate recipes while encouraging cooks to stretch beyond their comfort zones.

Along the way, we talk sold‑out charity events, festival demos, and a playful barbecue bingo segment that lands on sweet chilli halloumi. If you care about cookbooks, community and the craft of getting ideas into people’s hands, this story will light a fire. Grab the cookbook via the links in our Instagram bios, cook a recipe, and tell us what you make. If this conversation resonates, subscribe, leave a quick review, and share it with a friend who loves live fire as much as you do.

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Transcript

Welcome Back And Big News

Owen 0:00

Today's episode is brought to you by iOS Kitchen, the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialist. Welcome to another episode of the Meet and Greek Barbecue Podcast. So today we have got John Wilson back on the podcast. We last spoke to him in 2023. He's just finished the barbecue community cookbook. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Without much further ado, here's John. So, John, welcome back to the podcast. I was having a quick look, and the last time that you were with us was April 2023, so nearly three years ago. How have you been?

Jon Wilson 0:50

Yeah, very well, very busy, uh, as uh you can imagine. But uh yeah, I can't believe it was three years ago. So it's uh time applies.

Why The Cookbook Began

Owen 0:58

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're super excited to have you back. Obviously, there's been a real buzz over the last week or so um about the barbecue community cookbook. I've got my copy here. Uh, very excited. Uh there you have that. We've done our promotional bit now. Um, so obviously, of course, we wanted to get you back. We you know, we briefly spoke about it way back in 2023. Talk about what's happened since then, because uh obviously it's now here, it's now a product.

Costs Spike And Plans Collapse

Speaker 1:29

Yes, uh so back in 2023, uh I decided or we we decided to uh to put a cookbook together. Uh it was basically me and my sister, just around that sort of time, uh, we unfortunately lost my dad to cancer, and uh we wanted to do something for his memory and plus to raise money for charities. So we decided on a cookbook uh and we had I had a chat with Paul from Flames Barbecue uh about it because I I was on the Sizzle Show because I had this massive fascination about cookbooks. Uh Cork from Sizzle Show interviewed me. Uh lots of messages, bring your own book out. Paul from Flames Barbecue got in touch. He said, Why don't you do it? I mean, to be honest, I'm from a construction background. My uh obviously, there's not many people go around editing and uh doing cookbooks and books of any sort of ilk, but uh that's what it was. So we decided to put it all together. I got a few people together. There was uh Tom from Smoke Face Grilla, he jumped on board. There was Lee uh Smoke and Seer, he was on board, uh, and also my sister. So we got it all together. Uh, that the little team of us, uh Lee very kindly with his website uh at Smoke and Seer, opened that up for people to download recipes. We got all that sorted out. It took me, I think, a good year to get recipes in. The bit I didn't think about was how many duplicate recipes I would have. And then I made the thing saying was don't worry about it. If you've submitted a recipe, I'll include you in the book. I didn't realise that I was gonna get like six mac and cheeses and things like that, but I'd already made a promise, so it was difficult really to put all these recipes into separate chapters. Uh I didn't quite think about it in the right sort of way because you say to everybody, right, send me a recipe, I can put it in a book. What I should have said was, if send me so many starters, uh, main meals, bits and pieces, have a little bit more thought about it and a bit more structure around it. But yeah, we we got there in the end, uh, and we ended up with a hundred recipes, I think there was. I got it all edited, got it into various chapters, and the big thing was that me and my sister were actually going to fund this to self-publish it. So it was just after COVID. We had some prices for say a thousand copies, I think it was, and it was somewhere between five and six thousand pounds. Can't quite remember exact figures. And after a year, a nearly a year and a half of us trying to put this together, costs just I think nearly quadrupled.

Dan 4:30

Yeah, paper went through the roof, didn't it? The cost of paper. Publishers we were back then, so we know exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 4:36

It went from probably between five and six grand to I think nearly fifteen thousand for a thousand copies. So we had to make the decision of how do we do this now? Yeah, it basically the finances were sky high, and unfortunately, I had to make the decision of thank you all very much, but unfortunately, I ain't gonna be able to do this. Uh, I didn't have a clue on editing, publishing. My computer skills were absolutely zero. Uh, my English was terrible, I was thrown out of school in the last year, so I didn't have much of a clue of what to do. Then some people started saying, Oh, go down the K KDP route, which is uh Amazon's publishing side of things, uh which is basically free, but you have to put it all together yourself. Uh and that is probably two years after I started, maybe a bit more, maybe two and a half years. I looked at the KDP route and had a little look at it and I thought, I can't do this. I just haven't got a clue of how to put a book together. You can ask loads of people about it, but you've actually got to physically sit there, generate all these recipes. Obviously, the recipes that were coming in, everybody done it on a Word document, but everybody's recipe was slightly different formatted. Yeah, so I had to reformat everything so everything was looked the same, which when you've got no computer skills, it got very, very difficult. But the good thing of it is, and I'm not a great believer of uh the AI, but actually I copied and pasted one of the recipes. I was only just messing around one night, and I copied and pasted one of the recipes, put it into AI, asked it to format it into a KDP format recipe, did it and it spat it back out. I thought, well, this could work. So then I tried it on another one and it came back right again. So I had a bit of a gist of what to do. So once I'd got the template set up for the size of the book, I just spent month after month with every recipe formatting it into the KDP format template and just work my way through 204 pages.

Owen 7:12

A labour of love, John.

Discovering KDP And Reformatting Chaos

Speaker 7:14

It's it was I'm one of these that if I start doing something, I want to finish it. And I it was quite upsetting, obviously, with the personal uh thing regarding the book, yeah, and plus me having a big mouth and telling everybody don't worry about it, you know, get a recipe in a book. Uh, but yeah, we I did it and it's all out now, which was a massive, massive uh probably the biggest achievement I've probably done, considering six months ago I'd never even done anything like this at all. I mean, I've learnt how to use a computer, I know how to edit, I know how to publish, and this, but yeah, we're raising money for charity. Unfortunately, going through the KDP route is financially, you don't make a lot of money out of it because obviously Amazon takes a big chunk of it. I mean, to print the cost to print one of these books, I think I've put it out, it was about £16.39p. Uh, then Amazon tech another cut on top of that, so it came out the break-even figure for Amazon was £27, so many pence. They would not let me put that up for sale any less than that, because that is the break-even figure. Yeah, so to sell it at £30, unfortunately, I only make £1.61p for the charities, but it is what it is. I've got it out there, and one of the other big reasons was uh with my passion for cookbooks, is I wanted to give people a chance. I mean, this barbecue community, uh, there is a few people who obviously have the books published, and Genevieve Taylor and uh and Marcus Bowden and people like that, they can all they they'll get their books done. But 90% of the people on this barbecue community never would have the opportunity to have a recipe into a cookbook, and that was another big thing I wanted to do. And uh, like this weekend, seeing people's faces when they've got the book and they're opening it up and they see their recipe in print, that was special. That was really, really special, and it meant a lot. So, yeah, I've achieved what I wanted to do, and uh yeah, it's all worked out, and it's been a great couple of weeks. Thank you. It's uh it has it's surprising because I was quite anxious before it got put out there because I didn't know. I mean, I thought it was okay, don't get me wrong. Yeah, I thought, yeah, it's good, it it looks like one of my cookbooks or similar to a cookbook I've got at home. Yeah, but how is everybody else gonna look at it? You know, I I don't know, you know, but people are gonna pick it up. Is it gonna be what they expected? Are the recipe layouts gonna be right? Uh so I was a little bit anxious, but yeah, the response from everybody has been absolutely fantastic.

AI As An Unlikely Editing Partner

Dan 10:04

So well, who are like uh so vulnerable putting something out there like that? And the achievement of getting it out there after everything that happened, John, is like amazing. But I completely understand that fear of what will people think when they actually see it, you know, and because we are all of our own biggest critics, right? But I I understand what you're saying about the feeling when you see other people get hold of it and their reactions, but how did it feel getting your copy? The first one that came through. That must have been a big moment for you.

Proof Copies, Errors And Fixes

Speaker 10:37

Well, this one I've got here, there's only two of these copies because there's me and my sister got these copies. It now these are proof copies. Yeah, so I'd gone through on laptops with my sister, and we'd gone through it over Christmas because I wanted to get it out before prior to Christmas, but there was just too much editing to do to get it all right. So we went through it all on a laptop, uh, me and my sister for a couple of days solid, just hours and hours and hours going through it all making sure it was right, bada blah blah. And I also just very quickly had uh Laura from the Hodgkiss family uh just prior to Christmas. I wanted somebody to proofread it, and I was talking to Adam, uh future husband, and uh we were on about it, and I asked her if she'd like to or if she wouldn't mind if she could proofread it for me, and and she did. So she came back with some bits that needed editing. So I I sort of did those bits, and then me and my sister sat over Christmas editing it all, and I thought that's it, we're sorted, you know. So I pressed the button on KDP, uploaded it all up. It took me uh Steve Stark, uh Steve Stark designed, he he designed the cover for us and and the and the back, but I couldn't get it to fit in the KDP template, and there was loads of bits, and finally we got it all into one to fit into the template. I thought this looks perfect. Press the button, it uploaded onto their website, and it said, right, now you can have a proof copy. So, right, we'll get two proof copies. I'll get one, and my sister will get one. So I get one and I'm flicking through it. I thought, well, that doesn't look too bad. And then there was one recipe, it was from uh Matt Burgess at Matt Black. Yeah, and as I turned the page over, I thought that font size doesn't look the same as the other ones, and the font size on most of the pages is font size 12. When I turned it back, as I folded both the pages over, Matt's recipe was in 11. So that was the first problem, and then we started flicking through it and flicking through it, and I was so despondent. Oh, it was the must have I just didn't see it. I think I just got that blinded by it all, and I just wanted to get it out there and get it out there, and I sort of went through oh, the other thing was as well they when I looked at these pages, I thought because obviously I've got to set an index up on it. Now to set the index was really difficult because I kept going back to right, uh say brisket under B page 11, and that was it. But what had happened was when we were editing it originally, it knocked everything out of sync, and it's the only thing I didn't check, and it wouldn't be so bad if it was one of the recipes towards the end of the book, but it wasn't, it was one of the first ones, and it just knocked everything out of sync just by one page. Some pages it fell right, depending on where it was in the book. But yeah, we we ended up with uh two, three days going through the proof, editing it all, back onto the laptop again, making sure the sister read her version, I read my version, we went through it all again and again and again, and yeah, we finally got it right. So then I had to press the button for it to go up on sale, and that was a bit nerve-wracking because I pressed it and it says oh, within 72 hours this will be live, and I pressed it on the Saturday, so I thought Sunday, it said between 24 and 74, 72 hours. So I press the button, Sunday morning, nothing, Monday morning, nothing. So then I'll start again a bit anxious, and I'm thinking, what's happened? Have I done something wrong? So I'm emailing Amazon, they're just replying me back saying it takes 72 hours. Then on the Tuesday, it dropped, and and that's that's when it came out. So I had to quickly do some sort of uh video and story thing just to say that it would uh I mean there's been a lot of there's been a lot of social media, I've seen lots of people excited with their copies. Oh yeah.

Owen 15:16

Um, so I'm I'm hoping that kind of anxiousness has kind of melted away now, just yeah, yeah.

Speaker 15:21

I I don't usually get too anxious about stuff. It was just that when people are paying money, if if it was for free, yeah, I I wouldn't probably feel but when people are spending £30, especially this time of year, for a book, and I'm thinking, is it right? But yeah, once it got out there and uh people, I mean, yeah, the response has been well, I I I just I'm blown away by it to be honest. It it was quite an emotional few days, to be honest. It was uh it was good, and uh there was some lovely comments, and and plus I've done a dedication at the front for my dad and and things like that. So yeah, it it was it is rather special.

Owen 16:02

It's uh I think it it's like a it's like you know, like you have like a community village pub where everyone's involved, and yeah, everyone, you know, and I think I think that's the beauty of the book, isn't it? Even uh I appreciate that worry, but people wanted to be part of it and happy to purchase it because that's part with their part of the community, yeah. Uh, and obviously charity is that's it, it's is the added bonus, right? That it that it is there to help other people, and obviously, ultimately, that's the core goodness of a of a of the barber community, isn't it?

Going Live And Early Reactions

Speaker 16:39

It's it's yeah, it's the thing is though, I I didn't realise uh when we started doing this that there's so many rules and regulations about mentioning said charities. Uh Macmillan Cancer and Young Minds Mental Health Charities are the two charities, but I couldn't actually use their logos in the book, and I couldn't mention them in a way of all the proceeds are going to the said charities. I had to go down the legal side of things. I had to look fortunate. My brother-in-law has uh a big company in Hulland, and he has an on-tap uh solicitor, a lawyer. So I just quickly asked them what, and they went through it all and they said you've got to be so so careful about what you can and can't do. I'd messaged Macmillan Cancer and Young Minds, and they were under the same thing. It's brilliant what you're doing, but please don't do this, that, and the other. And it it's there is some parts of the book where I actually did mention them, and I thought, well, what were they gonna do? But yeah, it was it was a difficult thing. I just didn't realise. Uh, and when I spoke to somebody at Macmillan Cancer, there was they were saying nowadays it's such a strict thing because people were saying we're gonna raise money for charity and then disappearing off to the Cayman Islands with a suitcase full of money, and and that is the problem. But no, it it's it's been brilliant to be honest, and it it's uh it's nice that everybody the biggest thing is is when you see people open the book, like I said earlier, and and you see people with the recipes and and things like that, it's uh it does make you think, yeah, that is somewhat special, it's something that not everybody gets to do. So I'm very fortunate, really, to be able to do this. And uh the barbecue community, uh people like yourselves and everybody else who's supported it and and submitted recipes and things like that. It's uh it's for everybody, really. I'm just a person who compiled it all and came up with a silly idea.

Dan 18:47

You're the person who invented it, yeah, and invented it.

Owen 18:53

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Charity Rules And Legal Hurdles

Speaker 20:24

No, uh, well, I've unfortunately I was in hospital last year, so uh uh with uh a gallstone problem, which is sort of an infection that's spreading through various organs. And I was in hospital for about a week and I've been on a low-fat diet ever since. So I I mean I've lost about three and a half stone in weight, and uh it's but my cooking really hasn't it has suffered quite a bit really. So I I I'm eating loads of chicken, but uh yes, once I was over and done with, and I got to a certain stage with a cookbook where I was just waiting around, I did start another one.

Owen 21:11

Oh you started another one, yes.

Speaker 21:15

So there is going to be a volume two.

Owen 21:18

Oh, awesome.

Speaker 21:20

So and then I started once I started one, I thought, what other ideas could I have to keep it community-based? So I have got another, I've got volume two, volume three, and volume four. So it's they're all totally, totally different. I mean, don't get me wrong, these are gonna be coming out in the next uh if I can do one a year, I think I've worked it out that if I start volume two now, I should be able to do it by this time next year.

Owen 21:51

Yeah.

Speaker 21:51

Now I'm on a roll, you see. I've got the template, I know what to do, etc. It's just if I go down the KDP route again. Um

Owen 22:00

Is the other thing unless there's some kind of publisher out there wants to come and help me and if we just at and tag every single publisher as we work most episodes.

Community Pride And Personal Moments

Speaker 22:13

It's the thing is though, I have looked at this and and somebody did say that once you've got one out and you've made a decent go of it, you have a good bit better chance of trying to find somebody to come out and publish it. I don't I don't know how these things work, but uh yeah, so volume two. So volume two is I can tell you a little bit about volume two, so it's going to be very similar to the concepts we have with the original one. This is going to be global recipes. So I've picked different regions from around the world. So you've got like Australia, Australia, South Asia, uh, Central America, Southern America, uh, Mediterranean, Europe, all these sort of places. Now, what I've had to do this time is I've picked out recipes or dishes, should I say, from each of these places, and we've got eight, or I've got eight in each chapter. And to make things slightly easier for myself, and also I don't get duplicate recipes, is that I will be releasing so many chapters at a time. People then see the uh dishes, they can choose a dish they want to do, put their own spin on it, send it all back to me, I'll edit it and put it in the book. Nice. That is my way of thinking of how to do it. The other thing I've thought about is this like there's a lot of dishes here. Yes, there's that there's like the American uh chapter, which has your briskets, your pulled porks, things like that. But then I've got sort of dishes from Korea, uh, China, Japan. There are dishes that people probably don't cook every day, which then I'm thinking that's going to give somebody an opportunity just to push the boundaries a little bit, gives them a bit of an opportunity to cook something slightly different that they wouldn't do before, uh, and things like that. So, yes, uh there's I think nine chapters I think I've got. So there's all them sort of different regions, and I do have a special chapter, which is called Live Fire Legends, if I've got that right. I might change the word in the like slightly bit, but I have got at the moment five, maybe six what I would call pretty big big fire live fire legends who are willing to submit recipes. Uh, so and these are from all around the world, so right. I I've spent quite a bit of time uh talking to people and messaging people and that. So, yeah, I've that that is uh volume two. So uh I'll be releasing this probably in the next two to three weeks and get people on board, depending on how it goes. Uh and if people are into the concept, I sort of did put something out just before Christmas asking the question, and I got quite a good response. Yeah, it'd be a good idea, this that and the other. If nobody comes back to me, I'm gonna be sat here cooking all the dishes and doing all that stuff.

Owen 25:29

I don't for a second think that's gonna be the case, John.

Sponsor Message: Outdoor Kitchens

Speaker 25:31

No, no, but you never know though, do you? I mean, it it's it's it I don't know if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I did think this about the first one, and that sort of worked outright. So, but yeah, that is uh volume two. It's gonna be slightly different. I mean, uh, as you know, with the volume one, we've got a directory. You can't really do that with a global cookbook. Yeah, uh there is obviously in the original one there's the uh about your meat uh and bits and pieces like that. Yeah, so but yeah, it it's as it's worked in volume two, it it is I'm really excited by it, uh, because I think the layout for the volume one is quite basic. It's pretty simple, yeah, easy. You pick it up, you read, and it's sort of pretty easy to sort of follow. What I try to do with volume two is uh is make it a little bit more professional, uh the the layouts of things is slightly different, and uh I've sort of scoured a lot of cookbooks of my own and sort of picked out little bits and pieces of how their layout is to what mine is. It's just learning care, and that was the thing is uh of working it out. But yeah, that's uh that's what I'm in with.

Owen 26:56

Are we actually hearing the uh formation of JW Publishing Limited?

Health Setback And New Projects

Speaker 27:02

Yes, yeah, I'm gonna chuck building hours and I'm gonna become an author. Building words, yes, yes, but it's something uh I do get quite I get bored very easily, and I need something to be occupying with time really. Saying that I'm self-employed, so I'm pretty busy work-wise, but I do get these ideas of doing things and being active, and and as you know, I'm I'm quite active within the barbecue community, not just with the book and various other bits and pieces, so uh, and I enjoy it, and that that is a minute, and I'd just like to give a little bit back uh to other people, really.

Owen 27:45

Yeah, I know again, really so glad and happy for you that you've got this first one to to print, um, but so excited about volume two already. I thought you'd have given yourself a little bit more of a grace period, but you're jumping straight back into the floor.

Speaker 28:02

I think I think you've got to really, because if if I'd waited another six months while I'm on the crest of a wave with this one, it's sort of then let that keep going for two or three weeks, and then while people's all oh the barbecue came, and then I hit them with another one to get the recipes going again, you see. And then if I do it just before, like I say, by March time or and then people got all summer, then yeah, they can think, oh yeah, I'd be good, I can do that, I can do this. And if you hit them with it before Christmas, everybody forgot about it, and nobody's gonna cook nothing until March, April. So there's a bit of strategy there, you see.

Volume Two: Global Live-Fire Concept

Owen 28:42

Well, talking about cooking, um as you would have experienced the first time you came on, uh obviously we like to do barbecue bingo, but I thought we would do something slightly different. Um, what we've been doing of of late is every time a guest comes onto the podcast, uh obviously they spin the wheel, they get an ingredient. Um, all of the ingredients have either been have been left by previous guests, and then each guest would leave one for uh uh for the next guest. However, as we're celebrating the launch of the book, what I thought we could do is I've so I got my daughter to go through the book and at random pick 10 recipes out of the book. Right. So uh, and then I thought we could randomly spin the wheel, John, and whatever it lands on, whichever recipe out of the book, we'd love you to have a go at cooking it.

Speaker 29:42

Right, I'm just looking at which it is.

Owen 29:45

So we have got sausage bombs from Oldton Barbecue, yeah, shotgun shells from Flame Meats Woods, poor fried chicken from Camado John, chicken and crispy potato bake from Cave Dad Food, uh Pizza Burger, although I realise I couldn't spell, um, Big House Barbecue UK, beef cheek tacos from Smokeface Grilla, Beef Short Ribs from Twisted Ribs, uh, sweet chili halloumi from the casual barbecuer, brioche, a biscuit biscoff brioche bread pudding by RD Barbecue, and Sue's famous chocolate brownie, Sue Stoneman. So those are those were the ten that my daughter picked. She clearly likes fried chicken and sweet, sweet stuff. Um, but what do you think? Happy to uh to give it a go.

Speaker 30:36

Yes, not a problem. Uh, I know all these. I I don't even need to pick the book up, but I know these recipes inside out.

Owen 30:44

I was gonna say, yeah, you probably you know the method and things just off by off now, don't you?

Speaker 30:48

Yeah, I can tell you it is just briefly, it it I could just tell you exactly who who did what and and and who's cooked what and how how much work I've had to put into most of these. Look about I'm glad you daughter didn't pick some of them because some of them were quite difficult to do, but yeah, not a problem. I can do these.

Owen 31:11

Sounds good, right? Let's give it let's give it a spin and see what uh see what you get.

Dan 31:16

Well, I know what I'm most excited by. I would love to see the biscoff brioche uh bread pudding come up. Me too. Yeah.

Speaker 31:24

Actually, I would because I've been meaning to do this one. I have done some of them already.

Owen 31:28

See, I've been meaning to do the shotgun shells recipe, a shotgun shell recipe for ages, so I definitely will be doing that one. But anyway, let's give it a spin. Come on, biscoff brioche bread pudding.

Dan 31:42

Oh, it was close in the end.

Owen 31:47

So the sweet chili halloumi from the casual barbecuer.

Live Fire Legends And Timeline

Speaker 31:52

Right. That's pretty simple, isn't it? Because you know something out of all them dishes, I I don't know if you ever saw uh prior up running up to Christmas, uh, I did a little teaser where I was cooking recipes. I think I took one from each rest one from each uh chapter.

Owen 32:13

Was that one you did?

Speaker 32:14

The only one on there I'm thinking I've already done one of those, I've already done it, and I thought it's never gonna land on that.

Owen 32:21

But yeah, I've just does that mean that we should spin it again just because so you've got something different.

Speaker 32:27

No, that's good. No, that is really uh when I did that dish. Uh it is a quite a simple recipe, there's not loads to it, yeah, but it works so well, and that was the biggest thing when I did a lot of these recipes. I mean, uh, but no, I'm quite happy with that. It it's quite a low fat one as well. So I it it works pretty well for me.

Owen 32:54

Um, is it so uh again, obviously, just to kind of get you back, I appreciate we've spent most of our time talking about the the book, but is there anything else, John, that you wanted to uh well yeah, I've got quite a lot going on.

Speaker 33:09

Uh we'd I'm I'm doing uh and a couple of events uh regarding the cookbook as well. So we we're doing uh at Alfresco Chapel. Uh they asked me if I could if if uh I would be interested in doing an event up there where it's a ticketed event, and the proceeds from well the profits that we make from that are going to the two charities. So we put it out uh a few weeks ago, and I think we limited it to 20 tickets or 20 people, and within four hours it sold out. So I had a quick message, and would you be able to do another date? So we said yes, and by that was on the Saturday night, and by the Sunday dinner time, the rest of it was sold out as well. So I mean, uh within two days I'd sold out two events, uh, and that so that that was pretty good, and uh, I've got quite a lot going on actually. I've got uh a few festivals that I'm cooking at, uh I'm doing open days at various places, uh, again at Alfresco Chapel uh and things like that. But yeah, it it's been eventful and it's sounds it.

Owen 34:24

So we'll hopefully see you out and about uh in person then this year.

Iterating Design And Layout

Speaker 34:28

Yeah, well I'm hoping to probably get down to Sizzle Fest. The guys down there have sort of asked about the book and things like that, so uh possibly get down there and and do stuff down there. I don't really plan a great deal of things to go to festivals with work, but obviously with the book and that I've I've been asked a little bit more than usual, and uh it it's good, it's good to go out though. I mean, I've done quite a lot of the recipes from the book, and uh it's good to go out there and and cook in front of people and do things, uh you know, the the recipes that people have sent in. So, but that was a big thing at the weekend seeing people actually tagging me into cooks uh of what they've done and trying the recipes out, so it works pretty well. So I've done something right, haven't I? Big tick, like that. Yeah, it's uh but it there was uh another uh a lovely thing that happened as well on Friday was uh the little gorilla, which is uh Laura from the Hodgkiss family and Adam. Now he'd gone to school, he'd put a recipe in the book, uh I think uh Panko Codloin, something like that it was, and he'd gone to school to uh talk about his recipe, and they got him up in the school. I think it must have been an assembly, and he got an award for acting.

Owen 35:59

Oh, that's awesome!

Speaker 36:01

Yeah, so he he took the book and explained what he'd done. And I mean, that to be honest, I mean, I'm a builder and work in construction, it's a tough old industry, but that welled me up. Did that when I saw the message come up and I thought, God, that if anything never happened with the book, for that to happen to a young kid to go to school and speak in front of his school and say, This is what I've done. I've done this, I've put a recipe, and it's been printed in a cookbook. I mean, that really does mean a lot. And I mean, if it's helped that lad go out and and you know, his friends and school teachers and this, that, and the other, it it was a special moment, was that? So, yeah, it's uh it's pretty good.

Owen 36:47

Yeah, great story. And again, I suppose that just that just demonstrates the value of the work that you've put into it um and the contributions that everyone's made, and just it adds to the whole uh piece, doesn't it?

Momentum, Strategy And Submissions

Speaker 37:01

Yeah, I mean I couldn't obviously I couldn't have done this without the community. Uh I can't even write a recipe, I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm alright putting them all together and putting it in order now. But no, I mean I've always said right from the beginning, this book was for everybody, uh, and it was a chance, as I said earlier, on, to get everybody who wants a recipe and a cookbook, especially with us all being foodies and this, that, and the other, uh, to have a uh a recipe in a cookbook. And obviously, you get things like the little story there from the little griller who went up there, did George with his school, and other people who have messaged me, thanks very much to put you know, I've got my recipe in a book and things like that. But yeah, it's a it's a special moment, and uh I I'm very proud of everybody who's been involved with it.

Owen 37:48

And right, rightly so. So, John, as as we kind of wrap up um the episode and the catch-up, obviously it's fantastic to have you back. Where for people that may have forgotten already, where can they go to get the cookbook?

Barbecue Bingo: Recipe Spin

Speaker 38:06

Right, so if you go on the bio on my johns.barbecue account on uh Instagram, and also the I can't gotta keep remembering now the barbecue community cookbook account, uh the bio in there as well, and there's a link in there, and uh you can click the link and it'll take you straight to Amazon. So it's uh that that's how you get involved. But uh just very quickly, I mean the other big thing as well about the cookbook was two or three days after it would be launched, you have the categories. I don't know how you if you know how these things work on Amazon, but you've got categories of certain books. You get I don't know, air fryer books, and then you get barbecue books. And when I pressed on the barbecue books and it goes to best sellers, now we were second for the first week, I think just about a week, maybe four days, but yeah, we were second, and below me was Jamie Oliver, and Taylor's book. I can't remember, she might have been below me, and then only Slaggin brought his out the same time, and he was at number one. So I was in pretty good company, really. Uh, to be there. Uh oh, Tom Carriage, no, Tom Carriage was below us. Uh, so yeah, it was pretty awesome to see that when it flashed up and the community cookbook was second.

Dan 39:35

So print screen, put that on a t-shirt and wear that at all of the events you do.

Speaker 39:42

So, yeah, it was uh it was it has been as been special. I I always thought it would be. I mean, a lot of people used to say to me, Yeah, yeah, it'd be brilliant, great idea. But until it's out there and you see the response, it it's uh but yeah, it's worked out pretty well, really.

Owen 40:00

Absolutely. Well, John, thank you ever so much for coming back onto the show. It was great to catch up with you again. Massive, passive, well done for putting this together, and more importantly, we look forward to volume two.

Speaker 40:12

Yes, yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you very much for your support. And obviously, three years ago when when it was an idea and you supported me then and you had me on. So I really do appreciate it. Thank you.

Dan 40:24

Thank you, John. Cheers.

Speaker 40:26

Thank you.

Dan 40:28

So that's it for another episode of the Meet and Greet Barbecue Podcast. Thank you so much, John, for coming back on. And again, a huge congratulations for getting the barbecue community cookbook over the line. I know you've been working on it for so long, and it's fantastic. And I can't wait to get more involved with some of the recipes on there. Um, as always, thank you so much for listening. Uh, you can get involved with us by checking out our social media pages, uh, going on to our website, Googling Meet and Greek Barbecue Podcast. We'd love to hear from you. And please do like, subscribe, leave a review. That all helps us reach more people. But until next time, keep on going. Today's episode of the Monkey Barbecue podcast is brought to you by OS Outdoor Kitchens. They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design installation specialists.