Live Fire Cooking to Next Level Chef on TV - Breaking Barriers in the Barbecue Scene for Women

Welcome to the our special series from the World Food Championships!

What happens when you mix passion, resilience, and a trailblazing spirit in the fiery world of culinary competitions? Meet Alexandra, the woman who is redefining the competitive barbecue scene alongside her partner Aaron Alosi at Iron and Oak Catering. With a childhood marked by the chaos of four younger brothers, Alex discovered cooking as her solace and outlet. Now, she brings her expertise in traditional Argentinian cooking over embers to the forefront, breaking barriers in a male-dominated field. Listen as she shares her journey and the wisdom gained from culinary legends like Al Pergoni.

The culinary world is a melting pot of creativity and innovation, driven by the shared passion of its community. From thrilling adventures in Taiwan to the high-stakes environment of "Next Level Chef" with Gordon Ramsay, we dig into the heart of culinary competitions. Discover how challenges like smoking pasta dough push chefs to create the extraordinary, supported by a network of like-minded individuals who share the same fervor for food. This episode is a tribute to the camaraderie and dedication that fuel the culinary industry's growth and innovation.

Join us as we explore the intricate art of live fire cooking, from sourcing the perfect local hog to mastering the nuances of cooking without a thermometer. We dive into rapid-fire questions and share personal favorites, such as essential kitchen tools and the most demanding aspects of preparation. With a sprinkle of humor and a generous serving of passion, we invite you to savor the world of live-fire cooking.

Connect with Alex and Aaron here: https://www.ironandoakcatering.com/

https://www.instagram.com/cookingwithzandge_s/

https://www.instagram.com/ironandoak_nj/

https://www.instagram.com/losi_cooks/

This episode explores:

• Introduction to live fire cooking and its uniqueness 
• Personal journey of chef Alexandra and her culinary evolution 
• Techniques for cooking whole hogs and managing heat 
• Importance of community and shared experiences in cooking 
• Sourcing quality ingredients locally for authenticity 
• Lighter moments: rapid-fire questions revealing chef personalities 
• Future aspirations in the world of live-fire cooking

Welcome to the show! Burnt Hands Perspective

Transcript

World Food Championships 2024 Competitor Interview

Speaker 2 0:11

All right , here we are again Kristen .

Speaker 1 0:13

World Food Championships 2024 .

Speaker 2 0:16

I'm having a hard time finding words . There's so much energy in this room . You've got to remember . Guys , we're recording this and filming this live .

Speaker 3 0:23

So there's a lot of action going on . There's a lot of energy .

Speaker 2 0:26

The competition is fierce with us . Is that the double-a team right here ? Go and introduce yourselves real quick .

Speaker 3 0:32

Yeah , so my name is Alexandra . I go by Alex and Zanj on social media . My name is Aaron Aloisi , and .

Speaker 1 0:40

I'm Partners with Alex here .

Speaker 2 0:43

So we do do live fire catering . Nice , yeah , you guys hearing this , all right , with the live in the back , all right , good . So because we're live and direct , we're going to be acting like down here , so it brings more energy to the room . Listen , so you have a very exciting story , man . I really didn't say man , you're a female , so take that back , but you have a very exciting story . Yeah To exciting story . Yeah , to me it's intriguing because the restaurant industry we look at it's multifaceted , right , so I can talk as a chef , we can talk about the high-end restaurants , you know that's up . But but this show the bird has perspective . Yeah , it covers everybody . Bird hands you burn your hands in your profession , right . You are a competitive , right , I'd say that where you're a competitor in the barbecue , is that right ? Yeah , grilling Give us a little rundown on what you do , yeah .

Speaker 3 1:28

So I'm the owner of Iron and Oak Catering , which is a live fire catering company , so we go around and we do private events .

Speaker 2 1:35

Explain live fire . What is exactly the term live fire ?

Speaker 3 1:38

So it's a traditional Argentinian style way of cooking where you're cooking over embers , so you're letting the wood kind of go down into embers and you're using different heat distributions to slow cook meat throughout .

Speaker 2 1:53

You know . So , with that in my mind , I'm I am not that sort of chef , but I am a chef and I know how to cook . So I'm thinking in my mind you're putting that on at a very high temperature , with a high flame right at the beginning , and then bringing it down slowly to let it go . Is that something like that , or no ? No , so it's a complete opposite . Okay , cool , so what ?

Speaker 3 2:08

you're doing is like so we do whole hogs . Our specialty is , when we do these private events is a whole hog . That's kind of the main show of the , the entire experience . And what you want to do is you want to start off at a low heat , so we do like a five to a six count , so when you put your hand over the heat , you want to be able to keep it there for at least five to six seconds and you're going to start bone side down , and when you start bone side down , it helps cook evenly throughout . And then a trick that we've actually learned from one of our good friends , al Pergoni , is that you know when the meat is ready to turn around without using a temp , when the back of it warm , and then you flip it around and you'll you'll let it the skin get crispy and you'll let it finish cooking off that way , and it's an entire show and it's an entire about eight hour process every time you do it .

Speaker 2 2:54

You got good tips from uh mr fragoni there , he gave you some yeah , absolutely , we learned a lot from .

Speaker 3 2:59

We learned almost everything open fire .

Speaker 2 3:01

So I was out there earlier this morning and they were putting their animals out on the spit that way and they were introducing it to a very hot flame real quick and then pulling it off and then starting to step fewer . I found that interesting . So I guess it depends on what finished product you're looking for .

Speaker 3 3:15

Absolutely .

Speaker 2 3:16

Tenderness , what type of consistency and things where that's going to go and that's where the studying comes . So how did you get into it In order to go into competing ? You don't seem like you're that old and there's not a lot of women .

Speaker 1 3:27

No , there's not .

Speaker 2 3:29

This is very intriguing , so you had to pack a lot in a short time to get where you are . Is that right ?

Speaker 3 3:34

Absolutely , and it's really funny because a lot of times we'll be at private events or we'll be doing competitions and people will go up to Aaron and be like hey man competitions and people will go up to Aaron and be like hey man and he's like Nope talk to her no , she is , I won't , I'm not going to lie you .

Speaker 2 3:49

You have a presence about you . That in once you start speaking , you instantly know . But you keep yourself reserved in the background .

Speaker 3 3:55

No , it's a great day .

Speaker 2 3:56

It's a great day . Yes , definitely so . You keep you seem . When I first met you yesterday , you seem to be quite reserved and watching and spectating , I could tell you were very intrigued . But I didn't know that you were actually the one until you started talking . Instantly you took over . Yeah , that's really cool . That's important in this industry . Yeah , especially when you're competing yeah , oh , 100% so you have aspirations of bringing this to the next level absolutely yeah , and especially to like being in in New Jersey .

Speaker 2 4:24

like you travel throughout the entire United States , stop right there for a second , not to cut you off , how did , how did someone from New Jersey get into the open pit you don't think about typically in New Jersey live fire barbecue , whatever you want to call it Right how do you ? How does ? How does a woman , a nice looking woman no disrespect here , let's be honest how does a woman like you just get into that in New Jersey ?

Speaker 3 4:47

Yeah , so I grew up with four younger brothers and I always loved cooking and I kind of started to use cooking as a stress relief . So , like I was telling her earlier , like when I was stressed out , I would spend all day making pasta , and like I would just spend all day in the kitchen me pasta , like pasta or . Delaney , you name it like nobody talked to me . I have a bottle of wine , I have pasta , that's it um and then you're stress away .

Speaker 2 5:06

Huh , that's it .

Speaker 3 5:07

I love it she convinced me to post on , start posting on social media , and I did , and , um , I put a few grilling videos up because I've loved grilling meat , like steak is always my thing and you're reaping all the benefits oh yeah but you come from a background of italian food and cooking italian food cooking .

Speaker 2 5:23

Yeah , so you're , that's . So she starts making tortellini . You're like when . And your family had a restaurant . My dad owned a couple of pizzerias growing up so I kind of you know , at a young age he used to have us the pizzeria used to babysit us .

Speaker 3 5:36

Same area .

Speaker 1 5:36

Same area .

Speaker 2 5:37

so that's where I grew up Spinning dough . Yeah , that's it . Yeah , that's it .

Speaker 3 5:41

There's pictures of him , but yeah . So I ended up getting invited down to Al Fargoni's first open fire meetup and that's when I kind of fell in love with it and I realized like , oh , I'm actually good at this , like I know , I never went to culinary school , but if you put ingredients in front of me , I will make you a meal and I will make it flavorful and make it taste well . But there was just something that I fell in love with being outside and being in front of a fire and there was just something so primal about it and honestly even stress relieving too , where it's like you're controlling a fire , you're controlling the meat , that's being cooked .

Speaker 2 6:11

That's exactly right . You have to control the wood , you have to understand your wood , you have to know what you're getting with the wood . Your temperatures , your moistures , all that thing is going to affect your final product . So if your wood is in , correct me where I'm wrong not if , because I'm I'm feeling , I'm like I said , I'm not a wood cooking person but I do pay attention . So I'm imagining that whatever moisture is in your wood is going to reflect the steaming , the smoke the smoke , even the kind of wood that eats too .

Speaker 3 6:35

so like that's why our company is called iron and oak , because we had some bourbon and we're like , hey , we used iron and we use oak when we cook , so why not call it iron and oak ? It's perfect .

Speaker 2 6:45

I mean it's catchy . It's like the burnt hands perspective . It's to the point . We talk about the perspective from our side of the house . You guys are burning yourself at some point or another . Something's hot , something's smoking , and there's days , I know , just like us in the kitchen , for instance , it's raining out . There's got to be temperaments that aren't so exciting to work in . Yeah , but you have to right . You're talking about open fire as an element .

Speaker 3 7:08

Yeah .

Speaker 2 7:10

So fighting the elements is a whole other facet to that . So now you have wood fighting elements . Whether it's hot as hell is going to make your food hotter , right ? So if you're cooking in Texas you find your fire different than cooking in New Jersey . Is that the heat from the outside ambient ?

Speaker 3 7:21

So it's actually like the embers that you're cooking on . And it's funny that you say that because I'll have to send you guys a photo of last weekend . We were tailgating in his mom's driveway and it started raining and we were doing . The neighbor actually gave us an elk steak and venison . So I made venison tacos and we cooked an elk steak how we do the prime rib hanging up in fire and it started raining . So Aaron just took an umbrella and put it right on top of where we normally cook the pigs . You just see aaron with a giant cage and open fire right on top .

Speaker 2 7:50

So you have to improvise when you're cooking like that yeah , right , that's the whole thing .

Speaker 1 7:56

I'm sorry I was gonna say because you know , burying the lead on like a tease on some of this being in law enforcement , you're both in law enforcement , yeah . How does that play into like trying to manage both businesses right now ? Yeah , and a new business ?

Speaker 3 8:10

I think it definitely helps your people skills , um , but you know , like I , I had a passion for law enforcement when I first started , and then I you know my passion has now directed towards food and towards feeding people and I think aaron feels feels the way . There's just something that's so much satisfaction in feeding people and being able to make people happy that way that I once felt .

Passionate Food Industry Conversations

Speaker 2 8:32

I can picture you guys pulling up to like a domestic thing or something right , and you're back there in the backyard trying to figure things out and someone's grilling you like hold on You're doing that wrong . Get him a ticket . This is wrong , john . Yeah , this is done . Close this case Show's over . We found the problem . Yeah , that caused the problem .

Speaker 3 8:49

Right there , you're making shit yeah you don't even know how to cook .

Speaker 2 8:52

Come on , guys , Come on man Tighten up , and then you just drop the mic at me .

Speaker 3 8:56

Yeah , pretty much . I love it .

Speaker 2 9:06

First big one like this world food um so I actually did a competition in uh , taiwan , in june wow , talk to me about this .

Speaker 3 9:09

Yeah , so I had the opportunity to go to taiwan . I spent two weeks in china and then went to taiwan , did the competition and that was honestly an experience in itself . So , like the last it's . It's funny , the last two years , um , we always helped people doing open fire and then I competed in Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsay and after I got eliminated , it's when I kind of said I don't think we can curse on here .

Speaker 1 9:30

How was that process ? Was that fun ? Yeah , how was that ? That was a lot of fun , yeah . When did you do that ?

Speaker 3 9:35

Last year . Okay yeah , so was there a televised on that .

Speaker 2 9:38

Was that an episode one ?

Speaker 3 9:39

season two , whatever it was Wow , so we got to watch that . We got to watch that now .

Speaker 2 9:47

So people at home , we know her . Yeah , plug that a little bit . That's amazing , and that's something that's what I'm talking about is how , no matter where you are in life we talked about this earlier it brings us together .

Speaker 3 9:57

Yeah .

Speaker 2 9:58

Food brings people together . You know what I mean . And all differences set aside when it comes to food , especially when you're producing the food , have a ? Um , we have a , a bond here , whether we , you know , we're all in the same shit , right , right . So this competition is kind of cool because we're all here for the same reason , which gives us that , that , uh , entitlement to owning that we own that so that's awesome .

Speaker 3 10:17

So the gordon ramsey thing was a lot of fun for you it was and it was like so the the casting producer found my old videos because every friday , when I first started posting on social media , I would a video on like here's everything left over in my fridge . We're going to make dinner from it , and that was kind of the show . You're like running to the platform and you're grabbing and then making a dish out of whatever .

Speaker 2 10:37

Do you still have that platform running or do you kind of fade away from that ?

Speaker 3 10:41

I mean , no , we're still . Our motto this year is be delusional . And then this way , we just shoot for , like , the highest goals and then keep trying to go for those goals and once we hit it , we just keep making another one . Yeah , making another goal , you guys inspire and work hard .

Speaker 2 10:56

I can tell just by your energy between you guys that you work hard at holding each other to that yeah and supporting each other in that , when it comes to the root of the food industry and leaving the one profession you're in perhaps one day right , yeah , um , and then going into that you need each other's support in this industry because , this industry . It's a motherfucker really , yeah , and it's hard to really keep a family . It's hard to keep that unless you have somebody like minded yeah it's like passion . The passions need to connect right .

Speaker 2 11:21

If that energy doesn't connect it , it just tears you up because the food doesn't stop , the demand for food doesn't stop your demand for the food doesn't stop and the demand for food doesn't stop , your demand for the cash you put in the food doesn't stop , and we have this weird thing about us , the poison we have in us , I think the bug right , is going to the next level every time . So if you roll a tortellini once , you wanna roll it better , it's not tight enough . Oh , maybe I can put this inside of it . Now , by the time you get to the sixth filler , you finally got your pasta down . Now let's see what happens if I change a pasta .

Speaker 2 11:49

Let's , uh , what I did one time and I was just intrigued by it is I wanted to learn how to smoke . So I smoked my pasta , my dough , so instead of smoking the meat and everything inside , I was able to keep that one way and then smoke the pasta . So that way , the pasta had to smoke , but the meat held different . So it was just a reverse psychology and it worked out amazing because it was so light and everything worked so good . Yeah , but I also got a couple fights in my house for that . You know what I mean , because I , the smoker , was too wrong . The pasta took on too much . I was mad . Yeah , took it in the house . It just didn't work , because people don't understand so . So I'm honored to be sitting here with you guys in in your , in your situation .

Speaker 3 12:26

It doesn't happen often , so keep that spirit up sitting here with you guys in in your , in your situation it doesn't happen often .

Speaker 2 12:30

So keep that spirit up , keep bringing , bringing what you're bringing to the food industry .

Speaker 3 12:32

That's important and he's very hard on himself too , like so a lot because we don't have a very large team like our . Our team right now is very family oriented , like his sister helps , my brother helps , and so right now , like I'll do all the prep work and everything and I'll do all the cooking , so he'll do a lot of the open fire and he'll do the hog and the prime rib and he will make like the most amazing hog and the most amazing prime rib and then be like this is shit . And I'm like what do you mean ? This is a perfect medium rare with a crust and it's beautiful and the smoke flavor is amazing . And he's like I'm done . I always tell myself I can do something , something better .

Speaker 2 13:04

Yeah , of course so , and that's the spirit and that's what's going to make you successful as a person , that's going to make you one level of successful within the business , in the restaurant business . That is going to make you successful . Everybody hits a plateau and sometimes they just get comfortable where they are and now they're trapped in it because they don't have the passion , and that passion has to be stronger . If you're willing to leave one thing to follow it , then obviously your passion needs to say no more . You know what I mean

Fire Cooking Insights and Rapid Questions

Speaker 2 13:28

. You mentioned a hog a couple of times and stuff . Let's talk about the meats for a minute , because you have one ingredient that's more important than fire .

Speaker 3 13:36

Yeah .

Speaker 2 13:36

And that's the meat , right ? Yeah , so in your area , when you travel , whatever it may be , do you source your meats locally ? What do you feel about ? Talk to me about the quality of meat you're looking for . How do you get them when you're in Taiwan to do a show there ? I didn't really have a choice . That's what I mean . So how did that work ? How does it work for you ? Start from the basis , where you know you're comfortable ? Yeah , and how do you work that into your routine as you travel ?

Speaker 3 14:00

So a lot of it was trial and error , Like there were a lot of times , don't know , there's different kinds of hogs and they cook very differently and it's also like dependent on what they eat as well , marbling .

Speaker 3 14:12

Everything , and so , like , we found a local farm that we use and the hogs are amazing every time you cook them , and it's the way you cook it , but it's also the quality of the hog in itself , too , where it's like some hogs will , will cook and it'll be all fat , like we had a instance where I hosted an event in june and the hogs were donated and I was so appreciative of it , but we didn't know they were the other kind of hogs that cook only fat when you cook them , whereas , like , we source from local farms and , um , my meat , I actually so on that note .

Speaker 2 14:45

so yeah , when that hog is fat , like you're talking about um again here , I am trying to get technical , I'm just trying to learn as I'm talking .

Speaker 3 14:54

I should be learning from you .

Speaker 2 14:55

Well , yes , you can in certain aspects , but this is your world . The fire pit stuff is your world . Obviously I'm really intrigued . I guarantee I'm going to find myself .

Speaker 1 15:03

I'm going to get into this now .

Speaker 2 15:05

So I'm thinking of that fat hog that you're talking about is dripping and it's creating more heat in your fire , is that not true ? So it's changing your ambers and stuff . Is that changing your temperature ?

Speaker 3 15:14

Sometimes it can happen . Yeah , it'll drip , but inside the hog itself , no matter how long you cook it , for it's just going to be pure fat . So you want to ? I don't recall the name off the top of my head right now , but there's a specific kind of hog that you want to use when you cook open fire , and no matter how you cook it , no matter which way you cook it , the meat will always be tender and there will always be meat inside . There'll still be a little bit of fat , but it'll render down enough where you'll still have that meat .

Speaker 2 15:39

Because you want to keep some of the fat in there .

Speaker 3 15:41

Oh , 100% , that's that .

Speaker 2 15:42

Protein , that's that flavor , that's that lactic acid , that's the viscosity throughout the muscle . That's what you want . But you don't want to lose the muscle because of the fat .

Speaker 3 15:50

Well , and that's even with the prime rib as well . So , like the meat , when you cook the meat , you want the fat to be able to render down , and that's something that's different in live fire cooking than when you smoke meat . So , like when you smoke meat or when you make ribs , you'll see a lot of people pull off the membrane , but when you cook live fire , you want to keep that on , because that that protects it and it's an indicator .

Speaker 3 16:11

So like a way to tell if you don't have a thermometer when it's done is when the membrane starts to flake off , or like when you start to see the teeth on the on the ribs , and then you're like , okay , this is done , this is perfect sure take it off .

Speaker 2 16:23

That carries over to other animals as well . Yeah , Cooking swordfish for instance , stuff like that . The skin is the indicator of where you're at in a very quick thing . So it's along the same lines as that membrane . We kind of use that visually to gauge where we are . So that's pretty cool . That's interesting .

Speaker 1 16:37

I love it All right , we have rapid fire questions . Uh-oh , yeah , let .

Speaker 2 16:41

Let's do it . This is fun stuff . Some of it's applicable . Because of the kitchen stuff , I might have to change some of the words .

Speaker 1 16:49

You're live fire so it's not as same as some of the in-kitchen things . We'll try and change the words while we're going . You can both answer . Try and answer one to three words . These are quick answers , it's not long . The kitchen tool you can't live without Knife .

Speaker 3 17:05

Same knife .

Speaker 1 17:06

He said you couldn't have knives . We got to take that off . You got to do something different .

Speaker 3 17:10

Oh no .

Speaker 2 17:10

Second best . What can you not live without ?

Speaker 3 17:12

Zester .

Speaker 2 17:13

Oh good one , Tongs Perfect .

Speaker 1 17:16

There we go , zester's great .

Speaker 2 17:17

That's on my top three .

Speaker 1 17:19

What puts you in the mood ? More smell or visuals Smell or visuals Smell Visuals . Visuals . That's why you work well together .

Speaker 2 17:28

People eat with their eyes first .

Speaker 1 17:29

Yeah , that's right . That's a good coupling , then , all right . The worst position in the kitchen or cooking .

Speaker 2 17:36

What's the question .

Speaker 3 17:37

The worst position what part of the job .

Speaker 2 17:39

do you not like the most ?

Speaker 3 17:40

Prep , Prep oh my God , is it not lighting ?

Speaker 2 17:43

the fires or breaking down the fire .

Speaker 3 17:44

No , it's just sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and we're like , yeah , let's me and you do this party for 300 people by ourselves . And then we're like shh , we need help .

Speaker 1 17:56

In your head it goes a lot easier than when you actually start to do it .

Speaker 3 17:58

We're like this is great . And then , four hours later , you're like why am I still de-seeding and chopping jalapenos for a focaccia bread ?

Speaker 2 18:05

That's good All right .

Speaker 1 18:07

That takes us to the best part . What's the best part of it ? All People's faces . I like it .

Speaker 2 18:12

That's good , good one .

Speaker 1 18:13

Your favorite ingredient , salt .

Speaker 2 18:17

Salt . It's the best . Are you picky on your salts ?

Speaker 3 18:20

I have an entire cabinet full . She has an entire cabinet full .

Speaker 2 18:22

I have two or three cabinets full . I have salts from everywhere in the world , different levels , grains , purifications , everything . I am a salt . Oh , I love it Give me pink smoke lava . I don't care what it is , I got it all . Yeah , because they're all just different things .

Speaker 3 18:37

And he's like why do you need this much salt ? And I'm like because it's the palate you need it .

Speaker 2 18:40

It opens up for other so if you put the right salts with the right acids you're going to get that . The combination is huge . It's very important . I'm glad I'm not alone in this . So there you go .

Speaker 1 18:48

The salt addiction is continuing .

Speaker 3 18:49

You're two against one .

Speaker 1 18:50

right now All right , since you're good at the live fire , what other method of cooking intimidates you the most ? Smoking , meat Smoking meat ?

Speaker 3 18:58

Yeah , we have tried it , it's a completely different world . There's completely different rules .

Speaker 1 19:05

I don't think a lot of people understand that .

Speaker 3 19:06

Yeah .

Speaker 1 19:07

Yeah , that's pretty good , all right , so this is one totally outside of the good food . Your favorite fast food restaurant Fast food .

Speaker 2 19:15

Chew ass .

Speaker 1 19:16

Your cheap food .

Speaker 3 19:17

Taco Bell .

Speaker 2 19:18

Taco Bell , taco Bell , taco .

Speaker 3 19:19

Bell .

Speaker 2 19:19

McDonald's , mcdonald's , mcdonald's , mcdonald's . We have a Taco .

Speaker 3 19:22

Bell and a McDonald's right next to each other where we live .

Speaker 1 19:31

So when we're like , done we'll . We'll get a bottle of wine and go to Taco Bell .

Speaker 2 19:31

McDonald's yeah , that's the money , that's right . I only eat fast foods typically when I'm like hungover , really , yeah , which doesn't even happen much anymore , but I'm a Wendy's guy . Well , that's that , dave .

Speaker 1 19:39

Oh , come on , I wish we have one closer to us as much all right , yeah , you guys don't have them as much . All right , so it says Dream Kitchen , but your Dream Kitchen is obviously your equipment . So hold on . If it was a car , what ? Kind of car , would it be ?

Speaker 3 19:54

A car . We actually just bought a truck , so it is , it's a good old truck .

Speaker 1 19:58

Yeah .

Speaker 2 19:59

That makes sense , though . That fits that . That does make sense there , okay .

Speaker 1 20:02

Baking yes or no ?

Speaker 2 20:03

Absolutely not , no not even on the focaccia . That's one recipe .

Speaker 3 20:10

I learned it . That's it , yeah , all right . Well , and I like found a way to manipulate it , so I do like a cornbread focaccia , so it's sweet like cornbread but fluffy like focaccia .

Speaker 2 20:14

So then you mix it in with the whole thing and you're like that's what you do Innovative , I'm not , I'm not , I'll wash my hands .

Speaker 1 20:18

I'm not wearing gloves , all right . And then , if you could cook with anyone , who would it be ?

Speaker 3 20:33

Well , now I'm going to have to cook with you . There we go . I like it . That's good .

Speaker 1 20:36

Yeah , you got to come to Virginia and jump in the kitchen . I like that New Jersey's right up the street .

Speaker 2 20:41

Yeah , yeah , it's not far . You're not gonna see how . You're definitely gonna keep in touch and I really want to make that happen absolutely I travel up there . Quite often I do a lot of um , cooking stuff all the way , all the way up through providence around . Okay , I do some stuff . So , yeah , I also have my restaurant , so I'm really busy there . Yeah , but I would love to have you guys come down .

Speaker 2 20:56

I would love to spend more time and yeah yeah I really want , really , really intrigued about this open we could bring the table down .

Speaker 3 21:02

Yes , yeah .

Speaker 1 21:03

We could bring our table . Yes , do you do events anywhere ?

Speaker 3 21:06

Everywhere you travel anywhere .

Speaker 1 21:08

So have you done any events in Virginia ?

Speaker 3 21:10

Not in Virginia . We just did an event in Greenwich , connecticut , so we were just up there . We brought the live fire table . We did a housewarming party for a client of ours that owns a jewelry company , so we did that , and then we were just in San Antonio , so we go all over the place .

Speaker 2 21:27

So I'm from Connecticut . So , like you were saying , we mentioned this earlier . The barbecue open fire stuff is not that big yet up in the Northeast and you guys are right at the cutting edge timing for it . You guys could be kind of almost the innovators on bringing this around and it's such an impressive way of eating and not a lot of people get to experience it .

Speaker 2 21:46

And you really have . Like I said , you have me intrigued . I'm really going to look into this . I'm going to be calm , I'm going to be getting a hold of you , absolutely Okay , because I want to get to call you , absolutely Give to her , yep . And then I want to know some things .

Speaker 1 21:59

Yeah , that'd be wonderful are kicking ass down there together as a couple . I love it . You're amazing . I love to see women taking over in these spaces so more power to you for doing that .

Speaker 2 22:10

It's very inspiring . Thanks for taking the time to meet with us .

Speaker 1 22:12

Thank you .

Speaker 2 22:12

Thank you . Greeting with us , and I'm going to go down to the barbecue area with you here now . Yeah , so you can kind of show me some things , if you don't mind 100% Because that's what it's all about , really .

Speaker 1 22:21

Yeah , yeah , all right . Well , tell everybody about your company where they can find you .

Culinary Collaboration and Live Fire Recipes

Speaker 3 22:26

Yeah , so it's Iron O'Catering . You can find it at ironandocateringcom and I'm cooking with Zanges on social media , so I post all different live fire recipes . I post easy to follow recipes and Aaron is .

Speaker 1 22:40

I'm Losi Cooks L-O-S-I underscore cooks . I love it .

Speaker 2 22:52

Cooks LOSI , underscore cooks , world Food Championships 2024 meeting some phenomenal people , some phenomenal chefs , some amazingly talented people , and we're more than honored to be here . I , as a chef and learn , I'm learning a shitload of stuff that I kind of just put on the back burner , huh .

Speaker 1 23:04

Like that punch . Hey , we'll be here all week .

Speaker 2 23:07

But , yeah , definitely . So this is a great environment . Hope to see you guys here next week and we bring you out ?

Speaker 1 23:13

Yeah , no , thank you . We'll bring live fire to the masses , so that's pretty cool , absolutely .

Speaker 2 23:16

Let's kill it . Ciao , for now , all right ciao for now . Thank you , thank you .