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Bristols BBQ Boss: Big Naths smokey secrets
37 Plays4 days ago
Check On Podcast fires up the grill with Bristol's own Big Nath's BBQ, where pitmaster Nathan Ritchie brings Texas style smoke to the UK. From melt in your mouth brisket, to cheesy mac bombs, Nath and partner Kinsey are redefining street food at Harbourside. Their passion for local ingredients and global flavours shine through every low and slow bite. Discover how lockdown dreams became award winning reality (and the trials and learning it took to get there!)
Nath talks about his BBQ Skool and his plans for the future, with all things smoke and BBQ.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Check On Podcast. I'm your host, Kasey Fraser. If this is your first time listening, then welcome. If you're a day one listener, then welcome back.
00:00:12
Speaker
Tonight we're chilling with Nathan Ritchie from Big Nath's Barbecue in Bristol. He's serving smoky Texas-style brisket and ribs. We'll talk about his wild leap into hospitality during lockdown, learning the ropes fast to build a street food legend with fresh local flavours.
00:00:28
Speaker
please enjoy nathan richitchie aka Nate's Barbecue.
Career Transition and Business Start
00:00:33
Speaker
Hello.
00:00:42
Speaker
Hi, I'm good, thank you. How are you? You good? Yeah, not bad, not bad. How's your day been? All right, actually, a rare day off, so. A day off? I know, just been trying to catch up on um life, really.
00:00:55
Speaker
Life admin. Yeah. It's always the first thing to go when you have your own business, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Have you got some big days this week coming up? um Yes and no.
00:01:08
Speaker
So it's a little bit more chilled than previous weeks, but we've got our first Friday cookout this week. and So that's the biggest one we've done so far. Very exciting. Yeah, it's going to be big.
00:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, we just just seem to be doing more and more and more at the moment. Not really too sure why we do it to ourselves, but it's, yeah, it all seems be going in the right direction, which is good.
00:01:32
Speaker
That's a lot going on, though. Yeah. How many of you do you have in the business? um So currently it's myself and Kinsey, my partner, um and then we have three part-time staff. That's not a lot spread over. No, yeah. So we are, like, currently recruiting quite hard.
00:01:49
Speaker
um But it's more finding the right person for the job than just employing someone. Yeah, important one, isn't it? Yeah. Sometimes it can be hard as well when it's like, when it's your your love child kind of, you want to make sure it's the right person to fit your yeah ethos as well.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. it's It's all about like being able to work well with them um and work well as part of the team. So, yeah. Big things. um how did How did it all start?
Business Growth and Challenges
00:02:18
Speaker
and So basically, I e was a construction site manager um and then lockdown happened. Got made redundant. um Always kind of fantasised about having a food truck.
00:02:33
Speaker
um Always loved barbecue. So during lockdown, it kind of gave me the time and the opportunity to actually kind of try out really.
00:02:44
Speaker
um So the first few months of lockdown, out and I don't know if you remember, but it was gorgeous weather. ah So I was just smoking meat and making barbecue sauce really. um Then towards the end of lockdown, when you could actually have like outdoor parties and stuff, we did some barbecues for friends, um which went really well.
00:03:05
Speaker
So after that, we got a dark kitchen. in Old Market, started doing takeaway, because ah again, there was nothing else to do really, apart from get takeaways, couldn't go to the pub still, which went really well, obviously, because the pubs weren't open. So yeah, people, we were actually selling out on pre-orders most nights rather than actually delivering anything, um which was great.
00:03:30
Speaker
And then we thought, you know, this is pretty good. ah Then lockdown lifted, all the pubs opened, And that kind of died down, not massively, but it died down enough for us to be like, we need to try something else. um Then we went out to street food, which we've been doing for three a half, four years now.
00:03:54
Speaker
It's been brilliant. and absolutely love doing street food. It's great because actually get to see people. ah rather than just being shut away in the kitchen the whole time. um Then we moved out to Backwell from Old Market about three years ago and then moved into our current unit ah about a year and a half ago.
00:04:14
Speaker
so we started off in a 20-foot shipping container, moved into an 800-square-foot warehouse, moved into a 2,500-square-foot warehouse, and then we've recently just taken over another 2,500-square-foot warehouse. so Yeah, we're we're growing.
00:04:31
Speaker
That was a very big upgrade. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely.
Barbecue Techniques and Local Sourcing
00:04:35
Speaker
But it just made our lives so much easier because we could have all the equipment we needed in one space.
00:04:42
Speaker
was it It must have been scary, though. Like, excuse me, going from lockdown to being made redundant to then going into a completely different industry.
00:04:52
Speaker
100%. ah hundred percent It was... Yeah, it was terrifying, especially because I had a good career, i was making good money, um but I'd kind of fallen out of love with that career.
00:05:06
Speaker
I kind of got to the point where I was like, I'm done with this industry, I don't want be working in it. um And then to begin with, when we first started doing the takeaways and stuff, I was still doing some freelance work.
00:05:18
Speaker
um And then the barbecue took over the freelance work. So I went from doing construction into this and yeah, even now four and a half, five years in, we're still learning as we're going. um We made a lot of mistakes at the beginning.
00:05:35
Speaker
I think we ran at a loss for like the first year because we didn't really understand like GP and stuff and margins and i mean, yeah, because neither of us had worked in that kind of environment before. So yeah,
00:05:46
Speaker
yeah Luckily, we had some made some good friends that helped us out with that and helped us figure things out. Yeah, I think um i think it's it's definitely like a difficult thing to grasp, even for like people that are in the industry and have been in the industry for a long time. If you've never been taught it and you don't actually realize how tight your margins are, it's so easy like to not make money. Yeah, especially now because the cost of everything just keeps going up and up and up and up and up.
00:06:19
Speaker
And there's only so much that the customer can wear. Exactly, yeah. Yeah, so it's difficult. What were some of the other lessons that you learnt in that first year, other than your GP?
00:06:31
Speaker
So the first night we ever did it, as we just did like a trial run. We kind of, because we'd never done a busy service, we were like, oh, we'll just do that as we go.
00:06:43
Speaker
We'll just do that as we go. um And then realised why people will prep so heavily. ah So yeah, that was a very a very quick lesson we learned. um Even just like down to making the packaging and stuff for the takeaway. It was just things like that.
00:06:59
Speaker
We learned to move away from delivery platforms as much as we possibly could just because we were literally yeah making nothing on them because the commissions were so high. Some of them are 20%, aren't they? ah We were paying 35% that. Wow. that was like our Once we'd actually figured out our margins, that was our margin gone. That's your whole margin? Yeah.
00:07:21
Speaker
Jesus. Yeah, so it was just ridiculous. 55%? Yeah, plus that. So, yeah. Well, so, yeah, we've kind of streamlined our street food menu after trying out lots different things. So initially we used to kind of do big meat boxes where people would come and choose, you know, like sliced brisket, pulled pork.
00:07:42
Speaker
smoked chicken thighs, ribs, all sorts, um and then realised why don't we just buns instead because street food, obviously people want to be able to walk and eat, really.
00:07:57
Speaker
and So it removes away from the very big, heavy boxes and plus the price we'd have to be charging for those now. I don't think people would be paying it on street food. So... Isn't it funny how sometimes there's like really small adjustments during service and it's things that you only learn when you're in the shit.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. Like even like you said, just getting the packaging ready and stuff like that. You just pick up all of these little things along the way. definitely. And just streamlines everything. Like it's all in the prep.
00:08:26
Speaker
Yeah. um It's even just having your space laid out right. And again, you only get that with doing it. So... Yeah, for sure. Like,
Culinary Inspirations from the USA
00:08:37
Speaker
there's nothing worse than when you're in a kitchen and you're about to go into service and you're not fully set up. It's just so stressful. And some people can do it and not feel the stress from it. But just even thinking about it, I feel anxiety. Yeah, because I get it like just before service, if I've got a few things to finish off and people are like, no, we've got some checks in. i'm like, no, no.
00:09:01
Speaker
so how did you did you always have a bit of a love for barbecue how did you how did you learn how to do it in a way that you could do it commercially ah so i've I've always loved cooking over fire it's it's just something something about it I just absolutely love um it's yeah it's just great and then ah kind of like I kind of like figured out grilling when I was young age I you know always barbecued throughout my most of my life.
00:09:35
Speaker
I'd probably say the first time I barbecued was probably, yeah, I was probably about nine or 10 with my dad, kind of taken over from him so the sausages weren't burnt all the time and the chicken was actually cooked. And um and then I used to travel to New York quite a lot um and used to go to a place called Hometown Barbecue in Brooklyn.
00:09:58
Speaker
and that was the first time I'd ever had proper America barbecue and I just had to try and like figure out how to do it and so there was a lot of YouTube a lot of experimenting ah lot of failures like a lot I look back at how much meat I've wasted just trying to figure out how to do it and it's horrible but you know turned it into other things, so that made chillies and stuff with it. So it didn't go to waste, really.
00:10:29
Speaker
um And then kind of over the years, just kind of created our own system for doing stuff. um Like there's certain ways that we do things that I'm not sure I've seen many other people do, but it's kind of just, yeah, it works for us and that's what we do.
00:10:46
Speaker
sorry What kind of things do you do differently, do you think, to other people? and just the way we cook our meats, really. i mean, obviously smoking meat, smoking meat. um But we use very specific words.
00:11:02
Speaker
We use very specific smokers. um We're very particular about our meat as well. Like you see some people and they just roll brisket to brisket.
00:11:13
Speaker
And i mean, you and I both know it meat isn't just meat. So we only use one particular breed of cattle that comes from the same farm everything's locally sourced nothing that we use in terms of raw ingredients comes further than 30 miles from bristol ah so we're very careful about that and a lot of people doing barbecue aren't necessarily that conscious about it like you he see a lot of barbecue joints in england importing beef from america which
00:11:49
Speaker
I kind of get because the fat content is a hell of a lot more than what we get. But at the same time, know, we have stunning produce here. So why not try and figure out how to do that? Get the same results using local produce.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. does it Does it change the way that you have to prepare and cook it and smoke it um because it has a lot less fat content? Yeah, it's it's a lot less forgiving.
00:12:14
Speaker
um it's obviously with a higher fat content you protect it a little bit more and and it's just figuring out the way to cook it in a similar fashion so you get the same end result and we our system we've got kind of produces 99% perfect product that I like um which is how I feel we should be serving it so yeah 99% of the time it's bang on you still do you get those anomalies natural products you're always going to but yeah it was just all figuring out systems and timings and temperatures and yeah it was it was a lot of trial and error what about the sauces and things like that because that's a huge part of it as well as yeah so that was actually one of the first things i made during lockdown was our barbecue sauce um and to be fair the recipe hasn't really changed from the first time i mean it probably took me about
00:13:13
Speaker
20 goes to get it how I wanted it. um But since I got it right, it hasn't changed at all. Someone else produces it for us now just because of the quantity we need, but it's to our recipe.
00:13:24
Speaker
um So yeah, the barbecue sauce, it started winning awards. So it got Gold Taste of the West last year. Congratulations. Thank you. um And then I feel because of our sauce, it kind of gives our food its own unique flavour.
00:13:43
Speaker
because I mean that's the thing with barbecue joints is everyone has their own barbecue sauce everyone has their own woods they smoke on so most of the time places you go to it will taste different similar but different and so yeah the barbecue sauce for ours was like a big thing and the rubs as well um most of the stuff we do not going to lie is literally just salt and pepper we don't use a lot of other seasonings we do have a barbecue rub which we use on pork and poultry and And then we have got a hot sauce coming out mid-May.
00:14:19
Speaker
But it's very mild. I say it's hot sauce. It's very mild. What kind of hot sauce is it? So it's a kind of smoked garlic and roasted pepper hot sauce. and But we're using balsamic vinegar as the base rather than spirit vinegar or white vinegar. And then it has anchos, chipotle, cascabels, cayenne peppers,
00:14:42
Speaker
loads of smoked garlic, loads of roasted peppers. Nice. It's not, place you know it's hot, but it's not.
Community and Team Dynamics
00:14:51
Speaker
disgustingly hot ah do you like spicy I do but i hope yeah it gets to a point where i just don't really understand why you want it that hot where you just feel the heat there's like yeah 100% yeah yeah whereas I wanted to make like a very accessible hot sauce so and you're also catering to sort of a a wide yeah variety of heat levels so it needs to be something I guess that most people can handle and enjoy Yeah, definitely.
00:15:21
Speaker
And we are we are going to bring out a hotter hot sauce. It'll be in same sort of flavours, but obviously lot hotter a bit later on in the year. So yeah, there will be a super hot one coming out.
00:15:33
Speaker
I'll try the super hot one. Yeah. I do like a hot sauce. I have it on my eggs in the morning. Oh, really? Yeah. Nice. Most people think it's a bit weird, but... Yeah. No, it's Tabasco for me.
00:15:45
Speaker
Tabasco on eggs. I absolutely love it. Oh, really? Yeah. I've never had Tabasco on eggs. That's good. That's, like, one of my fave... Well, in terms of, like, commercial hot sauces, I think that's, like, by far the best.
00:15:57
Speaker
Absolutely love it. Yeah. We've made a hot sauce as well. We'll have to swap hot sauces. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, 100%. Have you been to Texas? Yeah, so Kinsey and went...
00:16:09
Speaker
when uh when was it so we flew out on christmas eve 2023 um and started in california and finished in new york we were over there for like six weeks wow um so yeah we kind of traveled and ate our way across america really uh so california i think i basically just ate tacos for a week um because their taco game is so strong over there.
00:16:39
Speaker
and It was great. And to be fair, most of the time, it was actually just guys that sat up on the side of the street and they were always the best ones. They usually are. Yeah, it was great.
00:16:52
Speaker
And then, yeah, we we did some filming with Pit Boss in Arizona, which a big American barbecue brand. Then... We went into Louisiana and like Cajun food, I absolutely love it.
00:17:07
Speaker
That's like up there with some of my favorite types of cooking. um And then yeah, from Louisiana, we drove into Texas and in a week we went to five different barbecue joints.
00:17:20
Speaker
um ah Meat-wise it was very intense. We're literally having one huge meal a day um because yeah red meat just fills you up so much. yeah But we we wanted to go to three in particular, which was Goldie's in Fort Worth, Franklin's in Austin and Snow's in Lexington.
00:17:42
Speaker
um All three of them absolutely incredible. um And then we went to a few others. so we went to KG Barbecue, which he does really interesting spin on Texan Barbecue.
00:17:54
Speaker
So he's Egyptian um and he puts like an Egyptian twist on Texan style cooked meats. Interesting. Which was, I really, Kinsey wasn't a huge fan um because the flavours, but I thought it was absolutely stunning.
00:18:07
Speaker
So he did like smoked lamb ribs with pomegranate molasses and stuff. And yeah, was, it was good. Real good. do love lamb ribs. I feel like we don't use lamb ribs enough, but they're also good. I know, they're absolutely awesome.
00:18:18
Speaker
um yeah We keep meaning to experiment with them, so that might be something that's on the menu potentially soon. That can be your quality control for that if you would like. Come on down.
00:18:29
Speaker
volunteer. And then, yeah, we basically just traveled around and spoke to all of the pitmasters and stuff at the different restaurants. Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Aaron Franklin at Franklin's, but we spoke to the guys that worked with it.
00:18:44
Speaker
And yeah, it just kind of made me love it even more. Because it was, yeah, just everything was so wholesome about it. And like Goldie's, for example, three friends that started it.
00:18:57
Speaker
um They were the number one spot in the last Texas Monthly Top 50 barbecue joints. So every five years, Texas Monthly's magazine, they recommend their top 50 barbecue joints rated from one down to 50. you don't know that you're going to win it until the magazine comes out.
00:19:16
Speaker
Oh, wow. So, yeah, they would they were like, it was pretty intense um after they found out they won. But, I mean, fair play to them. They've built up this incredible place, opened a couple of other restaurants, and they still do everything themselves.
00:19:31
Speaker
Like, one of them was busing tables when we was there. um yeah they cook everything still themselves obviously they've got a team with them now but yeah they're still very involved with it all which absolutely loved did you pick up anything there that you didn't know before?
00:19:48
Speaker
um some things mainly more about the kind of restaurants and the service side of it um because again each place we went to service was completely different. I mean all of them you kind of just go up to a counter and you say what you want weight wise.
00:20:08
Speaker
So the weight thing we kind of bought that and introduced it to our first Friday takeaway. and So rather than just coming there and going I want brisket, I want pork, you order everything by the half pound.
00:20:22
Speaker
and So if you want you can walk away with five pounds of brisket and three pounds of pulled pork. um which initially when we started doing that people I think were a bit confused about how big portions are but I think yeah most people we've got a lot of regulars now booking for the first Friday and a lot of them now kind of yeah if they can gauge how much food they need to order so that was definitely one thing yeah we brought back from there what does it mean to be ah pit master
00:20:56
Speaker
um basically just controlling the pits and the fires and the meats and yeah so and yeah I mean a lot of it's just all about maintaining the heat in the smoker um and yeah making sure the meat doesn't overcook or undercook or pulling at the right time checking the stools like all kinds of stuff with it so it's basically just you're in control of that one thing really
00:21:26
Speaker
um what what is the process of like let's say cooking a brisket talk me through from you get the piece of so and so we'll uh get our brisket from our butcher um we use Dave Giles on Gloucester Road um I only have specific weights of briskets that we get from there so they range between six and seven and half kilos so they're quite big um They've all come from one farm and Amy the butcher
Barbecue School and Future Plans
00:21:54
Speaker
can tell you where that farm is, what day that animal was killed, like everything, probably even the cow's name as well if you wanted to know. we get our briskets from there.
00:22:04
Speaker
Then once we have them at the kitchen, I'll trim them. um So basically trim off any loose edges, kind of ma make the meat like slightly aerodynamic.
00:22:18
Speaker
Make sure we've got a nice fat cap on there as well um Then we season it with salt and pepper It's quite heavy seasoning. You'll get seasoned absolutely everywhere every side top and bottom then that will go into the smoker roughly six to eight hours um We'll be spritzing it in between as well just to make sure it doesn't dry out Potentially turning them and moving them around in the smoker. So we get an even cook on all of them It's a housemaker, is it? Yeah.
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah, we we run ours about 130 to 150 degrees um Celsius. thing Because obviously it' it's American style cooking.
00:23:02
Speaker
oh use Fahrenheit and Celsius quite a lot. But I couldn't convert one into the other.
00:23:11
Speaker
So yeah, sometimes I'll say things in Fahrenheit and sometimes things in Celsius, but yeah, the guys that work with us understand that. um So yeah, we'll go into the smoker until we hit an internal of around 60 to 65. Then we'll pull it and wrap it.
00:23:28
Speaker
And then it'll go back into the smoker once it's wrapped until we get an internal of about 94. um So it's quite high in terms of temperature for meat. But we needed to reach that temperature. So the fat's broken down.
00:23:45
Speaker
Fat's started rendering out. Any of the tendons and stuff have all kind of cooked away. Then we'll pull it and we will rest it in an oven set at 75 degrees for about four to five hours. And then we'll serve it It's a long process.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah. So the whole process from start to finish... Included in resting, probably looking at about 17 to 18 hours. so So it's a labour of love, definitely.
00:24:15
Speaker
Definitely. Absolutely. But worth it though?
00:24:20
Speaker
yeah, it's getting people to understand how long that process is and how labour intensive it is as to why the meat is priced as it is. um Because, I mean, not only has our beef prices gone up 25% just this year,
00:24:34
Speaker
and It's very labour intensive, so obviously we've got to for that labour time. And after the trimming and the loss of size and weight during the cooking, we're probably down to about 40 to 50% loss on the meat.
00:24:52
Speaker
So yeah, it's quite a lot. Yeah, it's another thing that I think um sort of your average customer doesn't really think of, especially when you're talking about a smoked and sort of slow-cooked meat is how much of the weight is actually lost in that process. so Yeah.
00:25:09
Speaker
You know, if you're paying 35 pounds a kilo yeah and you've only got 500 grams after that, you know what I mean? like it's Yeah, it then then makes it 70 pounds a kilo. It's huge. Yeah.
00:25:22
Speaker
Massive. Yeah, it's crazy. So i I think I romanticise barbecue a little bit I hope you'll indulge me. um i think barbecue is way more than just meat and fire. Yeah. So what would you say that barbecue means to you personally? See, for me, one of the key things with it, like obviously what we do day to day is completely different.
00:25:53
Speaker
Barbecuing in general, it's more about community. Like, yeah, just having a barbecue, having all your mates around. And it's funny when we do private events and we have, like, we take our big green egg or something or take a couple of Weber kettles. As soon as that barbecue's lit, I'm just surrounded by people holding beers, just talking.
00:26:13
Speaker
There's something about the fire and the smoke and the heat and the smells and it kind of just draws people together. um Yeah, and I love that. And it is, yeah, very, yeah, very community thing.
00:26:26
Speaker
I don't know whether that goes back to like the stone age of everyone sitting around a fire and trying to keep warm and all that kind stuff. But yeah, there is something about it that just draws people in. It's very primal, isn't it? Oh, definitely. Yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah. 100%. And it definitely, I think takes, it's a completely different skill set. Um, like I don't think you could take a chef out of a commercial kitchen and put them on a barbecue and tell them to do what you do.
00:26:53
Speaker
Like it it's an extremely different set of skills. Yeah. And I, I, I feel as well, um, like we've had some friends that work in, are highlight high end commercial kitchens, come and help us quite a bit.
00:27:07
Speaker
Um, And I find a lot of them don't have the patience for it. Because, I mean, obviously, you know what it's like working in a high-pressure environment in a kitchen. It's everything needs to be done five minutes ago.
00:27:19
Speaker
Whereas doing what we do is a much slower pace. Obviously, service is a different thing. But the actual prep and the cooking process is much slower. And you have to let the meat get to those temperatures.
00:27:32
Speaker
You can't rush it. There's no you no shortcuts to this, which I wish there was, but unfortunately there aren't. I mean, you can do hot and fast smoking, but to me, the low and slow method is, yeah, it just just beats the hot and fast method, hands down.
00:27:51
Speaker
Low and slow is always better. Yeah, 100%. Have you had chefs come and help you out during service? um We've had a couple. So when we first started out, one of our friends, he was helping us on like a freelance basis, but he's now head chef of a restaurant.
00:28:06
Speaker
um Yeah, and because because we are extremely prep heavy, service is actually really easy because everything's done. and All the meat is hot and yeah, because it's because it's held in the oven, we let just pull out a brisket when we want it.
00:28:24
Speaker
When that's done, we go and get another one. So yeah, we're not not unless The only things we actually cook during service is chips. Yep. That's it. Everything's already done.
00:28:35
Speaker
I've seen a couple of um like restaurants do a pop-up style service at a food festival and stuff like that. And I always feel so scared for them because I'm like, it's so different, guys. like It's so different.
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, literally, as soon as you start serving... sometimes we can, soon you serve the first one, we'll just have a stream of people until everything's gone. There's no refs, no let up.
00:29:03
Speaker
Sometimes you'll have like 30, 40 orders on you just got clear through them. And it's, it's a much quicker pace than like restaurant service for sure. Um, but it is just all about getting that prep ready. And then once it's ready, it it's yeah, you're fine.
00:29:18
Speaker
Talk to me about the, the barbecue school. Why, why the barbecue school? What do you do there? um So I started it, well, we started it last year.
00:29:30
Speaker
um It's kind of a way to educate people more about the style of cooking because obviously go anywhere in America and everyone knows, I think everyone in America actually underspoken. I think it must be law or something.
00:29:44
Speaker
and Whereas in the UK, it is a lot more of like a niche market. I mean, obviously there's been people around for years smoking meat in England, but Again, I think it's a lockdown thing because people are watching all the barbecue shows on Netflix and stuff and that kind of sparked their interest.
00:30:03
Speaker
And it is one of those things, I remember when I first smoked a brisket, it's scary because you've got this huge bit of meat. You don't really know how to do it because you've never done it before.
00:30:14
Speaker
And you're potentially throwing 100 pound plus bit of meat down the drain um unless you kind of have an idea of what you're doing. so We do, the beginners class has been extremely popular.
00:30:28
Speaker
um So on that one, it's just real simple. We do a spatchcock smoked chicken. ah We do smoked pork belly. We do pulled pork and then a few sides and ah we do a dessert on the smoker as well.
00:30:43
Speaker
So it's kind of to show the versatility. It's aimed at people that haven't necessarily done any smoking before, don't necessarily own a barbecue or a smoker. So during the class, we'll use everything from like a really, really basic weather kettle all the way up to like a £10,000 custom offset.
00:31:02
Speaker
So they get an opportunity to try all these different barbecues and smokers. but yeah It's all well and good going somewhere and like looking at them. But until you get hands on with them, you don't really know if you like it that much.
00:31:15
Speaker
um So yeah, we we do everything. We use all different fuels. So some of them are charcoal and wood, some of them are pellet. We are actually going to be introducing a gas one at some point.
00:31:27
Speaker
um And then we've got like asados, we've got ceramics, we've got kettles, all sorts. So it's just about educating people on that style of cooking and how it is about having patience. It's all about controlling the airflow.
00:31:42
Speaker
And it's just it's just nice being around a fire, chatting to people. is still I love it. It's great. So people have been very, um
00:31:51
Speaker
yeah, just just they've enjoyed it loads and very willing to learn as well. um And then we've introduced more classes. So um we've got a Texan Masterclass, which is the first ones coming up this weekend, which has sold out.
00:32:08
Speaker
We've got a Phish class on. um which someone else is actually teaching that one. but I'm going to be there just looking after the barbecues. ah I'm awful cooking a fish.
00:32:22
Speaker
We're looking at introducing a pizza class with a Bristol pizzeria. um So they're basically going to teach to make pizzas and we're going to teach to make cured meats. Nice.
00:32:34
Speaker
We are looking at introducing a Mexican class. A jerk class. um We're actually... Sorry to a guy this week about
Hospitality Industry Insights
00:32:44
Speaker
doing a game class, so deer in a day.
00:32:47
Speaker
we're going get some roe deers. We're going to skin them as part of the class. We're going butcher them. And then we're going to cook them. So that'll be... I'm really looking forward to that one, actually. That'll be a good day. We're doing ah half a cow, half a pig.
00:33:02
Speaker
um So, yeah, we're adding to the classes as we're going. and and yeah people have been yeah really enjoying them we've had quite a few people do various different classes with us as well and then from that we found a lot of people were finishing class going I really enjoyed that I now want a BBQ going out buying a BBQ so we have now decided to open a BBQ specialist shop as well nice um which is literally next door to our current
00:33:37
Speaker
unit like where our kitchen is um so yeah people can come they can learn how to barbecue and then they can go and buy the barbecue that they've used on the class so yeah everything that we use in the class we are selling it's like the ultimate try before you buy pretty much yeah yeah yeah so it's yeah it's great so people have been enjoying that as well even like down to the chopping boards and the openings we use they can buy in the shop that's really it's a really good business model as well to be fair ah Hopefully. We've only just started doing it. so i like I mean, it sounds like it. Yeah, I'll let you know in a year.
00:34:12
Speaker
but
00:34:16
Speaker
but yeah feel I feel like the whole cooking class thing, i i mean, maybe I just didn't realise that in Australia, i never really saw it. And then in England, it's something that I see a lot.
00:34:30
Speaker
I wonder if like your average person is just a lot more out of touch with sort of cooking and food than what they used to be.
00:34:41
Speaker
you know what I mean? Possibly, yeah. I mean, I ah we We kind of think it's one of those presents that, because a lot of them I think are presents for people. It's kind of like the the gift you get someone who's got everything.
00:34:53
Speaker
um Like the experience days and things like that, they seem to be a lot more popular. But I think, yeah, a lot of it is yeah down to people just not knowing really. Not knowing how to do something. And it is always easier to be taught than try and self-teach, isn't it?
00:35:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah, self-teaching is really horrible. Yeah. Some people love it and some people are really good at it, but I'm the classic person that I just get so frustrated it's not going right. and Yeah.
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah. Definitely. Terrible patience. See, it's fine. Once you get used to it and realise if it's not ready, you just have another beer, it's fine.
00:35:31
Speaker
Oh, see, that I could get on board with. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and and then at that point, it doesn't matter if it comes out rubbish because you've had so many beers, it's fine. Who cares? So you win either way. Exactly, exactly.
00:35:44
Speaker
yeah And like we've found like with hands-on teaching as well. so a part of the class, the only thing that I demonstrate is the pulled pork because that takes like 14 hours to cook.
00:35:56
Speaker
Everything else, they prep and cook themselves. So
Teaching and Collaboration in Cooking
00:36:00
Speaker
yeah, the hands-on teaching is definitely, definitely the way forward for that as well. Yeah, I guess you really couldn't teach them how to do the brisket or the pulled pork because otherwise they'd have to be there from five o'clock in the morning.
00:36:13
Speaker
Exactly. And a lot of the time it would just be going, what's temperature of that now? no That would be it because it's yeah it's in the smoker and there's that old classic saying, if you're looking, you're not cooking.
00:36:25
Speaker
So, yeah, you literally just have it in a smoker and that would be the class for about 10 hours. but and So, yeah, like the the longer cooks we do do, blue peter style here's one i made earlier um which yeah it's fine we teach people how to prep it how to season it what temperatures they need to look for when to expect the stall and stuff when to wrap it if you need to wrap it like so we teach them the whole process it's just they're not there for the whole process do you find it very rewarding doing the cooking classes uh yeah i absolutely love it um
00:37:03
Speaker
and like yeah In fact, a couple came to our street food store yesterday. He'd been on the course and his wife actually said that he was awful at cooking. um He always burnt everything on the barbecue. And since doing our course, they've had smoked chicken probably at least once a month.
00:37:21
Speaker
um And they were like, we absolutely love it. lot Our daughter's a really picky eater. She wouldn't eat chicken before. um And now she loves smoked chicken. So, yeah, just hearing things like that is great.
00:37:32
Speaker
And, yeah, we want to try and, yeah, just help people be better at doing barbecues. So he didn't burn the chicken then after you told him how to? and I don't think so. He didn't say he did. Not that told you. No.
00:37:52
Speaker
How do you find working with your partner? um To be fair, it's really good. yeah The only problem is when we're at home, and we do still talk about work.
00:38:05
Speaker
So it kind of feels like we are just constantly working. um But, you know, we both have completely different skill sets. ah Kinsey is very much the business and I'm very much cook so yeah she'll basically organise me, tell me what events we're doing tell me the menu and then I'll do everything um after that she'll just tell me when I need to get there and what we're doing kind of thing so yeah Kinsey very much organises me and there's no way I could do any of this without her um yeah I am useless organising stuff so yeah without her it wouldn't be anything like is today
00:38:50
Speaker
It is a very drastic shift, though, like to go from having your own separate careers to then going into lockdown to then working together full time. And yeah hospitality is full time. Yeah.
00:39:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think if ah people had told us the hours we'd be doing before we started, we probably would have maybe considered doing something else. we didn tell you But, you know, I love it and I wouldn't change it for the world.
00:39:15
Speaker
I feel like in everything, but definitely in hospitality, everyone's got a hill that they will absolutely die on, you know, a rule that they have to stick to. Do you have a rule that you have to stick to when it comes to barbecue?
00:39:34
Speaker
Like, yes and no. um I mean, my big thing is if it's not ready, it's not ready. Like, you cannot rush it. And...
00:39:45
Speaker
That's why we prep things quite a lot in advance. But yeah, I'd probably say that. it's not ready, it's not ready.
00:39:54
Speaker
And then you've already spoken about some of the sort of hurdles, you know, like finding out your GP and making sure you've got prep, but to other people that are considering opening up um some kind of food business, what is some of the knowledge you can share with them that you've learned over the years?
00:40:14
Speaker
yeah and
00:40:18
Speaker
Don't buy equipment that you don't need.
00:40:21
Speaker
Definitely. What are people that you don't need? ah Yeah. Nismits Clearance is one of my favourite places, but it's one of the worst places I can possibly go. Because I'll walk in there and be like, oh, I definitely need that ridiculous sized mixer.
00:40:35
Speaker
And then use it like twice and then it just sits there. So, yeah, if you don't need it, don't buy it um try and do as much as you can off your own back don't get any loans or get into debt with it because hospitality especially way is so turbulent yeah you don't know if you come in or go half the time so less outgoings you have the better um and enjoy it just try to enjoy it it's horrible and it's stressful but make it as fun as you can
00:41:12
Speaker
you cause yeah it through me
00:41:15
Speaker
is like you know it is a very stressful environment i don't think people that haven't worked in kitchens i mean i didn't realize how stressful it was before started doing this and i think people that haven't worked in kitchens don't know the stress levels involved and trying to strive for that perfection for every single dish as well that's yeah it's difficult when it takes out you
00:41:39
Speaker
Have you had any like really hairy services, whether you've been out doing a private event? or like i think I feel like I've got a couple where i just like, oh my God, like what are we doing? Have you had any really hairy ones? 100% the first service we ever did. um We've had a few where there's obviously a lot of what we do is outside and you're battling with the weather a lot.
00:42:08
Speaker
um so we've had a few where like a gazebo has decided to fly off or the smokers kept going out because it's so windy it just kept blowing it through you know stuff like that and at the time me kind of yeah you shit yourself a bit but you just got to deal with it you just figure out ways to deal with it and you just do yeah as long as you don't panic too much and stress yourself up too much it's yeah you always find a way You can panic inwardly, I guess. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:42:39
Speaker
And then at the end, you just thought, oh God, that was hideous.
00:42:43
Speaker
Yeah, but then you laugh about it later. though Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, lahan I remember we did one, and it was mid-July, so you think beautiful weather, it'll be absolutely fine. Not in England.
00:42:54
Speaker
I think it was like 45 mile an hour winds, and it just rained all day. and yeah, all of us, we had like waterproofs and stuff on, and all of us just soaked through by the end of the day. was hideous.
00:43:07
Speaker
But we got through it. We got service done. Everyone was really happy. So it was fine. Have you ever had anything bad happen with the smoker or the barbecue? Like, I always worry that something that's sitting there for so long on fire.
00:43:22
Speaker
no I mean, touch withve we've been all right. good Yeah, it's, you know, there is that worry because you are dealing with fire. But it's all very contained. Yeah.
00:43:35
Speaker
Yeah. you know It's not going to go anywhere, basically. It's just yeah like, I think I've had it once or twice where the smoke had gone out and I hadn't realised.
00:43:47
Speaker
So yeah, that that was just like a wasted cook. Or like our extract decided to pack in, so the whole place just filled with smoke. Just stuff like that. We haven't actually had anything go too wrong with the smokers.
00:44:02
Speaker
So yeah, hopefully they don't.
00:44:06
Speaker
You need to have like a nanny cam or something like that so you can have it there and do something else and keep an eye on it. i mean that would be ideal. um Yeah, we have actually got ah temperature probes that will tell me if the temperature inside the smoker drops below certain level now.
00:44:23
Speaker
That's good. So, yeah. Yeah, it should be all right now. A little bit of peace of mind. Yeah.
00:44:31
Speaker
when
Reflections and Future Projects
00:44:32
Speaker
When you're doing a cook and you have guests and they order the food and they walk away, yeah what do you what do you hope that they walk away with? What sort of feeling or memory do you want them to walk away with?
00:44:48
Speaker
We're getting very deep now. Yeah. It's quite deep. Because obviously you do this because you love it and you have such a passion for it. And it's something, it's a product that you're taking so long to make and that's going to be consumed within minutes.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah. So we all want to kind of impart a memory or a feeling onto it. What are you hoping to share with what you're doing? I mean, I just, literally all I hope is that they enjoy it and they come back.
00:45:13
Speaker
that's That's all what I hope for. There is, I love doing this thing though. So yeah, especially during street food, because a lot of the time you can see people eating the food. um
00:45:24
Speaker
Especially with certain dishes. I love seeing people walk off, sit down, take a bite, and you can just see them, like, pull their head back to just be like, oh, yeah.
00:45:36
Speaker
Like, just watching that reaction to our food, I love it.
00:45:41
Speaker
It's quite nice, though that you get to see that um with what sort of we're doing at the moment. We do private dining and I'm the worst for that. we We take out the dish. We walk back into the kitchen and I look at Vincent. I'm like, do you think they like it?
00:45:52
Speaker
Do you think they like it? He's like, can you stop stressing? I'm like, I need to know if they like it. I need to know if they like it around the corner. I'm like that as well. When we do any pop-ups or any services where I can't see people eating the food, I'm constantly back to the serving stuff. I'm like, is everyone all right?
00:46:07
Speaker
Did they enjoy it? Yeah, especially when it's like your baby going out. You're like, they do they like it? We're so needy. Yeah. and I know Kinsey keeps saying she's sick of stroking my ego because I'm constantly like, do people like it? but Do they like it?
00:46:23
Speaker
It's a very personal thing. I don't think it's about stroking the ego. I think it might look like that from the outside, but it's a very personal thing. Like, um it it's going to sound so wanky, but it's kind of like an art expression in a way, you know? like Yeah. When an artist paints something, they want people to enjoy looking at it, and we cook things because we love cooking.
00:46:45
Speaker
and Yeah. It's you know our labor of love. So we just it's the only joy ah ah that we get from it. you know It's not because we're going become millionaires from it. yeah The joy is knowing if people like it. So I'm not sure it's an ego thing.
00:46:58
Speaker
That's what I tell myself anyway. Yeah, no, don't think it's an
00:47:04
Speaker
We'll stand by that. Have you ever put anything um like completely non-traditional and weird on the barbecue? Do you trial different things at all? um Yeah, we try lots of different things, to be fair.
00:47:19
Speaker
But the thing is, if you look into a lot of it, someone somewhere all over the world has tried it. um Like my big thing at the moment is i love cooking hearts.
00:47:31
Speaker
um So ox heart is beautiful. absolutely love it. And it puts people off a lot. When you say it's a heart, they're like, oh, awful. um But it's just like the leanest meat you can possibly imagine. It's great.
00:47:45
Speaker
Yeah. But it's very much like a Southern American thing. Like the first time I ever had it, it was cooked for me by a Peruvian guy. And all he did was marinate it in like Peruvian chilies and vinegar.
00:47:58
Speaker
And it was beautiful. um And after trying that, I was like, yeah, I want to cook all of this. So yeah, I started doing that. um In terms of American barbecue, like,
00:48:10
Speaker
i lamb and mutton isn't really too much of a thing. Uh, I found some like old recipes. So we, we sometimes do like a black Kentucky lamb. Um, but yeah, it's very few and far between. Um, it is mainly beef and pork and chicken and Turkey.
00:48:30
Speaker
um we are going to be doing obviously the the game class we spoke about so we are going to be smoking roe deer uh we're going to smoke a whole monk jack as well which would be quite interesting if i've done that before um but yeah like if if you look at barbecues around the world like someone's it's a traditional dish somewhere um yeah it's just yeah we just try and uh do really random flavours with it and stuff and see what happens. and
00:49:00
Speaker
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. um What's a really random flavour you've done with it? God, what did do the other week?
00:49:11
Speaker
We did like wild garlic with Coca-Cola. That is random. It didn't really work, I'll be honest. It was one of those, like I tried a bit and I was like, I don't know if I like that or not.
00:49:26
Speaker
but I couldn't stop eating it. Do you know I mean? It was like, ah every time I ate it, I was like, is it good or is it not? I can't, I just couldn't figure it out. It was like doing something weird in my brain. So yeah, we did that on some pork chops and yeah, it was, I don't think we'll be doing that in the future.
00:49:45
Speaker
What was your, what did you have in mind though? Like that's just two things I would never think to put together. Where did the thought process come from? So i one of my favourite dishes that we actually did for a special last month or month before is Dr Pepper pork chops.
00:50:04
Speaker
I absolutely love it. So we have a very specific rub for it which has like cumin and chilli and mustard and stuff like that. So we marinate in the rub and then we reduce down the Dr Pepper and mix it with our barbecue sauce.
00:50:21
Speaker
So... you get a very nice barbecue sauce flavor, but then you get that like hit of Dr. Pepper towards the end. And then we literally just glaze the pork chops in that and grill them. um And I love it. It's such a simple dish. And I was like, we'd gone out and picked load of wild garlic to make some oil with.
00:50:40
Speaker
And i was like, ah, oh why don't I just try doing that with wild garlic and Coke instead? And yeah, just, I wouldn't recommend it. Well, you're not sure if you would recommend it. No, like, yeah, it was it was weird.
00:50:54
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think we'll be trying it again.
00:50:59
Speaker
Do you lean on sort of other chef-y friends and other industry friends in terms of like recipes and things like that? Yeah.
00:51:09
Speaker
um yeah so quite, especially like street food people will talk about, i mean, talk about food all the time. and But then, yeah, some of our friends that work in the higher-end restaurants will talk to them about doing stuff and they'll give them inspiration. And then some of them said, like, we've given them inspiration about dishes as well, which, you know, I'm blown away by it because they've done whole chef thing properly, like went to catering college and, you know, started off at really low-level chefs and made it all up to, like, head chefs of high-end restaurants and stuff. So, yeah, to hear that coming from them, um yeah, it blows me away a bit.
00:51:47
Speaker
and But yeah, we do definitely bounce ideas off each other. I think that's probably one of the most important things about being a chef is you kind of just have this unspoken connection with so many people.
00:52:01
Speaker
You know, we're all talking the same language, but in a different form, I guess. You just... Yeah. You can talk to anyone about it, someone who you've never talked to before and you don't know anything about. If you can talk about food, you've got a conversation and you've got a friend anywhere.
00:52:15
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And yeah, food brings us all together. up Definitely. Definitely. Did you find that a bit when you were traveling in America this most recent time? Yeah. Yeah, I'd say so. Because especially being English um and because we were going to like really random like back alley spots that I imagine they don't get a lot of tourists going to. So yeah, people were very welcoming. And then, you know, when we're talking to him and saying, oh, like we've got like a barbecue place back home. And they were like, oh my God.
00:52:49
Speaker
And then they'd want to talk to you about that. And yeah, so it was it was just like a really nice experience with food. um And then like learning, especially the tacos, the different recipes that people have over there. And because it was all just literally right by the side of the street, I'd be talking to them and night some of them actually gave me recipes for some of the things they do. Really? Yeah, so I've been trying some of those out and they've been incredible.
00:53:14
Speaker
um So yeah, it's just like just things like that. just yeah it's just nice sharing it all with people you'll have to send me a taco recipe if chair yeah definitely we do have got an amazing al pastor recipe wow please send yeah
00:53:36
Speaker
Excuse me. um We've talked about the times where like things have been hard and it's raining and doing a barbecue and the rain sucks and stuff. Yeah. Have you had any services or sort of pop-ups or anything really where you thought to yourself, like everything's just going so well, it's almost like this dance everyone's doing together and you've kind of just had a moment of reflection and you're like, this is why we do this.
00:54:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we have had a few like that. Funny enough. Saturday just gone so we did a collaborative pop-up with the Bianchi group at Centralis and it was like a Louisiana shrimp boil cookout um and Conrad the head development chef for Bianchi group it was him and I in the kitchen at Centralis and we've worked together quite a few times um we got on really well together and we just have fun in the kitchen it was just one of those where it didn't feel like work
00:54:35
Speaker
We were just having a great time. and Service seemed too easy. um Even though we were doing loads. It was just like one of those things. i just like Every time we put a plate out, i was like, did we forget something on that?
00:54:50
Speaker
But it everything went out perfect. and Everyone really enjoyed it. and yeah It just seemed like the day was too easy. um But it wasn't. i mean like We did loads of prep. i mean I was prepping two days before that. and So yeah, there was a lot of background.
00:55:05
Speaker
but the actual service was a dream was great isn't it so it's just so nice when you have those rare moments like you know we're always we're always in the ship we're always behind it's always something to do but when you've got those rare moments where it just clicks and it feels like it's don't know it's just all working yeah such a nice feeling that's great isn't it Maybe I'm just in the shit too often that I really appreciate those nice moments. I'd probably say that happens one in a hundred services.
00:55:36
Speaker
It's like some weird abusive relationship. It's like that one in a hundred is just enough to tie us back over and we're like, oh, love you again. ah Yeah, it's brilliant. And then like 10 services down the road, you're like, oh, do you remember that one? That was really nice.
00:55:51
Speaker
Yeah. oh It's not good. It is good.
00:55:58
Speaker
I think we're a different breed of people, hospitality people. Yeah. It's different. Yeah. Yeah. You need to be a certain type of person, I think, to...
00:56:09
Speaker
Do you ever miss what you used to do before in construction? Definitely not. No? No regrets? No, none at all. Like, I see, especially if we're doing a street food market during the lunch midweek in Bristol, I see quite a few people I used to work with.
00:56:26
Speaker
um And yeah, it like, I just don't miss it at all. I still talk to them and yeah find out what's going on stuff and Yeah, I just couldn't do anymore.
00:56:39
Speaker
I say didn't like the early mornings and late nights, but I'd probably say they're even earlier mornings and even later nights now. um but But it's for us.
00:56:50
Speaker
It's our business. It's our thing. I'm not doing for someone else. I'm breaking myself over it. I'm breaking myself for our business, yeah. but but but
00:57:01
Speaker
It is differently, but I totally understand. You have so much more care and passion for it when it's something that's your own. Yeah, exactly. What is the difference, and sort of the main differences? Because when I think about barbecue, I think of three places, I guess, specifically. I think of Texas-style barbecue.
00:57:20
Speaker
I think of Argentina and I think of South Africa. Yeah. What would you say sort of the biggest differences between them all are? um mainly the cuts of meat and the seasonings.
00:57:34
Speaker
And to be fair, the way they cook them, really. um i mean, Texas barbecue is very much low and slow. Start cooking. Everyone else is more grilling.
00:57:46
Speaker
i mean, obviously, they do smoke stuff as well, but it is yeah, definitely more grilling-based rather than smoking. um But and again, another thing I didn't even know before we started this was how pretty much every country will butcher an animal differently um so i'm like a huge fan of picanha and then didn't realize that it actually ruins the whole rest of the rump if you take the picanha off um just things like that so obviously picanha in the uk you'd have to special order it whereas you go anywhere in south america and it's everywhere um so it's just things like that it's just learning the different cuts and
00:58:25
Speaker
then a lot of the times like the cuts are actually the same thing, but they're called something completely differently. So, yeah, I'd say they're the only differences really. It's just yeah how it's cooked in the seasonings and the cuts.
00:58:37
Speaker
I know that always trips me up whenever we move or travel to a different country is a different name of a different cut. And I feel feel like such a fraud. Like someone will say, oh, can you order me this? And I'm like, I don't know what that is. And I've got Google it and it's just like, oh, well, if you had to just said that. And I just feel like such a fraud. I'm like, you're a chef. You need to know these things. But every single place has a different name for every busted cut.
00:59:02
Speaker
Yep. So frustrating. Yeah, it's ridiculous. I've got a ah couple of quickfire questions for you if you're up for it. Yeah, go for it.
00:59:12
Speaker
Okay. What's one ingredient that you absolutely love but you think a lot of people overlook?
00:59:20
Speaker
ah Pepper. oh That's a good one. So we're very particular about our pepper. we only use a certain mesh grater pepper. We only use a certain type of pepper again.
00:59:31
Speaker
But think a lot of people are just like, oh, I'll just get some pepper, black crackpot pepper from the supermarket. They just don't think about it. What pepper do you use? It's an Indian pepper. That's all I'll say.
00:59:43
Speaker
Okay. Tell me afterwards. What would your last meal on earth be? ah You can't just say barbecue, by the way. You have to be more specific.
00:59:57
Speaker
what would it be
01:00:02
Speaker
you what i would actually say a double double animal style from in an out burger oh yeah absolutely love it i could eat that all day long and i yeah that would be would be up there okay not what i was expecting um what's the worst dish you've ever eaten
01:00:27
Speaker
um You don't have to name and shame anyone. but So I've had some questionable questionable awful dishes before, which I would never eat again. I've
01:00:40
Speaker
ah had some awful burgers and awful, like, I find things like burgers and fried chicken, they're very they like they're quite easy to do but they're hard to do well.
01:00:51
Speaker
Mm-hmm. um So yeah, I've had some like awful burgers and fried chickens and pizzas stuff like that. Yeah, I think we're very smart with Bristol with the quality of burgers and fried chickens and pizza.
01:01:05
Speaker
So yeah yeah, I've had some awful things like that. I'm just trying to think of like a specific dish where I was like, that disgusting. Oh, camel shin. Say what?
01:01:18
Speaker
Camel shin. Camel shin? Yeah. I can imagine it's quite tough. It was just disgusting. Everything about it was disgusting. What does camel taste like? Where did you have camel?
01:01:31
Speaker
In North Africa. It's kind of like...
01:01:38
Speaker
i it was kind of like off pork. Like, you know, you know, like the smell of pork when it goes off. It kind of tasted a bit like that. Delightful.
01:01:49
Speaker
Was it supposed taste like that? I don't know. That's the only time I've had it and that's probably the only time I will ever we ever have it. its yeah It was not nice.
01:02:02
Speaker
Oh, how bizarre. Cowboy shin that tastes like off-pork. yeah Are you sick the next day? No, I think it must have been alright. It's just the flavor of it. Was it really tough?
01:02:14
Speaker
Because I don't imagine it being a particularly fatty animal. Yeah, it was pretty tough. I don't know whether because it was the shin as well, but yeah, I don't, yeah, just no. Everything about it was just no.
01:02:27
Speaker
ah right. Take that off my list of things to eat.
01:02:33
Speaker
On a contrast, um what's been your most memorable mouthful of food?
01:02:43
Speaker
That's a difficult one as well.
01:02:48
Speaker
I'd probably say the first time i had proper low and slow smoked brisket. Where was that? That was at Home Town Barbecue in Brooklyn.
01:02:58
Speaker
Yeah. um The first time I had it, kind of like, don't know, just kind of like something went on in my head and I was just like, this is phenomenal. This is like the most incredible thing I've eaten.
01:03:12
Speaker
And yeah, I kind of got bit obsessed with after that. But yeah, that's probably... Yeah, probably the greatest thing. of Like, the first bite, was like, yeah. How long, when when did you go to Brooklyn to that barbecue and when did you open your business?
01:03:29
Speaker
um So the first time went to hometown barbecue, I'd say it was around 2015, maybe. a long time ago. And then we started the business in 2020.
01:03:43
Speaker
Okay. So it stuck with you then? Yeah. It was 16. But yeah, it was probably about 10 years ago.
01:03:50
Speaker
um And then the last question, who has been the most influential chef or industry person to you?
01:04:02
Speaker
Probably Joby Fowler, who is the head chef of Root. um He's great friend. he has helped us out loads over the years. Got us out the shit on more than one occasion.
01:04:15
Speaker
um Yeah, he's probably... One of the most talented and humble chefs, I know. That is great. That is really lovely. Yeah.
01:04:26
Speaker
That is good guy. If you had the chance to talk to, knowing what you know now, if you could talk to yourself just before you were opening up your barbecue business, what advice would you give to yourself?
01:04:41
Speaker
o Don't concentrate on the negatives.
01:04:46
Speaker
I am very much like, I focus on negative things too much. And it's like, you know, for every 100 good reviews we get, we might get one or two bad ones and I'll focus on those bad ones. um Now I'm like, you know what? Food's so subjective.
01:05:06
Speaker
If they like it, they like it. If they don't, it's all down to taste, isn't it? Whereas back then, if we got a bad review, i was like, it's the end of the world. No one's going to want to buy it anymore. I was like, yeah.
01:05:17
Speaker
But, Yeah, just don't concentrate on that, really. Do you reply to the bad reviews or do you just leave them? just leave them. Don't see the point, really. um You know, if they want to be negative, let them be negative.
01:05:32
Speaker
It's a very hard one to kind of separate, you know, like it's it's hard to not take it personally and it's hard to be objective and be like, to read the review and and think, was there something technically wrong with the food or is it just down to personal preference? It's so hard to separate yourself from that.
01:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, it is definitely. It's difficult, especially when it's your own as well. ah You take it really, really personally. What's Kinsley like with it?
01:06:00
Speaker
and So, obviously you get like notifications and stuff and reviews coming through. so if she sees one comes through, she won't show me. but But yeah, she's just like, oh she's is for her it's like water for ducks back.
01:06:14
Speaker
But for me, Yeah, I do take it quite personally. But now I'm at the point where, you know, I'll be like, oh, God, this is awful for about half an hour. And I'm like, you know what? Done with it. Like, it is what it is. It's out there. Who cares?
01:06:29
Speaker
Maybe you just needed to prove to yourself that what you're doing is really, really good. You know, maybe those first little bit of time you had some doubts and once now you know to yourself that what you're doing is right, it's easier to kind of forget about them.
01:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, screen awesomepoage yeah okay
01:06:49
Speaker
that's really nice.
01:06:54
Speaker
What are your future plans? I know we've talked about the barbecue shop and you're adding everything to the barbecue school. Is and there yeah anything else that you'd like to add on to, to keep people aware of what's going on?
01:07:07
Speaker
um So we are, doing quite a lot of chef demos this summer, various places. So off the top of my head, I know we're doing Feast On, On the Downs, Bath & West, Carfest, I think we're doing.
01:07:27
Speaker
And we actually have kind of like our own stage at Three Counties as well, um in associate way association with Weber. So yeah, we'll be there. I think there's some more as well. Yeah, that's a Kinsey question more than So yeah, we're doing those.
01:07:46
Speaker
Obviously, the the variations of classes coming through. we're going to be stocking a lot more things in our shop. so we recently just kind of signed up with Gosney Pizza Rubbins.
01:07:58
Speaker
um So we'll be having full range of Gosneys in. and Yeah, just we've got like few pop-ups coming up. We've got Thanksgiving again this year. So we're doing, we do Thanksgiving every year now.
01:08:11
Speaker
It's one of our favourite nights of the year. We absolutely love it. So that's going to be at the Glassboat again. So keep an out for tickets for that. um Yeah, just, there's a lot, a lot going on.
01:08:23
Speaker
Best way to, and yeah, best way to find out what we're doing is Instagram or our website. We actually have a calendar about what we're doing, which goes actually quite far ahead in the future. So yeah, anyone wants come and our food or come to a class or,
01:08:37
Speaker
anything like that most of it will be on the website have you done demos before yeah they so started doing them last year um i'm not gonna lie the first one i was terrified it is terrifying yeah and then and that was actually a feast on as well um and they asked us which slot we wanted and i was like can i just have the earliest one possible because i was like if it's early I can get out of the way, i can enjoy the day and there won't be as many people there. um And then Gemma, who was hosting the stage, she was lovely and just like, yeah, it made feel really comfortable and it was really easy. But I'd probably say there was about 50, 40 or 50 people there for that one.
01:09:16
Speaker
And then we did Carfest a few weeks after that, which was a lot bigger, a lot scarier. um But that was hosted by the lovely Sam and Shauna. um And they were just, yeah, an absolute dream. and Just made it really easy.
01:09:30
Speaker
We just had fun. So, yeah, I think that's kind of like the key is just just trying to have fun and not get terrified by people staring at me. but Do you find that like you're really nervous until the moment it starts and then you're okay?
01:09:44
Speaker
Yeah. Or are you still nervous when you're doing it? yeah It depends what I'm doing. um i find if I have to do butchery in front of people, I get nervous. But anything other than that, I'm kind of like, yeah, quite comfortable with now.
01:09:59
Speaker
Oh, baking. I will not bake in front of anyone. I'm awful at baking. Do you like baking though? No, no. um But as part of like our school, we we teach you how to make a cake on the smoker.
01:10:11
Speaker
So even just making a cake, I'm like, does anyone else want to do this? So yeah yeah, baking is always bad for me. Fair enough.
01:10:21
Speaker
Most chefs don't like baking. so I just don't like how exact with measurements you have to be. Yeah, you can't be too slapdash, can you? No, exactly. I mean, you can. You can, but yeah it's a risk.
01:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And then I look at people like Elliot at Boxe, they can make a panna cotta without weighing anything. Oh, yeah. I think there are some things I can do just by eye.
01:10:46
Speaker
But, like, I would only do it for us, you know? Yeah. Like, I would never... Who's got the time to be remaking it because I couldn't be bothered getting out the scales? No, exactly.
01:10:57
Speaker
It's like all of our seasoning and stuff I can pretty much do by eye now. but Yeah. Yeah. Everything else. i Yeah. Get those scales. That's why i like the American stuff so much because it's all cups.
01:11:08
Speaker
You just get your cup out. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It frustrates me so much when I find a recipe on, i don't know, Google or something like that and it's like one and a half cups. What the hell is one and a half cups? Give it to me in grams.
01:11:21
Speaker
Yeah. Cannot. know. And then if you want to if you want to convert it to grams, it actually you actually have to go like, What is one cup of flour away? What does one cup of sugar weigh? Yep. I'm not about that. I just find a different recipe.
01:11:36
Speaker
Honestly, i I was like that. And then I bought some cups and I won't go back now. Game people. Yeah, just do everything on ratios. It's so much easier. It's great.
01:11:46
Speaker
Fully converted. You'll be talking in Fahrenheit everything next. Oh, probably, yeah. ah still don't understand Fahrenheit. Sometimes when I'm doing the desserts for dining, my my the thermometer will accidentally go on to Fahrenheit and I'll be like, oh oh my God, why is my sugar syrup at 250 degrees?
01:12:04
Speaker
How is that possible? Yeah. every time ah It's such a weird conversion as well because it's like plus 37 degrees and then minus. It's such a weird conversion. I can just never figure it out.
01:12:17
Speaker
No, no, no. That's why we've got c Siri. Yeah.
01:12:24
Speaker
Thank you so much for taking this and talking to me. It was lovely to finally actually talk you. It's been a long time coming. I know I cancelled due to sickness and I've realised that ah winter is not a great time to try and record podcast because everybody's just sick and sad. There's no sunshine.
01:12:42
Speaker
I think it's one of those where, especially in hospitality, we work so hard over Christmas that January comes everyone just gets ill. Everyone's dead. yeah yeahp Yeah, that was me.
01:12:53
Speaker
Sorry about that. But we got there in the end. Thank you very much for bearing with me. It's an absolute pleasure being on here. And I cannot wait to come and one day try some of your barbecue. I tend to always be working whenever something is going on that I can get to. But there will be some way where can. Yeah, definitely have to come down.
01:13:11
Speaker
I might even make it to Feast on this, yeah. I don't know. don't actually what we're cooking there yet. But I think we're there Friday night. I will do my best. Yeah. I might even do the alpastol tacos.
01:13:24
Speaker
Oh.
01:13:26
Speaker
All right, mate. You have a great day. Thank you again for taking the time. No worries. Thank you. Cheers. Bye. In a bit. Bye.