Highlights
- Barbecuing and grilling since 2005.
- Founded and written for FoodFireFriends since 2017.
- Hands-on experience with almost every type of smoker and grill imaginable.
- Currently owns and uses over 30 different smokers and grills for hands-on experience while creating content for this site.
- Skilled BBQ product tester with years of experience across all types of smokers, grills, tools, and accessories.
- Has developed and written up countless BBQ and grilling recipes.
- Quoted in and mentioned in numerous publications across the web for his BBQ advice.
Experience
I am a barbecue addict who first got into it in 2005 when someone offered me a second-hand Weber Kettle charcoal grill at a knock-down price.
I’d recently moved into a rented, shared house with three good friends, one of them being my American friend, Michael. He knew his way around a grill, showed me how to smoke chicken and ribs, and soon convinced me to go halves with him for the price of a Weber Smokey Mountain.
I soon became obsessed and decided to learn everything I could about BBQ, grilling and smoking. I remember the first two books I bought: ‘The BBQ Bible,’ by Steven Raichlen,’ and ‘Peace, Love & Barbecue,’ by Mike Mills.’ Excellent books, and Michael and I worked our way through most of their recipes, and for me, a new love was born.
I’ve loved all forms of food and cooking since I was a young teenager anyway, and this was just the next step in my culinary journey. But BBQ is the one I enjoy and am now most passionate about.
Since those early days, I have bought and sold scores of different grills and smokers, eaten at dozens of smokehouses, and attended countless barbecue festivals and cookouts.
I was initially an electronic engineer by trade and then a technical specialist in the CCTV and security systems world. And I’ve always enjoyed writing, teaching, IT, programming, and the world of computers. So back in 2017, I decided I would start a website, and one in BBQ and grilling was a natural choice. And so FoodFireFriends was born.
Over the years, I’ve worked on the site slowly. But from humble beginnings, it has become a large and popular resource for many. And I’m now beginning to add team members to help me grow the site faster, to add more expertise and voices to this incredible resource.
These days I regularly contribute to this site as an author, the lead content strategist, and chief editor. I barbecue between 3 and 10 times weekly, satisfying my passion for creating great food from raw ingredients over live fire.
The main equipment I currently own and use is:
- Three Kamado Joes (Junior, Classic I, and Big Joe III.)
- A Weber Smokey Mountain.
- A Masterbuilt Gravity Fed charcoal smoker.
- A Camp Chef Woodwind pellet grill.
- Two Z Grills pellet grills.
- A Pit Barrel cooker.
- Two Weber kettle grills (original and Mastertouch.)
- A Napoleon Pro charcoal kettle grill.
- A Weber Genesis gas grill.
- A Masterbuilt 30 electric smoker.
- A Kadai open fire cooking pit.
- An Ooni Karu 16 pizza oven.
- A handful of travel grills, including Weber Go-Anywhere and Smokey Joe portable charcoal grills, and a Napoleon TravelQ Pro285 gas grill.
- A vast range of remote thermometers, temperature controllers, instant-read thermometers, and other BBQ tools and accessories.
I sometimes buy, use, review and sell on grills and smokers while always keeping at least one of each type for me to cook on and experiment with to help me create content for this site. And besides, I have a bit of a collector’s attitude; The right number of barbecues to own is always what I have + 1. I can never have enough or too many!
I am 45 years old, married with two children, and my hobbies include playing in a darts team, amateur golf, general fitness, and a bit of travel.