How it all began....

It is probably best to start where it all began, at Grillstock in 2010.

Tim, the passionate South African friend I had made while playing cricket for a rural Worcestershire league team and I decided that we should enter a BBQ competition. This decision was not made because we are chefs and thought we had a chance of winning, it was made because we loved cooking bbq - for friends, family, the cricket club - in fact, anyone who wanted to eat we would love to cook for them. We have no formal training, only knowing what we like and our friends love (some of it trail and error)- we have both been involved in all types BBQ in various forms for over 20 years.

Tim loves to ‘braai’ - from Boerewors, Chops, Sosaties the obligatory Pap and Sous he is adamant that if it can be cooked in/on the oven it can be cooked on the BBQ and in doing so change and enhance the flavour, let alone the social side of all gatehirng round the ‘braai’ sinking a few ‘pots’.

I have cooked a variety of dishes but the most fun I have is cooking for large groups of people. I think this all started when I was roped in with my father to cook for 200 girl guides at one of my mothers "Girl Guides Association" camping trips. We had 2 small bbqs and still managed to feed everyone burning only 1 sausage!

Tim and I visited Grillstock in 2010 and saw the range of people cooking on a range of BBQ's many of which we had never seen before. They ranged from the most sophisticated kitchen smokers to a trailer water bowser that had been converted to a smoker. At that stage we had never cooked slow and low but knew that with a bit of practice we had a chance of making some tasty ribs and brisket.

With a winter of research behind us we had our first opportunity. Tim spotted a beaten up Pro Q Excel 20 for sale on Ebay - it wasn't my idea of what a smoker BBQ should look like, it was bullet shaped and about 3.5ft tall. Tim managed to buy it for £60 and he immediately set about smoking some gammon on it.

After early success I spoke to Ian McKend at Macs BBQ who went through pros and cons of various types of smoker. Because of his helpful insight and non-biased synopsis I decided to order a whole load of wood, thermometers and 1 Pro Q Excel 20 - I couldn't have been happier.

For 4 months we practiced week in and week out counting down the days until Grillstock..