The Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast

It's that time of year again - the always incredible Kangaroo Valley Craft Beer and BBQ Festival. In an impossible feat, this year was bigger and better than last year, with a round of the Steak Cookoff Association competition as well as a round of the Australian Barbecue Alliance competition. This is of course in addition to live music, BBQ vendors or all styles, craft beer breweries, distillerie...

It's that time of year again, where I head down south of Sydney, Australia, to a tiny town called Kangaroo Valley. KV is famous for having one of, if not THE best Craft Beer and BBQ Festivals in the country. And 2024 did not disappoint. Join me for another of our 'AFTER DARK' specials where I settle in for a beer and a chat with some of the best competitors out there. #bbq #bbqfestival #podcast #b...

It's that time of year again, where I head down south of Sydney, Australia, to a tiny town called Kangaroo Valley. KV is famous for having one of, if not THE best Craft Beer and BBQ Festivals in the country. And 2024 did not disappoint. Join me as I spend the weekend at the festival, chatting with competitors, vendors, suppliers and more! #bbq #bbqfestival #podcast #bbqpodcast

Hello, hello. It's been a minute, hasn't it! Some of you may have thought the show was over, but it is not. But don't read this, press play and get the down low there.  This episode of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast was recorded LIVE at the Emerald BBQ and Beer Festival, in beautiful outback Queensland. Enjoy! Wanna continue the conversation? Come join us over on Facebook at the Smoking H...

This episode of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast is Part 2 of a 2 part 'After Dark' series recorded at the always amazing Kangaroo Valley Craft Beer and BBQ Festival. In Pt 2, I'm joined by Chad Griffin from Smoke Masters BBQ in a stint as co-host, as well as Matt Brien from Smokin' Forties, Drinkin' Shorties, and Cheyne Whitemore from Long Paddock Meats and That South Coast Rub Guy. So set...

This episode of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast is Part 1 of a 2 part 'After Dark' series recorded at the always amazing Kangaroo Valley Craft Beer and BBQ Festival. In Pt 1, we're chatting with Matt Harris from Shire Smokers BBQ and James Wilson from Smokeface Grillahs, two of the most seasoned BBQ competitors in Australia. Get your pens and papers ready, as these guys share some seriousl...

If you're serious about BBQ, and let's be honest, you wouldn't be here if you weren't, then you'll know about Butcher BBQ. Their BBQ rubs and injections are staples of competition BBQ kitchens around the world and have been credited with more trophy wins than any other product out there. The founder is David Bouska - world championship winning Pitmaster, BBQ Pitmasters competitor and champion arch...

If there's one man who knows how to build an ugly drum smoker, it's Adam Yorke, founder of Ugly Drum Smokers Australia. A fellow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner and BBQ lover, it didn't take long for Adam to go all in on the BBQ game, starting his own BBQ business. And he has several different options available for potential barrel smoker fans. For those who want a DIY smoker and are confident to...

There's not much that Steven West of Moist BBQ enjoys more than going to a BBQ Competition. Except of course winning a trophy at that BBQ competition. Using his own BBQ rubs of course! Steven is the pitmaster and team captain of Moist BBQ, a competition BBQ team that enjoys a good reputation on the circuit. Be it a low and slow Australasian Barbecue Alliance competition, or a Steak Cookoff Associa...

You have a dream. You're onto something. You can feel it in your bones. You just have to get there. But there's a problem. Money makes the world go round, and you don't have much of it. In fact, you only $500 left on your last good credit card. Do you back yourself and go all in, or do you play it safe and bow out while you still can?  One man who chose to roll the dice is Darian Khosravi. The res...

Game meat isn't for everybody. Atleast, it hasn't been historically. However one man, Rob Gallina, is set to change that. He's a builder, contract shooter and BBQ freak who loves nothing more than getting out in the bush for a few weeks at a time and living off the land. Yes, you read that right - he hunts, catches, cleans and cooks what he eats. He's also the founder of Game On Enterprises, which...

When asked for their best piece of advice, many BBQ pitmasters will pause, reflect, and say 'Relax, it's not rocket science.' Except, sometimes it is. Such is the case for Dr Howard Conyers, a pitmaster from South Carolina, currently living in Louisiana. Why Louisiana? Because by day, Dr Conyers is a rocket scientist for NASA. Yep, during the week he sends rockets worth countless millions of dolla...

Julie-ann Tindall-Davies returns in this very special episode of our BBQ Podcast. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you'll know that she's one half of the dynamic duo behind JAGRD Woodfired, one of the most successful smoker manufacturers in the country. Their competition team was also awarded the KCBS International Brisket Team of the Year in 2020. Recently, she's taken over the r...

There are few people that you will meet in your life that deserve the moniker, 'a force of nature'. However Sunny Moody is exactly that. Sunny was awarded, and is the current reigning World Steak Champion, taking out the annual Steak Cookoff Association Championships in 2021. Now winning that prestigious BBQ competition is no mean feat, but there's more to Sunny than 'just' being a legend on a gri...

Barbecue can be as conformative or as creative as you want to make it. One BBQ pitmaster who refuses to relegate her food to the banality of conformity is Cassie Strohmeyer, head cook and team captain of Smoke on the Water competition BBQ team. Hailing from Gladstone, Queensland, Cassie spends her time traveling the east coast of Australia, competing in low and slow BBQ competitions with the Austr...

What do kangaroos, emu and crocodile have in common? They are all delicious on the grill. Jokes aside, despite a reputation of being a barren land, Australia actually has an incredibly large and diverse range of foods - enough to support countless generations of Indigenous Australians for approximately 50,000 years. Sadly, much of this knowledge has been lost. However, one woman is determined to r...

We continue our podcast series featuring the most influential women in BBQ with Ceri Ford, one of the most prolific BBQ judges on the circuit and founder of the Women of Low 'n Slow Australia Facebook group. She's a registered judge with the Australasian Barbecue Alliance, Kansas City Barbeque Society and the Steak Cookoff Association. I would challenge any pitmaster to know as much about BBQ as C...

Bronnie Durston has led a successful career in hospitality, having made a name for herself as a wedding planner. However, after discovering the delicious food of Texas BBQ, Bronnie has dedicated herself to low and slow BBQ. Together with husband Paul, they are active on the competition BBQ circuit, competing as the award winning BBQ team, Bulldogs BBQ, named after Bronnie's favourite football team...

Karina Rumens is a woman on a mission - to ensure that competition BBQ in Australia is held to the highest standards and maintains a reputation equal to anywhere else in the world. Karina is one of the highest Kansas City Barbeque Society Representatives in the country and when you meet her, it's easy to see why. A consummate professional, Karina is passionate about three things - BBQ, KCBS and Co...

Meatstock is not just a BBQ festival - it's an experience. It's a BBQ competition, an expo, a rock concert, a car show and much much more. And so it was that I was very excited when it was announced that Meatstock was coming to Queensland. And boy, was it a show. In partnership with Toowoomba Regional Council, Meatstock Toowoomba set the standard for a BBQ event this side of the border. Never one...

There's BBQ joints, and then there's Fire and Brimstone Barbeque - one of the best BBQ joints in Sydney. BBQ Pitmaster Brad Shorten is the man behind the smoked meat phenomenon and he's our guest in this full episode of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast. Fire and Brimstone is well known by Sydney foodies as the place to go for delicious smoked brisket, bbq pork ribs, bbq chicken and more. Bu...

Slinging brisket for cash is no easy feat, but Mackay pitmaster Blair Tomkinson sure makes it look that way. His BBQ catering business, Bears BBQ Low and Slow Catering, has been recently nominated for 'Catering Operation of the Year' in the annual Australasian Barbecue Alliance Awards. His brisket and beef ribs are the stuff of legend, and his prowess in Texas BBQ brought him to the attention of c...

John Austin is many things. A husband. A Father. A serviceman. A backyard BBQ lover. And now a TikTok superstar! It is impossible to argue that TikTok is a fad - it's clearly here to stay, and BBQ business owners would do well to get on board. The TikTok algorithm is still very generous, offering a lot of organic reach that has become very hard to come by on other platforms. As such, TikTok should...

Kyle Leffers is a man who loves his BBQ. So much so that he has started not one, but two BBQ businesses, as well as a competition BBQ team. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Kyle and his team compete as Rub and Grub and are carving it up, particularly in Steak Cookoff Association competitions where, at the time of publishing, team mate Adriano Andrade is sitting at #2 on the Australian ladder. R...

If there is one name that is synonymous with competition BBQ, it's Malcom Reed. Malcom Reed and his competition BBQ team Killer Hogs are legends of the competition BBQ scene, winning trophy after trophy over a period of nearly two decades. He's particularly well known for his long history of success at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, aka Memphis in May.  However, Malcom is a high...