We'd love to hear from you, drop us a text! Ever wondered how a chef goes from two-star French rigidity to painting with fire in the garden and landing Selfridges with a sauce born at a dinner party? That’s the pulse of this conversation with Mat Blak—restless, funny, bruised by failure, and absolutely electric about food that respects where it comes from. We start with boundaries and how to break them well. Mat calls it free cooking: pushing flavour without trampling the roots. He explains ...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Overcast podcast player badge
PocketCasts podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

We'd love to hear from you, drop us a text!

Ever wondered how a chef goes from two-star French rigidity to painting with fire in the garden and landing Selfridges with a sauce born at a dinner party? That’s the pulse of this conversation with Mat Blak—restless, funny, bruised by failure, and absolutely electric about food that respects where it comes from.

We start with boundaries and how to break them well. Mat calls it free cooking: pushing flavour without trampling the roots. He explains why anchovies, Galician beef, proper olive oil and technique are the difference between fusion that sings and mash-ups that go nowhere. Then it gets human—pulling cold pork butts for a festival queue, brisket humbling a pro, and the truth that repetition turns chaos into craft. He walks us through his backyard “studio,” Big Green Egg, Minimax, gas for clients who rely on it, wood-fired ovens for heat and theatre, and the reality that wind and rain don’t care about your content plan.

The sauce story is a masterclass in scaling. Partnering with an ex-chemist, Mat learns how garlic refuses to scale neatly, why water matters, and how a late-night Instagram message became a Selfridges deal. We talk wins and stalls—Blackfire’s slow burn, Blak Elder’s sweet-chilli pop, and the maple-smoked pineapple vinegar that stole Christmas hams across the country. He’s frank about supermarkets, margins, ticking shelf lives, bottles and labels that swallow profit, and the grit it takes to keep going.

Culture and community thread through it all. Mat shares a careful collaboration with Tribe Apparel using a Māori hammerhead motif, tying the shark’s need to keep swimming to mental health—move, breathe, endure. Proceeds back the Burnt Chef Project with training that reaches kitchens where it’s needed most. And for pure cooking joy, Barbecue Bingo lands on chicken hearts, and Matt leaves the next guest a gem: finish a hard-charred steak with a brush of kecap manis before the rest for a glossy, umami-laced crust.

If you love live fire, honest craft, and the stories behind the plates and bottles, you’ll feel right at home. Subscribe, share with a mate who lives by the grill, and leave a review—what lesson from Matt will you try first?

Sponsored by AOS Kitchens
AOS Kitchens are a leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists based in Hampshire

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

If you want to get involved and showcase your cooks or fails, join our Facebook Group.
For all of our other episodes you can listen or watch them on our website

00:00 - Sponsor And Host Intro

00:34 - From Michelin Boundaries To Free Cooking

02:39 - Honouring Cuisines While Innovating

04:47 - Learning Through Failure And Brisket Battles

07:27 - Building A Backyard Studio And Gear Talk

09:53 - Scaling Sauces With A Scientist Partner

13:13 - The Selfridges Breakthrough And Retail Reality

17:04 - Product Hits, Misses, And Pineapple Vinegar

20:24 - The Business Math And Big Supermarkets

23:02 - Community Pride And UK Barbecue’s Rise

27:11 - Māori Design, Hammerhead Symbol, Mental Health

31:37 - Fundraising Impact And Global Support

33:04 - Limited Tee Drop And How To Buy

34:59 - Barbecue Bingo: Chicken Hearts And Kecap Manis

38:17 - Closing Thoughts And Where To Find Matt

WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.120
Today's episode is brought to you by AOS Kitchens, the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.

00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:21.600
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meet of Week Barbecue Podcast.

00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:30.559
Today we have a second episode with Mat Blak, who's going to talk to us all about barbecue uh techniques, and it's just a great catch-up.

00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.439
So without much further ado, here's Mat.

00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.960
And and just more so on the kind of where you are now in terms of um barbecue.

00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:48.560
So obviously, where you've been obviously years of experience and honing your craft in a in a commercial kitchen.

00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:53.920
How do you uh what's the what am I trying to say?

00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:02.799
What's how are you finding it now with perhaps not the freedom is the right word, but just I don't know, just playing with fire, right?

00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:10.239
And and still trying to cook these amazing things, but not in the confines of a commercial stainless steel kitchen type thing.

00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:17.760
And it is, it's a it is a freedom, and and that is the perfect analogy of of what I do.

00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.400
At Caravan, I was really lucky.

00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:26.799
The style of food that we created there um is a style of food that we called free cooking.

00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.719
And free cooking is uh cooking without boundaries.

00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:38.799
So throughout my whole career, especially in France, you don't go out of that lane, especially in a two-star Michelin kitchen.

00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:47.599
Like, you know, if you ever suggested putting chili with fish, they would cut your hand off and shove it up your ass um and make you eat it.

00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.319
Um was the severity of doing that.

00:01:50.319 --> 00:02:01.920
They they took that as a as a huge um uh insult if you were going to work without those boundaries.

00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:14.400
Um, you know, and and they looked at New Zealand style cuisine, which is what we call free cooking, or there's a word that's thrown around fusion, which I don't really like very much, but it has been a way to describe our cuisine.

00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.199
Um, you know, we're we're a very young country.

00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:42.800
Um, we have, you know, uh we have probably 250 years worth of wit written context, but we didn't really have an identity of cuisine, and it's just now where chefs like myself have gone away from New Zealand and they've learned all these skills and they've come back to New Zealand and said, right, this is ours, this is what we do, um, and using sort of ingredients that we have at home.

00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:59.360
So, yes, there is an amazing freedom now of what I can do, and I've and I've been very free, but I've also learned throughout these years to respect the cuisine that you are trying to, I suppose, have freedom around.

00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:23.360
So, if I am doing something Spanish um or something that's Spanish inspired, I would do I'll do the honor by using really good quality Spanish products, a really good olive oil, a really good um olives, amazing anchovies, you know, and spend the money, you know, beautiful Galithian steak from the Bass Country, all these types of things that will give honor to the country.

00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:37.680
I don't like um seeing, and you know, you you'll see this a lot where you know some people don't really understand the um the pairings of dishes that go together.

00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.280
So you'll see somebody go, right?

00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:50.240
I'm gonna do gochu chang with pot stickers and and beef, and we're gonna have some chicken stock in there, and I'm gonna do it with anchovies, you know, and it just doesn't give honour to anybody.

00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:57.199
Yeah, those flavours might be nice and they might be good together, but it doesn't really honour any place that it's from.

00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:05.759
So that's kind of the way that I try and look at the cuisine that I cook now, giving honour to the country, but still having slight twists.

00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:12.879
I think doing fusion cuisine or any type of things where you're mixing cuisines, it takes a masterful hand.

00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:20.319
And even now, like I would put my hand up and say that I am nowhere near call myself a master on any cuisine at all.

00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:36.160
I I have a lot of knowledge, and as I sort of started at the podcast, and we were talking about um you know mistakes and making mistakes, I I am the product of millions of mistakes of doing things again and again and again and again until I've mastered it.

00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.199
It's not, it's it's a muscle memory for me now.

00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:45.920
It's not um it's it is a skill, but it's being learned through repetition.

00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:53.279
On that point of kind of making mistakes and learning more about it, uh we all go through it.

00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:58.720
We talk on the podcast often about kind of barbecue failures because that's how we grow, even if they're funny or when you mess up.

00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:10.800
So on that point, do you have any particular failures that stick out to you that made you learn a lot or were particularly kind of funny but still shape what you do now?

00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.000
Uh yeah, man.

00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:30.319
Like I remember those first times with um DJ Barbecue, and I again I had no idea how to do what we wanted to do commercially, and so I remember the first time that we did it, we pre-cooked all the pork.

00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:39.680
So we were doing pork butts, we pre-cooked all the pork, then we refrigerated it, and then we decided to pull it then, then reheat it.

00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:47.120
I don't know if you've ever pulled a cold pork butt before, and a festival with a thousand people waiting to eat their sandwich.

00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.959
Oh my god, that was I I laugh at that.

00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:54.480
I don't think Christian Wall ever laugh at that because it was it was terrifying.

00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:02.079
He was great though, he was working the line so good, and it was like, come on, Matt! And I'm like trying to just pull like we're doing like one sandwich every five minutes.

00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.639
It was like, oh my god, this is terrible.

00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:14.560
Um that was one of the times I think that my brisket cooks definitely are the ones that are probably the most hardest and the most embarrassing and the most toughest.

00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:27.519
Um, I've got a real thing against briskets just purely because I don't think that it has enough flavor of what I look for in a piece of beef.

00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.240
And I don't think it's because of that.

00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.480
I think it's because I can't cook it.

00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.519
And I try to hide that by saying, Well, I just don't like brisket.

00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.120
Where in reality I'm absolute crap at cooking it.

00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.600
Um, I just don't think I've got the patience.

00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.199
Um, hot and fast, that's the way that I kind of do it.

00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:48.720
You know, I did it by accident once.

00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:50.399
I was like, oh, oh, it's soft.

00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:51.839
What the hell's going on?

00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:56.160
And then you know, I watch people like Alki and and and the others who have done it hot and fast.

00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:57.600
I was like, oh, okay, yeah, sure.

00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:58.319
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:00.480
I I know how to do hot and fast.

00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:05.680
Cooking is 50% mistakes and 50% winging it.

00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:09.439
That's a little chef's sick tip for all of you out there, you know.

00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:17.680
It's um, yeah, it's always those ones where there's been a few places that I've been to, and everyone's like, this is this is quite charred.

00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.839
I was like, mm-hmm, that's the way we do it in kitchens.

00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:21.759
And everyone's like, Wow, okay, wow.

00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:26.959
Don't come to my master classes, they're terrible.

00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:28.959
I'm sure that's not the case.

00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.240
No, it's not.

00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:34.160
So, what was your kind of setup now then?

00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:37.839
Um, in in terms of you know, your your cooking equipment.

00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:44.480
Um, do you still have a green egg and and you know, has that been expanded into other other pieces of equipment?

00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:56.319
Yeah, so like the again, that's a really great question because again, I'm using it more now for content and and work and menu development and stuff.

00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:03.680
So my setup out the back, again, much to my wife's delight, is that you know those yoga studios that you can build?

00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:08.720
So we built one in my garden, not for yoga, but for me to build a kitchen in.

00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.560
Um, so we have two kitchens in our house, which we're really honored about.

00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:18.639
Um, I she calls it a shed, I call it a studio because I want to sound really chefy and cool.

00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:21.199
And pretty much is a yoga studio.

00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:29.920
So I've got that fully decked out with all the all the stuff in there, and then I've got um uh big green egg, a mini max, a Genesis Weber.

00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:32.879
Um, because a lot of my clients that I work with work with gas.

00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:47.120
So um again, it I'm not really one of these guys to say, oh, you shouldn't cook on gas or anything like that, because the work that I do is commercial work, so I'm not doing stuff at home to impress other barbecuers.

00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:48.799
I'm trying to make money as a business.

00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:49.440
So yeah.

00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:53.360
Um I've got a Gosni, I've got an Alpha as well, wood fire oven.

00:08:53.360 --> 00:09:01.759
Um, and I've obviously I'm an ambassador for Ofair, so I have uh Ophair live fire pit as well, which is really fun.

00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:04.799
Um, but it's really tough when it's raining all the time.

00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:08.480
Um, that's the only sort of thing that kind of lets that pit down.

00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:18.159
That I wish it had a lid or some type of cover that goes over where you could just have that going all the time, and um, just as an FYI, don't put a marquee over it either.

00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.320
Yeah, wind really affects it as well, doesn't it?

00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:25.279
Yeah, it's just get that little bit of wind and all of a sudden.

00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:31.360
Effectively, either it will just go like absolute hot, or you've got sparks over all the wife's laundry.

00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:32.240
Yeah, yeah.

00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.559
No, why have I got all these burn holes in there?

00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:35.600
I was like, no idea.

00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:38.000
Fashion, yeah, it's the style now.

00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:39.360
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:42.799
Kim Kardashian was wearing it last week.

00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:48.639
Yeah, so does that mean obviously you've got a range of sources?

00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:52.799
Um, are you making them in in the kitchen at the back?

00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:53.919
No, no.

00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:56.000
So we grew quite big.

00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:01.039
Um, so I partnered with um a really good friend of mine called Steve.

00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:04.159
He is the lazy scientist, that's his brand.

00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.320
He runs his own hot sauce brand.

00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:11.200
He's um an ex-chemist, so he is a scientist by trade.

00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:18.320
Um, and he really got into fermentation probably about eight years ago, and he started his journey into the hot sauce world.

00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.159
So he's got about 15 sources of his own.

00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:25.440
Um, but he also just works with other small brands.

00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:27.759
And I jumped on with him a couple of years ago.

00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:36.159
I was introduced through a mutual friend, and uh our relationship has just blossomed into this incredible sort of thing.

00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:39.440
I couldn't do what I do uh with the sources without him.

00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.799
Like he is instrumental 100% to my business.

00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:54.639
Um, he has been um my mentor, my heir on the phone, uh, my uh listening to my frustrations and my annoyances.

00:10:54.639 --> 00:11:00.639
He's put up with my uh constant um impatience.

00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:04.559
Um, and he is the most uh patient man I've ever met.

00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:10.080
So um, yeah, so they're all producing Croydon, um, which is South London.

00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:17.600
Um, and he does that in his own, he's got sort of like a small factory outside of his house where he produces sauces and stuff like this.

00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.720
So yeah, we've got two sauces and a and a vinegar that we're producing at the moment.

00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:27.120
So the the the first one was Blackfire, it's a spice soy chili sauce.

00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:36.799
It was based on a um jerk barbecue rub, that's how it kind of started, but then it just sort of evolved from that.

00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:46.399
And um, you know, whenever you're designing a sauce, I take it to a particular place, and then Steve will take it and do the development on it and scale it up.

00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:50.879
And with scaling, it will always change, it will change the flavor profile.

00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:56.559
You know, we might have to add water, we might have to add less garlic because you know you can't really scale up garlic.

00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:03.039
If there's one clove in one bottle, you you know, you're making 500 bottles, you can't have 500 cloves because it will just taste of garlic.

00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.480
So there's an element of that the sauce sort of changed a little bit.

00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:10.320
So I don't really go right, that's the finished product.

00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:18.320
We collaborate on how to get it to a stage where we can make 200, 500, 1000 bottles when we need to.

00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.399
So that was the first one that I did.

00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:28.639
Um, we launched that um on my mother's birthday, uh 25th of January, 2024, as an honor to her.

00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:36.399
And um, we made 24 bottles and I didn't sell any, and it was a fucking disaster.

00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:41.679
And um, you know, we ticked over over two months, just like really slowly.

00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:46.559
We got down to about six bottles, and uh Steve called me and goes, Do you want me to make another run?

00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:47.759
This time I'll do 48.

00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.480
And I'm just like, mate, it's not worth it.

00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.639
Like, we're not selling anything.

00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:58.879
Literally that night, I had a message on Instagram uh from somebody saying, Hey, I'm at a dinner party.

00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.679
This girl bought it, brought your sauce to this dinner party.

00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.039
Can you tell me a little bit about it?

00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.039
And it was like 10:30 at night.

00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:07.120
I was about to go to bed, sent a message.

00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:12.480
I said, Kaibo Matt Black, I'm Matt Black, made this during lockdown, it's produced here.

00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:13.200
Good night.

00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:13.759
Boom.

00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.799
Anyway, the next day, I gave him my email as well.

00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:21.200
Next day I got an email from Selfridges, and it was her that said it.

00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.480
So my first retail partner, Selfridges.

00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:38.320
Um, and I just so that's the point where I sort of like caught up Stephen and was like, Oh, I just got this message, and that's when he was like going, I just I can't believe that this has happened.

00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:40.960
Like, I've been trying to get into Selfridges for eight years.

00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:51.759
There's retailers all around the country that would like pay millions to be shelved on there, and this woman saw yours at a at a party and she wanted to have it.

00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.240
It was it was incredible, absolutely incredible.

00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:06.320
And then soon after we got into Fortnum and Mason as well, which was just incredible as well, and then obviously Big Green Egg and all the barbecue shops that we know, they all support me as well, which had just been absolutely brilliant.

00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:14.960
So then the next one I launched after that was Black Ember, um, which is a tomato curry tomato sauce, um, which didn't do as well as I hoped.

00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:18.559
So I've sort of taken that off the shelf and I've just put that back.

00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:20.240
And I might bring it out in summer again.

00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:21.759
We might do a small run.

00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.559
Um, but it didn't sell as well as I wanted it to.

00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:28.399
And then we released Black Elder, and that um was really good.

00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:30.960
It's a sweet chili pineapple.

00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.039
Um, and I loved it, by the way.

00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:33.840
Thank you.

00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:47.440
It was it's one of those ones where it was the first chili sauce that I ever experienced when I was a kid um having the Thai sweet chili sauce, and I'll never forget going to a dinner party when I was like 22 years old.

00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:49.120
I'd never tasted this before.

00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:58.480
And the lady who was running the dinner party knocked out some cream cheese onto a plate and poured sweet chili sauce all over it, and then just put loads of chips on the plate.

00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:00.159
Mate, I hammered that plate.

00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.840
I was like, it's just the most delicious thing.

00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:09.840
So I wanted to do something that sort of linked that childhood memory to that.

00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.879
So we did that, and that just exploded.

00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:14.639
So we've just kept those.

00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:25.039
And then in December, um, we uh launched the Maple Smoke Pineapple Vinegar, which pineapple vinegar was my first product that I launched during lockdown.

00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.919
Um, and I never really made a lot of it.

00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.200
Um, and this one has just it's gone insane.

00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:37.200
It seems like everybody in the barbecue world wants a bit of um the maple smoke pineapple vinegar, which is great.

00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:57.360
So, you know, I found a really cool bottle, and I've got like a spraying nozzle attachment that you can have and you can spray as as something cooks, its intentions were to sort of cook with pork or chicken or ham on the barbecue, and it just like everyone bought it for their Christmas ham, everyone, and everyone sending me pictures of their Christmas ham on Christmas Day.

00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:03.440
I'm just like, I don't care about your Christmas ham, my Christmas ham, guys, you know.

00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:14.879
But it was um, yeah, that's been just an incredible journey, and you know, I say to anybody that ever wants to get into sauce, just make sure that you don't want to get into it for money.

00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.399
Um, it's all for love.

00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:17.279
All for love.

00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:21.519
Unless you're a Heinz, then you're not gonna make shit.

00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:24.720
But it sounds like you love it.

00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:26.399
I mean, just the way you explain it.

00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.519
I think anything to do with food, it's got to be about passion.

00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:41.279
I just don't think it's a industry whether you're ever gonna make millions from it, um, unless you sort of yeah, exploits exploit your labor force or exploit food quality, you know?

00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:47.519
And and I just yeah, I just think that um, or you know, you're you're gonna scale and be huge.

00:16:47.519 --> 00:17:07.200
And I just you know, I've come to sort of realize going along this where I always thought that when you've got a product and it goes into somewhere like suffrages or Fortnums, that you would always go, oh, okay, the next step is weight choice and Tesco's and stuff like that, but it's a whole different ball game talking to the big supermarkets.

00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:24.319
And you know, I was really lucky to meet somebody from the supermarkets last year, and she sat me down and was like, don't think you want to get into this yet, because you've got to invest so much money to be on those shelves, and it's not just that, it's about marketing to drive people to that product.

00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:30.000
And you know, you're you're talking about making hundreds of thousands, like the guys from Lumberjack.

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:40.160
Um, you know, I I speak with Brendan quite a bit um because I love their story and I love what they do, but you know, talking to them, they were like, Yeah, we've just like made 150,000 bottles.

00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.319
That makes me physically sick.

00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:49.039
I'm like, oh my god, having that much stock, it's like, geez, it that's 70, 80 grand, you know?

00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:54.799
Like, and that's yeah, the minute that lid goes on, that's a ticking time bomb, you know.

00:17:54.799 --> 00:18:04.480
It's like you've got a year at best, maybe a year and a half before it runs out, and then like if you haven't sold that, that's money out of your pocket.

00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:07.119
So, yeah, it's a bit of a scary game as well.

00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:18.079
It's refreshing though, because the amount of people that we've spoken to that have produced rubs, produce sauces and things, they don't talk about that side of it.

00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:31.599
Um, and that honestly is really refreshing to hear because I I mean Owen and I looked um a few years ago into kind of different ideas that we could do with the podcast, and all of a sudden you start adding it up.

00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:35.839
And we were saying at the time, how does anybody make anything off it?

00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:47.119
And I I think the secret is that they don't, it is that a passion piece, you know, as long as you're able to feed yourself afterwards, then that's a huge tick at the end of the day.

00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:51.200
And and that's the thing, and I I guess it's the same for you guys, you know.

00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:15.599
You're like hopefully knock on wood one day, you might get a big sponsor come through, but they're gonna want their blood for that sponsor, you know, and and that's the the the whole game that that you play, and you know, it's about this ebb and flow of like okay, if I make 200,000 of that product, I can get it down to like two pounds a bottle, for example.

00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:23.680
And then you've got Tesco, which will order, you know, 150,000, for example, and they will buy it for 250.

00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:46.000
So in reality, you're making 70, 80k off your spending, you know, but you've got to reinvest that money back into bottles, the labels, the plastic bit that goes over the lid, the lid, the storage, the the logistics to get it from that place to that place, the plastic that goes around it, the boxes that they go into, and you're like, oh, uh, I've got nothing.

00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.960
Yeah, it's it's all about passion, you know.

00:19:48.960 --> 00:20:04.799
Um, but you know, those guys from Lumberjack doing so well, and I'm really, really proud that they have really put our side of the world and our genre on the world stage because it's it's really incredible to be part of that and and to be, you know, going through that flow.

00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:24.400
And I said that to the guys the other day, they didn't really look at themselves like that, but I'm like, you should, because you know you've opened the eyes to a lot of people in our genre that are really proud of you, but at the same time, new sort of barbecue people or barbecue followers that will look into us and say, hey, this could be quite cool.

00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:31.759
If you've been looking or thinking about an outdoor kitchen, then look no further, an AOS Outdoor Kitchens.

00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:36.240
They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.

00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:51.440
Their extensive showroom is based just outside Bournemouth on the Dorset Hampshire border, and as well as numerous in-store displays, also features a live outdoor kitchen where they cook every week on Camado Grills, pizza ovens, and all filmed and shown on YouTube.

00:20:51.839 --> 00:21:04.880
They offer a wealth of knowledge on how to transform your patio into the most incredible outdoor dining area with styles and options to suit every budget, and you can guarantee they will be able to create something perfectly suited to you and your home.

00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:18.400
They stock and supply everything that you're going to need for outdoor cooking, including barbecues, camado ovens, pizza ovens, outdoor fridges, and every accessory that you would need to become the ultimate outdoor chef.

00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:29.519
So if you want to make yourself the envy of your friends and neighbours, get in touch with them today to arrange a consultation and take the first step in transforming your back garden into the most incredible entertainment space.

00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:32.480
Visit aoskitchens.co.uk.

00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.559
Yeah, it's an incredible journey they've been on.

00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:38.960
Yeah.

00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:47.680
We've had them on a couple of times, and you know, uh I think it was at least what three years ago, I think the first time, three or four years ago, maybe.

00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:54.480
And and just you know, the the journey from where they are now uh to obviously from then to now.

00:21:54.480 --> 00:22:04.720
Um yeah, it's it's night and day, but they were clearly had a plan and they were clearly building up to it and obviously it's it's great that they've managed to to get to get to where they are.

00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:05.920
But like you say, right?

00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:22.880
All the residual benefit is what it does is it just opens up the awareness around the UK barbecue community and people within that the products the the chefs the the the kind of culture um I think it is always a good thing.

00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:48.559
And you know I think that what the UK barbecue community has has done for me and is one to welcome me with open arms into this community and and to be part of this community and to actually be honored by the being part of this community is something that I don't take lightly and that I am honored every day.

00:22:48.559 --> 00:23:18.880
You know every time that you know I go out to a festival and I and I meet the people and you know obviously they've they it it's very strange for me because sometimes people just like go on and start talking about my cat and my my my wife and my son but I'm very vocal about all of them but I forget that I do that type of stuff I was like oh my god how do you know my like are you looking through my keyhole like how about my cat and if you look at my grid like 90% of my photos are about my cat with him he's just hilarious.

00:23:18.880 --> 00:24:16.240
He's the funniest funniest cat he should be a tuxedo British man that's what he should be he advises me and I love it absolutely love it just looks down and his nose at me should have a monocle and a top hat as well he's like very distinguished um but yeah going back to a our community it's it's growing and it's just so strong and it's just so amazing at the moment I I I think where we're going um we are definitely from the people especially that I've spoken to in America we are going on a trajectory which is in some cases exceeding American barbecue and I'm really proud of that and even the Americans will tell me this and I'm really like blown away by to be involved in this and to be part of this like incredible community it's yeah it's humbling for me especially from the background I do.

00:24:16.240 --> 00:28:00.240
And you know I I think a lot of the people that I speak to and I work with I'm very I come across to be very humble and I am very humble and I try to be really nice because I come from very humble beginnings and I come from a place from you know where I had nothing and now I'm being given the world of of everything you know I I try and give as much back as I can hence why I'm wearing I was just about to I was just about to sort of say notice to the uh the collaboration right with tribe and yeah yeah project and yourself yeah just to sort of tell us more yeah it was just incredible like you know we started talking about this quite a few months ago and he's like look I've wanted to do something Māori and and using sort of a Mori design and it's it's very difficult in in my culture because it is um what we call is very topical very sacred to use any uh Mori designs or to use any sort of Mori um art or crafts around promoting a business um because it's not what um it's used for it's very sacred to us especially um you know the traditions and stuff surrounding that so um coming up with an idea of what we could use as the design um it it made sense to use uh an animal and generally and because we're surrounded by the beautiful South Pacific Ocean um you know we've got a lot of like really great animals and you know one of the really unique animals we've got is the hamad shark um and they are endemic to the South Pacific and they go around in these massive shoals and you know they they are um a very sort of close knit and a tote close tight bond but you know one of the most beautiful things is is that they never stop swimming they can't stop swimming it's impossible because if they stop they die and how they breathe is through the consistent swimming and you know I I found that there was a really beautiful uh link towards mental health of that is that sometimes when you stop that's when you know things happen and that's when the thoughts start coming in and you know your your mind starts telling you things and and the whole thing is is that to keep going and to keep moving to keep breathing to keep existing helps you to process what you're going through whether it may be anxiety or money troubles or you know things are happening at home or things have happened in the past it it helps you to process those type of things so it was really crazy because you know when I did and I was talking about the hammerhead shark and it really truly this wasn't intentional then we were doing some videos and we're shooting some sort of pieces to camera in there um and I wanted to sort of like um you know show my tattoos and these all have a story and uh they're amazing but on my hands is that and that is uh that is the mangle party which is the same as what's on the back here I don't know if you can get that um which is the hammerhead shark but and this wasn't intentional but like this represents for my mental health journey and that is um it pushing the bad stuff away so it's swimming against and then that small square there pushes all the bad stuff away um and that's why I got it put onto my hand to give myself a constant reminder that you are strong enough to fight any mental battle that you go through.

00:28:00.240 --> 00:29:07.440
Yeah um and so when I went through this whole piece and I started filming and we were filming parts of my tattoo I was editing it and I sort of had a look on the I was like oh my god I've got one on my hand it's mad yeah completely forgot about it you know even though it every day but yeah but um yeah it's been an incredible thing we've um you know we've raised I think it was about 360 pounds um for um burnt chef project and um we just found out today that that will cover two people to train to go out and to train up to a thousand people about mental health um techniques to help them get through their day to day so you know for me for to be able to do that and to be part of that is such an incredible thing to be able to give back to my industry and um you know to thank you to everyone that has bought one of these t-shirts it like I know I've messaged you all like all the time to say thank you so much for supporting and and and going out there and doing it.

00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:28.720
But um yeah it's been a really incredible journey and um yeah we were just featured uh today or yesterday um on the underseason barbecue show podcast as well they did a beautiful shout out and uh we sent them out a couple of t-shirts as well and they're wearing it with pride so that was really nice to have that around the world as well so it's just yeah it's mad mad.

00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:34.160
And where can people pick the shirts up and plug right yeah of God.

00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:38.319
If you go onto Tribe Apparel um they are selling them on their website.

00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:44.799
But I believe that February is going to be the last month that we're going to be doing it and then we're just gonna shut that down for a little bit.

00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:47.200
But um yeah so you've got until the end of Feb.

00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:59.039
So plenty of time you know and just know that um you know it it like we take no profits from it all the profits they go straight to Burn Chef we just wash our own face with buying the t-shirt and doing the printing that's it.

00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:04.960
So Matt we're now gonna move into something that we do with every guest on the podcast.

00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:11.839
Regular listeners will know uh we've put loads of time and money into something that we like to call barbecue bingo.

00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:21.359
So if um Owen's uh laptop has been very kind you should be able to now see a spinning wheel of ingredients.

00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:32.559
So every guest we ask to spin the wheel um whatever it lands on we ask you to go away and cook and talk us through what you're thinking might be a good fit.

00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:38.000
And then we also ask every guest to leave an ingredient for the next person.

00:30:38.000 --> 00:31:01.599
So listeners who aren't watching on YouTube just to run through what we've currently got on there we've got things like scallops, rabbits, padron peppers, frog's legs, uh tripe, kangaroo, monkfish, chicken heart, blue cheese, alligator, beef cheeks, granulated garlic, marshmallow, tri-tip, and then something that we call my signature dish.

00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:06.640
So if it lands on that we ask you to cook what you're best known for.

00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:26.480
So from your perspective what would be your signature dish I think that what I'm known for is two dishes actually so one is my lear winner um with onion butter which is a Māori potato bread that we do and we use the potato to ferment the bread or um my sour orange curry.

00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:32.079
That sounds interesting I've I've never heard of a sour orange curry.

00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:58.640
Yeah it was something that I created um uh when I first started doing Supper Clubs when I first left Caravan in 2022 and um it is a mixture of uh techniques using like a rending base but actually cooking it out like a jungle curry um and it just turned out incredible and um I've sort of demoed it around the country over the ever since then ever since 2022.

00:31:58.640 --> 00:34:56.239
Wow okay right I'll I'll quick spin uh is there anything on there that particularly takes your fancy or something you particularly like to avoid oh it it's yeah I I can't stand tripe tripe is my like oh my god I I can't eat it I can't put it in my mouth everything else is like yeah bring it on okay let's see what we got please not try please not please not try it oh yes this is this is oh yeah yeah chicken hearts yeah yeah that's that this that's you're right up my road this is what I love I'm not a great fan of off all however I love chicken hearts I love chicken livers um I absolutely adore um foigu and I know I'm not allowed to but I am a fat 52 year old chef so I'm allowed to yeah uh great well we'd love love to see what you what you do with chicken hearts um what would you like to leave for future guests um so a ingredient that I um have used for years and I actually train out at my masterclasses um and it is it can it can be quite um polarizing for some people some people have gone oh wow like I would never do that and some people are like oh my god it's an epiphany like that's the greatest thing that I've ever tried but I want uh to leave a product called Kit Japanis wow what what what is that it's how do you spell it it's a sweet soy sauce oh okay yeah and uh the way that I would use it is that I would char grill a steak and I mean real hard char so you've cooked it indirect you've got it to the right specification that you like I generally like my ribeyes to be more medium just purely because of the fat and perfectly and then as it comes off just before you rest it you brush it just with the light brushing of the ketchup manis on both sides leave it to rest slice it put it in your mouth hold yourself because you are going to ejaculate and that's that's the that's the matte black promise that is the matte black promise women will need a wet floor sign men hold themselves yeah I'll say my wife said something similar to me once but I didn't learn the first time so maybe this time I'll get it right exactly exactly so how do you spell it sorry so I can add it in uh sure it's k e uh kit yeah k e t a p that's kit jet and then manus M-A-N-I-S.

00:34:56.239 --> 00:35:35.599
Perfect great well Matt look it I I suppose as we come to to the end of of of the recording today um is there anything that we haven't covered yet that you'd like to you'd like to talk about I mean it's been an amazing story so far so thank you ever so much um no no I think that we've uh yeah we've covered most things um yeah I just like if you see me out and about like please come up and please come and say hello I'm very approachable um yeah don't don't be afraid I the only thing I would just recommend is that just be afraid of how much I talk and how much shit that I talk.

00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:47.840
I'm trying to hold back with for a lot of the inappropriateness please believe me that I spent 35 years in a kitchen with no windows so we had nothing else to talk about apart from inappropriate shit.

00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:52.320
But I promise to make you laugh and I promise that we'll have a good chat.

00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:56.400
Perfect and where where can people find you on socials?

00:35:56.639 --> 00:36:39.599
Oh yeah cool uh it's Matt Black so it's M-A-T-B-L-A-K no c um I'm on Instagram um I think I'm on TikTok it's not really great on TikTok i i haven't really updated that for years and I'm on good because I'm 52 years old of course I'm on Facebook as well because that's where all us 50 and over where we do our hard work those great those groups you know the local the Essex group because I live in Essex so you know that's where I want to go do most of my work complaining about those potholes talking about that fucking roundabout that's what 52 year old men do these days.

00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:51.760
Yeah that's where I find my fun sorry yeah love it well thank you ever so much for coming onto the podcast it's been an absolute pleasure to meet you and hopefully we get to catch up with you soon in person.

00:36:52.000 --> 00:38:29.760
100% thank you so much for having me on guys and thank you all for listening to the uh story of Matt Black I really apologize for uh bursting your eardrums for the last 45 minutes they did say to me at the start go for it and I did apologize so my biggest are you gonna see us out with a bit of beatbox no way do you know how many people have asked me to do beatbox there is absolutely no way I am terrible at it and I look ridiculous so thank you for offering all right I thought I'd ask one last time brilliant thanks for coming on awesome thank you thanks so much cheers cheers madey that's it for the second part of this two part special with Matt Black uh absolute legend um really really enjoyed uh talking with Matt and uh hope you enjoyed listening that is actually the end of season seven I can't believe it already but end of season seven so thank you ever so much thank you to AOS Kitchens our our sponsor um and we should hopefully see you soon as we move into episode and seasons eight and beyond uh until next time keep on grilling today's episode of the Meet and Greek barbecue podcast is brought to you by AOS Outdoor Kitchens.

00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:33.599
They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists