Showmen Group's Arron Rhodes Shares His Top 5 Tips For Cooking an Authentic American BBQ

INTERVIEW

No meal screams summer, family/friends, and good vibes more than a barbecue! The thick smoke of the grills carries the delicious smell of meats and vegetables and makes hot summers all the more joyous. For those who wish to elevate their meal with an authentic American BBQ cooking technique, we chat with expert Arron Rhodes who shares his top five tips to cook meats in the barbecue. The chef-entrepreneur founded the Hong Kong-based restaurant group, Showmen Group, which runs crowd favourites like Kinship, Smoke & Barrel and Brooklyn Yazuka.

1) Cook At Room Temperature

Take your meat out of the fridge to bring it to room temperature for at least 2-3 hours. Don’t BBQ from the fridge directly as you’ll end up with uneven cooking. You want to have consistency when cooking the meat, it’ll be juicier if you have patience and end up with a better product at the end.

2) Don’t Underseason, Overseason!

Often when you season the outside it’ll burn in the oven and fall off, so do more sprinkling and rubbing than you would a normal piece of meat. Dry it before seasoning (patting with a kitchen towel will do) because wet meat struggles to form a decent crust and can pick up unpleasant flavours.

3) Moisturise The Meat

Want that extra “oomph” of flavour? Don’t forget to spritz your meat with a flavourful liquid, this will take your BBQ to the next level. You can use a small hand-help spray bottle which is great for low-volume applications. Spritzing adds moisture as smoking is a dry process and it’s important to add back some of that lost moisture. Don’t spritz too early though! Start halfway through and continue every hour onwards. At Smoke & Barrel we use a combination of beer and apple cider vinegar, a simple and delicious option.

4) Have A Little Patience

Do NOT cut your meat before it has rested. No matter how tempting it may be or how hungry you are after smelling the smoked goodness, try and keep your hands to yourself as you may ruin it. For a larger piece one hour will do, otherwise a smaller piece 10-20 minutes.

5) Choose Great Cuts!

We are offering a plethora of amazing cuts and meats at our newly launched Smoke & Deli retail platform. Available for order online or direct pick up from the venue. Check it out here.

All imagery provided by The Showmen Group.