Jackie Weight was the first and to date only non-American to win the coveted overall Grand Champion Title at the Jack Daniels Invitational BBQ Competition (2004) in Lynchburg, Tennessee. She now runs BBQ Workshop, an independent BBQ Cookery School in Kent where she enjoys sharing her love of barbecue.
1. What got you into BBQ’ng?
I’ve had a love of cooking since childhood, so cooking outdoors was a natural progression, that and a fascination for fire!
2. How many BBQ’s do you have at home and what is your favourite method of cooking?
Err, I may have to plead the 5th on that one .. don’t tell anyone but I have around 21 at last count. I can’t narrow down my favourite way of cooking, but I love the indirect low and slow cook that my Traeger Pellet Grills give me as well as cooking indirect and searing on my Kamado, it really depends on what I’m cooking.
3. What is your favourite piece of BBQ equipment? This can be a BBQ or an accessory and we want to know why.
It’s difficult to narrow it down to just one, but I couldn’t live without my Thermapens, food probes are so important as nobody can tell the internal temperature of food by sight! I run a BBQ School and advise everyone who comes to buy a food probe.
4. What was the best BBQ food you have ever eaten?
That’s easy! The best BBQ Food I’ve eaten is with friends at BBQ Competitions mainly in America … the relaxed evening cookout before everything goes mental.
5. Tell us about your worst BBQ disaster?
Almost setting fire to a 12th century Tythe Barn during a catering event years ago! I left my cooker in the ‘capable hands’ of my late husband only to come back and find that he had let things get a little too Hot!
6. Name a dish you have never cooked but would love to try?
I’ve never cooked true Wagyu Beef and would love to try it one day, however sometimes you have to weigh up cost versus reality.
7. Who is the person you would most like to cook with?
I have cooked informally for the late Michel Roux in his back garden and was quite surprised when Heston Blumenthal and Alain Roux turned up too. These days I enjoy cooking with the people that come to my BBQ School … but if James Martin invited me around to cook with him, I wouldn’t say no!
8. What is your favourite song to cook to?
Anything from Queen is a good start for me as it drowns out my singing!
9. Best toppings for a BBQ burger?
Slow cooked caramelised red onion and decent ‘melty’ cheese
10. What’s your favourite non-BBQ food guilty pleasure?
I absolutely love to bake, so anything that involves cake!
For more information visit Jackie’s website at – www.bbqworkshop.co.uk