Unlocking the Secrets of Barbecue with Tom Damin

Tom Damin, a barbecue enthusiast, shares his expertise and passion for barbecue in this engaging conversation. He delves into the world of pellet grills, highlighting their ability to provide precise temperature control and a seamless barbecue experience. With the accompanying app, users can access a wealth of resources, including recipe instructions and predicted cook times.   Throughout the conversation, Tom's enthusiasm for barbecue is evident, and his expertise provides valuable insights for anyone looking to improve their barbecue skills. From the benefits of pellet grills to experimenting with different recipes and techniques, Tom covers a range of topics that will help you take your barbecue game to the next level. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, this conversation with Tom Damin is sure to provide valuable guidance and inspiration for your next barbecue.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
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(01:06):
Australian made, Australian quality,
Garden Master, the home of quality sheds.
Tom Damon, welcome to Backup Legend.
G'day Damon, how are you doing mate?Great
to have you on the show. No, thanks for
having me. You've got some of your
beautiful products there, tell me more
about it. Yeah, so like my little
Passion project for quite a lot of years
now has been Smokey Pastures Barbecue.

(01:29):
So started off as just 39 00:01:31,1000 --> 00:01:33,960 myself and my best mate. We worked
together and getting towards
dad life, needing a bit of a backyard
hobby, but still being quite competitive
in nature. We've stumbled across
competition barbecue. And
so we've done some barbecue competitions,
events, and things like that. And then

(01:51):
just sort of thinking about how can we
try something different. Like when we
started doing this, there wasn't a lot of
seasonings for that sort of thing
available on the market. There's lots
now, but you know, we're talking like
2018, we thought, well, let's start
coming up with our own seasonings and
playing around with flavors and things
like that. And so, yeah, I just started

(02:11):
making rubs and seasonings at home,
giving out samples to mates and stuff
like that to get them to try them and
And eventually, like, yeah, got good
feedback, people sort of saying, Hey, you
know, can I buy some?And
yeah, I found a co-packer, so I have
someone who helps me with the packaging

(02:32):
and the distribution. But I've come up
with the, you know, the different
flavors, the different blends, recipe
ideas, things like that. And so, yeah,
the Smokey Pasta's Barbecue, we still
do the odd barbecue competition,
but yeah, we've got five different
seasonings in the range. and we also have
a product that's a bacon cure so making

(02:53):
your own homemade bacon and so yeah they
just yeah all different types of proteins
just like you'd use your everyday like
master food seasonings. These are you
know exactly for that. Can't wait to give
it a try mate. Thank you so much for
bringing those in. No problem. You're
also a pitmaster and a
barbecue leader. What's the difference

(03:13):
between the two and tell us a bit more
about them. Pitmaster is kind of a little
bitof a self-stylized title and
sort of really talks back to that
American barbecue roots. The
barbecue competitions we were doing were
like low and slow American style barbecue
and you know the guy who's in charge of
the cooking traditionally is called a

(03:34):
pitmaster. So when we were sort of
doing our competitions and doing the
barbecue rubs,That title of
Pitmaster sort of harkens back to that.
But really, anyone who's you
know in charge of their barbecue is their
own pitmaster. That's the way I like to
see it. Whereas a barbecue leader is

(03:55):
actually an official position and that's
my day job. So I work for Weber
Barbecues Australia and New Zealand, and
I work at our Weber Grill Academy.
So pretty much five days a week, we
run classes and experiences, some for
public. some for private events
and basically I lead those experiences,

(04:16):
hence I guess the term barbecue leader
and I'm technically a grill specialist
and basically just teach people how to
use our awesome Weber barbecues and run
them through, you know, anything from
basic barbecue classes to
team-building experiences and everything
in between. How good?Yeah, it's pretty

(04:36):
cool, man. It is a very fun job. It's a
very fun job. Kind of like the smile of
your face. I love it. I know. Look, I'm
not going to lie. It is pretty much a
dream job. I will say that, yeah. And And
when when you first started cooking as
well, Tom, and and was there someone in
the family that influenced you to get
into it?Yeah. I mean, both my mum

(04:57):
and dad, really. And
growing up in our household, it was
always, dad does the protein and
usually out on the barbecue. Mum does
everything else inside. But dad's
operating under mum's orders, right?There
was, she was the director.
But, you know, mums grown

(05:18):
up, grew up in the southeast. So country
family, or, you know,
generations of great home cooks and mums,
you know, always inspired me to,to
get creative and get cooking. And then
dad's sort of been the one that sort of
really got me on the tongs. So my
preferred way to cook anything is on the

(05:39):
barbecue. Doesn't matter whether it's
baking a cake or chicken wings, it's got
to be on the barbecue. Speaking my
language. Yeah. But But
yeah, it was really mum that inspired a
lot of that sort of, you know, culinary
adventure and the flavors and the
seasonings andtrying new things. She'd
often buy me, oh I found this really nice

(05:59):
sauce or I found this awesome like
pepper or something like that. And she's
always, you know, thinking about, you
know, creative things with food. And so
yeah, big influence there. But dad was
the, you know, I grew up cooking on this
big four burner flat plate job that he
actually built himself. Ohh Yeah, Yeah so

(06:19):
for years I grew up cooking on this
barbecue. That that he actually was was a
homemade BBQ. And yeah, I
don't know, I've always loved it. I've
always, yeah, it's my go to. If I'm
cooking for a group of people, it's gonna
be on the BBQ. Yeah, love that. Yeah. I
remember the other night as well. I was
at home with the missus and she's like.
ohh I can't be bothered doing a barbecue,

(06:40):
let's just cook something on the frying
pan. I'm like no no no, I'm putting my
foot down here and it just tastes so much
better, like chicken kebabs, sausages,
you name it, it's just amazing. So yeah,
I absolutely agree with you.
It's not hard work either, you know, like
for me, I find it easier because you
know, if you cook something like that,

(07:00):
especially in the fry pan, especially if
it's a bit fatty, you know, house
smells, grease,you know,
spits everywhere, like makes a big mess.
Like the barbecue, you've finished, you
know, you give it a bit of a grill brush,
turn it off and you're done. It's all
good. Like you've got your area, grease
goes down into the drip tray. Like it's

(07:21):
it's actually easier to just do it all on
the barbecue. And you know, I don't know
what your backyard's like, but I've got,
you know, a nice little veranda
undercover area. It's a little bit cold,
but. I don't stand out there the whole
time. Yeah. Like, just gotta put a bit of
food in, come back inside. I don't know,
for me, I don't know, I do it as a job,
right?Yeah. I clearly don't find it that

(07:42):
hard. Love just firing up the barbecue,
literally for any excuse, really. And for
me, you've gotta have a beer while you're
cooking a barbie as well. Are you like
that as well?No, look, actually,
interestingly, I used to overindulge a
little bit, so I don't I don't drink
anymore, but you
generally find me witha
coffee. Okay. I'm I'm like,

(08:05):
I'm a bit of a coffee fiend these days.
And for me, I actually love just
a nice, you know, latte or
cappuccino to go along with my barbecue.
A little bit not traditional. A little
bit not traditional. I was sort of
leaning towards my my American
brethren and and I don't mind a nice

(08:27):
iced tea. Right. Like like a a
nice iced tea. You were probably on the
first team I was spoken to that cooks a
barbie and has an iced tea at the same
time. I know, I knowIt almost feels like
it's un-Australian but... Not at all, not
at all. Nah, nah, yeah. There There
are actually a couple of like zero
alcohol beers these days that aren't too
bad. Yeah, I'm on a week, yeah. Yeah, so

(08:49):
I don't mind partaking in a in a zero.
But yeah, I don't I don't touch the
alcohol anymore. No No judgment from me
whatsoever. Yeah I want to ask you a
question about, you just mentioned before
overseas people and always this this
reputation about the Aussies doing the
whole shrimp on the barbie kind of thing
and you obviously spent some time

(09:11):
overseas as well. Yes. What do overseas
people think about Australian barbecues
and is there that that whole persona
about thinking that we're doing the whole
shrimp on the barbie or is that just a
bit of an old school thing thatused to
say?It's funny, I think obviously, you
know, Hogues and and Crocodile Dundee
and the ads and everything like that. I

(09:31):
think we remember that a lot more than
other people. Like I think most other
places like our pommy friends
probably are aware of our our you
know, tradition of having a barbie.
Although they actually like to get on the
grill prettyyou know, a fair bit as well.
It's just they have a lot less of the
days of the year where it's appropriate

(09:52):
to do so. But the Americans, they've got
no idea. Honestly, they have no idea that
it's even a thing down here. They just
kind of live in their own world, you
know. And so we, what I will say about
Australian barbecue and what, when they
find out about it, what really surprises
those other cultures is is how we are
this like melange, like this

(10:13):
collection ofall these awesome different
cultures and really just this melting
pot, you know, we've got we've got the
the Mediterranean influence, you know,
the Greek and Italian influence, but then
we're still doing this, you know,
American stuff, we're still doing British
sausages, but then all these Asian
flavors as well. And really, like, when

(10:35):
you go around the world, you see barbecue
is everywhere. And then you come back to
Australia and you can find every kind of
barbecue in Australia. So I
don't know I just think I think most of
the world has no idea what we do but we
do a really good job here of bringing it
all together. I've heard that as well
like you can't can't get wrong with an
Australian Barbie for sure. Yeah Yeah

(10:57):
it's pretty common to find like buffalo
American chicken wings next to peanut
satays next toCumberland
sausages, you know, like literally three
different continents coming together on
the one Aussie barbecue. It's pretty
awesome. Well, you mentioned the
Americans and obviously they, their thing
is that the slow cooked barbecue. What do
they think about the way the Australians

(11:18):
do it though?Ohh Now look, don't
don't sell it short. There's parts of
America where it's all about the low and
slow and the smokers and everything like
that, but they love to grill. All right,
so they, in America, it's a little bit
more defined. Barbecue
is generally what they refer to as
the low and slow American style stuff.

(11:41):
But then they do a lot of grilling, which
is, you know, steaks, sausages, burgers,
like all the same stuff that we do. Ohh
So they do the old Bunnings thing where
the the sausage and bread and onions.
I I don't know. They're probably more
likely to smoke a sausage, but but yeah,
yeah certainly like burgers, certainly
like, you know, a lot of the the steaks

(12:03):
and and stuff like that. Yeah. YeahYeah
Yeah, wonderful. I want to ask you a
question as well because as you mentioned
before, you've been a big part of Weber
for a number of years now. They say that
Weber actually revolutionized backyard
grilling back in the 1950s. Yeah. What
were people doing before that though, Tom?
Yeah, super good question. And I love
that bit of research as well. And so

(12:24):
1952, and we know a lot about the brand
history, we're really, really proud.
Weber's an American company, but it's
been in Australia since 1978. But
in '52, the Weber kettle was born.
And really the key defining
feature of the kettle barbecue and
Weber's way of barbecuing is lid-down
cooking. So pretty much before

(12:46):
1952, barbecues didn't have lids.
So they were like charcoal pits with just
like a cooking grate or very, very
simple gas setups, like just a burner,
and no real way to either cover the food
to either keep the rain off of itor trap
the flavor in, or do something like
roast in a barbecue. So without a lid,

(13:09):
you can't roast in any of these
barbecues, Weber Q, Kettle, they all have
lids, you can roast in them. That was the
big game changer. So
creating something that wasn't just a
barbecue that you grilled on, something
that you could actually, you know, roast,
bake, do all the things that you could
like an oven, but in your backyard,

(13:29):
so yeah. An interesting thing as well,
like, yeah, thanks for explaining that.
But that's talking about the history of
the Weber, and I just love, you know,
hearing these stories as well. And the
actual Weber itself, the idea came from
a boy in the ocean, the actual design of
the Weber. Is that true?Yeah, yeah, for
sure. Yeah. So, Weber Brothers
Metal Works was where they were made and

(13:51):
the guy was George Stevens. So, the
business then became Weber Stevens
Proprietary Limited, still family owned
today. And yeah, so
George had a big family and
didn't, you know, really rate the way
that he couldn't cook outside or couldn't
really cook a lot in it and, you know, if

(14:12):
it rained it was a problem and yeah,
pretty much he wasbuilding these marine
buoys. So, Chicago, they're on the
Great Lakes, there's lots of these buoys
that are floating up and down in the
in the water. And his idea was
basically, well, what if I just cut one
of these in half?I've got a bottom, I've

(14:32):
got a lid, poked a few holes in it,
and the rest is history. And
realistically, like '52,
the Weber kettle wentbananas, like
everywhere in in America. He took it on
the road and started selling like
hotcakes. And then in '78, a guy by the
name of Ross McDonald, he was an

(14:54):
Australian guy from right here in
Adelaide. He was in the States,
came across the kettle and he was the guy
that actually bought Weber to Australia.
Unbelievable. Yeah, it's such a cool
story. Part of like working
at Weber is you hear this story,Retold
countless times, right?And we retell the

(15:14):
story countless times, but I love it
because it is such a good story. Like
it's it's innovation
and exploration and yeah, it changed
barbecue forever. Hey folks, do you love
your footy?Are you over 35 and want to be
part of something very special on Anzac
Day in 2025 in Gallipoli?Well, check
this out. The Slugs plan to

(15:36):
play men's and women's games
here at this soccer ground, the closest
to the Gallipoli battlefields during the
2025
commemorations. The idea to make it
spectacular, to fill this
entire area with Aussie
Anzac pilgrims. Vincent Marliot

(15:57):
tours with the Southern Slugs. Footy, he
says. is perfect to honour
the diggings. They would love it, I'm
sure, because it's being in Australia
over there, isn't it?I can imagine people
after a couple of drinks trying to tell
the story and then like tell it in
different ways as well. Yeah, we have a
bit of a joke and and I'm gonna curse

(16:19):
myself because I I can't exactly remember
how many kids he had, but one of the
points is like you know George had a lot
of kids and you know I've heard it go
from like 9 to 11 to all of a sudden
George has 13. kids you know it's like
Chinese whispers like George's family
grows with every telling of that story
but I think it is actually 11. So yeah.

(16:39):
Yeah I'll take a word for it. Yeah I'll
go with 11 to say. Once on the topic of
Weber's as well Tom, I've heard a story
as well that they're actually unkillable,
they're the terminators of barbecues, is
that true?Yeah like one of our problems is
is as a business is that we have to come
up with new products because the old
products last for so long. And like we'll

(16:59):
find you know ancient Weber
kettles in backyards out there. You know
I'm sure you're gonna talk to a lot of
people in these series that have a Weber,
like a kettle in particular in the
backyard. And it's 'cause they're
enameled steel. So the real secret is
the enamel keeps them completely rust
proof. So unless the dog knocks it over
or something and unless you chip that

(17:21):
enamel, they'll never rust. Wow. So
yeah, you've basically got aluminium legs
and an enamel steel construction.
And yeah, people misuse them, leave them
out in the weather, like you name it.
I've seen them turned into flower pots,
you know, like, you know, people
repurpose them for all sorts of sorts of

(17:41):
things. That's amazing. But they they
will stand the test of time as long as
that enamel stays intact. So yeah, it's
pretty cool. I've got one that's as old
as I am. So I'm 38 years old.
And I've
got, I've got
a a 1986 model kettle.

(18:03):
So it's as old as I am. That's amazing. I
know. I don't know a lot of people that
own something that they use still. Yeah.
That was made the same year they were
born. That's actually That's actually
incredible. It's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah
Speaking of cool things, you mentioned
before just having a bit of a chat off
air and you've had some interesting
things over the years involved with with
your role, working with Weber and what

(18:23):
have you and your love of barbecues.
What's the strangest meat though or the
strangest burger that you've had, Tom and
wife?Yeah,
Yeah not that long ago, I actually
tried a camel burger. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I know, right?So
it wasn't as bad as you'd think. Like it
was actually pretty, it was actually

(18:44):
pretty normal. And
yeah, it was part of like a taste testing
to see whether, you know, camel meat
could be used as a substitute for
say beef or, you know, typical more
widely used proteins. And so I didn't
know it was camel meat when I tried it.
But yeah, it wasn't actually too bad.

(19:05):
Like it could have used a bit more bit
more seasoning, maybe a bit of smoky
pasta might have improved the the flavor
profile there. But you know, as as a
meat, it was it was passable. Yeah, it
wasn't as gamey as say like, you know,
goat or or venison or something like
that, but very lean. What do you compare
it to, mate?I don't really know. Like it

(19:25):
was it was like really, really lean
beef. I'd say I'd say it was more like
beef than lamb. Like I've tried, you
know, goat, I've had lots of lamb, I've
had lots of beef and I would say
probably more on the beef end in terms of
the flavor. Like it wasn't a really
strong flavor, but just super lean. Like

(19:45):
a lot of those game meats, they're
really, really lean. Yeah. And what is it
that you love most about cooking as well,
Tom?Ohh Apart
from eating, you know, I love, I just
love food. I love trying different things
about food. But I think what ties me
back to why I do the job that I do
is I love sharing food with people and

(20:07):
sharing um sharing the knowledge as
well. So when we cook our barbecue
food, especially the stuff we do at
Weber, it's not like chef level stuff,
like I'm not a chef, I'm a barbecue cook.
We We do stuff that's simple but done
really well. And often people come along
to one of our classes andand they get

(20:29):
inspired to do the same thing at home.
And I think, especially when we hear
back from people that have been to one of
our our experiences and then recreated it
at home and shared it with their family,
friends and stuff like that. That's
probably the biggest you know thing that
I really get a buzz about. But you know,
yeah, sharing food is justIt's such a

(20:50):
good thing, right?Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yeah
And speaking of foods and and different
things as well, have you ever tried the
recipe of pavlova on a Weber?Because I
can't believe that this is actually a
thing. Yeah mate, yeah, yeah
Today, I baked brownies in the Weber.
That is, that is ridiculous. Yeah, Yeah
it's pretty cool. Now, we we do all sorts

(21:11):
of stuff like smoked cheesecakes,
pavlovas, yeah,
trifles, like you you name it, like pick
a dessert, we have cooked it in the
barbecue. or we just grill ingredients
that get turned into desserts. So, you
know, we do like grilled pineapple that
gets topped on our pavlovas or, or
you know, grilled peaches that gets

(21:31):
turned into like a sorbet, like you name
it, like you can add a touch of barbecue
toany dessert or just do the whole
dessert. You got me hungry just thinking
about it. I want to actually try your
pavlova for the webinar. Ohh It's really
good. Can you buy it from your store?Ohh
No, No if you come to one of our
classes or you book a private event

(21:52):
at the Grill Academy, we can do you a
pavlova. You've got to come to us. That's
totally fair. What's been the most
difficult thing that you've made
throughout your time, Tom, that youI
guess you nailed or you might not have
nailed because it was just so difficult.
Really good question. I think
especially when it comes to the

(22:12):
competition cooking as well, 'cause
that's where you're really actually
getting judged and you find out whether
people liked it or not. Like
nailing a brisket. So
brisket's a part of a beef
cow and basically it's a particular
cut and it's cooked in a particular way,
really traditional in Texas. And sort of

(22:35):
for low and slow barbecue, it's probably
takes the longest out of any of the cuts
to cook. And I think it has
probably one of the highest degrees of
difficulty. It's like one of those one of
those sort of nemesis things for your
backyard barbecue guy. I don't know
whether it's because it's like a big
piece of meat or it takes 12 hours and
you've had too many beers by the end of

(22:55):
that 12 hours and you sort of
lose track of what's going on. I don't
know what it is, but it's often like the
real nemesis for people. But
like when I've nailed a
brisket and it's come out perfect and you
know, you slice it, it's almost fall
apart, but you can get a slice of it and
bend it over your finger and show people

(23:17):
and squeeze the juice out of it and you
get that wow factor when you really
nail that. I think that's like almost
your proudest barbecue moment. And then
we've also won a couple of trophies for
brisket as well. So we've got two first
place brisket trophies in competitions.
And they're probably the the
trophies that I'm the most proud of,

(23:38):
yeah. So you should, especially if
they're so difficult, that's something to
be very much to be proud of. Yeah, Yeah I
want to ask you as well a question,
again, I'm just learning so much and
amazing stuff doing research about
training with you today, Tom. You can
actually apparently cook a barbecue now
using a remote control. You've tried
doing this and what's this about?Yeah,
look, I mean, you've still got to put the
food in the barbecue, but you know,

(24:01):
yeah, like there's a lot of
basically technology that's being
incorporated into barbecues these days.
So often it's putting a meat probe
into a barbecue and then using like
a smart barbecue. Like we have, for
example, a pellet grill called the Weber
Smokefire. So it's electronic thermostat
controlled. You just set your

(24:22):
temperature, you put in wood pellets,
burns the wood pellets as fuel, and
essentially you can set the temperature
and then control the whole barbecue unit
apart from physicallytaking
in and putting in and taking out the
meat, you can control the whole thing
wirelessly from your phone. That is
ridiculous. Yeah. And then there's an app
on the phone that will give you the full

(24:44):
recipe instructions, step-by-step guide
on what to do. It'll give you a predicted
cook time. It'll tell you when the food
needs to come out of the barbecue and
when it's ready and take you through the
whole cooking process. Like you just go
roast beef, medium
and hit go. and it'll literally
take you through the whole step-by-step

(25:05):
process. It
is crazy, but and and this is kind of the
sort of stuff we encourage people with,
because it's actually with the
technology that's available, not just on
the barbecue, but on the internet, you
know, it's never been easier to get into
this style of cooking. You really just

(25:25):
got to take the plunge and have a crack.
Have a go. Yeah. Yeah And I want to ask
you about the Grill Academy as well. When
people graduate from the Grill Academy,
is it true that they they get the square
hat and also the robes?
No, no, noLook, they're in the short
courses, okay. We
do as Weber staff, we do get

(25:47):
trained and we have what's called the
Grill Specialist Program. And so there's
kind of a series of colored jackets that
you wear as you progress through and you
acquire more barbecue knowledge. So I'm
just a gray jacket. I'm at the bottom
rung at the moment. But then you can
graduate into like a red, blue, and
eventually have a black jacket. We only
have one black jacket in Australia. Her

(26:09):
name's Laura. She's our our grill master.
She's the only one in the southern
hemisphere. There's a few in the
northern hemisphere, America and Europe
have a few grill masters. But she's
literally logged and documented
thousands of hours on the barbecue
to attain that that level. It's
only really recognized within the Weber

(26:31):
community, though, so it's not like an
official, you know, bachelor of
of grill master, unfortunately. But
you know It's pretty good street cred and
bragging rights. If you've got a black
jacket on and you know you're at a
barbecue event, yeah you're gonna stick
out. Hey Tom, we could speak all day,
mate, but thank you so much for coming on
back. Appreciate it, mate. And thanks for

(26:52):
bringing your beautiful products in as
well. Ohh No worries. Enjoy, mate.
Pleasure to meet you. And once again,
just give your business a plug. Yeah, so
check us out online, Smokey Pastures BBQ,
Instagram and Facebook. You can buy it in
a lot of good butcher shops around
Adelaide, a couple of different
supermarkets. But yeah, range of
different rubs and seasonings. And if you
follow along, plenty of recipe content as

(27:14):
well. You won't be uninspired if you give
us a look on socials. Love that. Good on
you, mate. Thanks so much. Thanks, mate.
Cheers.