Aly Romero - Private Chef & Author Encore
We are delighted to present an enlightening discussion centered around Aly Romero's recently published cookbook, "Gas Fire Heat." This episode emphasizes the intricate journey of crafting this culinary work, which encapsulates a diverse array of recipes reflecting Aly's rich experiences and influences from various regions. Notably, we delve into the meticulous process of developing and refining recipes, underscoring the dedication involved in ensuring each dish resonates with flavor and accessibility. Furthermore, Ali shares her insights on the significance of utilizing various cooking methods, advocating for a versatile approach that embraces both gas and live fire techniques in outdoor cooking. The conversation offers a profound exploration of culinary creativity, the personal motivations behind writing a cookbook, and the joy of sharing culinary delights with family and friends.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painterdale's Natural Beef
- Gas Fire Heat
- Heritage Steel
- Williams Sonoma
- Heston
- Pig Powder
- Meat Church
- Abrams Books
- Amazon
- Barnes and Noble
- Walmart
- Target
- Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker A:Now from the Turn It, Don't Burn it studios in Portland, here's jt.
Speaker B:Hey, everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome to the nation and Smartbee Nation.
Speaker B:I'm JT along with my co host, co pilot, and very good friend, hall of famer, I might add, Leanne Whippen.
Speaker B:From our respective Turn It, Don't Burn it studios in Portland and Tampa.
Speaker B:We'd like to thank the folks at Painterdale's natural beef beef the way nature intended.
Speaker B:Well, we've got a returning guest today who is rapidly becoming one of our favorites here.
Speaker B:Ali Romero is with us today.
Speaker B:She's the what's for dinner mom and the blogger and all that.
Speaker B:But she's got a brand new cookbook.
Speaker B:Allie, hold up your cookbook.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Called Gas Fire Heat.
Speaker B:They're all her recipes, her photography, her writing, and it's a great book.
Speaker B:It's a very pretty book, too.
Speaker B:People don't usually say that, but it's a very pretty book.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Anyway, welcome back to the show, kiddo.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:Thanks for having me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I'll ask the obvious question first.
Speaker B:Why on earth would you write a cookbook?
Speaker C:Well, it was always something that I kind of wanted to do.
Speaker C:I think that as your journey progresses and, you know, it's kind of started off along the way with putting it all out there on my food blog and on social media, on Instagram and Facebook and all of that.
Speaker C:And that led into, you know, some TV competition shows.
Speaker C:And then it was kind of like, what's next?
Speaker C:I mean, it's just kind of, you know, what else can you do that's going to add credibility and kind of like keep pushing you forward in this career that I've always started off with saying I'm going to put it out there and see what happens.
Speaker C:And this is where I'm at.
Speaker C:So a cookbook was definitely on my radar and something that I always had wanted to do.
Speaker C:And I wanted to have something to leave my family and leave my kids one day.
Speaker C:Hopefully, heaven forbid, that's a long time from now.
Speaker C:But wanted to leave something permanent and some extremely proud of Gas Fire Heat.
Speaker B:So did you do the curmudgeonly author thing and lock yourself in your home office and kind of.
Speaker B:They've had to slide food under the door to you and that type of thing when you were drafting the book.
Speaker B:I mean, you got to cook there.
Speaker D:A lot of work.
Speaker B:It's a lot of work.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you got to cook the recipes and take pictures of them and all that.
Speaker B:But did you do that or did you do the process of.
Speaker B:I already have a bunch.
Speaker B:Let's see how they work together and compile it.
Speaker C:Luckily, I have notebooks and notebooks full of recipes.
Speaker C:So whenever I cook something, because it would either sometimes end up on my food blog website or, you know, it would be something where I'd either check it off and say, this is good to go, or this needs work or whatever it is.
Speaker C:So I had a ton of recipes ready to go, as I still have a ton of recipes continuing to be ready to go for anything in the future.
Speaker C:But it was a lot of work.
Speaker C:But as you know, it's a two year process.
Speaker C:So I had about a year from, you know, spring two years ago until I think it was like the end of May last year.
Speaker C:And that's when the manuscript was due and it's about 80 recipes.
Speaker C:So everything in the book I have cooked, tested, down to the salt and pepper, our family has eaten everything in it.
Speaker C:And yeah, it was definitely a lengthy process and a labor of love.
Speaker C:But I think that's why I'm even more proud of it, is because I know how much work went into it and, and I think it's pretty fantastic.
Speaker C:I'm pretty excited about it.
Speaker B:One of the things.
Speaker B:Leanne, jump in if you want to, but I was going to say one of the things I liked about the book a lot besides this look and the recipes and stuff is in your recipes, you don't get down into what I call the minutiae of things where you need 1/16th of a gram of cumin or something in there.
Speaker B:They're very practical recipes.
Speaker C:Yeah, I mean, that's kind of just how I cook.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:I mean, if it's like, if I want cumin in there, I'm either gonna add like a teaspoon, a half a tablespoon or tablespoon.
Speaker C:And, you know, and definitely keeping it with approachable, easy to find ingredients that you can find at your neighborhood supermarket.
Speaker C:Nothing that's gonna be, you know, you go outta your way to find 10 things that you're gonna use this much of.
Speaker C:I mean, it's, it's supposed to be something that's just easy, but elevated with maybe just a couple of extra ingredients that maybe somebody hasn't added before that really kind of make it unique and different and, and taste great.
Speaker B:Well, that's good.
Speaker B:I like that.
Speaker B:I like that.
Speaker B:What's your family think of all this.
Speaker C:They think it's pretty cool.
Speaker C:I mean, the kids have kind of seen this, you know, from day one, from going to culinary school and kind of the progressions and the things that go my way and then likewise the things that haven't gone my way.
Speaker C:So they think it's pretty cool.
Speaker C:I think that, you know, they don't complain when I make dinner.
Speaker C:I think that they are starting to get the fact that, you know, that I'm trying to provide meals for them that, that are homemade, they're delicious, some are healthy, some are not, but they think it's pretty cool.
Speaker C:And it's great to be able to share this experience with them and know that it takes getting up every day and being, you know, having my own business is.
Speaker C:You are the only one to push it forward.
Speaker C:No one is going to call you and tell you what to do and how to do it.
Speaker C:You just have to make it happen.
Speaker B:The Edna Romero house.
Speaker B:Do you have Tuesday night pot roast?
Speaker B:And I say that in.
Speaker B:You seem like you're always creating something and I'm sure the family has favorites, but do you ever get find yourself that, yeah, they want pot roast every Tuesday night or do you mix it up for them all the time?
Speaker C:I completely mix it up.
Speaker C:There is no, I mean, except for Taco Tuesday, right?
Speaker C:Because everyone knows Taco Tuesday.
Speaker C:And so if they really want tacos and it happens to be a Tuesday, they know they have a good chance of it.
Speaker C:If they're like, mom, it's Taco Tuesday.
Speaker C:But I don't have a schedule.
Speaker C:I don't really plan out meals.
Speaker C:It's more just like I had talked to you guys in the, in the first podcast that we had together, what my dad did, it's like, wake up in the morning and, huh, what sounds good today?
Speaker C:Like, what's for dinner?
Speaker C:So it's not, it's not something that's usually planned out and it's definitely not set in stone.
Speaker C:And not every kid loves everything I make.
Speaker C:So I'm like, well, I'm.
Speaker C:This is what's for dinner.
Speaker C:And tonight might not be your night, but maybe tomorrow night is your night.
Speaker D:Are you going on tour with the book?
Speaker C:I'm doing some local.
Speaker C:I've done a couple, actually.
Speaker C:I did a book signing here in South Lake, Texas, which is in DFW area at Williams Sonoma.
Speaker C:I have another one this weekend locally and then a couple of others that are, that are kind of in the works that we're working on that, but I'm not and I'll probably be coming back to the Bay Area in California just because we lived there for so long.
Speaker C:And my publisher is trying to work out all the details on that to, to line that up as well as with my partnership with Heston, they're building a new retail facility out in Napa.
Speaker C:Their wines and their cookware and everything.
Speaker C:And they've been really a great partner over the last six or seven years.
Speaker C:So I probably will be out there to do something in the Bay Area and as well.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:To see if you can swing up to Portland.
Speaker B:It's only 90 minute flight, so.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'd love to.
Speaker C:I mean, I don't say no to any of these opportunities.
Speaker C:I think they're all a blessing and I'm just grateful.
Speaker B:So I love that when you, when you finish the book, unfortunately for authors and stuff, books are never completely finished, even after you turn in the manuscript.
Speaker B:You think I could.
Speaker B:And then you got some pesky editor there that's telling you you need to change this or spiff this up.
Speaker B:But did you breathe a big sigh of relief when you, you know, you finally said, okay, it's done.
Speaker B:They're not sending me back any drafts.
Speaker B:It's going to, it's going to the presses.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:I mean, yes and no.
Speaker C:It's a huge sigh of relief.
Speaker C:But I think we did close to 10 editing drafts.
Speaker C:And every time, you know, I'm fairly type A with details and all of that.
Speaker C:And so I kept finding things and I was like, oh my gosh, when am I gonna not find things?
Speaker C:And so when I had done, like I said, it was close to the 10th revision or just going through literally reading the book cover to cover, word for word.
Speaker C:And I said, okay, this is it.
Speaker C:And I told my husband and he said, okay, okay, it, and don't look at it.
Speaker C:And I think that was great advice because at that point, what can you do?
Speaker C:And you know, you just hope that everything is out there and it's correct and all of, and all of that.
Speaker C:But it's, you know, it's, that's all you can do.
Speaker C:But yeah, it's a huge relief, right, that last time you hit okay, go to print.
Speaker C:And that's feeling for sure.
Speaker B:I wrote a book 15 years ago, which is out of print, thank goodness.
Speaker B:But when we got the first copies, I mean, everything had been okay.
Speaker B:They came in, my wife, my wife's reading it.
Speaker B:They found 17 mistakes.
Speaker C:Oh, no.
Speaker B:And they, and they wrote them down on the legal pad.
Speaker B:Her and my daughter and my friends were there and they because they were all excited to read it and it was a, it was a holiday book.
Speaker B:And anyway, I was like, oh, geez, this never ends.
Speaker C:So that's almost like, can we just not talk about, like, can we?
Speaker C:I mean, at that point you can't do anything.
Speaker C:You know, it's different if it's like, oh, I found these mistakes.
Speaker C:Go tell, you know, you could change it, but once you can't do anything, you can't do it.
Speaker D:How did you come up with the name for the book?
Speaker C:So that's a great question.
Speaker C:Actually, my now 14 year old son, who is my youngest going into high school next year, he came up with it at 12 years old.
Speaker C:So the boys, both of my boys a couple years ago, oh, that's gas.
Speaker C:Oh, that's fire.
Speaker C:And just like back and forth.
Speaker C:And then I told him I was going to write a barbecue grilling smoking cookbook and he said, oh, just off on a whim, he goes, mom, you should call it Gas Fire Heat.
Speaker C:And so I ran it by the publisher and I said, My 12 year old came up with this and I said, but I'm throwing it out there in case you like it.
Speaker C:And they're like, we love it.
Speaker C:So if you love it, we love it, let's go with it.
Speaker C:So he named the book.
Speaker D:That's awesome.
Speaker B:So is he going to get a royalty?
Speaker C:He gets one.
Speaker C:He gets one from me already by I pay him in food and shelter.
Speaker B:Is there anything that you wanted to put in the book and you had to pull out and save for another day?
Speaker C:Yeah, you know, because it was an outdoor cookbook and I do both indoor cooking as well as the barbecue grilling and smoking.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:And the book really is transitional, meaning like 400 on my Traeger is also 400 in your oven.
Speaker C:Or if it's, you know, the middle of winter in Minnesota and you don't want to go out to your grill, you can use a grill pan.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:The recipes are the recipes.
Speaker C:As far as the marinades, the sauces, you're going to get a similar effect.
Speaker C:Why do you do them inside or outside?
Speaker C:That being said, there are things I did on my Traeger that had that smoky element or, you know, whatever the wood pellet flavor was that I chose.
Speaker C:And I scrapped it and said, okay, I'm gonna leave this in case I write an indoor cookbook or something else down the line.
Speaker C:This is not my favorite place for this.
Speaker C:So, you know, an example I think of is I, I did like a roasted tomato soup.
Speaker C:And I was like, I like it better inside than I did that that day outside.
Speaker C:So things like that that I just kind of scrapped for only that reason, just because I was like, I don't know if it necessarily translates like I want it to.
Speaker D:How many initial recipes did you give them to look at before they selected X amount?
Speaker C:It was about the same amount I think I added.
Speaker C:I believe that what I proposed was 75, and then I came up with around 80.
Speaker C:Once you consider all of there's a whole section in the back with different types of, like, you know, basics, meaning different types of spice rubs.
Speaker C:My favorite, go to Mexican spice Rub if I'm going to make tacos or carnitas or whatever or, you know, mango salsa or pineapple salsa, you know, all kinds of things.
Speaker C:So those all kind of added into that as well.
Speaker C:And then they are used in recipes throughout the book.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:We got.
Speaker B:We got to take a break here on Barbecue Nation Radio Network, but we're going to be back with Allie Romero and talk about her new cookbook, Gas Fire Heat, and we're going to fly her with many questions, as we always do.
Speaker B:Please stay with us.
Speaker E:Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
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Speaker E:Just go to HeritageSteel us and find out more.
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Speaker C:Foreign.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the nation, Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I'm JT along with hall of Famer Leanne Whippen.
Speaker B:You can contact us through the Barbecue Nation website or you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker B:You can find us.
Speaker B:We have individual accounts and we have show accounts.
Speaker B:And so if you are, we even accept carrier pigeons.
Speaker B:So Leanne might cook one, though, but I don't know.
Speaker B:But anyway, if you want to reach out to us, that's fine, and we try to respond accordingly.
Speaker B:Also, we've got something in the works coming up a little later this summer where if we can find time to be in the same side of the continent together, we're gonna do a live show.
Speaker B:I haven't told her yet, so I'm telling her right now.
Speaker B:We're gonna do a live show and I think media is going to join us, too, so we'll see about that.
Speaker B:Anyway, we're talking with Ali Romero today.
Speaker B:Her new book, Gas Fire Heat, which comes out this next week right.
Speaker C:June 11th.
Speaker B:June 11th.
Speaker B:Like that.
Speaker B:And it's going to be.
Speaker B:Do you know where it's going to be?
Speaker B:Is it going to be on all the major bookstores and Amazon or what's the.
Speaker B:Where can they.
Speaker C:Yes, so you can order it on Amazon.
Speaker C:It's also available through Abrams and Familiars, who is my publisher.
Speaker C:And then anywhere, I mean, if you Google it, anywhere books are sold, you can order it.
Speaker C:You know, Target, Walmart, Amazon, any of those.
Speaker B:You know, Allie, we don't know each other very well.
Speaker B:We've only talked a couple, three times.
Speaker B:But I think this is the most excited I've ever seen you.
Speaker C:I mean, I'm really excited.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker C:You know, it's, it's just, it's been a process and now it's here and I mean it's not quite here yet.
Speaker C:We're gearing up the next a little bit less than two weeks.
Speaker C:So yeah, it's, it's an exciting time.
Speaker B:Good for you.
Speaker B:Good for you.
Speaker B:As you were going through this, you said you also did the photography on this.
Speaker B:And I know with your previous work and your guest appearances and you know, the food race, the food truck races and all those different things.
Speaker B:Food photography is not easy.
Speaker B:It is, it is not easy.
Speaker B:I mean, Leanne can tell you, I can tell you she works on some very big food shoots with her sister who's like a world class food stylist and this type of thing when we do them here, you've got me.
Speaker B:I wouldn't say I was a world class food stylist, but I can make things pretty.
Speaker B:How difficult was that?
Speaker B:I mean, you have an image in your mind, but sometimes it's difficult to make that image representative on the plate.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's tricky.
Speaker C:I mean, I think that the one good thing is that because you're fitting it into, you know, a space that's going to be on a page, it really is food focused.
Speaker C:And yes, you have props and things like that that you can kind of put around it to make it interesting, but it's really about the food.
Speaker C:So there were some that I took that once I turned in the manuscript, I went back probably about 10 that I remade and re shot the photo just because again, once you kind of put it out to the world, you want to be your absolute best work.
Speaker C:And I wasn't completely satisfied with how it, like you said, how it conveyed in a photo.
Speaker C:I thought, okay, I can do this better or I can position it better.
Speaker D:And it's definitely one of those food boxes.
Speaker D:The you know that they use for taking food pictures.
Speaker C:And I didn't, I, I put them various places around my house.
Speaker C:We have a lot of windows that are all on this side of the house.
Speaker C:And so I did a ton of them just on a table, on a, on a fireplace out outside near the grill, you know, just wherever I could find natural light.
Speaker C:And that was the other thing too, that was a little bit challenging was I was trying to do the cooking, plating and photography all before.
Speaker C:You know, you lose light in the middle of the winter sometimes that's close to 5pm so it was tricky to kind of get it all in there, but that's, I just use natural light.
Speaker B:I happen to like natural light in, in, in images.
Speaker B:Sometimes you can look at some of the cookbooks not in yours.
Speaker B:And I know Meathead just, he was on the show a few days ago, but he's gotten into photography and he's just turned in his manuscript for his second book.
Speaker B:And I think what took him the longest was the photography.
Speaker B:I mean, he got into a full blown studio in his basement just like.
Speaker B:But sometimes.
Speaker B:Excuse me, Sometimes when you look at cookbooks and Leanne, I'd like your take on this too.
Speaker B:It almost looks too staged.
Speaker B:The lighting is too perfect.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Not to be critical, but I like to see things like if I cook this recipe, it's going to look almost exactly like it did in the book.
Speaker B:Not like, you know, you cooked it, you followed the instructions, you've got some skills, you put it together, it all looks great to you.
Speaker B:But it doesn't look like it does in the book.
Speaker B:So I wanted your take on that.
Speaker B:Leanne, actually.
Speaker D:Well, I mean, as she said, this is, she wants to put her best foot forward so she wants the photography to be that as well.
Speaker D:So it is going to, it is going to look like a piece of art, if you will.
Speaker D:And you know, Meathead, he actually, I think wanted to create art with the food pictures because back in the day when he took photography, you know, in college or whatever, he learned a lot of methods and ways to take photographs that are unusual.
Speaker D:So he's trying to, I think not only come out with a book with content and, but is art.
Speaker D:I think that he's kind of art focused.
Speaker D:So yeah, they are going to look beautiful and perfect and when you make it, it's not going to look like that.
Speaker D:But I mean, it's just like when my sister and I are food styling for commercials.
Speaker D:You are not going to get a taco from taco Bell, that's going to look like a taco we're putting out there.
Speaker D:No, it's just, you know, because you want the food to look good and it's not realistic.
Speaker D:And, Allie, when you make it, not every dish is going to look like your photograph, but that's just the way it is.
Speaker D:You want it in a book, you want it to look good.
Speaker D:So that's my take on it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker B:I'm with you.
Speaker B:I just think it's a lot of work.
Speaker B:It is a lot of work.
Speaker B:If anybody's listening, has ever tried to do a book or even to do online images, unless it's just a quick snap with your iPhone or something and you throw it out there on Twitter and you, you know, do a little Photoshop or bring the edges in or crop it or whatever, it's a lot of work to make that.
Speaker D:Like, obviously, last night, I did not take a lot of time taking the picture behind me, but you know what that looks.
Speaker D:I took a before and after for my daughter, the one when it came tumbling down because I stacked it.
Speaker C:But it does look delicious.
Speaker C:It's like, okay, looks like something you're about to eat, which is what you want, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:Did your family contribute to this?
Speaker B:Besides the title, did they take a vote on the recipes or anything?
Speaker C:No, they let me.
Speaker C:I mean, I drove the train on this.
Speaker C:I was.
Speaker C:I was pretty sure of what I wanted once I kind of had laid out what chapters I wanted, what I kind of wanted included in each chapter and really brought that together because it's really a culmination of all of the places I've lived and traveled throughout my life, because I was born in New Zealand, lived in Hawaii, lived in California for, like, 25 years, and now have been in Texas for about two and a half years.
Speaker C:So it's really, as you look through the recipes, there's a.
Speaker C:There's a lot of California influences.
Speaker C:There's Mexico, which we had a lot of Mexican food in California, which had a lot of those flavors, Hawaii.
Speaker C:There's, you know, grilled beef, the beef short ribs, huli.
Speaker C:Huli chicken.
Speaker C:There's things that really just kind of were brought through with that.
Speaker C:So I cooked the dishes, and then I made the decision on, you know, whether or not it was going to stay in.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:Good for you.
Speaker B:We're going to take another break.
Speaker B:We're going to be back with Allie Romero in her new book, Gas Fire Heat, which is not itches.
Speaker B:Doesn't itch at all.
Speaker B:The book is coming out.
Speaker B:I'll stop blabbering in about 10 days after this show, so be looking for that.
Speaker B:But Allie and Leanne and I will be right back.
Speaker B:Don't go.
Speaker E:Hey, everybody, it's JT And I have eaten.
Speaker E:If you've ever looked at me, you know that.
Speaker E:But I have eaten seafood all over the world, and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
Speaker E:If you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker E:Check it out.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I'm JT along with Leanne Whippen, hall of famer, I might add, and television star.
Speaker B:We're talking with Ally Romero today.
Speaker B:We'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker B:And also the proud owner of pig powder just happens to be on this broadcast right there.
Speaker B:Ms.
Speaker D:Whip open and Father's Day is coming up.
Speaker D:So that's a good gift for dads.
Speaker D:Pig powder dry rub, a rub that my dad developed and has really stood the test of time.
Speaker D:Still used actively in competition and people are still winning with it.
Speaker D:And very versatile.
Speaker D:And go to Pigpowder.com or Amazon.
Speaker D:You can actually find it on now.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Are you, are you.
Speaker B:You're not doing the autograph pictures anymore?
Speaker D:Not at the moment, but I will, I will reveal that there is a spicy pig powder coming out.
Speaker D:I have approved the recipe and the changes.
Speaker D:So even this, even though it does have heat, I'm bringing it to a next level heat because some people have asked for that.
Speaker D:Don't know when it's going to be coming down the pipeline, but it is in the works.
Speaker B:Good for you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Ali, in the book, what is your absolute drop dead favorite recipe?
Speaker B:I'm gonna put you on the spot here.
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker C:I think it's gotta be the beef ribs.
Speaker C:I mean, I, I know it's just a labor of love that you, you know, kind of work at all day, but there's nothing like smoked, you know, beef ribs.
Speaker C:I think that they're amazing and so simple, yet so satisfying.
Speaker C:That's one of my absolute favorite recipes in the book.
Speaker C:I mean, I have a.
Speaker C:I have more than one, but yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Probably my favorite favorite.
Speaker B:What's the one that you cook for your family the most out of the book.
Speaker B:I know, I know you don't keep a tabulation sheet next to the stove there, but.
Speaker C:No, you know the huli.
Speaker C:Huli chicken skewers?
Speaker C:I make them quite a bit.
Speaker C:So huli.
Speaker C:And like, as far as from Hawaii, that means turn, turn.
Speaker C:So it's chicken that's basted in this kind of like a Hawaiian type of barbecue sauce where it still has the base of ketchup, but then you're adding, you know, ginger and soy, and I add some sriracha to kind of give it a little kick, some honey, things like that.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:That's one of my favorites.
Speaker C:I turned it into a skewer, and I do that in my private chefing, you know, for some of my private chef clients.
Speaker C:And they're always a big hit.
Speaker C:And so that's another one that I make quite often.
Speaker B:Are you gonna have a case of books in the back of your car when you do your private chefing to, you know, you can have a little autograph session there at the end of the night?
Speaker C:I do.
Speaker C:I actually have books in my car as we speak.
Speaker C:Because these book signings that I've had, you know, it's like if it's not stocked in the store where the book signing is and they can't create the sku or whatever, then I need to bring the books with me.
Speaker C:And so that's exactly what I've done.
Speaker B:Well, good for you.
Speaker B:I know more than one offer author who always seems to have at least a dozen books in their car for four people.
Speaker B:And that's a.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's a good thing.
Speaker B:That's absolutely a good thing.
Speaker B:You just never know like that.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:I'm kind of curious, though.
Speaker B:Would you estimate that the amount of time that you did in developing all these recipes, you didn't do them all at once.
Speaker B:It was a, you know, culmination over years of working in the food industry.
Speaker B:But how long do you think, if you added it up in your head, did it take you to say, I have 10 years in this or whatever?
Speaker B:You know, I don't know.
Speaker B:But I'm.
Speaker B:I'm always curious about that, with how much time people put in before they even consider it, to put it in one of their books.
Speaker C:As far as for a recipe or as far as how long.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:So, I mean, it depends.
Speaker C:There's certain ideas that I get, and I try them and they work, and I kind of get lucky.
Speaker C:I actually usually.
Speaker C:I'll have an idea or a concept if I'm thinking of something that I can write down in a notebook and then cook it.
Speaker C:So I'll write it, I'll think of it.
Speaker C:I'll write it loosely without, obviously, approximate measurements.
Speaker C:I'll just put down an idea, and then I'll cook it or smoke it or grill it or whatever.
Speaker C:Then I will tweak measurements, and then I either say, okay, this was good to go, or this needs again.
Speaker C:I need to try this again.
Speaker C:So it really depends.
Speaker C:I mean, I have some that I've made.
Speaker C:I have carnitas that really.
Speaker C: chew recipe Showdown back in: Speaker C:And I've made carnitas so many times that I think the way I make carnitas now is completely evolved from when I first, you know, wrote the recipe.
Speaker C:It depends.
Speaker C:But, yeah, I mean, I think recipes can go on for 10 years or they can be in a couple of days.
Speaker B:Do you find yourself tweaking all the time?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:With your even stuff you've created prior?
Speaker C:Yep, I think so.
Speaker C:Sometimes I think, oh, that needs a little more this or.
Speaker C:Or I want to kick that up and make that, you know, spicier.
Speaker C:And so, yeah, I think there's always kind of a tweaking process.
Speaker C:You're always kind of striving for, like, how can I do.
Speaker C:How can I make it even better?
Speaker D:So manufacturers of spices are very different, and the spice, I don't know, just the way they taste, it's very different.
Speaker D:Did you stick to a particular brand when using spices?
Speaker C:So I did a combination of both.
Speaker C:I made my own spice rubs, and then I also use meat church quite a bit.
Speaker C:So he's a friend of mine here in Texas, Matt Pittman, and so I used some of his seasonings through, you know, a couple of the recipes.
Speaker C:But other than that, you know, I usually created kind of my own recipe or my own recipe for different.
Speaker D:Yeah, but when you use, like, a base, like, do you use tones or, you know, does it matter to you what you use as far as a.
Speaker C:Brand of a spice?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, I have all kinds.
Speaker C:I have all different.
Speaker C:Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:You know, that's an interesting thing.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:Because, you know, garlic powder.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:No, I'm not just sticking with, like, one brand of garlic powder, one brand.
Speaker D:Of smoked paprika, which is good because for the everyday person, you want it to be something that they don't have to worry about a particular brand.
Speaker D:So that's Right.
Speaker B:Right now, out of.
Speaker B:Out of gas, fire in heat, as it were.
Speaker B:What's your favorite to cook on, Allie?
Speaker B:I mean, you've got, you mentioned Traeger earlier.
Speaker B:I'm sure you've got a gas grill out there.
Speaker B:You've got live fire grills.
Speaker B:You've got your beautiful oven and stovetop right behind us.
Speaker B:What does Allie like to do most?
Speaker C:I like to keep it exciting.
Speaker C:I think that I cook on all of them.
Speaker C:I think that my Traeger is my favorite as far as it's easy to just kind of set it.
Speaker C:If I'm doing a long cook, it's very easy to set it and kind of forget it, they say.
Speaker C:So I do like that.
Speaker C:I do like the enhancement of the various wood pellet, you know, smoke that you can add to a dish.
Speaker C:I like the char that I get on a gas grill.
Speaker C:I love the, you know, the smash burgers on my griddle.
Speaker C:And, you know, I do a ton in my, in my home kitchen as well.
Speaker C:So I, I think that's the idea is really just there's so many ways to do it, and that doesn't mean that one way is necessarily like the best way, but it just show shows the versatility that you can cook indoors, outdoors.
Speaker C:You know, we're coming up upon a beautiful grilling, hopefully beautiful grilling season, and everybody wants outside with family and friends.
Speaker C:And so for me, it's kind of like an outside lifestyle experience of why be stuck in the kitchen if everybody's at the pool?
Speaker C:Why can't you just be out there and.
Speaker C:And cook everything out there?
Speaker C:I mean, you can, you know, there's quesos and, you know, different kinds of dips that are, I did in the book that are all outdoors.
Speaker C:I mean, you don't have to be in here slaving away at the, at the oven.
Speaker C:You can be outside enjoying it.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker D:Did you seek out a publisher or did they seek out you?
Speaker C:I was connected through a friend of mine who I knew from Net Next Food Network Star, which is another show on Food Network.
Speaker C:And I reached out to him because he had just published a book.
Speaker C:And I think it's always like, when you know what you want to do, you kind of say, hey, how did you do that?
Speaker C:Yeah, right.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So that's good.
Speaker D:That's.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Is there anyone I can email or how do I put together a proposal?
Speaker C:I mean, then I'm researching how to put together a cookbook proposal.
Speaker C:And I had reached out to.
Speaker C:To a couple before I knew, you know, that that he would give me the warm introduction, which I was really appreciative of with familias, but.
Speaker C:But, you know, I wrote a couple that I put out there and just, you know, never heard anything.
Speaker C:And it's like one of those things where you just.
Speaker C:You.
Speaker C:You just have to put it out there because you just never know.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:Do you feel.
Speaker D:Because the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of the book, I thought it was a little gutsy to say gas, because now you're in Texas, and I think you're going to get pushback because people are going to be like, you're in Texas now.
Speaker D:How could you tout gas?
Speaker D:You know, But I think it's great because in reality, people use gas grills.
Speaker D:It isn't all about live fire and cooking over wood.
Speaker D:So, you know, and some people just can't or won't do that, you know.
Speaker D:So did you feel like it was a little risky?
Speaker C:Not until this very moment.
Speaker C:I mean, here's the deal, right?
Speaker C:It's me.
Speaker C:I'm not trying to be anybody that I'm not.
Speaker C:And I'm not gonna walk into Texas and say that I am.
Speaker C:I know everything about Texas barbecue because I'm a new kid here, and I've always been the first person to say, I want to know more about how you do it.
Speaker C:Teach me.
Speaker C:I want to be a sponge.
Speaker C:Like, I want to learn how to do all things better.
Speaker C:And nobody's perfect at everything, right?
Speaker D:So for me, yeah, it's an example.
Speaker C:Of utilizing what I have available to me.
Speaker C:And it is gas.
Speaker C:It is fire, and it is heat, because it's using all different modes and.
Speaker C:And people across country and, you know, in various countries or whatever are using.
Speaker C:Are using what they have.
Speaker C:And so, you know, there's a lot of smoked or live fire that I have, you know, out on the birch barrel and things like that.
Speaker C:But there's also a place for.
Speaker C:For other.
Speaker C:For other vehicles to cook your food, too.
Speaker C:And so it's just.
Speaker C:It's me.
Speaker C:I mean, all I can say is.
Speaker D:Yeah, I think it's gonna help with sales, actually, because everyone right now is doing live fire books, you know, and charcoal, you know, so if anything, I think it's gonna help with the sales, because in reality, I mean, a Use gas, actually.
Speaker B:Let me back you up on that, Leanne.
Speaker B:More people in this country cook with gas grills than pellet grills or, you know, the Weber domes, you know, like.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, there's a lot of those, but there's something like.
Speaker B:And I read the stat, this is last year, but there were something like 90 million people that cook on gas grills in this country.
Speaker D:That's how I think it's going to benefit her.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, I know I've spent a lot of time in Texas, and I know they can shoot straighter and jump higher and rope faster and, you know, line dance better or whatever they do.
Speaker B:And I got an education there years ago when I went to some friends and stayed with some friends after a show and they had their smoker and they were live fire and they were doing this and that.
Speaker B:And I was like, yeah, okay, this is one way to cook.
Speaker B:I mean, we do that at home, too.
Speaker B:But I don't want to wait all day to eat.
Speaker B:I got a plane to catch, you know, type thing like that.
Speaker B:So good on you.
Speaker B:Like Leanne is saying, for putting gas, that right up, right up front, right on top.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, there it is.
Speaker D:It's just one question.
Speaker C:It's one method, right?
Speaker C:It's like it.
Speaker C:It's supposed to really just mean, use what you got.
Speaker C:Here's how you come up with some fun and creative recipes where you can have a ton of flavor no matter what you're cooking with.
Speaker C:And like I said, I mean, these even can be cooked inside if you don't want to go outside for weather reasons or you don't have outdoor gears and grill all the stuff, cook it in your oven, cook it on a grill pan.
Speaker C:Like, use what you've got.
Speaker D:I love it.
Speaker D:I think it's fantastic.
Speaker B:I actually think that's the title of your next book, use what you got.
Speaker B:Anyway, we got to take a break.
Speaker C:Break.
Speaker B:We're going to come back and wrap up the regular show with Ally Romero here and her new book, Gas, Fire Heat.
Speaker B:And we'll all be back right after this.
Speaker E:Hey, everybody, it's jt.
Speaker E:You know, I talk about Painted Hills all the time, and we always say beef the way nature intended.
Speaker E:But it's more than that because each bite of Painted Hills will make your taste buds explode.
Speaker E:Put a big, bright smile on your face, and whoever's at your dinner table will have a big, bright smile on their face.
Speaker E:And you can thank me for that later.
Speaker E:Just go to paintedhillsbeef.com and find out more.
Speaker E:You won't regret it.
Speaker E:Hey, everybody, J.T.
Speaker B:Here.
Speaker E:I want to tell you about the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker E:Hammer Stahl combines German steel with beautiful and functioning designs.
Speaker E:They're part of the heritage Steel Group, which also does their pots and pans.
Speaker E:So go to heritagesteel us.
Speaker E:Check out the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker E:If you're really into cooking, I think you're really going to like them.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the Nation, Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:And we've got Ally Romero with us today.
Speaker B:Next week, the big man himself, Meathead, is getting you ready for spring and summer.
Speaker B:Vegetables, fruits, Father's Day.
Speaker B:He answers the question that is.
Speaker B:Is pressing on everybody's mind.
Speaker B:How do you cut your sandwich?
Speaker B:Leanne does too, so.
Speaker B:And I even did.
Speaker B:So usually I stay out of those things, but yeah, we did that.
Speaker B:But today we're talking with our friend Ali Romero here.
Speaker B:Her new book, like I said, I can't punch it up enough for Gas, Fire, Heat, their essential recipes and secrets for cooking outdoors from Ally there.
Speaker B:So, Ali, I've got a question for you.
Speaker B:This has nothing to do with your book, but it.
Speaker B:Behind you, on the wall above your stovetop.
Speaker B:What is that?
Speaker B:It looks like it.
Speaker D:Below the hood.
Speaker B:Yeah, below the hood.
Speaker C:The pot filler.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker C:Yeah, that's just a water for pasta or that's just a pot filler.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, it's water.
Speaker D:Oh, it comes out of the wall.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yes, I see.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:You're not carrying a big heavy pot of water, you know.
Speaker D:Wow, that's super convenient.
Speaker D:I love that.
Speaker B:Yeah, because I thought it was like something to hang something on or whatever.
Speaker B:I couldn't see everything there.
Speaker C:So, I mean, you.
Speaker C:It could double as that, I guess.
Speaker C:You.
Speaker C:I don't know what you'd want to hang there, but you could.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, my house would probably have a beer holder or something on it there.
Speaker C:Like that, you know, and would be a wine holder.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, that's okay.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's okay.
Speaker B:Leanne's would be.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker B:What do you whistle pig?
Speaker B:Whistle pig.
Speaker D:You like whistle pig, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, she does that.
Speaker B:So I know this is early in the game, Allie, but you think you'll do another book at some point?
Speaker C:Yes, I'm hopeful for that, actually.
Speaker C:I've had some conversations with my publisher surrounding that and so we have some ideas kind of floating around, but if I was given the opportunity, I would jump at it.
Speaker C:I mean, I think even though, like I said, it's such a long and extensive two year process, especially when you don't have a team of people and you're doing every aspect of it it except for the, you know, the publishing and the printing yourself.
Speaker C:But that being said, I would do it again in a heartbeat tomorrow.
Speaker C:Because it was fun.
Speaker D:How do you handle the writing though?
Speaker D:I mean the content.
Speaker D:Because a lot of people have ghostwriters because they can't write.
Speaker D:Do you feel like you have somewhat writing talent?
Speaker D:You must.
Speaker C:I mean, I.
Speaker C:I guess maybe I did.
Speaker C:I mean I was a communications major in college, so perhaps that helped.
Speaker C:Helps.
Speaker C:But I.
Speaker C:Yeah, I just wrote a little blurb.
Speaker C:It's really recipe and photo.
Speaker C:I made sure there had to be a photo with every single recipe.
Speaker C:So there it is.
Speaker C:Recipe and photo driven.
Speaker C:There's not us aside from the beginning, as far as the introduction, the dedication and the biography.
Speaker C:I, you know, I wrote those things.
Speaker C:But really the rest of it, it's a little blurb before each recipe and then recipe I wrote.
Speaker C:So it's like there wasn't a lot of, you know, storytelling in between, which maybe I'll take next time.
Speaker C:But it wasn't a lot of writing aside from the recipes and then the three parts I just mentioned in the beginning.
Speaker B:Well, you didn't.
Speaker B:I just checked before I opened my mouth here.
Speaker B:But you didn't have to do an index.
Speaker B:I was wondering if they would make you do your own index if you did one.
Speaker C:That's a deal breaker.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, thank you to that.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:I don't.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, thank you.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker B:Are you, Are you doing any more shows?
Speaker B:Any more competitive shows?
Speaker C:I almost did.
Speaker C:I almost did a.
Speaker C:I don't think I could can say, but I almost did a barbecue related show that I was down to, I guess like what they told me was the final final and so they might call next year.
Speaker C:So hopefully I'll get that because that was gonna be.
Speaker C:I was really excited about that and I thought that it would be perfect.
Speaker C:The perfect type of show to do with my book coming out.
Speaker C:So I'm hopeful that maybe there's another opportunity for that show or anything that comes.
Speaker C:I'm always open to that.
Speaker C:I love cooking on tv.
Speaker C:I love the aspect of the competition and just, you know, all of it.
Speaker C:Like I find it just.
Speaker C:It's a huge adrenaline rush.
Speaker C:So I would do it again.
Speaker C:Another thing I would do again in a heartbeat is cooking on TV or any sort of TV shows.
Speaker B:I'm quiet.
Speaker D:People ask us a lot for people.
Speaker D:So we'll put your name on the list.
Speaker D:Yeah, we don't have.
Speaker D:We have a short list.
Speaker B:We have.
Speaker B:We have a very short list now.
Speaker C:You know, now you can add me to it.
Speaker B:And, and my name and Leanne's name I don't think is on it.
Speaker B:They're not on the list anymore.
Speaker B:So that's all good.
Speaker B:I feel real, I feel real blessed to us to.
Speaker B:Before we started the show and I said, well, we did two TV shoots here this morning.
Speaker B:But they're quick, you know, they're.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're like six minute bits.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's a lot easier that way.
Speaker C:I have a tv, like a new segment that's going to be airing on the fifth just locally here.
Speaker C:It was for a show called Texas that's coming out that I already had filmed.
Speaker C:And then they're just.
Speaker C:That's when it's going to be airing.
Speaker C:So there's some things that are kind of like coming in that regard, but.
Speaker D:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker B:Those are, those are actually fun to do.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I, I know Leanne does a lot down there in Tampa for some of the TV stations.
Speaker D:I do like, I do enjoy them, but they are a lot of work, as you know.
Speaker D:I mean, a lot of people don't realize how much goes into a five minute shoot.
Speaker D:I mean, you know, it's a lot.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Does it take you.
Speaker B:Abstract question here, but maybe some information people would appreciate.
Speaker B:It takes me almost the whole day before.
Speaker B:My agreement with the ABC here is that I shoot two at a time.
Speaker B:I shoot the live one and then we shoot another one so I don't have to go up to the station all the time.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And then the ones I do like here at the house, they go out to other stations than other parts of the country.
Speaker B:But it takes me a full day to prep and get, get everything and the, you know, pack everything up if I'm going to the station or the night before here in the kitchen or out where you and I work together, Leanne, setting everything up and kind of.
Speaker B:Okay, step one.
Speaker B:All the steps are in my mind and laying it out.
Speaker D:Especially if you're doing long cooks, because you got to do that the day before.
Speaker D:Yeah, it's, it can be arduous.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's, it's, it's very, very difficult.
Speaker B:So all you want to be, and I say that, that not sarcastically, but if you think you want to cook on tv, it's, it is a lot of work.
Speaker B:I'll say that.
Speaker D:Sure.
Speaker D:Make sure you're completely organized.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Especially if it's live.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Shopping, the prepping, the cooking and then the presenting.
Speaker C:I mean, all of it is.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You have to be super organized.
Speaker C:I mean, but it's.
Speaker C:Even with my private chef, you know, jobs that I do where I'm cooking for an event, you Know, that's three days in.
Speaker C:In the making.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Because I usually have to make more than one stop.
Speaker C:And then you're making sauces and marinades and dressings and desserts and all.
Speaker C:You can't just show up with a bag of.
Speaker C:A couple bags of groceries and be like, okay, what's for dinner?
Speaker C:I mean, it's.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's days.
Speaker C:And that's a similar experience to cooking on tv.
Speaker C:You really have to be organized.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I had a catering company for a while, and that was a.
Speaker B:A big job.
Speaker B:How much?
Speaker B:Here's another abstract question, and then.
Speaker B:Well, we'll get on to after hours here in a minute.
Speaker B:Alley, how much Tupperware do you have?
Speaker B:I have a ton of it because we're always using it.
Speaker B:I know Leanne has a bunch, too, because.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:I just ditched a bunch, though.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:Yeah, I.
Speaker D:It was hard for me to do it, but I did.
Speaker D:I just.
Speaker D:There.
Speaker D:There is too much.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:As a matter of fact, this morning, I opened my Tupperware cabinet, and they all came tumbling out, and I had to reorganize.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I was, like, cursing myself, like, oh, my God, here we go.
Speaker D:Why can't I get this organized so that when I open the door, it stays in and I can pull out one piece without the whole thing come tumbling out?
Speaker B:Well, because you always want that piece on the bottom or in the middle, you know?
Speaker B:But, Allie, how much do you have real quick?
Speaker C:I have a lot also.
Speaker C:I mean, I have, you know, plastic, and then I have a lot of glass, and I find that I need to put the lid with the Tupperware, even though it's not as convenient for storing it, because if it doesn't.
Speaker C:If I can't find a lid or whatever, I got to get rid of it.
Speaker D:So I'll tell you a trick.
Speaker D:I went to my mom's house because I get so frustrated when I go there.
Speaker D:So what I did was I took nail polish, different color nail polish, and I would match the top with the bottom, and it would be the same color.
Speaker D:So she knew or I knew.
Speaker D:Instead of fishing through it, you just look for the colors, and then it goes together, and then all the lids go in a Ziploc bag.
Speaker D:This is square, this is round, this is large round.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:My mom had a similar idea to that, too.
Speaker C:We never got to do it, but she also was like, why aren't these just color coded?
Speaker C:I'm like, they should be.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Well, the nail polish stays on in the dishwasher.
Speaker D:For all of you because I wondered that, too.
Speaker D:So it does work.
Speaker B:All right, that's it.
Speaker B:Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:Full of fun facts today about nail polish.
Speaker B:No, I love that idea.
Speaker B:Ally Romero's new book is Gas, Fire, Heat.
Speaker B:Allie, you can hold yours up, too.
Speaker D:So we get a great book coming out June 11th.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:June 11th.
Speaker B:Right there.
Speaker D:Can we get it on your site as well?
Speaker C:Yes, I have a link on my site.
Speaker C:There's a link on my publisher, which is familiar, as well as through Abrams Books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Target.
Speaker C:If you just Google it, you'll find it.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker B:Ali is going to stick around for after hours.
Speaker B:But that's it for us this week on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:Go out, have some fun, and please follow our big motto here.
Speaker B:Turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker B:Take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD LLC Productions in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
