Turning up the heat

Four ‘adventurous’ blokes from Horsham are firing up the coals to take their smoked meat products to stomachs across Australia.

Brendan Barton, Jay Becker, Garret Clarke and Andy Joyce, the ‘Hannibal Injectors’, have walked away from a Meatstock Melbourne competition with all eyes on their prime hide.

The group placed first in ‘Bacon’, second in ‘Wings’, fifth in ‘Steak’, and tenth in ‘Burgers’ at the Steak Cook-off Association, SCA, state cooking competition, and returned home with $700 in prize money.

Mr Clarke said their passion for protein, fuelled in part by cooking shows such as America’s ‘BBQ Pit Wars’, would now have the team striving to be number one in Australia.

“Jay and I have been cooking for about four years now and we would watch these cooking shows and just think ‘we could do this’,” he said.

“We are adventurous guys and we will take a crack at anything. We have just developed a love for it, and now it takes up a big chunk of our time.

“Ultimately, to be a top team in the country

or to win a grand championship would be fantastic.

“Our first few competitions we were a bit more relaxed, but this time we had a little bit more of a crack at it, and we are really trying to improve our skills too.”

Described as the ‘carnival for carnivores’, Meatstock is a two-day event featuring barbeque and grilling competitions, butcher wars, live bands and beer, gathering some of Australia’s ‘best and most unique vendors’.

Heating up

Mr Clarke said event atmosphere was amazing and he was keen to see the group climb up the ranks before the showcase ‘really takes off’.

“It has a good social vibe, and we are social guys, so we like to meet all the teams and have a drink,” he said.

“I think about 10,000 attended the weekend, it was massive.

“Any barbeque you could think of was there, and they had live bands too.

“I think in the next five years this event will be huge, so we are getting in now I guess, before it really takes off.”

Meatstock was the Hannibal Injectors third competition, and Mr Clarke said the team was now getting cooking processes down to a scientific art in order to produce the tastiest chops.

And it is paying off – the group’s Facebook page is growing by the day and Mr Clarke said sponsors are ‘hot on their tail’.

“It is all about the low and slow. A brisket for example will take about 12 hours because you need to take into account the timing of temperatures, spritzing it, the different rubs and so on,” he said.

“And we will layer on certain types of rubs for different flavour profiles. It is a whole process that takes hours and hours.

“The Australasian Barbeque Alliance is the bigger competition of the two.

“It is what everybody goes for, and we came 19th overall, which has opened a fair few doors for us – we have a whole heap of different butchers who want to supply for us, and new sponsors too.

“Our Facebook page went from 205 followers to 360 over the weekend, and it is climbing every day now. It is all moving very quickly.”

The boys plan to host a cooking show at Horsham’s Leisurefest Roadshow on May 4 and 5 and will be attending other smokin’ events during the year.

“We have gone pretty full on with this – it has turned into a full-time passion,” Mr Clarke said.