We are in the final stretch before the first competition on March 26 in Lommel, so time for the big guns: a workshop by Southern Dutch BBQ , the reigning 2-time European Champion Low & Slow.

Tom and Dorine promised that they would explain everything how they do it. No secrets. That sounded like music to my ears!

On Saturday March 5th I went to Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, to the Dutch Bros BBQ Shop , run by Melvin and Jeanette. Super fun shop, with an extensive but clear range, and a super cool workshop space.

Jeanette also provided delicious catering on Saturday and Melvin treated us to his own bottled beer. Add to that all bbq soulmates and you know it was fun!

Anyway, the course!

So they promised to tell everything, and they did!

On Saturday a tsunami of explanations and tips followed. Nothing was ignored and every question was answered carefully. On Sunday there was cooking. The first meat went on at 6 in the morning, and at 13:30 the last box was ready. Just like during the competition.

About 16 participants, divided over 8 nationalities, including very experienced BBQ teams, were eager to learn and extract secrets from the champion.

In total we were 3 Belgians, Hans from The Smoking Boar (Waasland representative!) and Kristof from the Muurgrillers. All experienced competition bbqers.

There I was, a rookie. But just as eager to learn as the rest. And just like the others, this was a reality check but also a confidence boost to not make a bunch of dummy mistakes.

And yet I didn't feel like I was the least experienced. Everyone benefits from this course.

When a team from Estonia (13 times national champion!) was asked if this was different from what they did, they answered with a resounding: 'everything'

Suddenly multi-champions became a bit of a rookie again, just like me. Everyone was amazed.

Southern DutchBBQ is, besides being a 2-time European Champion, also currently number 6 in the world in the KCBS ranking

It must be said: It was tiring. The amount of information, the impressions, the lack of sleep. But how instructive it was!

Thank you Tom and Dorine

It's fantastic that you want to share your knowledge with us like this.

See you in Lommel!