Restaurant Roulette Barbecue Event with Altons BBQ World

Barbecue cookery at its finest, with one of the biggest barbecue centres in the country

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At the Sausage Man we love anything that encourages people to get grilling outside in the sunshine, so Restaurant Roulette sounded right up our street! When the lockdown began in the UK, the team at Alton Garden Centres found themselves in a similar situation to many of us. Unable to open, stuck at home, and unable to barbecue with their friends and family. That’s when Jay, the Manager of Altons BBQ World, came up with a great idea. That’s how Restaurant Roulette was born.

In the beginning…

Using his network of contacts from across the barbecue community, Jay set about devising a fun way to keep in touch with customers and team members throughout the country-wide closure. He created a fun competition that people could get involved with from home. The premise: populate a roulette wheel with well known restaurants, ask his barbecue enthusiast contacts to spin the wheel, then get them to replicate menu items at home. The hook? All the menu items must be cooked entirely on a barbecue.

Celebrity endorsement

This might sound like an almost impossible task, but the participants rose to the challenge with gusto! It didn’t take long for the competition to capture the imagination of a rocketing audience on Instagram. Local celebrities from the world of sport, music and television, were quick to join in the fun. Soon amateur and professional barbecue chefs from across the nation were showing off their grill skills. They created dishes with barbecues that many of us wouldn’t have thought possible. This included using a Dutch oven to fry chips and hush puppies! (We advise against trying this at home, in the interests of safety, unless you really know what you’re doing).

@bikes_and_bbq_81

That’s when one participant reached out to the Sausage Man. Having drawn “Five Guys” as his restaurant to recreate, Phil Roodt (@bikes_and_bbq_81) got in contact with The Sausage Man to ask about our all beef hot dogs. Knowing that Five Guys are very particular about the sausages they use, and aiming for authenticity, Phil told us all about this fantastic event. He asked us which of our sausages might best compare. We sent him our 18cm Beef Hot Dogs, being the closest in size to the 5 Guys’ offering and being extremely tasty too!

The results

The final results event at Altons BBQ World was fantastic. We got to try some of the dishes prepared by Phil, and many other RR participants. Though the weather was a bit wet, it was fantastic to meet so many talented people with such enthusiasm for barbecue culture. The range of food on offer was astounding. With everything from conventional meats and sausage, through to home made flour tortillas and pizza. All prepared using barbecues exclusively. We can’t wait to see what these guys do together next!

Thanks & congrats

Huge congratulations to everyone who took part and for those kind enough to cook for us on the day. A massive thank you to Phil (@bikes_and_bbq_81) and Jay from Altons for letting us get involved. Check out our video from the day, then follow @altonsbbqworld on Instagram to see all the entries for Restaurant Roulette and tune in for Season 2 (started last Friday 21 August)!