Grills on film
Tom Middleton and Miche Parkinson run Shropshire-based Lush Films, a company rapidly carving a niche in the BBQ world. The husband-and-wife team look back at a year on the live-fire road
January
Our year began by embarking on a series of recipe-based films with live-fire cook Adam Purnell, best known as Shropshire Lad, for MEATER. The Shropshire Hills were the venue, starting with a visit to Caradoc Charcoal and roasting a sirloin steak in seconds on a pitchfork inside the charcoal retort. A Guinness cake was then baked on a Kadai fire bowl, as well as roasting a pork rack with a spitting snakebite sauce.
March
We headed once more to Shropshire, now a little warmer and with the fresh smell of wild garlic wafting along the woodlands and streams. Adam Purnell teamed up with forager Leah Apostolou to create some new dishes over fire. There was wild garlic steamed fish, with the MEATER temperature probe monitoring the temperature, followed by Thai-inspired pork banh mi and finally ice cream made with the sap from a birch tree, together with wild foraged flowers and caramel sauce.
April
In between location shoots, we turned our kitchen into a film studio for Hobsons Brewery and also Ludlow Gin, where we crammed nearly 50 people into the Offa Bar of The Green Dragon hotel in Hereford for a gin-infused Mardi Gras party.
May
To Anglesey in north Wales to start a new film series called Fishing for Bites, with sponsors such as Kadai, Kamado Joe, MEATER and Dometic.
It was a wet and wild weekend with high winds, which scuppered the fishing trip. However, Nathan Davies, head chef and owner of Michelin Star restaurant SY23 in Aberystwyth, combined fire forces with Adam Purnell to produce a feast for the fishing crew.
June
A family wedding day for Morgan’s Country Butchers of Shropshire, with Adam Purnell catering for 400 guests and roasting a whole cow over fire for 24 hours. Shropshire Lad deserved his rest at the end, singing a tune and nursing his signature rum in a fishing chair, engulfed in smoke – a live-fire chef in his element.
July
The summer heat had landed as we headed back to Anglesey to film a range of dishes with Adam for the gourmet hot sauce brand Chilli No. 5. There were BBQ lobster rolls on a small wood fire, with a Kadai table, together with a fire bowl skillet filled with lamb meatballs, local seafood and hot sauce – a Welsh gumbo.
August
The opportunity to film with Stuart Collins of the Docket No.33 restaurant in Whitchurch, Shropshire. This was a rare glimpse into the laser-focused mind of a fine-dining chef, as he cooked on a Konro grill. The month also saw us filming at Heartsease Farm in the Radnor Hills, walking the wheat fields and rivers before settling down for a sunset picnic.
September
Back Fishing for Bites with Adam Purnell – this time for bluefin tuna in Cornwall. Adam was joined by Frenchman Stephane Delourme, group chef for Rick Stein Restaurants, as they cooked up a Padstow harbour feast of red snapper and hand-dived scallops, washed down with sparkling wine from the Camel Valley vineyard in Cornwall. We then spent two days on a small fishing boat, tagging the tuna, followed by a BBQ lunch.
October
To foreign climes and Villefranche on the French Riviera, to film more content for Chilli No.5, including recipes created by local chefs and a Portuguese piri-piri party. Then back to Somerset, England to capture the apple harvest for Thatchers cider, followed by a shoot for AGA Living with Adam cooking on AGA’s new outdoor grill.
November
In preparation for Christmas, Lush Films spent a day with Whistler Grills near Ludlow, filming festive recipes such as BBQ beef Wellington and rotisserie turkey crown.
December
Working with MEATER, Adam deep-fried a whole turkey on a Kamado Joe. The final project of 2022 was with Traeger and its Timberline launch, as Michelin Star chef and hunter Mike Robinson slow-roasted wild boar and deer, ending an extraordinary year of amazing food adventures with inspirational people in remarkable places.