Interview with Food Blogger Wilfred Reinke

If you are a fan of BBQ then Wilfred Reinke’s blog “Oshawa Ogre’s Views, News & BBQ’s“ should be on your “to read” list.  Wilfred is so passionate about barbecue that he even has a column in the Examiner. We caught up with Wilfred recently, here’s what we learned:

FriendsEAT: Where did you grow up?

Wilfred Reinke: I grew up in a small town of about 5,000 people called Milton, Ontario Canada which is about 45 minutes west of Toronto I went back there recently for the Milton Fall Fair and it is a lot larger now, up to 72,500 people.  I spent the first 15 years of my life in Milton leaving for Mississauga in 1975 and on to Scarborough in the 80′s”

FE: What inspired you to start a food blog?

WR: More a who rather than a what. I had started the blog as more of a way to write down random thoughts about a wide variety of subjects and not really zeroing in on anything. and after a few posts lost interest in it and for 6 months or so did not post. Then I started reading a blog called The Barbecue Master written by Cyndi Allison. Cyndi is a great writer that adds a lot of personal touches in her blog that keeps your attention and something about her writing style intrigued me. She kept the blog personal but yet made it informative by posting reviews of the products that she tested while cooking for her family. It was then that I decided to write the majority of my posts relating to BBQ.

FE: What field of food does your blog focus on and why?

WR: I chose Barbecue as my focus for a few reasons. First of all I used to only use my BBQ as a grill for years doing just Burgers, dogs and the odd steak, while my wife was the cook in the family for any other dishes. But soon I found I had to do more and more of the cooking due to our work schedules and I wanted to learn how to cook more items and styles of cooking. on youtube I found videos produced by the BBQ PitBoys and they made BBQ fun and making foods that I never had seen cooked on a BBQ, ever since then I have had a passion to learn as much as I could about BBQ and write about it. But it is not just cooking on a BBQ and recipes, but also doing reviews on products and events. I enjoy trying new products such as Rubs and Sauces and as well I enjoy going to BBQ festivals such as RibFest’s that are here in Ontario all Summer long, this year I followed a Ribber team from my city of Oshawa called Horn Dawgs Smokin’ BBQ. I attended a number of the shows that they worked and even doing a behind the scenes profile on them that I really enjoyed to do that took 3 days to cover including rig set up and the event itself, the final result was very satisfying to do as a writer. Plus I made some great new friends. I also love to take photos, so many of my reviews, recipes and such will have more than a few pics to help tell a story.

FE: What is a typical day in your life like?

WR: The writing and cooking is only a hobby for me. By day I run my own business Oshawa Laser Supply selling Paper and Graphic Art Supplies to commercial Printers and I also dabble in Sales & Service for Computers and Laser Printers. I am a night owl, so after work is done I spend a lot of my time on twitter talking to a lot of friends that are also into BBQ or other foodie related folks. Most nights I am up til 2am. I am also an avid fan of Toronto’s professional Sports Teams, The Maple Leafs, Blue Jays and Toronto FC, so I watch the games when ever the opportunity presents itself.

FE: What was your childhood kitchen like?

WR: When living with my parents we had a pretty small house, and the kitchen was pretty standard, with a fridge and stove and a table and that is it. I do remember as a toddler pulling a pot of boiling water down off the stove on to myself, but luckily was not seriously hurt.

FE: What is your kitchen like now?

WR: We live in a house built in the 1940′s and our kitchen again is pretty sttandard having a fridge & stove (gas) along with a table but more than what we had a I grew up, having a Microwave, Kitchen-Aid,  Toaster oven and a Breadmaker. I have never owned a dishwasher, as a matter of fact we only have a single sink. I re-finished the kitchen once by re-painting the plywood cupboards, walls and putting in a new linolium floor. Some day we would like to update the kitchen but that can be an expensive thing to do.

FE: What type of people read your blog?

WR: I have many other BBQ’ers reading my blog including competition teams, food bloggers, Sauce producers, family and friends

FE: What comes to mind when you hear the word bacon?

WR: Experimentation! They say that any thing is good if you wrap it in bacon, and I would have to agree. I have cooked recipes that bacon is huge part of including MOINK Balls, Bacon Bombs (some call it Bacon Explosion) Meat Loaf and Baked Beans among others.

FE: What is your favorite restaurant and why?

WR: I have only been once but I really enjoyed Haugen’s Chicken and Ribs in Port Perry Ontario, I also enjoy good meals from Swiss Chalet, once again Chicken & Ribs. For true BBQ here in Southern Ontario there are not a lot of choices other than Buster Rhinos in Whitby, Darryl has some great Brisket, Ribs and Pulled Pork.

FE: What is your favorite ingredient and why?

WR: I would have to say the sauce, but it needs to be a sauce that enhances flavour in meat not smother it. As a reviewer though I do not stick to one flavour. Meat wise I would have to say Pork is my favourite.

FE: What is your opinion of the current state of Foodtertainment?

WR: I love the fact that there are many varieties of Food themed shows on TV and that they are finding interesting ways to present the food and we can chose from being very serious or watching shows that have a lot of comic relief. There does seem to be a big trend towards Reality types of contests liek BBQ Pitmasters going from Season One following BBQ teams going to various comps to Season Two that is more of an elimination type of contest declaring a winner at the end. I am still on the fence to which style I would rather see in the future. But entertainment in food is not just on the telivision, As I said I am a huge fan of RibFest I spend 6 or 7 hours at a show, I find both the people that work there and the people that visit interesting and fun. Let’s not forget Social Media such as FaceBook and twitter these sites entertain me for hours on end, other than some food shows I have watched a lot less TV and have used that free time to talk to foodies via the Social Network. Sometimes for serious discussion but more often to get a few laughs.”

FE: What do you think is the future of food blogging in the next 5 years?

WR: Food blogging is going to be huge in the near future, I wonder if it will be more commercial in nature.

FE: Would you like to give a shout out to the best joint that no one has heard about?

WR: Well a little bird told me that my friends at Horn Dawgs Smokin’ BBQ are looking to open a restaurant in Durham Region in the next few months. Knowing how good the food is when they are vendors at Ribfest’s and that they are consitantly winning awards for their sauce (which will be available for public sale in October 2010) I know that when the BBQ Joint opens it will be a local favourite.

FE: What do you think is the most important issue facing foodies today?

WR: I would have to say that honesty is a huge issue. As a blogger and a reviewer we do not want to say anything bad about anothers product but we owe it to the public and to the manufacturers that we give honest opinions so that the readers can trust the review and the supplier knows what they are doing right and what needs improvement.