The Grill Dads Want to Teach You How to Grill Just About Anything

The Grill Dads Want to Teach You How to Grill Just About Anything
Anderson (R) and Fey rep their kids on custom aprons. Courtesy of The Grill Dads
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Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey scored big on “Guy’s Big Project” and ended up making two seasons of a quirky, dad-humor foodie show on Food Network. They’ve appeared on “The Today Show,” “The Howard Stern Wrap-Up Show,” and “The Wendy Williams Show,” and have a popular YouTube channel. They even get texts about their spice blends from Eva Longoria.
(Courtesy of The Grill Dads)
Courtesy of The Grill Dads

They are The Grill Dads, and they are singing (figuratively, thank goodness) the praises of grilling. But they’re also focused on fatherhood, trying to be “a contributing member of the family and working to improve and redefine who the modern dad is,” Anderson said.

Mark Anderson (L) and Ryan Fey, The Grill Dads, are longtime friends who turned their love for grilling into culinary stardom. Among their smoke-kissed creations are internationally inspired dishes, such as their take on Korean BBQ beef ribs (featured in the "International Men of Mystery" chapter of their cookbook). (Ken Goodman)
Mark Anderson (L) and Ryan Fey, The Grill Dads, are longtime friends who turned their love for grilling into culinary stardom. Among their smoke-kissed creations are internationally inspired dishes, such as their take on Korean BBQ beef ribs (featured in the "International Men of Mystery" chapter of their cookbook). Ken Goodman

“There is no job more important than our job as fathers to our children,” he added.

“Dads are the butt of all jokes,“ Fey said. ”For example, in almost every instance, dads are portrayed in the media as the lowest common denominator. Yes, we have self-deprecating humor. Yes, we have fun with each other. But we are also modern dads: We’re present and attentive with our kids, we’re on the PTA, et cetera. These are the types of things that we think a lot of dads are doing but don’t necessarily get noticed for, and we’re working to give some power to those dads. We want to change that perception by showing how dads contribute to the family in many different ways.”

In the first episode of their show, Anderson and Fey travel in search of “over-the-top” versions of their kids’ favorite foods. Now they have a new cookbook: “The Best Grilling Cookbook Ever Written by Two Idiots,” a sure bet for a dad gift.
The Grill Dads's repertoire includes Tomahawk steaks and other hefty meats, yes—but also grilled cabbage, breakfast dishes, and other unexpected fare. (Ken Goodman)
The Grill Dads's repertoire includes Tomahawk steaks and other hefty meats, yes—but also grilled cabbage, breakfast dishes, and other unexpected fare. Ken Goodman

Friends Who Grill Together

The two met when Anderson, who attended Ohio University, was tour managing a band from Ohio State, where Fey went to school. “After college, Fey was one of the few people we knew who was adult enough to have a nice apartment in New York City,” Anderson said.

Anderson would crash at Fey’s apartment on occasion, and his thank-you was to go to the local butcher and bring back steaks to throw on Fey’s little hibachi—“one of the most illegal grill setups you’ve ever seen,” Anderson said.

They arrived at grilling separately. Anderson remembers as a kid waking up at 3 a.m. to find his Italian grandfather grilling pork chops in the backyard. “‘I’m making breakfast,’” Anderson recounted his grandfather saying. “‘Awesome. Can I help?’” Anderson would reply. After freshman year in the dorms, Anderson said he had to find a house so he could grill.

Fey grew up in rural Ohio. “There are two food groups in central Ohio: casseroles and meatloaf,” he said. “My mother—love her to death—was not exactly Julia Child.” In college, he started a “hustle.” He’d make food for people and charge $5. “I’m not good at math because I only have two feet. I probably was taken to the cleaners, but it sure felt good.”

Thanksgiving on the grill? The Grill Dads have a recipe for grilled pineapple juice can turkey. (Ken Goodman)
Thanksgiving on the grill? The Grill Dads have a recipe for grilled pineapple juice can turkey. Ken Goodman

From Hobby to Stardom

Fey moved to Los Angeles, where he founded an advertising agency, and Anderson became a partner. The agency’s success meant more time spent running the business, and so their grilling became a creative outlet.

“Mark and I learned to make every single dish on a grill. Thanksgiving on grills, outside. Dinner, outside, because it’s beautiful outside in LA. Next thing you know, 30 or 40 people would show up,” Fey said. “The best way to feed 60 people with a 125-square-foot kitchen is not to use the kitchen, and do everything outside.” The two built a huge deck with a drop-down dining room, rail seating, and a pergola. “This is how we got together and started really cooking.”

The dessert chapter of their cookbook is a single recipe: a grilled donut ice cream sandwich. (Ken Goodman)
The dessert chapter of their cookbook is a single recipe: a grilled donut ice cream sandwich. Ken Goodman

Then, Anderson said, “we decided we wanted to do something with our hobby.” They looked at buying a restaurant, but Anderson’s father, a commercial banker, said that if Anderson ever did that, he’d be disowned. “He told us ‘the lucky ones fail quick,’” Anderson said.

So they created a trailer for a TV show, put it up on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, and were shocked when it was funded in a couple of days. Anderson emailed a link to Marc Summers, a TV host and producer at Food Network. “I got a Burbank phone call in like five minutes,” he said. It was Summers; he loved it and had already shown it to Guy Fieri.

The Grill Dads went on “Guy’s Big Project,” Guy Fieri’s reality show competition to find the next foodie road show, and won, going on to film two seasons, with episodes airing in 10 countries and streaming on Hulu and Amazon.

"The Best Grilling Cookbook Ever Written by Two Idiots" by Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey (Page Street Publishing Co., $22.99).
"The Best Grilling Cookbook Ever Written by Two Idiots" by Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey (Page Street Publishing Co., $22.99).

The Cookbook

For fans following at home, the “dad-namic” duo put together a manual for the would-be grillmaster.

“We’re not the ‘barbecue’ guys; that’s a cuisine,” Fey said. “We’re The Grill Dads; it’s a tool.”

Grilling for them is much more than flipping burgers and hot dogs on a Smokey Joe. “Think of it as an oven and heat source,” Anderson said. “I can put cast iron pans on it.”

The cookbook really brings home that point. As one might expect, there are whole chapters dedicated to beef (from Argentinian picanha to porterhouse), pork (from chops to Hawaiian pig bowls), and poultry (pineapple-can turkey to chicken noodle soup), as well as great cooking and prep tips, and instructions for selecting meat at the store.

But you’ll also find vegetables—Grilled Cabbage and Grilled Potato Salad—and many items not always associated with firing up the grill—sandwiches, breakfast, dessert. “Obviously, we love to throw a Tomahawk ribeye on there, shove it in the coals caveman style, but we also make delicate, beautiful, healthy food as well,” Fey said.

A number of international dishes are pleasant surprises. “An amazing way to get to know humans is through food,” Anderson said in regard to their food-focused travels. Thus, we get recipes for Korean BBQ Beef Ribs, Grilled Pot Stickers with Szechuan Chile Sauce, and Baba Ganoush.

The final chapter, “Every Single Grilled Dessert Recipe You Will Ever Need to Know,” is the shortest in the book, containing just one recipe: a Grilled Donut Ice Cream Sandwich. The recipe extols its virtues: “The bits of the donut that touched the grill and turned into crunchy, sugary crystals were sent down to the earth from the heavens above.”

As Longoria put it in the foreword she wrote for them: “This book will empower you to light up that grill and use it to its full potential. After meeting these guys, I have hardly gone back to my oven.”

Burning Questions With The Grill Dads

The Epoch Times: What’s the secret to learning to grill?
Mark Anderson: You’ve got to get reps in. It’s about getting out there and doing it, and being open to failing. [He recalls cooking a steak—the same cut, weight, and thickness—once a week for a year. That’s 52 times on the same grill, overcooking and undercooking, to dial it in.]
The Epoch Times: How often do you grill?
Ryan Fey: Eight days a week. It’s just like an oven for us. Part of our routine.
The Epoch Times: Favorite drink for grilling?
Mr. Anderson: Ice-cold light lager, Miller High Life—refreshing, crisp, and light.
Mr. Fey: Cold pilsners, but also I’m a big bourbon guy, so Jack and Coke.
The Epoch Times: Which grill should you use?
Mr. Anderson: Do you see yourself cleaning out dust and ash? No? Here’s your pellet grill option. [But if you choose a charcoal grill], get a charcoal chimney. They are $20 and they allow you to light the charcoal properly, quickly, and easily. It’s a must-have.
The Epoch Times: Any advice on grilling on a budget?
Mr. Anderson: The good news is that you can get into grilling on a tight budget without sacrificing flavor. We recommend getting an inexpensive charcoal kettle grill. You can cook literally anything on it—from steak to pizza, to ribs and brisket. Some of our favorite cheaper things to grill are chicken leg quarters, corn, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, shrimp tacos, and pork shoulder.
The Epoch Times: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever cooked on a grill?
Mr. Fey: A grilled donut ice cream sandwich. The reality is, smoke and fire are amazing on mango and pineapple, for example. We do apple crumble in a cast-iron skillet and give it a kiss of smoke. There are all sorts of desserts, salads, and international cuisine. Mark and I are truly inspired by other cultures. We are not trying to do it exactly as it is, and we’re upfront about that. We love to cook Indian food. We’ve tried our hand at Korean. We’ve done French cuisine—but we do it on grills.
Mr. Anderson: We’ve had several opportunities to cook on “The Today Show,” which is one of the funnest things we get to do. We did a Father’s Day segment two years ago and we asked Al Roker and Carson Daly what their favorite Father’s Day things were to eat, and then they asked us to replicate them on the grill. Turns out Al’s was a grilled donut ice cream sandwich.
The Epoch Times: Have you ever started something on fire?
Mr. Fey: Constantly, actually.
Mr. Anderson: A friend of mine had just got a new condo in Brooklyn. He got this giant rack of lamb, and I put it on, went upstairs, and when I came back down, it was shooting eight-foot flames and staining the side of the building he had lived in for less than 24 hours. I will say, even though the lamb spontaneously combusted, it still came out perfectly medium-rare.
Mr. Fey: We’ve singed all the hair off our eyebrows. We also have no hair on our heads.
The Epoch Times: What’s your most important tip for beginners?
Mr. Anderson: Start with just kosher salt. And this is from two guys who sell spice blends for a living. Rubs and spices can hide poor cooking technique. Once you got that down, then you experiment with flavor profiles.
Mr. Fey: Go out and fail, and fail big. Keep having fun.
Kevin Revolinski
Kevin Revolinski
Author
Kevin Revolinski is an avid traveler, craft beer enthusiast, and home-cooking fan. He is the author of 15 books, including “The Yogurt Man Cometh: Tales of an American Teacher in Turkey” and his new collection of short stories, “Stealing Away.” He’s based in Madison, Wis., and his website is TheMadTraveler.com
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