Smoke & Sear

26/08/2026

Booked it the night before. Turned out to be one of the best little trips we’ve had.

is just over an hour from home, so with the already on the car, we just went.

The Sandringham Royal Estate is only about a 30-minute walk from the site and the play park is HUGE. Because we walked over, no parking charge either. A few hours out for free and the kids loved it . . . can’t argue with that 😂

Then back to site for fish and chips, a few drinks in the bar, frisbee, board games and movies in the TentBox.

This is exactly why I keep it on the car.

Last-minute adventures are what it’s all about. ❤️

23/08/2026

This is the kind of content I create for brands . . .

Product demonstrations, recipe content, photography, UGC and short-form video designed for websites, social media and advertising.

This reel includes work from previous projects and collaborations with Ninja, iGulu, Hohem, Great Balls of Flour, The Village Butchers and Bradley Smokers.

Smoke & Sear now has more than 45,000 followers across social media, while the website has attracted around 100,000 users so far in 2026.

I’ve currently got capacity for a few more paid content projects . . . particularly with food, BBQ, outdoor and lifestyle brands.

Need content for your product? Drop me a message or visit:

https://digitalember.co.uk/content-digital-marketing/

23/08/2026

Bit of a different post from me . . .

Most of you know me for cooking outdoors, playing with BBQ kit and generally setting fire to things . . . but behind Smoke & Sear, I’ve also spent more than 20 years building websites, ecommerce stores, content and digital campaigns.

I’ve finally set DigitalEmber up properly and currently have capacity to help a few more businesses with:

🔥 Small business WordPress websites from £500
🔥 Shopify, WooCommerce and ecommerce
🔥 Website and ongoing digital support
🔥 Paid content, photography, video and UGC for food, drink, BBQ and outdoor brands

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve already seen plenty of that work through Smoke & Sear, Fourge BBQ and the brands I’ve worked with.

Just putting it out there . . . if you run a business, work for a brand or know someone who needs a hand, drop me a message.

Lincolnshire-based web design, ecommerce and digital support from DigitalEmber. WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, content and marketing for businesses across the UK.

18/08/2026

AD | Pizza dough has been my nemesis for YEARS . . . so I basically stopped bothering. 🍕🔥

No matter what recipe I tried, I could never quite get it right.

Well . . . turns out I don’t have that problem anymore. 😅
of.flour sent me their Essential Box and, apart from your toppings of choice, it contains everything you need to make 12 pizzas for just over £40.

For context, a Domino’s round here is about £14 a pizza. We enjoy it at the time . . . then about an hour later we’re all sat there questioning our life choices. 😂

So instead, I dragged the three kids outside and we made our own.

Were they perfectly round? Absolutely not.

Was there flour everywhere? Obviously.

Did we have a laugh, get the kids involved in cooking and make some genuinely epic pizzas? 100%.

And that was the bit I loved most.

The dough was an absolute joy to work with — genuinely easy enough for the kids to stretch and shape themselves — and everyone got to make exactly what they wanted.

We spread it over a couple of days, made a load of different pizzas and obviously finished things properly with a chocolate and marshmallow pizza. 🤤

For just over £40 for 12 pizzas, this was a seriously good way to turn dinner into something we actually did together.

And finally . . . pizza dough and I might have made peace. 😂🍕

The Essential Box was kindly sent to me by Great Balls of Flour for me to try and create some content with. All thoughts are my own.

15/08/2026

450+ members. 24 groups. One proper UK BBQ community. 🔥

Recipes, gear, events, local chats and plenty of banter—all completely free to join.

Come and join us 👇

https://www.smokeandsear.world/bbq-community/uk-bbq-whatsapp-community/

10/08/2026

If my 3-year-old daughter could get outside and cook . . . what’s stopping you? 🔥

This popped up in my memories today from 2021, and it proper got me.

My kids are my world. Being a single, full-time dad to three is stressful, chaotic and rarely goes to plan . . . but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve always dragged them into this outdoor cooking journey with me, and looking back at videos like this reminds me why.

The cooks get forgotten.

The recipes change.

The kit changes.

But the memories? They stick.

This one also takes me right back to the early days of Smoke & Sear, when were the first brand to ever reach out and back what I was doing.

I’ve never forgotten that.

And funny enough, I still use my Bradley all the time today — especially for hot holding. Absolute workhorse.

Five years on, the Moink Balls are long gone.

But this little moment?

That’s priceless. ❤️🔥

07/08/2026

One week since MEATUP . . . and honestly, we’re already missing it. 🔥

Seeing so many people walking around the festival wearing FOURGE hoodies was a proper moment for us. Four mates started this — and suddenly, there was a whole crew carrying the flame with us.

There are now only a limited number of places remaining among the first 50 FOURGE Founders.

The £150 Founders Box includes:

🔥 The Founders Fourged in Fire Hoodie
🔥 Your choice of FOURGE T-shirt or trucker cap
🔥 All five Pass the Flame rubs
🔥 Two future FOURGE releases before public launch
🔥 A numbered Founders Wallet Card with 10% off food at FOURGE-run events
🔥 Your permanent place on the FOURGE Founders Wall

Use code MEATUP at checkout to save 20% — bringing the Founders Box down from £150 to £120.

When the first 50 places are secured, it closes. No second drop. No reopening the gate.

Secure your place:
https://www.fourge.uk/product/founders-box/

Meet the Founders already carrying the flame:
https://www.fourge.uk/story/founders/

UNITED BY FLAME. 🔥

BBQCommunity

05/08/2026

MEATUP 2026 . . . what a weekend. 🔥

Our first ever festival as FOURGE.

In just two days we served 617 customers . . . a number that genuinely blows our minds.

As someone who’s usually hiding behind a screen or an iPhone, I wasn’t prepared for just how tough festival life is. Massive respect to everyone who does this every weekend—I was a broken man by the end of day one! 😂

The best part? Meeting so many of you, seeing people wearing FOURGE merch, hearing incredible feedback, and watching a brand that’s only a year old become part of something so special.

To everyone who queued, supported us, shared a laugh or simply stopped by to say hello . . . thank you. ❤️

If this was first year, we genuinely can’t wait to see what the future holds.

617 transactions.
One unforgettable weekend.
We’ll be back. 🔥

03/08/2026

🔥 WE NEED YOUR FOURGE PHOTOS & VIDEOS! 🔥

If you captured our food, us cooking, or any of the absolute legends walking around MEATUP in our merch — and you’re happy for us to share it — please upload it here:

https://www.fourge.uk/share/

THANK YOU to everyone for the love you showed us this weekend. Our first-ever festival as FOURGE was absolutely non-stop!

I’m physically and mentally ruined… but I’d do it all again. Maybe not next weekend though 😂

Seriously, your support genuinely means the world to us.

Lee, Liam, Andy & Ben 🧡🔥

29/07/2026

THREE BBQS. THREE FAMILY DINNERS. ONE BOX. 🔥

This is the BBQ Basics Box from Village Butchers, and rather than cooking the whole lot for one massive BBQ, I wanted to see how far we could actually make it go.

The answer? Three completely different dinners for me and the three kids — with plenty to go around.

🥩 Inside the box:

• 1kg Korean-style beef short ribs (Galbi / flanken cut)
• 2 x 10–12oz rump steaks
• 4 x 110g beef steak burgers
• 6 traditional English sausages
• 1kg butterfly chicken breast
• 4 lamb kebabs
• 2 pork chops

We spread it across three nights, kept the sides simple and cooked outside each evening.

🔥 Night one — Olivia joined me for burgers and sausages on the Ninja FlexFlame.

🔥 Night two — Oakley helped cook the rump steaks and butterfly chicken over charcoal on the Weber Go Anywhere.

🔥 Night three — Oscar joined me on the Kamado Joe for Korean short ribs, pork chops and lamb kebabs.

Nothing overly complicated. No expensive sides. No turning dinner into an all-day cook.

Just decent meat, simple sides and three proper family dinners.

BBQ doesn’t always need to be a big event. Sometimes it’s just dinner — cooked outside.

You can grab the BBQ Basics Box from Village Butchers here:

https://thevillagebutchers.co.uk/shop/meat-boxes/bbq-basics/

For clarity: Village Butchers sent me the BBQ Basics Box free of charge. I decided to turn it into three family dinners and cook each one with my kids.