Executive Chef and Partner of Pig Beach & Barbeque Restaurants, Matt Abdoo, brings together his cultures of being half-Italian and half-Lebanese, to his delicious dishes. Being an informational and charismatic Guest Chef on TV shows such as, The Today Show, has “always been a dream” for him. He drew up watching the greats – Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, and Bobby Fley, being “iconic rockstars,” telling me, “I remember Emeril Lagasse doing his thing, and being completely enthralled by it.” Abdoo is also an Award Winning Pit Master, a Food Network Celebrity Judge, and a classically trained, fine-dining Chef, as well as the Co-Author of “Pig Beach: BBQ Cookbook,” along with Shane McBride.
“Food is about brining people to the table, sharing your love, with your family, with your friends, and with your loved ones, to bring everyone together.” What I found most celebratory about the dinner event, was the absolute deep enthusiasm and passion that he embodies during his demonstrations. “Getting every demographic, every diverse group and everyone from every walk of life, getting excited about food” was always something “special,” for him.
N: How did the partnership come about with Zippo, and what excites you most about this partnership? Why is Zippo so targeted to your audience?
M: Well, first and foremost, there isn’t a better lighter on the market than the Zippo. It’s the most reliable and badass looking lighter that’s out there, and it works consistently without ever worrying about it at all. I started using these lighters when I was much younger, in my upstate New York days, just setting camp fires in my Boy Scout trips. It was always like the cool thing to breakout that really cool lighter that was in your survival pack, and then it grew to be this sort of iconic thing, that everyone knows what it is, whether it’s a movie scene or a tv show- the villain or the hero, where the guy like sets the house on fire, or blows it up. There’s always a Zippo, but that sound is like quintessential. You hear the click, and it’s lit, and it’s just the coolest thing ever, so I’ve always loved using these lighters for as long as I can remember. It happened just by happenstance, that Sherry, who I’ve worked with in the past, reached out to me and said, “hey, we got this really incredible thing/ client that we’re working with. I think you would be perfect for them!” And she connected us and they took a liking to me and knew that the whole, barbeque, pig-master, live-master thing was a good match, and we just had a lot of fun working together, collaborating on these dishes and holiday-themed recipes, doing something special so that we can have a really fun holiday event with you guys!
N: Love it, and I want to congratulate you on the cookbook! What are your top two…
M: Oh my God, recipes?!
N: Yes!
M: That’s like trying to pick who’s your favorite child! So the really cool thing about the Pig Beach cookbook is the majority core is based upon fundamental barbeque recipes. Later in the book we have some cool recipes that me and my partner Shane, that helped me write the book, take our fine-dining-“Chef-y” careers, and we get a little bit more elaborate with smoke, and the flavor, verses just traditional barbeque. We have some incredible recipes. I’ll give you one- my favorite Barbeque recipe, and then I’ll give you my favorite, what we call, “non-barbeque-barbeque” chapter. So, my favorite recipe in the cookbook is gotta be our peach and glazed baby-honey-back ribs… In the “non-barbeque-barbeque chapter,” it’s gonna be a toss up either between, again, cause of my fine-dining Italian roots and barbeque, we do this smoked-duck lasagna in the back of the book.”
The wonderful and delicious dinner and specialty drinks was concluded with goodie bags filled with Matt and Shane’s cookbook, Zippo decorative lighters of choice, candle lighters and chargers.
