Dave Pynt

Dave Pynt loves the F word: Fire. The Burnt Ends chef-owner has written all about it in a cookbook unlike any other.

So what is modern BBQ? It is a question Australian chef Dave Pynt of the Michelin-starred Burnt Ends in Singapore puts to himself.

“Whatever the fuck I want it to be.”

To be fair to Pynt, his response had an asterisk to spare offence. But f*ck it, BBQ is so f*cking hot these days, it’s allowed an expletive.  With or without the asterisk, it is some introduction to a new cookbook – and all the more
refreshing for it.

Indeed, Pynt’s Burnt Ends book rips up convention. This is a rock star
smashing up the hotel room, before explaining why, and redecorating with new furniture, but following your heart not fashion. In BBQ land, it doesn’t matter what fire god you worship, as long as you believe.
“Modern barbecue means anything goes – no tradition, no history, no borders. We cook
whatever we want, as long as it’s tasty,” says Pynt.

“There are no boundaries or limitations with BBQ. Cooking over wood fire is difficult enough, without imposing rules. Have a crack, whatever tickles your fancy and see what happens.”

Having said all that, there is, of course, a process, especially if you are running one of the world’s great live-fire restaurants. “You have to build and grow the fire, work with it; and that time also gives you the chance to breathe and enjoy the process. It is really good for you, whether you’re a seasoned grill master, or a home cook eager to explore live-fire cooking.”

The book is a work of art in every sense, and a heady mix of fire, coals and smoke, but, most importantly, people, for Pynt’s journey, written in collaboration with Australian food and travel writer Max Veenhuyzen, is a compelling one.

“People are the most valuable assets in hospitality. The book is a celebration of food, fire and the power of community that brings it all together.”

Pynt’s back story is compelling. Originally from Perth in Western Australia, his culinary adventures eventually took him to London, with Pynt building his first set of ovens and grills at a pop-up, then spelt Burnt Endz, under the railway arches of London Fields station in Hackney.

“We cooked there for five months – anything from whole fish to suckling pig and grilled leeks – and then decided to go travelling, ending up in  Singapore.”  He doffs his chef’s hat to mentors at the time, including Fergus Henderson, while working at St John, the Michelin star nose-to-tail restaurant in Spitalfields, and Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes with his groundbreaking The Loft Project.

“There was a lot of cool and crazy stuff going on in east London at the time.” But his food inspiration was fired long before that, remembering that at  every house he moved to as a boy his father would rip out the gas appliances and put in a wood-fired BBQ.

Early beach barbecues in Perth were rarely elevated much beyond burnt sausages, although he did dive for crabs and prawns and learn to cook them. You have to be forever curious and restless to be a great chef, absorbing what is around you wherever you are in the world. The flame that burnt brightest during his travels as a young chef was during a spell with Victor Arguinzoniz at Asador Etxebarri in Spain’s Basque region.

“I was so fortunate to learn at the feet of gods and be in the right place at the right time. Phenomenal cooks who taught me not just about fire and flavour, but attitude, understanding and life lessons.”

Burnt Ends opened in Singapore’s Chinatown in 2013, with the open kitchen, with its custom-made, four-ton, dual-cavity brick kiln, bespoke grills heating up to huge temperatures, the heart and hero of the restaurant.

“The Burnt Ends set-up is a hybrid between the Etxebarri ovens and classic Italian wood-fired pizza ovens.” The book talks you through the ovens, grills and cooking techniques, managing temperatures. A brilliant feature of the book is The Beginning of the Ends graphic, telling the story in cartoon art form. It includes how he met and married Katrina Wheeldon, originally
from Sussex, England, and now marketing manager at Burnt Ends, who recalls how in the early days Pynt literally ‘burnt money’, leaving cash in his apron while cooking.

Pynt uses ironwood logs, a hardwood from Queensland, in the restaurant, burning hotter and longer with a clean, sweet smoke. “The logs have a lifecycle, starting as a fresh log, taking energy from the fire when first loaded into the oven. They catch fire and start to smoke, transitioning to the next stage – breaking down into coals, generating heat and pushing energy back to the fire. Then it’s nearly time to feed in more wood and start the process again,” says Pynt in the book.

“It takes around 90 minutes for the first lot of wood to break down into usable coals. Then the base fire keeps getting fed with wood and emptied of coals. Over a service we’ll add wood to the oven between five and 10 times. We refuel gradually. If too much wood is added at once, it sucks the energy out of the fire.”

You get the picture: this guy knows his fuel.

“The real secret to managing a fire is just practice. The only way to learn is build a fire, pay attention to how it behaves, and do it again and again and again.”

He stresses that Burnt Ends doesn’t cook with ‘charcoal’. The restaurant cooks with coals made by burning wood, retaining the wood’s natural oils for the clean smoke to flavour the ingredients.  “With charcoal, all those essential oils have already been burnt off and it tastes dirty. There’s a big difference between cooking over charcoal and cooking over wood.”

Burnt Ends is a blaze of inspiration, education and entertainment, but some things even Pynt can’t explain and that is the visceral joy of grilling over wood. “When the right product gets hit with the right amount of open-fire heat for the right amount of time, it creates a kind of magic that no other cooking method can match.”

There is a chapter on burning and charring, with burnt flavours bitter, but charring the point at which the bitterness complements other flavours rather than dominating them. Hot smoking, cold smoking, roasting, dry ageing, torching, and even using ash as an ingredient, all smoulder from the pages.

Burnt Ends has a private dining roomto elevate its offering still further and there is also a bakery with wood-fired bread ovens. Pynt’s portfolio includes Meatsmith, an American-style BBQ restaurant in Singapore and Jakarta, as well as The Ledge in the Maldives. ‘Think Burnt Ends on the beach.”

“Dining at Burnt Ends should feel like being hosted by friends for an epic barbecue,” says Pynt.

The book has recipes, loads of recipes. They come with a warning; let’s face it, you’re not Dave Pynt or his Burnt Ends brigade, and your backyard hasn’t got a Michelin Star – yet. But give them a go and keep giving them a go.

The leek, hazelnut and brown butter looks a winner, as do the grilled turbot, slow-roasted picanha and chimichurri, and the beef and red curry tacos, not forgetting the Burnt Ends Sanger in a bun, and the restaurant’s signature hot sauce. Try it on smoked beef rib.

Pynt occasionally hits the UK and wife Katrina’s home county of Sussex, also home to BBQ magazine HQ.  “We should meet up for a BBQ,” says Pynt.

If you’re cooking Dave, f*ck yeah.