If there's one truth about filming a cooking series about grilling as your inaugural television show, it's sure to be a baptism by fire – excuse the pun.
This has seemingly been the case for Nico Reynolds, the warmly charming Dublin chef behind RTÉ's All Fired Up, a show dedicated to the art of grilling and mastering the barbecue.
The chef is back on our screens this week, bringing with him fiery and delicious recipes that will teach you the ancient art of grilling – just in time for summer.
When RTÉ Lifestyle caught up with Reynolds, he was open about the reality of life behind the camera: the highs and the lows.
"I suppose one of the things was just how much it really just takes it out of you", he said. "Because that last one we did was a three-week production. Just coming up with recipes and stuff isn't the hardest part, but as well as just giving them all different applications that everybody can warm to and just kind of garner that intrigue as well."
For a chef that learned the basics in his grandmother's kitchen, and honed them in kitchens across the world including Buenos Aires and London, as well as his own restaurant Lil Portie, learning how to communicate his tips and tricks has been a lesson on its own.
"It's been kind of interesting just to watch those things back and you kind of see different ways that you're trying to explain stuff and different meanings or interpretations", he said.
As any one of his Instagram followers will know, Reynolds' ideal cooking set-up would be a homely kitchen with plenty of coal for grilling and some smooth tunes, something he hints at here.
"I definitely just don't talk as much to take my time with those things. Like yesterday I was out in Shankill Beach with a couple of friends. We just sat watching the shore come in. I don't think we really said a word to each other for about three or four hours. Just kind of had the grill in the middle and we all just sat there just waiting for it to cook.
"That's where I'd love to end up. Just kind of doing it that way to kind of be more natural. No matter how what you do on television, it's never really going to be as natural as just kind of doing it for yourself and by yourself."
That said, his show and recipes have proven incredibly popular, notable for their fluid and versatile methods that can be adapted for each taste.
On this season recipes are based around "themes", he explains, from Budget Bites to a Burger Masterclass. He shares his trick for turning "gas barbecues into something that would resemble a smoker".
"Because you could throw out a thousand recipes to people, but if someone doesn't really know how to actually cook on a barbecue, they're all a bit moot."
At the mention of burgers, we had to know: what makes a great burger, in his opinion?
"Bite through is number one, you don't want anything falling at the back. You don't want to stack this burger quite high, but you don't want anything falling at the back. Try not to put too many things that are going to add too much moisture to it.
"I like tomatoes, but I don't really like them on a burger. I think they just make it all wet and a good solid sauce to bring it all together."
Proving that you could cook breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert over the open flames, Reynolds includes some sweet treats, including barbecued fruits.
"The harder the fruit, the higher the heat, and then if it's a soft fruit, like a strawberry or something, best, do it on a low heat so the water kind of just evaporates naturally and you can make like a hot, creamy jam", he said.
As always, the recipes are laced with Caribbean and Jamaican influences, married with dishes that are closer to home. Staying true to his roots is becoming even more important to the chef.
"I don't want to put myself in too many positions where I'm not able to fully fake the excitement or fully fake that thing", he said. "In all reality, there is a slight bit of acting to the television, but it's not something I'm adverse to. But you kind of have to be careful of."
All Fired Up returns on RTÉ One, Thursday 15 June at 7.00pm, sponsored by Tesco Fire Pit.
