SizzleBrothers – "Feuer und Flamme am Grill"

The BBQ/grill blog by the SizzleBrothers is online since 2015. Since then, the three friends from Hanover, Germany have been sharing new grilling recipes, instructions and tests with their ever-growing fan community every week.

At first, Julian Peier, Johannes Böttcher and Corbinian Ahrens focused on writing recipes for their blog. But shortly after, the SizzleBrothers YouTube channel was launched, where you can see grilling devotees in action. The channel now has nearly 64,000 subscribers. While viewers know the faces of Julian and Johannes from the many videos, Corbinian usually remains in the background and handles the website and design.

Your social media channels are unbelievably successful, you publish books, run an online shop with grilling spices and sauces, give grilling classes in your hometown and offer event-style catering services. Can you now make a living from your passion for grilling or do you still have other jobs?
Johannes: Since the beginning of March 2019, I can at least make a living from our passion. However, we started the blog in 2015 mainly for entertainment purposes. We didn’t think that this could become a vocation ... The fact that things are currently going so well makes it all the more rewarding and I can give all my attention to this project. However, Corbi and Julian still have their regular jobs in addition to the SizzleBrother activities.

Unlike many other bloggers, you not only produce videos but podcasts as well. Isn’t this a rather unusual medium for BBQ and grilling topics?
Corbinian: Like most of our activities, the idea to start a podcast about grilling came about spontaneously. We enjoy listening to podcasts ourselves and found the format really exciting. Besides, we talk about so many things all day long anyway, sometimes the mic can just be left on ... Of course, it’s great that our podcast series already reaches so many listeners!

Your third book, “SizzleBrothers – Best of Plancha”, has just been published. What’s special about grilling on a fire plate?
Johannes: Grilling on fire plates has a bit of “back to the roots”, which is what we found so fascinating about it. Many people love to play by and with the fire. Combine that with good food and jackpot!

Julian: For a long time, planchas were underappreciated, but now they’re experiencing a hype and with good reason. They come in many different varieties ranging from a small standalone appliance as a support surface for an existing grill or as a large barrel grill. Searing on it is relative simple, but still very versatile. Our book contains quick recipes, including jerk chicken with taboleh, rib-eye steak with marinated sweet potato slices, burger with bacon and fried egg to apple crumble.

What is your relationship to other vloggers that deal with similar topics? Do you have contact with each other? Are you friends? Or is there competition?
Julian: We are friends with practically all of the grill vloggers we have met personally. Some of them helped us create our own YouTube channel. That’s not something to take for granted and we are totally grateful to them.

Johannes: Competitiveness would be completely inappropriate. We love getting together and talking with the other grillers and vloggers. The internet is open to everyone and offers development opportunities for all. Users then pick the sites and videos that they want to consume.

Every year in late summer, the spoga+gafa garden trade fair offers the world’s largest range of grilling and BBQ-related products. Will you be in Cologne again in September? How important are these trade fairs for vloggers?
Johannes: We’ll definitely be back again this year. Certainly the trade fair is important to find out about what’s going on in the industry, but also to meet up with friends and acquaintances. And of course, we also use the occasion to talk to manufacturers about new joint projects.

Additional information: sizzlebrothers.de