I arrived a little early and decided to wait for Ted at the hotel lobby bar, finding a seat just to the left of some enormous bulging beer taps.  After ordering a ginger ale and sending a text to let him know about my location, I sipped my soda and pondered what we would talk about.

This late afternoon get together with Reader in a downtown Chicago hotel lobby bar was very impromptu, arranged via some quick emails with his “people”.   I realized a few minutes of Ted’s time was all I could hope for.

Ted Reader is a native of Paris, Ontario and a graduate of George Brown College’s culinary management program, he credits his mother as well as his grandfather for giving him a passion for cooking. Watching popular television chef Bruno Gerussi on TV after school, he would enlist his mother’s aid in preparing the same dishes at home.

Growing up to hold positions in local restaurants, he eventually became executive chef at the Skydome Hotel in Toronto. He would later hold a five year tenure as executive chef of President’s Choice, where he helped develop such products as the PC Real Jerk Wings and PC Thick and Cheesy Burgers.

Still living in Toronto, Ted is a huge proponent of the barbecue, a veteran of several television shows, and the author of numerous cookbooks. For nine years Ted was the featured grill chef on the series Cottage Country and he was also a team chef with Cart Racing for three seasons. He was the Chef for drivers Adrian Fernandez and Roberto Moreno during this time.

Reader is the author of several cookbooks including Sticks and Stones: The Art of Grilling on Plank, Vine and Stone, which was awarded the Silver Medal in the Cuisine Canada 2000 Cookbook Awards. His grilling cookbooks, Sticky Fingers & Tenderloins and Hot, Sticky and On Fire, are both Canadian best sellers.

Ted is the host of his own television show King of the Q, a show devoted entirely to his own barbecue grilling skills where he demonstrates his flair for making cooking easy and entertaining. He also makes regular guest appearances on CTV’s Canada AM, Toronto’s AM 640, and Q-107.

Already this year, Ted has been awarded two prestigious awards for his newest book, Napoleon’s Everyday Gourmet Grilling. Ted’s book was awarded Best Barbecue Book by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. North America’s favourite chef entertainer also won the Cordon d’ Or – Gold Ribbon BBQ Cookbook Culinary Academy Award in the 2008 Awards Program

Ted is a man on a mission to teach people the “art” of grilling.  Not just how to grill or what to grill, Ted wants you to learn all of the essential techniques of proper yet easy grilling.

Watching his Quickie Griller Recipe Videos was an eye opening experience for me.  Over and over again Ted stresses simple techniques that produce flawless results.

In his video for Honey Lager Legs, Ted explains that it’s best to pull the skin back from a chicken leg before seasoning them.  Wrap the ”sexy” legs delicately with bacon, and then the they are grilled indirectly on a hanger, or easily cooked inside a grill rack…

I turned around on my barstool just in time to see Ted sauntering slowly towards me, wearing headphones attached to his Blackberry, which he eyeballed while aptly dodging patrons of the crowded bar.

He had tweeted his anticipation of the Roger Waters The Wall Reunion Tour, which runs four nights at the Chicago United Center…

I also had tickets to The Wall, so I figured we had something in common.  Ted shook my hand and smiled while telling me that he couldn’t stop listening to The Wall soundtrack.

It was then that I knew we would get along just fine.

After exchanging pleasantries we quickly ordered a much needed adult beverage.  His was a Jack n’ Coke and mine a Captain n’ ginger ale with a twist of lime.  I was Surprised that Ted didn’t order a beer?   But later I found out that his day started at 4:00 am and would not end until late that night, so something a little stronger was definitely in order.

Reader recently completed a new cookbook to be released next year entitled “Beerlicious” which includes 101 recipes with 101 perfect beer pairings that were all hand selected by Ted.  “Please Ted pick me as a taste tester next time you create a cook book” was what I really should have asked him?

We started talking and didn’t stop for over three hours. Just two guys hanging out at the bar getting to know each other, talking about everything from why his young son likes peanut butter & asparagus sandwiches too his cutting back from over 100 to about 50 grilling devices that are ready for action in his Toronto back yard.  And wow does Ted grill in mass quantities!

He cooks literally tons of food between his thriving catering business, many grilling instructional videos, TV cooking shows, and constant experimentation.  Not to mention the millions (yes I said millions) of pounds of pork ribs he is responsible for in his product development role for a local Chicago company.

Ted told me about the hot sauces and pepper condiments which he makes every year just for close friends and family…

He creates them from scratch, usually starting by roasting several bushels of various hot peppers for many different recipes.  “Each year they are a little different” exclaims Ted as I ask him about how he makes these enticing spicy gifts.  Quickly I realized that they are “free form” recipes he desired to keep to himself, since he has published all of his other personal recipes.

I did learn that his yellow pepper jelly must remain unopened for at least one month after canning to “meld the flavors” and that Ted is very very strict about the one month rule.  He also admitted to dehydrating then rehydrating some of the spiced and salted peppers so that they have just the right texture, but most of the creative process remains a mystery to me.

If I had to sum up Ted Reader in just a few words I would say he is honest, proud, and adventurous.  A guy not afraid to take risks to see what happens.  “Why not shove a few candy bars into a chicken breast then grill it?” he asked me point blank.

Once I thought about this unusual concoction, I realized it might not be such a bad idea.  Ted’s creative process is always switched to “on” while he works an ungodly crazy schedule which includes frequent travel between Canada and the States.

Ted adamantly told me that he would never put his name on a product unless it was something he personally developed or that was put to hard use in his back yard.

His brand of sauces and seasonings are all Ted’s tried & true recipes.

The various types of Signature Series Grills are all personally tested by Ted himself as they were put through literal “grilling hell” while cooking up massive loads of food.

Ted’s world famous BBQ planks are the same that he uses at home while nonchalantly preparing 40 planks of tasty food all at once!

Have you ever heard of a planked Twinkie?  Ted reinvented the classic golden cream filled cakes into his own PLANKIES recipe, and he is quite proud of it…

Ted Reader’s PLANKIES Recipe (Serves 4-8)

• 1 regular cedar plank, soaked in water
• 8 Twinkies
• 3⁄4 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
• 6 Oreo cookies, smashed into chunks
• 1⁄2 cup mini marshmallows
• 1⁄4 cup chocolate toffee pieces

Preheat grill to medium-low heat. Arrange the Twinkies on the plank. Slather the top of the Twinkies evenly with Nutella. Sprinkle with mini Oreo chunks, marshmallows and chocolate toffee pieces.

Place plank on grill and close lid. Allow Twinkies to heat and smoke slowly for

15 minutes, until marshmallows are golden brown and everything is heated through. Remove from grill and serve immediately with a big glass of milk.

After telling me about the day he succeeded in crushing the previous world record for the largest hamburger by successfully charcoal grilling a massive 590 pound cheeseburger, I also learned that Ted really wants to be a monster truck driver.

Yes, one of those heady guys who frequently jump oversized suped-up trucks onto piles of cars and then roll over them as they crumple like tin cans.

My mind wanders a bit as we talk and I can picture Ted grinning a larger than life grin, sitting in the cab of a shiny skyscraping monster truck….

Perched high above the crowd of screaming redneck fans, he revs the engine until it’s louder than thunder, before tearing down a wall psychedelic brick-like juicy behemoth burgers by jumping right through them…

Alas, our evening together had to end, but before Ted moved on to his next engagement we talked about meeting up to share a meal of massive meat proportions.  I can’t wait!

A big high five to Ted Reader for hanging out with me.  Thank you for enlightening me about better bigger BBQ and it’s endless creative possibilities.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Brad