New BBC personalities Samantha Evans and Shauna Guinn launch series cooking for communities in Wales

Using food to bring together the whole community, each cook-out sees Sam and Shauna host huge parties to reward the work of a variety of organisations and individuals. They start by showing how to prepare the feasts on a small scale before up-scaling to feed hundreds at large cook-outs.

The next step in their culinary adventure, the broadcast of the Big Cook-Out series comes after a successful few years for both Sam and Shauna.

Quitting their jobs in the Big Smoke, the duo embarked on a mission across the US to uncover the secrets of Southern style cooking using the spirit of smoke and fire. Now with a bricks and mortar barbecue restaurant in Barry, they’re using their own spin on backyard barbecue to bring communities together to recognise and reward their efforts.

The four part series will also see the pair share a selection of the recipes that have made them such a hit and in 2015 saw their Hang Fire business crowned Best Street Food at the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

From picanha steak with chimichurri to spatchcock chicken in Alabama white barbecue sauce, all their recipes can be replicated at home.

“Making this show is a dream come true for Shauna and me,” says Sam Evans. “It embodies what we truly love about food and is essentially why we started our own catering business five years ago; food as the focus of a communal gathering. We witnessed many community barbecues in the States and fell in love with this way of showing community spirit. It’s now our chance to give back to groups of people who volunteer their time for their own communities, and help them put on their own Big Cook-Out.”

“We love to cook outdoors,” adds Shauna Guinn. “We want to show people that you really don’t need fancy kitchen gadgets to make an amazing feast; just a basic barbecue, a bag of charcoal and some amazing local produce. Decent weather helps, but is by no means essential! Cooking and eating together with these incredible groups of people, who have all had their part to play in putting on a feast, is our way of celebrating their crucial role within their communities."

Kicking off their cook-outs by barbecuing a whole pig with Barry Town United FC, Sam and Shauna will then shine a light on the Llandysul Paddlers Canoe Club, The Cefn Hengoed Majestics Marching Band and the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team.

In addition to visiting these community organisations, they’ll pay trips to local producers and free-range farms to source the ingredients for each cook-out, as knowing where their food comes from is key to their cooking.

Produced by Boom Cymru, Sam and Shauna’s Big Cook-Out shares dishes and stories straight from the heart of Wales’ communities and promises to serve up lashings of good food, good friends and good times.

“Sam and Shauna have an energy and enthusiasm that is infectious,” says Matthew Tune, Boom Cymru’s Head of Development. “We wanted to create a series with them that reflects what they are all about; outdoor cooking, community and fun. It’s been a pleasure working with the communities across Wales in our first series of Sam and Shauna’s Big Cook-Out and also to bring great new female presenting talent to BBC Wales.”

Sam and Shauna’s Big Cook-Out will air on BBC One Wales every Monday between April 9 and 30 at 7.30pm.

JH