New Fife food truck pop-up wows customers with low and slow smoked barbeque

The Smoked Thistle was started last October by two friends who share a passion for low and slow cooking after seeing a gap in the market for American style barbeque.

Rob Duncan and Blair Payne are the masterminds behind the pop-up that has sold out at every market they have attended across the Kingdom.

Rob, from Newburgh, said: “When we first started last year we spent a lot of time researching our smoker and perfecting techniques and recipes as there is no one in the UK who does this that we could learn from – we have probably watched thousands of hours of master smoke houses in America on Youtube.

"The smoker that we use was custom made by a company in Essex, and is maybe the only place in the whole country that builds them, we had to travel down then tow it back home.

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"A smoke day can be a long one - we can be in front of the smoker for up to 16 hours.

"It is definitely a two man job and is certainly a challenge as we use kiln dried oak to smoke the food, and it can take a long time to figure out the best way to cook.”

The Smoked Thistle offers racks of ribs, 16 hour smoked brisket, pulled pork, honey glazed pork bites, smoked chicken, as well as salads, wraps, and vegetarian options alongside delicious homemade milkshakes and sides.

"Everything we offer is homemade,” Rob adds. “Our rubs for the meat, coleslaw, sauce all have real and natural flavourings with nothing artificial – my burger recipe is 10 years in the making.

"We have been absolutely blown away by the response that we have had from our customers, the reviews that we have been receiving are amazing.

"A lot of people have never tried real authentic barbeque, take our pulled pork for example, in a restaurant pulled pork is usually steamed and not smoked for eight hours like we do.

"There are definitely easier ways to make money, but it is our passion and that reflects in the flavour.”

To find out where The Smoked Thistle will be visiting next, please visit: The Smoked Thistle

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