The Grilling Dutchman has been the #1 resource for everything grill and BBQ-related since 2014.
I am Eddie van Aken, the guy behind The Grilling Dutchman. I owned and ran my restaurant for many years.
Before that, I worked as a grill and buffet cook in a few restaurants, including some well-known big chain ones.
For most of my life, I used my BBQ and grill at home like many others by grilling some burgers, hot dogs, and chicken on a simple charcoal grill.
How It All Got Started
In June 2014, I was looking for a new grill at home.
I love to grill and BBQ all types of meat and even vegetables, but because of my full-service restaurant, I never did too much at home with the grill.
However, now that I was looking for a grill, I decided to use it as much as possible.
This ended with cooking outdoors each time I had a chance and testing as many methods, grills, and recipes as possible.
I decided to share all my experiences and expertise on a website. That was the start of The Grilling Dutchman.
Although I try to be as thorough as possible in my reviews and tips, I still advise you to research yourself.
Why You Should Trust Me
Through my restaurant experience, I am used to dealing with and using all types of quality kitchen equipment and cooking methods.
I use my experience in this field to give my personal and professional opinions about the features of the equipment I use. Or any other item I have.
I am also active on several forums and Facebook groups to find more information and share my experience there.
Every small thing I can find to help you and me make better use of our grills and cook better meals, I will explore.
Don’t worry about me sharing only my positive experience, I will also let you know what mistakes I made in the past and still make.
I also review meat delivery services and look at not just the quality of the meat but also at packaging, delivery, and sustainability.
The reason for this is that I believe that even if you have a great grill, but not good quality meat, the result would still not be the same.
Recipes
The recipes I cook, test, or try are most of the time shared here. I have no secrets and will give you the full recipe and ingredients I use.
Collaboration
I work together with many of the top brand grills and food delivery services. Some of them sent me products to review, and I always do that in an unbiased way.
I use affiliate links in my recommendations, and sometimes I get a small fee when you buy something through my link. This will never raise the price you would pay without my link!
For more information on this, you can read my affiliate disclosure page.
I live in Kentucky and enjoy living here, but I was not born here, so here is my history.
Naarden
I was born in 1955, in a small town in the Netherlands called Naarden. It was part of the defense system of Amsterdam, and it still has all the walls and moats around it.
After living I Holland for my whole life, I moved to the USA right after my 50th birthday.
I opened up a restaurant and ran that for several years. At that time, I got more interested in outdoor cooking on a grill and smoker.
Elkton
After selling the restaurant, I moved to Elkton and am planning on staying here for the rest of my life.
I am retired now and have more time to spend on my website and testing recipes and cooking techniques.
So, that was my history in a nutshell, and now you can maybe understand why some people call me the grilling Dutchman. A title I wear with pride.
Contact Me
Contact me by email at: eddie@thegrillingdutchman.com
Contact me by regular mail at 1212 Pond River Rd. Elkton, KY, 42220.
You can call me at 270-350-0856.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-van-aken/
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eddievanaken
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eddievanaken.
I also started sharing more content on my personal website https://eddievanaken.com/.
Thank you for taking the time to read this page, and feel free to contact me with any questions you have.