Diva Q: Danielle Bennett on battling gender stereotypes, perfecting barbecue

Danielle Bennett, also known as Diva Q, describes herself as 'a barbecue woman through and through. She is seen here in an undated image from her Facebook page. (Diva Q/Facebook)

TORONTO -- Danielle Bennett describes herself as "a barbecue woman through and through," but she's had to work tirelessly over a decade to gain credibility in an arena dominated by men.

She says she's won close to 400 barbecue awards -- nationally and internationally -- hosted the TV show "BBQ Crawl" for three years and has taken countless courses and apprenticeships. She travels tirelessly in search of barbecue -- last year alone she took more than 50 flights and drove her truck more than 120,000 kilometres.

"It's been really hard to garnish that respect and integrity," says Bennett, who also goes by Diva Q. "Some people understood right away that I wasn't a joke ... (but also) I got dismissed a lot. Still to this day I do. I look at people and go, 'Really? After all these years?' It's 10 years now. I'm not new."'

But when it comes right down to it, she loves feeding people, especially family and friends, and has compiled her favourite recipes into a new cookbook, "Diva Q's Barbecue: 195 Recipes for Cooking with Family, Friends & Fire" (Appetite by Random House).

She includes tips on tools, rubs and sauces, choosing a grill, preparing it for direct and indirect heat, and using wood chips and cedar planks.

"It's a reference book you can go back to time and time again and not some flaky little book from some chick that does barbecue," says Bennett, who names Texas brisket and Asian influences among her favourites.

"There are tried-and-true recipes for Sunday suppers, weekend warrior programs, during the week. It really goes the whole range from southern classics -- some recipes for biscuits because I love biscuits -- to desserts to lots of fish and seafood dishes; especially in Canada we have lots of incredible seafood."

Along with recipes for salads and vegetarian entrees, one unusual item is a roast chicken in which a carved pineapple is used to stand the bird on instead of a beer can, which lends juicy flavour and moisture, Bennett says, and doesn't "waste a perfectly drinkable beer."

Then there's meat cake, in which two layers composed of a beef, sausage and bacon mixture topped with cheese are layered between mashed potatoes. "I have already had people message me saying they want to try it for special occasions like Valentine's Day or their birthdays or mini meat loaf versions of it, like cupcakes," says Bennett.

When judging barbecue for charity events, Bennett says taste, tenderness and appearance are key components.

"Appearance is one of those things where you're looking for things like that nice rich developed bark, the deep red mahogany colour that most barbecue has. Tenderness is pretty subjective, but basically ribs should not fall off the bone. You should be able to get a nice clean bite out of them. They should be tender, but ... if they're falling off the bone it means they're overcooked."

For taste, ultimately the bite needs to have a balance of salt, savoury, sweet and smoke.

"One of the things that people do often when they're first starting out is if they're using wood chips or wood chunks they oversmoke their foods. I don't want to bite into a log of wood. I want the wood to just hug my food and give it a little kiss, but I don't want it to slap me upside the head."

In her cookbook, she lists the grills she loves to use, and is quick to point out she did not take a single dime for any of the recommendations.

Bennett also includes tips on winter grilling.

"On my YouTube channel a lot of my videos are done in the snow because I really believe that you should grill, barbecue 365 days a year. There is no such thing in my world as a barbecue season. It's every day of the year.

"Canada embraces that probably better than any other country in the world."