Brisket, ribs and links are all the rage at Raging Bull BBQ

At Raging Bull BBQ, a humble shopfront on Beach Road, Batemans Bay, Owen and Allison Holland became experts in the craft of American-style barbecue, using top-quality produce and local ironbark to create finger-licking brisket, ribs, pulled pork and ribs.

On special occasions, Owen will also cook up a ruby-red pineapple chicken or low-and-slow lamb, and always has cheese and jalapeno links on the go.

Pitmaster Owen begins every night at 10pm, lighting the fires and rubbing the brisket with salt, pepper and garlic before smoking it.

"We cook every night so it's fresh for the morning," he said.

"It depends on what briskets we're using and how late I'm running, but typically we cook them for around eight to 10 hours."

The self-taught cook began his barbecue journey with rotisserie. But it was Portuguese espetada - woodfired beef skewered on a bay laurel - that tipped him over into meaty obsession.

"That was my introduction to proper woodfire cooking, but I took it a bit further," Owen said.

"The first smoker I got was an offset reverse flow smoker, and you could turn over about a tonne of meat a week in it."

Raging Bull used South Nowra Meats to provide high-quality meats such as Cape Grim MB4s for short-ribs, Pure Black and wagyu for brisket and Bruemar for all its pork cuts.

"All those bigger farmers have their breeding programs, and they've specifically dialled in what it takes to produce consistent prime cuts of meat," Owen said.

Though meat costs were continuing to rise, Raging Bull had mostly kept its prices modest.

"We had to adjust our prices a bit, but at the end of the day the prices are going to go up again," he said.

"That's one of the things we get praised for, the portion sizes are good for the dollar."

Owen has seen the American-style barbecue scene blossom in Australia, with more diners and backyard chefs taking an interest in the technique.

"The barbecue scene in Australia has gone from the old backyard barbecue to taking a different approach," he said.

"It's evolved, we've taken the barbecue and turned it into something pretty special."

Interest is so high Raging Bull BBQ planned to begin offering introductory short courses covering the basics of barbecue.

"There are heaps of people who are interested in learning, so we're going to start doing lessons here in winter, mainly because people are always asking us," he said.

"Your average backyard cook using something like a Weber or a Matador or something like that, you can still pull off some really good barbecue."

Raging Bull BBQ is at 2/28 Beach Road, Batemans Bay and is open Thursday to Sunday.