Bez does burgers as celebrity cooking show comes to Salford

Ryan McDermott, owner of Salford’s favourite burger joint That Burger Place, has launched a new celebrity cooking show, called That Burger Show.  

Special guests include Bez from Happy Mondays, Love Island’s power couple Molly Smith and Callum Jones, 80s legend Pat Sharp, and Corrie star Ellie Leach.  

Each week, Ryan is joined in the kitchen with a special guest who brings with them one ingredient that Ryan knows nothing about. They then use that ingredient to  craft their dream burger.

Ryan also tests their palate with a blind taste test.  

Once the guest’s dream burger is built, it will then go on sale for one week via Good Eats and the most popular burger will go on the menu full time – crowning somebody king or queen of the kitchen.

Ryan, from Swinton, came up with the idea after hosting live cookalongs during lockdown.  

“I was selling DIY burger kits via instagram so our customers could cook our burgers at home,” he says.

“I decided to do some live cookalongs to show our customers different techniques and ways to cook the burgers.

“The live shows proved really  popular and I devised the format for That Burger Show and pitched it to Good Eats, our POS provider.

“They loved it and agreed to sponsor the show.

“As a chef, I absolutely love watching cooking shows, especially anything with Chef Ramsay, who is a big influence, and I’ve always loved filmmaking, too, so the idea of combining those two passions was really exciting.

“I think cooking can bring people together, especially families, and if you can inspire somebody to cook with a show like this then that would be amazing.”

That Burger Place has stores in both Walkden and Swinton, with a third store set to open at the start of next year.

The brand is so popular that everyone who stars on the series was actually already a customer. 

“We’ve been lucky over the past few years to have customers who are fairly well known, so it was brilliant to approach them and ask them to do the show – and they all said yes,” says Ryan.

“Each guest has a brilliant story and hopefully an inspirational one.” 

As well as the bigger names, Ryan invited local guests on to the show such as Little Blonde Bakes owner, Fran Harrison, Radio X presenter Adam Brown, and The Manc Eats frontman, Joe McGrath. 

“I wanted to work with people who are just down to earth, local and have managed  to achieve something, be it in baking, presenting, fashion or music, and I hope their success stories can inspire future creatives and entrepreneurs,” says Ryan.

When asked what we can expect from the show, Ryan promises a good laugh.

“It doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s something easy to watch and something hopefully inspiring, not just from the cooking but from the guests and their stories. 

“I’m really proud of all the episodes and they all turned out so well.

“I think you can tell that we’re all having a great time when we’re filming.” 

Happy Mondays member, Bez, surprised Ryan with his cooking skills.

“He’s actually a really talented chef and knew so much about all types of cuisines,” says Ryan.

“We also do something called the blind taste test on the show, and no spoilers, but he absolutely aced it.” 

That Burger Show launched at the weekend, with the first episode starring Love Island’s Callum Jones. To watch this and future episodes, tune into That Burger Show on their YouTube  Channel and via That Burger Place’s Instagram and Facebook pages.