As a professional barbecue chef and cookbook author, I’ve tried just about everything to make grilling safe and efficient over the past 20 years. Oven mitts? Dangerous—they’ll catch fire at the slightest spark. Leather gloves? They get rock hard from grease, are hard to keep clean, and don’t insulate well enough. Heat-resistant fabric gloves with silicone protection? An improvement, but they can’t get wet and aren’t exactly hygienic when handling meat.

When I first saw DIRTY JACK, I knew right away: this is the modern barbecue towel. Just like in my early days as a chef, I wear it on my right side, while holding a thinner cleaning cloth on my left. This is the most effective and hygienic way to work.

DIRTY JACK cloths are heat resistant, hot washable and extremely strong. They don't dry very well, so people who dry plates with them without asking quickly learn not to do so. We've been working with them for years now and I actually never take gloves to the barbecue anymore.

While making The Ultimate Low & Slow BBQ Book, I always had a few DIRTY JACK towels on hand. American barbecue is dirty work – grease, smoke and sticky sauces are guaranteed to leave stains. Mexican barbecue brings its own challenges: hot stones, glowing embers and rough metal. But in every situation, the DIRTY JACK proved to be the solution.

That's why it's extra nice that we are now taking action together: so that you can make the dishes from our book with your own DIRTY JACK in hand.

- Jeroen Hazebroek