Kevin Fuller uses a method he has honed from a combination of soul food cooking and traditional German meat curing to prepare his Smoked Beef Tenderloin.

He said cooks should think of the southern soul food and the German smokehouse when fixing this dish.

This is a special occasion-type meal, but the occasions are plentiful for Fuller. He made this meal just a few weeks ago, as his mother-in-law was over prior to moving south. But he will also do it for holidays, like Christmas. He just loves to cook.

He fell in love with grilling as a teen, when friends returned from Louisiana with a variety of soul food.

“I found this soul food restaurant, off Nebraska Avenue, across from Scott Park (in Toledo), I don’t think they are there anymore, but I think the name was Soul Food Restaurant. They did barbeque, on Wednesdays and Sundays. You could get a whole meal, with some ribs, corn bread, collard greens and another side, with a Faygo soda, for $7 or $8. So I have an appreciation for that kind of food, from the South,” Fuller said.

He then did his research and the barbecuing turned to smoking. The German influence came in with his Grandpa Walter, who was from a German blacksmith family.

“When I really got into smoking, it was through my stepgrandfather. He was born in German and was a tool and die maker. His father and grandfather were blacksmiths in the country. He told me, ‘I love smoked meats,’” Fuller said. “In the second floor of the blacksmith shop was their smokehouse. When he was feeding the fire, if they were burning wood that was good for smoking, he would open the damper then the smoke would go up and circulate on the second floor. …”

There was meat on that floor, sometimes salted, hanging in the rafters. His grandpa said the smoke was for preserving the meat, not for the flavor.

Fuller also makes a German smoked beef stick called a landjaeger. Beyond that, he learned most of his skills through trial and error.

“It’s an art form. Making food is an art. If you think about art, it transcends language. Food is the same way,” Fuller said.

He made this meal on the spring equinox, so he paired it with a fresh spring salad. He also bakes and makes his own wine and mead, and served the meal with a cyser. A cyser is a mead made with apple cider. Mead is like wine made with honey. In this case both the cider and the honey were purchased locally. Wife Kristina also made dark chocolate brownies.

“I just love to cook and I really like using stuff from the area. The honey in the mead is local, the beef is local, and even the wood I use for smoking comes from the area,” Fuller said. “The ingredients give you a unique flavor, because you are using what’s here, right? I just appreciate doing stuff like that. Even with the union, we buy things that our members make, or patron places that our members build. You feel like when you support a local ma and pop shop, you know where your money is going.”

The size of the meat varies, so he cooks it to a temperature. He doesn’t use gas, so he has to maintain the temperature with regular attention. The tenderloin, after searing, took about 25 minutes to smoke.

“I call Frobose Meats and ask for a whole tenderloin and take what they give me,” Fuller said. “I’ve never ruined anything. That’s the nice thing about smoking. It’s really hard to ruin anything.”

He thinks the secret to getting it just right involves the beginning step of getting the meat to room temperature, and then letting it sit at the end.

“That beginning process of getting it up to room temperature, it shortens the cooking process,” he said. “It’s not just the cooking part, but all the other little things you do, outside of the time it’s actually in the heat, are really what makes it good.”

He’s able to achieve the taste of the burnt crust on the meat, while maintaining a softness that is delightfully unexpected.

“I use a wood smoker. You name it, I’ll smoke it,” Fuller said. “I’ve done seafood, shrimp, catfish, whitefish, salmon, but also pork shoulder, port butt or leg of lamb. I like to do a brisket, but a whole brisket will take 14-15 hours. I do a good shrimp gumbo.”

He also does a wide variety of jerky, which he prefers to hard and chewy, “like shoe leather.”

The wood used to do smoking gives a different taste. Fuller used apple wood on this occasion, but frequently will use hickory.

He also prefers to cook on cast iron, which allows the meat to cook in the juices and retain moisture.

He typically uses fresh garlic, but sometimes the pre-cut garlic is nice for the consistency of size. He said that it makes it easier to brush on when basting.

Fuller attended Owens and Cuyahoga Community colleges and then entered the carpenter’s apprenticeship program in 2007 and completed the program in early 2012 when he received journeyman status.

Fuller spent 15 years working residential, commercial, and industrial construction. Today, he’s a business representative for the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters and is an active member in Carpenters Local 351, where he serves as a trustee on the executive board.

He and his wife have lived in Perrysburg since 2013. They have five children, ranging in age from 2 to 22.

In 2021 he was elected to Perrysburg City Council.