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BBQ Fandom is the weekly Texas BBQ newsletter from ExploringBBQ.com.
Quick rundown: This week’s BBQ Fandom asks whether television can really show what makes a great pitmaster. From the Pit looks beyond the competition clock to the quieter judgment built through years behind the fire. Around the Fire follows Texas BBQ to Chicago, examines the shrinking price gap between Select brisket and higher grades, and looks ahead to Texas Monthly BBQ Fest in Lockhart. Pitmaster Picks brings pork ribs, Hidalgo-style barbacoa, and the story behind an Austin favorite. BBQ Events Radar points toward five Texas cook-offs and community events. ExploringBBQ serves up summer recipes, an outdoor cooking guide, and a Jess Pryles book pick.
Can television really show what makes a great pitmaster?
Watching someone tend a clean, steady fire for thirty quiet minutes is not great television.
It may also be where some of the most important barbecue decisions happen.
A pitmaster watches the smoke, feels the draft near the firebox, and decides whether the pit needs another split now, five minutes from now, or not at all. Nothing burns. Nobody runs. There may not even be much to say.
But the cook is still being shaped.
That creates a challenge when barbecue moves from the pit room to television. Television needs deadlines, visible decisions, reversals, and consequences. Barbecue often rewards patience, repetition, restraint, and knowing when to leave the fire alone.
Food Network’s new Pitmasters puts that tension on display. The lineup brings the influence of Texas barbecue into the competition through Esaul and Grecia Ramos of 2M Smokehouse and Al Frugoni, whose live-fire work carries a connection to Boerne. At the judging table, Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Co. and Texas-based live-fire expert Jess Pryles bring their own perspectives on meat, fire, and modern barbecue.
Their responsibilities are different, but together they raise a larger question:
Can television really show what makes a great pitmaster?
A competition can reveal adaptability, teamwork, decision-making, and performance under pressure. What it cannot fully capture is the repetition, consistency, hospitality, restraint, and accumulated judgment that made those moments possible.
Television may reveal how a pitmaster performs under pressure. Years behind the pit reveal the judgment that made those moments possible.
I followed that question beyond the television clock and looked at the different skills revealed by television competitions, sanctioned BBQ contests, restaurant pit rooms, and backyard cooks.
Continue the story:
Can BBQ Competition TV Show What Makes a Great Pitmaster?
If you could test a pitmaster on one skill, what would it be?
Fire management, timing, meat selection, building the final tray, or something else?
Have a take on this? Share it on Facebook and see what your BBQ crowd thinks.
Until next week, keep chasing the smoke,
Mike
BBQ Fandom | ExploringBBQ.com
This week’s stories widen the frame. Texas barbecue reaches a national stage in Chicago, the historically affordable brisket grade loses its advantage at the meat counter, and Lockhart prepares to bring dozens of barbecue perspectives together in one place.
Texas BBQ takes the stage in Chicago
An oversized beef rib in the hands of a country star is the kind of moment that travels. At the Windy City Smokeout, Terry Black’s Barbecue, Hurtado Barbecue, and Panther City BBQ gave a major national audience a taste of Texas barbecue beyond its home state.
The attention-grabbing bite may lead the story, but three Texas joints cooking side by side reveal something larger. Texas barbecue does not arrive on a national stage as one flavor or one approach. Each restaurant carries its own interpretation of smoke, meat, scale, and place.
Chron | July 12, 2026 | Free
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The affordable brisket option is disappearing
USDA Select brisket once gave skilled pitmasters a reasonably priced cut they could improve through careful trimming, fire management, and a long cook. Today, Select is harder to find, and its price has moved close enough to Choice and Prime that choosing the lower grade may no longer provide meaningful savings.
That changes more than the grocery bill. When the price gap between grades narrows, backyard cooks and restaurants lose one of the few remaining ways to manage brisket costs through technique and patience. Rising beef prices are difficult enough. Losing the historically affordable alternative makes the economics of the cook even harder.
Chron via Yahoo | July 11, 2026 | Free
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Texas Monthly’s BBQ Fest returns to Lockhart
Some barbecue stories are better understood when you can experience several pitmasters side by side. Texas Monthly’s BBQ Fest returns to Lockhart November 7 and 8, giving visitors another opportunity to see how differently respected cooks approach the same larger tradition.
Saturday’s BBQ World’s Fair includes live-fire demonstrations, music, and a marketplace. Sunday’s ticketed Top 50 Picnic brings together more than 30 recognized barbecue joints. The participating restaurant lineup has not yet been announced, but public tickets are already available for readers who want to begin planning the trip.
CultureMap San Antonio | July 6, 2026 | Free
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If this issue made you think differently about what television can and cannot reveal about a pitmaster, forward it to the BBQ friend who never misses a competition show. It helps us grow this community one shared story at a time.
This week’s videos move beyond the competition clock to show where barbecue skill is actually developed: through technique, adaptation, repetition, and the stories behind the pit.
Three ways to cook pork ribs like a BBQ expert
Video | July 10, 2026 | YouTube, Bar-A-BBQ
Cooper Abercrombie of Bar-A-BBQ demonstrates three approaches to pork spare ribs, including traditional offset smoking and direct-heat cooking. The video covers rack preparation, seasoning, temperature control, mopping, and glazing while showing how different methods require different decisions from the cook.
Why it fits this week: The same rack of ribs can test different skills depending on the pit and cooking method. Abercrombie shows how pitmaster judgment matters more than simply following one universal process.
Hidalgo-style barbacoa finds a home in Georgetown
Video | July 12, 2026 | YouTube, HAMONI USA and HAMONI JAPAN
Javier Vargas of El Grandpa Mexican BBQ shows how his family prepares traditional Hidalgo-style lamb barbacoa while adapting the underground cooking process to meet Texas health regulations. The specialized equipment may be different, but the method still depends on insulation, retained heat, patience, and a cook that can last up to 15 hours.
Why it fits this week: Adapting an old cooking method without losing its character requires the kind of knowledge that cannot be measured by speed alone.
The story behind an Austin BBQ favorite
Video | July 9, 2026 | YouTube, Tuffy Stone
Tuffy Stone visits Stiles Switch BBQ in Austin for a look inside the pit room with pitmaster Lance Kirkpatrick and a conversation with owner Shane Stiles. Beyond the food, the episode explores how Stiles built the restaurant around memories of eating barbecue with his father and how those memories continue through the people gathering there today.
Why it fits this week: A restaurant’s reputation is built across years of cooks, service, and shared experiences. One plate can show the result, but the restaurant’s story reveals the longer record behind it.
The July BBQ calendar keeps moving. This weekend brings competition smoke to Fredericksburg, Temple, and Hempstead, with more Texas cook-offs already waiting later this month.
Lonestar BBQ Cook-Off [Competition] [Hill Country Road Trip]
July 17 to 18, 2026 | Fredericksburg, TX
The Lonestar BBQ Cook-Off brings state-sanctioned competition barbecue to the Gillespie County Fairgrounds during the Night in Old Fredericksburg weekend. The event gives Hill Country travelers a chance to pair the cook-off with horse racing and a Fredericksburg barbecue run.
Lodge 47 Seaton Star Hall BBQ Cookoff [Competition] [Central Texas]
July 17 to 18, 2026 | Temple, TX
The 34th annual cook-off continues a long-running Central Texas tradition at Seaton Star Hall. Competition barbecue and Friday-night live music make this a community gathering that reflects the local cook-off culture beyond the larger festival circuit.
Hempstead Watermelon Festival BBQ Cook-Off [Competition] [Small-Town Festival]
July 17 to 18, 2026 | Hempstead, TX
The Hempstead Watermelon Festival pairs its barbecue cook-off with live music, a parade, a car show, vendors, family activities, and plenty of watermelon. Admission is free, making this an accessible summer road-trip option for readers near Houston and the Brazos Valley.
Great Texas Mosquito Festival BBQ Cook-Off [Competition] [Late July Watch]
July 23 to 25, 2026 | Clute, TX
The Great Texas Mosquito Festival BBQ Cook-Off brings one of the more memorable festival names on the Texas calendar into the BBQ lane. The official event page lists the cook-off for July 23 to 25 and calls out brisket, pork, and chicken competition.
This one has a bigger community festival feel, which makes it useful for readers who want more than a cook-off. If you are near the Gulf Coast or looking for a late-July road trip, Clute gives you BBQ, festival energy, and a story you will not have to explain twice.
Want the full summer calendar?
Browse the July 2026 Texas BBQ Events Guide
Summer Under The Stars in Poteet [Competition] [August Watch]
August 7 to 8, 2026 | Poteet, TX
Summer Under The Stars gives readers an August BBQ event to start watching now. The event brings a South Texas competition weekend close to San Antonio, with a cook-off format that makes it a good target for teams, BBQ fans, and anyone looking for a late-summer excuse to get out on the road.
If you are already looking ahead to August, this is a good one to put on the calendar. Turn it into a South Texas BBQ run, check nearby joints before you go, and maybe use it as a reason to log a BBQ Passport Visit Stamp.
Watching pitmasters work has a way of making you want to light a fire of your own. Add a long summer evening, and suddenly cooking outside sounds better than anything coming from the kitchen.
If Issue #18 leaves you ready to cook, here are three recipes and one practical guide to get the charcoal moving.
Smoked pork ribs
Put some of this week’s pitmaster thinking into practice with a full rack of pork ribs. This recipe focuses on smoke, bark, tenderness, sauce timing, and getting a clean bite without cooking the ribs until they fall apart.
Smoky honey habanero chicken wings
These wings cook hot and fast on a Weber Kettle using a Vortex-style charcoal setup. An overnight brine keeps the meat juicy, while the honey habanero finish brings crispy skin, smoke, sweetness, and heat.
Ribeye steak on a charcoal kettle
Choose the method that fits the steak in front of you. Use a reverse sear for a thick ribeye or cook a thinner steak hot and fast. Both approaches use a two-zone charcoal fire and temperature-based decisions instead of guesswork.
Make your Weber Kettle do more
Not sure what to cook yet? This outdoor-cooking guide explains direct heat, indirect heat, two-zone grilling, vent control, lid position, and how to match the fire setup to burgers, steaks, chicken, sausages, vegetables, and larger cuts.
This week’s BBQ book
Hardcore Carnivore: Cook Meat Like You Mean It by Jess Pryles
Affiliate note: ExploringBBQ may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this section, at no extra cost to you.
Jess Pryles brings her live-fire and meat expertise to the judging table on Food Network’s Pitmasters. In Hardcore Carnivore, she moves beyond judging the finished plate and shows readers how to cook it, with more than 100 recipes covering steaks, ribs, barbecue, poultry, pork, lamb, and game. Television gives Pryles a few moments to evaluate a cook. Her book gives readers more time with the techniques and meat knowledge behind that judgment.
For the next BBQ run
Supporting BBQ culture does not always mean ordering the biggest tray on the menu. Sometimes it is showing up, bringing a friend, logging the stop, and wearing something that says you are part of the smoke trail.
Know about a BBQ event, new opening, road-trip stop, or story worth following? Send a note to [email protected].
We read every message and may feature reader tips in a future issue. BBQ Fandom follows the people, places, and moments that make barbecue worth following.
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