Pitmaste rs and Their C raft

What Makes a Pro BBQ Chef Tick

By Grey Jeffery, Editor

For many people, grilling is more than merely cooking meat over an open flame. But for others it’s a way of life, a passion passed down through generations.

Derrick Burnett, owner of Backporch Bar-

beque outside Houston, said being a grill master is a family tradition.

“My dad was always barbecuing,” Burnett said, “and I kind of got into following him around.”

Burnett’s father used to compete in barbeque competitions when he was younger, but he has never competed himself. However, following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, he and his family barbecued and fed people in their neighborhood, demonstrating that barbecuing can also be used to give back and bring peo- ple together.

Charlie Musick, a long-time amateur grillmaster in West Texas, also learned the art of making Barbeque from family.

“I’ve just always liked it for family get-togethers and stuff like that,” Musick said. “Every once in a while I’d have a barbecue. We really liked it and my wife and I made it part of our life.”

While Charlie has never competed in any barbecue competitions himself, his son has, and has even been part of a barbeque team.

On the other hand, James Agrella has competed for several years, and is winner of Galveston’s Yaga’s barbeque competition and received a smoker as a birthday gift from a friend 25 years ago.

While Agrella said the gift grill didn’t help with competitions, it still had sentimental val- ue.“For years and years, I used a gas grill,” Agrella said.

“And you know what? I had gotten to where I was pretty good at getting a smoky flavor off of that thing.”

A few years ago, he purchased a gravity-fed charcoal kit, which he described as kind of like a pellet grill but allows him to use real wood and charcoal.

When it comes to techniques and tips, these grill masters have plenty of advice to share. Musick stresses the importance of low and slow cooking.

“Too much heat is always going to be your enemy,” he said. He also suggests using a meat thermometer to ensure the meat is cooked to perfection.

Derrick Burnett has tried a variety of grilling methods and has settled on 100% oak post oak wood as the best option. He encourages people to keep pushing themselves to learn and improve.

“We kind of just slowly graduated up to the next level, the next level over the last 11 years until here we are now,” he said

Personal stories also play a role in these grill masters’ love for making Barbeque. Musick recalls seeing a man cooking a 5-foot-long fish and painting it with butter, which he describes as “man was that stuff good.”

James Agrella’s first attempt at smoking chickens didn’t go quite as planned.

“I put a bunch of wood in there that I had off of a pecan tree that

I had in my backyard and it probably wasn’t seasoned the way it needed to be so when you chewed on it it made your lips go numb and kind of had a bitter flavor to it,” he says.

Becoming a skilled grillmaster takes practice and persistence. Burnett offers words of encouragement for those just starting out,

“Don’t get discouraged early on, because don’t expect to come right out of the gate and be a pro,” Burnett said. “It takes a lot of repetition and practice.”

Steak: While not technically BBQ, steak is just as good on the grill. The name “steak” ties back to the 15th century Norse word “Steikja”but the history of steak goes back much further.