Texas high school BBQ competitions continue to grow

AUSTIN, Texas - Like football, high school BBQ has grown tremendously throughout the years as districts across the state incorporate culinary arts to their campuses.

"High School Barbecue Inc. is a nonprofit organization that offers students a different type of extracurricular activity. People who love barbecue and they love competitive sports," says Marcus McMellon, campus president at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

Marcus McMellon says these competitions are a big deal for students.

"High school barbecue in the state of Texas is keen, right. It's almost like Friday Night Lights for barbecue. And these students, they work tirelessly. They practice pre-dawn. They work really hard to be able to perfect their cooking techniques," says McMellon.

"Our team had to be there at four in the morning, get everything ready. And then our fire fires when it usually starts up about six. So, you can't cook nothing. You can't prep anything until that fire starts at six. And then you got your different turn in times," says Jonathan Iglesias, student at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

Jonathan Iglesias says he became interested in barbecue competitions through his high school culinary teacher.

"He was doing a barbecue team, and we were like, you know what? Let's join. You know, we like to barbecue sometimes hang out, and then next thing you know, we just all fell in love with it and then kept on going," says Iglesias.

In these competitions, students are judged in five categories: brisket, ribs, chicken, beans, and dessert.

"The students have to practice hard. They have long hours on a competitive day. They must know how to manage their fire. They must know how to control their heat. They must know how to present their items every day," says McMellon.

Even though competition days are hard, Iglesias says at the end of the day it's rewarding.

"What I enjoy about it is seeing which my specialty was ribs which was seeing that beautiful glossy candy red, not too sweet, but, you know, not too bitter. It was just the perfect amount. And I think that's what drove us to keep on doing barbecue, because we saw over time our progress and everything, and it was just the best," says Iglesias.

It's not just what's served on the dish that's rewarding, Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts helps out with monetary rewards.

"The Auguste Escoffier school of culinary arts awards, scholarships of $3,000 for each person in the winning team, $2,000 for the second-place team and $1,500 for the third-place team in each region," says McMellon.

September 28th is the first BBQ competition this season. It will be held in the Panhandle.

Iglesias says if there's any student pit masters interested in competing, reach out to your culinary teacher to see how you can start a team at your high school.