Girl on Fire
Grills aren't just for guys. More and more women are headed outside and enjoying the art of grilling.
I absolutely LOVE to grill. I love seasoning the meats, preparing the fruits and veggies, yup you heard me fruits AND veggies pair wonderfully on the grill. I think I was first really introduced to grilling by my Pops. It would be a many of Michigan summers he spent out on the grill doing bbq ribs, rib tips, hots dogs, wooo the memories of Midwestern bbq. Honestly, I think that was just the beginning, me dipping my big toe into the water to check the temp.
“I love the culture of grilling. It creates an atmosphere that is festive but casual. - Bobby Flay”
During the 2019/2020 school year I was catapulted into a project that had me creating a first time competition BBQ team. As you can imagine I was scared shitless, me this Midwestern St. Louis style BBQ loving, baker leading her first ever youth Texas BBQ team. I've been told I'm not one to half do anything, I'm kinda all of nothing so I jumped in with both feet and began training my students on the art of hardwood smoking and grilling, Texas style.
Midwest meets Southwest
Now at first impression you might think this is a post about my students and me as their coach but actually it's about what I learned from my kiddos that made me better on the grill.
These kids were excited, eager and ready to learn whatever it was I had to teach them. Now, in all honesty I didn't have much to teach because I'm not BBQ expert but I do love to grill. What I know is flavors and in my world flavor is King! I enlisted the help of one of my peers to help be my co-captain and teach the stuff I didn't know like what type of wood to use, smoke times, moisture vs. dry heat, charcoal and temperature. Me, I watched BBQ competition shows like BBQ Pitmasters and Man vs. Fire and showed them how to grill pineapple which is absolutely magnificent on the grill. We worked on our dry rub which is a little bit sweet and a whole lot of heat, kinda like me, Hehehe. Anyways....
These kids were so excited and eager that neither rain or harsh temperatures could keep them from being outside manning that pit and taking pride in their cooking. We smoked brisket, pork shoulder, ribs (St. Louis style of course), skirt steak and chicken for about 2 1/2 months before Covid-19 shut school down early. At home I grill shrimp and salmon and sausage too. Anytime I have the opportunity to open my students up to new experiences, taste and techniques I give it to them. I wish when I was their age I had the opportunity to experience some of the cuisines they get to explore, maybe it wouldn't have taken me so long to come around to the loaded Texas brisket potato then. Although our season was cut short and we didn't have a chance to compete in the Texas High School BBQ competition this year we plan to be back next year even better. It's a rigorous training schedule to prepare for an all day competition that starts with pits being fired up at 5 AM and ending at 3 PM but I know we will be giving it our all. If you happen to be in the Oak Cliff area near Duncanville Rod and Illinois in the fall stop on by and say hi. We run a student run restaurant a 3 days a week that we hope will be back to serve the public in the fall.
