Last night was the conclusion of season two of BBQ Pitmasters.  And despite all of the public drama regarding the format change, each episode was a battle between some serious cooks with only five moving on to fight for the $100,000 grand prize.  The final showdown featured Smokin’ Triggers, Firehouse BBQ, A Boy & His BBQ, Ponderosa BBQ and Yazoo’s Delta Q.

Following the elimination of Firehouse and Ponderosa due to their chicken dishes, Smokin’ Triggers, Yazoo’s and A Boy & His BBQ were left standing for the whole hog battle.  Ultimately the title was won by Shad Kirton of a Boy & His BBQ, edging out Yazoo’s by what seemed to be the slightest of margins.  Today we’ll speak to the two finalists, beginning with Melissa Cookston of Yazoo’s Delta Q followedby Shad Kirton of A Boy & His BBQ a little later.


 
(photo courtesy of Kingsford)


Smoke In Da Eye states:  First of all, congratulations on making it to the finale of season two of BBQ Pitmasters.  I must say, a lot of people out there in the barbecue world pick Yazoo's as overall winners, myself included.  Unfortunately it didn't work out that way but you all fought a great fight and put out some monster dishes!

As reigning Memphis in May champions, what went through your mind when they told you that the deciding dish would be whole hog?

Melissa Cookston replies:  We were obviously excited.  Then the whole hog turned out to be a small dog!  They were about 70 lbs.  In competition we normally cook 160 pound hogs.


SIDE:  Which competitor did you fear most out of the gate and have you cooked against any of them in the past?

MC:  We are seriously the "chicken little's" of BBQ contests- we are always worried about all the other teams.  I think that one of the things that makes us successful is that fear-  we tend to go the extra mile to ensure we put the right product on the table and get the little details right.  All that being said, we are not afraid to go cook against anyone, but we will keep a very healthy respect for everyone.


SIDE:  And what was more challenging, cooking on the cinder block pit or getting it done in only eight hours?

MC:  I was concerned about the pit,but not overly so.  The major issue was the time.  I still don't know why we were given 13 hours to cook a crown roast and 10 to cook a hog.   Large muscles in a pig have to hit certain temps and hold there for a while to become tender, that was our main concern. 


SIDE:  Now explain to me why you all decided not to cook the hog skin side up (running style) as you normally do in competition?

MC:  We were told the judges could and would ask for any sample from the hog- loin, tenderloin, ribs, tongue, whatever!  With our style of cooking, it is hard to access some of those pieces, so we elected to go belly up.  They ended up not asking for the more obscure samples other than jowl, though.


SIDE:  And how'd you feel it came out when you removed it from the pit?

MC:  That hog was absolutely perfect!  The main points to hit on a competition hog are making sure the ham and shoulder are tender while maintaining the loin.  If someone sliced shoulder or ham meat at a contest, they would have last place locked up.  We slice the loin to show that we can- the meat still has integrity and is moist and flavorful.  When our hog was the only one that was even close to the ideal, i knew we had a good shot at winning.  It's all about the judges and their perceptions though.


SIDE:  Was the ham really a little dry?

MC:  Ham is a leaner meat, so it dries more quickly than other samples.  I should have plated it last instead of first, if anything.  I certainly did not think it was dry.  When I finished presenting I pulled the other ham, and it was dripping with moisture.


SIDE:  Now let's talk bird.  You all took a risk with your dish and it paid off, ensuring you'd get a shot at presenting your whole hog.  Why'd you decide to go all out with fried chicken and hoe cakes?

MC:  Well, we did turn in smoked chicken, a whole breast.  It was moist and flavorful.  Our plan was to turn in a smoked thigh as well, but we got some char to the skin of 1 of them.  In retrospect, we should have turned that in for sure as the judging seemed to be coming from a point of view of "charred and seared" instead of what we consider high quality BBQ.  Anybody can burn things, it's harder to get things done without char, especially given that timeframe.  

On the fried chicken, we were competing against 4 KCBS type guys who cook chicken every week.  We were looking for an edge.  Hoe cakes and Black-eyed pea salsa are something that we felt would complement  our flavors and show a little more versatility to our dish.  And who doesn't love fried chicken?


SIDE:  Aside from the time involved getting all of your gear to California, would you do it again for season 3?

MC:  Well, I'm still not sure about that.  I would love to judge it, to bring a different perspective to the table, so to speak.  It was a great experience and definitely an eye-opener. While I disagree with the way the judging came out, in that respect it was like any other contest.  You are at the mercy of judges and their preferences, so a win doesn't necessarily prove you are the best, just the best with those judges.  At Memphis in May, the stars have to line up for you that day for you to win.  At Memphis, We had a good hog, but we also got very lucky by even getting in the finals.  BBQ contests are like that, an that's what makes them fun. 


SIDE:  What was the biggest challenge in the whole process?

MC: The biggest challenge in doing the show was basically the unknown factor.  We probably carried 300 different ingredients, pieces of equipment- you name it we had it!  Then we drove it all in a 10000 lb trailer across the country!  A week before we left we were in Washington DC at the National Championships, so we went coast to coast in 2 weeks!


SIDE:  It's been a heck of a summer, starting with that GC call in Memphis back in May (check out our video of the win below).  What's next for Yazoo's Delta Q?

MC:  We are cooking every weekend through mid November, then having a cooking class (shameless plug- go to yazoosdeltaq.com for more details!).  We are  trying to wrap up our second Memphis BBQ Network Team of the Year award.  Going forward, we are planning on getting pretty heavily into the KCBS circuit in the next year.  Other than that, we will just see what comes around the bend!

Thanks for your time, congrats on making it so far and see you both soon!


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