Pitmaster Training
Do you want to raise your BBQ skills? Go from Zero to Backyard BBQ Hero? Howzit BBQ is proud to recommend a couple of amazing BBQ Classes from some of the best Pit Masters in the game. Each of the Pitmasters below has helped the Howzit BBQ team grow in to the Championship BBQ team that it is. Please click on the links below and checkout the classes, recipes, tips and gear that each of these world class Pitmasters has to offer, they are truly the best of the best.
Howzit BBQ Pitmaster Mentors
Harry Soo is the Mastermind and force of nature behind Slap Yo Daddy BBQ. Harry is widely known and respected in the BBQ industry, having competed on and won, TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters. Slap Yo Daddy BBQ, one of the top-ranked Kansas City BBQ Society teams in America.
Harry teaches a class that is geared towards applying competition-style BBQ techniques to backyard cooking including food safety, meat selection, trimming, recipe injections, rubs, mops, sprays, sauces, temperature control, BBQ chemistry, bark formation, foiling meats, and determining doneness. The class uses a variety of smokers (WSM 18″ and 22″, Comet Kamado, Green Mountain Grill), propane grill, gas oven, and focus on wood selection and fire control.
This is a six-hour class, where you get to work side-by-side with Harry to smoke, grill, bake, and prepare 15 different types of meats and sides. Sauces and rubs are all prepared from regular pantry ingredients. Class includes an all you can eat BBQ lunch of half-chickens, thighs, St. Louis style spareribs, Baby Back ribs, Rib Tips, Pork Butts, Beef Brisket, Sausage, Hot Links, Salami, and Santa Maria tri-tip.
This is a very comprehensive class and I highly recommend you take Harry’s class and if you do – take plenty of notes! Many of Harry’s students have taken his class several times just to grasp all the elements he covers, so this is a serious BBQ class that will teach you foundations for BBQ Greatness!
Dont forget to shop for Slap Yo’ Daddy Championship Rubs, Sauces, and BBQ Gear available on the website, Amazon, and now Ace Hardware.
Steve Botkin is A Pitmaster’s Pitmaster. Steve started desperado BBQ in 1989 and has been competing on the KCBS circuit since. You may have also seen Steve on one of the popular tv shows like BBQ crawl, BBQ Pit Wars, Cooking with Paula Deen, Farmerboy’s Commercials, a number of short films, you name it. Steve teaches a 6–8-hour Down-To-Earth BBQ class that I highly recommend you take. While the Harry Soo class is focused on taking the backyard cook from zero to hero, Steve focus’ his class on covering elements found in competition. Both classes focus on wood pairing, preparing chicken, ribs, rib tips, pork butt, tri-tip, brisket, how to prepare injections and of course detailed instructions on preparations and cooking methods.
Steve also focuses on an overview of bbq contests and judging which if you are seriously thinking about giving it a go is worth the price of attendance. He also covers how to competition trim pork ribs & brisket, how to select the best brisket and pork butt for competition, the pros/cons of cooking hot and fast or low and slow. I recommend taking The Desperado BBQ class as soon as you can get a place, then again after you compete (if you do) so that you are now smarter in terms of what questions to ask.
Steve also has designed and built a couple of the smokers used by Howzit BBQ. Steve is also very accessible and is a great sounding board for advice, tips, and tricks.
Christie Vanover is the Pitmaster and the ball of BBQ Energy that powers Girls Can Grill. Christie launched Girls Can Grill in 2015 as a way to motivate other women to grab hold of the tongs. Through competition, website, and her growing social media community, girls and guys come to Girls Can Grill for tips, recipes and fun BBQ banter.
While at this time, Christie does not offer BBQ classes publicly, the abundance of insights, recipes and useful information available for her website is more than enough to get any team started. Christie is also extremely accessible, responding to email requests for advice or help.
One Section in particular that is priceless is the Competition BBQ section. The world of competition barbecue is fun with a lot of great friendly people, but in the end its still a competition. Christie’s website walks you through EVERYTHING you need to know if you’re going to compete. She covers where/how to find a name, where to get a logo made, what equipment you should have at your cook site, Power Options, Health & Fire Safety, Cooking at High Altitudes, and the dreaded People’s Choice. She even covers how to cook the four meats for a KCBS cook! I mean come’on it’s like a blueprint to win!
Howzit BBQ utilized all the information we found on Girls Can Grill to prepare for our first contest. As previously mentioned in another article, Christie even helped us set up our first cook site….virtually of course.
Recently Christie and her team have launched their own line of Rubs available through Spiceology. Be sure to support Christie and the Girls Can Grill team, they are true partners in the BBQ game.