{"id":347137,"date":"2026-06-23T15:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347137\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T15:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:23:06","slug":"austins-jess-pryles-to-judge-new-food-network-barbecue-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347137\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin’s Jess Pryles to judge new Food Network barbecue show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin live-fire pro Jess Pryles has a scientific approach to cooking meat, and she’s using it as one of four judges on Pitmasters, a new series that puts elite barbecue teams through a week of smoking competition.<\/p>\n

The series puts the teams through the wringer with a breakneck schedule of challenges ranging from whole-hog cooking to a four-protein showdown. The premiere episode drops the contestants straight into a “Big Burn” challenge, giving the pitmaster pairs nine hours to build a family-style platter of two meats and a side that defines their style.<\/p>\n

But it wouldn\u2019t be a Food Network show without a twist. This time, Pryles and her fellow judges \u2014 Andrew Zimmern, competition barbecue great Moe Cason, and Seguin-based Ernest Servantes, head of Texas Monthly’s top barbecue joint<\/a> the Burnt Bean Co. \u2014 throw the cast a 60-minute “Flash Burn” curveball that asks them to create the perfect barbecue bite.<\/p>\n

Pryles, an Australian who now lives in Texas and fits right into the barbecue scene, has been practicing and studying live-fire cooking for nearly two decades and even has a Graduate Certificate in Meat Science from Iowa State University. She’s the founder of Hardcore Carnivore<\/a>, a brand that sells seasoning, cooking tools, and apparel, and offers recipes to make the most of it.<\/p>\n

What she knows about barbecue can \u2014 and does \u2014 fill two books, the second of which was announced<\/a> this June. Prime Cuts: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Enjoying Meat will offer a scientific understanding of how to treat certain cuts for the perfect outcomes.<\/p>\n

Also on the judges panel, Servantes already knows what it takes to win $50,000 from Food Network. The Burnt Bean Co. pitmaster won a big check on Chopped Grill Masters in 2012 and has gone on to become one of the most influential pitmasters in the state.<\/p>\n

Texas talent won\u2019t just be behind the judges’ table. Three teams will feature well-known names in the local smoked meat scene.<\/p>\n

Grecia and Esaul Ramos, the proprietors of San Antonio\u2019s 2M Smokehouse, might have an advantage. After all, the duo is not only married; they work together in the kitchen every day. But they\u2019ll face stiff competition from two other locals with their own live-fire superpowers.<\/p>\n

Boerne\u2019s Al Frugoni, paired with Louisville, Kentucky influencer Jeremy Yoder, is known for his Argentine asado-style cooking and self-named line of seasonings sold at Walmart and H-E-B. Also representing Boerne will be Ruben Santana, paired with Palmira Barbecue pitmaster Hector Garate from Charleston, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

That Santana is listed as a hometown pitmaster may raise a few eyebrows. He\u2019s best known as the founder of Brooklyn\u2019s Bark Barbecue, a project that has gained him national recognition for fusing Dominican and Texas styles. We\u2019ll have to wait to see if he is firing up something new in Texas.<\/p>\n

Pitmasters premieres July 13 on Food Network. Episodes will air on Mondays and be available to stream on HBO Max the following day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin live-fire pro Jess Pryles has a scientific approach to cooking meat, and she’s using it as one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1068,7857,65771,32325,9691],"class_list":["post-347137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-barbecue","tag-boerne","tag-food-network","tag-food-tv","tag-seguin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}