The 13 best barbecue programs on streaming services (plus top news & events)
This week’s guest article is written by Monk, a native of North Carolina and co-founder of the Barbecue Bros blog. Along with his friends and fellow Barbecue Bros Speedy and Rudy, Monk has traveled around eating, rating, ranking, and reviewing barbecue joints since 2012. Besides barbecue, Monk enjoys spending time with his wife and two young daughters (sometimes even not while eating barbecue) and is an avid sports fan whose teams all happen to be mediocre. If you would like to write a guest article for The Smoke Sheet, please get in touch.
In 2020, there’s certainly no shortage of streaming services and thankfully for barbecue fans, the options for barbecue programming are as abundant as ever. Here are some options if you find yourself craving barbecue, but happen to be sitting on a couch after all the best joints have closed.
Netflix
Netflix is the go-to for most folks when it comes to streaming, and it should be no surprise that it also has the greatest amount of barbecue programming, many of which are presented in 4K video if you have a compatible TV set.
Roy Choi, Jon Favreau, and Aaron Franklin appear together on two episodes of The Chef Show on Netflix.
In terms of movies, the narrator-less full-length documentary “Barbecue” features live-fire customs from locations you may not usually think of when it comes to barbecue including South Africa, Australia, Mongolia, and the Philippines. It originally premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2017 and hit the service shortly after.
The rest of the options on Netflix are barbecue-focused episodes of TV series. On “The Chef Show,” Hollywood mega writer/director/producer/actor Jon Favreau and LA Food Truck godfather Roy Choi spend two episodes with Aaron Franklin at Franklin Barbecue, first learning about his approach to brisket (S1E7) before participating in Franklin’s inaugural Hot Luck Festival in 2017 (S1E8).
Kansas City BBQ Queens the Jones sisters reached national acclaim on their 2019 episode of Queer Eye.
Most of the world outside of Kansas City first learned of the Jones sisters, Little and Shorty, of Jones Bar-B-Que in KC through their 2019 episode of “Queer Eye” (S3E3). The Queer Eye crew not only upgraded their barbecue joint, including the kitchen, smoker, and patio, but they gave the sisters a glow-up as well. They also pushed the sisters to bottle and sell their barbecue sauces, which as a result of the show have sold out many times via its online store.
David Chang’s “Ugly Delicious” dedicated an episode of the first season of his show to barbecue (S1E5), spending time with big-time pitmasters like Adam Perry Lang of APL BBQ, Tootsie Tomanetz of Snow’s BBQ, Elliott Moss of Buxton Hall Barbecue, and Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porker (the latter two at the Whole Hog Extravaganza at 17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro, Illinois). Season 2 of “Ugly Delicious” is coming soon, and we can only hope there will be more barbecue content coming along with it.
Buxton Hall pitmaster Elliott Moss on an episode of Ugly Delicious, available on Netflix.
In other TV episodes, “Street Food” has an episode featuring lechon (S1E9), “Taco Chronicles” covers barbacoa in its fifth episode (S1E5), food writer Michael Pollan’s “Cooked” spends time with pitmaster Ed Mitchell and his son Ryan in its premiere episode (S1E1), and barbecue is featured in two episodes across two different seasons of PBS’s “The Mind of a Chef.” Season one host David Chang spent time in barbecue restaurants in North Carolina, Texas, and Kansas City (S1E15) while season two host Sean Brock smoked a whole hog with Rodney Scott in less-than-optimal weather conditions as part of a lowcountry barbecue (S2E7).
Hulu
Options are fewer on Hulu but they have a couple that are worth watching, notably “BBQuest.” Across two four-episode seasons of the travel show co-produced by the Texas Beef Council, host and native Texan Kelsey Pribilski criss-crosses Texas to meet with some of the best pitmasters in the state. She’s in search of the state’s best barbecue as well as secret barbecue menu items. The first season gets the large cities (Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth) out of the way, while season two is able to tackle more remote locales. Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn even makes an appearance as Kelsey’s guide for the Big Bend episode (S2E1).
BBQuest Host Kelsey Pribilski and Daniel Vaughn explore the Big Bend region of Texas on Hulu.
In “Working 24 Hours at…” (originally a series on Bon Appetit’s YouTube Channel), Bon Appetit deputy editor Andrew Knowlton spends 24 hours at a restaurant to give a behind-the-scenes look at how food is prepared and how the restaurant runs. For the fourth episode of the first (and only) season, he spends 24 exhausting hours at Franklin Barbecue doing a little bit of everything from prepping the briskets to slicing for customers to making the salt-and-pepper dalmatian rub to stacking wood.
Amazon Prime
I haven’t spent as much time on Prime Video, but there are a couple of series that look to satisfy your barbecue cravings. These include "Bama-Q," which follows members of the Alabama Barbecue Association through competitions (similar to the first season of "BBQ Pitmasters"); “Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen” where grilling authority Steven Raichlen provides step-by-step instructions on a variety of barbecue dishes from across the world; and “Food Safari - Fire” where host Maeve O’Meara dedicated an entire 10-episode season to exploring live-fire cooking traditions across the world.
Bama-Q on Amazon Prime Video follows the barbecue competition scene in the deep south.
If you’re ready to dig in now, I would suggest starting with “BBQuest” on Hulu before checking out episodes on Netflix from “The Chef Show” and “Ugly Delicious.” But no matter which route you choose, you have hours of barbecue content to look forward to.
Monk
Co-Founder, Barbecue Bros
Here are the top recent barbecue news stories from around the country:
Houston’s Feges BBQ recently announced the upcoming opening of a second location in Spring Branch. (Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma)
Patrick Feges and Erin Smith of the highly-acclaimed Houston restaurant Feges BBQ announced the opening of a second location in Spring Branch, Texas in 2021. Like the original location, the new spot will focus on smoked meats, such as brisket and whole hog, along with creative side dishes that include Moroccan-spiced carrots and elote corn salad.
James Beard award-winning pitmaster and author Aaron Franklin is opening a sandwich shop and bar in East Austin, according to Eater Austin.
The Operation BBQ Relief team won the Grand Champion Overall award at last year’s World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Later this month, the team will be defending their title, and the Houston Chronicle’s J.C. Reid wrote about how these champs are much more than a competition team.
Dayne’s Craft Barbecue in Fort Worth is one of Texas’s best new joints, with “bacon brisket” and sausages that are worth the wait, writes Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly.
Daniel Vaughn also recently went on search for Texas joints that offer both great barbecue and great catfish, which he cleverly refers to as “surf and turf.”
The Citizen Times wrote about Buxton Hall and Elliott Moss’s big upcoming Smokeshow barbecue festival, which will be held in May in Asheville. The event will feature names including Rodney Scott, Sam Jones, and Australian pitmaster Mike Patrick.
Burnt End BBQ, a popular barbecue joint in Kansas City, will open its third location at the Crown Center shopping and entertainment complex this year.
The Houston Chronicle’s J.C. Reid recently dived into the evolution of beef ribs in Texas, which have grown in popularity with the craft barbecue movement.
Ollie Gates, the owner of Gates Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, sat down with KSHB News to talk about the intertwined history of barbecue and Negro League baseball in Kansas City.
Crosstown Barbecue in Springfield, Missouri is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, so the Springfield News-Leader stopped by during a recent lunch hour to talk to customers and owner Steve Williams about the joint’s storied history.
While new Miami barbecue joints including Brooklyn import Hometown Bar-B-Que and local crowd-pleaser Society BBQ are attracting attention, people are still hitting up Shorty’s Bar-B-Q after 69 nice years in business.
Pit BBQ Grille — a small chain in Columbus, Ohio that is run by four friends including two former Ohio State Buckeyes football players — has opened a new location on the South Side of Columbus and has another location in the works in Clintonville.
As a Southern Baptist minister of 39 years, Michael Faulkner focused mainly on feeding the Christian spirit of his parishioners. But as the owner of Team Carolina Real Pit BBQ in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he’s shifted his focus to feeding the appetites of customers who come for his pulled pork, ribs, brisket, and wings.
Roaming Buffalo Bar-B-Que, a popular Texas-style joint in Denver, will soon open its second location at 17121 South Golden Road in Golden, Colorado.
The Phoenix New Times reports that a new joint, Eric’s Family Barbecue in Avondale, is already smoking and serving some of greater Phoenix’s best barbecue.
Initial Q Social Bar & Smokehouse has brought upscale Southern barbecue options to downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Eight top chefs and pitmasters recently spoke with The Ladders on how they crush their morning routines, including Rodney Scott of Rodney Scott’s BBQ and Amy Mills of 17th St Barbecue.
The Japan Times reports that Japan’s newest food trend might be American barbecue pulled pork, adding to barbecue options that are already popular there.
Finally, in what might be the cutest thing you’ll see all week, Paul and Denise Morales of Made in Texas BBQ in San Antonio hosted a “rib smash” birthday photo session for their 1-year-old daughter.
Here are BBQ shows, podcasts, or books you should check out this week:
The Smoke Sheet’s Ryan Cooper chatted with Kevin Kelly on a recent episode of Kevin’s BBQ Joints.
Watch: Ten Minutes with Ryan Cooper of The Smoke Sheet — Kevin’s BBQ Joints
In this episode of “10 Minutes With” host Kevin Kelly chats with The Smoke Sheet’s Ryan Cooper about his recent cancer diagnosis. They discuss how he found out in November, just before Thanksgiving, and talk about what procedures he had, how his family and job reacted, what he's dealing with now, and what the road ahead looks like. In this conversation, Ryan is honest and upfront about his health issues and his involvement in the barbecue community this year. Watch here.
Listen: Kevin Green of The Butcher Shoppe — The BBQ Central Show
The BBQ Central Show’s Greg Rempe was joined recently by first-time guest Kevin Green of The Butcher Shoppe. Kevin and his son Jordan run the day-to-day operations at one of the more popular meat locations in the country. It is the home of the A-9 brisket, but there are so many other options to consider as well, including CAMEL! They talk about how he got into the business, how he has grown it over the years, and what is popular to both barbecue competitors and backyard enthusiasts these days. Listen to the episode here.
Read: The Smoke Shop's Backyard BBQ: Eat, Drink, and Party Like a Pitmaster — by Andy Husbands and William Salazar
Impress your friends, family, and co-workers with recipes from Boston's popular Smoke Shop restaurant. Join Andy Husbands and Will Salazar as they share their secrets in The Smoke Shop's Backyard BBQ. Start off with a classic Backyard Barbecue featuring pulled pork, Twice-Smoked Pulled Chicken, deliciously simple brisket, and New Memphis Ribs. With a selection of the Smoke Shop’s favorite sides, drinks, and desserts, it might seem like all you ever needed. Buy it here.
The Rock the Block benefit for Hogs for the Cause takes place this weekend in Charleston, South Carolina.
February 22, 2020: Rock the Block — Charleston, South Carolina
The gang at Home Team BBQ in Charleston will soon host their third annual block party benefiting the Hogs for the Cause event in late March. (More on Hogs below!) The Rock the Block event is free to attend and there will be tons of pitmasters and chefs there making food. VIP tickets will get you access to even more food and BBQ options. If you love food and music and aren’t too far from Charleston, you won’t want to miss this. More info here.
February 28 - March 1, 2020: New School Barbecue University — Austin, Texas
Leroy & Lewis Barbecue of Austin, Texas (which we included in ) will soon be “sharing their secrets” at its New School Barbecue University. During one long weekend, you’ll learn how to create popular items like beef cheeks, brisket, barbacoa, whole hog, sausages, and more. Attendance is limited to just 30 attendees so be sure to get your applications in quickly if you are interested. More info here.
February 27-29, 2020: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Bar-B-Que Contest — Houston, Texas
More than 250 teams, led by barbecue aficionados, compete in the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. While most team tents are invitation-only, visitors can enjoy several public venues, including The Garden, Rockin' Bar-B-Que Saloon, and the Chuck Wagon. Activities include live music, rides, games, and more and visitors will receive a complimentary sliced brisket plate with chips and beans. More info here.
March 4-8, 2020: Charleston Food and Wine Festival — Charleston, South Carolina
The Charleston Wine + Food infuses homegrown flavor with top chefs, winemakers, authors, storytellers, artisans, and food enthusiasts from around the globe for a five-day event that spans the first full weekend each March. More info here.
March 14-15, 2020: Meatstock Music and Barbecue Festival (Melbourne edition) — Melbourne, Australia
Meatstock returns for its fourth year with a typically stacked line-up of barbecue enthusiasts and bands. The sell-out, two-day event brings big-name American pitmasters Down Under; sees 50 teams from across Melbourne go head-to-head over the coals to be crowned the city’s best barbequers; and features live music, food trucks and pop-up bars. This year, American pitmasters Moe Cason, Wayne Mueller from Louie Mueller Barbecue, and Ronnie Evans and Philip Moseley from Blue Oak BBQ will be putting on demonstrations. More info here.
March 20-21, 2020: The American Royal Backyard BBQ & Steak Cookoff — Kansas City, Missouri
The American Royal Backyard BBQ and Steak Cook-Off allows participants to get a taste of what barbecue competitions are all about at a lower entry level and a portion of the cost. Join us March 20-21, 2020 at the American Royal Complex for this new BBQ event! More info here.
March 27-28, 2020: Hogs for the Cause — New Orleans, Louisiana
Hogs for the Cause returns as the largest, tastiest BBQ festival in New Orleans. The city welcomes numerous local and regional BBQ masters and the best backyard chefs to compete in seven categories: Whole Hog, Ribs, Pork Butt/Shoulder, Porkpourri, Sauce, Fan Favorite, and Fundraising Champion. The barbecue festival is a two-day event full of music, local beer, and fundraising. More info here.
March 27-28, 2020: Suncoast BBQ & Bluegrass Bash — Venice, Florida
Since 2010, the Suncoast BBQ & Bluegrass Bash has established itself as a destination for the best barbecue competition and bluegrass entertainment in Southwest Florida. It is the signature fund-raiser for the Suncoast Foundation for Handicapped Children (SFHC). More than 20,000 people are expected to attend the event, which will feature a large Florida BBQ Association competition, lots of live music, parties, cornhole tournament, family fun, and more. More info here.
April 1-4, 2020: National Barbecue & Grilling Association Annual Conference — Louisville, Kentucky
The National Barbecue & Grilling Association (NBBQA) Annual Conference will be held at The Galt House Hotel. The conference gathers members and people from across the industry to network, learn, and participate in a variety of topics and activities around the Business of BBQ. Whether you are a product owner, run a restaurant, involved in media, or any other sector of BBQ, there are boundless opportunities to network, learn, and grow at the event. More info here.
April 5, 2020: 8th Annual Houston BBQ Festival — Houston, Texas
The 8th Annual Houston BBQ Festival will take place on Sunday, April 5th from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Humble Civic Center Arena Complex. The festival will feature Houston’s best barbecue joints all in one place, including Blood Bros BBQ, Brett's BBQ Shop, Buck's Barbeque, CorkScrew BBQ, Daddy Duncan's BBQ, Eaker Barbecue, and Feges BBQ. Read our to learn about the experience. More info here.
April 18, 2020: Jeff Michner BBQ Benefit 2020 — Brooklyn, New York
Mark your calendars for the Jeff Michner BBQ Benefit 2020 at Pig Beach NYC in Brooklyn. Following the successful 2019 version of the event, this will feature many of the top pitmasters from around the country serving up incredible food, including Tuffy Stone, Chris Lilly, Amy Mills, Sam Jones, Carey Bringle, Billy Durney, and more. Read about the 2019 Jeff Michner BBQ benefit here. More info on the 2020 edition here.
See the full Smoke Sheet events calendar online here.
Steven Raichlen brings back caveman-style grilling in our Recipe of the Week.
Caveman Pork Chops by Steven Raichlen
For this week’s Recipe of the Week, we chose this video from an episode of Project Fire with Steven Raichlen for Caveman Pork Chops. The chunky meat goes directly on the thick wood and flames, for old school grilling. Topped with poblano pan-fry, these mouthwatering pork chops are perfectly cooked and have a crusty outside. View the recipe here.
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