Two Texas high school teams earned a lifetime of BBQ bragging rights recently for winning the 2021 Texas High School State BBQ Championship title beating out 59 other teams in the state-wide competition at the John L. Kuykendall Event Center in Llano, Texas. The co-grand championship teams, “Smoking Eagles” from Atascocita High School and the “Bulldog FFA BBQ” from Burnet High School won top honors from High School BBQ, Inc. judges. Co-grand championship teams each won a prize package that included a trophy, custom-designed belt buckles, $25,000 in institutional scholarships from Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, and another $5,000 each in cash scholarships from High School BBQ Inc. as part of the grueling day-long cook off.
Sixty-one student teams from all over the state of Texas brought their A-game serving up dishes in five categories: dessert, beans, chicken, ribs, and brisket. The high school student-only teams of three, four or five, worked with wood-burning pits, grills or smokers, many of which they built themselves. Team mentors could deliver advice but could not enter the 20 X 20 roped-off areas where the teams prepared their food.
“These students absolutely blew me away with their creativity, teamwork and BBQ I.Q.,” said Marcus McMellon, Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Austin campus president and board member of High School BBQ, Inc. “This was not an easy competition; students had to contend with varying conditions while trying to deliver their product within the allotted time frame for each category. Escoffier was honored to watch these rising culinary stars and provided a total of $75,000 in institutional scholarships for members from the top four teams,” added McMellon. During the 2020-2021 season, Escoffier awarded more than $350,000 in institutional scholarships for winners of the nine regional and state High School BBQ, Inc. competitions leading up to the championship.
The reserve championship title for the 2021 competition went to The “Bar-B-QTs”, an all-female team from James Madison High School in San Antonio and this year’s third place winners were also an all-female team, The “Pretty Pit Bosses” from Sweeny High School.
High School BBQ, Inc. is a non-profit high school BBQ competition organization designed to enrich the lives of high school students through project-based learning. Points from each of the five categories were combined to determine overall Grand Co-Champions, Reserve Champion and third place winners.
High School BBQ, Inc. is awarding an additional $15,000 in cash scholarships for the top four finishing teams. For more on the competition and rules, visit High School BBQ, Inc.
