Jun 23, 2026 | 9:37 am
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.
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.
But it wouldn’t be a Food Network show without a twist. This time, Pryles and her fellow judges — Andrew Zimmern, competition barbecue great Moe Cason, and Seguin-based Ernest Servantes, head of Texas Monthly‘s top barbecue joint the Burnt Bean Co. — throw the cast a 60-minute “Flash Burn” curveball that asks them to create the perfect barbecue bite…