About 8000 meat lovers passed through the Augusta Farm Live Fire BBQ festival on the weekend – fed by some of the world’s greatest BBQ pitmasters. Click on images for a larger view

SOME of the world’s most acclaimed competition BBQ chefs gathered in Brisbane for a Low & Slow BBQ festival on the weekend, attracting around 8000 meat-loving patrons.

The Live Fire event was held at Peter Rutten’s enormous Augusta Farms retail meat outlet in the Brisbane suburb of Chandler, and the talent on hand provided the perfect opportunity to get a handle on where the American BBQ movement is heading, what’s new, and what’s trending.

Some of the US-based pitmasters involved in the event are household names on American TV and on social media.

The celebrities on hand counselled us about referring to the movement as ‘Texas BBQ,’ saying that in fact different parts of the US beyond Texas have developed their own unique approach. They prefer to use the term, American BBQ.

The large carpark at Augusta Farms was turned into a sea of smokers and open fire-pits for the event, with the aroma of ironbark and charcoal smoke combined with charred meat wafting through the venue across Saturday and Sunday.

Clearly, the interest in American BBQ has not waned, with plenty of sales of different types of smokers and BBQs worth $1500-$3000 across the weekend. And meat sales, as this image shows, went ballistic.

BBQ legend says movement is evolving

While there were several World Champions present and cooking for the patrons, the star attraction was 64-year-old Myron Mixon from Georgia, who enjoys legendary status in the US as a five-time World BBQ Champion.

He entered his first competition 30 years ago, in 1996 – long before low & slow BBQ became a ‘thing’ in Australia. On US TV, he hosts a popular cooking channel show called BBQ Rules, and has featured on other shows including Pitmasters and BBQ Pitwars.

Five-time BBQ world champ Myron Mixon checks the temp on some Korean beef ribs using his probe. Click on images for a larger view

“There’s Texas style, the Carolinas, and down into Georgia and Memphis, they all have a unique style. There’s great BBQ right across the country – all different,” he said.

Myron said the BBQ movement was stronger now than ever.

“I’ve been teaching BBQ classes since 2005,” he said. “Every year, 10 to 15 of those participants come from Australia. It’s as popular here now as anywhere,” he said.

“The US has the reputation for developing and perfecting BBQ, but you have some great cooks in Australia.”

Asked about future trends, he said there was going to be more blending of different types of BBQ, from South America, Asia and elsewhere.

“We’ve already seen it in the states, where people are blending styles from different areas, or across the border into Mexico. That’s a great thing, creates a unique flavour profile.”

“Years ago, we didn’t know what a brisket was in the southern part of the US, because we traditionally cooked pork. I remember briskets on sale for 99c/lb, because nobody in Georgia knew what to do with them. Nowdays, whole briskets are US$7-$9/lb (the equivalent of $29/kg), because of the demand caused by BBQ.”

Myron Mixon and staff serve customers during the Live Fire event in Brisbane. Click on images for a larger view

Myron said Australian briskets, especially F1 Wagyu, had a tremendous reputation in the competition BBQ movement in the US.

“They perform exceptionally well, they have a lot of marbling in them. We’ve placed top five at three different contests with them recently,” he said.

At one point earlier in his career, Myron was doing 45 BBQ contests each year. Today, he does four or five each year, with his time taken up with his restaurant division, smoker equipment manufacturing division, sauce and dry rub companies and cooking schools.

At one point some years ago, there could be up to 650 teams entering a single US BBQ contest, but today numbers were more likely to be 350.

Other proteins were becoming more common in BBQ, with racks and legs of lamb being taught in Myron’s BBQ classes.

Beef Central asked how the average home pitmaster could build up knowledge about BBQ technique.

“We live in a time now where you can google or youtube anything you want to – and there is a mile of helpful content about how to improve your BBQ. Whatever style you want, there’s somebody who can show you how to run it. That way you shorten your learning curve, and don’t have any failures.”

Myron’s ‘essential’ message for novice BBQ pitmasters?

“Invest in a meat thermometer,” he said. “Trust the probe. Every type of meat that’s out there has a documented recommended internal temperature (USDA) that indicates doneness. Follow the probe, and you’ll never be over-cooked or under-cooked.”

Myron tends his gravity-fed reverse-flow charcoal smoker BBQ during the weekend event. His own design, the units are sold in Australia.

Evolution happening

Brazilian-born Adriano Andrade, who has lived in Australia for the past 20 years, in March finished runner-up in the World BBQ Championships at Dallas-Fort Worth in the grilling section. He is Australian champion in the same discipline, and has represented both Australia and Brazil at international level.

“For me, 2016 was about the starting point for the BBQ movement in Australia.”

He has specialised more recently in the open grill ‘live fire’ style, instead of the enclosed smoker style cooking method.

Brazilian-born Adriano Andrade, who has lived in Australia for the past 20 years, finished runner-up in the World BBQ Championships in Dallas-Fort Worth in March

“In Brazil, it’s all about open grilling – not the enclosed smoker style,” he said.

He says over time, the BBQ movement is evolving.

“I can see some transition happening to fusion – blending different countries’ flavours and methods with traditional BBQ – whether that be Mexican, Korean or South American influences.”

While he still competes occasionally, Adriano’s main business these days is BBQ demonstrations and cooking skills schools, run all around Australia. A regular school (Barbecue Revolution) is held in Adelaide, and others recently in Airlie Beach and Mackay, attract people from across Australia, focussing on both American BBQ and grilling styles.

“We teach everything from how the carcase is broken down and how to use each cut, right through to fire management,” he said.

“Too many people go out and pay thousands for a smoker, and a couple of hundred dollars for their first brisket, and get disappointing results. There’s so many things that can go wrong: too hot, too cool, too long, not long enough, so getting to understand technique like fire management is critical.”

Adriano recognised rising raw material costs as one of the challenges facing home pitmasters.

“That’s stimulated a trend towards BBQ methods using cheaper cuts,” he said.

“Briskets and rump caps used to be reasonably cheap, but the high demand from home BBQ followers has pushed that price much higher. This Augusta Farm shop (venue for the event) sells a lot of briskets each week. All of a sudden, brisket had its own unique value.”

“But we do a lot of American BBQ with tri-tip, flank and beef ribs (cross-sawn, rather than along the bone). We have the same technique in South America, called Asado ribs.

“I cook ribs, live-fire style, with the bone facing down towards the coals, for an hour or so. Done right, the bone becomes a heat source, cooking from the inside.”

Aussie brisket fan was an early adopter

Danielle Bennett, known to her BBQ followers as Diva Q, is a BBQ world champion and BBQ Hall of Fame member in the US. She has been competing in BBQ competitions across the US and Canada for 21 years.

She is a regular visitor to Australia (this is her ninth visit) educating home pitmasters through BBQ classes and promoting the popular Traeger grills, which use a self-loading smoker pellet system.

Danielle, pictured left, was one of the early pioneers of using Australian A5 Wagyu briskets in US competitions, at least 15 years ago.

“Wagyu was not widely known back then, but it was a great product and I had a lot of success with them,” she said.

She no longer regularly competes in BBQ contests, but travels the world teaching the skills to help home pitmasters lift their game. Having said that, she’s not long won the European BBQ Championships in Paris.

“My experiences with Australian beef have all been very positive,” she said.

“As well as the eating quality and consistency, I’m attracted to the animal husbandry practices being used here. They are very much in line with my own goals and values in the animal husbandry and welfare space.”

While worldwide, protein costs had gone up “anywhere from 20pc to 27pc” it did not appear to have diluted interest in the BBQ movement, Danielle said.

“Access to information on social media about technique and prep have only driven the interest in BBQ higher. That’s a wonderful thing, it’s diminished the learning curve substantially, and reduced barriers to entry.”

“I like to think that my job is really about turning the average home BBQ user into a BBQ rock star. We give them the skills and the tools, and provide the right equipment, and they produce great results, every time, at home.”

• Augusta Farms Peter Rutten said his Live Fire event was all about thanking customers for their support over the year, and educating the community about successful barbecuing. His retail business not only stocks a vast range of fresh meat, but is a one-stop-shop for the BBQ community retailing smokers, BBQs and pizza ovens, smoker woodchips and charcoal, dry rubs and marinades and a vast range of products useful to the pitmaster.
• Meat for the event was donated by Bindaree Beef and Parwan Prime Westside Meats out of Victoria.

Michael Failli and sons Lucas and Harry from Westside Meats’ Parwan Prime brand in Victoria donated product for the Live Fire event.

Brisbane butcher Peter Rutten hosted the Live Fire event at his enormous BBQ one-stop-shop in the Brisbane suburb of Chandler.