HOUSTON, Texas – When you think of Texas BBQ, you often think of those local, western cowboys cooking up some of the best, mouthwatering meat.
At the RODEOHOUSTON World’s Championship BBQ Cookoff, there’s a lot of that. Roughly 250 different cooking teams to be exact. But there are also a select set of chefs that travelled across the globe to be in Houston this weekend for their chance to be crowned best BBQ.
About 10 international teams from as far as Australia are injecting their country’s culinary cuisine into the BBQ. It’s like a clash of Texas BBQ and a world of flavor.
The teams are from countries like Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Sweden and more.
“The brisket is the queen, is the king, Is everything in Texas barbecue,” said Bruce Salomon, who’s representing Brazil with his company Braza-B-Que. “And look at this brisket in. Beautiful. It’s amazing.”
His teams spent hours trimming and cutting their brisket, valued at roughly $400, for Saturday’s main competition.
“In Brazil, we like beef flavor. So we only cook with salt. We don’t use rubs,” Salomon said.
Across the walkway is Morgan Lundin, who’s representing Sweden and his company Lingon & Dill BBQ.
“The town I’m from, there so proud that we’re here,” he said. “The whole village that I’m from there cheering now and they follow us on Facebook like ‘Yeah, go and get him.’”
His team is getting their chicken ready for competition on Saturday. Sweden is competing in all three categories: ribs, brisket and chicken.
Also in the international section is a group from the land down under: Australia.
“If I’m being honest, I would probably tear up a little bit. It would mean been a lot, man. Like, you know. It’s a lot of coming over here and traveling so far,” Daniel Barrett of Big Smoke BBQ said.
It’s a big deal for all of the teams here, but it means that much more for those that are traversing the globe. Barrett didn’t just pack a suitcase, but actually shipped his brisket from Australia to smoke and present to the judges.
“When we first come over we’re really nervous. You know, are our flavor is going to carry over? But we try not to change too much. You know what we do back home that worked for us. We can. I really do our thing. And everyone who does the their own thing has their own little twist on their own little flavors.”
Each of the teams say they have drawn inspiration for their BBQ from the American BBQ, including crews from the Texas area.
The main competition for the World’s Championship BBQ Cookoff will take place on Saturday. Gates will be open from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m.