Memphis-style barbecue pitmasters battle on Food Network's 'Chopped'

Memphis-style barbecue will take over the popular Food Network show "Chopped" on Tuesday.

This summer, Chopped has brought back its popular Grill Masters tournament, but this year there's a barbecue twist. The show assembled a lineup of grill masters from four popular barbecue regions across the country: Kansas City, North Carolina, Texas and, of course, Memphis.

“This season of 'Chopped Grill Masters' is more competitive than ever before,” said Courtney White, general manager and executive vice president of programming for the Food Network and HGTV. “With a national stage, it isn’t just local bragging rights at stake, the chefs need to also bring their absolute best to the Chopped kitchen if they want to win, not only for themselves, but for their home state.” 

Meet the contestants

Not all the contestants are actually Memphians, but all have a passion for Memphis' signature style of barbecue.

Ernie Mellor has been cooking Memphis-style barbecue since he was a teen.

“In ninth grade, my friends and I started barbecuing in the backyard,” Mellor said. “It started off with us grilling wild game, but one day we started cooking pork shoulders and I have been doing it ever since.”

He started competing in competition barbecue and, in 1986, took part in his first Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in the shoulder division, something he has done every year since. In 1987, he opened Hog Wild – Real Memphis Barbecue catering company, and then 10 years later, added a fine dining side to his offerings with the addition of a Moveable Feast Catering. Over the years, he has received numerous accolades for his barbecue and has placed second in the shoulder division of Memphis in May three times.

The other Memphian competing on Tuesday’s show is Walter Crutchfield Jr., the owner and pitmaster of Crutchfield’s Bar-B-Q in North Memphis.

"Eight years ago, I started catering and had a food truck,” Crutchfield said. “Two years ago we decided to open a physical location.”

He started smoking meats about 13 years ago with a friend. They would play around with different woods, and barbecuing soon became a passion that turned into a new career.

“I hand-built a brick smoker in the restaurant, and we use hickory wood,” Crutchfield said. “Everything is cooked in the smoker except for a few of the sides.”

Ribs and pulled pork are popular items on his menu, but smoked wings tossed in his signature dry rub are a must-order according to his fans.

Claire Campbell has grown up in the world of competition barbecue. When she was 3 years old, her family started bringing her along when their barbecue team competed.

“I first started out just setting up chairs for judging,” she said. “And I eventually worked my way up to cooking whole hogs.”

Now 25, she is quick to point out not to judge a book by its cover.

“I have been in the world of barbecue for over 20 years so I have more experience than most people older than me, as they probably didn’t start until later in life," she said.

Campbell spends her days working in cooking and nutrition education. In her free time, she competes on the Yazoo City, Mississippi-based Ubons BBQ team, which recently won sixth place overall at the Memphis in May contest.

The final contestant isn’t from Memphis, or the South. Originally from Compton California, Melvin “Boots” Johnson is the executive chef at Queens, New York, barbecue destination Queens Bully.

“When I was 14, my parents opened a barbecue shop in Compton. They had learned how to barbecue Memphis-style from a friend we called Mr. Jimmy,” Johnson said.

After growing up in the family restaurant, Johnson went on to cook in Vegas before ending up in New York.

“I am a boy from LA who came to New York City, and I cook Memphis-style barbecue in Queens,” he said.

Johnson has never competed in the competition barbecue circuit, but he said he works every day in his restaurant kitchen as a “labor of love.”

Known for his ribs and pulled pork, Johnson -- or Boots as he has been called since childhood -- serves up four different styles of sauce (two of which are Memphis-style) at his Queens restaurant.

Meet the judge  

As always, there are several judges on "Chopped." For this segment, Food Network asked Memphis-based Melissa Cookston to be on the panel. Known as the “winningest woman in competition barbecue,” the seven-time world barbecue champion owns and operates several restaurants including Memphis Barbecue Co. in Horn Lake.

“I am honored to have been selected as a special guest judge for the Food Network’s new season of 'Chopped Grill Masters,'” Cookston said. “Memphis-style cooking has a full-flavored profile, and I’m excited to represent our unique cuisine as a judge that’s sweet with a little heat.”

Cookston had not met the contestants before, so she was able to stay unbiased.  

“I always want to make sure that I give the competitors a fair assessment, that I ‘get it right.’ It's much more stressful judging than competing," she said. "The competitors throw themselves into each dish. I know what that is like and I want to make sure that I'm accurately judging that dish and giving them the best score that I possibly can. Therefore, I'm an easy judge, but don't tell anybody.”

For Cookston, taste is the most important judging factor.

“I can overlook garnish if the flavor is fabulous, then texture. I'm a 'texture eater.' Most foods that I turn down are due to texture," she said. "For this episode of 'Chopped,' Memphis-inspired was important to me. I really wanted to have a taste of home. For me, Memphis-style barbecue is the best in the world, and I'm proud of our barbecue. I wanted these chefs to bring that to the judging table.” 

Preparing to compete

Contestants can’t talk about the actual competition or what crazy ingredients were inside their baskets. But they were happy to share how they prepared.

Mellor spent some time in the kitchen practicing various cooking techniques, including making his signature dry rub and sauce. Since his Hog Wild Killa Wet Sauce and Special Dry Sauce have been made commercially for years, Mellor needed some practice.

“With the time limits, I knew I had to be able to make my dry rub quickly," he said. "With 17 herbs and spices, even the 2½ minutes I got it down to still took a lot of time off the clock.”

With a mischievous grin, Mellor said he discovered a short-cut to making his rub during the 10 minutes the contestants had to familiarize themselves with the pantry prior to the first round. Mellor and his staff also created flash cards with various ingredients and would brainstorm off-the-wall preparation ideas.

Crutchfield spent the weekends leading up to the competition practicing.

“Every Sunday and Monday, my wife would put together a mystery basket for me, making sure to include items I had never grilled before,” he said. “It was like we had our own make-shift competition.”

Crutchfield also knew he had to change his cooking style.

“I knew we would not have a smoker like I was accustomed to,” he said. “In a smoker, you have heat on all sides of the meat. On a grill top, like they have at the set, we would be cooking the meat on all sides in separate steps.”

“You try to go to someone else’s kitchen with cameras in your face and cook the best meal of your life,” Campbell joked of the experience.

When planning her strategy, she knew she’d have to adapt to using just a stove-top grill.

“Trying to pull out Memphis flavors and styles without a flame or smoke is like taking everything you would expect and turning it upside down,” she said. 

Campbell thinks her day job is the perfect preparation for a competition like this.

“As a teacher, every day I have to teach a lesson and a dish to my students in a 20-minute window," she said. "Plus with kids, something unexpected always happens.”

Johnson spent hours in the kitchen getting ready as well.

“I played around with a lot of different flavors and layering those flavors,” he said.

To channel his Memphis-style flavors, he planned a spice mix recipe for every stage.

“Be confident with what you can make in your head” is his advice to future contestants. “Whatever you see on TV, that’s what it is,” Johnson said. “When they say go, you go. You have to be on your game.”

The segment airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on Food Network. The winner will move on to the finals to battle it out for the $50,000 grand prize. The winner from each regional heat will go on to compete in the finale at 8 p.m. Aug. 28.