Monk: In a bit of a change of pace, I’m going to try my hand at TV recapping for the second season of BBQ Brawl, which airs for *checks notes* 10 episodes *gulp* on Monday nights at 9pm ET on Food Network. 10 episodes? Well let’s see how this goes…

As it goes this season, the loser of last week’s challenge gets to pick the first challenge, and Eddie goes with “Good for You ‘Cue” for a healthier kind of barbecue with the twist of just the captains cooking this week to gain their team a potential advantage in the Team Brawl. And it seems that Eddie is still a bit salty with his favorite chef Max going home last week. I wonder how Christopher feels about that or if he is even aware. I also have to say, it seems a bit early for the contestants to get to take a challenge off.

Bobby wins the challenge with his charred eggplant and grilled shrimp over Eddie’s steak salad and Michael’s grilled halibut. That earns him the advantage of Rodney Scott starting his team’s campfire in the “Campfire Feast” before the timer starts, essentially giving his team a solid 10-15 minute head start. With a fire master like Rodney taking care of that piece (even utilizing bacon fat to get it started), the team can focus on meal planning while the other teams have to play catch up.

Terry gives his team a scare with his fire-tending skills but ultimately gets his sliced brisket seared so he can grind for for his barbecue beans in addition to barbecue chicken. Brendan is making a classic hot guts sausage while Erica decides to do a Mexican corn salad, and pastry chef Taylor takes on dessert in the form of a corn layer cake with blueberry compote. Ultimately, the barbecue beans are scrapped when the texture gets too mushy and Bobby nixes it in favor of some last minute rosemary potatoes which he referred to as “recovery potatoes” during judging, much too Bobby’s dismay.

For Team Eddie, Christopher takes campfire chili made with short rib even though Lu was hoping to be able to make chili and is apparently “very, very good at it.” Instead, she takes jalapeno poppers and Mexican street corn while Megan takes a Dutch baby dessert which is cross between a crepe and a pancake.

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The disaster for Christopher that was previewed last week comes when his pot falls into the fire when the rocks apparently shifted but lucky for him his campfire chili avoids falling completely into the fire. Still, not ideal and could play a part in the judging.

Team Michael has Brittani making lump crab and corn fritters while Ara and David tackle a chuck roast and bone-in pork chops and Ara makes a smoked blueberry panna cotta for dessert. Brittani comments to the camera about having to step back to men in this industry, but gets her revenge during judging where she gets “bite of the day” for her crab and corn fritters, and ultimately lifts Team Michael to be the first safe team of the day.

Between the other teams, Team Bobby narrowly edges out Team Eddie in what the judges say was the toughest decision yet. Bobby once again avoids the bottom.

Team Eddie joins the judges in their “Barbecutie Clubhouse” yet again this week. The Mexican street corn and the jalapeno poppers from Lu are called out as favorites, so it comes down to Christopher’s burnt-ish tasting chili and Megan’s Dutch baby that wasn’t quite the right texture. In the end, Megan goes home which she half expects after her her team lands in the bottom.

Bells for Megan, yet another cooking show contestant who “takes one for the team” and ends up going home for a dessert she didn’t want to make.

Christopher Prieto Watch: Christopher narrowly avoids going home for his short rib chili which had a slight burnt taste. He continues to be confident but after a big first impression in the premiere, Christopher has been humbled a little bit the past two episodes. Team Eddie is down to just two contestants, so he and Lu will surely be busy for next week’s tailgate challenge.

What was your favorite part of episode 3 of BBQ Brawl season 2? Leave your response in the comments and be sure to check back next week for a recap of episode 4.

Monk: In a bit of a change of pace, I’m going to try my hand at TV recapping for the second season of BBQ Brawl, which airs for *checks notes* 10 episodes *gulp* on Monday nights at 9pm ET on Food Network. 10 episodes? Well let’s see how this goes…

This week, since Symon’s team was on the bottom in the super-sized premiere episode, he gets to choose the first challenge this week, so he chooses to go with “Pork and Cabbage.” Each contestant gets to choose what that means to her or him as long as there is a personal connection.

Christopher Prieto, the lone NC contestant, goes with a kielbasa sausage with a German slaw that the judges find just alright but slightly underwhelming while the other contestants go with various pork proteins in the form of sausages, pork steaks, pork belly, ground pork, and pork tenderloins. I would think pork steak would have been a great call in such a short amount of time but the judges didn’t call out that dish from David.

In the end, Taylor’s meatloaf from Team Bobby, Brittani’s kielbasa from Team Michael, and Max’s jerk pork from Team Eddie are the three winners from the respective teams, with Max taking home the top prize and getting Team Eddie a second win and an advantage in the Team Brawl, a “BBQ dessert bar.” That advantage ends up being baking equipment that only they can use in the challenge while other teams have to use manual labor.

Team Eddie not only has the equipment but also collectively seem to tie their dessert dishes together the best in the conception stage through the use of booze in each dessert while Team Michael goes with “sauces” and Team Bobby going with “nostalgia.” Despite not winning the first challenge, Team Bobby actually turns out to have an advantage of their own, since Taylor is a classically-trained pastry chef and is also able to help her fellow teammates as they encounter various challenges.

Speaking of challenges, as the 90 minutes chugs along Team Michael hasn’t actually been able to make any of their sauces due to their various issues with Brittani’s sweet potato fritters not forming together initially, Michael’s pudding not setting, and David’s gooey butter cake not cooking all the way through. Only Ara seems to have it together with his blueberry tart, but the sauce theme is scrapped.

For Team Eddie’s “Booze Cruise” theme, each contestant has some issues with his or her dish according to the judges: Meagan’s tart shells are raw, Christopher’s smoked peach cobbler doesn’t have a ton of smoke, Max’s smoked and flambeed plantains (over of three dishes he makes) are not quite cooked all the way through, and Lu’s smoked Kahlua chocolate drinking dessert could have been colder.

Team Bobby’s “Nostalgic American Desserts” does predictably better in terms of nitpicks, with no major dings for Bobby’s blackberry shortcake, Brendan’s monkey bread, Erica’s bananas foster, Terry’s smoked peach and blueberry cobbler, and Taylor’s chocolate torte.

Finally, turns out the disastrous cook for Team Michael’s “Hometown Flavors” doesn’t spell immediate doom for the end result. Michael’s chocolate and banana parfait comes together at the end, David is able to salvage the mostly cooked-through corners of his gooey butter cake, Ara’s smoked blueberry tart has a crispy graham cracker crust, and Brittani’s marshmallow stuffed sweet potato fritter is fun even if the marshmallow in the dish name dissolved in the fritter.

For the results of the Team Brawl, Team Michael actually gets named the first safe team much to their relief after finishing on the bottom last week. Team Bobby again is safe, so that leads to Team Eddie on the bottom after winning last week and acting a little cocky. Max’s lack of focus in making three desserts is his downfall, and he heads home after Eddie declaring him a frontrunner earlier in the episode. Classic cooking competition mistake: focus on one good dish instead of making multiple mediocre ones.

Bells for Max, the king of carribean flavors.

Christopher Prieto Watch: Christopher floats in the middle of the pack this week and while his team is on the bottom he doesn’t make any critical mistakes that lead to his exit. Next week looks like he may have some issues with cooking over a campfire so I look forward to seeing if and how he gets through it.

What was your favorite part of episode 2 of BBQ Brawl season 2? Leave your response in the comments and be sure to check back next week for a recap of episode 3.

Monk: In a bit of a change of pace, I’m going to try my hand at TV recapping for the second season of BBQ Brawl, which airs for *checks notes* 10 episodes *gulp* on Monday nights at 9pm ET on Food Network. 10 episodes? Well let’s see how this goes…

For the second season of BBQ Brawl, Eddie Jackson joins Bobby Flay and Michael Symon at Star Hill Ranch outside of Austin and the number of contestants is increased from 8 to 12. The winner of BBQ Brawl season 2 will win a featured role on Food Network Digital and the title of “Master of Cue.” And in addition to the increased contestant pool, the premiere entitled “Introduce Your ‘Cue” is super-sized at an hour-and-a-half.

After a little bit of banter between the captains, (particularly Bobby Flay who “won” season 1 through Leanne Whippen), we begin to meet the contestants.

Christopher Prieto, owner and pitmaster at Prime Barbecue in Knightdale, is actually the first pitmaster introduced to the audience and is later described as Symon as “very confident, maybe on the edge of arrogant…may not be a bad thing.” He proudly claims the title of “BBQ Nerd” and isn’t afraid to throw science into his vernacular when describing his dishes.

The rest of the contestants are as follows:

• Brittani Bo Baker – Bubba’s Q Food Trucks, Tampa, FL
• Megan Day – Burnt Finger BBQ, Lee’s Summit, MO
• Christina Fitzgerald – Sugarfire Smoke House, St. Louis, MO
• Max Hardy – River Bistro, Coop Detroit, Detroit, MI
• Lu Holter – Croix Valley Foods, Hudson, WI
• Brendan Lamb – Smiley’s Craft Barbecue, Roanoke, TX
• Ara Malekian – Harlem Road Texas BBQ, Richmond, TX
• Terry Matthews – BBQ Daddy Catering, Phoenix, AZ
• Erica Blaire Roby – Blue Smoke Blaire BBQ, Dayton, OH
• David Sandusky – Beast Craft BBQ Restaurants, St. Louis, MO
• Taylor Carroll – Southern Belle BBQ, Atlanta, GA

The show joins the contestants in the middle of their first challenge, which is to create their best barbecue bite in 30 minutes. Then, the judges taste each dish then go through a draft of the contestants, schoolyard style. Eddie gets to pick first as the newest captain, and he actually selects Christopher Prieto. Prieto doesn’t seem phased by being picked first, even as the first pick last season ended up being the first eliminated. The rest of the draft shakes out as follows:

Team Eddie	Team Bobby	Team Michael
David Sandusky Christina Fitzgerald Brittani Bo Baker Ara Malekian	Taylor Carroll Erica Blaire Roby Terry Matthews Brendan Lamb	Christopher Prieto Max Hardy Megan Day Lu Holter

After the teams are formed, the judges are introduced and they are no slouch. The first one introduced is actually Rodney Scott! I had somehow missed that he was involved in season 2, and its a welcome surprise. Then its Top Chef: Charleston winner Brooke Williamson, yet another great judge. Finally, Carson Kressley of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame is introduced as the last judge, completing quite the panel. Carson then introduces the first team brawl as a “First Impression BBQ Feast.” No rules, no limitations, just make the best meal possible. Each of the captains join the team and they start meal planning for the 1.5 hour cook.

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Team Bobby makes an “Ode to Texas BBQ” focused around ribeye steaks with collard greens, sweet potato hash, smoked jalapeno creamed corn, and smoked cornbread.

Team Eddie made a “Backyard Feast” with Christopher taking the lead on the proteins in filet tenderloin and chicken thighs with sides of “cola slaw” made with soda, bacon-wrapped green beans, and a lightly smoked mac and cheese.

Team Michael finishes up with an “International BBQ Feast” with smoked chicken over an eggplant puree, smoked eggplant, smoked then fried cauliflower, and a smoked apple rosemary crumble.

Team Eddie and Team Bobby are announced as safe, with Team Michael predictably landing on the bottom based on the judge’s reaction. David’s cauliflower and Christina’s eggplant puree are the two weakest dishes and one of those two is going home. Christina goes home for her lacking eggplant puree, which she wasn’t super happy about having to cook in the first place. She seems to have some pretty impressive credentials so it would have been nice to see her cook more meat. Bells for Christina Fitzgerald.

As for the rest of the season of BBQ Brawl, the production values seem higher in season 2 and hopefully they will have more traditional barbecue challenges in addition to live-fire grilling (though I get the logistical challenges with filming a 10-12 hour or more cook). I’m also liking the judges for the season, and Carson Kressley adds a bit of levity to counteract the more serious cooking critiques from Rodney Scott and Brooke Williamson.

I’ll be following the progress of Prieto, as he is the only contestant with NC ties plus I’m curious: will his confidence take him to the title of “Master of Cue” or will it end up tripping him up along the way? I can’t wait to find out.

What was your favorite part of the premiere episode of BBQ Brawl season 2? Leave your response in the comments and be sure to check back next week for a recap of episode 2.