BBQ Pitmasters reruns/Paul Petersen

Not much to be found about him after 2013 searching the web. His website no longer works, Facebook/Twitter accounts are inactive.

So, not quite sure.

There is a channel on Youtube about the Austin Food Scene. He was one of the "experts" for the episodes about BBQ Restaurants. I can't seach up the videos because I'm at work. **EDIT: I checked on my phone and I believe the channel is called Texas Food Crawlers. He was on several of the episodes. They were released in 2013**

He is also a chef that has worked at several restaurants since BBQ Pitmasters.
http://www.austin360.com/news/enter...n-returns-to-central-texas-with-tex--2/nRzSP/

When I watched BBQ Pitmasters he always came across as a young chef. Someone that needed to self edit when cooking, used too many ingredients/flavors vs allowing the few ingredients to stand on their own.

After googling his name, I think that my take might be right. In this interview with DivaQ in Dec 2009 his bio includes. http://divaq.ca/tlc-bbq-pitmasters-interview-with-paul-petersen/

CIA Trained in Hyde Park, NY
Nominated for a James Beard award
Listed Esquires Top 100 1997 (#34)
Tobascos Chef of the Year in 1998
Ran mulitple successful restaurants

During the show he was running 2 restaurants, which probably was one of the reasons why he was tired and fell asleep and allowed his fire to go out.

Even though he had a bad showing in BBQ Pitmasters, he was a successful chef before hand and afterwards.

Thats the feller that Johnny Trigg took under his wing and taught him some stuff and Myron got all arrogant about it. Then the kid turned his back on what Johnny taught him and once again did it his own way and finished all but dead last as usual.

I have saw him on a couple shows since talking BBQ and his restaurants he works / worked in.


On a side note, if Johnny Trigg taught me anything, I would tattoo them notes to my forearms for safe keeping. Exaggeration factor included here I'm sure. :wink:

DjPorkchop said:

Thats the feller that Johnny Trigg took under his wing and taught him some stuff and Myron got all arrogant about it. Then the kid turned his back on what Johnny taught him and once again did it his own way and finished all but dead last as usual.

I have saw him on a couple shows since talking BBQ and his restaurants he works / worked in.


On a side note, if Johnny Trigg taught me anything, I would tattoo them notes to my forearms for safe keeping. Exaggeration factor included here I'm sure. :wink:

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Yep. His stupid cherry rub. I never liked him. Arrogant. Like you said, if Trigg taught me one on one ESPECIALLY for free I wouldn't change a thing.

JimmyR1Rider said:

Yep. His stupid cherry rub. I never liked him. Arrogant. Like you said, if Trigg taught me one on one ESPECIALLY for free I wouldn't change a thing.

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I hate to sound like a D-Bag, but I have to stand up for Paul.

Most Chefs learn will learn the techniques, but always strive to make something their own. Paul Petersen is/was a highly rated chef that makes a living off of bbqing and grilling, and not just a backyard bbq'er taking 1 mans word as gospel.

Didn't he invent the cupcake chicken method? LOL

aawa said:

I hate to sound like a D-Bag, but I have to stand up for Paul.

Most Chefs learn will learn the techniques, but always strive to make something their own. Paul Petersen is/was a highly rated chef that makes a living off of bbqing and grilling, and not just a backyard bbq'er taking 1 mans word as gospel.

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You don't sound like a d bag. He just bothered me that he came in basically talking down about that bbq isn't complicated and there's no science behind it and saying how hard can it be? Then he got his butt handed to him so bad for long enough that trigg felt bad for him to the point of helping him. Guess he found out.

I was raised to respect those that have been in the field longer than I.

In the Army we had a saying- you don't have to like the man, but you respect his rank and time in service. I'd like to get into comps some day and I will never be anything but humble and respectful of the teams that have had their blood, sweat and tears into it already.

I am glad he didn't get beat up so bad after trigg helped him though.

JimmyR1Rider said:

You don't sound like a d bag. He just bothered me that he came in basically talking down about that bbq isn't complicated and there's no science behind it and saying how hard can it be? Then he got his butt handed to him so bad for long enough that trigg felt bad for him to the point of helping him. Guess he found out.

I was raised to respect those that have been in the field longer than I.

In the Army we had a saying- you don't have to like the man, but you respect his rank and time in service. I'd like to get into comps some day and I will never be anything but humble and respectful of the teams that have had their blood, sweat and tears into it already.

I am glad he didn't get beat up so bad after trigg helped him though.

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BBQ definitely isn't rocket science. But Competition Cooking is a different beast than regular cooking. He was humble when learning from Johnny Trig, if I remember correctly he did a few racks of ribs, Trig style and a few with ihs Cherry rub and he ended up using the Trig Style ribs.

I think his brash attitude did turn a lot of people off. He thought he would crush the competition circuit since he was a professional chef and didn't know what he was getting himself into and floundered miserably. Luckily he did learn some from Johnny Trig and his scores improved.

aawa said:

if I remember correctly he did a few racks of ribs, Trig style and a few with his Cherry rub and he ended up using the Trig Style ribs.

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Yep, that's what I remember too.

True it's not at all. Like you said he thought he was going to crush everyone. Just left a bad taste with me is all. I'm tough, once someone comes off like that that's somebody that I stay on the opposite end of the bar from.

JimmyR1Rider said:

True it's not at all. Like you said he thought he was going to crush everyone. Just left a bad taste with me is all. I'm tough, once someone comes off like that that's somebody that I stay on the opposite end of the bar from.

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I would have to gather if most people here had a film crew capture their words all day long, including interviews where they ask goading questions where they tell you to "overly state your opinion" that they could edit the days worth of film to put things together to make you look in a light that might not be true to real life.

I liked Paul. He didn't quite get the competition stuff, but the producers had to push the angle of the noob who knows how to cook and has a little flair. I've been at a couple of competitions where they were filming pitmasters at the location and if you saw how the production crews ran things, including having multiple scenarios shot multiple times then you wouldn't think the same way........or maybe you still would

Jason TQ said:

I would have to gather if most people here had a film crew capture their words all day long, including interviews where they ask goading questions where they tell you to "overly state your opinion" that they could edit the days worth of film to put things together to make you look in a light that might not be true to real life.

I liked Paul. He didn't quite get the competition stuff, but the producers had to push the angle of the noob who knows how to cook and has a little flair. I've been at a couple of competitions where they were filming pitmasters at the location and if you saw how the production crews ran things, including having multiple scenarios shot multiple times then you wouldn't think the same way........or maybe you still would

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I hear ya. I've been on sets when I was still on the FDNY when they needed and engine on standby. I've seen how they work it.

If they wanted me to say some of the stuff he did I believe it or not wouldn't be on the show. My reputation is golden to me above all else. I will never say anything, especially if it would be on national tv that I wouldn't be proud to be known for stating.

Like I said, I just had a bad taste is all.

JimmyR1Rider said:

I hear ya. I've been on sets when I was still on the FDNY when they needed and engine on standby. I've seen how they work it.

If they wanted me to say some of the stuff he did I believe it or not wouldn't be on the show. My reputation is golden to me above all else. I will never say anything, especially if it would be on national tv that I wouldn't be proud to be known for stating.

Like I said, I just had a bad taste is all.

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Ya I totally get what you are saying. But even things said with good intentions can get spun around with editing. I just wish they'd go back to that 1st season structure, but know it cost way to much.

I agree on the editing it can and does happen daily in the life if TV. The few shows I saw him on after BBQ Pitmasters he was a pretty decent sounding guy that knew what time of day it was.

I talked to the locals. Some say he's still sleeping...

Seriously though, he was playing a role for a TV show. I'm sure his BBQ is just fine. The whole "ignoring Trigg" and "stealing Mixons idea" was just scripted entertainment. If you are a new guy to a comp, you're not going to have Trigg talking in one of your ears and Mixon in the other. It was a script for entertainment. And it was funny.

I can't find any info on the guy. Last place I see he worked was Vivo in Austin in 2013. Maybe he got burned out and quit the chef thing, who knows.