San Antonio barbecue duo Esaul and Grecia Ramos are bringing South Texas flavors to a national audience on Food Network’s new competition series Pitmasters.
The husband and wife, who own the two-time James Beard Award semifinalist 2M Smokehouse, 2731 S. WW White Road, will show off their live-fire skills while competing against culinary pros from around the nation for a chance to win $50,000.
Throughout the series, which premieres Monday, July 13, nine teams face a host of challenges designed to test their creativity and barbecuing talents. Further tying the show to the San Antonio area, one of the judges, Ernest Servantes, is operator of Burnt Bean Co., a highly praised barbecue purveyor in Seguin.
During an interview with the Current earlier this week, Esaul, 41, and Grecia, 39, both Southwest High School graduates, talked about what makes San Antonio barbecue unique and what they hope viewers learn about them from the show.
San Antonio’s barbecue scene is sometimes overshadowed by other Texas cities. Did you feel like you were carrying the city’s barbecue reputation on Pitmasters?
Esaul Ramos: Definitely. I wanted to go into the show and not only represent our cuisine to the best of my abilities, but our city as well. I’m born and raised in San Antonio, so I have a lot of pride when it comes to my city. I think what makes San Antonio barbecue a little more unique is everything from the wood to the ingredients we use. We bring in a lot of those Hispanic flavors into what we do. It’s what differentiates us from cities like Houston and Austin.
How did you use your relationship as husband and wife as an advantage on the show?
Esaul: I didn’t have to worry about how to work with somebody who I’ve never worked with before because it’s what we do on a day-to-day basis. She knows how I work, and I know how she works. She knows that I’ll take the lead, and she’ll be my sous. And if she needs to take the lead, I’ll be her sous. We never forget that we are spouses and teammates because it’s what we do every day.
Grecia Ramos: It was just another day for us, to be honest. We both came with a different set of skills, so it was nice to showcase both while we were there.
What was it like knowing you’d be introducing yourselves to a national TV audience?
Grecia: It was a little nerve-wracking for me.
Esaul: I’m just excited. I’m not nervous about it. I just hope people like what we did. Either way, I’m happy about how it all went down.
What do you think gave you the biggest edge in the competition?
Esaul:For us, it boiled down to creativity. The things that we did and how we did them — certain styles of cooking and using certain proteins. I think it’ll wow some people, for sure.
What do you hope audiences learn about you when they see the show?
Grecia: The people who know us know how good we are together, but I don’t think that they’ve ever truly experienced how great we work together. They’ve been able to experience us while we’re hanging out with people. They’ve been able to see the menus and taste the delicious things that we come up with, but I feel like this is going to really showcase us in our relationship and our team dynamic.
I saw that you have some competition from another Texan, Al Frugoni from Boerne. Did you know him before the show?
Esaul: Yeah, we saw him walk in and we were like, “Well, this is his playground.” Every competitor brought their set of skills. Everybody has a specialty in something. It was cool to have another Texas person there who specializes in a lot of the stuff that we’re going to be doing in terms of live-fire [cooking]. It was really neat watching him work in an environment he’s accustomed to.
What are your favorite side dishes at a barbecue?
Esaul: I’m super simple. I love a really good potato salad and beans. I love the sweetness of baked beans. Out of our comfort zone, maybe a good corn pudding.
Grecia: I’m even simpler than that. I just like borracho beans with some really good rice — and pico de gallo on the side.
What is the biggest barbecue myth that you wish you would never hear again?
Esaul: “If you’re lookin’, you ain’t cookin’.” I’m not saying you need to open your pit every 10 minutes, but you also don’t need to be not opening your pit for so many hours on end either. You have to open it up and check what’s going on with your meat. You have to smell if it’s cooking too much. You have to see if it’s getting crispy and see if you have to rotate it.
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