College of Agriculture and Life Science faculty and students provided answers, advice, tips and techniques as part of the Texas A&M BBQ Genius Counter at the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival
Faculty and students from the Texas A&M College of Agriculture & Life Sciences were on hand at the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival in Austin, Texas to offer BBQ advice, answers, tips and techniques as part of the “Texas A&M BBQ Genius counter.”
Meat Science professor Dr. Jeff Savell, associate professor and extension specialist Dr. Davey Griffin, and Rosenthal Meat Center manager Ray Riley were joined by their UGST 181 – Texas BBQ class teaching assistants and several “super sophomores” and spent the day fielding questions from attendees and pitmasters alike.
With 22 of Texas Monthly’s top 50 BBQ restaurants at the festival, Savell and the rest of the BBQ Genius team also took time to talk to many of the individual pitmasters and proprietors discussing preparation, meat selection and more. “Barbecue lovers are inquisitive by nature, and the opportunity to provide answers to their “how” and “why” questions was very rewarding,” said Savell. “As a meat scientist and a barbecue enthusiast myself, this was the perfect venue to interact with thousands of folks who love Texas barbecue.”
Texas Monthly also took note of the Texas A&M presence with both Dr. Griffin and “Super Sophomore” Taylor Adcock spending considerable time discussing briskets and BBQ with Food Critic Patricia Sharpe, even ending up in her “Festival Quotes” post on her “Eat My Words” blog. With Texas Monthly‘s A&M/Longhorn issue on newsstands, they even used a photo of students working the Genius Counter on Twitter:
This was tweeted along with a photo of students at the BBQ Genius counter
The cadre of Aggies provided the festival a swath of maroon, but the festival provided them the perfect opportunity to share their love and knowledge of Texas BBQ. “Getting students involved in programs such as this greatly enhances the educational process and allows them to put what they learned in the classroom into practice,” said Savell.
