Navarro High School barbecue team serves up winning meals

High school BBQ team serves up winning meals

Members of the Navarro High School FFA Competition Barbecue Team served up some winning meals at Austin ISD headquarters. The team competed at the National High School Barbecuing Championship last month in Hutto.

AUSTIN, Texas - A food truck at Austin ISD headquarters served up several pulled pork barbecue lunch plates.

The lunch was cooked up by members of the Navarro High School FFA Competition Barbecue Team. Among those in line was Chris Sanchez.

"It's just really authentic, you know? They do a great smoking job," said Sanchez.

Lunch came with banana pudding made by Serrano. She's starting her senior year on the team. During a break, Serrano explained why she decided to be part of the program.

"I saw it and I thought it was cool. So I got involved. I started going to practices and I learned how to make ribs, so I got in the team," said Serrano.

Temple High School pitmasters win second in competition

The Temple High School barbecue pitmasters are reserve champions, which is second overall, and it was quite an accomplishment for a team that's only a year old.

The team is pretty special. Earlier this year they were Regional grand champions. They won fourth place at State competition, and finished 10th in Nationals.

"So we've really developed a chicken recipe that seems to do really, really well," said Team Coach Tracey Cortez.

The goal, according to Cortez, is not limited to learning how to cook.

"My goal is to make every kid a winner when they leave our program, that they've won something, whether it's to barbecue, whether they're on a judging team, whether they do a welding competition. You know, that's kind of the feather in the cap, because I want every kid to feel like they've accomplished something while they're in high school," said Cortez.

Navarro High School is one of two Austin ISD FFA Barbecue teams. Travis High School is the other. Cortez believes his rolling pit called "El Jeffe Grande" and the program can help keep kids in school.

"It makes a difference because we're teaching like a lifelong skill. I mean, everybody needs to learn how to cook. And so we're teaching kids how to cook. And my hope is, once they leave there that they're still cooking. And they were, you know, another group of kids that maybe doesn't want to do sports, maybe has other aspirations, and it just provides every kid an opportunity to do something, you know, outside the box and something that they may be passionate about," said Cortez.

Able Bautista is the newest team member.

"I wanted to find something to do at my school, since I was very limited to do stuff because of band. I do mainly track and cross-country running. I joined because my dad's a cook, and that barbecue team really caught my attention," said Bautista.

With the new school year approaching, the team is hoping to serve up another championship run. The team from Navarro was one of eight Texas high school teams that made the top 10 at national's this year. Temple High School came in second.

The national championship will be held in Missouri next year.