Costco Connection | July | Cover Story | Bringing The Heat
Melissa Cookston is the first woman inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame.
© Jay Adkins
Bringing the heat
Barbecue season is in full swing, with friends and family enjoying delicious grilled food. In the male-dominated field of competitive pitmasters, these five female barbecue superstars are firing it up, winning on the circuit and being crowned champions on television while reimagining the ways we love to grill.
Costco members Maddie and Kiki Longo (maddieandkiki.com) spent their childhoods in Oshawa, Ontario, watching their mother, Gina, barbecuing. “We grew up thinking women rocked the grill,” says Maddie. The sisters, who co-host a weekly YouTube barbecue cooking show, are accustomed to being the only women at barbecue events. “We get comments like ‘Look at these girls standing with their husbands’ barbecues,’ ” says Kiki.
Costco member Brooke Lewis (@brookeo lewis), who co-owns The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint (theshedbbq.com) in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, with her brother, Brad Orrison, has also raised eyebrows on the competition circuit over the past 17 years.
“We were raised in a family of foodies, breaking brisket versus bread around the dinner table. When we first started hovering over the grills doing a cook, it was very male-driven, and people said, ‘There’s Brad. Oh, and his sister’s here, helping,’ ” recalls Lewis. “But that has changed; every year, there are more and more women in this field, and they’re killing it.
“I love the process of fast and fiery direct cooking over wood or coal, or slow and low smoking. Since pork is king in Mississippi, our baby back ribs are our labor of love,” notes Lewis, who also teaches barbecue classes and helps charities like Operation BBQ Relief, which feeds first responders and communities in times of need.
Left to Right: Brooke Lewis holds pulled pork at The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint, which she co-owns; Maddie and Kiki Longo inside their barbecue teaching facility; Jo Notkin holding a baking sheet of graham crackers.
courtesy @theshedbbq; © GUY LONGO; © COURTESY OF JO NOTKIN
A self-described competition junkie, Costco member Melissa Cookston (melissacookston.com) started grilling in the early 1990s when her future husband, Pete, took her to a barbecue contest. Since leaving her corporate restaurant gig in 2007 to compete full time, Cookston has won seven world championships.
“I think I was just accepted by the guys because I never asked for help,” says Cookston, the author of two cookbooks, with a third on the way. “I like winning; you have to be lucky and persistent to get the times and temperatures just right. And a lot of that comes from experience.”
Cookston launched Memphis Barbecue Co. with Pete in Horn Lake, Mississippi, in 2011, and opened a second location in Dunwoody, Georgia. In 2017, she became the first woman inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame.
“I liken cooking a whole hog for 24 hours to a dance: Sometimes it’s a salsa and sometimes it’s a waltz,” she says. “You have to be passionate about what you’re doing to stay up and cook 24 hours. It’s not so much about the end product, but the entire process of getting it there.”
Kiki, who follows a gluten-free and vegan diet, notes that many female pitmasters think beyond throwing meat on the barbecue. She loves grilling smoked beans, tempeh and tofu.
And in Montreal, Costco member Jo Notkin uses her barbecue to bake delicious desserts. When her catering company, Zoe Ford, had to pivot during the pandemic due to gathering restrictions, Notkin decided to turn her favorite baking recipes into mixes so home cooks could bake in their barbecues. Notkin, who was a contestant on Top Chef Canada and a judge on Wall of Bakers, offers a detailed online “Field Guide to BBQ Baking” at zoeford.com. “We want to help people think about cooking and baking in a modern, fresh way,” she says.
Check out the recipes from these grilling champions on the next few pages for some fired-up inspiration.
Grilling tips
Mastering the grill requires patience and preparation. Here’s what the pros do.
Avoid a smokeout. “Apply a smoking agent—logs, pellets or wood chips—like any other ingredient, but don’t over-smoke; people think you need to constantly apply smoke, and that’s not the case. Smoke needs to be subtle to complement the meat, so make sure you can still taste the protein,” says Melissa Cookston.
Preheat your grill. “Fish won’t stick if you properly preheat your grill. Give it at least 10 to 12 minutes with the lid down,” says Kiki Longo.
Try plant-based options. “There are tons of top-notch vegan products out there; gone are the days of the dry veggie burger,” says Maddie Longo.—WH
How to bake on a gas barbecue
Barbecue baking success is all about diffusing and controlling heat.
- Turn off center burners once the barbecue is preheated.
- Place your baking sheet on top of a wire cooling rack with legs or four empty tin cans, then put it in the middle of the grill. This will allow air to flow under and around pastries while baking. Never put a baking tray directly on the grill.
- Try not to open the lid during baking.—WH
Costco Connection: Barbecue supplies ,including grills, can be found in the warehouse and at Costco.com. Groceries are available for delivery through Costco Grocery at Costco.com.
Costco member Wendy Helfenbaum is a Montreal-based writer and TV producer.