I love watching cooking shows. It’s how I spend my time relaxing. It’s how I learn new techniques and flavor combinations. It’s my favorite way to engage with the rapidly evolving culinary scene – watching people cook the food they love to serve and eat.

My staples are The Food Network and The Jamie Oliver Channel (free to watch live on Tubi) but occasionally I’ll divert my attention from those to watch a season of something. At the moment, I’m catching up on Season 3 of Netflix’s The American Barbecue Showdown. I’m not much of a Barbecuer myself, but boy do I love watching the pros go at it – and it’s inspiring me to try my hand at it (especially now that summer is around the corner).

This season is showcases a selection of contestants with diverse backgrounds, skills, preferred flavor profiles -and it’s made this season so enjoyable to watch. Among the usual aspiring pit masters (there’s a lovely mother of two from Florida, larger-than-life father and self-proclaimed “bougie chef” from Louisiana), there are are two cowboys (one real-life Oklahoma cowboy that literally has spent his life cooking in nature over open flames, as well as a Egyptian that decided to move to Texas and open a food truck after falling in love with Texas barbecue, aptly named the ‘Cairo Cowboy’).

It’s a riveting season with lots of twists and turns. Each episode will have you asking yourself: “What would I have done?” which, for me, is the question all good cooking shows draw out of our often culinary stagnant brains.

Have a look at the trailer below and see the action for yourself. If you do have a watch, I’d love to know what you think.

Enjoy!

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