School Founders
Rick, Dave and Pete
Southern Thunder Competition BBQ Team
Our History
We are an award-winning Pro competition BBQ team founded in 2012 and we have won many contests because we came up with simplified, repeatable processes that produced great results. In 2014 it dawned on us that we could teach what we were doing and thus Southern Thunder BBQ Cooking School was born.
Pete Warner
Pete's long quest for BBQ knowledge began in Topeka, Kansas on October 11, 1982 when his next door handed him a rib over the fence. He was cooking on a 50 gallon drum. How could anything this delicious come out of a wood fire burning in a rusty barrel? Unfortunately, his neighbor was not the secret sharing type. Pete spent the next decade trying to find out how he did it. In those days, there were no books, no blogs or websites, no TV shows – only one frustrating failed cook after another. Finally, he stumbled upon the Atlanta BBQ community, they took him in and opened their ancient books of BBQ cooking. It didn't take long before Pete was competing-- and winning! By day, Pete is CEO of Linkup Technologies, a doting husband to his wife of 37 years and their 4 grown kids.
Rick Pasch
A professional musician for 30 years, Rick was born and raised in central Michigan with ties to Texas where we acquired a taste for good BBQ. Since moving to the Atlanta area eight years ago, he followed his passion by entering into the competitive world of BBQ. With numerous top-ten finishes, including several grand championships, Rick is always looking for opportunities to share his craft with others. Rick is a system designer with Magnolia Home Theater in Atlanta. He enjoys entertaining and spending time with family and friends.
Dave Weiss
Dave, having attended more cooking classes than he can count, is the only one of us that really knows how to cook. Despite that, we decided to let him join the team. He has proved to be a great addition, plus he loves teaching and talking BBQ as much as we do. Here he is "grilling off" BBQ chicken thighs that went on to win first place at Pigs and Peaches.
Don Adams
Don has been competing and winning BBQ competitions for years. The problem was, he was on another team! So, after lengthy negotiations, we convinced him to be the pitmaster for our Pro and Masters classes. Don loves to cook BBQ and share his knowledge with students so being our pitmaster is the perfect job for him.
Sandi Edelson
Sandi grew up in New York City, where she learned the craft of baking. Her family owned bakeries and she attended advanced pastry making classes under Nick Malgieri, the pastry chef at the famous World Trade Center restaurant, Windows on the World. Although Sandi’s professional career was in the newspaper industry, she has always kept her hands in cooking and baking and is convinced she has flour in her blood. She writes a monthly dessert column for the official newspaper of the Kansas City Barbeque Society and has a following all over the country.
Sandi is our resident KCBS Master Judge who knows what competition style, award winning barbeque is all about. Sandi is our competition dessert baker and has won almost every year she entered under our team, including two coveted “180” scores, reflecting a perfect score by all judges.
