Brisket
Learn preparation, trimming and seasoning along with smoker management, wrapping, recognizing doneness, resting and slicing.
Southern Thunder BBQ Cooking School
Pitmaster Apprentice
Our Complete Full-Day Hands-On BBQ Class
Go beyond the essentials and become a confident, well-rounded BBQ cook.
See Upcoming DatesA Full Day of BBQ
Spend a full day learning brisket, ribs, pulled pork and chicken, along with additional BBQ favorites such as burnt ends, sausages and lollipop drumsticks.
Learn meat preparation, trimming, brining, injecting and seasoning; smoker and fire management; wood and smoke selection; wrapping, resting, slicing and the techniques that help you recognize when meat is really done.
Four Major BBQ Meats
Ribs
Learn preparation and seasoning, managing the cook, controlling tenderness and color, recognizing doneness and finishing.
Pulled Pork
Learn preparation, seasoning and injection techniques, managing the cook, recognizing doneness, resting and pulling the finished pork.
Chicken
Learn preparation techniques including brining and seasoning, temperature management, doneness and finishing poultry properly.
Learn on Several Smokers
We teach the principles of BBQ — not how to operate just one brand of equipment.
You'll work around several smoker types and learn principles you can apply to your own equipment.
More Than Recipes
Pitmaster Apprentice is designed to help students understand what is happening during the cook and why.
Students learn how heat, smoke, seasoning, moisture, time and temperature work together — and how to make adjustments when a cook doesn't go exactly according to plan.
The objective is not simply to follow instructions during class. It is to develop knowledge and skills students can use later on their own equipment.
Learn Why → See How → Do It → Put Your Skills to Work
Learn Why
See How
Do It
Put Your Skills to Work
We explain the principles, demonstrate the techniques, and then put students to work applying what they've learned.
Hands-on cooking reinforces the instruction so students leave understanding both what to do and why they're doing it.
A Manual You Keep
Every student receives our comprehensive, step-by-step illustrated BBQ manual to follow during class, add your own notes and take home as a permanent reference.
The manual supports the instruction throughout the day and gives students something they can return to when cooking at home.
You'll also learn sauces and our simple, crowd-tested BBQ sides.
Finish With a BBQ Banquet
We provide breakfast and lunch, and the day concludes with your Southern Thunder diploma and a full BBQ banquet featuring the food you've spent the day learning to prepare.
Invite a guest to join you for dinner.
One full day. Four major BBQ meats. Skills and reference material you can keep using.