COLLEGE STATION, TX — It's not your usual barbecue basics.
“My classes are food technology and food processing" said Erin Stutts, agriculture science teacher at College Station High School.
There's a method to the madness.
Stutts explained how her courses prepare her students.
“[This] prepares them to do all the things that it takes to get food from harvest to the grocery store or to the restaurant,” said Stutts.
Soon to be senior and FFA student, Grant Harvey, is always up for the challenge.
Harvey isn't your typical teen. His main passion isn't centered around sports and his love for food transforms to brisket.
“The class basically just teaches you how to take a cut of meat and turn it into retail cuts,” said Harvey.
That's right. Harvey is a foodie! But not just any foodie. His focus is on the grill and he's using science to back it up; and he's not alone.
“We came up with the idea that we wanted to start a barbecue team and we put forth some effort to do it last year - and then COVID happened,” Harvey said.
As one of the founders for the high school's barbecue team he was happy to finally compete this year. Harvey came out placing 5th in the state for his brisket at the first barbecue competition the team attended this year.
Harvey is a hard worker and although he’s still learning, Stutts said she’s excited to see where this business venture will take him.
“He’s got that passion for getting the pit going and making some meat, but it’s that business end that he’s working on now and so that’s fun for me to watch,” Stutts said.
Many of Stutts' students go off to college to study meat and food science but Harvey said he will take a slightly different route.
“When I graduate high school, my plan is to go to Amarillo. I want to go to Amarillo community college to get a two-year business degree and then transfer into an ag management degree at West Texas A&M,” Harvey said.
Harvey hopes to one day own a cattle company that would help supply the meat for his barbecue restaurant.