![]() ![]() Everything I was cooking indoors, I tried to cook on the grill,” Vanover said. ![]() Beginning in 2012, he was stationed in Texas, and in Texas, “you can’t help but grill. Vanover has lived in or traveled to more than 20 countries in her former career as a public information officer for the federal government and with her husband in his Army postings. I realized I had skills they didn’t have.” “Every grill we cooked on, I have in my backyard, so when it came to fire and managing heat, I had that down. “It was intimidating to a point where I questioned whether I had the chops to keep going,” Vanover said, “and my teammates said, ‘Yes, you do.’ Season 4 also featured several professional chefs, who had far more experience than Vanover in the impromptu use of ingredients. Barbecue typically takes six to 12 hours, but on the show, there was a mix of grilling and barbecue challenges ranging from about 30 minutes to no more than about two hours. On “BBQ Brawl,” by contrast, contestants didn’t know what ingredients would be in the pantry. I’m very organized and planned in what I do.” “When I compete on the circuit, I have timelines and I know my recipes and I have spreadsheets of what’s worked in some states and not in other states. After that, the teams competed episode to episode.Īnd competing on a Food Network show, Vanover said, was very different than competing in professional barbecue. The show began with a taco challenge based on performance, the chef-mentors - Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Sunny Anderson - each chose four competitors to be on the teams they would captain. I’ve grown personally and professionally as a pitmaster and a chef, and I’ve won numerous competitions.” I have a much larger reach via social media and my website. I think my skill set has improved a lot since I first applied. “I don’t just mean ethnicity but also regionally and people with diverse skill sets. “It’s a TV challenge, so they have to have diversity,” she said. Why does the pitmaster think she succeeded this time? Vanover applied for the first three seasons of “BBQ Brawl,” finally being chosen for the fourth, which started filming in January in Northern California. It was more exhausting than I expected it to be, both physically and mentally, but overall, I’m super glad I did it.” “It was an amazing experience,” Vanover said of the competition. The other afternoon, Vanover sat down at her Henderson home - a spread that includes 35 grills and smokers able to accommodate everything from a chicken breast to an ox - to discuss her appearance on “BBQ Brawl” (there’s a lot she can’t reveal), her journey to professional barbecue and the secret to grilling great chicken. The competitive pitmaster from Las Vegas, barbecue champion in multiple states (including Nevada), founder of Girls Can Grill brand, and advocate for women in barbecue is one of 12 contestants on Season 4 of “BBQ Brawl,” the hit Food Network show whose winner is crowned the Master of ’Cue. Where there’s smoke - and fire - there’s Christie Vanover. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Christie Vanover poses with homemade lumpia Filipino spring rolls on Friday, June 30, 2023, in her backyard in Henderson. ![]()
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