Boston grillmaster Morgan Bolling is heading to the Food Network’s BBQ Brawl, joining the show’s seventh season when it premieres Monday, May 11, at 9 p.m. The new run brings BBQ experts to Star Hill Ranch in Austin, where they will compete under the eyes of captains Bobby Flay, Brooke Williamson and Mauneet Chauhan.
Bolling is not new to the kitchen competition circuit, but she arrives with a résumé that is unusually broad for a contest built on technical pedigree. She is the executive food editor and resident grillmaster at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston, a recipe developer, cookbook author and TV host who has developed more than 100 recipes and hosts Grill Next Door. In a field where reputation often comes from one region or one style, she says her edge is range: “I think my biggest strength is just the diversity of knowledge I have,” Bolling said. “I mean, I've studied everything from the history of BBQ to the regionality of BBQ to the technique of BBQ. So I feel like there's no one more studied for this competition than me.”
That is what makes her arrival notable for this season of BBQ Brawl, a Food Network series built around pitmasters and barbecue specialists vying for bragging rights while being mentored, pushed and judged by the three captains. Flay, Williamson and Chauhan will coach and compete with a new group of talented pitmasters from across the country and abroad, turning the season into both a test of skill and a display of differing barbecue philosophies.
The friction in Bolling’s own pitch is easy to hear. She is leaning on study, breadth and history in a contest that still rewards instinct, heat and repetition over theory alone. That does not make her overconfident; it makes her the sort of contestant who thinks the homework should show up on the plate. The question for viewers is whether the Boston specialist can translate all that knowledge into the kind of firepower this competition demands.
For Bolling, the answer will start arriving when the seventh season opens on Monday night in Austin. For everyone else, it will come down to whether a broad-minded grillmaster can outcook a field built to reward specialists.
