Sloan Rinaldi became a BBQ master at 50 and made it to the top three in Season 3 of Netflix's Barbecue Showdown. Here are her top BBQ joints in her hometown of Houston. For Sloan Rinaldi , a fourth-generation Houstonian pitmaster, Texas barbecue is serious business.
"I have a passion for it, for sure," says Rinaldi, who first pursued barbecue as a career at the age of 50. "Yeah; passion, or you're not doing it!" Rinaldi rose swiftly in the Texas barbecue circuit, smashing barriers as a female pitmaster in a male-dominated field. This year, at age 60, her profile skyrocketed when she made it to the Top three in the latest season of Netflix's Barbecue Showdown , winning challenge after challenge with her perfectly executed craft barbecue recipes, and most importantly, representing her state and beloved hometown.
"[I'm] very proud of Houston!" she says. "It's dynamic, diverse, booming. It offers something for everyone, really.
" And Houston barbecue? "Overall, there are two kinds of Texas BBQ," explains Rinaldi. "Old-school barbecue and craft barbecue, meaning that everything is elevated..
. You're sourcing the best protein, all of the ingredients that go into your sides, everything handcrafted from scratch." Houston barbecue, specifically, draws hugely from the city's multicultural makeup.
"We consider Louisiana to be more of East Texas," says Rinaldi. "They have a Creole cuisine that definitely is in our roots and our culture as well. So in Houston, it's going to be a fusion.
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