What We Made On Episode 4 of Pitmasters

Christie (Girls Can Grill) and I made it to episode 4 of Food Network’s Pitmasters! This round was a whole new animal (literally) with a head-to-head challenge, and a “Flash Burn” tied directly to the “Big Burn”. Check out what we pulled off this episode!

What We Made On Episode 4 of Pitmasters

If you’ve been following along, you know Christie and I have made it through the first 3 episodes of Pitmasters. Each episode has come with something new, but episode 4 changed up the format completely. Instead of every team competing for the top spot, the 6 remaining teams competed head-to-head. And as the prize for winning the Big Burn in Episode 3. Christie and I got to select the matchups for each team and each animal. We could give each team 1 of 3 animals: goat, lamb, and pig. Our team selections were definitely strategic. We wanted to give ourselves the best opportunity to move onto the next episode. We went against our friends Matt & Max in the pig bracket.

Here’s how all the brackets shook out:

The Challenge(s)

The “Big Burn” gave us 10 hours to turn our whole animal into 2 mains and 2 sides, all built around nose-to-tail cooking. We didn’t have to use every single part of the pig, but we were judged on which parts we chose to use and why. Andrew Zimmern made it known the judges wanted to see the animal itself come through in every single dish on the table.

The “Big Burn”: Whole Animal, Nose to Tail

With a whole pig in front of us, Christie and I decided to lean into a German-inspired menu. It felt like the right way to show off different cuts and techniques while creating a cohesive meal. Plus, it’s easy to feel confident when we both have A LOT of German-inspired recipes in our repertoire and in my family history.

What We Made

We turned the pork shoulder and shanks into a sauerbraten (seasoned with Beef Rub), which is a sweet and sour pork stew. Traditionally, it’s made with a long marinade (think 3 to 5 days) and a rich, tangy braise. Cooking that low and slow over the fire all day filled our whole cook https://homefrontking.com/ with the most mouthwatering smell.

People think I’m exaggerating when I say how good my backyard smells in videos, but now I’ve got proof. During the braising stage, Ernest Servantes (from the judge’s area) told us he had no idea what we were cooking, but it smelled good. He used a few choice adjectives Food Network bleeped, but they made us feel great.

We paired it with an incredible pork loin Jägerschnitzel Christie concocted. She finished of this breaded and pan-fried cutlet with her rich mushroom gravy tailor-made for schnitzel. One of the coolest things Christie did in the whole show was build a pork stock from scratch using rib bones from our pig to build the base of the gravy. Using the lean pork loin with that rich and robust gravy was the perfect balance. The judges loved it!

For our sides, we made rotkohl, a braised red cabbage with just the right hit of sweet and tang to balance heavy meats. Since our sides all needed to include our main animal, I smoked and chopped the belly to cook into the cabbage. My at-home version uses bacon to get that same smoky/fatty flavor. We did a version of my cucumber tomato salad, but it didn’t make the air.

We also went with a käsespätzle, a cheesy German egg noodle we made completely from scratch. I’ve been making spätzle for years (Todd lived in Germany before we got married), but my friend Sophie came to my house in December and taught me her version of käsespätzle and I knew the judges would love it! The cheesy noodles were topped with smoked pig cheeks and it was absolutely phenomenal!

I’ll be honest: making German egg noodles in a pot over an open fire was one of the tougher cooks of the whole competition. It reminded me of the time Todd suggested I make a gravy on the grill, which took absolutely forever and has been a running joke ever since.

The “Flash Burn”: Sausage, No Shortcuts

For the “Flash Burn,” we had 1 hour to turn the rest of the animal into a sausage link. Big Moe Cason was crystal clear when explaining the rules: no patties allowed, it had to be properly cased, seasoned right, ground right, and cooked to perfection. First place walked away with another $2,000.

What We Made

We made a beer-braised pork bratwurst with caramelized onions, cabbage, and pickled mustard seeds (inspired by Michael Symon’s love of a pickled mustard seed) for that little pop of tang against the richness of the sausage. Getting a full sausage cased, seasoned, and cooked in under an hour was no small task. I can’t say who took home the loot, but Christie and I were really happy with what we turned in to the judges.

The Judging

With the head-to-head format, this round came with extra stakes. The winner of each matchup would be safe when heading into the next episode. The loser wasn’t guaranteed to go home, but the team with the lowest overall “Big Burn” score across the season (a running total) was the one cut at the end of the episode.

The Results

If you’ve already watched episode 4, you know how our head-to-head with Max and Matt turned out. I still can’t tell you who came out on top, or whether the season’s low scorer was one of the teams in our bracket. What I can tell you is that Christie and I walked away really proud of what we put together with this one. Using nearly every part of the pig to build a menu that actually made sense as a meal, instead of just a bunch of disconnected cuts, was one of the most satisfying challenges we’ve tackled on this show.

Thanks for supporting Christie and I through episode 4 of Pitmasters! New episodes air every Monday at 9/8c on Food Network. You can catch up on HBO Max and Discovery+, or by checking out my episode recaps HERE.

Remember to swing by again next week to see if we made it to the next round, and so you can join in on all the Pitmasters fun!