It didn’t take long for Yantis High School’s barbecue team to make its mark.
In its first year, the team advanced through regional competition to state, finished in the top 25 and earned a trip to nationals. This year, Chef Cruz Minjarez is hoping to build on that success with two teams, including an all-girls team.
For Minjarez, though, the program is about more than competition. It gives students another way to get involved at school while learning skills they can use long after graduation.
“I’m just trying to give these kids something else to do,” Minjarez said. “You know, keep them engaged in school and learn a life skill.”
When Minjarez came to Yantis, he was brought in to start a culinary program. He initially tried to get students interested in ProStart and fine dining, but there wasn’t much interest.
“So I was trying to find another way for them to explore food and have a good time,” he said.
That was when he came across the National High School BBQ Association.
Minjarez reached out to culinary instructors in nearby communities, including Winnsboro, where barbecue teams were already established. After getting equipment and school board approval, it took about two years to get the program fully up and running.
Students practiced every Tuesday after school, preparing seasonings and marinades, cutting meat and cooking, sometimes staying until 7 p.m.
“Smoking meats takes time,” Minjarez said.
This year, he hopes to split practices between two days, using one for preparation and another for cooking.

A SUCCESSFUL FIRST SEASON
Yantis competed in two regional qualifiers before advancing to the state competition in Burnet, where the team placed in the top 25 out of about 100 teams and qualified for nationals.
Nationals were held at Grandscape in North Texas and included about 85 high school teams from across the country.
“Unfortunately, at nationals we were in deeper water, but we learned a lot,” Minjarez said.
Yantis still came home with a national placement, finishing 15th in pulled pork.
Two seniors graduated from the team last year. Both earned culinary cords, as well as cords for their participation in barbecue.
“They were able to walk across stage with a couple of cords and just felt really special to them, you know,” Minjarez said.

MORE THAN RIBS
Competitive high school barbecue involves more than putting meat on a smoker.
Last year’s categories included grilled cheese, Dutch oven, ribs, chicken and ribeye, with pulled pork added at nationals.
For the composed grilled cheese category, Yantis created a jalapeño popper grilled cheese with cheddar, cream cheese, pepper jack, bacon and jalapeños.
“It was this delicious, crispy, gooey, spicy, bacony sandwich,” Minjarez said.
It also earned Yantis a regional championship.
For Dutch oven competition, students prepared a pineapple upside-down cake using a cast-iron Dutch oven and hot coals. Finding the right recipe and learning to manage the heat took some trial and error, but the work paid off with a second-place regional finish.
On the first day of school this year, returning team members were already practicing.
After cooking a pineapple upside-down cake over coals, students brought the Dutch oven into the culinary classroom to check their results. They and Minjarez discussed what they could change, from the placement and temperature of the coals to the amount of batter.
“Live fire cooking, working with coals and stuff like that, just takes practice,” Minjarez said.
He wants team members to learn all of the categories before specializing so they can step in and help teammates when needed.
Some categories don’t require much encouragement.
“Everybody wants to do ribs,” he said.

A DIFFERENT WAY TO GET INVOLVED
One of the things Minjarez likes most about the program is the students it has attracted.
“A lot of these kids don’t do sports. They don’t do ag. They don’t do that kind of stuff. They had nowhere else to go,” he said.
Barbecue gives them another option.
Returning team member Skyler Orren, who is expected to serve as captain this year, said the team gives him another way to be part of the school and teaches a skill he can use after high school.
Another returning student, Miguel Jimenez, gave a simple reason for joining the team.
“To learn how to cook,” Jimenez said.
Minjarez encourages students to practice at home, although some don’t have grills. Skyler and his father converted an old gas grill into a charcoal grill last year so he could practice.
Interest has grown for the team’s second season. Minjarez said 10 students have signed up, enough for two teams.
Eight of the 10 are girls.
Yantis plans to have an all-girls team this season. The National High School BBQ Association has an all-girls category, with teams competing for the Miss Tootsie Award, named for longtime Texas pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz.
Minjarez also hopes to eventually start a middle school team after seeing younger students compete at state and nationals.
“I’m hoping by next year, maybe the year after, I can have a middle school team going,” he said.

FROM CHEF TO TEACHER
Minjarez took an unusual path to the classroom.
Before coming to Yantis, he spent years working as a chef, including at private hunting and fishing lodges in Alaska and Texas.
While working at a sport fishing lodge in Alaska, he met the owners of a bird hunting lodge near Yantis. The connection eventually brought him to East Texas, where he worked at the lodge for nearly nine years.
He also started a catering business and previously worked at Two Bros. BBQ in San Antonio.
The long hours eventually began to wear on him. Minjarez said he missed a lot of family and personal time.
Then Yantis asked him to start its culinary program. Coming from the culinary industry rather than education, he was initially unsure about becoming a teacher, but got certified and took the job.
Now in his fourth year at Yantis, Minjarez said teaching turned out to be something he loves.
“Seeing these kids come back every year, you know, and be happy to come back to this class and want to learn. It’s a good feeling. It really is,” he said.

LOOKING AHEAD
Growth also brings additional expenses.
The school funded the program last year, but Minjarez is looking for sponsors this season to help stretch the team’s budget.
“We got a little budget this year, but I wanted to expand on that,” he said. “As two teams, you know, we definitely need double the product.”
Local supporters helped with team hats and shirts last year, and students held fundraisers, including a pulled-pork sandwich sale.
With competition beginning in September, the students don’t have long to prepare.
For returning members, that means putting lessons from their first trip to nationals to use. For new members, it means learning everything from meat preparation to teamwork and managing a live fire.
Minjarez hopes there will be more competition success, but that isn’t the only goal.
“I enjoy teaching these kids,” he said. “A lot of them don’t do sports or anything like that, and it’s a good outlet for them.”
For a program entering only its second season, Yantis barbecue has already given students another place to compete, learn and be part of a team.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the BBQ team can contact Minjarez at the high school at 903-383-2462.