As with most barbeque-obsessed Texans, my husband views grilling and smoking as a religion. Naturally, he’s part of the Meat Church Congregation and jumped on the opportunity to hear Matt Pitman preach this weekend!

BBQ classes at TX Whiskey Ranch

If you’ve landed on this blog post, chances are you’re trying to find out more about the Meat Church BBQ Classes. I got you.

the basics:

Class Schedule: meatchurch.com/pages/upcoming-events
Price: $189 + $10.44 Online Processing Fee + Sales Tax
- It was $431.78 total for both of us - pricing may vary between classes.
Class Size: About 125-ish People
Demand: Our class sold out in three minutes! Sign up for their newsletter so you know in advance.
Time: 3-Hour Class from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Class Itself:

Note: Future classes may be different, so check out the details on the Event Page to find out more about more. For this post, I’m just covering what we experienced.
Class Style: Lecture, which makes sense since smoking takes HOURS and it would be impossible to do hands-on training. If you sign up for one of his steak classes, that would be more demonstration style.
Brisket + Pulled Pork: One of the main things we learned was Matt’s logic for trimming, seasoning, smoking, resting, and serving brisket and pulled pork. My favorite aspect of his lecture was how accessible he made it for all budgets and types of smokers/grills. Even though he’s a Traeger Ambassador, he wasn’t pretentious about what kind of meat grades or tools to use. He focused on the elements that make you happy about barbecuing, which Mr. San Diego and I absolutely loved. He covers so many different approaches, and it adds so much value to the class.
Q&A: Matt encouraged everyone to ask questions, and it was surprising how much we learned about specific scenarios just from the questions alone. There were many things covered that we wouldn’t usually think of that would be super helpful down the line.

Event Details + Goodies:

Upon Arrival: Gates to the ranch opened at 9:30 a.m., and people were already lined up! We arrived precisely at 9:30 a.m., and by the time we sat down, most of the tables were already full.
Swag Goodies: Everyone received a super cool booklet and Meat Church hand towel. Inside the booklet are several recipes and a handful of Traeger-related advertisements. At the back of the book is a certificate that you can have Matt sign at the end of the class.
Wined + Dined: Well, whiskeyed + tacoed. For our class, this is what was served:
- Since the event is at TX Whiskey Ranch, it only makes sense that whiskey cocktails were served throughout the day. Bloody Marys with TX Whiskey and Holy Cow rimming were the first drink of the day, followed by an Old Fashioned later on. We all got a ticket for a cocktail at the end of the class to grab at the bar. They were all fantastic.
- As for the food - we had a breakfast taco on the BEST tortillas ever, a Mexican pulled pork taco, some slices of brisket, and Matt’s famous potato salad. It was all absolutely delicious, which wasn’t a surprise at all.

Guest Speaker

Halfway through the class, Joe, the owner of Zavala’s Barbecue in Grand Prairie, showed up as a guest speaker! This part, for me, was SUPER exciting because we recently-ish went to Zavala’s for the first time, and I was OBSESSED with the food there. You can check out my blog post about it here!

At the end of the class, we met Joe and CJ, which was so much fun because they were awesome to talk to and made me wish we were all best friends who had regular backyard hangouts together. At least we got a selfie together!

It was a Great Time!

Everything about the experience was so cool and absolutely worth the price.

We got to meet and take a picture with the man himself at the end of the class!
The “vibe” was so easy going and relaxed, and we made friends with everyone at our table.
Even though there were only a handful of females, I didn’t feel out of place and had just as much fun as my husband.
- Note: If you’re a lady going to learn and/or to support your partner, take a sweater - I was freezing my butt off because it was so well air-conditioned inside and I was dressed for warm Texas weather.
If you want to buy Meat Church rubs, they have a table set up where you can buy some. You also get a 10% discount on items in the Ranch Store.
We left feeling extra inspired to do more smoking and try new recipes!

If you’re a fan of barbecue, not just Meat Church, you should absolutely check out these classes if you have a chance!

We Went to Meat Church BBQ School!