After 10 years of honing her talents as a barbecue pit-master, Bracken County resident Staci Graves-Jett is about to appear on an internationally seen cooking competition television show.
“The Travel Channel has a show called 'American Grilled,'” she said on Tuesday. “The episode I am in appears at 9 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 17.”
Graves-Jett, who works at Lees IGA in Brooksville and her business Salem Ridge Processing, was contacted after a chain of internet social network friends with connections to casting directors posted a link to an application to be on the show, she said.
“It was a really long application; you also had to describe how you would use three items together to create a dish,” she said.
After submitting the application she was interviewed using Skype and a week later learned she had been selected to compete on the show, which was about to be taped in Louisville.
Graves-Jett is a frequent participant in competitions, like Pig Out in Maysville, and had earned awards at several competitions over the years.
Her Hog Heaven BBQ booth is readily identified at events by the pink pig shaped cooker she uses, she said.
“This competition was so much fun,” she said.
For Bluegrass Grillers edition of American Grilled, her pink pig had to take a back seat to a more generic grill.
“They had it set up so everyone was on a more even playing field, including their grills,” she said.
Competitors are given surprise ingredients, all related to grilling, and a time limit to make their best dish from what they have been given, she said.
According to the Travel Chanel website, there are smoked cheese, soy sauce and bison meat to deal with in her competition at some point.
“I am looking forward to watching the show, because we could not hear what the judges were saying about our dishes,” she said. “It was really hot there that day and we were on concrete.”
She is also forbidden to mention details of the show, including how far she got in the competition.
That is not stopping her friends from planning a viewing party at Augusta Pub, for Sept. 17, she said.
“I got my start there,” she said. “There may be one of the other competitors there , too. He is from Cincinnati and said he may come to the party.”
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