“No matter what I do, meat is involved,” says five-foot-three meatheart Jess Pryles, in a drawl from latitudes far more southern than Texas. Eight years after founding her babe-who-barbecues lifestyle brand, in 2016, the Aussie turned Texan is starring in a television series exploring the glory of meat, from hunting to carving to grilling. Hardcore Carnivore—the show’s title comes from the name of Pryles’s barbecue seasonings–and–gear line—premiered on Outdoor Channel this week.
Pryles’s love for meat led her to leave her hometown of Melbourne in 2015 for a new address in Austin. She had already become a “barbecue missionary” to Australia, cofounding the Australian Barbecue Alliance after repeated vacations to Texas for the pleasure of eating barbecue. To her, “the idea of putting big subprimals of raw meat in an analog, locomotive-looking thing and turning it into magical, unctuous smoked brisket is fascinating,” she says. Her enthusiasm for meat sparked a new life, one in which she’s married to an Aggie (and served Whataburger’s Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits at her wedding), drives a full-sized pickup truck, and holds a meat-science certificate from Iowa State University.
“Barbecue changed my whole life,” she says. “It literally was the catalyst for everything.”
As with Pryles’s social media channels and website—which includes recipes and smoking and grilling tutorials—Hardcore Carnivore goes deep behind the curtain of barbecue and aims to take the mystery out of the selection and preparation of meats. Season one includes episodes in which Pryles goes dove hunting at Redstone Ranch, in Dilley; buries a steer head in the ground to make barbacoa with Fort Worth pitmaster Joe Riscky and chef-founder of Magdalena’s Catering Juan Rodriguez; and participates in a white-tailed deer capture for wildlife biology research with San Antonio’s East Foundation.
Every episode involves cooking, with recipes for Texas red chili, bison smash burgers, and Michelada skirt steak. In addition to her cookbook, Pryles is known for her techniques, such as “just keep flipping” (JKF), which involves constantly turning a steak over the fire. She prefers steak with a heavy crust, and she calls the moment she learned how to achieve the texture herself a “meat enlightenment, a great empowerment to figuring out how to barbecue, how to live-fire, what to choose, and how to choose it.”
Pryles understands that it’s “ballsy” to be a woman who traveled from Australia to teach men—the majority of her followers—how to cook. “I work my ass off at knowing my stuff,” she says. Before attending meat-science classes, where seeing a carcass rolled in on butcher rails sparked a thrill for learning animal physiology, she was mentored by the late barbecue legend John Mueller, and she shot her first deer with Marvin Bendele, the executive director of Foodways Texas, which cohosts Texas A&M University’s annual Camp Brisket. She describes the reception among her admirers as warm and welcoming—“as long as you love Texas as much as they do, which is not a problem.”
You don’t have to eat meat while watching Pryles’s new show—which has already been picked up for season two—but you probably should. Here are her essential tools for when it’s time to fire up.
Hardcore Carnivore Black Beef Seasoning
Pryles’s first and best-selling seasoning blend is packed with garlic and black pepper. It helps with achieving that dark, crusty bark on briskets and steaks, which requires beginning with a rub with coarse ingredients.
The Estacado Shirt, by Poncho
Pryles first started buying these breathable, functional shirts, which are made by an Austin-based brand, for Christmas for her husband, a fisherman she describes as handsome but with terrible taste in clothes. When she realized how lightweight and perfect the shirts were for grilling in hot temps, she started buying them for herself in size small, and she sometimes shifts them into date-night gear.
Pitts & Spitts Maverick 1250 Wood Pellet Grill
Although offset smokers still render superior flavor, wood pellet grills like this one, from Houston-based Pitts & Spitts, are more convenient for those who don’t want to chop wood or stay up all night. With electronic temperature control, a smart meat probe, and Wi-Fi capability, this grill takes the hard labor and guesswork out of grilling and smoking.
Hardcore Carnivore Six-Inch Trimming and Boning Knife
Around two years after founding her website, Pryles extended her product line to include knives and other tools of the trade. After moving to Texas, she was astonished to learn that hunters and butchers in the U.S. typically use different knives, but her trimming and boning knife does double duty—it can be used to trim brisket or take the backstrap off a deer.
Browning Citori Feather Lightning 20-Gauge Shotgun
Among the firearms in her gun collection, Pryles’s go-to for dove hunting is this over-and-under shotgun in Browning’s Citori line. Not only is it lightweight, despite its 26-inch barrel, but it’s also beautiful—far more so than black composite guns—with its walnut stock and Western engraving, giving off Lonesome Dove vibes.
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