Pitmaster Profile · Texas Backyard Barbecue
Matt Pittman
The Waxahachie, Texas cook behind Meat Church, best known for teaching backyard barbecue through classes and video: Texas salt-and-pepper roots, brined and butter-basted poultry, and step-by-step cooks a home cook can repeat.
- Base
- Waxahachie, Texas
- Business
- Meat Church, founded 2014
- Known for
- Teaching backyard smoking
- Cooks
- Brisket, pork ribs, smoked turkey
Brine, then season
Spatchcocked turkey
Butter baste and glaze
Video teaching
Independent editorial resource. This page is an independently written profile and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Matt Pittman, Meat Church or their representatives. The turkey method linked further down is our own independently developed backyard adaptation, informed by the smoked turkey technique he has published. It is not his recipe and uses none of his branded products.
Who he is
Matt Pittman is a Texas barbecue cook and the founder of Meat Church, a seasoning and barbecue-education business based in Waxahachie, about 30 miles south of Dallas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997 with a business degree in finance and spent years in a corporate career before barbecue became his full-time work.
His public story starts with a loss. In 2014 he and his brother competed on season six of the TV series BBQ Pitmasters and did not win. The Meat Church website was already selling seasonings by the time the episode aired, and he ran the business from his house in Waxahachie as a side project before leaving his corporate job for it. Meat Church later opened a retail store in downtown Waxahachie, and in late September 2026 moved it to a much larger property, the former Boyce Feed Store site on South College Street.
The business’s own telling traces his interest back to two things: cooking simple food with his grandmother in Alabama, and a plate of Central Texas brisket seasoned with nothing but salt and pepper.
Recognised style & region
Pittman cooks in the Texas tradition, but his reach comes from teaching it to people who are starting out. Three threads run through his public work:
Central Texas foundation
Beef, salt, pepper and wood smoke. His brisket teaching follows the Central Texas pattern of a simple seasoning, a butcher-paper wrap and a long rest before slicing.
Beyond brisket
His published cooks range well past beef: competition-style pork ribs with a sweet foil wrap, and a spatchcocked, brined and glazed smoked turkey that he has shown on video and in recipes for a pellet-grill maker.
Teaching first
Meat Church runs barbecue classes and a YouTube channel with more than a million subscribers. Most of what the public knows about his technique comes from those step-by-step cooks.
That range sets him apart from pitmasters known for a single cut. Our Aaron Franklin profile covers the stricter salt-and-pepper brisket end of the same state.
Signature techniques
Brine first, season second
His published turkey starts with an overnight brine to season the meat all the way through and help lean breast meat hold moisture. The rub goes on afterwards, mostly for colour and surface flavour. Our homemade BBQ seasoning recipes cover the rub side with pantry spices.
Spatchcock the bird
Cutting out the backbone and pressing the turkey flat puts breast and legs at the same height over the heat. The bird cooks more evenly and much faster than a whole, upright turkey.
Butter baste, then a late glaze
His published turkey is basted with melted butter during the smoke and finished with a sweet honey-mustard glaze only in the last few minutes, so the sugar sets without scorching.
Long rests and feel tests
Across his teaching, resting gets real time. His turkey rests about half an hour before carving, and in his brisket classes the rest runs to hours. For ribs he leans on the bend test.
Equipment, wood & flavour profile
Typical equipment
His published cooks use both offset smokers and pellet grills. For a spatchcocked turkey at home, any smoker or kettle that holds 275°F and has a grate wide enough for a flattened bird will work.
Typical wood
Texas hardwoods. His recipes name oak, mesquite, hickory or pecan, and his brisket is associated with post oak.
Flavour profile
Peppery and beefy for brisket; savoury, buttery and lightly sweet for poultry, with a glaze that adds a sticky, tangy finish.
Food safety: two different numbers
- 165°F is the USDA minimum safe internal temperature for all poultry, whole or in pieces. Check the thickest part of the breast and the thigh.
- About 175–185°F in the thigh is a texture target. Dark meat is safe at 165°F but turns more tender as it climbs higher, and on a flat bird the thighs usually get there on their own.
Source: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service minimum internal temperature guidance. Our smoked turkey temperature guide covers probe placement.
Our independent adaptations
Brisket and pulled pork are already covered elsewhere on this site, so our adaptation takes one of his best-documented backyard cooks: a spatchcocked smoked turkey. We replaced his branded brine with a plain salt-and-sugar dry brine, swapped his branded rubs for a pantry blend, built our own honey-mustard glaze, and tied every stage to a thermometer reading instead of a clock.
Related BBQ guides
FAQ
Is your turkey method his recipe?
No. It is our own adaptation of the general technique he has shown publicly: brine, spatchcock, butter baste and a late glaze. The brine, seasoning, glaze, quantities and timings are ours.
Do I need his seasonings to cook in this style?
No. Salt and a little sugar handle the brine, and any blend built on coarse pepper, paprika and garlic works for the outside.
Is he a Central Texas pitmaster?
He cooks Texas-style brisket in the Central Texas manner, but his public work covers far more than brisket, from competition-style ribs to holiday turkey. He is based in Waxahachie, south of Dallas.
Sources & further reading
- Texas Monthly, Houston Chronicle and University of Texas at Arlington magazine coverage of his background and business
- Meat Church’s own about page and published recipes, and his smoked turkey recipe as published by a grill maker, read for technique only
- PaperCity magazine’s report on his barbecue classes
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service minimum internal temperature chart for poultry