Atlanta’s Taylor Carroll on Food Network’s ‘BBQ Brawl’

Taylor Carroll of Atlanta is competing in the 2021 edition of Food Network's "BBQ Brawl."  CR: Dawn Hoffmann

Credit: Dawn Hoffmann

Credit: Dawn Hoffmann

Taylor Carroll of Atlanta is competing in the 2021 edition of Food Network's "BBQ Brawl." CR: Dawn Hoffmann

Atlanta barbecue pitmaster Taylor Shulman Carroll is taking on 11 other grill experts on the second season of Food Network’s “BBQ Brawl.”

This year, they will be split into three teams led by Bobby Flay, Michael Symon and newbie Eddie Jackson. The show returns on Food Network at 9 p.m. Monday, June 14, and is available on demand on Discovery+. It was taped at Star Hill Ranch in Austin, Texas.

Here is a capsule profile of Carroll:

Residence: Cumming

Age: 26

Jobs: Private chef work with celebrity clients and marketing for meat and grilling brands. She is also a pastry chef.

Barbecue roots: Her dad bought her a Big Green Egg at the tender age of ten.

Her style: “I’m a technique fanatic. I started a barbecue notebook as a child. I’d write what I was making and experiment. I’d cook something at a particular temperature for a particular length of time.” On the show, she said she is adventurous and “Southern at heart.” During the first challenge, she tells the judges: “We bring the heat in my kitchen.”

Her relative youth in the competition: “I almost felt like it gave me an advantage. When you’ve been in the industry forever, you get very set in your ways. I’m open to try different things and not follow the rules.”

Signature look: Her big curly hair. “In the backyard, it’s always a million degrees and it’s at least 20 degrees warmer under my curls.” But she said if she cut her hair, “I’d look like Shirley Temple. The running joke is anybody can find me at a barbecue because of my hair.”

Signature dish: “I do a smoked wood grain pasta.”

>>RELATED: Carroll teaches our food editor Ligaya Figueras, how to barbecue with a Big Green Egg

Previous reality show experience: Lost “Guys’ Grocery Games.” “I tried to be too cheffy,” she said. “I tried to cook like I was at home.”

Down the road: She has teamed up with another female contestant, Erica Blaire, on the show to compete in barbecue contests.

WHERE TO WATCH

“BBQ Brawl.” Debuts 9 p.m. Monday, June 14, on Food Network, also available for Discovery+ subscribers