Featured Image: Courtesy Melissa Cookston
Melissa Cookston doesn’t do anything halfway.
So when she was introduced to competitive barbecue in the mid-90s, she went all in and never looked back. At the time, there were no online forums or tutorial videos to lean on—just instinct, trial and error, and an insatiable drive to figure it out from scratch.
“I didn’t know you could just go to the butcher and get a barbecue rub and add something to it,” she says. “So I made everything myself.”
Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Cookston grew up around barbecue, but not the kind she would eventually become known for. In her corner of the South, the flavors pulled from both Memphis and New Orleans, though barbecue itself leaned distinctly Memphis-style, defined by cabinet-style smoking, dry rubs, and a deep respect for tradition.
Long before she became the first woman inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame, Cookston already understood the rhythm of the food world. She’s been in the restaurant business for more than four decades, starting as a “fountain girl” at a local drive-in before working her way through the front of the house as a server, bartender, and eventually management. The experience gave her a deep understanding of how food, service, and timing come together, all while operating under pressure.
And when the barbecue bug bit, about 30 years ago, she approached it the same way she had everything else: all in.
That intensity carried her straight into the competition circuit. Often the only woman on the field, Cookston didn’t ask for special treatment. She earned her place the hard way, putting in the same grueling work as everyone else: hauling 200-pound whole hogs, managing her own prep, and running her rig with little more than her husband and daughter by her side.
“They didn’t treat me any different,” she says. “They just treated me like one of the guys. We cuss a lot in barbecue, and I can cuss with the best of them.”
But for Cookston, mastering a singular way of cooking was never the end goal.
Growing up in rural Mississippi, Cookston always had an itch to see more of the world. In her early twenties, she backpacked through Europe. Later, she traveled with her daughter, even attending the Italian Culinary Institute together. Over time, those trips became less about escape and more about exploration.
“I realized pretty quickly that every culture has some history of cooking with fire,” she says. “What intrigued me is how they do it differently—and what ingredients I could bring home and put my Southern twist on.”
That realization shifted everything. Cookston recalls a trip to South America where she first encountered meat suspended directly above coals with no barrier between the food and the fire.
“You’re allowing those fats and juices to hit the embers and come back up to surround the food. It gives it such a sultry flavor that you can’t get with Memphis (cabinet-style) smoking.”
That technique stuck. Today, she has an entire trailer dedicated to open-fire cooking, complete with an Argentinian grill—a centerpiece that now appears on the cover of her latest cookbook.
Titled Fanning the Flames, Cookston blends traditional Mississippi barbecue with bold, global flavors inspired by her travels through Sicily, Chile, the Middle East, and beyond. More than anything, it challenges the idea that barbecue belongs to any one place.
For Cookston, these small discoveries are what keep her work interesting. “There are so many ways to achieve great barbecue,” she says. While the book includes traditional recipes, she describes it more as a love letter to travel. “If you don’t try something new,” she adds, “you’ll never know if you’ll love it.”
Sometimes that looks as simple as charring citrus or grilling fruit. Other times, it means baking something unexpected, like a coconut cake, to add a subtle depth to a timeless classic.
It’s no surprise the seven-time world champion pitmaster isn’t interested in slowing down. If anything, she’s still chasing what’s next. Cookston’s dream is to make a TV show version of this cookbook, exploring how travel shapes the way we cook, whether that’s showing people where cashews come from or introducing ingredients that can transform a familiar dish.
Whatever comes next, Cookston’s sure to approach it with the same conviction that’s carried her this far.
Hungry for more about the chefs of the South? Click here.
