- May 29, 2011
- 1
- 10
Greetings to all of you seriously helpful folks!!
So, I'm a pretty quiet person IRL and apparently that carries over to cyberspace. I got my first ever smoker back in February and I've been using SMF for my "Smoking Bible" since a little before then.
I'd like to throw a great big THANKS!! to all those out there that contribute to this site. You have been a great inspiration and source of information to someone that has never tried or even seen someone try smoking before. Who knew there was so much food out there to be smoked?!?! And now I'm hooked!!
Anyway, my name is Justin and I'm in upstate New York (for those not familiar with New York, read this as nowhere near NYC and pretty much like all of the rest of you
) I've built up a little experience and some confidence over the last few months and I'm proud to say that, although I keep expecting to really screw something up, so far (knock on wood!), everything that has come out of my smoker has been absolutely wonderful!.
Although I don't have q-view, here is a brief rundown of what I've done so far:
Turkey breast (first try and, although I loved it at the time, I've found I love the dark meat best)
Turkey drumsticks and thighs (this is where I learned that dark meat is my favorite)
Pork Loin (this was the first I did for friends and it totally convinced them that homemade + smoke + meat = GREAT!)
Pork Ribs (I'm actually not a big ribs fan but I followed Jeff's rib rub recipe and the 3-2-1 method and even I loved them!)
Pulled Pork Butt (this has always been my favorite when going to the restaurant but the 10 hour prep had me putting it off. I'm SOOO glad I did it myself because it was AWESOME! and SoFlaQuer's Finishing Sauce was a great addition!)
So, as you might have seen, I started off slow but I'm picking up steam and loving every minute of it! I think my next endeavor will be bacon and I think I'll start with the Buckboard Bacon just because it is so close to the pork loin I've already done which has become a "short" smoke favorite. Oh, and I love Canadian Bacon!
Further down the road I'd like to get into some homemade sausage since that was my original inspiration for the smoker. So far it has seemed like the most intimidating but I'm working my way up to it. It also helps to see all of the possibilities out there such as the things that Bearcarver has posted. I never considered sausage made into a loaf but I'm seriously considering it for my first foray into the sausage world now! That way I can try the meat grinding and all it entails but not have to deal with stuffing yet.
So, thanks again to all of you out there offering advice and showing what's possible (and, sometimes more importantly, those of you that share where things went wrong!!! I prefer to learn from other people's mistakes wherever possible
). I'll try to participate more in the future but I certainly want you to know that there are those of us out there that don't put in their two cents very often but greatly appreciate yours!!
Justin
So, I'm a pretty quiet person IRL and apparently that carries over to cyberspace. I got my first ever smoker back in February and I've been using SMF for my "Smoking Bible" since a little before then.
I'd like to throw a great big THANKS!! to all those out there that contribute to this site. You have been a great inspiration and source of information to someone that has never tried or even seen someone try smoking before. Who knew there was so much food out there to be smoked?!?! And now I'm hooked!!
Anyway, my name is Justin and I'm in upstate New York (for those not familiar with New York, read this as nowhere near NYC and pretty much like all of the rest of you
Although I don't have q-view, here is a brief rundown of what I've done so far:
Turkey breast (first try and, although I loved it at the time, I've found I love the dark meat best)
Turkey drumsticks and thighs (this is where I learned that dark meat is my favorite)
Pork Loin (this was the first I did for friends and it totally convinced them that homemade + smoke + meat = GREAT!)
Pork Ribs (I'm actually not a big ribs fan but I followed Jeff's rib rub recipe and the 3-2-1 method and even I loved them!)
Pulled Pork Butt (this has always been my favorite when going to the restaurant but the 10 hour prep had me putting it off. I'm SOOO glad I did it myself because it was AWESOME! and SoFlaQuer's Finishing Sauce was a great addition!)
So, as you might have seen, I started off slow but I'm picking up steam and loving every minute of it! I think my next endeavor will be bacon and I think I'll start with the Buckboard Bacon just because it is so close to the pork loin I've already done which has become a "short" smoke favorite. Oh, and I love Canadian Bacon!
Further down the road I'd like to get into some homemade sausage since that was my original inspiration for the smoker. So far it has seemed like the most intimidating but I'm working my way up to it. It also helps to see all of the possibilities out there such as the things that Bearcarver has posted. I never considered sausage made into a loaf but I'm seriously considering it for my first foray into the sausage world now! That way I can try the meat grinding and all it entails but not have to deal with stuffing yet.
So, thanks again to all of you out there offering advice and showing what's possible (and, sometimes more importantly, those of you that share where things went wrong!!! I prefer to learn from other people's mistakes wherever possible
Justin
