Hi everyone.
I am from Maplewood, New Jersey (northeast part of the state, near Newark Airport and New York City).
I love to cook and try new foods and cooking techniques but I have no formal training.
For my birthday in June, my family bought me the 18½ Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker. So far, I've smoked a brisket, chickens and coho salmon fillets. I've been doing a lot of reading on the web. I've had trouble regulating the temperature so the chickens were a little under cooked (finished them off by roasting in the oven), and the salmon was over cooked -- a little dry but excellent the next day cold. I haven't tried the Minion method yet but am planning to do ribs this weekend.
As I said, my food interests are not quite as expansive as Andrew Zimmern but I do like everything from the pedestrian to the sophisticated. When I travel to a city, I like to try the local foods not just the popular ones. For example, I was recently in Chicago to go to the restaurant, Next, but while there, not only did I have deep dish pizza, but also a Chicago hot dog and Italian beef - dipped in au jus, of course!
Growing up in North Jersey (the hot dog capital of the world -- sorry Chicago), a few years ago, I organized a bunch of friends and acquaintances to spend an afternoon eating at a handful of hot dog establishments. We recently held our fourth annual Jersey Dog Crawl.
Next week, I'll be married 30 years -- to the same woman, no less -- and have 2 grown sons.
Looking forward to years of fun smoking and sharing stories.
All the best,
Phil
I am from Maplewood, New Jersey (northeast part of the state, near Newark Airport and New York City).
I love to cook and try new foods and cooking techniques but I have no formal training.
For my birthday in June, my family bought me the 18½ Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker. So far, I've smoked a brisket, chickens and coho salmon fillets. I've been doing a lot of reading on the web. I've had trouble regulating the temperature so the chickens were a little under cooked (finished them off by roasting in the oven), and the salmon was over cooked -- a little dry but excellent the next day cold. I haven't tried the Minion method yet but am planning to do ribs this weekend.
As I said, my food interests are not quite as expansive as Andrew Zimmern but I do like everything from the pedestrian to the sophisticated. When I travel to a city, I like to try the local foods not just the popular ones. For example, I was recently in Chicago to go to the restaurant, Next, but while there, not only did I have deep dish pizza, but also a Chicago hot dog and Italian beef - dipped in au jus, of course!
Growing up in North Jersey (the hot dog capital of the world -- sorry Chicago), a few years ago, I organized a bunch of friends and acquaintances to spend an afternoon eating at a handful of hot dog establishments. We recently held our fourth annual Jersey Dog Crawl.
Next week, I'll be married 30 years -- to the same woman, no less -- and have 2 grown sons.
Looking forward to years of fun smoking and sharing stories.
All the best,
Phil
