Greetings from SE Iowa

[jdsmith]

I stumbled upon this site a few days ago, and finally signed up today. I am very much looking forward to mastering the art of smoking. I've been cooking/grilling for many years now. I just recently purchased a BBQ Pro Charcoal Grill with offset smoker box from Sears. I liked the option of being able to cook regularly with charcoal, or use the smoker box for a slower cook. I cook a lot of steaks, so I still wanted to have just the regular charcoal grill. I think in the long run it may wind up being a little smaller than what I might want, but we'll see. I am also looking into purchasing a stand up smoker, if anyone has any suggestions on which one to purchase.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to smoke my first rack of spare ribs. I have a few chicken legs I am going to experiment with as well. I had some chicken at a bachelor party a month or so ago that was to die for. I bought a bag of the homemade rub off the guy for a very reasonable price, but I ran out in just a couple grillings. I had a pretty good idea what it had in it, but wasn't exactly for sure. I purchased Jeff's naked rib rub recipe today, and I'm thinking it is going to taste a lot like the stuff I purchased. It has a lot of the ingredients in it I was suspecting, but it's nice to have the right portions written down.

I'm planning on using charcoal, some crab apple wood, and hickory.

Would love to hear ANY suggestions!

 

[pineywoods]

Welcome to SMF glad you joined us. Congrats on the new smoker. You'll find some good info and some great recipes here. Have fun and happy smoking

 

[fire it up]

Welcome to the site jdsmith.
You're gonna love finally being able to smoke your own foods. Hell, even steaks in the smoker are amazing.
Good luck on your first smoke tomorrow, crab apple and hickory sounds like a good mix, just remember that hickory is much more potent than fruit woods.
With any poultry I do I always brine it in something, if you haven't tried brining you might want to give that some thought.
Good luck!

 

[hoser]

sounds like you're off to a great start JD...I'm a real sucker for apple and hickory...my favorites by far.
Don't forget to check out the recipe forum here too....if you're looking for a good rub, especially for chicken, Shooter rick's is legendary.
Good luck with the smoke...just keep it low and slow

Here's Rick's recipe
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=77908

 

[jaxgatorz]

Welcome to smf and happy smokes..

 

[chainsaw]

Welcome from a former Iowegian, relocated to OK last year. I am a newby as well, did some smokin' but not a lot. Great post, lots of knowledge here.

 

[beer-b-q]

Welcome, Glad to have you with us. This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.

Be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse, you can find it here it's "FREE"...5 Day e Course

Everyone here enjoys seeing the qview so be sure to post plenty of pics... Large ones that us old people with bad eyes can see.

When you uploading to photobucket I always use the Large img setting, 640 x 480 it is a nice size...

 

[irishteabear]

Welcome to SMF. Glad you joined us.

 

[smokebuzz]

IT'S ANOTHER HAWKEYE!!!!!
4 in the last week!!!
WELCOME!!!

Where, in Southeast IOWA ya from?, I'm originally from Eddyville.

 

[jdsmith]

I'm not that far south. I am just outside of Muscatine.

 

[gregandlaurie]

Hello and welcome from another Iowa newbie (Centerville). This site is great the people are really helpful with alot of recipes you'll be wanting to try!!

 

[mballi3011]

First off welcome to SMF. You'll like it here cause there are alot of good folks here that would just love to help you with just about anything to do with smoking. You have a nice looking grill there so you are ready for the big smoke. If you have any question feel free to just post it here or go in the chat and you will get an answer pretty darn quick. As far as your want for a tower smoker I have a Gosm and it's a really good smoker but not big enough for me. You propbaly want a big Block Gosm or a smoke vault 24" thats the one I want. Ok well you have the picture (Qview here) so we can see what your smoking. The next thing for you to do is run don't walk and get something to smoke. Cause you have started it:
Welcome To The Addiction.

 

[jdt]

welcome from des moines

 

[the dude abides]

Another welcome from Des Moines. Glad you're here. Congrats on your new smoker.

 

[thomasyoung]

Welcome to SMF!! I’m so happy you decided to join us.

Tom

 

[earache_my_eye]

Welcome JD...sorry I'm a little late with this...

Once upon a time I lived in S.E. Iowa...Ottumwa.

Glad to see more and more Iowans joining the ranks here!!

L8r,
Eric

 

[isutroutbum]

Welcome (#3) from DSM. Good luck w/the new smoker!!

 

[richoso1]

Welcome to the SMF, plenty of friendly folks who are willing to help you out. Jeff's rub is a very good starting point, from there you can tweak it to your likings if needed.

 

[zjaybird]

Nice rig......Welcome to SMF.....Is there an Iowa Convention on Smoking come up, you have to wonder with all the newbie's come from the land where the "Tall Corn Grows". Good luck

 

[jeffj]

Wow, more Iowans. I thought that I was the only one. Good to see more local people. I am new to here as well. Sounds like you have a good start. I think that I might take Fareway up on their loin special and smoke one for the Iowa game Saturday.