Back after a long hiatus

[petehalsted]

It was a good Sunday!

Got the He-Hut finished and did my first smoke, since our six month trip to South America.

3 racks of Baby Backs and a double batch of Pork Belly Burnt ends. I think I am physically incapable of smoking without doing some PBBEs! The ribs were perfect with just the right amount of tug and a really nice smoke ring!

Still got to mount the TV in the He-Hut but I did get speaker setup so I could stream some tunes.

Enjoyed a craft beer that we picked up on a brewery tour in Louisiana last year.

And used a couple of what must be the absolute best bottles for bottling homemade sauces. They are kind of fun to empty as well

;-)

 

[petehalsted]

Figured I would give a bit of background on the South America trip (from a smoking point of view). We spent 6 months in Medellin, Colombia.

Smoking isn't really a thing there. Grill meats over lump charcoal is everywhere, in fact within 6 blocks of our apartment was at least 50 places serving Parrilla or Asado. And there are street vendors especially during Christmas that use something that looks similar to a barrel smoker, but they are not so much using it as a smoker as they are an oven and warmer.

There was only one "real" smoker in our neighborhood (pics below), and even then the good has zero seasonings on it, just cooked in the "wood chimney". BTW, those Spits are honest to goodness rebar like used for concrete.

I did my part to spread the word, I helped my buddy build a barrel smoker while we were there, and we did get to do a couple of chickens on it before we left. Lump is easy to come by, didn't see a briquette the entire time we were there. But wood was where it really got interesting. Our main options were Limon (Lime), Uva (Grape), Naranja (Orange) and Cafe (Coffee). We used Orange and Lime on the chicken and it was mild but good. Coffee really interested me but we were afraid to try it on Chicken and I have never heard of anyone using it, but it is of course very readily available in Colombia!

 

[tallbm]

That all looks fantastic! I'm due for some smoking soon too.
I have a 20 pound turkey and 16 pounds of pork butt in the freezer taking up a lot of space :)

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Looks good and interesting on the woods!

I can't say a country where you can find that many grills to buy some food from is badly off with out true BBQ though!

 

[chilerelleno]

Welcome Back!
The He-Hut and vittles look great.
Like!

 

[gmc2003]

Nice job on both the hut and food. Welcome back.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome back!
Good looking Q!
And I love the setup too!
Al