Heyas,
I am from Fort Walton Beach, FL and right now I am using a http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/products/char-broil-offset-smoker-american-gourmet-deluxe-grill as my smoker and I have had it for about 3 years now. I have been actually trying to smoke stuff since the Superbowl in 2010 (it also happens to be my birthday) and I have to say I did outstanding then. I just did some ribs and weren't perfect but then some of the folks told me they hadn't ever had better so it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
I only moved to Florida when the USAF moved me here in Nov 07 but I am married to a Texas girl and she was always talking about BBQ which I have come to find out is Brisket. For myself for years I though she was talking about BBQ as is a gas grill some burgers, dogs, and chicken getting cooked, I am from upstate (and I mean really upstate (no seriously I don't think it should be a part of the US upstate NY (I mean Alaska calls and asks us if its cold upstate))) and I hadn't really ever been exposed to smoking much more than some hams, bacon, and sausages. I had seen some things on it and for some reason I convinced the wife that the house we had just bought needed a grill.
So I bought the above grill saying I wanted a charcoal grill and I didn't even know what the firebox was for other than if maybe you wanted to cook something else :-/ So I used it as a normal charcoal grill for a while when I decided I wanted to cook some ribs for a superbowl/birthday party. So I bought some ribs from Sam's Club and came home and said "What the hell and I supposed to do with these now?" So I sat down and started searching, and searching, and more searching reading and eating everything I could up on this topic. Man there is a ton of information out there. So I found some advice and followed it. From there I have been hooked. I love smoking meat. I keep looking at either building my own smoker or upgrading mine. I have a current plan for a cooking arrangement of using some stuff I have but heat management is my biggest issue.
For this past Easter much to my delight I was asked to deep fry a turkey and smoke a brisket for some friends. I happily complied and it turned out almost perfect. The 10 lb brisket got a little heat attack at about 5 hours into cooking and for the next two kept having to get balanced. Part of it was because I threw in a chuck of wood I had burned down quite a bit and knocked off large chucks. These chunks were a little hotter than I planned and got some flames going once exposed to the air flow.
But I still managed to control the cooking of the brisket though for those 2 hours it was sitting at around 270 - 300 instead of the nice steady 220 that I had been managing before that. Still it turned out quite tender and led to a lot of the people there saying it was a damn good brisket. Actually after a week now and running into some people they are still talking about it. So it makes me pretty happy.
I am glad I have found this spot. I have found other places to read from but no where has there been interaction and discussion that I have found.
I am definitely addicted. I keep dreaming of being able to setup and just smoke meat and serve to people. Along with some beans and a big pile of my Macaroni Salad.
Some of the things I am looking to learn more on is rubs, heat management, and some foundations to making some sauce as that is one thing I haven't done yet. Not that I mind eating some Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce by any means but I would like to work on making my own sauces.
Well now I think I have typed enough to have bored you all so I guess a picture from this weekend.
Just after pulling them off within minutes of each other. I left them alone to settle a little. 19 lb turkey and 9 lb brisket.
I am from Fort Walton Beach, FL and right now I am using a http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/products/char-broil-offset-smoker-american-gourmet-deluxe-grill as my smoker and I have had it for about 3 years now. I have been actually trying to smoke stuff since the Superbowl in 2010 (it also happens to be my birthday) and I have to say I did outstanding then. I just did some ribs and weren't perfect but then some of the folks told me they hadn't ever had better so it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
I only moved to Florida when the USAF moved me here in Nov 07 but I am married to a Texas girl and she was always talking about BBQ which I have come to find out is Brisket. For myself for years I though she was talking about BBQ as is a gas grill some burgers, dogs, and chicken getting cooked, I am from upstate (and I mean really upstate (no seriously I don't think it should be a part of the US upstate NY (I mean Alaska calls and asks us if its cold upstate))) and I hadn't really ever been exposed to smoking much more than some hams, bacon, and sausages. I had seen some things on it and for some reason I convinced the wife that the house we had just bought needed a grill.
So I bought the above grill saying I wanted a charcoal grill and I didn't even know what the firebox was for other than if maybe you wanted to cook something else :-/ So I used it as a normal charcoal grill for a while when I decided I wanted to cook some ribs for a superbowl/birthday party. So I bought some ribs from Sam's Club and came home and said "What the hell and I supposed to do with these now?" So I sat down and started searching, and searching, and more searching reading and eating everything I could up on this topic. Man there is a ton of information out there. So I found some advice and followed it. From there I have been hooked. I love smoking meat. I keep looking at either building my own smoker or upgrading mine. I have a current plan for a cooking arrangement of using some stuff I have but heat management is my biggest issue.
For this past Easter much to my delight I was asked to deep fry a turkey and smoke a brisket for some friends. I happily complied and it turned out almost perfect. The 10 lb brisket got a little heat attack at about 5 hours into cooking and for the next two kept having to get balanced. Part of it was because I threw in a chuck of wood I had burned down quite a bit and knocked off large chucks. These chunks were a little hotter than I planned and got some flames going once exposed to the air flow.
But I still managed to control the cooking of the brisket though for those 2 hours it was sitting at around 270 - 300 instead of the nice steady 220 that I had been managing before that. Still it turned out quite tender and led to a lot of the people there saying it was a damn good brisket. Actually after a week now and running into some people they are still talking about it. So it makes me pretty happy.
I am glad I have found this spot. I have found other places to read from but no where has there been interaction and discussion that I have found.
I am definitely addicted. I keep dreaming of being able to setup and just smoke meat and serve to people. Along with some beans and a big pile of my Macaroni Salad.
Some of the things I am looking to learn more on is rubs, heat management, and some foundations to making some sauce as that is one thing I haven't done yet. Not that I mind eating some Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce by any means but I would like to work on making my own sauces.
Well now I think I have typed enough to have bored you all so I guess a picture from this weekend.
Just after pulling them off within minutes of each other. I left them alone to settle a little. 19 lb turkey and 9 lb brisket.