Greetings from Durham, NC

[mosaicsmoker]

Hi, all

  North Carolina Masonic Lodges have a long history of barbecue dinners and competitions to raise money for charity.  I'm exploring smokers and larger scale BBQing than we've done in the past to find out what my lodge would need to get started in competitions. We have a broad spread of skills in our membership and access to most every tool we'd need for constructing a smoker & portable prep area and access to plenty of good hickory for smoking.

  Looking around several forums this one looked the most interesting.

  My personal outdoor cooking background is the usual basic backyard grilling, lots of Dutch oven & campfire cooking and a little bit of open pit smoking & kettle cooking. Several of us are active in cooking dinners for large groups at our churches and our lodge.  We have a couple Serve Safe trained members so we're used to cooking safely for crowds.  I suspect grilling and Dutch ovens  will play nicely together, can't beat old black iron for fresh-baked bread to go with the smoked meat.

  I'll probably just be reading for the next month or two but if I can convince enough of my lodge brothers to start a competition team I'll post the tale of our build & learning to compete.

Cheers,

Keith

 

[s2k9k]

Hi Keith! 

to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 40,000 members and over 800,000 posts so you should be able to find almost anything you want to know. Remember the search bar at the top can be your best friend for finding answers fast!

Would you do us a favor and update your profile to include your location, Thanks!

You might want to check out Jeff's Free 5 day E-course it will teach you all the basics and a whole lot more!

 

[smokinjoe1970]

from One newbie to another Welcome and Happy Cooking

 

[roller]

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Welcome Keith!

     You're  right in the middle of some great BBQ. I grew up in Charlotte and I know there are some really good BBQ places in your area and to the east of you. Sounds like you have a really good group of folks to work with in forming your team. I commend you. I was never able to assemble a sufficient group to compete but I really do believe it would be a lot of fun to do so. Welcome to the forum and do let us hear from you often ..... especially if you build a team and start competing. Actually, let us hear from you often regardless of the team. Welcome aboard!!
 

 

[rabbithutch]

Howdy, Keith!

Couldn't take all that Texas brisket, huh? (I saw your post on the NC Group page).

I grew up in Raleigh eating Cooper's BBQ and others. There used to be a place in Durham that was just South of the US70 and US15-501 split (old routes that used to be bypasses but are probably midtown now) on the way to Chapel Hill on the right, or West, side of 15-501. For the life of me I cannot remember the name, but the Q was good enough to make the 40+ mile round-trip every couple of months. That was almost 50 years ago. If it's still there, how about refreshing an old man's memory with the name of the place.

Good luck with getting your lodge to work up a comp team. That could be a lot of fun. I never did join and do the work, but 2 of my brothers are past masters of James B. Green lodge in Wake County.

Let me know if you need an occasional care package from Texas.

 

[boykjo]

Welcome to SMF neighbor... Glad to have you aboard....................

Joe

 

[smokinhusker]

Hello and welcome to SMF!

 

[scarbelly]

Hello and 

to SMF - glad to have you here 

 

[mosaicsmoker]

You're probably remembering Bullocks Barbeque - www.bullocksbbq.com.  It's very near 15-501 & 70 and has been around forever.  It's now nationally famous.  We haven't had Obama stop in yet this election cycle but Joe Biden & his entourage ate there a while back. All the other old BBQ places are long gone, mostly effete yup places masquerading as barbecue joints now.  My current favorite is The Que Shack, even though it has the temerity to serve both pulled pork and Texas-style brisket.

Keith

 

[rabbithutch]

Thanks, Keith!

Bullocks it is! Haven't eaten there since the '70s. Used to be you could get it served family style and they would serve pork tenderloin separate and/or chopped in with the rest.

It was mighty good back then!

 

[bluffton smoker]

Just another Texan welcoming you to this great forum. I found it less than 6 months ago. There is enough wisdom & experience to cover just about any phase of Q-ing question you have. Just ask...