Hello From Chicago

[tolak]

Hey all, John from Chicago here.  I've had a little Brinkman water smoker thing for years, run it several times yearly.  Happened across a used S&P at a garage sale last fall, $8, firebox never used, seems to have been used for a grill a few times, more sun wear on the wood parts than anything else.  A few old cookie sheets for a baffle & tuning plates & it seems to be running reasonably well.

I've got some spare ribs to start early tomorrow, as well as a few tiny briskets, maybe a couple pounds each that I couldn't pass up being on sale.  Been looking over the 3-2-1 method for spare ribs, considering doing the same for these small briskets.  Being a new smoker to me it's taking a bit of playing with, to be expected & enjoyed.

Since my wife messed up her back a couple months ago the idea here is to get at least a few meals of meat ready for later in the week, do sides during the week.  It's also an excuse to hang around outside with the dogs, work on my truck, I look great seeing as I'm fixing dinners for the week! 

Looks like a good site, enjoying looking around so far, looks like you'll all be a great help as I get some bugs rattled out & some fine tuning done on my gear & techniques.

 

[LanceR]

Tolak, welcome to the site.  Pull up a rocker, open a cold beverage and join in.

Good luck on the day's smoking.

Lance

 

[s2k9k]

Hi John! 

 to SMF!!! We're glad you found us! I do the same thing and smoke a bunch on the weekend then vac/seal in individual portions and I have lunch and dinner for the week. 3-2-1 is almost foolproof for ribs and you might find yourself tweaking the times for your liking. Ribs are one of the only things you can cook to time, most everything else needs to cook to temperature, like brisket. I would make sure you cook the brisket until the internal temp (IT) reaches 195*, you can foil it around 160* to help speed it up. There are tons of threads on here about smoking brisket, just use the search bar at the top to find everything you need.

Would you do us a favor and update your profile to include your location, it helps when others offer advice, Thanks!

 

[scarbelly]

Hello John and 

 to SMF - glad to have you here 

 

[tolak]

Got the profile done, thanks for the reminder!  Glad I'm not the only one who gets cooking done for the week, only problem being it often doesn't last the week!  Yea, planned on foiling at 160, pulling at 200ish on the briskets, just about 160 right now, stepped inside for a moment.   

 

[dewetha]

welcome fellow city slicker to the low and slow world of BBQ. tons of thing to try out here. so many recipes, so many ways to prepare them and about all of them are better than 99pct of BBQ in the greater Chicago area.

 

[tolak]

Ahhh, S. burbs, I'm actually SW suburbs, Evergreen Park, but being surrounded on 3 sides by Chicago it's just easier to say Chicago.  It is tough to find really outstanding bbq around here, though I'm not about to risk life & limb trying some of the inner city joints, so they may exist.   

 

[dewetha]

I'm in crestwood! a place that most people like is Hog Wild on Pulaski south of 147.

i found a lot of inner city joints are just sweet baby rays and that it. there are some north side places I saw on TV but i'm just not a northside guy if you know what i mean.

 

[tolak]

I've heard a couple people say Hog Wild is good, I'm usually too cheap to try things if I think I can do better myself for less.  I've been in the area my whole life, nothing really thrills me about the north side.  The couple times I've hit Coyote Canyon down near Kankakee they had a pretty good smoked brisket, being a buffet that may just be luck though. 

 

[smokinhusker]

Hello and welcome to SMF! I vacuum seal lots of leftovers (pulled pork, etc) for my boyfriend's meals that he takes out of town with him. Works great for us and quick easy meals.