Hi Everyone! New To SMF!

[wcboudreaux]

My name is Will, I'm almost 41, and I live in Brandon, MS (by way of Hammond, LA). BBQ is my favorite food (Aside from Creole and Cajun of course... Gotta respect the hometown man!) and you guys have already helped me step my BBQ game to the next level with all of the valuable info on this forum... I FINALLY decided to get a smoker November of 2015 just to smoke a turkey for my household, when that turned into smoking turkeys for my household, my neighbors, my parents, and a couple co-workers... Funny how that works out isn't it?

I wanted to get something entry level, just in case I found out later, that I wasn't any good at it... So I picked up the cheapest electric smoker I could find. Turned out to be a CharBroil 30" Vertical Smoker (Analogue). No bells, No whistles, just a box with an element, some racks, and a chip and water pan. Oh yea, and a built in thermometer that is no where even close to being accurate... LMAO

So at first I didn't do to great as you can imagine... My food didn't taste like it had been smoked... More like... Roasted? So I did a few very simple mods to my smoker, and now it's smoking like a beast, and everything that comes out of it gets rave reviews!

Also in my arsenal, I have a Kingsford 24" Grill... I live in an apartment with a very small patio so I don't have a lot of room for the bigger toys that I'd love to have...

I am also an avid jerky fan... I love eating it, I love making it, I love eating it... And most importantly, I love eating it... I bought a bunch of equipment a few years back to make it myself, and friends and family love it... My wife will devour an entire bag in minutes if I'm not careful... I have vacuum sealers, I have heat sealers, I have dehydrators, and I have a passion for jerky!

I love to pickle things too... I make Pickles, Pickled Green Beans, Pickled Peppers, Pickled Eggs, Pickled Okra... Am I a freak? I'm a freak aren't I?

I love pickled sausage too... Guess it's a Louisiana thing...

I wonder how many of you are actually still reading at this point... Hmmm... I probably woulda logged out after the pickled thing...

Anyway, a little background info... Let's see... My wife's family owned and operated a deer processing business when she and I first got together, and I had gotten laid off at work. So I went to work for their family business, and learned a lot. How to cut meat, how to gind and stuff meat,(this is starting to sound like the synopsis to a 1970's porn lmfao) how to make jerky, how to make sausage... It was an amazing experience for me... One main thing I learned, is I love doing that sort of thing...

I've always loved cooking... I'm no professional, but I'm grandmother trained... That carries a lot of weight... My recipes are OLD family recipes, tried and trusted for many many decades... I love 'From Scratch' cooking rather than seeking help from the boxes... I've made my own rubs, I've made my own seasonings, and I've made my own sauces... TONS of sauces... BBQ, Comeback, French Fry Dipping Sauce, Mops, and replicated quite a few on my own that were pretty close, if not dead on... Hell, I've made my own ketchup when we ran out...

I am soon to purchase a Kitchener sausage stuffer, Kitchener #12 meat grinder, and Big Chief cold smoker and start doing my own smoked jerky, sausages, and hot links.

Anyway, that's a little bit (alot) about me... If I left anything out, let me know and I'll update...

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to the forum.

Glad to have you with us.

Looking forward to seeing some of your recipes!

Al

 

[HalfSmoked]

Glad to have you on board lot of great guys and gals on here with tons of info. Take time ti read on Home page Initial Greeting it contains  a lot of helpful info. Looks like you have a handle on some of this already looking forward to photos of some of your work

Warren