Newbie from Virginia Beach, ...and I mean NEWBIE!

[wbrian]

Hi All,

I hail from Virginia Beach.  I've been interested in smoking meats for some reason for about a yer and a half.  having only a Weber Genesis Silver-C gas grill, I'd not tried to smoke on it.  About a year ago, I started trying the Alton Brown flowerpot smoker with no real success (tried several times, unable to get the temp above 150- really ticking me off!).  I've used that to smoke the meat initially (only done ribs several times) and then finished on my grill after getting frustrated.

I love the idea of the AB smoker and will continue to try and make it work (I may add a propane burner to it!).

I know basically nothing about smoking.  I am confused by the terms I see here (what is a QView?? What is a "whole brisket?...)  

My father smokes the occasional turkey or ham on his ratty old grill.  I'm looking forward to showing him up, in a fun way, of course.  ...but I do indeed need to learn a bunch!  I just found the link to the 5 day course and will be checking that out this morning.  Tomorrow I go to visit a friend who has a great grill.  I'm going to try and smoke a piece of something for the family dinner on Friday.

Any suggestions?  Looking to feed  6-7 hearty eaters...

Thanks and I'm looking forward to learning here!

Brian

 

[richoso1]

Welcome to the SMF. Keep reading, as there is a great knowledge base available to you. Here is a link to a Wiki that gives some explanation to the words tossed arounf BBQ circles.   http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/acronyms

tIt's all good my friend.

 

[rbranstner]

Brian first off I would like to say WELCOME to the SMF Family. There are lots of great people on here who are here to help you out in any way they can. You will learn a ton just from reading other posts and just asking questions. There are a lot of terms that we use but you will pick them up quickly if you read a bit. Qview is pictures of your smoked meat. We all love to look at every-ones smoked meat and drool over it so make sure you post your pictures. We have a friendly saying around here "If there isn't any Qview it didn't happen." haha And a whole Brisket or also known as a "Full Packer" is just a beef brisket with the point and the flat still attached. You can buy just the point which is a little fattier and we usually make them into burnt ends and the flat which is thinner and is what is used to slice or pull to make sandwiches or just eat plain. The best think I can suggest which you have already done is sign up for the Ecourse and read through a ton of posts. You will come up with all kinds of idea's on stuff you want to try and then you can ask questions along the way. If you are looking for something in particular type it in the search box at the top of the page and you will come up with tons of posts on it. I would say for a good starter smoke I would go with one of the following chickens, fatty's, pulled pork butt and maybe ribs or country style ribs. All are pretty forgiving. Also look up ABT's (Atomic buffalo turds) you family will love them and they are very easy and you can't hurt them on the smoker. Best of luck to you.

 

[realtorterry]

Welcome friend. Check out the free e-course offered here. It will help you on your way

 

[scarbelly]

Hello Brian and welcome to SMF. As the others have stated there is a lot of great info on almost every subject so take some time and look at the categories and find what interests you, then read up on it. With as large as this site is someone has most likely already done it for sure.

 

[coacher72]

Welcome. I agree with the others. Lots of info here to be shared. When I did my first smoke I started with chickens because it seemed like less could go wrong with them. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[thebarbequeen]

Along with all of the above, find a good local butcher shop. They love helping people learn about cuts, prep, etc.  Did you use AB's rub on your ribs?  We love him, his explanation of brining is one of the best.  Cheers! Have fun!!

 

[mballi3011]

First off Welcome Brian to SMF. You'll like it here for there are alot of really good folks here that would just love to help you with just about anything to do with smoking. Now there are alot of proven recipes for some amazing things here too. So if you need sign up for the E-Course it's free and it will give you the basics of smoking and some good methods to use also. So the next big thing for you to do is go out and get you something to smoke and if you happen to have any questions just post it here and we will be happy to answer them for you.

Welcome To Your New Addiction        

 

[beer-b-q]

 

Welcome to SMF, Glad to have you with us.
 

This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.
 

For those of you new to Smoking, be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse.

Click Here it's "FREE" ... 5 Day eCourseE

 

[bmudd14474]

Welcome to SMF. Glad to have you here with us. I grew up across the bridge from you in Charles County MD.

 

[bamaboy]

Welcome to the friendliest place on the net

 

[meateater]

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

 

[smokingnd]

Welcome to the forum, I would also recommend chickens for your first smoke, as they tend to inexpensive so if something goes wrong you don't ruin an expensive piece of meat.  Chickens were my first and we have not had a chicken any other way since.  Good luck and ask questions if you have them and someone will have the answer.

 

[wbrian]

Well, I went with Pork ribs for my friends.  Did 4 racks.  Came out pretty good.  Could have used a couple more hours of foiled cooking, but time was running out.  So i finished them up by direct grilling them for a few minutes.  had a nice smoke ring to them and a real nice flavor, too!

Here are some pictures..

This is as I placed them in the grill. at 225 degrees...

.

Foiling them after 4 hours...



After finishing them up on the grill...



YUMMY!



Thanks for the tips!

 

[thebarbequeen]

Those ribs are a thing of beauty.  Congrats on an AWESOME looking smoke!  I just keep going back to that cutting board shot... mmmmm...foodporn.....

 

[kevink]

I would lick that cutting board if i could...

greetings from Texas - spent four years in the Tidewater area, in Williamsburg.  Every time I headed east on 64 with friends from the area they'd crack the windows as we went through the bridge tunnel and smell that ocean air.  I miss it!  The ribs look fantastic.  Keep the qview coming!

 

[smokinstevo27]

Welcome to SMF. Go get a Brinkmann Smoke N Grill (ECB) It's about $40 and runs on charcoal. With a couple of modifications to it you can turn out some damn good q. Tulsa Jeff did a great article on ecb mods just search it on smokingmeats.com. It is a small investment that will tell you if you really want to get into bbq.

 

[wbrian]

Thanks for all the replies and for making me feel so welcome.  I'll be looking into an ECB tomorrow at HD...

Thanks again!

Brian

 

[smokinstevo27]

Good luck brian, lookin forward to hearing and seeing what you end up doing.

 

Thanks for all the replies and for making me feel so welcome.  I'll be looking into an ECB tomorrow at HD...

Thanks again!

Brian

 

[wbrian]

Well, when I got out of work tonight, I picked up the wife and headed to Home Depot to pick up a "surprise"...  Wanted to get an ECB, but wanted her onboard for a smoker.  She ended up talking me into getting a slightly more expensive Brinkmann Vertical Square Smoker instead.  It's in the back of my ttruck tonight.  Tomorrow I will put it together and I guess I'm supposed to burn it in or something to burn off the manufacturing schmutz, right?

I also saw somewhere in here that someone sprays the inside of their smoker with Pam.  Is that part of the burn in/seasoning process or before each smoke?

Thanks!

Brian