I bought my first barrel smoker about 4 years ago & did pretty well with chicken. I just wasn't getting the results I wanted with pork or brisket till I started lurking around here & Jeff's site. I wasn't taking care of my smoker either & left it outside most of the time. Last year the bottom rusted out & with money being tight I had to settle for the $39 Walmart Brinkman smoker.
Two years ago I followed directions on Jeff's site for pork butt & hit my first home run. I am still making that smokey chipotle sauce recipe I found on Jeff's site cause its a favorite by so many people including myself. The next smoke was 2 butts & I brought some over to my neighbor. Now he is hooked & has a new smoker & bought Jeff's recipes.
It took a while to get ribs the way I knew they could be & I am nailing them consistently now thanks to this forum & everyone's pics. Lots of people ask how do you know when something is ready & its very true that food will often tell you when its ready just by how it looks. That is why the pics have been so helpful as far as the ribs go for me.
This Independence Day I did my 4th brisket along with butts & ribs for a large celebration at my house. My neighbor came over & said his son's girlfriend was making Bobby Flay's beans which called for 2 cups of burnt ends. I hacked off a few hunks & he said it never made it into the beans :) He substituted with the butt I made for him & they all ate the brisket within a few minutes.
In the past I have cooked for as many as 200 people by myself but that menu was not very difficult. On the 4th I had a huge selection of sides, sauces & 3 apple pies. My step father won't even try to make BBQ so I had to make him burgers along with all the other silly finicky people lol! Had to make 2 different batches of beans cause some people don't like onions or even the thought of jalapeno or cayenne being in them. I refused to make two different potato salads.....mine is just gonna have onions & green pepper so find something else.
Sometimes I wonder if people actually like something that I made & are just being nice saying its good. I am very critical of my food but there was one thing that happened when 20 people sat down to eat. SILENCE! No not for me saying Grace but when they were eating! I felt that everything that I made was the best it has ever been in the BBQ department. Everyone had 2nd & 3rds & I was asked for recipes for just about everything. People said stuff like "I don't normally like slaw but this is great". There were even 2 people there that had never eaten ribs & about 10 that never had brisket. They are hooked now too.
I just wanted to say thanks again to Jeff & for the tremendous community here. Couldn't have done it without all of you & your knowledge & emergency advice at 11pm July 3rd. I had the best time I have had in years with another member & his family out in the mountains for a lil Q gathering. Sorry for being long winded but this is a special place!
Two years ago I followed directions on Jeff's site for pork butt & hit my first home run. I am still making that smokey chipotle sauce recipe I found on Jeff's site cause its a favorite by so many people including myself. The next smoke was 2 butts & I brought some over to my neighbor. Now he is hooked & has a new smoker & bought Jeff's recipes.
It took a while to get ribs the way I knew they could be & I am nailing them consistently now thanks to this forum & everyone's pics. Lots of people ask how do you know when something is ready & its very true that food will often tell you when its ready just by how it looks. That is why the pics have been so helpful as far as the ribs go for me.
This Independence Day I did my 4th brisket along with butts & ribs for a large celebration at my house. My neighbor came over & said his son's girlfriend was making Bobby Flay's beans which called for 2 cups of burnt ends. I hacked off a few hunks & he said it never made it into the beans :) He substituted with the butt I made for him & they all ate the brisket within a few minutes.
In the past I have cooked for as many as 200 people by myself but that menu was not very difficult. On the 4th I had a huge selection of sides, sauces & 3 apple pies. My step father won't even try to make BBQ so I had to make him burgers along with all the other silly finicky people lol! Had to make 2 different batches of beans cause some people don't like onions or even the thought of jalapeno or cayenne being in them. I refused to make two different potato salads.....mine is just gonna have onions & green pepper so find something else.
Sometimes I wonder if people actually like something that I made & are just being nice saying its good. I am very critical of my food but there was one thing that happened when 20 people sat down to eat. SILENCE! No not for me saying Grace but when they were eating! I felt that everything that I made was the best it has ever been in the BBQ department. Everyone had 2nd & 3rds & I was asked for recipes for just about everything. People said stuff like "I don't normally like slaw but this is great". There were even 2 people there that had never eaten ribs & about 10 that never had brisket. They are hooked now too.
I just wanted to say thanks again to Jeff & for the tremendous community here. Couldn't have done it without all of you & your knowledge & emergency advice at 11pm July 3rd. I had the best time I have had in years with another member & his family out in the mountains for a lil Q gathering. Sorry for being long winded but this is a special place!
