WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO SMF?

[Bearcarver]

OK, here we go---About 3 months after SmokinAl got here, I dropped in:

Bear Jr brought 19 Salmon Fillets, from 10 Big Salmon, from Pulaski, NY.
They were all between 30" and 36" long, and I needed to find out how to Smoke them. I got my first Smoker "MES 30", and did some searching.
I figured out how to do it, with some help from a lot of guys, including some who are still here.
The Salmon took a month or two, because I did it in about 8 batches to get it all done.
That was over 13 years ago!
Here's the Thread of the Final Batch of that Load of NY Salmon:
Smoked Salmon

Bear

 

[normanaj]

My WSN 14.5" originally brought me here but it was my MES that kept me here...I needed to learn about it!

That's not really true I simply just needed to learn!And all these years later the lesson is still being taught.

 

[Buckeye1]

Bought a Recteq at beginning of work from home at start of Covid. Started looking for smoking techniques and recipes. Stumbled upon this site and really love the group on here. As previously mentioned most forums have turned toxic. This one is truly a pleasure to participate on.

 

[civilsmoker]

I rarely join forums or social media groups of any type.....and in fact I have NEVER had a Facebook account (NEVER WILL), only did Instagram for a few months and have only participated in two other forums for a short time. These other forums had way too much "anger" going on all the time and Instagram (aka fakeagram) was well....I DIDN'T want to see tik tok vids of dancing whatever all the time....I mean after blocking them for months.....I finally said enough......

All that said, I spent lots of time reading many BBQ forums because I wanted to expand my smoking experience and build a RF smoker. After spending considerable time researching forums and reading build posts as well Qview posts, I discovered SMF and that Jeff was an engineer.....as an engineer myself, I found how Jeff presented his cooks and recipe's was very open and done in a teaching way. Furthermore, I found almost every member to have a similar mentality, so I joined and read posts for 2 years before I posted and over that time I found SMF to be different as in I learn new things all the time and it has almost always been a positive, open, and welcoming group.

I will say honestly, I never thought being a member of SMF would have had the impact (continued even to today) that it has to me personally and my family!!!! This is way I stay!!!

 

[DougE]

All I wanted to do was make some pulled pork, and, well, once I got here, it just mushroomed into a lot of other things.

 

[daveomak]

SmokinAl ... Want to share that slaw recipe?? I've tried about a dozen and I'm still looking...

 

[clifish]

OK, here we go---About 3 months after SmokinAl got here, I dropped in:

Bear Jr brought 19 Salmon Fillets, from 10 Big Salmon, from Pulaski, NY.
They were all between 30" and 36" long, and I needed to find out how to Smoke them. I got my first Smoker "MES 30", and did some searching.
I figured out how to do it, with some help from a lot of guys, including some who are still here.
The Salmon took a month or two, because I did it in about 8 batches to get it all done.
That was over 13 years ago!
Here's the Thread of the Final Batch of that Load of NY Salmon:
Smoked Salmon

Bear

Wish I saw that salmon thread before, last year we caught 31 king salmon between us in Sodus bay, lake Ontario NY.

 

[pineywoods]

I needed instruction on how to smoke trout (that I had caught) on a cheapo Brinkman water smoker which I found at a flea market for $15.

The rest is history. . .I made many faceless friends here as well.

Here is an idea. Why don"t we have a thread where members can post a picture of themselves so we can put faces with Avatar names.

What do you think SmokinAl ?

It took you 30 years to come over from the dark side?. . .LOL!

John

Kind of like this old thread??????

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/show-yourself.57052/

 

[Bumppo]

In my circle of family and friends, I've always been thought of as a pretty good cook. But I never really got into cooking good barbecue. Years ago, I "borrowed" an unused brinkman smoke n grill from my dad and used it a couple times. I've also tried those chip boxes for a gas grill with so-so results. But never really went any farther with it.

Most of my main hobbies brought me away from home for several days at a time like hunting and fishing. My other favorite hobby was planning for those trips.

But then life happened. Now I have three kids ages 4 and under and a 55-60 hour a week career. Those trips just don't happen as often as they used to. Without the physical escape of those trips, or even the mental escape of planning for them, I was starting to go downhill with anxiety and depression.

An old acquaintance got a cheap offset and started posting a lot of his cooks on Facebook and I started to get interested. I did a lot of Google searches about smokers and techniques, and the best results always came from this site. So I quit searching on Google and just check here first.

Now I have a new hobby that I can focus on. Even though it's winter and outside cooking is limited, I can still plan and daydream. That alone is enough to help when everything else gets to be too overwhelming. It's helped me avoid some of the issues I was having before.

So this place is as much therapy to me as it is good food.

 

[yankee2bbq]

Well, Judy & I were vegetarians for 30 years, until one day we were in Sam’s & they had a MES 40 on sale. I said why don’t we buy one, and Judy said, “ What the hell are you gonna smoke? LETTUCE? I said no, why don’t we buy some meat. She just looked at me like all the times that I come up with some crazy idea, and just rolled her eyes. So we bought a MES 40, a couple of racks of spares, wood chips, and a butt. We came home & I started searching the net for a recipe to smoke a rack of ribs. Of course SMF came up & I got on & went to chat & a real nice lady gave me all the instructions on how to smoke ribs & she gave me a coleslaw recipe that I still use to this day. Then from then on I just learned how to smoke, cold smoke, make sausage, dry cure, and on and on. I have made a bunch of friends on here over the years, and hope to make many more! I was just wondering what brought the rest of you here. Oh, and by the way that first rack of ribs was awesome, only because of that nice lady here on SMF, and as I said earlier, her coleslaw recipe is the best I have ever had!
Al

Great topic. For me, I think it was searching for recipes on-line pertaining to smoking meat on my Weber kettle. (Been a few years, so please excuse my memory lose). However, it snowballed into multiple smoking/cooking/side-dishes from this forum that made me join. Learned alot on SMF.
And like mentioned before, a stress reliever from everyday life.

 

[masssmoke]

I bought a cheap Brinkman electric with the general idea to smoke ribs. I had never done it or seen it done or knew anyone who smoked meats at home. I tried to "learn by doing" and make the terrible decision to follow the cooking times advised in the manual.
So, following a few laughable tries I stumbled on this board when searching for answers. In the years since I have learned plenty (which much more still to learn) made some decent ribs, butts, burnt ends etc while upgrading a bit to a pellet smoker. When I have need help, I have gotten it, when I have shared success others are happy for it, when i have had been frustrated with poor results, I have gotten encouragement to try again. All this from people I have never met in person!

And I remain amazed at the knowledge, friendliness and helpful nature of this board and how willing those here are to share their expertise with all that are curious enough to ask and learn. The other thing I love about this board is that while there are disagreements and different opinions threads don't dissolve into personal insults or bickering like so many message boards do. Long live SMF!

 

[bigfurmn]

I started with adding wood chips to my Weber when doing steak and chicken. Saw a good deal on a MES40 at Sams. Wife got it for me for Christmas. Since then added a tube smoker and maze. Oh and tested a Pit Boss 340 and sold it to my boss, then upgraded to a Pit Boss 1000SC. SMF, come for the knowledge stay for the great people.

 

[indaswamp]

My Uncle bought a new MES in 2015. He told me about some of the ideas he learned on this site like the mailbox mod. I had been wanting to build a large outhouse smoker like the one my grandfather had, but more modern. So when I got ready to build it, I looked up the site on google for ideas. I ran across Pops smokehouse that he built and got some ideas from his build. Picked up some other ideas from other random threads. Decided to join so I could thank the people that I got ideas from and to show my build thread. Though I have been making sausages for about 30 or so years, I have learned a lot of little tricks and information on additives on SMF which have upped my game. I also got a lot of good information on salumi and salami. I have been wanting to make dry cured meats...especially salami for 25 or so years but felt intimidated. I finally got the big picture reading the Marianski's Yellow book on making salami (thanks daveomak ) and learned enough to feel confident to take the plunge. Had no idea how deep that rabbit hole would go once I started down it. Salumi has been the pinnacle of my journey in charcuterie. Thank you again for all the help guys.

 

[DougE]

Thank you again for all the help guys.

Thank you for all the great info you share here.

 

[OldSmoke]

My Masterbuilt propane smoker bought on sale brought me here, the people are so amazing I stayed.

 

[MJB05615]

I was smoking on an MES 30 for about 7-8 years, with minimal success. The only thing that came out good every time was Pork Loin. All else was hit or miss. The worst thing I ever did was cooking a Brisket to an IT of 140. I thought it was like a steak, lol. That's how we learn. I was looking for a Brisket recipe and found one of Jeff's. So I used it, still do to this day. From that recipe site it lead me to SMF. This Forum has elevated my smoking to levels I never thought possible. I have learned so much from so many people here. Still do to this day. Made several friends too. This is my salvation most days.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I discovered this site in about 2010 as I was looking for sausage recipes. I frequented it on and off but rather regularly as it was bookmarked. In 2012 I was given a new MES so I started checking in more frequently. I’m not into social media so I’m not much of a joiner but more of a lurker. In 2015 I wanted to make my own Easter ham and I discovered Pop’s brine. That turned me into a curing monster and down the rabbit hole I went.

This last year I thought it was the right thing to finally join, throw in some $, and contribute to a site I’ve lurked through far too long. It just seemed the right thing to do. I also got to the point where I wanted to do more and expand what I was making and to do that I needed to ask questions. Although I’ve watched this site for more than a decade, I’m still a newbie, still learning, still making mistakes, but I’m improving.

I’ve now gone through 3 MES smokers, all duds. I then decided to forego the electronics and switched to a gasser. I loved it and never had any issues with it. But I passed that along to a friend who is now hooked. I decided to get a Yoder last year and i love it. And now my friend just got a Yoder as well and he’s passing on the gasser to his dad (which makes the junior higher inside me laugh about saying “passing on the gasser”).

I most appreciate how this site strives to stay non-political as we all don’t think alike in that area but we all need a break from it and need to start finding common ground instead of letting our views divide us. If smoking meat, learning from each other, and making amazing home-cooked meals is how we do it, then let it begin with smoke and meat and hopefully that leads to friendship, understanding, grace, and the best bacon your side of the Mississippi.

 

[chesterinflorida]

I’ve been on the Brethren forum for 10 years or so, but found this place maybe a year ago. Really growing to love this place, Good folks and ideas abound,

 

[HowlingDog]

In 2008 I found a cheap offset smoker at Home Depot and bought it on a whim. Played around and got results, would not call them great but they were results. Did some internet searching and found The Smoke Ring and was semi active on there for awhile. Good folks and helpful but over the years folks sorta drifted away and fewer postings.

Did more searching and found SMF and have really appreciated the help and encouragement from everyone here. As a result, I have tried smoking cheese, hot smoked bacon, several kinds of sausage, pickles and even English muffins!! Also spent lots of money on grinders, stuffers, tubes, pellets and other assorted smoking gadgets. Because of all the smokehouse builds I have seen here, I am working on an overly complex small smokehouse that will be charcoal powered.

Thank you all for the benefit of your experience and willingness to share and keep this hobby moving forward.

 

[mneeley490]

In 2008 I found a cheap offset smoker at Home Depot and bought it on a whim. Played around and got results, would not call them great but they were results. .

Same as HowlingDog. After many, many mods to my horizontal smoker, and endless all-night cooks, I aspired to get a set-it-and-forget-it Cookshack smoker. But they were too small, and way too expensive for my budget at the time. So I got the idea in my head that I would just build my own Cookshack clone instead. Found a used 6'3" SS commercial fridge on Craigslist, and started gutting it for a conversion when I first ran into trouble with the blown-in polyurethane foam. It was set up like concrete. So I belatedly started checking the internet for help, and fortune smiled on me when I found this site. With some knowledgeable help and inspiration, I finally got it up and running. Been happily smoking on several rigs ever since.
My first thread.