When/Where did you get your FIRST taste of REAL BBQ?

[jverdin]

I went out to Memphis Tenn. to meet a customer and the folks there schooled me in the art of BBQ.

 

[goat]

I was young when I got my first taste and it was right on the tip of my tongue.

 

[ga_smoker]

Great topic Dude................Growing up in south eastern NC I was raised on chopped pork sandwiches with slaw. I remember there were a couple of places that had pulled pork instead of chopped and I liked that better. In the early '80's I went to a family reunion and someone cooked a hole hog on a really big horizontal smoker.That was my first pig-pickin' and I was hooked after that.



Steve

 

[bbqgoddess]

I guess until I tasted real bbq, I would never had known there was anything other than flipped burgers over propane...but then one day, I was watching that darn Bobby Flay, it was a huge bbq competition I think in Memphis? not sure but they were cooking whole pigs HUGE pigs..for days..I was so hooked...I bought my CGSB was to small to do the pig I found so I tried a pulled pork recipe, one of my friend is from N. Carolina and she was quite impressed with it, I had never had it before that day..it now has become a 4th of July tradition...with the slaw and all.
I must say any newbies to my 4th of July bbq, has to be shown how to eat them, but they usually eat two!

 

[flyin'illini]

D88de, Quick bump here as I really enjoy hearing how folks came around to Que in their experience.

 

[1894]

Somewhere twixt Syr NY and Tampa Fla. One of those need gas and stretch the legs right now kinda stops . Kept getting a whiff of something that smelled great , we already had lunch , but this was like a Karnack type mind thing

Saw a little place with smoke comming out from the back of the building and was just drawn in. Best meat I've ever tried was from that no name little place we just happened by.
From then on I was

 

[walking dude]

THANKX glen..........good idea....

 

[chrome]

I grew up with burgers and hot dogs on the grill, half the time it was a gasser. We always camped, but still it was burgers and dogs...
It really wasn't till about 10 years ago (I'm 44) that I had some real Q. It was some yard bird at BB's Lawnside BBQ here in Kansas City. I was hooked... :)
But I still only got REAL Q at a resturaunt. My wife got me an ECB and I used it as a grill and to dry jalapeños. Then my Wife and son got me a Brinkman Grillmaster, and all I used in it was charcoal and wood that dropped out of the trees... LOL But hey it tasted like smoke...

But then I found this place a few months before Mothers day this year. Mothers Day weekend we found our New Braunsfels Hondo at Cummins tool for $109 and took it home. It's been full every weekend since.

This place is the holy grail of smoking... :) I've made better Q than I've ever eaten in a restaurant, and I owe it all to the folks here and the recipes they leave behind.

Thank you all

Tony

 

[vince]

I have always love to BBQ, did charcoal for years, then went to propane for years, was always fun. then a few years ago a friend talked me into buying a weber and I did, got rid of the gas one and started using it more.

Then We moved to Denham Springs LA and met people that really like to eat, went deer hunting with them and they started smoking sausage and other things, whole pig and the like, I had to get a smoker. So my wife and kids got me one for Fathers day early ( a few weeks ago) and I have smoked something every weekend since. I look forward to the weekend now even more,

This site is also a big help

 

[walking dude]

tony........i will put my ecb up again the new braunsfels ANY day of the week.........LOLOL

check out some of my posts.........they ALL came off a ecb...........not trying to start anything here........but i don't think you gave the ecb a chance.........

i have done briskets, butts, smoked corn on the cob....abts....stuffed mushrooms......i have smoke bacon on it.......cheese......salt..........beer up the butt of a chicken........homemade summer sausage.....just do a search, on my name, started threads...........

been using ecbs in one form or another since the late 70's

 

[chrome]

Now to be honest I mentioned that I used the ECb as a grill to say that I never gave it a chance... LOL I never said it was a bad smoker.

Oh, and BTW I was raised in the Des Moines area and graduated from Urbandale in '82... :)

 

[starsfaninco]

I grew up in West Texas. My father worked for Western Electric/AT&T and was on "transfer" pretty much most of my young life. The guys he traveled around west Texas with always brought their families so we were kind of a traveling gypsy group. Well, just about every evening, we'd have a community grill session as it was cheaper to feed everyone and on weekends the smokers were fired up rather than the grills. Brisket and sausage were the main dishes that I remember, though I'm sure there was pork too. There were some incredible pitmasters in that group. Later, two of em opened a place in Lamesa (don't remember the name of that one), and a guy they ran around with opened a place in Sweetwater (called Buck's). Since then, there have been many places around west Texas that have opened up (The Shack, The Shed, B&B's, Mesquite's, Bob's, etc), that I'd consider excellent grub. In addition to that, every year there is a RattleSnake Round up in my home town. Part of this is a huge bbq and chili cook off. Some of the best from around that part of the country bring their A games. I don't think it's a sanctioned contest (but I've not been impressed with those anyway), but some of the best food you'll eat is served there.

In high school, my buddies and I would always take brisket on camp outs and 'smoke it'. By that I mean wrap it pretty tight in foil and toss it on a roaring mesquite wood fire until it settled into the coal bed. After about 6 hours it was usually done just about right.

When I was college age, I had the fortune to meet and eat Belly Maynards bbq when I attended Tarleton State. You might be familiar with Belly's rub. There were several places out in Lubbock that were decent as well.

In the Navy, I made a point to visit some places in Kansas City and North Carolina when I was stationed in Va Beach (road trip anyone) and also did some Jamaican jerked chicken with some of my shipmates who were familiar with that style of food (damn good stuff if you get the authentic versions). Also had one of the best steaks ever at Dan Ryan's steakhouse in Hong Kong (I know it's not BBQ, but highly recommend it).

I guess in short, I've been around it all my life. I've recently started smoking food again in the last 4 or 5 years. I had an offset that I took back to Texas for my father because I couldn't find decent wood here, but then bought a GOSM. Until then, I'd never cooked on propane (propane's for wannabe's :), or so I'd always heard), but I have to admit, the food that comes out of my little GOSM is some of the best I've ever cooked. I've learned a ton about rubs and injections and about the different cuts of meat (thought they all came cryovac'd) :). This site has been a wealth of info, and the people here are exactly what I expected to find based on my experiences with bbq people. You're welcome at their fire anytime!!

Great thread WD!!!

 

[packplantpath]

Grew up in eastern NC doing the pig pickens at least 2 times a year. The rest of the time, Wilbur's and Grady's BBQ was 10 minutes down the road.

 

[herkysprings]

I thought I'd revive this thread out of interest (found it while looking for other things)

First REAL BBQ: Rendevous in Memphis, I had the dry baby back ribs. You pretty much have to if you are there. :D

Home cooked BBQ: Friends birthday party in Florida, 30+ guests. The guy had a custom built horizontal. He worked for a crane company, so they used that to lift it over the house and into the back yard. Brisket, Pulled pork, spares, all great.

Also saw my first "Pitmaster" after an all night cook. Mid afternoon and he was passed out on the floor from exhaustion / beer. I didnt understand until I got into BBQ myself. :D

 

[SmokinAl]

I had a rack of ribs at this little rib shack & it's the first ribs that were really smoked. 2005.

 

[Bearcarver]

About 7 or 8 years ago, my Son decided to have a Pig Roast for all of his tower crew, and his other employees, and some of the techs from various cell phone companies.

I bumped into a guy I knew at the Legion, and he said he quit driving for Schaefer Beer about 5 years back, and started doing Pig Roasts.

He came here early, and set up at one end of my Son's pole barn (along the driveway, between our houses).

It was some Great pulled pork & trimmings.

That was my first REAL Pulled Pork I ever had.

My Son did it one more year like that, before he built his own pig roaster from a 275 gallon oil tank.

Bear

 

[sqwib]

20 Years ago on my Honeymoon in Waikiki, Oahu at the Paradise Cove Luau

 

[lucc]

Well I only got into real BBQ in the past 6-7 years. The first real BBQ I had was down in Wildwood, NJ at the NJ state BBQ championship that is held every year.

 

[alelover]

When I was 15 we went to a Bicentennial BBQ near Cherry Hill, NJ. Some people my parents met on a cruise. They slow roasted a whole pig over charcoal and wood. It was amazing. Tender, juicy and delicious. I loved pig roasts after that. It was my 1st experience with an open bar that was not closely guarded also. What a fun day. Even met a cute girl too. Hmm. Now I'm addicted to slow roasted meat, booze and women. Whoda thunk one weekend would shape my life so much.

 

[daveomak]

Visiting the wife's family in KC about 15 years ago. We went out for lunch and my niece wanted to take us to Arthur Bryant's. There was a line of about 150 people outside. Being from the Washington, I don't stand in line to eat at any restaurant. We drove a few blocks and in a parking lot in the heart of downtown KC was this Q shack with a smoker out back. It was Li'l Jakes. Ordered ribs and slaw for lunch. Wow! Went back to their home and the next day ordered 2 racks of ribs to go for that nights supper.   Lil' Jake's Eat It & Beat It

Sometimes I wonder how Arthur B's would have tasted.