Hi Folks. I'm new to this board but not new to BBQ or to discussion boards. I've been outdoor cooking since I was just a wee beastie and prefer charcoal to propane every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Convenience is one thing (propane) but real outdoor cooking is done with real fire made from real wood.
I've been a long-time Weber Kettle owner and have used my trusty kettle to cook just about anything and everything. I direct grill steaks, chops, burgers and the like but what I really love about my kettle is how well it performs using indirect heat. I started off slowly by indirectly cooking things like chicken and sausages but moved up to pork tenderloins and whole turkeys before too long. I dearly love that old kettle of mine and it has served me well. I always used a bit of smoke wood chunks for those indirect cooks but nothing like what I moved up to last summer.
In July 2005, the Smoker Bug bit me and I decided to buy a dedicated smoker. I was immediately drawn to the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) vertical or "bullet" smoker due to the success I had with a Weber Kettle. I researched that product to the best of my ability, trying to understand its pros, cons and limitations. In the spirit of being thorough, I decided that I should also seriously consider the offset smoker option and see what I could learn about that type of equipment. In the end, I decided that the WSM was just too much like my kettle and that I should go with an offset.
Now I'm not the type of guy who's going to drop a couple grand on gear until I know whether I really like what that gear can produce. I took the entry level route and bought a Bar-B-Chef offset from Barbeques Galore. I brought it home, put it together, seasoned it and then cooked in it the next day. By nightfall of my first smoke I was hooked. Although I had produced some wonderful food with a kettle, offset smoking is a totally different art. On that first cook, we smoked a bone-in pork butt and a whole brisket and they both turned out better than I could have hoped. Call it "Beginner's Luck" because I know that's just what it was. The pork and the beef were both tender and juicy and loaded with flavor unlike anything I had ever cooked before. Like I said, I was hooked.
Since that weekend in July 2005, I've learned a lot about barbeque from hard experience (can you say "dry brisket"?) to books and websites to barbeque forums such as this one. I've tried to share my experiences with others in the hopes that they don't make the same mistakes I have and also to learn from the experiences of others so that I don't make the same mistakes they have. One thing is for certain: If you don't have patience, stick to grilling because barbequing will wear you out. The fun thing is that I still have a lifetime left to learn new things and hopefully get better and better.
I'm a backyard cook and don't really aspire to be anything else. I like to cook for my own pleasure and for those who join me at the table so you won't be seeing me behind the counter at a "mom & pop" BBQ shack anytime soon. My "Lady Fair" and I decided to enter the Lake Pleasant BBQ Cook-Off just for fun. We figure we'll meet some new people, learn a little, teach a little and maybe make some pretty good barbeque in the meantime. If you happen to be at the event, stop by and say "hello". We're the "Casa di DiVQ BBQ Team" and we'll be the ones with the backyard gear.
