I <3 Meat

[Kevin Nilson]

I'm Kevin, some people call me Sparkles.

I live in Washington State with my wife and 1.5 kids.​ I am very new to smoking meat myself (2 briskets, 3 pork butts, 2 chickens, 1 ribs, and that's it). I smoke on a Big Green Egg that my parents gave me and use iGrill remote probes. I want to do things I do excellently and this site has already helped me get noticeably better results. I like even more when some one genuinely enjoys what I make. My head is swimming with information from all the great articles on this site, I'll be practicing again this weekend.

[_John_]

Welcome Sparkles, i'm sure even your half of a kid will enjoy what you come up with after some more practice.

The only thing I have had off of a BGE is chicken, but it was some damn good chicken.

[Kevin Nilson]

I feel like the BGE is almost cheating because controlling temperature is so easy. I'm pretty sure by the time I'm making real good food that half kid will be fully formed.

[_John_]

Good to hear that the kid is still being formed, thought it might be a Dewey Cox situation.

[Mosca]

"This was a particularly bad case of somebody being cut in half. I was not able to reattach the top half of his body... to the bottom half of his body."


"Speak English, doc! We ain't scientists!"


One of the funniest exchanges in movie history.

[jholmgren]

Welcome "Sparkles"! I have a Kamado Joe - but pretty much the same thing as a BGE. With good thermometers and a little practice, a Kamado style grill really does feel like cheating, doesn't it?

I love the feeling you get when you serve food that people rave over when it really wasn't all that much harder than making boxed mac and cheese. My pulled pork is developing a cult following here at the office and it's so freaking easy people would be astonished if they really knew.

[Breadhead]

Welcome to the Pit Kevin. It's always nice to have another EggHead to share information with. I've had a large BGE for 4 years. Long low and slow cooks are easy peasy when you have the right temp controller. You are well equipped it appears.

I bake lots of bread in my BGE. It's better than my kitchen oven for baking bread. They are fantastic for pizza too. They will get your Wok to 800° pretty quick.

Enjoy your BGE and have fun learning in the Pit.

[mackdaddy]

Welcome to the pit.

[Huskee]

​Welcome to The Pit Kevin Nilson! Glad to have you here and thanks for the support. Your growing family will undoubtedly love your new hobby, and there's many folks here to help you along the way if you need it.

Since this is your first post, please check out our homework assignment post for new members, it contains a few how-tos and please-dos.

Also, it's very important that you add the domain AmazingRibs.com to your email safe list in case you are ever drawn as our monthly Gold Medal Giveaway winner!

Hope to hear & see more from you!

[Kevin Nilson]

Tried the "Last Meal Ribs" last weekend and they turned out amazing. The only change I made to the recipe was using hot paprika in place of regular paprika in the Memphis Dust (I usually use hot paprika in place of paprika).

[Jon Solberg]

Greetings! How were the ribs?

[Kevin Nilson]

The ribs were the best home cooked ribs I've ever had, tender but just the right amount of "chew," an opinion backed up by some neighbors. The prep was a little more that I expected with removing the membrane and trimming some of the fat but well worth it. The hot paprika adds a good kick, in my opinion it starts off as less heat than a cayenne powder but looses less of its spice during the smoking process.

[smarkley]

Hey Sparkles Welcome Aboard

Nothing like cooking an excellent rack of ribs or two!