Hello, all! I'm Dan, a new member from Michigan (near Grand Rapids), and I've been freely perusing this site for about a year now. After getting in a bit of an argument yesterday with my 70-year-old father about not starting briquettes with lighter fluid (well, I still ate his dang hamburgers, but he's getting a chimney for his birthday next week, I swear), I directed him here to learn about charcoal. At that point, I realized it was high time I subscribed. I pay for my tools, I can pay for having everyone's experience within easy reach.
On my 46th birthday last year, I finally got fed up with my (rather nice) Ducane four-burner when I had nothing but problems trying to make the perfect steak. I ordered my first charcoal grill (Weber 22" Premium), a couple of bags of Kingsford Blue, one of Kingsford Competition, a bag each of hickory, apple and mesquite wood chunks, and I went to town trying to perfect my grilling skills on chuck-eye roasts. I'm getting there, but my family is quite happy with what the new grill has brought to the table (literally). But at twelve years of fairly heavy use, it's time to replace my Ducane. I've patched it up (had to jimmy up some new brackets for the Flavorizer bars this Spring), but next year it's probably a Weber Genesis, likely an S-330. I'll of course read the reviews here.
I learned the Minion method, and now my favorite C-snake method, from this site; made my first spare ribs a couple of weeks ago. 4.5 hours @ 225F (-ish) on the Weber, and I still had enough unlit coals for at least another hour! Turns out the hardest part was prepping the meat; go figure. Evidently my local grocery store doesn't know what 'St. Louis style' means, but my butcher does... and now his prices are about the same, to boot. Ribs came out perfect cooking-wise, BTW. The rub, I'm still working on.
Bought my Thermapen after reading about them here; learned that, if you sign up for Thermoworks' newsletters, you'll get alerted to all sorts of sales. Picked my "clearance color" brown TP up for $75 shipped! Everyone who's touched it now wants one immediately. My wife thought I was a fool for spending that much on a thermometer; now she won't grill without it.
Next up, I'm eyeing that Pit Barrel Cooker... just gotta start my pole barn build next month, then I should be able to sneak it into the build cost.
So thanks to Meathead and all his friends, for a great site with enough free access to really learn something about grilling! And yes, my dad visited the site, and promptly hinted that I should get him Meathead's book for his birthday. I told him he has to renounce his wicked ways first, and dump the lighter fluid. We'll see where that goes.
On my 46th birthday last year, I finally got fed up with my (rather nice) Ducane four-burner when I had nothing but problems trying to make the perfect steak. I ordered my first charcoal grill (Weber 22" Premium), a couple of bags of Kingsford Blue, one of Kingsford Competition, a bag each of hickory, apple and mesquite wood chunks, and I went to town trying to perfect my grilling skills on chuck-eye roasts. I'm getting there, but my family is quite happy with what the new grill has brought to the table (literally). But at twelve years of fairly heavy use, it's time to replace my Ducane. I've patched it up (had to jimmy up some new brackets for the Flavorizer bars this Spring), but next year it's probably a Weber Genesis, likely an S-330. I'll of course read the reviews here.
I learned the Minion method, and now my favorite C-snake method, from this site; made my first spare ribs a couple of weeks ago. 4.5 hours @ 225F (-ish) on the Weber, and I still had enough unlit coals for at least another hour! Turns out the hardest part was prepping the meat; go figure. Evidently my local grocery store doesn't know what 'St. Louis style' means, but my butcher does... and now his prices are about the same, to boot. Ribs came out perfect cooking-wise, BTW. The rub, I'm still working on.
Bought my Thermapen after reading about them here; learned that, if you sign up for Thermoworks' newsletters, you'll get alerted to all sorts of sales. Picked my "clearance color" brown TP up for $75 shipped! Everyone who's touched it now wants one immediately. My wife thought I was a fool for spending that much on a thermometer; now she won't grill without it.
Next up, I'm eyeing that Pit Barrel Cooker... just gotta start my pole barn build next month, then I should be able to sneak it into the build cost.
So thanks to Meathead and all his friends, for a great site with enough free access to really learn something about grilling! And yes, my dad visited the site, and promptly hinted that I should get him Meathead's book for his birthday. I told him he has to renounce his wicked ways first, and dump the lighter fluid. We'll see where that goes.
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