Where to begin. My name is Neil and I'm 43 years old, married with two children and live in Nashville, NC. Today is officially my last day in NC and tomorrow I am heading out to start a new job and adventure in Bloomington, Indiana. I've lived in NC for over 30 years now and looking forward to a change. I'll be taking eastern NC BBQ with me there. Pig pickin's will be had!
As for my BBQ / Smoking experience, I always grilled on charcoal or gas but never really knew how to smoke. About 6 years ago, I bought this cheap, $69 bullet style charcoal smoker from Lowes. The first thing I ever smoked was a Pork Butt. Man was it horrible!!! I don't remember seeing anywhere in the directions not to keep smoke going on that thing the entire time. I learned a lot from that little smoker, or at least I thought I did, that is until I found this website.
This website was almost responsible for my marriage ending. Just a head's up guys, using the excuse "Because Meathead said so" isn't a good excuse. Using it once was bad, but the second and third time... well, you get the idea. I have a bad habit of when I want something, I go big or go home. Sometimes it works out and other times, well not so much. My first nice smoker purchase was the largest Weber Smokey Mountain cooker I could find. Yup, I got the 22.5" one. More bigger is more better, right??? The fact that I could cook almost 8 racks of ribs, laying flat on that thing didn't seem to be a good reason to my wife either. With that being said, after a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving and a prime rib for Christmas, using the recipes here of course, she saw the light. It was like she was blind all her life and she could finally see! It was glorious. Me on the other hand, why the heck did I have to buy the 22.5" one!?!? It's a beast to maintain temps on that thing at times.
So I used the WMS for a couple of years and it worked great; however, I was working a full time job as a Network Analyst, part time computer repair business, full time daddy and husband, I just didn't have the time to put into using the WMS as much as I would have liked. It takes a good bit of time to do things right on that thing and time was just something I didn't have much of. So, about 4 months ago, I purchased the Camp Chef 24" Vault Smoker - and of course because Meathead said it was a great time to purchase them and it was a great gas smoker at that price. By now my wife wants to meet this Meathead but I told her she couldn't as he was MY friend. I think she is a little jealous but anyway... This gas smoker is fantastic! I did some ribs in it and boy was it easy to cook in and the taste (in my opinion) was just as good. I didn't get any complaints from the ones I was feeding either. My challenge now is to know how much wood to use. I don't want to kill the food with smoke but I don't want to use too little where you can't taste it.
Today, I am going to attempt to smoke two 19lb turkeys in it. Should be an interesting experiment.
Well, that is enough about me for now. I'll let ya know how my turkeys turn out!
Fantastic site Meathead and a great book! Thanks for what you and your other folks here have created!
As for my BBQ / Smoking experience, I always grilled on charcoal or gas but never really knew how to smoke. About 6 years ago, I bought this cheap, $69 bullet style charcoal smoker from Lowes. The first thing I ever smoked was a Pork Butt. Man was it horrible!!! I don't remember seeing anywhere in the directions not to keep smoke going on that thing the entire time. I learned a lot from that little smoker, or at least I thought I did, that is until I found this website.
This website was almost responsible for my marriage ending. Just a head's up guys, using the excuse "Because Meathead said so" isn't a good excuse. Using it once was bad, but the second and third time... well, you get the idea. I have a bad habit of when I want something, I go big or go home. Sometimes it works out and other times, well not so much. My first nice smoker purchase was the largest Weber Smokey Mountain cooker I could find. Yup, I got the 22.5" one. More bigger is more better, right??? The fact that I could cook almost 8 racks of ribs, laying flat on that thing didn't seem to be a good reason to my wife either. With that being said, after a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving and a prime rib for Christmas, using the recipes here of course, she saw the light. It was like she was blind all her life and she could finally see! It was glorious. Me on the other hand, why the heck did I have to buy the 22.5" one!?!? It's a beast to maintain temps on that thing at times.
So I used the WMS for a couple of years and it worked great; however, I was working a full time job as a Network Analyst, part time computer repair business, full time daddy and husband, I just didn't have the time to put into using the WMS as much as I would have liked. It takes a good bit of time to do things right on that thing and time was just something I didn't have much of. So, about 4 months ago, I purchased the Camp Chef 24" Vault Smoker - and of course because Meathead said it was a great time to purchase them and it was a great gas smoker at that price. By now my wife wants to meet this Meathead but I told her she couldn't as he was MY friend. I think she is a little jealous but anyway... This gas smoker is fantastic! I did some ribs in it and boy was it easy to cook in and the taste (in my opinion) was just as good. I didn't get any complaints from the ones I was feeding either. My challenge now is to know how much wood to use. I don't want to kill the food with smoke but I don't want to use too little where you can't taste it.
Today, I am going to attempt to smoke two 19lb turkeys in it. Should be an interesting experiment.
Well, that is enough about me for now. I'll let ya know how my turkeys turn out!
Fantastic site Meathead and a great book! Thanks for what you and your other folks here have created!
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