Huskee informed me that it would be wise to introduce myself here since I am a new member of the Pitmaster Club. I'm thinking that they should have a section called "Pitmaster Wannebe's" or "Baby Pitmaster's" since I am no Pitmaster by ANY stretch of the imagination. However, I do have aspirations! :-)
As you may have realize from the title that I currently reside in the Northwest part of the country, close to Seattle Washington. I'm a transplant from Texas so I have some experiences with good Texas style BBQ. I have never had a really good BBQ grill or smoker but I have struggled my way up to being pretty darn good making ribs and steaks on a traditional gas fired or charcoal/wood fired grill. I have always wanted to get a good grill/smoker but I was overwhelmed with the vast array of choices and sometimes the shear expense of some of the models that I wasn't sure if I really wanted to put that much into something to just fail and be disappointed.
I have to tell you that I am a closet smokehead wannabe. I have always been fascinated by people who could grill/smoke meat to perfection. Over the years I have spent countless hours researching gas grills, wood grills, charcoal grills, electric smokers, gas smokers, charcoal smokers, pellet grills etc. I was almost sold on the pellet smoker and honestly I thought that was the way I was going to go. Eventually.
A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out my garage and finally got to a corner where there was a Brinkmann "All in One" that I purchased over 10 years ago still in the box. I loaded it into my truck to give to a friend to try because I just have never used it and I was tired of it taking up space in the garage. I actually gave it to him and we got talking and he convinced me to take it back and try it out once or twice. So I did. That weekend I cooked a rack of baby backs and several chicken thighs on it. They came out pretty darn good but I realized that I spent four plus hours BABYSITTING that thing to try and keep it on track. Too hot, too cold, too much smoke, not enough smoke. It was just short of maddening. There had to be a better way.
That got me researching smokers on the web again. Somehow I arrived at this website and saw a review on the Pit Barrel Cooker which absolutely intrigued me. I spent the better part of the next week reading every single review on the web and watching every YouTube video I could find on the PBC. I could not find a single negative review on it! What made it even better was the fact that it was designed, built and sold by a veteran small business owner right here in the U.S.A. The icing on the cake was the simplicity of the design and the low price point. How could I go wrong? So it's on it's way and I should have it by Saturday if the FedEx tracking system is correct.
An interesting note is that the friend that I was going to give the Brinkmann to is the guy that taught me how to cook ribs and steaks on the grill over the years. I know that the Brinkmann is probably a lousy smoker but he had expressed interest in it one day while he was over at the house so that is why I was going to give it to him. I was initially going to just give it to GoodWill but he wanted to give it a shot. The process he taught me for doing ribs on the grill is quite good and the results get great reviews from friends and family but it is LABOR intensive. You basically have to hover over the grill for hours always tending to the ribs every 15 minutes. What I want to do is invite him over (without telling him about the PBC), throw the ribs on the hooks, close the lid, and walk away. He will absolutely freak! I can't wait!
Hopefully I made a good choice for my initial cooker. I am looking forward to trying out all sorts of goodies in it and learning as much as I can from this fantastic website and garnering as much knowledge and wisdom as I can from all the experts out there. Thank you all in advance for all of your help and guidance.
As you may have realize from the title that I currently reside in the Northwest part of the country, close to Seattle Washington. I'm a transplant from Texas so I have some experiences with good Texas style BBQ. I have never had a really good BBQ grill or smoker but I have struggled my way up to being pretty darn good making ribs and steaks on a traditional gas fired or charcoal/wood fired grill. I have always wanted to get a good grill/smoker but I was overwhelmed with the vast array of choices and sometimes the shear expense of some of the models that I wasn't sure if I really wanted to put that much into something to just fail and be disappointed.
I have to tell you that I am a closet smokehead wannabe. I have always been fascinated by people who could grill/smoke meat to perfection. Over the years I have spent countless hours researching gas grills, wood grills, charcoal grills, electric smokers, gas smokers, charcoal smokers, pellet grills etc. I was almost sold on the pellet smoker and honestly I thought that was the way I was going to go. Eventually.
A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out my garage and finally got to a corner where there was a Brinkmann "All in One" that I purchased over 10 years ago still in the box. I loaded it into my truck to give to a friend to try because I just have never used it and I was tired of it taking up space in the garage. I actually gave it to him and we got talking and he convinced me to take it back and try it out once or twice. So I did. That weekend I cooked a rack of baby backs and several chicken thighs on it. They came out pretty darn good but I realized that I spent four plus hours BABYSITTING that thing to try and keep it on track. Too hot, too cold, too much smoke, not enough smoke. It was just short of maddening. There had to be a better way.
That got me researching smokers on the web again. Somehow I arrived at this website and saw a review on the Pit Barrel Cooker which absolutely intrigued me. I spent the better part of the next week reading every single review on the web and watching every YouTube video I could find on the PBC. I could not find a single negative review on it! What made it even better was the fact that it was designed, built and sold by a veteran small business owner right here in the U.S.A. The icing on the cake was the simplicity of the design and the low price point. How could I go wrong? So it's on it's way and I should have it by Saturday if the FedEx tracking system is correct.
An interesting note is that the friend that I was going to give the Brinkmann to is the guy that taught me how to cook ribs and steaks on the grill over the years. I know that the Brinkmann is probably a lousy smoker but he had expressed interest in it one day while he was over at the house so that is why I was going to give it to him. I was initially going to just give it to GoodWill but he wanted to give it a shot. The process he taught me for doing ribs on the grill is quite good and the results get great reviews from friends and family but it is LABOR intensive. You basically have to hover over the grill for hours always tending to the ribs every 15 minutes. What I want to do is invite him over (without telling him about the PBC), throw the ribs on the hooks, close the lid, and walk away. He will absolutely freak! I can't wait!
Hopefully I made a good choice for my initial cooker. I am looking forward to trying out all sorts of goodies in it and learning as much as I can from this fantastic website and garnering as much knowledge and wisdom as I can from all the experts out there. Thank you all in advance for all of your help and guidance.
Comment