Eric, near Seattle

[ecowper]

Hi folks ... Eric here. I live about 30 miles outside Seattle. I've been grilling as long as I can remember. But, until a couple years ago, I would say that most of what I cooked on a grill was in the barely edible range. Weird, since I was always a good cook in the kitchen. Lucky for me (and everyone that I tortured with badly cooked food) I stumbled upon Amazing Ribs a few years ago. Three huge revelations hit me as I was reading .... 1. Equipment matters, just like it does in the kitchen. 2. Technique matters, just like it does in the kitchen. 3. Meathead was giving me a free course in how to be a great grill master!

I grilled a few more times on my Char-Broil barrel grill. Then decided a new grill was called for, or a ton of work to make that Char-Broil a reasonable smoker. Fortunately, by now my grilling game had improved enough that the family CFO was willing to invest in a good grill. I did the research and bought a Hasty-Bake Gourmet dual finish. I've also added a Maverick ET732 thermometer, Thermapen, grill gloves, good utensils and a bunch of cookie sheets. The cookie sheets are great for prepping meat and bringing to/from grill. They are inexpensive and work well. Every grill guy ought to have a bunch.

The greatest thing about the Hasty-Bake is turning out perfect Tri-Tip every time.

What else do you want to know?

[Jon Solberg]

Hey Eric, nice to meet you.

[David Parrish]

Hey Eric it's good to see you made your way into the club. Welcome to The Pit! When you have a moment you'll want to work on your Sig. You can find tips on editing your Sig here: http://Welcome and TIps Posts

[ecowper]

I was working on the signature thing already. Let's see how it looks!

Glad I joined the pit club. This is easier than me trying to remember to shoot Meathead a few bucks every year. And more fun, too!

[ecowper]

Nice to meet you too Jon. Looking forward to a great group of people.

[David Parrish]

I was working on the signature thing already. Let's see how it looks!

Looks Great. YOU ROCK

[_John_]

Good to meet you.
Your story is similar to mine, I loved grilling but was never very good. I was a great baker, but that is because everything is measured out so precisely and everything has its place. Imagine if you baked a cake like grilling: cook somewhere between 275 and 375 (though some people swear by 400) and cook it until it's done. When you stick in a toothpick it COULD be done when it comes out clean, but not always; you want it tender too, which you just know by poking it once you have experience. Some people put the icing on first, some do it last, some don't put any on at all so you will need to change your cooking method and temperature based on which. And on. And on.
This site has gone a long way to fix this for me.

[ecowper]

Exactly right John! Once I realized that you could grill caveman style and get caveman level or you could grill modern style and get modern food the old way was all done for me. The old timers who can tell how hot the meat is with their thumb are one in a million. The rest of us need to follow the recipes and techniques and use the right gear. Doing that took my game to a level where people WANT to come over to my house for ribs, brisket, pulled pork, etc. And I owe 90% of that to Meathead and crew.