Has BBQ altered your life?

[Uncle Bob]

Here's a linked article to Texas Monthly talking about how much influence Louie Mueller Barbeque has had on the lives of some well known folks in the BBQ world. The Life-Altering Magic of Louie Mueller Barbecue – Texas Monthly While Mueller's does the whole gamut of bbq products, they are famous for their short ribs, aka Dino ribs.

Given the interests of those who are members here in The Pit, your "life altering" experience may be attributed more to Meathead and your discovery of this site. Many share their journey in the form of questions about equipment, cooking styles, meat preferences and desirable cuts, and a myriad of other pertinent factors related to bbq preparation.

Personally, I wouldn't claim that my growth in bbq mastery has been "life altering", but it certainly has been fun, informative, and definitely rewarding. The principle product from Muellers that the article above focuses on is the beef rib. I can understand why. It's one of my favorites to prepare for friends and family when we have any type of gathering at our house.




Not only is it beefy rich in flavor, but it makes for an impressive presentation..........and to be truthful, it's very easy to prepare. For all that it isn't overly challenging, I've found that our friends who really enjoy them have never had enough interest to do them for themselves. Apparently you need an extra level of passion to take on something that looks somewhat daunting to the less enthusiastic. Of course, here in the Pit I'm "preaching to the choir".

Thinking about some of the commentary in the attached article, a huge growth in bbq food fans has occurred in the past two decades. Might explain why proteins that were once believed to be inferior cuts, and priced accordingly, are now as, or more, expensive than traditionally more costly cuts.

[58limited]

I would say that learning to cook Texas BBQ correctly led me to hone my cooking skills in general. In the last 15 years I have upped my cooking game and can now make recipes better than the ones from the higher end restaurants I go to occasionally. Joining the Pit also expanded my horizons and made me a better cook. So yes, BBQ has actually been life changing, at least for one major aspect of my life.


BTW Uncle Bob The picture isn't showing.

[hoovarmin]

Cooking has absolutely altered my life. Insofar as BBQ is a part of that larger quest, it has. BBQ now is a genre I go to more and more seldom because I like other cuisines more. But since I define my identity most prominently by my association with family and friends, it has played a major role. When I am cooking for 10 or more of my loved ones, BBQ is quite frequently going to be on the menu because it lends itself to that kind of event. I think on my death bed I will reflect on those gatherings as the most meaningful and cherished events of my life.

[Meathead]

Here is Bobby Mueller who died in 2008 and photos of the interior (that's the skylight).

[Alan Brice]

Some serious smoky goodness a goin on there.

[Texas Larry]

I am with hoovarmin. Grilling/bbqing connects me with my family forebears who burned meats over hot coals on homemade grills. Learning better from several sources moved me along. But no matter the situation or setup, it is the joy of preparing good food for family and friends that really matters. I find that most of those folks really are happy to have someone cook in a way they can’t, or think they can’t.

[DaveD]

Very well said.

[bbqLuv]

Yes, It is a wonderful hobby for retirees like myself.
I hope to take a BBQ Judging class for me and with wife.

[bbqLuv]

@mrteddyprincess

Thanks for the heads up. I signed up to go the COVID hit and the class was cancelled.
"...eating food that wasn't intended to be eaten in it's entirety." I may have to rethink it.

[TripleB]

Been a judge for over 10 years and glad I did it. Learned what good BBQ is. Also learned so much from the teams competing. After the judging, would go around and talk to the pit masters that used the same equipment I use. I’d pick their brain - how did you start your fire, what issues do you have, what wood do you use, etc, etc. The judges are also very knowledgeable too. Sat with one judge and he happened to be a Chili World Champ. Gave me his recipe for the chili he won with a few yrs back.

[Meathead]

@mrteddypricess has a point and that's some of the reasons I no longer judge. But I recommend you take the class and judge a few times. It will give you benchmarks and introduce new ideas. Do it!

[Smoker_Boy]

Since retirement and the C word, I find myself cooking more and more and more on the various grills.
East of Chicago pizza is the only food we buy take-out, and we haven't been inside since January 2020.

[Johnny Booth]

Yes. In many ways. All good.

[captainlee]

BBQ, wood fired pizza and other dishes have expanded my horizons and are fun to prepare. Friends and family are always asking to come over for some Q. Great to share with others that don't have what is required to make these dishes.

[bbqLuv]

We enjoy Take and Bake Pizza cooked on the Traeger.

[RonB]

Maybe not life changing, but a solid life improving for me. And I do like to cook for groups, but that has happened very seldom since Covid.

[bbqLuv]

"a solid life improving for me"---How true!

[holehogg]

In 2017 came across Amazingribs website and spent countless hours reading as much as I could absorb. I joined the pit later that year. I can say it has been life changing in so many ways and I mean life changing.

[DaveD]

I was thinking of you when I saw this question. Talk about being "all in"!

[jfmorris]

You and I must have been browsing and then decided to join up at the same time. It change my outlook on cooking a lot.

[bbqLuv]

Yep, and I have downloaded all 6 e-books.

[Alan Brice]

The "C' event, then retirement. A passel of new cookers and a want to spend three, four, five hours on AR every or most everyday. Has me in the big Chill. Love my life, love my wife. I will work on the Q.

[Skip]

Cooking indoors and outdoors has definitely become a passion for me. This wonderful site and all of you are big part of my cooking journey. Thanks everyone for all the good advice over the years! Long live BBQ and all sorts of cooking.

[carolts]

I always loved to cook for friends and family, but BBQ brought that up to a whole new level. I loved BBQ but didn't have a lot of places in NH to get it (that has changed a lot, btw) and through searching found Amazing Ribs. I purchased a Primo Jr. as my first cooker, and never looked back. I even got the wear the Pitmaster Club hat for my 60th birthday!

At the last job before I retired my boss and and I started the tradition of an annual "luau" party at my house (I had a yard and lived near a beach...by this time I was living just outside Boston). Pulled pork was always on the menu, but over time we also did goat loin and legs, and lots and lots of chicken. I always made the Sweet and Sour slaw I found on AR, and others brought sides and deserts. The vegetarians got exclusive use of the PK grill while I commanded the PBC and KBQ for the carnivores. We usually had between 40 and 80 people. We missed one year for the plague. When I announced my retirement for April two years ago, everyone asked me to have one last luau. We did. This year, no luau and people were definitely missing it. We were the only group to do something like this, and it gave us a real connection.

I haven't gotten a BBQ following here yet, but there are more BBQers down here. The neighbors have suggested a rib cook-off...

BBQ makes me happy.

[Meathead]

Sounds like the neighbors want to have a quickdraw contest with the kid. Be gentle with them.

[DaveD]

tl;dr: Yes.

My whole impetus for discovering the world of smoking, this forum, and the culinary adventures that have ensued was my lovely bride asking me to raise my game in the food preparation department. I had a small roster of meals I made well, and she did all the rest. The pandemic resulted in more time available to do such things, and all she was really looking for was an expansion of that roster. But I'd seen some info about this thing called smoking BBQ at home, and thought, here's the perfect match, a way I can explore something I'd found intriguing while answering my lovely bride's call.

Didn't take long to come across strong reviews for Meathead's book, and getting that led to this site and forum. Plenty of you were around when I first got here after doing only a couple of my first smokes, a rank beginner, and by now I have a reasonable idea of what I'm doing with plenty more to learn.

But it's been enough so that the whole balance of cooking between my lovely bride and me has shifted, to everyone's benefit. I get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to reliably put something good on the table pretty much every time if I'm not experimenting and rolling the proverbial dice. And she's got a much lighter load, and really loves what I've been making. Our "division of labor" is very equal in all other ways, so it feels good to be able to contribute more than I have previously on this most basic need that is also one of life's great pleasures.

So yep, definitely a "gravity assist" toward making our partnership that much richer, and a Big Damn Deal for me. I greatly appreciate all the folks here, from whom I've learned so much.

[Meathead]

Comments like this assure me I have chosen the correct career path. Thank you.

[holehogg]

Your contributions here have been inspiring to me. Absolutely enjoy your experiments. You have come along in leaps and bounds, actually I think a better term would be in quantum jumps.

[DaveD]

Meathead holehogg Thank you both gents for the kind words