What is your BBQ journey?

[Cryptidbbq]

I’m always interested to find out what particular “niche” one has found themselves in or identifies with. Throughout my time I’ve met beef people, pork people, Latin style, middle eastern style, direct fire specialists, etc. I’ve often found the story just as fascinating and amazing as the food.

I’ve mostly cooked direct fire more of my life. For a long time it was pretty standard American style foods (steaks, burgers, chicken, etc). In my mid 20’s I got a lot more into traditional US style smoking. As I got into my 30’s, I grew tired of the standard US flavor profiles and wanted something different. My journey into work fusion started as I tried to elevate my burger game and serve something that would really wow guests at a small get together one summer. I landed on a momo inspired yak burger with a sesame achar sauce. That sent me down the rabbit hole of “exotic” meats and spices. Now years later I’ve found myself predominantly existing in that space. I’ve become heavily influenced by a fusion of various Asian, middle eastern, North African and Central/South American profiles applied through an American bbq lens.

Im interested in hearing about your BBQ journey. What niche would you say you exist in and what influences have lead you to that place?

[58limited]

I started by watching my dad cook on a PK grill back in the 70s and 80s. I grilled steaks throughout my teens and they were good but nothing spectacular. In college I bought an electric barrel smoker that pretty much stayed at 275^o and that is when I really started to smoke meats. I also found an 18" Weber kettle that someone was throwing away at the end of the spring semester, it was missing one wheel which cost me $3.50 at Lowe's. Burgers and steaks got better.

Once out of college and into the workforce I played around with gas grills and I do not own one now if that tells you anything. I really got serious and bought a kamado in about 2011, a Bayou Classic Cypress Grill - pretty much the same as a Big Green Egg for half the price. I still have it. Joined The Pit in 2018 and I now have: Oklahoma Joe Longhorn offset and OK Joe Bronco Jr.; SnS grill and SnS kamado, KBQ, Pit Barrel Cooker, PK Original grill like my dad's, Traeger Tailgater, and a Blackstone 36" griddle.

My niche is probably Texas BBQ but since joining The Pit I've broadened my horizons and I've been trying many different cuisines from around the world. I really like Indian cuisine and Asian as well - mainly stir frying.

Really getting into true Mexican cuisine right now.

[Cryptidbbq]

Thanks for sharing your story! Just wait until you start doing Asian/latin fusions! So ridiculously good!

[58limited]

Cryptidbbq I've done a few. I even made a batch of Indian base sauce using Hatch chilies for a New Mexican flair.

[Duanessmokedmeats]

My Father-In-Law introduced me to grilling on a Kingsford kettle grill.
I grilled on that and other charcoal grills. Mainly burgers, steaks and chicken.
Then went to a gas grill during my daughter's school years. Easier and quicker to make meals. Again mainly burgers, steaks and chicken.
When I retired I bought another charcoal grill. Still mainly burgers, steaks and chicken.
In 2019 for Christmas my daughter got me a Masterbuilt propane smoker. Started doing pork butts and chicken.
Found out I loved smoking, so I bought a Traeger pellet smoker. Went to doing pork butts, briskets, ribs, chicken.
about 2 years later I bought a Yoder 640 pellet smoker, and sold the Traeger. Smoked above meats, and meatloaf, pork chops, pork loins.
Wife said she liked the charcoal flavor better than the pellets. So I bought a Pit Barrel PBC, then 2 PBX's and sold the Yoder. Smoked many pork butts, chicken, ribs, briskets, and meat loafs.
Last year I won a Hasty Bake Legacy 133 and I smoke, grill, sear and bake a lot of things on it.
Just acquired a 17" Blackstone griddle. Just made bacon and eggs on it, but I have many plans.
I like diversity and like smoking, grilling or griddling what ever hits my fancy. Just not tofu...
Like my one shirts says, "I'd smoke that."

[Cryptidbbq]

How do you like the hasty bake? I hadn’t heard much about them outside of the forums here.

Tofu can be amazing, it just takes time to figure it out!

[Duanessmokedmeats]

Cryptidbbq I love it. My Pit Barrels are feeling abandoned. I like the ability to smoke a pork butt, then load more briquettes and smoked some brisket mac n cheese afterwards.
Grill a steak, then raise the charcoal basket to sear the steaks.

[cruiseplanner1]

Wow quite a bit of cooking. I agree with your daughter, will take the sticks over the pellets for taste.

[Purc]

I started watching my Dad cook on a gas and a charcoal grill. My job was to squirt out a lot of lighter fluid on the charcoal and then to stand way back as he lit a match. I also was allowed to use the water bottle/squirt gun to put out the flames. During college I helped to build a brick open pit grill. Then after school I graduated to a hibachi grill and several box store gassers, COS, and an original Weber Kettle. I routinely burned chicken and cooked burgers, dogs and steaks. Never heard of 2 zone cooking. True BBQ was ordered at a BBQ joint. I got a Masterbuilt electric smoker and got interested in low and slow pork butt and ribs-no beef. Bought my youngest son an 18"WSM and I had my first non deli brisket. I then bought a COS from Lowes and didn't know how to use it properly. Then a gasser and then in 2017 started researching true backyard BBQ and 2 zone cooking. YouTube and Amazing Ribs led me back to charcoal and the Weber Kettle with the SnS in 2018. In 2022 while smoking a butt on the kettle and I wanted a burger which showed I needed another cooker. The Pit strongly suggested an OKJ Bronco which I bought and now love cooking on both with a variety of added accessories and with a variety of meats and cooking methods.

[RhodeHog]

My grandfather made these incredible thick hamburgers and I loved being with him at the grill. He also made an incredible sauce but carried the recipe to his grave. I would do steak, burgers, and chicken breasts growing up and when I got married added chicken leg quarters and whole chickens because they were cheap. Eventually I wanted to learn to cook what I could order at a BBQ restaurant and went down the rabbit hole of meats, rubs, and sauces. Since then I have been making Japanese food (my favorite place to visit), and hope to add pizza this year. It’s a tasty hobby.

[SheilaAnn]

Much like Purc it was with my dad, lighter fluid, Open Pit BBQ Sauce on chicken legs (those little bits of burnt pieces). Burgers and hot dogs (no ketchup) well charred. Corn on the cob was boiled. Favorite was when daddy “grilled” steaks and made homemade French fries. This was the only time ketchup was used….. it was mixed with the juices from the steak for a “sauce”.

fast forward about 30+ years and I thought I knew it all. I so did not. In hindsight, I grilled up some stuff and people ate it. I read a bit here and there. Fast forward even more….. and I read some more and practiced some more,

Enter AR and the rest is history.

[cruiseplanner1]

Funny how our past generation basically overcooked meats. Grew up eating them and they tasted good at the time but now knowing better what a difference.

[Willy]

Open Pit was my family's choice as well. THAT was "real" BBQ.

[bbqLuv]

When I retired, I took up BBQ as a hobby. I went from par boiling country style pork ribs in beer to pellet grilling/smoking.
I never knew that much to learn about BBQ in the states let alone worldwide.
I am a pork, chicken, beef, and trying to learn fish.
Best wishes on your journey.

[SmithsOK]

I grew up in MS where food is love, and BBQ involves a lot of poultry and pork. Growing up, steaks at home were “well done” because the grownups liked them that way. Or so they said. That’s another story for another thread… The only thing "rare" about steaks at our house was how often we had them.

In 6 decades I’ve lived in MS, LA, TX and OK, and along the way I developed my favorites from each area. Now I can make a good jambalaya and smoke a good brisket, but I haven’t lost my taste for poultry and pork. I find myself cooking boneless turkey breasts, pork loins and chicken thighs more often than anything else these days, along with reverse-sear steaks and cedar-plank salmon.

I like smoking and grilling on charcoal, mainly because I get a lot of satisfaction from building and maintaining a good charcoal fire. I started smoking on a Weber Smokey Mountain, which is an amazing cooker. These days I cook most proteins on a Hasty Bake Legacy (made here in OK), and I also have a Weber gasser I use mostly for cedar-plank salmon, griddling, and things that just need fast heat. I also love, love, love learning what other people cook and how, so I'm happy to be in The Pit.

Some of my main influences have been Meathead, Malcom Reed, Aaron Franklin, Jeff Phillips (in Tulsa) and some friends in Dallas that we met up with occasionally for what we called "Meat Sweat Saturdays."

Any day that ends with soot-stained hands, smoke-smelly clothes and a tasty meal with loved ones is a good day.

[cooperhud]

I like your reference to Jeff Phillips as a influence. When I got interested in smoking, his methods and ideas greatly helped. Been using his "Naked Rub" for 20+ years.

[Mosca]

My dad couldn’t cook for squat. All I ever saw him make was toast and cold cereal, and opening a can of soda. My mom was cooking for eight, so there wasn’t a lot of foofalah. Grilling, when it happened, was burgers, chicken, pork chops, and steak. No barbecue. “Barbecue” was chipped deli ham heated up in ketchup.

My niche is opposite yours, Cryptidbbq. I’m conservative on the grill and in the pit. It’s my nature. I do low and slow ribs, briskets, and butts/shoulders, and grilled or roasted chicken. This is what fits who I am. And a lot of that is circumstantial; there’s just the two of us, Mrs won’t or can’t eat certain things (and never cared for strong spices), and our daughter was picky growing up and doesn’t like a lot of stuff that is foundational to many cuisines. And I don’t like seafood. (Believe me, I wish I did.)

Inside the kitchen (as opposed to the grill) I like to have fun but within conservative boundaries. I’ll experiment with combining common ingredients, but I won’t search out exotica. I don’t do Asian (although I LOVE it). I do a lot of Tex Mex, and a lot of Latin American (Caribbean, Mexican, Central and South American). I’ve made kimchi and kielbasa tacos. (They’re really freakin good, btw. Kimchi is Asian, yes, but it’s Asian the way sauerkraut is German. They’re both in American supermarkets.)

I only eat twice a day. Because of Mrs Mosca’s restrictions, dinner is usually very conservative. I try to make the best average food in the world for her. Breakfast is for me. There’s a topic around here somewhere about it. This morning was an habanero and serrano omelet, with cheese, in corn tortillas. Pretty basic. Sometimes I get a little out there, though. But no pancakes or waffles. Too heavy. Too much sugary syrup.

I don’t do recipes any more, although I love reading them. I consider recipes and cookbooks “idea mines”. I’ll read a recipe and think about how it will taste, and then what I want it to taste like. And then I’ll look at what I have in the pantry and fridge and make that into something close. I don’t write it down, because the next time I might have different ingredients to work with. That way food and eating becomes part of the fabric of life. It springs from circumstance. Zen. Organic.

I’m starting to learn new things, but I have to be careful, because it creates what I call food pressure: because I’m learning it, I have to make it, and because I make it, I have to eat it. I’m type 2 diabetic, I’ve had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery, I’ve lost a kidney to cancer, and I want to stick around a few more years so I have to be mindful. It’s enough for me to know how to bake bread and make pizza, I don’t need to bake bread every week and have pizza dough ready daily.

That’s about it.

[Cryptidbbq]

There is beauty in tradition and simplicity as well! Sharing your passion with those you love is what is most important!

[Mosca]

It’s the fabric of life to which we all contribute our share, y’know? It’s a good topic.

[WI Bubba]

I started out watching my dad burn the life out of things on first a little Safari Grill that burned newspaper for fuel, and then a gasser that was more a home to wasp nests than it was a grill. In my late teens after dad had passed I started doing burgers and sausages on a weber kettle. For a wedding present I got a Brinkman COS and tried smoking a few things, but failed miserably. I didn't know anything about fire management and trusted the thermometer in the lid. It was however a very spacious grill that I used for almost 10 years. After the legs on the Brinkman rotted away, I got another weber kettle and got interested in making American BBQ. That ultimately led me to here, and to having too many cookers for the space I have available.

My style is mostly American style for BBQ, favoring KC for pork and Texas for beef. I lean more Mediterranean / North African away from the grills and smokers. I get a little bit hamstrung with my GF being a strictly white bread and mayo kind of gal, but I do sneak in some heat and flavor where I can get away with it.

[Mosca]

I understand completely the white bread and mayo thing. I have strict orders for bland chicken, steaks, and burgers. I have to sneak salt onto them; she likes them better salted, but if she sees me salting them it’s “WHAT ARE YOU DOING PUTTING SOMETHING ON MY HAMBURGER!!”

[Donw]

White bread and mayonnaise is the cornerstone of my food triangle. 😋

[TripleB]

Like just about everyone else here, my parents stirred my interests in cooking when I was young. It was the funny little nuances in the kitchen that perked my interests. My father made a breakfast dish that he called “Dad’s breakfast”. And if you did not serve it exactly that way, then it was not HIS breakfast and don’t call it that. “Dad’s breakfast” was served every Christmas morning. A tradition I carried on with my kids and I’m sure they will with theirs.

my mother was queen of the kitchen and during my youth was employed at a Bridge club as the “lunch lady”. Homemade breads, desserts, meats, casserole dishes were constantly made at home and taken to the club. I remember distinctly when she would make “chicken n’ dumplings” that after she dropped in the last of the dumplings into the CI Dutch oven, she would put the lid on and then say to me, “ten minutes - no peeke”. I have that Dutch oven now and of course in my recipe directions the last words are “ten minutes - no peeke”.

But none of my early experiences had to do with BBQ. My parents did not BBQ. My father would grill steaks and chicken on occasion. When I finally got married and started raising a family, I bought a cheap gas grill. My interests grew in grilling and I bought a subscription to “Cooks Illustrated”. I started to expand my cooking repertoire and bought a Weber charcoal grill and learned how to grill a steak properly.

Due to my work, I had the opportunity to go to different parts of the country and I started to try that regions particular BBQ. I became fascinated with it learned that KCBS put on BBQ competition events. My brother and I started to research about how to compete when I came up with the idea to become KCBS BBQ judges. My brother has judged over 50 competitions and is a master judge. I’ve judged over 40 competitions.

From that I’ve acquired over time 15 different grills/smokers, competed a bit, BBQ’d for hundreds, generated 3 journals of cooking notes, spent years trying to perfect a BBQ sauce (which I have) and currently, though slowly, working on a family cookbook.

I enjoy BBQ, but it’s really cooking that is my hobby. I like to dabble in all different forms of cooking. Thus “becoming the jack of all trades, but the master of none”.

[Cryptidbbq]

I think we’re similar in cooking being the primary hobby. I consume a lot of cooking shows, media, information, etc in general. I have evolved that into doing what I can over coals. There’s something about the primitive feeling of controlling fire and cooking over coals that really adds to the experience for me.

Thanks for sharing your story!

[TripleB]

Cryptidbbq Yes, I love controlling the fire too. It can become a bit exhausting when you're smoking a brisket, but I just cannot get into pellet smokers. They're like crock pots or an easy bake oven. I know people love them and I generally recommend them to friends and people that want to own a "smoker", but they're just not for me.

[dpearce]

Like a lot of people here, my dad would grill out occasionally. Burgers, hotdogs, maybe a steak. Rarely ever chicken. I think they were worried more about undercooked chicken than overcooked, I never remember it on the grill during those days. Plus my mom was a very good cook, so it was hard to beat the homecooked (indoors) chicken meals. But we went to a lot of state and local parks growing up. My parents' way of getting all the energy burnt off of five kids. We'd spend the morning, early afternoon hiking, swimming, or fishing, and the late afternoon picnicking. We'd cook over charcoal on the campground grills, or dad would bring along his trusty portable cast iron charcoal grill. Since I was quite a bit younger than my siblings, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the cooking part of it, but I did really enjoy the eating part of it!

We really didn't go out to eat, ever during that time, so things like BBQ, Chinese food, Mexican food, if mom didn't make it home (think La Choy (rarely), and Ortega tacos), we didn't eat it. Too expensive for a family of 7 back in the 60's and 70's.

Years later, after it was just me and my parents left at home, dad bought a gas grill for the patio. We'd cook out a handful of times over the summer. By then, dad was cooking chicken more, (I think mostly boneless, skinless chicken breasts), as well as the hamburgers and hotdogs. A little later in life, when my nieces and nephews were young, he'd cook out when their families came over to visit, so mom wouldn't have to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen cooking for everyone. We still did the occasional state park thing, and a few times my whole family would get together at a local park, reserve a spot, hang out, throw the frisbees and footballs, and grill out.

When I started dating my wife, her grandfather would have the whole family over every Sunday for dinner. During the good weather months, he would always cook chicken on the gas grill. There was a couple times, after biting into the chicken, we were like, "ok, give me some more mac & cheese or potato salad, please". Didn't happen that often, so that was good. This went on for years, while he was still around. No one including my parents ever thought of checking the temp. They always cooked on a time-based method, and/or if the juices ran clear. If it was cooked outdoors, steaks were always well-done (or more!), burgers, a lot like hockey pucks, with very little seasoning, and pretty dry chicken. At least no one suffered gastric distress from undercooked food, so I guess that was a plus.

Once we got married and got a house, I bought a cheap gas grill, and did sorta the same thing with my family and my wife's family. Burgers and dogs, occasional steak. I didn't trust myself cooking chicken on it. That grill self-destructed after a couple seasons. Then I replaced it with a Weber kettle. During that time, I got a few complaints about the food (overdone, dry), and they weren't wrong. So that's when I started looking for cooking resources. Besides a cookbook or two, watching some shows on TV, I found AR. That was when things changed. I still direct-grilled most of the food, but I started experimenting with smoking meats.

Slowly but surely, things improved. I bought a larger charcoal grill, which honestly, didn't really perform much different or better than the Weber (which I had loaned to my brother), but it did have more real estate. After buying the PBC, that's when things changed for the better. These days, I've got a gasser (got it for free) but I'd like to replace it with a flat-top. With a replacement Weber kettle, and the PBC, I'm pretty well covered now. Eventually, I'd like to have a nice stick-burner and a wood fired cabinet smoker. Maybe I watched too much Pitmaster's and I'm fooling myself, but I think I would appreciate the idea of a more interactive cook, now and again.

Lately, been trying new recipes as I can. More Asian flavors, Mexican stuff, stuff I find on AR.

I'd like to do more live fire cooking. I'd done a little bit here and there, but things like Brazilian live fire cooking kinda fascinates me. I don't think the wife will allow me to dig a pit, or build an outdoor brick grill capable of cooking a whole hog, but I might be able to get away with a smaller live fire pit.

[Cryptidbbq]

Just tell her you want a nice fire pit to sit outside by on cool evenings. Then just happen to come across a cooking attachment that fits it. There are many spits and parillas that will hold a suckling pig that you could do over a small pit! This is how I convinced my now ex wife!

[dpearce]

Cryptidbbq This is a very good suggestion, but lol, "now ex-wife"? I hope it wasn't because of said fire pit! Haha! Thanks for the info, though, appreciate it!

[Cryptidbbq]

dpearce, haha, no, not because of the fire pit! I’m lucky that my current wife cares very little about what I do or buy to feed my cooking addiction so long as I feed her belly. Haha!

[cruiseplanner1]

In my youth we grilled over charcoal sometimes in the summer. My dad loved a Sirloin Steak with homemade french fries. Of course that was completely browned through. Once in a while chicken grilled. When I was young and single I would grill a steak or two just as my mom did (overcooked!). Did like the flavor. It was not until I met my wife who broiled us a couple of Porterhouse steaks in her apartment that I seen red in the meat. I told her it wasn't done and she did disagree with me. Over time I got used to that and realized how much better it tasted. \

I always enjoyed the taste of smoked foods and it started with smoked fish, smoked Swiss cheese etc. So after we were married and grilling a bit I bought a cheap Little Indian upright smoker which was junk but I could do a few smoked fish in it. Fortunately we live in an area with abundant different freshwater fish that are excellent smoked. After time I got a cheap offset smoker and started doing my own fish and boy did they turn out great. I did know how to make a decent brine and how to prep certain fish to get a good result. They a foray into meats starting with pork butts. I have now done many pork butts, a couple of brisket, many chuck roasts and chicken. One of my favorite meats is to take a few young fryers and split them. Dry brine and smoke with a butter baste. Skin will crispen up and is almost inedible probably due to the dry brine but when you take that meat off of the bones it is so juicy and flavorful. I also like a chicken or a steak grilled over charcoal. I am still using my offset smoker although I have a somewhat better COS. The flavor of the wood cannot be beat. I have a few nephews and younger son who all use pellet grills and they do a nice job on the meats they cook but the overall taste just isn't there for me. So that is my story.

[captainlee]

My dad used our small charcoal grill about twice a summer so that was no help. Actually started grilling in college with the 6 of us in the big old house. We'd buy half a cow and half a pig lockered at the butcher. After college bought a grill and continued that fun. About 10 years ago I got interested in smoking and the rest is history.

[jayjordan]

My journey started with my Dad. The two of us lived alone during the week for a couple of years and my mother would join us on weekends. He showed me how to cook some things so I could get around the kitchen a bit. Nothing outdoors. A few years later Dad bought a Brinkman Smoke N Grill and regularly smoked turkeys for family holiday gatherings. He probably cooked other stuff for he and Mom, but I was out of the house by then.


Later, after getting married, I went through a couple of the Brinkmans which tended to rust out like crazy. Lots of burgers and a few smoke turkeys. I didn't put much thought into it, just did it. Only thermometer was the old analog dial probe type. Like others have said, nothing got under-cooked.
Fast forward to the days when I started watching cooking shows on PBS, then bought a few ATK cookbooks. Really got into cooking them and everyone seemed to like what I cooked.
Recent history brought me to Texas where we mostly had chain type BBQ which we thought was pretty good. We had gotten a Weber Performer kettle for a wedding gift which I used to cook burgers and chicken. Then one of our church friends told me about Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ places, which led us to seek out several and exposed to excellent Texas BBQ. Excellent BBQ sparked interest in smoking meats and Weber Kettle mods. Which led to Weber Smokey Mountain I bought off FB Marketplace. Along the learning path of researching methods, watching YT videos and such I ran across Amazing Ribs which I bookmarked and frequently perused. A family member's purchase of a Blackstone Griddle resulted in my buying one and learning griddle cooking. Then the Pit Barrel PBX came along and opened a new chapter of learning to smoke meats. Finally, I bought a Trager Woodridge Pro and found the easiest way to smoke meats with consistent results. One day last year while going through my "BBQ & Grilling" bookmarks I revisited Amazing Ribs and decided to become a member.