When I was old enough to be trusted with a can of lighter fluid and some matches, my parents had me BBQ dinner all the time. It generally went like this:
Flaming Death
Everything tasted like shit. Unless you are Selma Bouvier, you can tell when lighter fluid has been used. You can also tell the difference between dry, burnt, awful BBQ and something edible. I cooked like a moron caveman. Heat good, kill germs.
The only things you should be cooking directly are things that you want to cook fast or something that you want a sear/crisp on. I have plans for oxtail that require a sear and beef tongue slices (yes, you read that right) that require a quick cook.
I didn’t BBQ much at all in college. I spent more time learning about the other half of this blog: beer.
During law school, though I developed a secret love of late night infomercials. One with a local flavor was a Super Smokers infomercial. They explained indirect grilling, smoking, etc. It was an epiphany.
Now just about everything gets cooked this way:
Indirect grilling: yer doin' it right
Cooking indirectly lets me control the heat, preserve moisture, add smoke. Many benefits come with cooking this way.
I try not to waste food. Right-minded people are omnivores and that means frequently eating something that was alive. If some pig, cow, deer, etc. gave its life to become food, why make terrible food? Plenty of people don’t get good food, much less flavorful BBQed meat, so why not do it right?
This brings me to the smoker. I have a 55 gallon drum that may or may not have contained toxic chemicals. The plan is to clean and paint the inside with grill paint, make a grill/wood basket, add some base baffles, and insert a 22.5″ grill grate. Here is the plan:
Looks like a baby bottle, but it's my detailed smoker plans
I’m psyched to get this thing fired up and get some turkeys, beef ribs, etc. on there ASAP.
Finally, to preview this weekend, I will be making stuffed chicken breasts with some venison/cornbread/mushroom stuffing, wrapped in bacon of course. Apparently some deer meat comes in camouflage plastic bags. Well, hell yeah.
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simpson bbq 