I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my NBBD, now all fixed up and
ready to go. Like all newbies, I'm nervous and not sure of what to do.

I'd like to hear some stories about the first time YOU tried smoking
meat ..

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Grant Erwin wrote:
> I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my NBBD, now all fixed up and
> ready to go. Like all newbies, I'm nervous and not sure of what to do.
>
> I'd like to hear some stories about the first time YOU tried smoking
> meat ..
>
> Grant Erwin
> Kirkland, Washington

not sure what a NBBD is but....

I have a Weber Smokey Mountain bullet style smoker which I
bought after reading this group and the FAQ.

First time, I did a "dry burn" and cranked the heat up to
burn off anything that may have been on the components.

While doing this I also played with temp adjustment and it
was fairly easy to crank it down to the 250 dF range or up.

After that, I decided my first attempt would be ribs.

I took the membrane off (my choice, not trying to start
anything... ;-) ) IMPORTANT: Let whatever you're doing,
come to room temp before beginning!

I just hit 'em with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Again, on advice from this group, I got some good hardwood
lump, used a weber chimney starter and fired that puppy up.

When it got to 240-250 I tossed the ribs on, bone side down.
Put the lid on the Weber forgot about it for about 2 or 2
1/2 hours. Lesson is, do NOT open the lid.

I checked the thermometers I'd installed, one at each grate
level, and made sure the temp. was holding but that was it.

For my first time, I used no wood, just to get a baseline.

When I opened the lid about 2 1/2 hours later the ribs were
almost done, meaning they almost "broke" when I bent them.

When they DID break, out of the smoker and onto the platter.

Served with sauce on the side for whomever wanted it.


Good eats. Can't even tell you what we had with 'em.

--
Steve

Grant Erwin wrote:
>
> I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my NBBD, now all fixed up and
> ready to go. Like all newbies, I'm nervous and not sure of what to do.
>
> I'd like to hear some stories about the first time YOU tried smoking
> meat ..
>
> Grant Erwin
> Kirkland, Washington

Reposted for your amusement:

From:
"Pete C." >

12/2/2004 4:45 PM

Subject:
An improvised newbie Q story...
Newsgroups:
alt.food.barbecue




For your amusement I post the following story, this was a few months
back, but after reading the recent "newbie" thread I decided to post it.


An improvised (relative) newbie Q story and the value of groups such as
AFB...

First some background. I've been cooking regularly since I was about 8
or so (now 35) so I know my way around the kitchen fairly well; I had
not however tried to do any "real" BBQ before. The closest I had gotten
was smoking some pork tenderloin in a gas grill with a little smoker box
(came out quite good).

Fast forward to mid Aug '04 when I moved from CT to TX. Somewhere late
afternoon on Friday September 3rd all of two weeks after the move, I'm
talking to my coworkers and realize that Monday is Labor Day and of
course I have it off. At this point I start thinking that I ought to do
something to celebrate my move and take advantage of the day off. The
idea of doing some "TX BBQ" comes to mind however at this point even my
regular gas grill has not made it down to TX yet. I continue to think
about this the rest of the evening while doing other stuff like
unpacking.

Saturday late morning rolls around and I look around a bit at what I
have one hand to do BBQ with. I spot the homemade grill sitting outside
that has been left by the previous owners. I wander over and take a look
at it to assess its usefulness. It's made of about 1/8" aluminum and
rectangular at about 42" wide x 24" deep x 12" high. Opening the hinged
upper half (and watching out for any wasps) I see that inside there are
two grills made of (now rusty) expanded steel mesh. The lower grill was
apparently intended to hold the charcoal and is about 2" off the bottom
to allow for ashes to fall through. The upper grill is just below the
middle point where the top hinges. There are no thermometers or dampers,
only a trap door to clean ashes from the bottom.

Looking at this grill that was clearly not intended as a smoker I
decided that it could be adapted to use as one, so I drag it over to the
shop and clean it up a bit. The first thing I conclude is that the full
width upper grill won't cut it for smoker use since I need to be able to
tend the fire so I grab the sawzall and promptly lop off the left third
of the top grill. This gives me a way to tend a fire on the left side
while smoking on the right side.

Having resolved the fire management issue I then decide that it needs
some temperature monitoring and start rooting around in the shop to see
what I can find. Looking around I promptly find (in different areas) two
0-250 degree stainless thermowell type thermometers left behind by the
previous owners. Perhaps these were intended for a smoker that never got
built? I measure the stem on the thermometers and then go and drill two
holes in the front of the grill towards the right side, one at close to
grill level and one about 3" above it. This should give me a good idea
of the temperature at the smoking end and how even the temperature
levels are.

Looking at the rusty grills I conclude that they can't be cleaned up to
a useable level without a lot of work so I go and grab a couple of oven
racks from the kitchen. These racks sit nicely over the rusty mesh with
a decent gap so nothing would touch the rust.

It's now Saturday evening and satisfied that I have something that now
has a reasonable chance of working as a horizontal smoker I wander into
the house to read AFB and the FAQ. Noting that everyone seems to prefer
lump charcoal I add that to my shopping list along with some smoking
wood chunks. Reading some more I see that brisket is the "official" TX
BBQ. I'd never done anything with brisket before so I decide that I
should do ribs as well (backup). I read about the various trims of
brisket and their relative merits and also about the various types of
pork ribs. More surfing and I conclude that the brisket should have a
dry rub (this is my preference anyway) and I review a dozen or so dry
rub recipes to see what's in them. I make some more notes on the grocery
shopping list and then make something quick for dinner.

Sunday morning and it's time to go shopping. I get to the store and
proceed to get the various spices on the list, a mid size packer trim
brisket (~4#) and a nice 5# rack of spare ribs. Wandering over to the
charcoal isle I find B&B Texas style lump charcoal which I recognize as
one of the brands that folks on AFB seemed happy with so I get a couple
bags. I continue down the isle to find some mesquite chunks (read that
chunk was preferred over chip on AFB) and a little box of fatwood
(lighter fluid is a no-no on AFB). Some beer and other odds and ends
rounds out the shopping trip.

I get home and promptly call up and invite the WMD (woman of my dreams)
over for BBQ on Labor Day (tomorrow). I of course had read the
recommendations to never invite folks over for your first attempt at
BBQ, but I'm not one to listen to such advice

It's now Sunday afternoon and I head to the kitchen to mix up a big
container of dry rub. I didn't use any particular recipe; I just
followed the overall theme until I was satisfied with the result. I used
some brown sugar, paprika, store chili powder, chipotle chili powder,
garlic powder, onion power, cumin, pepper, etc. I prep some of the other
incidentals and then go out to review the smoker situation.

Looking over my supplies I decide I need a chimney starter for the
charcoal. I wander to the shop again and after dumping out some random
nuts and bolts I emerge with two 3# coffee cans. Back to the kitchen to
grab an opener and punch a ring of openings around the base of each can.
Realizing I'll need a way to handle the hot cans I grab a pair of
channel lock pliers. Some old newspapers and a Bic aim-and-flame round
out the supplies. Reviewing the expected cooking times I conclude I need
to start at about 4am so I have some dinner and call it a night.

3am Labor Day morning I get up and make a cup of coffee (gotta keep your
priorities straight) and get started. Having read that the meat should
be brought to room temperature first I pull out the ribs and brisket and
put them on the counter. Also having read that applying the dry rub and
letting it sit for a while helps it develop a crust, I wash and dry the
meat and apply the rub. Out to the improvised smoker I load up a bit of
newspaper in the bottom of each starter chimney, top that with a couple
pieces of fatwood and then top up to the brim with lump charcoal. I
place the cans on a cinderblock and light the newspaper with the
aim-and-flame. After waiting a few minutes for it to get going and
getting impatient I fire up the leaf blower and speed things up a bit
(rather spectacular in the dark). As the charcoal gets going and settles
down I top it up some more. Using the channel lock pliers I pick up the
cans and place them in the smoker sitting on the lower shelf on the left
hand side. I spray the racks on the right with a bit of oil the help
keep things from sticking and close the lid to let things warm up.

Adjusting the bottom trap door I get the temperature stabilized at about
220 degrees and let it sit there for a bit. At about 3:50am I give the
cans a shake with the pliers, top up the charcoal and add a couple
chunks of mesquite on top. 4am I put the meat in the smoker and head
inside. I can see the thermometers through the kitchen window so I keep
checking periodically and going out to adjust the "damper" as needed to
maintain 220 as closely as possible. Watching the smoke coming out the
gaps of the lid I add a chunk of mesquite from time to time. A few times
the temp is going up a bit too much so I use the pliers to pull one of
the cans of charcoal out for a few minutes. Around 6am some rain comes
through and even with both cans I'm having trouble maintaining 220
degrees. I look around and find a couple moving blankets that I
"inherited" in my move so I fold one up and use it to cover the right
side of the smoker. The extra insulation does the trick and its back up
to 220 in short order.

Later in the morning I start probing the ribs and brisket with my
instant read thermometer. More fire tending the rest of the morning
while preparing sides and whatnot. Around noon the ribs are up to around
160 so they get pulled, wrapped in foil and a towel and put in a cooler
(more wisdom from AFB and the FAQ's). I watch the brisket until it gets
to reasonable temperature and then pull it off as well to let it sit.
Somewhere around 1pm the WMD arrives and we serve up the BBQ.

The results - Everything came out perfect, tender and flavorful all
around. The dry rub was perfect, no sauce needed. Not bad at all for
first time improvised Q All of the information gleaned from AFB and
the FAQ was very helpful. The end result was definitely better than Red
Hot and Blue and they are pretty decent most times (Plano is better than
Dallas BTW).

Around the end of October I did this once again, this time for the WMD
and family. This time I did two 5# racks of ribs, another 4# brisket and
a 1.5# salmon fillet (diet compatible). Since I was doing this for
dinner on a Friday I started at a little more reasonable time in the
morning. Being a workday I had to spend most of my time in the office (I
work from home).

Being in the office at the other end of the house it was a little more
difficult to keep an eye on the smoker. To resolve this problem I
grabbed my netcam, a tripod and a long Ethernet cable. I set the camera
on the tripod near the smoker and plugged everything in. In the office I
put my laptop next to my work PC and brought up the live feed from the
camera. I was able to watch both temperature readings and also the
amount of smoke coming out while I was still at work.

Once again everything came out perfect, so good in fact that the only
leftovers I had was the top section that I had removed from the brisket
and put aside before carving the rest. The dieter loved the salmon, and
also about half a rack of ribs The remaining brisket was gone by the
end of the next day.

Pete C.

"Grant Erwin" > wrote in message
news:MUGvj.17$O64.3@trndny03...
> I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my NBBD, now all fixed up and
> ready to go. Like all newbies, I'm nervous and not sure of what to do.
>
> I'd like to hear some stories about the first time YOU tried smoking
> meat ..
>
> Grant Erwin
> Kirkland, Washington

abot 15yrs ago or so had an Orange ECB that was making sausage or fish most
weekends i=here in the North Country when a friend returned from a MC trip
to Texas and was telling me how great this meat called brisket was on a
peice of white bread---so mail ordered a hunk of beef and proceeded to put
it on the Brinkmann---with lots of mesquite too---smoke billowed for what
seemed like days and the mear was horrible--in fact cooke dso much bad
briskt practicing that the neighbors dog used to run when he saw me
coming<lol>

Still have a hard time getting the contest brisket to the place where it
should be but do promise ya after 1000's of bucks trying it is always
eminently edible

Buzz

Pete C. wrote:

> For your amusement I post the following story, this was a few months
> back, but after reading the recent "newbie" thread I decided to post
> it.
snip...

I remember that Pete. :-)

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

On 22-Feb-2008, Grant Erwin > wrote:

> I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my NBBD, now all fixed up and
> ready to go. Like all newbies, I'm nervous and not sure of what to do.
>
> I'd like to hear some stories about the first time YOU tried smoking
> meat ..
>
> Grant Erwin

Are yout tuned in to the "HORROR" channel? You need to be. Like
you, I read all the mail, read all the FAQ and then proceeded to prove
that I knew everything that I needed to know. I wasted more then a year
trying to prove that I was the master of that pit. (NB Silver). The pit won.
Now I make excellent barbecue anytime I want and the outcome is always
garenteed.

1. Clean your pit out pretty good. (Guess you've already done that)
2. Ensure there's at least 3" of space under your fire grate. (Ash spare
you know.)
3. Dump about 10# of charcoal fuel into the firebox. Make a hole about
3" in dia in the resulting pile.
4. Dump a full chimney load of lit fuel into the center of the pile.
5. Make sure that the chimney is full open and that the firebox draft
is cracked about 1".
6. Go away for 30 minutes.. Have a drink. Watch some TV. Get some
meat ready to cook, anything but mess with that cooker.
7. Check the cook chamber temperature. (don't mess with the fire. It
knows what it's doing.) If the cook chamber has managed to climb into
the 200°F to 300°F range, load in your meat and go away for the next
couple of hours unless you're cooking fowl or tender loins or loins or
some other such meat that don't really want to be barbecued. For
ribs, butts, briskets and such, just leave it alone for at least a two full
hours.
7a. If you're doing a full load and six or eight racks of ribs in there,
you probably ought to rotate them at about two hours to get the
furthest closer to the fire and vice versa. No need to turn them
over. In fact I never do. Same thing with butts. If you have four
butts in there, you might want to rotate them two for two closer
to the fire. Again, don't turn them over. (I don't have a scientific
reason for that except, play with your food as little as possible.

Since you're talking about your first burn and you haven't mentioned
what you're planning to cook, we're a little in the dark.

Do you want to cook pork butts, ribs, brisket, chicken, turkey
or what? A minuscule clue would help.
-
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

About 30+ years ago, we all cooked on those big brick pits that used
to be in a great deal of the backyards around here.

Having assisted but never helming the operation, my amigos and me
decided to take some of our hard earned wages and purchase a brisket
and some sausages for a Cowboy playoff game.

Since I always cooked our steaks when we grilled out at parties, and
cooked when we were hunting and camping, my buddies appointed me the
cook. We opted to go to one of our state parks where there was a
river, barbecue pits, swimming, a place to put our horseshoe pit, and
hopefully some females.

We were successful at all but the last item.

We never thought we would have to clean out the pit and clean the
grates before using the pit. Thankfully, we were in our construction
vehicles, so we had shovels and wire brushes. We were feeling pretty
smug. We knew we were going to have a good day. We cleaned the pit
and grates and started a great wood fire.

Set up the horseshoe pit, got out the lubricating fluid, set up the
radio, and commenced making coals and throwing shoes.

When the coals were ready, I shoveled them into the pit and put more
wood on the coals fire to keep the supply of coals up. More beer
while the the pit heated.

The brisket is removed from the cooler for all us to look at and
admire. We didn't really know what it was supposed to look like, but
it looked like a big hunk of beef and we all agreed it was good. It
was probably about a 12# piece of meat, and with 5# of sausage, ranch
style beans, Texas toast, and of course about three cases of beer that
was plenty for 6-8 of us.

We left the brisket out for about 1/2 hour, and covered it with the
choice spices of that time, salt and lots of course ground pepper. I
knew that all good pitmasters told me in the past that they let the
fire and cooking do the seasoning so I never gave it another thought.
Besides, I had never seen anyone put anything BUT salt and pepper on
brisket. What else would you put on it?

The pit is ready. The brisket goes on. The sausage goes on. The
beer goes in. I make a PSA announcing the proper Texas custom of the
time to let folks know the brisket was in: "OK guys, tell me when you
want to eat some sausage because that brisket will probably take about
6 hours or so".

Disbelief. Six hours? Really? Do we have enough beer to make it
that long?

I began to cook. I would take a round or two at the shoes, then I had
to fuss with things. I added a shovel full of coals and slammed the
door on the pit. I adjusted the position of the meat (although the
fire was good, and about 24+ inches below the grates). I "checked" on
things and generally looked thoughtful from time to time.
This was it. If I ruined out investment, I would never hear the end
of it.

About three hours in, we were starved and tired of smelling the
smoking meat over fire and ate most of the sausages wrapped up in the
thick bread. It was good. I noticed at that time that we didn't
have any of that wonderful bark or brown crispies coming on at all on
the "chopped sandwich side" of the brisket at all. (The brisket at
that time was known to us as the fatty or "chopped" side, and the
sliced side, never the point or the flat.) I was a little worried.
The meat was kinda hot to the touch, but not like I wanted it.

We listened to the pre game show and drank more beer.
The players are announced. Horsehoes are retired, tobacco and beer
are brought to the picnic table by the pit, the one with the big radio
on it. The game starts.

By halftime, the brisket has been on for about 6 hours. No one is
starved since we ate so damn much sausage and drank an appropriate
amount of beer to wash it down. Thanks to the powers that be, too.
That brisket was just starting to turn a nice brown color and was
starting to melt the fat pretty well around the fat cap.
I know we have a ways to go... but how far? Unknown.

We decide to push eating the brisket until the end of the game since
it was pretty exciting. Good for me! I am in my routine now,
maintaining a thoughtful demeanor while watching a thin wispy smoke
trail coming out of the flue, fiddling with the fire about every 30 -
45 minutes. I am not sure what I was doing at the time, but I knew
when you were barbecuing, and that's what you did. There were
constant comments about the fire having gone out due to the fact there
was no billowing white smoke coming from the chimney. I assure the
naysayers that all is well, and they needed to be patient. "Have
another beer and shut up", I say. I look up to the clouds for
reassurance and mutter "I sure hope I'm right."

The game is over. We heat the beans and put in a few jalapeños
escabeche style to make them more interesting. We pull the brisket
off. It looks good, smells better. I know to let it sit for a few
minutes so it can cool and not squirt the juices out when we cut it.

We let it sit for about 15 minutes.

I cut it up with an "Old Hickory" wooden handled butcher knife that
has been sharpened for this very occasion.

To us, it was heaven. We put the hot, fatty, juicy parts of the point
in bread and at it as it was cut. As we got to the flat, it got more
and more dry as we went, but a nice fatty piece of point slapped over
the dry slice did the trick. The brisket was pronounced a huge
success, and I got a lot of great commentary about it being worth the
wait. We ate most of that piece of meat in about 30 minutes.

We were so full we were miserable. We had wiped out the jalapeño
beans, and almost all of the brisket, and two loaves of Texas Toast
bread. The remaining sausage was abandoned.

We stayed out there until dark thirty, and smoked, drank and picked at
the brisket until it was gone. When the moon came out and the
crickets were sounding loud out by the water, we wearily picked up and
left.

The first brisket was done. >>Boy was I pleased.<< For years, at
every get together I was the appointed cook and glad to do it.

I have cooked a ton of briskets since then, some undoubtedly better,
but not to my mind's memory. I can still taste that live oak/pecan
mix in the meat and that dark brown brisket with all the little black
crispies on it.

So my thoughts are this, Grant. If this is your first big smoke,
don't fret. Enjoy it. Make some mental notes about what you like.
Play some horsehoes. Have some libations. Invite your buddies over,
advice be damned. It WILL come out good, and you will always remember
that "first smoke", and so will your friends.

Good luck!

Robert

On Feb 23, 10:38 am, "Nunya Bidnits" > wrote:

> Horseshoes!!??? ROFL!

Imagine the two clueless guys in the Sonic commercial. Whuttt?

> Dammit, Robert, you forget the rest of the country is frozen solid. About a
> bazillion below zero around here I think, for days on end now. If you try
> throwing a horshoe around here it will prolly bounce up hard off the frozen
> tundra and smack you in the nuts.

OK, my turn to laugh. What a picture.

Folks are grousing around here as it is cold (48 degrees) and
overcast, and it's 11:00 am. Yesterday was clear and 80, and today
was supposed to be the same except in the mid 80s. Same forecast for
tomorrow. It IS warmer than normal for us, but we will return to the
late 60s next week which is normal.

Last year we had an ice storm about this time of year and the city was
paralysed. We had foot long or longer icicles hanging off everything,
and a layer of hard clear ice on the roads, sidewalks buildings, etc.
The city was closed for a couple of days. One week later, mid 70s.

With you description of getting the cods whacked by a horseshoe, I
immediately thought of the guy hitting the golf ball on the frozen
lake.

Robert

On Feb 23, 5:25*pm, Eddie > wrote:

> Great story Robert.
> Now, can you remember who the Cowboy's played, and who won?
> Eddie, in San Jose, *a Cowboy fan since Eddie LeBaron.

Bless my soul, I couldn't. I remember the game being really good, but
to me, I really enjoyed the games in those days and thought most of
them were when the Pokes played.

I looked it up though, and found this. NO WONDER I remember the game
being so good.

*****************************
Dallas' "Doomsday Defense" limited Atlanta quarterback Steve
Bartkowski to only 8 completions in 23 attempts and intercepted him 3
times en route to victory. After the Falcons led 20-13 at halftime,
the Cowboys scored 14 unanswered points in the second half. Atlanta
scored on their first four possessions with a 14-yard rushing
touchdown by running back Bubba Bean, a 17-yard touchdown pass from
Bartkowski to Wallace Francis, and two field goals.

Dallas countered with a 13-yard touchdown run by Scott Laidlaw and two
field goals of their own. In the second half, Cowboys starting
quarterback Roger Staubach was knocked out of the game with a
concussion after being hit on a blitz by Falcons linebacker Robert
Pennywell . Backup Danny White then led Dallas on a 54-yard drive that
ended with tight end Jackie Smith's 2-yard touchdown reception to tie
the game 20-20. In the fourth quarter, Laidlaw scored on a 1-yard
touchdown run that was set up after a bad Falcons punt enabled Dallas
to take over the ball at the Atlanta 30-yard line.

******************************

Roger out of the game when they are behind.. Danny White called up...
a lousy punt to allow a score...

In those days, the Cowboys were a religion here, and I remeber more
than once the local news saying that the local crime, traffic
accidents, and retail store traffic were down during those days of
Cowboy greatness.

Those were the days. Now I usually watch about 3 games a year.

Robert

On Feb 23, 3:41*am, " >
wrote:
> About 30+ years ago, we all cooked on those big brick pits that used
> to be in a great deal of the backyards around here.
>
> Having assisted but never helming the operation, my amigos and me
> decided to take some of our hard earned wages and purchase a brisket
> and some sausages for a Cowboy playoff game.


Are you watching Combine?

I really like Kentucky's Steve Johnson

He tore his sleeves off for the competition

In that way (but not appearance) he reminds me of deceased poet Pat
Storm, who never had a tshirt where he kept the sleeves

I tried to find brisket to cook this weekend, but couldn't find any at
all. If I had more patience maybe they could have found some for me
at the counter, but I was so tired

So I settled for london broil. I hope this works out

mk5000

"I've never felt this feel so heavy
And I've never felt this feel so low
Yeh it is a weight inside my whole soul
But You are my strength, I won't stand alone"--wonderdummied, brooke
waggoner