It's Grilling season!

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

It turns out doing BBQ is perfect for me, because I am an odd hours sleeper anyway, and I don't mind spending an entire day tending to something. I'm glad I got into it. My path there was strange... We moved into a bigger house a couple years ago and wanted to host Thanksgiving, but for some reason we had never made a turkey. My brother directed me to some Alton Brown videos on youtube for tips. While I was watching those, I started seeing BBQ videos pop up as recommendations. I got into those, and thought, Dang that looks good! And there rest is history.

Do you make brisket? When I was researching this, everyone talked about brisket being the crowning achievement of BBQing. I've made a few and they've gotten better each time, with the last one being really good, however I think they are just all right. I feel like I'd rather have a good steak. I honestly don't think I'd had brisket more than twice in my life though, so there was no deep attachment to it or anything. My biggest complaint is I feel like it's just too greasy. Like when you bite into it I feel like someone has just dumped olive oil over the top. I do like the idea of 10 meals being taken care of in one swoop though.

We are also getting half a pig in a few weeks. We have made ribs & shoulder but nothing else pork wise... have you done any other pork besides those?

Agree with you 1000% on the brisket. I've done a couple of briskets and at the end of the day, they turned out pretty well, but I found that I just don't think the payoff is worth the time and hassle. No doubt, a good brisket seems to be the litmus test for some people as to smoking acumen and ability but it'll be awhile before I do another one.

Same thing with tri tip; I did a lot of that early on, haven't done that in forever. So many other meats and cuts of beef that I would rather do.

Baby back ribs, pork shoulder/butt for some good pulled pork, a good prime rib if I have enough people over to justify a big cut of meat, and turkey for sure. I should do turkey more often. I've also become a fan of doing pork belly.

Another thing I like about the smoker is I tend to do things in bulk if I'm using the smoker, and you have food for a few days. A rack of baby back ribs? No thanks, I'll do 4 racks or so. Two turkeys instead of one, etc. A couple of pork shoulders for pulled pork, etc

One last thing I've done a lot of lately on the smoker? Just plain cooking bacon. Not even doing your own bacon like some, I'm talking about just laying out the strips on the smoker and cooking them outside on the smoker. No house full of bacon smell (not a terrible thing, but still), super easy clean up, no pan full of grease to dispose of in the kitchen, it's just a great way to cook bacon