Haven't posted in a month, it's been a while. This month I picked up a new hobby. I was in Denver two weeks ago to go see Madeon (my favorite artist) debut his new live show at Red Rocks. During this trip I ate around Denver a bunch and went to this place that mostly specialized in Jerk/Jamaican food, but had BBQ on the menu. I was really really craving BBQ at the time so I decided we should go. We went, ordered the brisket, the ribs, the rib tips, and fried okra.

The brisket and okra were mediocre, and somehow the ribs and rib tips were the worst ribs I've ever paid money for in my life. Dry, tough, stringy. They tasted like they were blasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes rather than smoked on a grill for any reasonably long amount of time. The brisket scarcely had any smoke flavor to it, either.

I love to cook. I love to cook new things especially, and I get a chip on my shoulder whenever I feel like I'm either overpaying for food or could do something better at home. But I've never smoked meat in my life. This experience made me want to learn.

So three weeks later, I've bought a simple Weber Kettle Premium grill that can double as a low-and-slow-smoker and is very entry-level. It was $300 brand new with the accessories I bought, but I recommend you get one used because:

1. Grills don't decay so why buy new, save something from the landfill
2. You save yourself like $200 and can get bonus accessories thrown in if the person is generous
3. Used grills have a built up 'seasoning' layer that can actually protect the grill and make cooking easier by ensuring a better seal between the grill bottom and lid

I bought some lump charcoal from home depot, some fire starters, and some pecan wood chunks. I decided I'd smoke this past weekend. I started with easier recipes at higher temps so that I could learn fire management. The food came out SO good first try even though managing the temps was surprisingly more difficult than I thought.

For example: I was under the 400F recipe temp for the chicken, hovering around 350-375 instead, yet somehow the breasts cooked to my desired temp of 158F about 30 mins faster than the recipe claimed they would. I'm hoping my brand new thermometers aren't off or something.

The smoked chicken came out so juicy and amazing but didn't have crazy smoke flavor and frankly the pre-made rub I bought had citric acid that really came across and I did not like. Regardless, a success and the meat underneath didn't have that nasty acidic flavor.

Then I made a smoked lamb rack that I bought at Costco. I used a chinese-inspired cumin lamb rub that was spicy and delicious. The lamb also cooked very quickly since I cooked it to medium and it took on so much smoke flavor it was amazing. Cooked it perfectly at the recipe temps of 275-300F. Served it with some chinese veggie stir fried sides.

Honestly if you like grilling and have a charcoal grill of any kind I think there's a way for you to use it to smoke meats just fine. It's incredible and kind of fun!

The goal now is to make ribs on this thing so I can prove that the restaurant was just being lazy and that it's not actually that hard.

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kagumail.uselessly535@passinbox.com
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