Heeeeeyyy

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doc1453

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2014
6
10
My name is Mike and I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm 24 years old and grew up on Long Island. I lived in Eastern NC for 2 years out of college and just moved to the Space Coast in Florida. I would have to thank Eastern NC for having me fall in love with smoking. Not because they are good at it thought. The vinegar based "bbq" is the only thing eaten there. And I simply don't like it. I couldn't find a rib anywhere. So instead I had to learn to cook my own.

I owe most of my knowledge and skills to Lexie Dean. A colleague of mine in NC that new all of this stuff. Find out some really cool things about his cooking comepititions here: http://www.examiner.com/article/grand-champion-cook-lexie-dean-at-saddle-up

I started out with ribs. I am not a huge fan for globbing on bbq sauce so I typically just made a dry rub. It's mostly straightforward. Paprika, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, crushed red peppers (lots of it), chilli powder (lots of it), and then my secret ingredient: MSG. You're not convincing me not to put it in there. It's amazing and I'm never looking back. This May, I got a small charcoal grill and Lexie taught me how to smoke in there. Over time I've learned to control the heat, get a thick smoke, and when to wrap the ribs to keep them moist so they "fall off the bone." From there, I've done pork loin with a mostly herb rub, pork butt, and last weekend two whole chickens.

As for wood, I've used cherry, mesquite, pecan, hickory, and sugar maple. Cherry has been my favorite for ribs so far. The sugar maple was used for the chicken. It was honestly the best chicken I've ever had. I didn't expect the brine to be soooo effective.

My folks want me to try brisket next. Which is fine with me. Any tips on how to tackle this? It's a more basic rub from what I was told.

What about things like sausage, ham, lamb (this is so good without smoking I'm hesitant to risk it), duck (my favorite meat but I've yet to make it good at home for my standards)?



Also, my uncle has multiple bee farms and makes the most amazing honey. Is there any way some of you could suggest utilizing honey with smoking? Or just make a bbq sauce out of it?


Thanks.
 
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Welcome to the forum Mike...you have definitely come to the right place!
 
Hello, from a starting to cool down East Texas and welcome to the forum. Lots of great information and real good people here.  I use honey on my ribs and in my beans. In some of my dry rubs I use Honey Powder. 

Gary S
 
Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David
 
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