Greetings and Salutations

[Unique Name]

Hey, y'all.
I'm a 100% newcomer to the smoking game. I recently became the owner of a twice used Weber Smoky Mountain 18" and ive done quite a bit of reading on the subject of smoking and it ranges from simple to scary.
My main concern is what a newbie should attempt to smoke first.
Any suggestions?
Thank you for any and all replies...

 

[TomKnollRFV]

To me there is two things you can go with as a newbie for cost <incase of failure> and difficulty.

The first is pork butt. Pulled pork is good eats, easy to make on a smoker, and one of the cheaper things to experiment with.

The other option is ribs. Just look up 3-2-1 ribs. Babyback or spares. I prefer spare ribs my self, but the 3-2-1 method is fool proof in effect.

And welcome aboard from Wisconsin :)

 

[dcecil]

Welcome to the site, pork butts are an easy and forgiving smoke. Ribs would probably be my second choice. Lots of threads about both of those to get some advice from. Good luck

 

[yankee2bbq]

Hello! Welcome to SMF!
WSM is a great smoker! It was mentioned before and I would smoke a Boston butt for pulled pork. Very forgiving piece of meat.
Lots of threads on the WSM and pulled pork!

 

[Unique Name]

Hello! Welcome to SMF!
WSM is a great smoker! It was mentioned before and I would smoke a Boston butt for pulled pork. Very forgiving piece of meat.
Lots of threads on the WSM and pulled pork!

Thank you for the info!

 

[Unique Name]

Hello! Welcome to SMF!
WSM is a great smoker! It was mentioned before and I would smoke a Boston butt for pulled pork. Very forgiving piece of meat.
Lots of threads on the WSM and pulled pork!

Looks like more reading is in order.

 

[Unique Name]

Hello! Welcome to SMF!
WSM is a great smoker! It was mentioned before and I would smoke a Boston butt for pulled pork. Very forgiving piece of meat.
Lots of threads on the WSM and pulled pork!

I had heard the WSM (Now i'm in the know!) Was a decent little smoker.
And for free, the price was right.
Thanks for the reply...

 

[Unique Name]

To me there is two things you can go with as a newbie for cost <incase of failure> and difficulty.

The first is pork butt. Pulled pork is good eats, easy to make on a smoker, and one of the cheaper things to experiment with.

The other option is ribs. Just look up 3-2-1 ribs. Babyback or spares. I prefer spare ribs my self, but the 3-2-1 method is fool proof in effect.

And welcome aboard from Wisconsin :)

321 ribs...
I'm on it.
Thanks!

 

[Unique Name]

Welcome to the site, pork butts are an easy and forgiving smoke. Ribs would probably be my second choice. Lots of threads about both of those to get some advice from. Good luck

Time for some more reading...

 

[gmc2003]

Welcome to the site, you've got some good choices listed above. I would also like to add meatloaf if your family likes meatloaf. It's simple quick and a takes the loaf up another rung on the ladder.

Chris

 

[tropics]

Don't worry about the leaks when you first start smoking,it will take a few smokes for it to seal up.
I also recommend using only a few chunks of wood under the charcoal.(you don't need a lot of wood in that little space)
Also get a good thermo probe
Richie

 

[Unique Name]

Welcome to the site, you've got some good choices listed above. I would also like to add meatloaf if your family likes meatloaf. It's simple quick and a takes the loaf up another rung on the ladder.

Chris

Meatloaf?
Interesting. I'll look in to that. Thanks!

 

[Unique Name]

Don't worry about the leaks when you first start smoking,it will take a few smokes for it to seal up.
I also recommend using only a few chunks of wood under the charcoal.(you don't need a lot of wood in that little space)
Also get a good thermo probe
Richie

Thanks for that tip. I know l no doubt A WOULD BE have been stressing on that.
Thank you...

 

[HalfSmoked]

Welcome and glad to have you. One of the easiest things for a beginner is chicken just my $.02 worth butts are good but take a long time.

Warren

 

[Unique Name]

Welcome and glad to have you. One of the easiest things for a beginner is chicken just my $.02 worth butts are good but take a long time.

Warren

Hey, Warren. I was contemplating chicken. I've done several beer can chicken and thought perhaps the process would be a bit similar...
Thanks for the reply.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Unique Name Thanks for the like it is greatly appreciated.

Warren

 

[VileBooey]

I would say invest in a good thermometer when you can. One that can monitor your meat and grill would be best. It will save you a lot of head scratches and frustration. At least in my experience.

When I first got my Oklahoma Joe, and even my WSM later, I was blown away at the difference in temperature from the stock thermometer on the unit and the thermometer that I used to measure the heat at the grill/grate level.

 

[Unique Name]

I would say invest in a good thermometer when you can. One that can monitor your meat and grill would be best. It will save you a lot of head scratches and frustration. At least in my experience.

When I first got my Oklahoma Joe, and even my WSM later, I was blown away at the difference in temperature from the stock thermometer on the unit and the thermometer that I used to measure the heat at the grill/grate level.

I just ordered the Inkbird dual thermometer being shown on the home page today.

 

[gary s]

Good morning and welcome from a rainy East Texas, Good Advice above.
I would go with a pork butt, easy, easy, really hard to mess up. And Tasty !!

Gary