When/Where did you get your FIRST taste of REAL BBQ?

[walking dude]

this may have been done before......if so.......sorry........but i will bring it up again............

growing up..............the only bbq i had was ribs........chain restaurant ribs.......my first REAL taste of bbq, was in 1975, when i ordered a bbq beef sandwich........imagine my surprise when it was just a hunk of meat on a bun.........not swimming in bbq sauce........MAN was i disappointed......i thought to myself........this place doesn't know bbq.........it was a brisket sandwich.......but i didn't know good bbq back then......everything had to have a red/tomatoe based bbq smothered on it........

i did ribs on and off after that........got my first ecb bout 3 years after that........did coc.......ribs........chicken with bbq on it.........turkey's..........beef tenderloin....just smoked that one.......man was that good............it really wasn't till i found this place that i found out what REAL bbq is!

i owe all that to this place............but this is not a thread on how great a teacher this place is.......there are plenty of those here in various forums/threads...........

and i know, alot of you southern folk grew up with true bbq........but alot of us didn't.........my family comes from the south......but my dad, being farmed out as a kid growing up, helping with chores, he didn't really have a childhood........despised everything that was traditional.........so i have to learn myself...........

this thread is for folks to relate their first TRUE experience of the bbq tradition.........mine was in 75.........i just didn't know it then...........i sure do now.......sure wish i had my head outta my *ss back then........could of had a HECK of a job on this great hobbie............i know i have been smoking for over 30 years...........but not really.............LOLOL

i didn't really start smoking till Aug. 2007

thankx to everyone here, helping with my continuing education.........

 

[abelman]

For me, it was a little over a year ago. I was a gasser guy for a long time.

Then, I started to think back to the old days when my Dad cooked with Charcoal because propane wasn't really around. Then, I started thinking I should go back to that tradition and see what happens. It made all the grill stuff taste so much better.

That led to the smooking thing as I knew Flash from another forum. He got me going with the basics and I had my fits and starts. He eventually got me to come over here as things started to come together.

At the end of the day, I just wish I hadn't waited so long on all accounts. At this point, my family loves the food, my wife the freedom of not having to cook all the time and it's fun to see where the imagination takes you. SMF has been a huge help to boot.

 

[sumosmoke]

WD - nice topic and will be interesting to see the responses.

My first true, southern bbq experience was 8 years ago when my husband took me to Birmingham, AL. The purpose of the trip was to visit Birmingham (his parents grew up there, and there are still relatives around) see the Crimson Tide play in Tuscaloosa, and eat pig. WE PIGGED OUT!!!

I too, was very surprised to see that my pulled pork sammie wasn't swimming in sauce. Instead it had a little bit of sauce and 2 sliced dill pickles. The bottle of sauce was on the table and before I reached for it to pour all over my sammie my husband told me to take a bite of it before I drowned it with the sauce. It was awesome!!! The ribs we had were also awesome and until I started smoking myself, it was the only time of year I'd eat them, was when we were in Bama.

We continue to go to Birmingham every year to repeat the ritual, but now that I've got my own ECB and have started this tasty hobby, it's not so few and far between when we have good Q! I owe everything I've done and learned to this awesome forum.

 

[master_dman]

I had my first real BBQ several years ago.. little mom and pop shop in Omaha.. and just like you.. I was like.. why the heck isn't it smotherd in BBQ sauce? What is wrong with this place? Lol.

 

[travcoman45]

Grandpa was somewhat of a hillbilly, he worked on farms, brewed beer, made moonshine and raisin jack. He worked as a butcher and for Decker meats here in town. Grandpa had the most wonderfull smoked meats, I can remember peekin in the smoke house and seein the hangin hams, the bacon, chicken, duck or whatever was available at the time. Sure wish I had been older at the time so I new how he did everything.

Dad was no different, just a hard workin man with very little time on his hands. We grilled some, fished some and cooked meats and foods many different ways.

So, I guess you could say I just grew up with it. The stuff available commercially is alright, but I enjoy makin food for the family. Don't think anybody ever leaves the table hungry.

Family gettogethers are someting special for us, dosen't have to be a holdiay, just all of us gettin together to eat and talk. Mom is still with us, so she comes over for dinners, get's her out of the house and the kids and our granddaughter get to learn from her.

Ok, nuff bout my boring history, let's here from the rest of ya's now!

 

[linescum]

My first exprience and taste of true BBQ was a little over 2 yrs ago in my back yard,, Started with a 4 burner gas grill and then started seeing cook-offs on tv and thats what started it.. bought me a ECB sfb and taught myself how.. and then i discovered this place...(Thanks Jeff!!!!!!!!) and it's been a truly wonderful ride since..been trying all kinds of stuff and put on 40#

 

[erain]

i remember when i was a kid, had a family reunion. had an uncle who has long since passed but he owned a restaraunt and he cooked the main course, rather smoked. pork ribs, but they were special, almost like were in a brine maybe. no one knows but we all still talk about those ribs 30 years later. my sis just brought the subject up last week askin me if i could try to make them like that. no sauce on them either(sauc lovers dont be alarmed i like sauce also)that i consider my first real bbq and have had nothing that beat it since and i have had some good stuff. cool idea for a thread wd!!!

 

[cowgirl]

Hmmm, I can't pinpoint a date or time.....it's been part of my upbringing.

The old timers used to have get togethers pretty often....roasting whole hogs over the ground, turning the pig by hand.
Sometimes they would (and still do) dig long trenches with a tractor or a backhoe...20' long or so, about 5' across, put bars across the pit to hold the meats....they start burning logs in the pit early, get a good hot bed of coals going before laying the seasoned meat on. Briskets, ribs, goat, etc..
The watching of the meat slow cook is a party in itself.

One of my favorites is still burying the meat/whole hog/ whatever... in the ground. Wrapping the meat in wet burlap and letting it cook overnight.....I try to do a pig that way at least once a year. ( but the cinderblock method is easier).

I think I was weaned on slow cooked meat. Seems to be a way of life with the farmers/ranchers around here. We have to get together every once in awhile to relax....ok maybe have a few beers too.

 

[smokebuzz]

I to grew up with it, grand dad and his brothers used to to the pig in the ground thing. we always had "local Festivitys" in town growing up and lots of people was heavy into the sauce, Tomato and barly types. Had an old guy in town that had a big smoke house in his back yard and i hung out over there growing up also, forgot alot of what he told me, and he has expired some time a go. But growing up ,most of the cooks i went to was alot of bbq sauce type cook outs, i like a good sauce, just don't care to smother food in it, unless its bread.

 

[meowey]

About 15 years ago, at a place called Pepper's Memphis BBQ in of all places Burlington, Vermont.

(Nice topic WD!)

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

 

[coyote]

there I was, kidnapped by a band of gypsies and their lang mobile 900 smoker/ bbqer. during the day i would have to get my machette and go look fer hard wood. (that little gypsie girl made it easy to find hard wood)
any way depending on the area I always found enough wood for a fire box. now we had no ice box. so the ole gypsie guy would go meat huntin. I never knew ifin it was the cat howlin that they had are a nothern, are the dog they had a barkin..It was the best i ever had, the sauce was made by the ole gypsie wimin she was hardly clothed. but I wood get that hard wood, and the ole gypsie would be a smokin and mopping the sauce she made most out of things she found in the travels we made. never the same, but always napkin suckin good. those ole gypsies that took me as a kid made the best there ever was..and no dam figs.

 

[capt dan]

In my younger days, I hung out with a rougher crowd, and we had alot of pig roast/booze bash's. Thats probably the first times for me, too bad I can't rememeber alot of it!

I dabbled in it throughout my young adult life, and like someone else said, I started getting the bug to get serious a couple years ago, I was fasinated in some of the TV compititions, and documentary series about it. I had a customer who owned a big Klose pit, I mean a big one. It was on a tandem trailer with huge cookers, warmers, grills, and a pit with a"swingset" on the trailer too. So I bought myself a charbroil silver, and, got Paul Kirk's "championship Barbeque" book. Very good book, and helped me alot. Then I found this place while searching for BBQ recipes. That was a lil over 5 months ago. Once I spent a month or so here with all the kind help and encouragement, I began to fix my ole silver, and modify it into a very decent low cost smoker. Thanks again to all the members who helped me along the way. I hope to repay the favor to them, and to the newer folks who have come here since i joined.

Walking Dude, good idea for a thread.

 

[bb53chevpro]

My first encounter to true Q was in July 1995. We were on our honeymoon in Gatlinburg. There was a small rib place on the main drag. The BEST dang ribs I ever had. They were cured and smoked with dry rub. But haven't had anything close to it since.
Andy.

 

[nymatt]

My first experience with smoked meat at a BBQ was last August at my wedding reception. The BBQ was pulled pork, beef brisket, sweet corn, beans, ect. The smoker was on a trailer and fueled by charcoal. I got a good look at it and told by new bride"I can build that".
I was blown away by the taste. After returning home from my honeymoon I got out the welder and found 2 100 lb propane tanks and spent the weekend making my first smoker. I have cooked several meals on "The Rocket" since then. I even picked up an electric unit at Wal-mart. I have since purchased a GOSM and find it much easier to use, less babysitting than the wood burning smoker.
I'm hooked now, no turning back. My wife laughs and thinks I'm nuts but I shut her up when she's eating my ribs and pulled pork.

 

[walking dude]

but matt...to me.........food offa a wood/charcol smoker.........now THATS bbq...........i know i am gonna get alot of flack over that statement..........LOLOL

 

[luv2camp35]

Coming from the South I have always been around good BBQ. I never ate at a chain until I started traveling on business.

Southern Pit BBQ in Sunnyside, GA is always ranked as one of the best in Southern Living mag. Almost the best danged Brunswick stew anywhere.

Spruces BBQ in Griffin, GA has been there forever.

There is a hole-in-the-wall place down in Columbus, GA that ain't too shabby either.

Now I am trying to make my own Q the best. My wife has now learned how to make the truly best stew. I smoke the meat....she makes the stew from it.

 

[desertlites]

I grew up in the Arizona desert around Tombstone-as a kid we would pack our bikes with sleeping bags-grub-water and the good ole HOBO stove my brother showed me how to make(large coffee can type)we would cook bacon, sausage,dogs in a sauce with beans-like we figured the cowboys did(out under the stars)we used to turn out some good food.In high school friends and I went to heldarodo days in Tombstone, my first time going WOW!A sleepy little town of less than 1000 people was packed full-that was the first time I really remember seeing a smoker-it was a big pull behind and smelled so good.I didn't care how long I was gonna wait but I was gonna have whatever was in that thing-the line was so long,my turn came and a rough ole cowboy asked Whatcha Having beef or pork?was the best pulled pork sammie I ever had-well till later in life I started smoking myself and the rest is history- great thread wd.

 

[pigcicles]

I'm not sure if I ever have tasted real BBQ. My taste buds never fully developed. They were smaller than the other kids buds and I had a hard time growing up. But I'm expecting a growth spurt any time now and I'll be just like everyone else.


I kind of grew up around the Q and outdoor cooking. My Grandfather was into it and it passed on to my Mom who only used to grill. Mom still grills but recently sold her smoker, so I'm the last smoker in the family.

For an actual year when I first experienced Q ... probably in 1970 when we moved back to MO from WI after Dad got bad sick with cancer.

 

[stan41]

I tasted my first BBQ about 1950. When I was a boy they had an association meeting under a huge grove of pecan trees in our neighboring county. Usually had attendance of 500 or so. A few days before the meeting men dug a pit about 4 ft. deep, 6 ft. wide, and probably 40 feet long. They filled it with dry wood, probably pecan and mesquite. They placed long iron bars across the pit and laid netwire fencing across it. The day before the meeting they burned the wood down to coals. Then the night before they put the meat on. Nobody barbecued brisket in those days, they barbecued shoulder clods. They turned the meat with pitchforks and mopped it with new kitchen mops. Next day about noon they started slicing it. Those shoulder clods were as black as the ace of spades on the outside but juicy and tender inside. That was the best BBQ I have ever eaten, before or since. Wish I had some of it now.
Stan41

 

[nosnam]

For the most part, the only bbq I ever had was ribs at various chain restaurants. Don't get me wrong, I'll take a rack of ribs just about any way you make them - but you guys know they just don't compare.

Then a couple weeks ago I stopped by Buffalo Brew Pub for some homebrew, and decided to try their ribs while I was there. They were so good, I decided that I had to learn how to do this on my own.

One week later, and I was seasoning my new smoker :)