# Amateur from Bucks County, PA



## kmdennis (Jan 3, 2014)

Greetings,

I have been using the site for ideas the last few years and the level of knowledge, ideas and overall welcoming attitude here is incredible.

My BBQ/Smoking obsession started with roasting a pig for my anniversary in 2008. I have done a whole hog every year since. Here is a picture of last years hog. 













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Constantly reading about smoked meats and roasting pigs got a fire burning in my (pun intended) to enjoy smoked meats more frequently.

My small smoking adventures started with a desire to smoke a turkey. I played around with my propane CharBroil 3 burner grill, cast iron smoking boxes, aluminum foil wrapped chips, etc and produced what I thought was a pretty good product using ideas from this site and other places around the web. That lead to ribs but i stayed safe with those meat types for a while. Do what you do well...

I got the idea to try to smoke a small brisket in two terra cotta pots one day...turned out tasty, but took WAY too long and ended up. Nothing like eating smoked brisket at 11pm :) 

For Christmas a few years ago my dad bought me a Cabela's "All in One" charcoal smoker, grill etc. It did everything ok, but nothing great. I enjoyed the "step up" to have a dedicated smoker and still be able to use my grill as a grill but struggled with temperature regulation, even with copious notes. I would do the exact same things, in similar weather conditions and get completely different results!

I decided for christmas this year to get myself an MES 30 on Amazon for Black Friday. I have been smoking non stop due to its ease.Just in the last week I have done: Turkey Breast, Turkey wings and drum sticks. All Christmas gifts for hard to buy for family members that enjoy smoked meats. I have also done chicken wings, Baby Backs, Spares, Dutch's Wiked Baked Beans and my favorite so far was a boneless pork loin with an apple chutney. Currently snowed in here and brined a turkey breast last night in anticipation of a snow day today.

Really happy how these Baby Backs (2-2-1) and Spares (3-2-1) turned out along with and Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans! Thanks for that recipe!













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Really proud of how juicy this turned out, even without the brine and "overcooking it" since my wife doesn't care much for "pinkish" pork. 













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Went great with broccoli rabe and homemade apple chutney. Chutney had similar ingredients as the rub, which made the combination phenomenal!













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Not to mention as a sandwich the next day :)













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Turkey breast in brine for today's smoke. Its my own version of a few brines I have found online. I am still tweaking it for "perfection". Will be rubbed with a wet rub on and under the skin.













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Thanks for taking the time to look and I look forward to more smoking advice and maybe offering a few tips of my own down the line. 

Happy smoking!

-Kyle


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## Bearcarver (Jan 3, 2014)

Welcome Kyle!!

And Nice Work!!!!

Born & raised in Bucks County----Living in Lehigh now.

Bear


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## kmdennis (Jan 3, 2014)

Thanks Bear! Very cool to have other locals.


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## gary s (Jan 3, 2014)

[h1]*






	

		
			
		

		
	
Hello and welcome from East Texas. This is a great site, lots of information and great people that are willing to throw in their two cents worth on about anything.   Nice looking pig, if you don't mind me asking, what size is it (was it) and how much did you have to pay? I'm still not over the 30# pig for $250 the butcher shop priced me !!!!!*[/h1][h1]  [/h1][h1]*Gary*[/h1]


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## kmdennis (Jan 3, 2014)

My local butcher (Ely's, in Washington's crossing, PA) is not cheap, but their meats are phenomenal. I usually ask for an 80-90# cleaned and butterflied pig. Last year was 86# and cost was around $3.50/lb. So this one was around $300. I think it is expensive, but they are one of the only places in town I can get one without driving an hour. They also rent the cooker for an additional $100. 

There is nothing like a delicious slow cooked and smoked pig. :)


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## GaryHibbert (Jan 3, 2014)

Hey Kyle

Welcome to the forum.  Great looking pig.  Great qviews.  Keep it up

Gary


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## kmdennis (Jan 3, 2014)

Thanks. I love cooking the whole hog. People that attend the roast are always amazed at it just because they have never seen one cooked whole before, unless they are a return guest. I grew up going to pig roasts as a kid so when I finally had an excuse (wedding anniversary) I had to start cooking them.


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