Food Do you grill, bbq, smoke?

If you decide to get one of the bargain versions, make sure you do your research. I know 3-4 people who have gotten them. All of them ended up dumping money into them to get them sealed well enough to smoke for long amounts of time. One had the hardware on his lid bust and the lid fall and break. He ended up with a BGE less than a year after being a Kamado because he was so frustrated with the Kamado.


I upgraded the grates to cast iron. I have the plate setter for indirect heat cooking/smoking. I have some vertical racks so I can put lots of ribs on it. I have both a turkey setter and a chicken setter for beer can turkey/chicken. I have a grate grabber, an ash tool, and an ash pan. That's all of the accessories that I use. I bought a multi-level grate when I got it, but I've not used it even once.


The table was a kit that I put together that sold with the BGE. The granite top I had made. I know a guy who does that for a living and he had a remnant left off of a big job so he cut the hole in it and did it very cheaply for me.

Actually, yeah.

 

I didn't get many finished product pics since I was entertaining while trying to time everything, but I got a few.

The brisket turned out as good as any I've done. The new short ribs recipe was awesome, I'll definitely do it again. The baby backs turned out good, though I've done better. Everyone loved them but I had so much going own I think I should've left them on unwrapped for another 30-45 minutes. They were extremely tender but could've taken on more smoke.


Candied bacon was a MASSIVE hit.



Short ribs:



Baby backs:


Brisket:

 

I don't mind feeding an army, but I want no part of doing it for a business. I've had offers in the past and always politely declined. I enjoy it for fun, less pressure that way.


Weber kettles are solid. If you want to try smoking you could also look at their bullet style smokers, which are much cheaper than ceramic ones.

 

I smoked some ribs on my Weber kettle this summer. It worked very well. The Weber is very versatile.

 

When I moved into this apartment building I asked if I could have a barbecue. I was told that it violated the fire code and so I wasn't allowed.

My balcony is concrete and brick, with a railing made out of steel and glass. There's not a single flammable object. Other tenants have barbecues on their balconies, they're quite blatant. That's what I get for following the rules.

I bet I can get a cheap one on sale now that the grilling season is nearly done.

 

Recent studies show that EVERYTHING causes cancer. So I'm going to pick the delicious route.


In all seriousness, I don't use charcoal briquettes partially for this reason (too many added chemicals). I use hardwood and/or lump charcoal.

 

My blood pressure and cholesterol are fine. I attribute it to eating beef that is both hormone free and grass fed. And lots of red wine.

My wife was NOT impressed when I finally let her make me go to the doctor and he said I was healthy. She was hoping I'd get scolded, but I didn't.

 

It'll be fun, promise. The effort is well worth it.

Somehow it reminds me of this anecdote, which my MIL repeated recently. Apparently, my MIL wanted both of her sons to have a "go-to" dish they could cook for a date, and my husband chose to master a steak with mushroom sauce. She lamented that now that he's a vegetarian, I'll never get to enjoy the perfect steaks he used to make. My husband laughed and said, "Mom, snowy can make a perfect steak on her own. She doesn't need me to cook a steak for her." Too true.