I'm 51 years old, and still play with my food...

Tradition used to be going over to a friends Church and having Thanksgiving dinner and playing football! That is no longer the tradition, why? friends moved, we grew up.... New tradition started this year cooked a turkey fatty with stuffing and hanging out at home.

Point being times change traditions, new traditions have a root in old traditions, just some changes is all.

I'll eat almost anything that's not raw. So for me it's a mixture of both. Old school gives me a baseline to work from. If I don't get it right - I try again.

I prefer the traditional ways myself but am open to trying new things. As far as BBQ evolving I have to say yes!! Look at all the new style cookers compared to 25 years ago, injecting almost never heard of years ago, cupcake chicken and the list goes on and on................

Lake Dogs said:

Shake up the BBQ world: BBQ NAKED!!!!

:decision:

Click to expand...

Is it bad that Deguerre's voguing picture came to mind when I read this and then he mentions it? Scary what this place is doing to me.

But I'm always game for learning new techniques and recipes. It's one of the simple pleasures I find myself enjoying more as I get older. I've been inspired by many on this board to try new things. Not sure I'm ready for fish lolipops or spam brownies but ya never know!

I am a BBQ heretic, I cook how I cook.

I am a stickler for technique, I do not like sloppy knife work, I care about how things are cut and prepared, I pay attention to the science and art of cooking. I have studied and continue to study all things food and cooking, I search out knowledge and challenge convention, all with a goal of understanding what I do.

Then I stand tradition, as it were, and authenticity, if it exists, on it's ear and do what I think produces the best food. I am rapidly tiring of the mentality that there is one right way for anything, BBQ is whatever the person talking to me wants it to be, it is whatever I want it to be when I am talking. I cook hotter or colder, based upon what I think will work, not what I am told I must do to be authentic.

Oh, and I cook Tri-tip as I was taught to do, some 35 years ago, in the Central Coast region of California, by men who learned to cook there when the style of cooking was invented. But, none of you who grill over hot coals, or smoke in enclosed cookers are doing it right. :tongue:

Hey... good thread. :thumb:

If I want something different to try, I come here for ideas. Pepper Stout Beef, ABTs, fatties, pork shots, etc. (Well, maybe they are not all that new, but they were new to me.)

When it comes to cooking "regular" BBQ (like a pork butt or ribs), I don't vary my methods much. Oh, I might bump the temp up if I'm running behind, but that's about it.

With brisket ... it's a hard question to answer. I didn't really have my own method (whether traditional or not.) My first ever packer (a 15 pounder) was smoked at 225 for 18(!) hours. It looked like a burnt shoe when I pulled it. However, miraculously, it tasted pretty darned good. [An aside here: That brisket STILL tasted better than every other brisket I've tried at restaurants (with one exception.)]

In the past couple of years (using ideas from this forum), I've cooked enough briskets to figure out that *I* get better results with hotter temps and shorter times. Although I like tradition (low and slow), I have to do what works for me!

I am pretty traditional, especially when it comes to competitions (sorry, brazing chicken in a pan of butter is not bbq IMHO). However, I am more than willing to fire up the cooker at home and try different things

Lake Dogs said:

Shake up the BBQ world: BBQ NAKED!!!!

:decision:

Click to expand...

What he said. Although an apron would probably be good because hot grease hurts.

Being a traditionalist I still have a larding needle. No need of chemicals to tenderize meat. No need of fancy marinades or rubs to enhance favors. How bland those old dinners must have been. Trivia.....Was the needle replaced by Adolph's ?