Journal

J

Jhawkz

Guest
I am thinking of starting a smoking journal to help me track the results of everything I smoke. Does anyone keep a journal and if so what do you include? Are there any websites that have good templates? I would appreciate any help possible.
 
That's a great idea. I do the same thing for pretty much everything I cook. My grilling journal is HUGE haha. I like to include the recipe, date, how much I made and criticisms, i.e. too much salt, try lemon in the marinade, etc. Then when I find recipes I really love, I keep a book of those and I know that they're winners because I've already tried them dozens of times.
 
I don't keep an actual journal, but I do have a one page time sheet for every cook. The front consists of my cook time schedule, turn in times, cooks meeting time and location, contact phone # for the promoter and other info that I might want on one page for a particular cook. Throughout the cook I make notes on the front and back including any new recipes I may try on the fly or changes I might have to make in an emergency. I may write notes about a particularly good spot for next year, or a comment on what the judges in that part of the state seemed to like and not like. I might come up with an idea for a recipe or comment on changes to the way I will cook my chicken next time. Any ideas that come to me during the heat of the cook I write them down so I can remember them. I keep all of those in a notebook so I can review what I did at any past cookoff.
 
Jhawkz said:
I am thinking of starting a smoking journal to help me track the results of everything I smoke. Does anyone keep a journal and if so what do you include? Are there any websites that have good templates? I would appreciate any help possible.
Click to expand...

Try www.amazingribs.com there is a journal templete you can download and customize with you name on it, it's the one I use and have found it to be very helpfull!
:-D
 
Ironically that is how my blog started. My family and friends kept complaining that I never wrote anything down and that the recipes could never be "replicated" (although I could always seem to get pretty close). If you go to my site and look closely at some of the earliest entries (there is an Archive pull-down in the left navigation column) you'll see I was recording all kinds of stuff including time of cook, duration, type of cook, temperature of grill, weather conditions, etc. At some point I got bored with that and the blog degraded into what it has become today. Although at least now I have more than 3 regular readers...
 
I have something BETTER than a journal to keep track of my cooks. I have a WIFE - she doesn't forget a dang thing..........heheehehehe

I do have a 3-ring binder with TONS of notes on recipes that I have made.
 
I keep a note book for the backyard cooks and for competition. The first thing I note is the initial weight of the meat, if it's brisket or pork butt and the final weight. I note the rubs and sauces, the weather conditions and make a map of where I put the meat on the smoker. If I rerub, mop, etc.. I note my tuning plate spacings. I have a temperature log where I track several thermocouples (which are also identified on the map) and the internal temp. I note the time of each reading and put a count of how many sticks of wood I added at each check point. I make notes of the results: dry, tough, good, needs more of this or that, try this next time, etc. For competition I have a single page time line.

Sounds pretty anil.............I'll tone it down once I get consistent!

Hope this helps.
 
I keep journals for every cook. Including, but not limited to, how much coal, how bbq was started, any hot spots, temp when cook started, ingredients, any special order for adding ingredients, spices, what kind of smoking wood, how much smoking wood, how was the temp controlled on the bbq, how long did it cook, how long before it was served and how was it served, what was it served with and did it come out good. Basically, just write down whatever you think will be important if you want to duplicate the recipe again. I don't use a template, just a notebook journal. I'm on my 4th book. It takes approx. 1 page per cook.
 
Like Zydecopaws this is how my blog started. I do keep a hard copy journal now. It's invaluable in remembering how I did something right...and often times wrong.
 
I keep a spiral bound note book for every day cooking and for long cooks, I use the sheet from AmazingRibs that someone else already linked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
Anyone with experience with a LSG El Patron
Replies
3
Views
296
InfiniteJester
I
B
Billows on an LSG?
Replies
3
Views
534
Fishwater2002
F
Headgear
Shirley and Shirley
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
Bury Me In Smoke
B
T
New Backwoods Cabinet - How do I get more smoke flavor?
Replies
13
Views
798
snadamo
snadamo
T
Buying a new smoker/grill. Which one?
Replies
1
Views
701
bschoen
B
Back
Top