Soooo, how did you get your start?

WeldonG said:
I got started on a cheap Brinkman offset. I don't think it even had a real thermometer, it didn't have degrees just Smoke, BBQ, and Grill, lol. I took it home from the cafe that I worked at in the early to mid 2000s, that my wife and her parents owned. I cooked a couple of briskets and took up to the cafe to sell for a lunch special. Somehow, they turned out great. I looked for recipes but mostly just found "cook for so long per pound", "put a log on the fire after every beer", that sort of thing. But somehow, got lucky. The next few cooks, not so much. I didn't know how to manage a fire and ended up blaming the cooker and ended up buying an inexpensive electric cooker from Bass Pro. I didn't get really good and serious about bbq until I moved back to Texas and got interested in doing a bbq contest that they had in Terrell every year. I went out and bought a 22" WSM and practiced, practiced, practiced - and the rest was history. I only did one contest and never really got going into the competition world, but it made me a better cook. I got most of my tips from forums like this and will always be grateful. P.S. I just recently moved back to Louisiana, so I guess I just moved to Texas to hone my bbq skills, lol.
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Great story! Funny how many of us got started on a paper thin and leaky offset… lol.
 
As a kid I always enjoyed backyard cookouts and barbecues (American grilling parties call BBQs). When I got into college my rugby team would have big social gatherings after games and a few of the teams we visited would host a tournament capped off with a pig roast. That is really when I got hooked.

Found out early that if you had a grill and food the rest kind of fell into place. One year our team made a cinder block pit for a pig roast and the rest is history. After I got out of school and my own house with wife I started getting more involved in smoking. Started with a Chargriller Offset. Then one day found a raggedy old pull behind smoker that needed a lot of TLC. After a year of trying to fix it up I had a neighbor who welds offer to trade me his pig roaster for the trailer offset.

I started coaching rugby at the local college and we would have a semi-annual alumni event that I would cook for, it eventually grew into an annual pig roast. All the while I had been working on my grill/smoker collection and regularly cooking at home. Eventually the CG COS rusted out and I replaced it with a WSM 18", followed by a 22" and finally a homemade UDS.

I managed to pick up a few Weber gassers, saved a few Kettles from the trashman, and found a great deal on a Ranch Kettle not too far from home. Now that I have kids we smoke almost every weekend. They are my toughest critics, but love some good BBQ. I now have friends and family asking me to cook pork butts / ribs for their events. I have developed a few sauces and rubs, but "wing it" a lot of the time. Makes my wife mad because nothing is ever exactly the same 2 cooks in a row, but that is what makes it fun. I learn every time.

I've cooked for weddings, funerals, birthday parties, fantasy football drafts, reunions, boy scouts, tailgates. Every where I go its a fun time.

Learned a lot through the years. I have to tip my hat to those who do it for a living. Been offered a few jobs to formally cater events and have found I don't like it. Once it becomes a job its not fun anymore, and I'm not a good business man. I'm too nice and never make enough for it to be worth the time and headache.

For the most part I just cook for the family, maybe do a big event 1-2 times a year, but always in a no pressure fun situation.
 
Although I enjoyed eating smoked and grilled meats as a kid, I didn't really start cooking it until I went to college and a roommate bought up an old gasser for us use. Ok, cooking the crap out of the meats was probably a more accurate description of what we were doing. It's a wonder than none of us got food poisoning or caught the balcony above us on fire as we often had a raging inferno with a grill loaded with chicken and drippings all over the burners.

After college I went through my fair share of cheap gassers replacing them every couple of years after the burners fell apart. Eventually I decided to buy a better quality gas grill and walked in to the local Lowe's and found a 6 burner Weber Summit on clearance for about half price (they messed up and ordered a NG version when they meant to get a propane grill).

Soon after a buddy of mine bought an 18" WSM and was putting out some good BBQ and I decided to try out an Old Smokey Electric smoker. It didn't take me long to determine I wanted to try a Big Green Egg and bought a XL Egg (a demo egg being used at a local Eggfest). At the Eggfest, someone was using a Small BGE and my wife said it was cute and we should get one. So we ended up with two BGEs at the same time.

While looking for recipes and cooking tips, I found the Brethren site and needed a user name and since I had a R2 cooler and two Eggs, I went with R2Egg2Q.

picture.php


The bbq addiction went off the charts after joining the Brethren.
 
WeldonG said:
I got started on a cheap Brinkman offset. I don't think it even had a real thermometer, it didn't have degrees just Smoke, BBQ, and Grill, lol. I took it home from the cafe that I worked at in the early to mid 2000s, that my wife and her parents owned. I cooked a couple of briskets and took up to the cafe to sell for a lunch special. Somehow, they turned out great. I looked for recipes but mostly just found "cook for so long per pound", "put a log on the fire after every beer", that sort of thing. But somehow, got lucky. The next few cooks, not so much. I didn't know how to manage a fire and ended up blaming the cooker and ended up buying an inexpensive electric cooker from Bass Pro. I didn't get really good and serious about bbq until I moved back to Texas and got interested in doing a bbq contest that they had in Terrell every year. I went out and bought a 22" WSM and practiced, practiced, practiced - and the rest was history. I only did one contest and never really got going into the competition world, but it made me a better cook. I got most of my tips from forums like this and will always be grateful. P.S. I just recently moved back to Louisiana, so I guess I just moved to Texas to hone my bbq skills, lol.
Click to expand...


Minden is a Great Town! I have kin over there.


My Story is on page 3, Post#43.


Glad this thread is back! :razz:
 
R2Egg2Q said:
Although I enjoyed eating smoked and grilled meats as a kid, I didn't really start cooking it until I went to college and a roommate bought up an old gasser for us use. Ok, cooking the crap out of the meats was probably a more accurate description of what we were doing. It's a wonder than none of us got food poisoning or caught the balcony above us on fire as we often had a raging inferno with a grill loaded with chicken and drippings all over the burners.

After college I went through my fair share of cheap gassers replacing them every couple of years after the burners fell apart. Eventually I decided to buy a better quality gas grill and walked in to the local Lowe's and found a 6 burner Weber Summit on clearance for about half price (they messed up and ordered a NG version when they meant to get a propane grill).

Soon after a buddy of mine bought an 18" WSM and was putting out some good BBQ and I decided to try out an Old Smokey Electric smoker. It didn't take me long to determine I wanted to try a Big Green Egg and bought a XL Egg (a demo egg being used at a local Eggfest). At the Eggfest, someone was using a Small BGE and my wife said it was cute and we should get one. So we ended up with two BGEs at the same time.

While looking for recipes and cooking tips, I found the Brethren site and needed a user name and since I had a R2 cooler and two Eggs, I went with R2Egg2Q.

picture.php


The bbq addiction went off the charts after joining the Brethren.
Click to expand...


Have long wondered where your name came from… great story!!
 
jbounds286 said:
moved from Texas to Mississippi, then from there to Georgia, and there was no good BBQ to be had anywhere, so I was kind of forced into it, but found a passion! of course it helps when the wife is the one who keeps buying me new cookers!
Click to expand...


Your wife is the one buying new cookers for you… lol… love it! Guessing there’s selfish motive involved ;-)
 
Last edited:
Nothing special, been a fan of BBQ foods as long as I can remember. To me a proper low n slow brisket/plate of beef ribs is the pinnacle of all foods. Nothing comes close to the magical combo of smoke, heat, and meat, and that hooked me on BBQ from the start. Growing up in NY in the 80's (46 next month) I still remember my grandparents grilling on kingsford in the summers. My parents always had a gas grill one brand or another, when we moved to Cali in 1991. I first got a PBC with a 22" weber in July 2015. Some trail and errors, but not as bad as I thought, the first PBS cook were STL cut ribs and they took over 7 hours, and didn't come out right. Had me wondering if I was a fool for spending $300 on it, but the second cook went smoothly, and I mastered it quickly, to where I say it's probably he best 300 have ever spent. THe weber is fine cook wise, but it's already fallen apart. Gonna buy another kettle, but no more webers. Future plans are to get a offset, which has always been my ultimate goal.
 
PUNKem733 said:
Nothing special, been a fan of BBQ foods as long as I can remember. To me a proper low n slow brisket/plate of beef ribs is the pinnacle of all foods. Nothing comes close to the magical combo of smoke, heat, and meat, and that hooked me on BBQ from the start. Growing up in NY in the 80's (46 next month) I still remember my grandparents grilling on kingsford in the summers. My parents always had a gas grill one brand or another, when we moved to Cali in 1991. I first got a PBC with a 22" weber in July 2015. Some trail and errors, but not as bad as I thought, the first PBS cook were STL cut ribs and they took over 7 hours, and didn't come out right. Had me wondering if I was a fool for spending $300 on it, but the second cook went smoothly, and I mastered it quickly, to where I say it's probably he best 300 have ever spent. THe weber is fine cook wise, but it's already fallen apart. Gonna buy another kettle, but no more webers. Future plans are to get a offset, which has always been my ultimate goal.
Click to expand...


Fun story! Yes, the PBC is quite a lil cooker. I remember the first time I tried chicken from one. Unreal! Curious about the kettle. They typically last a long time… many going for 20ish years. What’s falling apart on yours after only 7-8 years?
 
I'm with Robb, I love to see this thread come back. Was always intrigued by what led others to their cooking interests and how it compared to my path.
 
My first outdoor grill was a Weber genesis gold back in 2003. It was the 1st and the best grill i ever bought. Unfortunately it got to the point i couldn't find parts anymore and had to junk it about 5 years ago. My first smoker was a wsm knockoff ( i think it was a brinkman) it was ironically the 1st and worst smoker i ever bought. As far everything goes, i had to learn everything on my own since nobody in my family were good cooks.
 
Itsdone said:
My first outdoor grill was a Weber genesis gold back in 2003. It was the 1st and the best grill i ever bought. Unfortunately it got to the point i couldn't find parts anymore and had to junk it about 5 years ago. My first smoker was a wsm knockoff ( i think it was a brinkman) it was ironically the 1st and worst smoker i ever bought. As far everything goes, i had to learn everything on my own since nobody in my family were good cooks.
Click to expand...


Seems a good number of us Brethren are more or less self-taught. Guessing that’s what brought many of us to this forum… our hunger to learn.
 
rwalters said:
Fun story! Yes, the PBC is quite a lil cooker. I remember the first time I tried chicken from one. Unreal! Curious about the kettle. They typically last a long time… many going for 20ish years. What’s falling apart on yours after only 7-8 years?
Click to expand...


Ash catcher fell out of the bowl and won't clip back into it, it just sits under the vent on the little shelf between the wheels. From my understanding, Weber making products in china has had their quality go downhill. Seems to me 20+ years ago they were built better. It's always been flimsy/rickety, but it still cooks fine (well the lid leaks a lot, but I just use giant binder clips and that fixes that). I don't cover it but it is under a patio, and I live in the desert, hell I barely move it. I'm looking at the SnS kettle now.
 
always grilled even as a teenager. didn't get into bbq until my 30s. got a ECB (el cheapo brinkmann) that I would undercook and oversmoke chicken on. got a WSM (weber smokey mountain) and started making dry butts and mushy ribs. after all that I couldn't help but get a sticker to absolutely massacre briskets in.

after all that I figured it would be best to join the brethren and learn to cook
 
An Hibachi while in college in early 70's. Burgers and steaks. I kept one outside my apartment door, even brought one inside in the winter and put in the apartment fireplace.

Then after getting married in 1984, my FIL gave me a PK grill. And later I bought a Brinkman water smoker that I never figured out. Both were stolen off my patio in 1989. I really miss the PK but they did me a favor taking the Brinkman.

Next was a Kettle in 1990. Which I used to grill burgers and steaks, but also smoked yardbird. I tried to smoke a brisket, I used a pizza stone as a deflector plate. But in the middle of the cook the heat broke the pizza stone into three pieces. Failure.

But then come 2002 and I found the Virtual Weber Bullet site. And I bought a WSM. And everything got better. I was very content with what I was doing for a lot of years. Until I read Aaron Franklins 2015 book and it inspired me to do more.

And here I am.
 
Well, apparently I was birth control baby in the mid $0’s

Poof…. I’m fresh off da corner.. never have a want never a need!

Don’t let your kids listen to west coast rap!!

“Snoop Dogg”
 
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