Tough winter!

[robbq]

No cooking here, just me whining. I don't know what's been going on in the rest of the country, but this has been the toughest winter I remember since living in this area. I have hardly been able to cook outdoors for a month, not only because of the huge amounts of snow, but also because it has been unbelievably cold. Usually we get one or the other, this year we got both and it hasn't let up. I did some steak on the gasser over the weekend and felt really lucky to eat something grilled. I hope it warms up soon.

How has it been for you?

[dadsr4]

I only decided not to cook out once, when the snow was traveling parallel to the ground and the kettle was trying to lift off.

[jbounds286]

last year was way worse for us here in the Atlanta Metro.....

[zane2015]

I keep the snow off of three things in order. Grill, pathway to chicken coop, driveway. Im just bummed I haven't had a chance to burn out my new drum. My barn roof which is kinda flat, has required a lot of effort.

[ironmanerik]

We hit 31* last week first frost in a couple years.

[SmokeBomb]

I'm in Oklahoma City and the weather had been ruining mt barbecue plans for over a week now. :-/

[Wolverine]

its been so cold we finally did some performer chicken on sunday, i put it on came inside and pulled out the fruit loops, the wife says wtf, i said your chicken is on the grill im not going out again its all yours baby, ohhhh she was pissed,

[insaneh]

-16 here this morning.
OK, now it's winter. :wink:

[lantern]

Between the weather and this diet we are on it has been pretty slow around here. Probably average about once a week on the smoker or grill. But, it has been the toughest to cook on. Seems like the more expensive the meat I have on the more wind, rain, snow, ice, extreme cold or whatever combo of those comes my way.


Compared to what you and a lot of the Brethren have experienced this season I consider myself very fortunate. Since I was a child I have adored the snow, but if it came the way it has in the Northeast this season I think I would quickly change my tune.

[sbramm]

-18F here in western MA this morning.

i keep cooking outside during the winter, but i am with you, this one has been brutal.

ribs and a fatty going on my modified jumbo joe smoker later today!

[Fwismoker]

No cold will stop my outdoor cooking but if we got the amount of snow you did then i could run out of room. :shock:

LOL, nah i'm cooking on my open air porch....worst case i'd have to give a quick shovel from the snow blowing in.

[qman]

Not very cold here in Central Florida, but we have had a very wet winter so far, and lots of higher than normal winds. Since I cook on a wide-open patio next to a lake, the rain and wind have caused me issues.
Nothing compared to the northern brethren though.

[FC BBQ]

It was down below -6 last night. Right now it is about 10. I'm tired of it.

[Oak-n-hickory]

It's been mostly daytime temperatures in the 60's, 70's, and some parts of the Bay Area hitting 80. While we had a few mornings with some frost late last year, we haven't had a freeze in my town since 2013/2014 winter. I've had to choose between the electric and the stick-burner, but weather's had no influence on the choice - last cook on one was some tacos al carbon on the stick-burner. It was preceded a few days earlier by a couple of racks of SL-style ribs in the electric rig. What is this snow of which you speak?

[Smokin69th]

It has been a really cold winter, but I refuse to stop cooking what I want. So its extra blankets for the Yoder or the Traeger, and maybe some extra fuel for the BGE. But, no weather system will keep me from smoked meats.

[toddrhodes]

I'm home sick today, some nasty cold/flu thing is going crazy around this area lately and it hit me today. I slept until 11 am and now I feel better, still ****ty but not like I was at 7 am this morning. So I fired up a snake in the performer and will be putting a slab of tips on here in about 15 minutes. Screw this weather, but with salt, a shovel, and a weed burner, I can clear a path to the cookers in no time :)

[lantern]

A funny thing about my post in this thread.


I was lurking the boards around 545am and made my post at 6:25am. I got up and got ready for work and looked outside only to find that about 3 inches of snow was blanketing everything outside.:laugh:

I had not one clue it was doing anything other than being cold.:wacko:

[drumdawg67]

I'm a pretty fair weather guy & the fact that I plastic off the sliders to my deck curtails a lot of outdoor cooking. Other than a couple of times smoking behind my garage, I've taken to grilling in my fireplace. Works just fine.

[Wickedcajun]

Always qing here

[STLBBQer]

Here in STL we've had a generally pretty good winter. This past week has been the pits though. Last year's winter was a nightmare.

[BRBBQ]

I have a brand new Stumps sitting in my garage, the only thing I done with a cooker is uncrate it just to see if there was any damage when it arrived :mmph: I hate winter

[retired trucker]

I have my uds on my front porch out of the sunshine and directly into the north winds. My kettle is on my back deck in a corner out of the wind, but also in the shade most of the day. Since I am retired and my wife works from home, and it is just her and myself, I am mostly a fair weather smoker. The cold weather did not bother me in my younger years, ( before I got into my 70's ) and I would smoke whenever I had the chance to cook for several people. Nowadays I don't volunteer to cook for a group nearly as often as I normally would.

I get my smoke fix lately from reading about you guys cooks and pictures, and occasionally going out to get some less than good Q from the local Q joint. However all this said, I am getting "antsy" and need to get ready for the first day of good warmer weather to get out and cook something on the kettle. I have some BB ribs in the freezer all ready to thaw and start them cooking. Hopefully when ever this recent cold period warms up some. Fingers crossed!!

Omar

[Rusty Kettle]

Nothing like fresh barbecue on a cold winters night. I love the cold it seperates the pitmasters from the pit pansies. If you want to see what you are made of then cook in the negatives on a WSM or a weber kettle. The WSM takes lump in winter and a table flipped on it's side for a wind break. Also, be prepared to remove the top 2 sections and have a fireplace shovel on hand to dig out the ash. Nothing like 23 hours smoking a very small pork shoulder picnic roast. Best pulled pork ever. Especially if you don't eat until it is done. So maybe it was because I was starving. I will never finish in an oven. I love winter because winter is barbecue time. I upgraded to a kamado but you only appreciate the kamado if you cook with an uninsulated metal smoker that has a very thin metal. I feel that my cooking is better in winter. Mainly because I cook more in the winter as work is busy in summer. It is very weird to not have issues with the kamado being here. Bring on the cold weather it's not going to stop me from smoking bbq.

[mike-cleveland]

I cooked a pork butt two weeks ago while snow blowing. Came out good but ended up with a little frost burn on my nose.

[BJB]

Sorry for your bad weather but here in New Orleans we never get to feel that type of weather. It's 40 degrees and raining but that haven't affected me or my backwood smoker chubby. :icon_cool

[Yendor]

It's been mostly daytime temperatures in the 60's, 70's, and some parts of the Bay Area hitting 80. While we had a few mornings with some frost late last year, we haven't had a freeze in my town since 2013/2014 winter. I've had to choose between the electric and the stick-burner, but weather's had no influence on the choice - last cook on one was some tacos al carbon on the stick-burner. It was preceded a few days earlier by a couple of racks of SL-style ribs in the electric rig. What is this snow of which you speak?
Snow is precipitation that helps to prevent our forest areas from going up like kindling soaked with gasoline. You should try it sometime, it's great.

Here it is the wind. I had to figure out a way to keep my grill warm enough to cold smoke some pork belly recently. It was 5° that day, I got it figured out. Bacon is good.

And having been in Billerica, MA recently, I'm glad that I don't live there this winter. Holy snow balls!

[Oak-n-hickory]

Snow is precipitation that helps to prevent our forest areas from going up like kindling soaked with gasoline. You should try it sometime, it's great.

Here it is the wind. I had to figure out a way to keep my grill warm enough to cold smoke some pork belly recently. It was 5° that day, I got it figured out. Bacon is good.

And having been in Billerica, MA recently, I'm glad that I don't live there this winter. Holy snow balls!

I'd welcome some snow in the Sierras - we're way behind on snow water content this season. Where I live, it's a reasonable drive to get to Sierra snow country, but it's only snowed here a couple of times in the last 30 years. What I'd really welcome is some rain, since we're also still in a drought despite a wonderfully wet December. A light (1/4" or so) rain is in our forecast for Friday/Saturday, and I'll let it dictate which smoker gets used on Friday.

[tish]

We haven't had as much snow as we've had cold in this area. Never dropped more than 6 inches on us at one time here, so far. But the temps have had stretches where it hovered around zero or less for days at a time. Did a packer at -6 just the one time so far this year. Everything else has been shorter cooks... ribs, chicken, duck, beef tenderloin, seafood. Looking forward to spring, here.

[Kyle Serlington]

my last cook was on new year's day. i usually get to cook a few times every winter but this year it's been consistently cold so i haven't had a chance to go outside and cook. i've also been working out of town this winter so that's part of the issue too. i'm working in Ithaca NY and they have a Fat Jack's out there that i hit up once a week so that helps my que craving. their pork belly is freaking awesome

[Oak-n-hickory]

Well, the rain that we were expecting has bypassed us. Large clouds both toward the ocean and toward the Sierra Nevada, but diddly here in my neighborhood. But the prospect of rain on Friday/Saturday did get me out there smoking again. A big boneless butt in the electric rig on Thursday, and I'm figuring on some chickens on the stick-burner Tuesday or so. I'd almost welcome some of that stinking white stuff by now.

[SmittyJonz]

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114888&page=2

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=177850

There was a post from last winter or winter before where everybody posting some pics of Qing in Snot but I can't find it. Several spent 2 hrs digging out their smokers before they could ever get started.