Gateway Smoker Class/School

[Mlhunter]

Any reviews or thoughts? What if you don't cook Gateway is it worth going?

[Jorge]

"Worth" can be subjective. If you don't learn something from those guys you weren't listening.

[pharp]

Do you compete or are you wanting to get into it? It is a great competition class. I would say if you cook on any drums it would be very much the class to take. If you cook on another style cooker you can still learn a lot in terms of prep/flavor/tenderness and then just adapt to you cooker.

[LTG]

What do you cook on? Are you a competition cook?

[patrickd26]

I went to the class in Chicago this summer. If you cook competition and on drums, yes. This is the class for you. If you aren't doing competition, then this class will help you, but leave you with a LOT more questions. And lastly, if you aren't cooking on cans, then I would move on. This class is pretty specific to "hot and fast".

If you are looking at a class for backyard cooking, check out Malcom Reed's class coming up. I also attended a class of his this summer and he's a "low and slow" kind of cooker. The man's motto is, "I won't leave until every single question gets answered." He is very true to that and I'm sure he was glad when he saw me leave. lol

[thirdeye]

I agree with the others in that you should walk away with more knowledge. It may be preparation, or an improvement on managing your time, or your flavor profiles, and likely there will be a tip or two that seems obvious once you learn it.

After I judged 3 or 4 contests I took a competition class not only to improve my backyard skills, but to see what competition cooking is all about from the other side of the fence. That was some time ago and I still have my spiral notebook from the class and use many of the techniques.

Oh..., and one of the tips that stood out for me was when one of the instructors was demonstrating breaking down a pork butt. He went through all the important muscle groups and explained which ones would be used and how. The last thing left in the prep area was the blade bone. For many people, the bone is the first thing that gets removed, but I learned that day that the bone is a great navigation tool to locate the important muscles that would be going in the box, or highlighted on the serving platter at home.

[jermoQ]

It you want to learn drum cooking, it would be worth your time I would say. I havent taken one but plan to when I get more time, since I cook on a UDS.

[mwallinford]

I would go for it, as i was first looking at a pellet and came across the gateway and was impressed due to the fast cook since i am going into vending and if things go well i will need the fast cook time and i have turned out some good product in my opinion, will post pics when i figure it out.