TwoWheeler
Knows what a fatty is.
Grew up with both my parents cooking. My dad’s specialty was breakfast and my mom did the rest. She took her cooking very, very seriously. Everything was scratch made and as best she knew how. She was actually into natural/organic foods long, long before it was “a thing”. She exposed me to quite a variety of cuisines.
It must have “taken” because here I am all these years later still trying new things, always trying to step my game up and never satisfied with mediocre food. (I still make mediocre food, I’m just not satisfied with it....
)My sister just retired after 40+ years in the cooking biz, so she got the gene too.
BBQ, however, was never really on our radar.
In my late teens and early twenties, “BBQ” consisted of blackening up a couple of tubes of mystery meat on a picnic with friends and copious quantities of beer.
Hey, Central New York isn’t exactly the heart of BBQ country....
I got my eyes opened by an article on dry rubbed St. Louis style ribs in Cook’s Illustrated. I made them on a crappy Walmart charcoal grill, with the coals pushed to one side and the ribs on the other and they were incredible. Mind blown.
From there, I “discovered” Steven Raichlen and he inspired me to have fun experimenting with my own BBQ sauces. (Except for “Blueberry Disaster” - from which I still have stains on my kitchen ceiling....)I finally bit the bullet and bought a Weber Genesis Silver A grill and having a good tool was a big help. Weber’s “recipe of the week” they used to email me was a great inspiration and that lead me to Jamie Purveyance. About two years ago, I picked up Tuffy Stone’s Cool Smoke book - an impulse buy in a bookstore - and that has taken things to a whole new level for me.
So now I’m hanging out on BBQ forums. Is there some sort of 12 Step program for that?
It must have “taken” because here I am all these years later still trying new things, always trying to step my game up and never satisfied with mediocre food. (I still make mediocre food, I’m just not satisfied with it....
)My sister just retired after 40+ years in the cooking biz, so she got the gene too.BBQ, however, was never really on our radar.
In my late teens and early twenties, “BBQ” consisted of blackening up a couple of tubes of mystery meat on a picnic with friends and copious quantities of beer.
Hey, Central New York isn’t exactly the heart of BBQ country....
I got my eyes opened by an article on dry rubbed St. Louis style ribs in Cook’s Illustrated. I made them on a crappy Walmart charcoal grill, with the coals pushed to one side and the ribs on the other and they were incredible. Mind blown.
From there, I “discovered” Steven Raichlen and he inspired me to have fun experimenting with my own BBQ sauces. (Except for “Blueberry Disaster” - from which I still have stains on my kitchen ceiling....)I finally bit the bullet and bought a Weber Genesis Silver A grill and having a good tool was a big help. Weber’s “recipe of the week” they used to email me was a great inspiration and that lead me to Jamie Purveyance. About two years ago, I picked up Tuffy Stone’s Cool Smoke book - an impulse buy in a bookstore - and that has taken things to a whole new level for me.
So now I’m hanging out on BBQ forums. Is there some sort of 12 Step program for that?
