Hello!
My name is Tom Pook (Hence the nickname Pooky - Not a 'pet name' in this case!), from the South coast of England.
I first tasted American BBQ many years ago when living in London, where there was a small chain of restaurants there serving ribs, pulled pork etc. - It was pretty good, however, it was only on visiting the US that I first tasted REAL BBQ - Wow - It blew my mind!
Luckily, in recent years, BBQ has grown in popularity over here and by chance, a top man named John opened a place not far from me - He lived in Texas for many years and got the BBQ bug whilst there. His food is awesome! From a chance reply to a post on the British BBQ Society forum, I ended up travelling with him to the Tony Stone Low & Slow Comp, a KCBS sanctioned event in the Netherlands, as a member of his team - My eyes were opened to the world of competitive BBQ - I loved the camaraderie and the friendly, yet serious competition
So, I finally got myself a ProQ Excel 20 smoker at the beginning of this year and have had loads of fun learning how to use it (not to mention lots of fun eating what I've cooked!!)
I've formed a team with one of my oldest friends (another keen cook/eater) and we're planning on competing in the UK 2014 season - Hopefully it'll go well and we can come over to your side of the pond in the not to distant future, to compete over there!
Anyway, I'm really pleased to be a new member of the biggest and best BBQ forum on the web and to have access to the knowledge-base that you guys have.
Sorry for the long intro - Thanks for reading!
My name is Tom Pook (Hence the nickname Pooky - Not a 'pet name' in this case!), from the South coast of England.
I first tasted American BBQ many years ago when living in London, where there was a small chain of restaurants there serving ribs, pulled pork etc. - It was pretty good, however, it was only on visiting the US that I first tasted REAL BBQ - Wow - It blew my mind!
Luckily, in recent years, BBQ has grown in popularity over here and by chance, a top man named John opened a place not far from me - He lived in Texas for many years and got the BBQ bug whilst there. His food is awesome! From a chance reply to a post on the British BBQ Society forum, I ended up travelling with him to the Tony Stone Low & Slow Comp, a KCBS sanctioned event in the Netherlands, as a member of his team - My eyes were opened to the world of competitive BBQ - I loved the camaraderie and the friendly, yet serious competition
So, I finally got myself a ProQ Excel 20 smoker at the beginning of this year and have had loads of fun learning how to use it (not to mention lots of fun eating what I've cooked!!)
I've formed a team with one of my oldest friends (another keen cook/eater) and we're planning on competing in the UK 2014 season - Hopefully it'll go well and we can come over to your side of the pond in the not to distant future, to compete over there!
Anyway, I'm really pleased to be a new member of the biggest and best BBQ forum on the web and to have access to the knowledge-base that you guys have.
Sorry for the long intro - Thanks for reading!
