Mldz1212
Wandering around with a bag of matchlight, looking for a match.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
- Location
- North Palm Beach, FL
Good Sunday morning to you!
I've been grilling/faux smoking with added soaked hickory & mesquite chips for years, but I'm really ready to take the next (baby) step. I just modified a cheap offset Brinkmann and its almost ready to cure so in the mean time I wanted to pop on and say hi. In two weekends it will be my almost 50th birthday and I just learned of a 2 day BBQ school up in Winter Haven on October 3rd & 4th (about 2 1/2 hours north west of me) and although the $800 price tag is a bit steep at the moment, I'm still looking to get involved with the Florida Barbecue Association.
Originally from Rhode Island, I'm no stranger to building a good fire and moderating my heat but I'm stuck down here in suburbia so all advice is welcome. I'm super sensitive to preservatives so I make all my own rubs and marinades from scratch. I'd like to try to smoke some kingfish this season, as soon as my husband brings some in on the boat. I've never injected but my Cuban neighbors do a pig roast yearly and I'd like to learn on a smaller scale.
My latest success last weekend was a dry rubbed 8.5 pound picnic ham, with apple juice/water, smoked offset for 10 hours on my Brinkmann gas grill using a cast iron pan to hold my hickory & mesquite directly on my flame burners. My temperature was semi difficult to maintain, only used 1 of 4 burners, but I did achieve good thin blue smoke, and at the end of the day, the pork shredded to perfection. I'm also all about the condiments so I paired it with a smoked sweetcorn, poblano, pineapple, cilantro salsa and got pretty favorable reviews from my neighbors and co-workers. My husband would have liked a tart slaw to break up the smoke so I'll keep that in mind next time: balance is key!
I have to get the pics off my phone but the final plating really was really beautiful! So glad to have found this forum and am looking forward to learning from the masters!