Kyle Serlington
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2014
- Location
- Binghamt...
hey guys, just thought i'd introduce myself seeing as how i just joined up the other day. i got my first taste of real BBQ back in 2004 when i was 17 at Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse, NY. over the next few years my friends and i would go up there every so often and in 2006 we started trying to cook our own ribs on my friend's father's char griller offset. we never made anything too amazing and my friend would rather use prepackaged sauces and rubs where as i started to tinker with my own recipes. we had a falling out for a little while and during that time i bought a cheap Brinkmann offset from Wal-mart in 2009. i had a rough start but ended up cooking some good food with it as well as developing a solid sauce recipe that i liked, as well as some good sides. by 2011 i was sick of my brinkmann, it needed constant attention and smoke came out of pretty much the whole barrel, so after some research i decided on a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain and i've been very happy with it. i've gotten to know it pretty well and can regulate it with ease at this point and it produces better meat than the offset did.
as for my fire, i like to use Wegmans lump charcoal, i heard it's made by Royal Oak. i have never had any issues with it, burns good, no weird objects, and it's cheap! for wood i use both hickory and applewood chunks and i don't feel the need to soak them either. i like how they work well together, i feel all hickory can be too strong and applewood can be too mellow so i feel like the mix is a good balance.
the meats i smoke most often are st louis cut ribs and chicken wings. being from upstate NY i've had good wings my entire life, but now i get to put a great BBQ flavor and texture to them and since they are small they are great for experimenting with new sauces. i also started smoking pork tenderloins, they are cheap and only take a couple hours to smoke and they taste great, an awesome alternative for when you want pork and don't need a whole shoulder
i like to buy BBQ cookbooks and i have ordered a ton of them over the last few years. i really like ones that include a good backstory of the writer or restaurant. my favorite 3 in my collection are Big Bob Gibson's BBQ cookbook, Dinosaur BBQ cookbook, and Peace Love and BBQ.
as for BBQ in my area, like i said, Dinosaur BBQ is only an hour away, and that's the place to beat around here, it's better than any BBQ joint in Binghamton right now. i've seen a lot of BBQ places come and go in my area, some good and some bad, and unfortunately a few of the bad ones are still in business. most places around here do babyback ribs and pulled pork. only 2 places do brisket and one of them serves it chopped and covered in sauce, which i'm not a fan of. when it comes to chicken, most of the brick and mortar restaurants will serve it traditional BBQ style, but during the summer there's a few roadside stands that serve cornell style chicken, which is great but it's not smoked, it's charcoal grilled, but it's still great and very popular around here. my area is known for Spiedies, which are boneless skinless pieces of chicken, pork, or lamb cut up into chunks that are marinaded in oil, vinegar, and italian spices and herbs and then grilled over high heat. not bbq but i've heard of a few home cooks smoking them.
one of my main goals for joining this site is to improve my brisket and my dry rub, and i'd also like to learn a few more tricks along the way. i'll leave you with some pics of how i got creative with the leftovers from my last smoke. pork tenderloin nachos with baked beans, sharp white cheddar, jalapenos, homemade BBQ sauce, and a chipotle sour cream and then a BBQ chicken spin on crabcakes.
as for my fire, i like to use Wegmans lump charcoal, i heard it's made by Royal Oak. i have never had any issues with it, burns good, no weird objects, and it's cheap! for wood i use both hickory and applewood chunks and i don't feel the need to soak them either. i like how they work well together, i feel all hickory can be too strong and applewood can be too mellow so i feel like the mix is a good balance.
the meats i smoke most often are st louis cut ribs and chicken wings. being from upstate NY i've had good wings my entire life, but now i get to put a great BBQ flavor and texture to them and since they are small they are great for experimenting with new sauces. i also started smoking pork tenderloins, they are cheap and only take a couple hours to smoke and they taste great, an awesome alternative for when you want pork and don't need a whole shoulder
i like to buy BBQ cookbooks and i have ordered a ton of them over the last few years. i really like ones that include a good backstory of the writer or restaurant. my favorite 3 in my collection are Big Bob Gibson's BBQ cookbook, Dinosaur BBQ cookbook, and Peace Love and BBQ.
as for BBQ in my area, like i said, Dinosaur BBQ is only an hour away, and that's the place to beat around here, it's better than any BBQ joint in Binghamton right now. i've seen a lot of BBQ places come and go in my area, some good and some bad, and unfortunately a few of the bad ones are still in business. most places around here do babyback ribs and pulled pork. only 2 places do brisket and one of them serves it chopped and covered in sauce, which i'm not a fan of. when it comes to chicken, most of the brick and mortar restaurants will serve it traditional BBQ style, but during the summer there's a few roadside stands that serve cornell style chicken, which is great but it's not smoked, it's charcoal grilled, but it's still great and very popular around here. my area is known for Spiedies, which are boneless skinless pieces of chicken, pork, or lamb cut up into chunks that are marinaded in oil, vinegar, and italian spices and herbs and then grilled over high heat. not bbq but i've heard of a few home cooks smoking them.
one of my main goals for joining this site is to improve my brisket and my dry rub, and i'd also like to learn a few more tricks along the way. i'll leave you with some pics of how i got creative with the leftovers from my last smoke. pork tenderloin nachos with baked beans, sharp white cheddar, jalapenos, homemade BBQ sauce, and a chipotle sour cream and then a BBQ chicken spin on crabcakes.
