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The trick is to smoke the meat and not make the meat smoke

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2006 Blog Archive

Here is the ARCHIVE OF BLOGS for this year with links to all of the entries listed chronologically.
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Looking Back, Looking Ahead

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With the End of the year approaching it seems everyone is doing Top 10 lists. My blog entries have been getting a bit wordy lately, so I think I’ll confine it to some Top 5 lists. I’ll discuss the Top 5 Cooks, the Top 5 Things I’ve Learned, The Top 5 Mistakes Made and my 5 Goals for the New Year Read More...
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New Day, New Lesson Learned

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When I was in High School one of my teachers had a poster that read: “The More I Learn, the Less I Know”. Just when I think I’ve got using my smoker down pat, something comes up to remind me of this saying. Yesterday I learned a subtle, but important, lesson about heat control I’ll share. Read More...
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Wicked Windy

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I’ve mentioned in previous blog entries about cooking in bad weather and in all seasons. One of the reasons you do this is so when push comes to shove and you have to cook in bad weather you can. This past weekend was a case in point: I had one thing I had to cook and another I wanted to do. Ultimately I was able to accomplish both. Better yet I learned some new things in the process. Read More...
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It Does Get Easier

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If anyone of you reading this is just starting out or perhaps you don’t know if you want to try your hand at smoking: it does get easier. While I’ve already talked about smoking a turkey (see the links list at the bottom of this page), this time I’ll talk about what a difference a little time, some BBQ Logs and experience makes. Read More...
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If At First You Don’t Succeed-Pt. 2

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Success can be fun, but we can often learn more from our failures. This entry marks my revisiting the that I made with mixed results during my so-called “Grill Camp” week. While the pot roast was very tasty, it was also tough and dry. There were two factors I felt contributed to this and I was anxious to try it again. As it turns out, a third factor may have also been part of the mix. Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06-Wrap Up

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This entry will conclude my “Grill Camp” series where I documented the week I spent experimenting with various entries on the grill and smoker. This last entry will talk some more about the EZ-Up shelter, a second round of grilled pizzas and ends with a brief wrap up of the week. Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06-Day 6

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The sixth day of “Grill Camp” marked two firsts: The first time making Smoked Pot Roast (PIT POT ROAST) and the first long cook with the new Kingsford. Both proved interesting Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06-Day 5

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“Grill Camp” Day Five was a revisit of the GRILLED PIZZA that I made during last years Grill Camp. I finally got around to making those SMOKED HOT DOGS I’d postponed twice.  I tried different hot dogs with interesting results. I made another batch of DOCTORED BUSH BEANS smoked for 2 hours along with the pork roast. I also got to use the EZ-Up shelter I set up on Day 3 in the rain. Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06-Day 4

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Day Four of my so called “Grill Camp” was a revisit of the BONE-IN PORK LOIN ROAST that I made during last years Grill Camp. To accompany this roast I made some DOCTORED BUSH BEANS smoked for 2 hours along with the pork roast. I also got to try out the EZ-Up shelter I set up on Day 3. Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06-Day 3

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The third day of my so called “Grill Camp” was a revisit of the VEAL BURGERS WITH ONION & DILL that I’ve made with mixed success. The second activity actually made the yard look more like a real camp. I put up the EZ-Up shelter I recently purchased to help with those rainy windy days. Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06-Day 1

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The first day of my so called “Grill Camp” was a revisit of the LOUISVILLE WINGS that I’d made the prior Saturday, plus  making a batch of the so-called “BEST BBQ BEANS ON THE PLANET”. With the wings I was curious to see if I’d notice the difference between the batch last week  and this weeks Last week I started them on the smoker and transferred them to gas grill. This week since I needed to do the beans at 225 (110 C) and the wings should be done at 350 for crispy skin, the wings were done entirely on the gas grill. The beans were an item I made last year at Grill Camp and I remembered they took twice as long to prep as I expected. Would a year of prepping food for the smoker help cut my time down? Read More...
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Grill Camp ‘06

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Last year I used a week of my vacation time in October to run a series of test cooks to try new things and test whether I’d be able to use my then-new smoker throughout the winter. A friend dubbed this my “Grill Camp”. I had so much fun with this last year I decided to repeat it. Read More...
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Comedy of Errors

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I just had a cook which was a series of little problems, any one of which could have spelled disaster. While everything turned out OK, I’ll share the problems so hopefully others can avoid them. Saturday I cooked Louisville Wings from the BBQ USA cookbook for a milestone birthday for my wife. They were her personal request. I’ve made them before and decided I would try several new things to make them even better. While the prep was uneventful, the cook was anything but. Read More...
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More on Duraflame Charcoal

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This is a follow up to my blog entry on DuraFlame charcoal that I wrote back in July: NEW CHARCOAL ON THE BLOCK. Some more hands on time with the Duraflame has given me new insights into it’s performance. Read More...
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First Year Smoking

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This weekend marks the one year anniversary of the arrival of my CharGriller Smokin’ Pro on the scene. I thought I’d use this blog entry to share what I’ve learned in my first year of low and slow smoking. Read More...
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If at First You Don't Succeed...

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This weekend marked the one year anniversary of my smoker purchase. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve only had one failure in that time. This weekend I revisited that item and had much better results. We often learn more from our failures than our success, so failure isn’t always a bad thing. With all the different things I’ve cooked on the gas grill and smoker in the last year who would have though the humble hot dog would have tripped me up. Read More...
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Grilled Corn

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I’m going to share my favorite way to prepare corn on the cob on the grill. Once again I have Steven Raichlen to thank for this, as this method came out of HOW TO GRILLl. For my money it turns out the tastiest corn I’ve ever tried and better yet it is ready to eat when it comes off the grill. Read More...
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The Minion Method-Part II

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In MINION METHOD - PART 1 I described the process for setting up a long slow burn in the Side Firebox (SFB) of my smoker to get a long, slow controlled burn using a technique called the Minion method. This entry will continue from that point and described the rest of the cook. This will include the method that I use to swap out the charcoal baskets without losing a lot of heat. As I mentioned in Part I: This entry is specific to my CharGriller Smokin’ Pro, but the general principles apply to other smokers with Side Fireboxes. Some of the ideas may also be adaptable to other types of grills too. Read More...
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The Minion Method-Part I

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The Minion Method is a technique for getting a long, slow controlled burn and is ideal for use in a smoker like my CharGriller Smokin’ Pro. This entry will talk about my take on the Minion Method and how I use the Minion Method in the Side Firebox of my Smoker Though this entry is specific to my CharGriller Smokin’ Pro,, the general principles apply to other smokers with Side Fireboxes. Some of the ideas may also be adaptable to other types of grills too. Read More...
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Ribs Ruminations

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Today I made ribs in an attempt to fine tune some little issues and get my version of Steven Raichlen’s Kansas City ribs to where I felt comfortable with them. While I solved some problems I introduced some new variables into the mix. I thought I’d share some of my findings. Read More...
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New Charcoal on the Block

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I recently tried a new charcoal out to see if it could be a replacement for my old standby Kingsford. As most of you probably know Kingsford recently changed their venerable charcoal. This “new and improved” New Kingsford is about as popular as New Coke was. I will leave it you to look for reviews of this product. Bad reviews are easy to find. Read More...
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More Cool Tools

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One of my early blog entries was a 3 parter on some tools that make barbecuing easier. I’ve recently added a few more tools to my arsenal and I thought I mention them here. Read More...
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It Takes What It Takes

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With a month between blog entries you might think the title refers to getting around to writing this blog entry, Actually it refers to the fact low and slow cooking sometimes can’t be rushed. More on that in a minute. The title actually could apply to this blog entry as well. After I got the site repaired and back online last month, I found I could no longer update it. Then a family member was in the hospital for 3 weeks and that cut way down on my free time. What little free time I had was devoted to getting in a little grilling and not writing about grilling. However on the eve of the 4th of July weekend things are back to normal. This weekend will see pulled pork and ribs coming off the smoker and burgers and dogs on the grill. But I’m going to talk about the last smoke I had. Read More...
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Site News-a Cautionary Tale

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After a bad experience with this site this past weekend, I figured I talk about the need for a good computer backup. I apologize to anyone who tried to visit this site during the past week. You were probably greeted by a sight not unlike the picture above. I was publishing an update to the site and prematurely quit my web program. This corrupted a file my website needed and I was toast. The site is now back up and running and all the links should work. Read More...
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D.I.Y. A Validation

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There is an old saying: “If you want something done right you should do it yourself.” While I don’t always agree with that, there seems to be something to it when it comes to barbecue. On a recent out of town business trip I went to a Barbecue joint owned by a very famous person on the professional barbecue circuit. I’m going to leave things anonymous because I don’t want to make it look like I’m singling out this one person. In fact I have a cookbook by him and enjoy the recipes very much. What I’m trying to do here is encourage you to try your hand at low and slow barbecue. This is also not intended to come off as me tooting my own horn. Anyone reading this can go out and get a good barbecue cookbook and duplicate my results at home. My point is to encourage you to do just that. Read More...
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Smoked Turkey

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For Easter Dinner I made a smoked turkey. I’ve made about a dozen of these now on the gas grill or the smoker, and they are consistently great. You owe it to yourself to try one this way. You may never use your oven again. Or even better the oven will be free to handle some of the side dishes. Read More...
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Direct Grilling Season is Here

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This entry does not have any tips, tricks or discoveries. It is just a celebration of a topic that only grill lovers from cold climates can appreciate, I realized last weekend that for all intents and purposes, Winter was finally over and spring is here. While I was able to use my gas grill and smoker all but 2 weekend this past Winter, direct grilling was out.  For people into grilling, being able to once again direct grill has many happy implications. Read More...
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Expand Your Horizons

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If you are a weekend griller and are tired of the same old same old: Add some spice to your weekend cooking and discover the joys of the various barbecue regions. A few years ago when I started to get serious about barbecue, I was amazed to find that barbecue actual has very distinct regional variations with vast differences in flavor. Growing up in the Northeast we had very little exposure to barbecue period. Most of what I tried would probably be considered either Memphis or Kansas City style. I always considered that barbecue was a style of cooking with minor variations. Little did I know there were 5 distinct regions and that within those regions there were hundreds or thousands of variations on a theme. Read More...
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Losing My Charcoal Phobia

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As an almost life long gas grill user, it was rather shocking to me that I bought a charcoal fueled grill this past year. I’m going to talk about what cured me of my charcoal grill phobia, and what my first 6 months of using charcoal in my smoker have been like. You will not see me bashing gas grills either. My gas grill is still my “Go To” Grill for many types of cooks. Having flexibility and options is what it’s all about. Read More...
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Keeping a Cooking Log

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I keep logs of my cooks. The food pictures on this site were taken for use in my log files. They make it easy to go back and do something again months later. Some days I have trouble remembering what I had for breakfast, never mind how something I cooked in the Spring turned out. The two logs were created in Apple’s program Pages. The Cooking Log documents the meal, and the Temperature Log for items cooked on the CharGriller. Read More...
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Beer Can Chicken

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This recipe is a real conversation starter. A chicken cooked on the grill perched on top of a beer can. The fact that it’s easy to do and the end results are awesome helps make it one of my favorites. The theory behind this is having the chicken sit on a half filled can of beer helps keep the chicken moist while it is cooking. Steven Raichlen didn’t invent Beer Can Chicken (BCC) but he certainly helped popularize it through his BBQU TV shows and books. He actually has an entire book devoted to Beer Can Chicken. There  are variations using tea, tonic (soda for those of you outside of Massachusetts), wine etc, etc,, The grill accessories manufacturers have also jumped on the bandwagon with all kinds of products to hold the chicken and in some cases the beverage of choice. Read More...
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Getting to Know Your Grill

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Hello Grill, I’m...
If you don’t want your grills looking like the ones in the picture above-covered and unused half the year-it pays to get to know your grill. What you learn about your grills in good weather, will allow you to extend the grilling season almost year round. Now the people that do competition cooking learn every nuance of their grills. You don’t have to go to that extreme but a little knowledge goes a long way. Read More...
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Winter Grilling

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I had an earlier blog entry on WINTER SMOKING. The last three weeks I’ve been using the gas grill and I thought I’d take the time to encourage people not to put the gas grill away for the winter. You’ll  be missing out on some great meals. This winter I have had something coming off the grill or smoker all but two weekends.  Those two exceptions were because some of our guests wanted to cook a meal to repay me for the meals I’ve made for them. Read More...
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Food Photography Tip

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I recently relearned a technique that has helped improve some recent food pictures I’ve taken, I figured I’d pass it along in case some of your were in the same boat as me. Read More...
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Matambre

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Matambre means “Hunger Killer” and is very popular in South America. I’ve made these several times now and they are always a big hit. They are not only tasty, but visually appealing as well. They are good hot or cold and you can serve them with a sauce or they taste great on their own. You owe it to yourself to try one of these. Read More...
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Grilling Do’s & Don’ts

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I’ve been grilling most of my adult life. Over that time I’ve made my share of mistakes. Over the past three years I’ve started learning a lot of good tips as well. Some of this list is a result of my good and bad grill experiences. The rest are tips from reading, research and interacting with other BBQ lovers. Read More...
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What Utensils Do I Need-Pt. 3

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The third and final entry in this thread-will discuss some Kitchen items that will make your grilling faster, easier and more efficient. Read More...
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What Utensils Do I Need-Pt. 2

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Continuing on with the theme of essential grill utensils, plus a few “nice to have” items. Read More...
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What Utensils Do I Need-Pt. 1

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While I’m still new to all of this, there are some utensils I’ve already found you shouldn’t live without. Some are specific to my CharGriller Smoker Pro, most will be general. This will be split up into a multi-part on going series of entries to avoid inducing sleep in the reader (you) or writer (me). Read More...
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Winter Smoking

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Living in New England, winter is a cruel reality for a grill lover. After getting some of Steven Raichlen’s great books, I’ve realized there is hope. If you cook indirectly (which is how a smoker works) and pick a recipe that involves little to no lifting of the lid, you can use your smoker throughout the winter (See 2009 addendum below). Indirect cooking is where the food is placed away from the heat source and you cook with the lid down. You are basically using the smoker as a low temperature outdoor oven. In the CharGriller you place the charcoal in the side firebox and the meat goes in the main chamber. One big advantage to using the smoker instead of your oven is you can use wood chunks to add smoke flavor. The picture above is Thanksgiving Day, where  I smoked a turkey despite 6” (15 cm) of snow. This entry will talk about what I’ve learned so far, smoking throughout the winter. Some of this information will apply to my CharGriller Smoker but a lot of it is universal.
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Why a Smoker?

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Let me make a confession: I LOVE BBQ. That is a big problem living here in New England, a region not exactly known as a BBQ Mecca. For many years I used to travel for my work and I’d seek out good ‘Que whenever I could.
 
When I bought my latest gas grill, it had a smoker drawer. I figured things would start looking up. They did to some extent, but to my surprise I was finding I wasn’t getting that rich smoke flavor I loved. I attended a Smoking class taught by the owner of Firefly’s, a local BBQ joint. I figured I would pick up some pointers and get to where I needed to be with the gas grill. I was sadly mistaken. The teacher, Steve Uliss, said that he had nothing against gas grills, but there was no way they could produce true ‘Que. This was a bit of a blow since that was what I owned, but I figured I’d hang around until the end to sample the wares.
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How Did I Get Here?

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I’ve been using a gas grill most all of my adult life. I used it to make the usual fare: burgers, dog, steaks. Once in a while I’d do a rotisserie roast. I always wanted to do more, but never could get to the next level. I’d buy a grilling cookbook every so often, but they assumed a certain knowledge of cooking I didn’t have. Living in New England grilling was also a Memorial Day to Labor Day affair. So what happened to change things? Read More...
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