Almost 8 years ago now, I use to regularly offer burnt sacrifices to the BBQ gods, and had no clue as to what real barbecue was. :noidea: I took my wife on a surprise trip to St. Louis, because she had never been to the arch. While there, we got hungry, and I saw this BBQ joint called Bandanas BBQ. It smelled incredible, and they mentioned on the menu that the pink ring around the meat was mark of real BBQ - the Smoke Ring! Smoke what?? Well, it sounded interesting, so we ordered the sampler platter, and... OMG!!!! The best ribs I had ever had at that time. And, that pulled pork stuff, and... gulp... brisket, was out of this world! The flavors exploded in my mouth. It was so good that we bought 3 slabs of spares to bring home with us, so we would have proof that we had the best BBQ anyone we knew had ever had.
After that, I jumped on the internet, and started searching for BBQ information. How to cook ribs, What is beef brisket, what is a pork butt, etc. I found all kinds of information, and I found several websites and forums, but the one that had the most information, and the nicest folks, is the one I stuck with over these years... The BBQ Brethren! :clap2: :thumb:
:-D :whoo:
I found out about smokers, and ended up buying a Char-Griller Smokin' Pro, and a WSM 18.5. Now, here I am, competing in the KCBS (as much as possible), cooking all the family picnics and reunions, and the owner/pitmaster of my very own BBQ biz, with doesn't do bad given the limited number of events I am restricted to by my day job. Well, that's my story!