Smoker

For the last three years, I've been using a small charcoal grill with a box attachment to do my smoking. Thanks to a sweet $59 deal at the Home Depot, an upgrade has been made. The box is still fairly small, I don't have a lot of people to feed. But, it's bigger than before, opening up a range of options.

I like the square design, with the coal/wood pot located on the bottom, a vessel for liquid above that, then two racks for smoking. Temperature is easy to regulate, thanks to 4 adjustable vents.

My first experiment was with chicken. After seasoning the box, I put a few lightly brined breasts on the top rack. I let them smoke for an hour- a simple, clean smoke flavor was the result. The next thing was a rack of baby back ribs, since I've been secretly plotting a rib smoke for about a year now. The planning and plotting payed off, the ribs were fantastic. Come back on Thursday to see how it all went down.

So, what's next? Well, I think I'm going to live my dreams and smoke a whole Boston butt. Pulled pork is a passion, and if I can pull it off, I'll be a happy happy man. After that, I'm going brisket, two different ways: Texas style and Jew style. That's right, friends, sometime this summer, I'm going to cure and smoke my own pastrami. Sweet.