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There is a lot of rocket science out there about barbecuing and grilling. You will find a thousand different people with a thousand different opinions of how to barbecue. Which can make it a bit difficult to get started
I think the most important thing when it comes to barbecuing is having the the proper smoker or grill and learning how to use it. Every BBQ is different, trust me, I have about 13 of them and they are all different. I have to strongly enforce that fact to my wife every time I bring home a new one so she doesn't kill me! If you are wanting to learn how to barbecue, you want to make sure you have the right equipment. Offset barrel smokers are great for low and slow authentic BBQ. With the heat source in a separate chamber, away from the meat, it makes it very easy to control the temperature and smoke for an extended amount of time. The rectangular shaped grates are perfect for laying out racks of ribs.
The vertical smoker, water smoker, or "Bullet smoker", is another fantastic cooker for BBQ'n
The round grates make them not as convenient for cooking ribs but they do come in many different sizes, all the way up to the 55 gallon UDS BBQ
If you really want a no brainer temperature controlled smoker you can get a pellet smoker
They are electric smokers that are fed with wood pellets. You fill the pellet box, set the temperature turn it on and go crack a beer. The pellets are automatically fed into the heat box slowly giving you a precise amount of smoke and heat for the entire cook. Takes a bit of the fun out of it in my opinion, but I bet they turn out some pretty grubbin BBQ. Being able to duplicate the exact heat and smoke every time would make it a heck of a lot easier to fine tune and perfect your results! There is nothing wrong with gas grills or Weber Kettle style grills. Trust me I have several of each.
But if you really want to start cooking authentic low and slow bbq you should get a good smoker. It will make all the difference in the world.
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The second I saw that barrel lying in the scrap pile I said to myself... "That looks like BBQ"
I was lucky enough to have a best friend Arty who was a welder and a craftsman. It took quite a bit of ingenuity and crafty thinking. Oh and many slightly late nights standing in the garage with beer in hand and saying, "wait! what if we did this?"
The majority of the materials used to build the smoker were either recycled or donated.I think the most money spent was for the cans of spray pain used in the custom paint job. The entire BBQ trailer had to be designed around the pieces we would find. Needless to say, the design changed about a thousand times!
It was a huge family effort that turned out awesome!
We were having trouble coming up with a paint scheme for the BBQ trailer. So we asked our oldest son Michael, who was deployed with the Navy at the time, and he said "Duh ... Blue and Gold. Navy colors!" So blue and gold it is. And we love it! So about a year and a half later we had the BBQ trailer!
Our very good friends Linda and Eddie came over the other night. They were so excited to check out my new website. At one point, while clicking through the site , Linda yelled out
" What the F#%K is a UDS?" Which inspired me to write this..
UDS is an acronym for ugly drum smoker.The name comes from the ingenuity of turning a used oil drum into an amazing efficient BBQ smoker. Oddly enough the lid from a 22" Weber kettle grill fit perfectly on a 55 gallon drum. All the racks and accessories fit perfectly as well.
And to that I say "Thank You Weber!"
The UDS can also be used as an open pit with the coals being far below the cooking surface. You can get that grilled texture with a smoky flavor and more tender meat. Perfect for BBQ
tri-tip and whole chicken or turkey. The kettle rotisserie kit fits perfectly as well. With the coals being so much lower than the rotisserie it works for perfect for crispy BBQ rotisserie chicken.
I use my UDS quite often and am constantly coming up with new uses for it.
It is slowly becoming my favorite smoker, and trust me, I have quite a few. |
