I’ll jump in late on this one. Sorry for the long story.
Since growing up a kid I have always enjoyed cooking. Growing up most of my family lived near me and the men in our family did a lot of the cooking for the gatherings.
Once out of high school I spent a lot of time helping my uncle’s cook for parties, which usually including grilling. One of my uncles had a Cajun Bandit electric smoker that we used to cook pork. The BBQ in Atlanta is subpar so we always cooked our own.
I wanted a smoker of my own and wanted something that I could adjust the temperature. The electric was always @ 220° unless it was really hot out, then 230°. My family always had weber gas & charcoal grills, so when I found the WSM I bought one at a local Ace. Like others here I opened the directions and tossed them. Found this site & the minion method and didn’t look back for a few years (but I did lurk on here very often though).
In 2009 I cooked a pork butt for a local pub cook off with about 20 people entering. There I met a guy that was involved with a local bbq group and he told me I had just missed their 1st festival. At the cook off I took home 3rd and was very surprised (until I tasted some of the other pork). I got a performer when I got married the next summer and finally joined this site as I started to grill daily.
On a rainy Saturday afternoon I did not feel like cooking and had always been told that a certain local BBQ joint was the best in Atlanta. Now for me, best BBQ in Atlanta isn’t a high bar, but I thought I’d give it a shot and called in an order. So it is pouring rain when I get there and I have to park nearly a half a mile away because the place is so packed. People were standing outside underneath the patio umbrellas while the waited for a seat inside. I picked up my order and called my wife on the way home and told her this better be the best BBQ I’ve eaten, or at worst, better than what I could make, or I was opening up a restaurant.
The pork had no flavor. The ribs were dry but at least the rub was decent. The brisket also had no flavor and was also dry. The sauce wasn’t great, but at least added some flavor & moisture to the meat. The next Monday I found the festival’s website and sent in my application for the backyard wanting to see if people actually liked my food.
I did a few test cooks of chicken and ribs leading up to the event. I asked questions on here and everyone of course was extremely helpful. I had a pop up tent, 2 tables, an 18” WSM and a performer. Looking around at the other backyard teams we were some what intimidated by their $5k-$10k smokers (Yes, there was a backyard team with a $10k smoker). We ended up 1st place in chicken, and 10th in ribs. We did people’s choice (you serve the people at this event) and people loved the pork and people asked to buy my sauce. We weren’t exactly ready for that, but geared up for the next year as we were hooked. Last year we did a few events, both competing and vending with mixed results.
For us we are more focused on the public than the judges. We are still doing some events and one day look forward to opening a small restaurant of our own. I think of myself as a pretty decent cook but I wouldn’t be near what I am today without this website, it's memebers, and my WSM that led me here.