What do you wish you knew for your first smoke?


 
Remember it is suppose to be fun, don't make it harder than it has to be. We are not building rockets, everything doesn't have to be that precise. If you don't have an ingredient for a rub, marinade, sauce or whatever don't worry, use a substitute or go without. You don't have to be at 225 or whatever your target temp is all the time, fluctuations are ok. Usually your bad BBQ is still gonna be pretty good, you are your worst critic.
 
When getting rub recipes from the internet, be sure you understand that T = tablespoon and t = teaspoon. Usually. Also, spices of the same color are not interchangeable (e.g.: cayenne pepper and paprika are both red, but cannot be substituted for one another!)
 
John Solak said:
Remember it is suppose to be fun, don't make it harder than it has to be. If you don't have an ingredient for a rub, marinade, sauce or whatever don't worry, use a substitute or go without.
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Great observation John! One time I spent two hours running all over town looking for dried Pasilla Negro chiles, when I could have just used Anchos.
 
Does anyone remember "Pasquale"? TV chef who was rather unceremoniously removed from the small screen for some reason(seriously drunk!) but,he was really clever. One of his phrases was "If you like it, put it in. If you don't like it, don't put it in." Yes, it is supposed to be fun, it should be. Over thinking has ruined many a good time but, proper preparation has aided even more.
 
I'd say I wish I'd known what I was doing, but where's the good stories in that?

Really I wish I'd known the Minion method. IMO the honorable Jim Minion deserves a seat at the highest levels of BBQ Mythology along with Prometheus and George Stephen. It would be hard to argue anyone has done more to help beginners get consistent results and stay motivated to keep cooking.
 
Absolutely nothing. I had some idea what I was doing from obsessively reading sites like Amazingribs.com before I started I was probably completely misinformed from watching shows like BBQPitmasters. I cooked a rack of ribs that were the best I'd ever had and I was hooked. Now objectively were they the best? Absolutely not. But I smoked them myself and that makes all the difference. I made lots of mistakes and I still do but making mistakes and learning from them is where all the fun is!
 
Don't take anything that you read from BBQ websites as the only way. Get to know your cooker and how it reacts in your backyard, and adjust from there.
I have a friend who bought a kitchen scale just to measure out a 4 oz portion of smokewood because that's what he read on a site.... ( You have to add that every hour)

Tim
 
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