Why bother?


 
I want to thank everyone for your comments and support. I really needed it! In my neighborhood I feel like the lone wolf of BQ. I feel like I am in a twilight zone episode where everyone likes to eats cardboard and dirt and I make BQ and they hate it? hahah I will use the analogies you talked about to spread the word of good BQ. If anything, it is a great hobby and I enjoy it very much. The quality and taste is much better than store bought. Your comments were the inspiration I was looking for. It is good to know others have experienced this and just keep on Q'in. I am more amped to do Q now than before. I will be smoking jerky for the first time in a few weeks and you have all inspired me. If they don't like it they don't have to eat it.

Quick story: The first time I ever grilled on my own was with charcoal in England 1987 while in the military. My British neighbor had a shopping cart in his backyard and would burn all his garbage including plastic milk jugs and styrofoam coolers. You know what that smells like? Sometime after, I fired up a little charcoal grill, he and some others came over and complained about the smell. Can you believe it? I never thought in a million years that anyone would not like the smell of BQ? I guess I love BQ so much I never imagined anyone else not loving it?
 
I would have to agree with everyone else that barbecue is more than just cooking. For me it is carving time out of my schedule and enjoying something. I cook for family, friends, and my Soldiers and they always appreciate what I cook. Is it because it is the best barbecue ever? No, but they appreciate the time I take to make it because it shows a commitment to something and that I value them enough to share. Besides, who can truly resist good barbecue?
Lance
 
I have found the same attitude when I mention I grow a garden.

Why bother!? I can go to the store and buy broccoli for .89 a lb. bunches of onions 2 for a buck. It's just not worth the time.

These are people who buy everything and do nothing themselves. And if you look at what they eat - most of it is packaged, processed, microwaveable, instant dinners.

I doubt they'll ever get it. That's okay by me, I do get it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Mason:
I have found the same attitude when I mention I grow a garden.

Why bother!? I can go to the store and buy broccoli for .89 a lb. bunches of onions 2 for a buck. It's just not worth the time.

I doubt they'll ever get it. That's okay by me, I do get it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Firstly, its a hobby - one fellow puts stamps in a book, another grows tomatoes - both hobbies

Secondly, what we make is IMHO so far Superior to what we can buy (can you buy tomatoes that are as good as what you can grow?) it isn't funny.

They just don't get it
 
I'm from the western suburbs of Chicago, and I use to think I coundn't Q if the temp was under 40...well it quickly became 30 and NOW its 20...I don't understand the question? I set up fans in my garage, a TV, Space heater....I can't think like that....HELP ME...I am different....as we say at work...MORONS!
 
Mike,
The question is "What is your response to people when their comments are..."

1.Why do you bother spending all that time Q'in when you can go to the store and just buy it?

2.You have too much free time!

3.What are you going to do with 10 pounds of bacon? Bacon is bad for you!

I recently got these questions from allot of people after I made a batch of bacon. I haven’t stopped Q'in I just wanted to know if others experienced it and how they dealt with it or what their thought on it were.
 
Nick,

I'm late to the party, but the answer to the question - "Why bother?" - is:

"Because I deserve it."

You deserve the best, and I suspect the food you cook compares favorably to anything that you can buy. Foodsaver that buckboard bacon and put it in the freezer. You'll eat well for a long time, and your product is more healthful than what your neighbors can buy.

I also find cooking to be a therapeutic and creative release from my work life. The time I spend cooking, is time that I enjoy. For me, it beats getting loaded in a smoky bar, snowmobiling, or ice fishing - some of the more popular pastimes around here.

Jim
 
I also find cooking to be a therapeutic and creative release from my work life. The time I spend cooking, is time that I enjoy.

I coulden't have said it better,

For me, it beats getting loaded in a smoky bar, snowmobiling, or ice fishing - some of the more popular pastimes around here.


I just have to put my .02 in here, I'm a state away but its the same way here. You either drink/hunt/or fish, or all three. Not that I dont enjoy a drink or... 5 but I'd rather do it at home and get to bed early so I can smoke on sunday. And I was never raised to be a hunter or much of a fisher so here I am a smoker
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Brandon
 
This entire concept can be extrapolated into the charcoal vs gas argument, and the answer is the same.

Barbecue is a process, a ritual, and a passion. It's not convenient, cheap or for the faint of heart. But for those of us who do it, there is great pleasure in the work - Starting the music (I always start with "Maybe Someday Baby," by Delbert McClinton), prepping the meat, making the fire, making smoke, smelling the smoke wood (cherry is a personal favorite), checking the temps, having the beer (sometimes at 6 a.m.!), taking the nap (I ALWAYS nap during a long cook, usually for about 45 min), making the other food to eat with the Q, more beer, maybe another nap, and finally, when the meat comes off the smoker, the culinary delight of eating it.

With beer, often followed by yet another nap.

For many, this would be boring but for me, it's one of my favorite things to do.

I remember talking with my friend Lee Roy Parnell about some musicians I'd tried to work with (I am a Blues and Rock and Roll guitar picker) but they just didn't understand what I was trying to do. He said "Pete, if they don't get it by now, they never will."

I think the same can be said for barbecue.
 
Nick,

I've also got an idea that San Diego is behind on the national food trend for barbecue. Barbecue is even a hot trend in NYC.

When it catches up with your friends and relatives, they will be very appreciative of your talents and of the time you devote to your cooking.

Jim
 
Hopefully this isn't too much of a tangent...

The Shakers are/were a "sect" religion primarily in the mid-eastern USA, that eschewed modernity, idolatry and self-aggrandizement. They were very devoted to god and subscribed to the scripture, "By their deeds shall ye know (the devoted)".

Their work was literally a form of prayer and made manifest their devotion to god. For example, hand-tooled Shaker furniture was made with quality standards that generally surpass modern, "disposable" industrial standards. It's not unusual for Shaker dresser drawers, even though decades old, to open smoothly and on track.

For me and mine, bbq is a manifestation of love. We all know that it takes little effort to surpass what sadly passes for mass produced bbq "product". As our talents develop, we can expect to equal if not surpass the BEST of the local bbq offerings.

Some people are quite happy with a diet of boxed, canned and microwaved cuisine. I find that sad and neglectful. But that's just me. Why bother? As someone else eloquently said, "Because I deserve it."
 
I'm the BBQ Master in our 'hood. Every holiday, I get asked to do the cooking.
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I'm a Yankee who is showing Texans how to cook a brisket.

I've never been asked why I bother. They wonder why I'll sacrifice sleep for a brisket or pork butt, but then they taste it.
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I have always found great enjoyment in Grillin and smokin. There was once a time where I thought you just throw some meat on the grill and hope to hell you didn't burn and you were a grillin son of a gun. As the years have passed I have taken a totally diiferent approach to my backyard "hobby". To me there is no greater feeling than to have someone ask for more. The very first smoke I did was this past summer and we had a family cookoff. I smoked some ribs and a couple of tri tips. We grilled some salmon and when kids will eat fish, you are doing something right.As Brandon stated, it is truly therapeutic. It gives me great pleasure to make people happy, and grillin and smokin definately make people happy.
 
"b/c I LOVE to do it, that's why." I love the process, the preparation, and most definately the end results.

Watching people eat the Q I made, seeing them smile... that's priceless to me.
 
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