Smokin’!

“Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue by Tuffy Stone”

“She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.” Proverbs 31:14-15 NIV

Well, y’all...I’ve decided to start smoking. No...not THAT kind of smoking. The BARBECUE kind of smoking. I keep seeing my cousin Mike’s pictures on Facebook of the wonderful things he makes in his smoker and I just had to try it. Mr. FixIt and I have been pricing smokers since it’s nearing the end of summer. I’ve had my eye on one particular model and I’ve been watching the prices, but just wasn’t ready to bite.

My other cousin Tom smokes a lot of meats, fish, poultry…you name it. He uses a pellet smoker and they are really pricey so I nixed that idea. He recommended an electric smoker over propane because you can regulate the temperature easier. Although, there are some models out now that are propane with a thermostat so maybe they’re ok. I just figured, the only place I’ll be using it is at home so I can just plug it in and not worry about it running out of gas mid-smoke.

As I was cogitating, trying to figure out which one to buy, two things happened. Mike returned my text telling me his smoker is a Masterbuilt and he loves it. And, I got an e-mail telling me how many reward points I have on my credit card. I had totally forgotten I even HAD reward points, so I quickly signed in to see if I could get a smoker. They didn’t have one in their list, however they did say you could transfer your points over to Amazon and that’s the next best thing. I ended up getting a Masterbuilt 40” Digital Smoker for $120…a significant savings over the MSRP of $449.99! With Prime, shipping was two-day, and free. Well, not really free. You pay for Prime. But I use it enough it evens out at least.

When the box arrived yesterday, I was shocked at how big…and HEAVY…it was. It said 73# on the shipping label! (I’ve got to say…the man in brown did an impressive Arnold Schwartzenegger impression when he hoisted that bad boy up onto his shoulder and carried it to the door for me.) And, you know what they mean when it says…”Some assembly required.” It means you don’t actually have to FORGE the metal pieces. It took me a good hour plus to put this thing together. Did I ever tell you Mr. FixIt is a mechanical engineer? He is. He loves to assemble things. And to take care of me. That’s sweet…really. But…I ALSO like to assemble things and take care of myself sometimes. He picked up the instructions and I just sat there and stared at him. I really didn’t want to say “MINE!” Fortunately, the man is astute. He took one look at me and he excused himself to go work on the camper. Smart man!

Since I have never used a smoker, I bought a couple of cookbooks. One is by Masterbuilt which shows specifics regarding my model. The other is by Tuffy Stone…5x World Barbecue Champion. I figured I’d start with the best. I seasoned the smoker yesterday…a process that took three hours, not counting cool down time. Now it’s ready to use and I am perusing recipes to determine what I want to try first. Ribs? Pulled pork? Turkey? Yummmmm…I can’t wait to start smokin’! ❤️