Hello from Stephenville, Texas

[allisonandrews]

It's nice to see so many from Texas on here!

My name is Allison and my husband is David. We are both in our late 20s and enjoy camping. No kids, but we do have 5 cats and 3 dogs (a boxer, a lab, and a beagle), so we are definately not lonely.

We have been smoking briskets in the backyard for a few years now, but recently decided we wanted something portable. That lead into the construction of a trailer mounted smoker that we are still working on. In another thread, I explained more about that.

http://www.myfreebulletinboard.com/f...about4416.html

Our favorite thing to cook is a brisket. We probably don't do it the 'correct' way, but we (and everyone else we have ever served it to which included about 200 people at my sister's wedding) like it this way.

We normally put a rub on the brisket and then put it fat side up in a roasting pan. (Occasionally we will marinade over night.) We cover it loosely with foil most of the time. About every hour, we will baste it with its own juices and after a few hours, we pour a beer on it. We normally cook ours for 12-20 hours and try to keep the temp between 225 and 250 degrees.

Now that we have room to cook several briskets at the same time, I may experiment with rub vs. marinade and foil vs. no foil.

Looking forward to learning a lot!
Allison

[Nick Prochilo]

Welcome aboard Allison! Around here there is no right or wrong way to do a cook. You do what works for you and thats all that matters. The only problem you will have here is asking Larry to foil his birds!

[allisonandrews]

LOL... well, from some of the sites I have been to, Foil is definately a 4-letter word depending on when it is used!!

Personally, I just don't like the 'crust' or whatever it is called that you get when you don't foil. I know a lot of people like this and even look for it. It's just a personal thing.

But, like I said, we might do a bit more experimentation with cooking methods this year. So far we just have one grate in the smoker (actually it is two pieces so that we can remove it, but just one level). It is 29" x 48" so that gives us almost 1400 square inches of cooking space. I think that is plenty to do up a couple of briskets.

Allison

[Finney]

Originally Posted by allisonandrews

LOL... well, from some of the sites I have been to, Foil is definately a 4-letter word depending on when it is used!!

Personally, I just don't like the 'crust' or whatever it is called that you get when you don't foil. I know a lot of people like this and even look for it. It's just a personal thing.

But, like I said, we might do a bit more experimentation with cooking methods this year. So far we just have one grate in the smoker (actually it is two pieces so that we can remove it, but just one level). It is 29" x 48" so that gives us almost 1400 square inches of cooking space. I think that is plenty to do up a couple of briskets.

Allison

Welcome...
"Bark"
Yep, all but 8 sq in.

[allisonandrews]

Thank you.

Bark.

That does sound right.

On the cooking area, we are still trying to decide if we want to add a second shelf and have a top cooking area or not. We really have plenty of room for the two of us with just the one level, but it might be nice to add another few hundred inches... Maybe end up with around 2000 square inches in all.

[cleglue]

Welcome.

What size propane tank did you use? I went to a local gas company last Friday looking at their old tanks to maybe have an offset smoker built (with the help of a friend and my father-in-law.

[Puff]

Welcome, we love food pics, gotta' have em'

[allisonandrews]

The tank is about 30 inches in diameter. We had about a 7' piece that had been cut off, but were told the original tank was around 20' long.

[allisonandrews]

I just started keep an online recipe collection. I got some of the recipes from my camping message board (rv.net) and the lady posted pictures of them with the recipe. I thought it was such a great idea.

Now, to continue the collection, everytime I try out a recipe or make one up, I am taking a picture or multiple pictures and saving them with the recipe.

I had not thought about taking pictures of my foods that I smoke, but it would be easy to do.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Greg Rempe]

Welcome Allison...and congrats on being the 600th registered member!!

How did you hear about the forum!? :biggrin:

[allisonandrews]

Thank you!

I was actually doing a search on custom paint jobs and after wading through a few pages of junk, it had a link to one of the threads on here.

As I said earlier, I sure wish I had found this site a long time ago!

[Helen_Paradise]

I think I am only one that's happy someone else here is my age =D>

Welcome!

[Captain Morgan]

and believe me, we're happy to have young women around us!

[Bill The Grill Guy]

Welcome aboard. I love the pics of the pit building. I have built a few my self and know how much it takes. Keep us posted and PLEASE POST PICS.

[Bruce B]

Welcome aboard Allison, always good to have another resident of the great country of Texas.

Cat people, huh? Probably why you don't like bark.

[Greg Rempe]

Helen, I'm your age!! :-X

[Nick Prochilo]

Poor Helen.