Author Topic: What's Your Style?  (Read 3827 times)

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Offline Hub

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What's Your Style?
« Reply #-1 on: January 07, 2015, 03:23:15 PM »
Let's share some memories . . .

Let’s wax nostalgic for a bit.  Let’s think back to the foods that first got us into liking stuff that was grilled or smoked in the back yard.  What are our memories of what our parents cooked on the patio?  When did you get your first morsel of a charcoaled steak or sit at the grown-up’s table and gnaw on a rib?  Did you have an uncle that smoked both turkeys and Camels?  Who in your family was the “grillmaster” and who filled the neighborhood with clouds of steam and smoke from sizzling sausages?  What restaurant made the “cue” that your folks or friends always wound up going out for?  What did it taste like?  What style did it have that you either can’t find now or that you’ve worked hard to duplicate?  What from your past defines your “sense” of barbeque and provides warm memories of flavor, family and fellowship?  In short, what is your “style”?

Barbeque is notorious for being a regional thing.  Chances are pretty high that you were influenced more by the geography of your barbeque “initiation” than any other factor and that you might not have even known that there were other recipes and approaches until later in life.  Every culture has outdoor cooking customs and methods that tend to evolve and come together with others in delicious ways.  These things spread out and combine as people move and mix, creating even more variety and adventure in food.  Polynesians perfected deep earth pit cookery.  The Chinese invented charcoal.  Europeans and Africans learned that smoke not only cured and preserved meat, but also gave it additional flavor.  Caribbean Indians added peppers and sugars made into sauces.   It gets blurry and mixed but we all know the result and how we first were exposed to it.

I grew up in central Oklahoma.  Barbeque there was and still is influenced by both the Kansas City and the Texas recipes and approaches – a blend.  Sauce was tomato based and moderately sweet.  The meat was mostly pork and beef, but “hot link” sausages and smoked turkey and chicken were big, too.  Sides were most often coarse, crunchy slaw, smoked and doctored-up beans, and often fries cut fresh (not frozen, mealy ones). 

As I aged and moved around the country and traveled the world on my job I ate a lot of different barbeque than what I grew up with.  I’ve had Satay lamb in Indonesia, mystery meat at an open air market in Moscow, and smoked octopus in Sydney.  Horse ribs in Poland.  Ground-spit turned over driftwood chicken in the Mediterranean.  Goat grilled on old oil drums in the Midwest. 

I live in the Carolinas now.  Barbeque “style” here is a regional diversity of several vinegar based sauces depending on exact geography, mostly chopped or pulled pork, and always accompanied by mild, fine-grained slaw and hushpuppies (Mustard based sauces in the Low Country of South Carolina).  But, in the cities I can find barbeque more closely aligned with what I grew up on.  I like it all and I eat it all, often.  But, when turned loose to cook for myself I go back to my roots more often than not.  I have memories of those ribs from the 99 Drive-In just off Route 66 that my mother and her friends would bring home some Saturdays and eat by the fireplace.  I remember my dad grilling steaks in the back yard and the first time I tasted one.  I remember the first time I finally made ribs that were as good as the ones I used to get when I was a kid.  Got any memories like that?  The ones about “style” and why some things just can’t be cooked in the house?

Let’s start a thread for sharing those.  Share with the rest of us some tidbits of what first tweaked your taste buds and where.  What was barbeque like where you grew up?  The best places to get it?  What you still get a hankering for when you need wood-fired comfort food.  This could get interesting!

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Offline tlg4942

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Re: What's Your Style?
« on: January 07, 2015, 04:55:33 PM »
  My first memory of grilling is with my dad. On Sunday he would fire up his Hibachi and cook steaks or pork chops... If other youngsters were around he would gladly through hot dogs or hamburgers on it.
  We would go fishing for Bull Reds at Fort Morgan and Dixie Bar then camp on the beach . We would cook fish (mostly sharks) on the fire that night... Man what great memories !
Dad also had a smoker built out of cement block placed against a milk barn(also cement). I remember he always said put the pork on top so it drips down over the turkey or chicken. Something I do to this very day.
 My Uncle Timmy Whittington from over near MaComb Mississippi did BBQ indoors..Sort of...He would take coons and put them in an over set on high.. turn off the oven and the next morning the meat was falling off the bone. After removing the bones he would make BBQ sauce and mix it in the meat.  That stuff was awesome!
  He was a big coon hunter who Raised Blue Tick Hounds and had his on butcher shop in the back yard where he butchered his own cows and goats along with deer. He made some of the best deer sausage I've ever had. So good that the preacher at his funeral commented on it. The whole crowd agreed so I dont know how much he made every year but it must have been a bunch...
 No one knew the recipe and my cousin is still trying to get it right after all these years. He recently found a recipe and it seems to be "the one" ! There was a third type of meat in it. He said "He ain't given it away yet"  but it is safe for future generations.   
  Then came Boy Scouts... My troop was run by an Army Ranger,a Marine and a helicopter gunner. Talk about  fun troop! No other troop would play war games with us... But those guys made us live hard when we were out in the woods. Find it ,cook it ,eat it. Improvise, adapt and Be Prepared!  We cooked fish, snake, rabbit and other on an open fire. My first hog in the ground was with them... fall off the bone pure awesomeness right there...
 Thanks for starting this thread... Brought up some very fond memories!
 I did pick up so many things from all those folks. I cooked on an open fire until I was in my thirties before I got a production grill and its still the best in my heart.
I have learned and picked up on a lot of great things , styles and new foods on the Char Broil Blog and on here as well.  If I could fish, hunt and grill every day I would be in total bliss.
 
Terry "Way down in Alabama"

Offline ACW3

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2015, 05:00:05 PM »
Great idea!!  Time to put my thinking cap on.

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Offline Las Vegan Cajun

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2015, 05:44:25 PM »
My first memory of Dad grilling was him putting hot dogs and hamburgers on cheap little round grill, we were so poor back then that we couldn't even afford to pay attention. The highlight of the grilling day was when we would round up some tiny little frogs, bring them to Dad, he would give them a little thump on then head with his finger to knock them unconcious and toss them on the hot coals and we would watch the little frogs sizzle on the coals.  And that my friends is where all my mental health issues started.
 :P
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2015, 06:28:29 PM »
I remember when Dad would fire up the built in grill on our patio.He would usually grill hamburgers or poke chops and sometimes top sirloin steaks. Yes the food tasted like lighter fluid, but we got to eat outside on the patio and that was all that mattered. We have to sell their house this year and along with it will all those wonderful child hood memories........



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Offline sliding_billy

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2015, 06:33:05 PM »
Like most northerners (born and raised in Pittsburgh), I thought a BBQ was grilling burgers, dogs, chicken and steaks.  BBQ as a food type was sauced meat (chicken and pork chops typically).  When I moved away from the city (into rural PA) I started doing Texas style BBQ before relocating to Texas without really thinking about the fact that I was doing it.  My wife couldn't stand sauced meat or a lot of spices except for S&P, so that was how I started cooking/smoking meat.  Besides the flavor profile changing, I had also ended up in dairy country so there was a lot more beef available to me.  Moving to Texas was just dumb luck I guess.
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Offline Big Dawg

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2015, 07:22:06 PM »
My youth was pretty much like Billy's, and for the same reasons, just a little further east - So. Philly.

I looked around and found this:



Yes, that's what my dad grilled on -at our weekend barbecues.  Except that we didn't have the rotisserie add on ! ! !

My first experience with real BBQ was getting a job in Lexington Style BBQ joint in while I was going to community college in Charlotte.  That was also the start of a long line of jobs in restaurants.

My real indoctrination to BBQ, though, came much later.  I was teaching at a local high school that held an annual BBQ sale to raise money for the PTA.  We cooked over nine tons of Boston Butts over hardwood in brick pits.  The Culinary Arts instructor and I took shifts, working with crews of students and parents, over about 24 hours getting all of the meat cooked, chopped, and ready for sale.





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Offline aliengriller

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2015, 07:23:30 PM »
My parents, both of them, got me started when I was probably eleven or twelve.   Mom always made dad think he was in charge, but she told him EVERY step to take, from starting the fire until whatever was done.   This was back in the early 50's, when steak reigned supreme.   Mom would call the butcher and order a BIG sirloin, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, and that's what got grilled, usually for Saturday nights!   Then they would go out dancing!   We graduated into chickens (that's where I first learned to marinate chicken in Wishbone Italian Salad Dressing), to red snapper (dad made an annual trip to Guaymas, Mexico, and brought back a BIG catch--all flash frozen--we at them for quite a while), even putting a "round" of bologna on the spit and cooking it that way.  I might add that they ended up with a BIG (for it's time) Charbroil cast iron grill.   I'm still a Charbroil fan--have a 940X that is still my go to grill--my third CharBroil cast iron grated grill--the other two still in use.    Now I do mostly ribs, chickens (yes, often with Wishbone Italian), briskets, chucks, pork loins, turkeys, LOTS of vegetables, some fruit.    Guess my early start has kept me enthused.   

Offline pz

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2015, 09:43:56 PM »
My dad couldn't cook anything so it was up to my mom.  My most memorable moments were when she would roast chicken on a ceramic Kamado - memories of that kept me interested in outdoor cooking.

Offline Las Vegan Cajun

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2015, 12:26:26 AM »
My youth was pretty much like Billy's, and for the same reasons, just a little further east - So. Philly.Yes, that's what my dad grilled on -at our weekend barbecues.  Except that we didn't have the rotisserie add on ! ! !

Same here, we had the same grill sans the rotisserie add on, dad would thump little frogs in the head to knock them unconscious and throw them on the coals and we would watch them sizzle.   I started therapy shortly after that. ;)
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Offline drholly

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2015, 01:55:45 AM »
I grew up in ND. No regional specialties (well, on the grill anyway.) My dad had a typical rectangular grill on the deck - I think Capt. Jack has one of these. We had hamburgers (well done), hot dogs (well done), and steaks (very well done) in the summer. Then many years of nothing on a grill until I moved to Hawaii. My apartment was cheap and small - no oven. I bought a hibachi and learned to grill fish (fresh from the ocean with my spear gun.) Also added some other meat when I could afford it. Mostly various vegetables and fruits. Came back to the mainland and had another grilling dry spell. In the last 10 years I rediscovered the pleasure of cooking outside. And that has been the key to me - the fun of cooking outside. I now use a variety of devices and tools, but at the end of the day, a fire and a hot rock would probably be just enough to make me happy.
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Offline TMB

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2015, 09:04:03 AM »
First cook for me that meant something was when I was about 7 years old.  Dad wanted to smoke a turkey on the Weber kettle we had then and I said you ain't  gonna use the oven?

He said NO this is going to be much better and he was right been hooked every since.  Cooking outdoors just seems natural now thanks to him.  He taught me a lot about cooking weather indoors or outdoors
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Offline Smokin Don

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2015, 05:57:48 PM »
Jan 08 2014

I had to find my own favorite style of BBQ. My Dad never cooked out. My Mother cooked what most would call comfort food. We ate a lot of beef and pork. My uncle had a slaughter house and while I was growing up he fed, from his grocery, most of the small town I lived in, 1200 population. I guess the closest thing my Mom came to BBQ was sloppy joe sandwiches. Her seasonings were mostly salt, pepper, garlic and onions.

 My first base of 8 years in the USAF was Homestead AFB Fla. I was there for just over 3 years. They had several open pit BBQ places along the highway that I thought was just for the tourists on their way to Key West and never ate at one. I spent tours in Turkey and Thailand but most of the local food there was not eatable for us. In Turkey we did eat lamb kabobs from the street vendors; they were grilled on a hibachi style grill.

A couple of years after we were married I decided I wanted to do some cooking out. I bought a cheap small charcoal grill. Everything tasted like lighter fluid to me and finally bought a gas grill. I did mostly burgers on it and sometimes steaks.

My wife did all the cooking the first 12 or so years of our 48 years together. She could not cook well at first but got pretty good with my help. I knew a lot of cooking just from watching my Mom. My wife kind of got in a rut though and the menu was the same every week.

I was laid off from the Ford plant one summer and the wife went to work part time at first before getting a job full time. Since the kids were home I had to fix their lunch on the days my wife worked and tried to have supper ready when she got home. For some reason I just kept on cooking and the wife did all of the cleanup.

The more I cooked the more I wanted to try different things and got to be a cook book addict.  I bought a small Weber gas grill and used it a lot in the summer. I was into computers before the internet so as soon as it was available here I was online. It became the source for most of my recipes. I found a great place to buy meat just about 3 minutes from me, Kah Meats. They make the best fresh brats, about a dozen different kinds and their meat is all locally raised.

I wanted to try smoked ribs so I bought a little electric water smoker. I never thought it got hot enough so I bought a gas one and went through two of those. I was getting pretty good at doing ribs; anyone who tried them said the best they ever ate. I then bought a gas chest style water smoker and liked it.

I went to my butchers one day and he had a small smoker setting outside and I could smell the food. I ask him about it and he said it was a Traeger pellet smoker and he was selling them. He was cooking CS ribs and gave me a taste; that did it; I went back and bought it from him a Traeger Lil Tex Elite. I was his first customer and have been cooking on it over 4 years now.

 I had already found my favorite way for ribs, wet down with a little red wine vinegar and a good rub with no sauce. My favorite rub is Penzey’s Galena Street chicken and rib rub. Sometimes I do use sauce, served on the side or one coat an hour before they are done to set well.  My favorite sauce is Kah’s homemade, sweet with a tang and just a touch of heat.

This style follows in the way I like pulled pork. If it’s all going to be for sandwiches I like to inject it, molasses for glue and a good rub. I like just a rough pull instead of chopped and like some good sauce added to the sandwich or even just plain yellow mustard. Most of the butts I have done lately I haven’t injected but add some of the cooking liquid back in. I freeze most of it for later and use in a lot of different recipes.

Just after I got my pellet smoker I was on a BBQ forum for a while before coming to LTBBQ. I have to give the good cooks at these forums credit for improving on my BBQ technics and methods. I like LTBBQ better since I haven’t met any buttheads here yet!

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Offline TwoPockets

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Re: What's Your Style?
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2015, 06:54:37 PM »
Well if we are talking about how grilling was when I was growing up, it was pretty simple. Originally it was a simple stack of concrete blocks with charcoal on the ground and a grate on top. Dad eventually built a brick BBQ pit with a chimney and about a 2x4 heavy grate on the top. He cooked mostly chicken and pork chops and had a small grill for burgers and dogs. Chicken and chops were put on the grill and cooked for a few minutes then slathered with old school BBQ sauce that put a nice black burned coating on the outside. It was sure good to me. I never had a grilled steak till I left home. Mom broiled those in the oven and they were a nice gray well done, but surprisingly tasted pretty good. Dad did have an odd contraption we use when camping. It was a bucket that was used to heat soldering irons back in the day before torches or electric soldering irons. It was a ceramic/clay bucket covered with metal. You would build a charcoal fire in the bottom and put those big hand held irons in it to heat. He put  around grate on the top of it and we used it as a grill. It was a sort of home grown kamado grill. Sucker would cook the heck out of food.

Sometimes the wife and I will get a hankering for the "BBQ" we grew up with and I will fire up the Weber and throw some chicken on and let it cook a while and then start slathering it with some Kraft BBQ sauce and get that nice black char on it. I do cheat and brine the chicken first and let it get pretty much done so it still has some juicy to it, but the outside is old school.
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