So, how did you get your start?

[Michigan0626]

Growing up there was never a time being around grills or bbq.

I joined the Marine Corps at 18, and I was married and living in base housing at 21. We both sucked at cooking. But, we did have one of those 20 dollar charcoal grills for hot dogs and frozen burgers.  When I got out of the Marine Corps at 23, we moved from California back to Central Florida. We bounced from living with family and renting until I was able to buy a house at 23 with a wife, 8 month old, and a brand new career in law enforcement. It was a decent starter home for a beginning family, even though 3 months later it was worth half from the financial disaster.  Two weeks after buying it and moving in and making it over we had a July 4th house warming party.  My mother surprised me with a pretty decent 4 burner gas grill. Probably a decent 300-350 grill, Char-Broil I think.  I enjoyed cooking on it when I actually used it. Probably only averages 7-15 uses a year. It eventually rusted out in 5-6 years.  I was then without fire.  On January 1 of 15 we moved from the Sunshine state to the frozen mountains of northern New Hampshire for a promotion. That fathers day the wife my son got me a basic Weber kettle. I had been eyeballing the one with the built in table but they were 300 bucks at the time. Only use it hand full of times a year. I can't grill to save my life. That's when I found out about sous vide over 2 years ago, and that helped my "mastering" of steak. Then I bought myself a propane smoker and only used it once since it sucked. I have eventually gotten a flat top grill, a Cook-Air grill, a Big Easy turkey fryer (used only once a year, guess when?).  Still ain't great at cooking, but it appears I enjoy collecting (better word that using) cooking gadgets. 

I am hoping this all changes since I now am the proud owner of a 2 Star General MAK Grill. Its way to expensive to just sit there as a lawn ornament. So I am now 33, a little more than 10 years since I got out of the military to start my new life with my new family. Here's to hoping then next 10 are actually tasty.

Nice progression!   Curious, why do you say you suck at grilling? What is it you find so difficult or challenging?

Temperature control, timing, not having a thermometer until 2 years ago. That's why I love the Anova and swooned for a pellet smoker. So easy a fat man that can't cook can do it.

[rwalters]

Growing up there was never a time being around grills or bbq.

I joined the Marine Corps at 18, and I was married and living in base housing at 21. We both sucked at cooking. But, we did have one of those 20 dollar charcoal grills for hot dogs and frozen burgers.  When I got out of the Marine Corps at 23, we moved from California back to Central Florida. We bounced from living with family and renting until I was able to buy a house at 23 with a wife, 8 month old, and a brand new career in law enforcement. It was a decent starter home for a beginning family, even though 3 months later it was worth half from the financial disaster.  Two weeks after buying it and moving in and making it over we had a July 4th house warming party.  My mother surprised me with a pretty decent 4 burner gas grill. Probably a decent 300-350 grill, Char-Broil I think.  I enjoyed cooking on it when I actually used it. Probably only averages 7-15 uses a year. It eventually rusted out in 5-6 years.  I was then without fire.  On January 1 of 15 we moved from the Sunshine state to the frozen mountains of northern New Hampshire for a promotion. That fathers day the wife my son got me a basic Weber kettle. I had been eyeballing the one with the built in table but they were 300 bucks at the time. Only use it hand full of times a year. I can't grill to save my life. That's when I found out about sous vide over 2 years ago, and that helped my "mastering" of steak. Then I bought myself a propane smoker and only used it once since it sucked. I have eventually gotten a flat top grill, a Cook-Air grill, a Big Easy turkey fryer (used only once a year, guess when?).  Still ain't great at cooking, but it appears I enjoy collecting (better word that using) cooking gadgets. 

I am hoping this all changes since I now am the proud owner of a 2 Star General MAK Grill. Its way to expensive to just sit there as a lawn ornament. So I am now 33, a little more than 10 years since I got out of the military to start my new life with my new family. Here's to hoping then next 10 are actually tasty.

Nice progression!

[rwalters]

Growing up there was never a time being around grills or bbq.

I joined the Marine Corps at 18, and I was married and living in base housing at 21. We both sucked at cooking. But, we did have one of those 20 dollar charcoal grills for hot dogs and frozen burgers.  When I got out of the Marine Corps at 23, we moved from California back to Central Florida. We bounced from living with family and renting until I was able to buy a house at 23 with a wife, 8 month old, and a brand new career in law enforcement. It was a decent starter home for a beginning family, even though 3 months later it was worth half from the financial disaster.  Two weeks after buying it and moving in and making it over we had a July 4th house warming party.  My mother surprised me with a pretty decent 4 burner gas grill. Probably a decent 300-350 grill, Char-Broil I think.  I enjoyed cooking on it when I actually used it. Probably only averages 7-15 uses a year. It eventually rusted out in 5-6 years.  I was then without fire.  On January 1 of 15 we moved from the Sunshine state to the frozen mountains of northern New Hampshire for a promotion. That fathers day the wife my son got me a basic Weber kettle. I had been eyeballing the one with the built in table but they were 300 bucks at the time. Only use it hand full of times a year. I can't grill to save my life. That's when I found out about sous vide over 2 years ago, and that helped my "mastering" of steak. Then I bought myself a propane smoker and only used it once since it sucked. I have eventually gotten a flat top grill, a Cook-Air grill, a Big Easy turkey fryer (used only once a year, guess when?).  Still ain't great at cooking, but it appears I enjoy collecting (better word that using) cooking gadgets. 

I am hoping this all changes since I now am the proud owner of a 2 Star General MAK Grill. Its way to expensive to just sit there as a lawn ornament. So I am now 33, a little more than 10 years since I got out of the military to start my new life with my new family. Here's to hoping then next 10 are actually tasty.

Nice progression!

Lol! The MAK is gonna be a real treat   Years ago, when I bought my first Thermapen, my grilling game sky-rocketed.  An FAST and accurate instant read thermometer is critical, IMO.

[rwalters]

Growing up there was never a time being around grills or bbq.

I joined the Marine Corps at 18, and I was married and living in base housing at 21. We both sucked at cooking. But, we did have one of those 20 dollar charcoal grills for hot dogs and frozen burgers.  When I got out of the Marine Corps at 23, we moved from California back to Central Florida. We bounced from living with family and renting until I was able to buy a house at 23 with a wife, 8 month old, and a brand new career in law enforcement. It was a decent starter home for a beginning family, even though 3 months later it was worth half from the financial disaster.  Two weeks after buying it and moving in and making it over we had a July 4th house warming party.  My mother surprised me with a pretty decent 4 burner gas grill. Probably a decent 300-350 grill, Char-Broil I think.  I enjoyed cooking on it when I actually used it. Probably only averages 7-15 uses a year. It eventually rusted out in 5-6 years.  I was then without fire.  On January 1 of 15 we moved from the Sunshine state to the frozen mountains of northern New Hampshire for a promotion. That fathers day the wife my son got me a basic Weber kettle. I had been eyeballing the one with the built in table but they were 300 bucks at the time. Only use it hand full of times a year. I can't grill to save my life. That's when I found out about sous vide over 2 years ago, and that helped my "mastering" of steak. Then I bought myself a propane smoker and only used it once since it sucked. I have eventually gotten a flat top grill, a Cook-Air grill, a Big Easy turkey fryer (used only once a year, guess when?).  Still ain't great at cooking, but it appears I enjoy collecting (better word that using) cooking gadgets. 

I am hoping this all changes since I now am the proud owner of a 2 Star General MAK Grill. Its way to expensive to just sit there as a lawn ornament. So I am now 33, a little more than 10 years since I got out of the military to start my new life with my new family. Here's to hoping then next 10 are actually tasty.

Nice progression!   Curious, why do you say you suck at grilling? What is it you find so difficult or challenging?

Temperature control, timing, not having a thermometer until 2 years ago. That's why I love the Anova and swooned for a pellet smoker. So easy a fat man that can't cook can do it.

(Not sure why my 2 replies aren’t appearing)

Lol!! You are in for a real treat with you MAK! I can tell you this about grilling. Years ago when I bought my 1st Thermapen, I quickly saw my grilling game sky-rocket. Do you have a super quick/accurate thermometer?

[RG]

What a fantastic topic! I love all of the stories thus far except for Tee's, he's holding out

I guess I share what a lot of you have already said, I grew up with my Dad manning the grill (not very well mind you) and actually got used to his blackened chicken (not cajun blackened either,lol), meatball burgers and burnt hot dogs and steak. Hell, I thought that's just how it was! Steak was to be very well done and eaten with steak sauce, sometimes even (wait for it)..........KETCHUP! Oh the humanity!

It wasn't until my 18th birthday that I saw the light. My brother came down and cooked me a New York Strip that he marinated in Dale's marinade, cooked it a shade better than medium but not med well and it was THE BEST STEAK I'D EVER EATEN at the time anyway. I was amazed at how easily it cut AND chewed, this was not my Dad's tough shoe leather ribeye, no sir. This was good eats.

That got the ball rolling. I married very young and at the ripe old age of 24 or so I bought a cheap little Hibachi and would cook burgers and dogs on it every once in a blue moon. It wasn't until I was maybe 29 or 30 that I got really into cooking outdoors though. I was renting a house at the time that had a natural gas hookup on the deck so I took a cheap LP grill that I had but never used and converted it to use NG and then I began cooking on that POS gasser all the time! That lead to me buying a little cheapo Brinkmann water smoker and that led to a generic charcoal grill. I had a gasser, charcoal grill and smoker and was happy!

I had MANY failures cooking on that water smoker so I put my BBQ cooking on extended pause for a while and focused more on grilling. I got to where I could feed a crowd and no one got sick, lol. I thought I was the cock of the walk (old school term for you younguns, Google it!).

As time went on, I really wanted to get back into smoking, making BBQ, so that lead me to buy an offset smoker. It was a Cheapo Depot from Wally World but I got pretty good at it or so I thought. My life changing moment came when I went to a customer's house that had a Big Green Egg. I was curious about them, had seen them in the past but never gave it much consideration. This guy though, he started telling me how he would put a couple of pork butts on it and smoke it overnight and take it into his restaurant and serve BBQ sandwiches every once in a while. The idea of cooking unattended intrigued me to no end. I had BGE on the brain! The price is what held me back. You see, at the time I wasn't nearly as adept as I am now at sneaking things past the wife

My big break came while looking on Craigslist of all places. I was looking at used Big Green Eggs when I came across the BIG STEEL KEG! They were cheaper, wouldn't break, were portable via a hitch adapter. I was smitten I wasn't able to get the used one as it sold quickly but was able to find a new one at a local Ace Hardware. It was $679.00 before tax and I got it as an early b-day present in 2011. From there, I learned how to smoke, grill, bake, etc on it and loved it SO much I ended up getting 2 more!

As some of you know, I became a accidental hoarder. I figured if the Keg was great, what else was I missing out on? That has lead me down the road of always looking for something to improve what I do or at least give me options on how to do it. The cool part of it all is that I got my wife hooked on the hobby as well so she has become a fantastic cook. We have learned together and have really enjoyed the last 7 years or so, learning as we go!

Forums like this make the whole experience even better, no doubt about it!

[Tailgating is my game]

What a fantastic topic! I love all of the stories thus far except for Tee's, he's holding out

I guess I share what a lot of you have already said, I grew up with my Dad manning the grill (not very well mind you) and actually got used to his blackened chicken (not cajun blackened either,lol), meatball burgers and burnt hot dogs and steak. Hell, I thought that's just how it was! Steak was to be very well done and eaten with steak sauce, sometimes even (wait for it)..........KETCHUP! Oh the humanity!

It wasn't until my 18th birthday that I saw the light. My brother came down and cooked me a New York Strip that he marinated in Dale's marinade, cooked it a shade better than medium but not med well and it was THE BEST STEAK I'D EVER EATEN at the time anyway. I was amazed at how easily it cut AND chewed, this was not my Dad's tough shoe leather ribeye, no sir. This was good eats.

That got the ball rolling. I married very young and at the ripe old age of 24 or so I bought a cheap little Hibachi and would cook burgers and dogs on it every once in a blue moon. It wasn't until I was maybe 29 or 30 that I got really into cooking outdoors though. I was renting a house at the time that had a natural gas hookup on the deck so I took a cheap LP grill that I had but never used and converted it to use NG and then I began cooking on that POS gasser all the time! That lead to me buying a little cheapo Brinkmann water smoker and that led to a generic charcoal grill. I had a gasser, charcoal grill and smoker and was happy!

I had MANY failures cooking on that water smoker so I put my BBQ cooking on extended pause for a while and focused more on grilling. I got to where I could feed a crowd and no one got sick, lol. I thought I was the cock of the walk (old school term for you younguns, Google it!).

As time went on, I really wanted to get back into smoking, making BBQ, so that lead me to buy an offset smoker. It was a Cheapo Depot from Wally World but I got pretty good at it or so I thought. My life changing moment came when I went to a customer's house that had a Big Green Egg. I was curious about them, had seen them in the past but never gave it much consideration. This guy though, he started telling me how he would put a couple of pork butts on it and smoke it overnight and take it into his restaurant and serve BBQ sandwiches every once in a while. The idea of cooking unattended intrigued me to no end. I had BGE on the brain! The price is what held me back. You see, at the time I wasn't nearly as adept as I am now at sneaking things past the wife

My big break came while looking on Craigslist of all places. I was looking at used Big Green Eggs when I came across the BIG STEEL KEG! They were cheaper, wouldn't break, were portable via a hitch adapter. I was smitten I wasn't able to get the used one as it sold quickly but was able to find a new one at a local Ace Hardware. It was $679.00 before tax and I got it as an early b-day present in 2011. From there, I learned how to smoke, grill, bake, etc on it and loved it SO much I ended up getting 2 more!

As some of you know, I became a accidental hoarder. I figured if the Keg was great, what else was I missing out on? That has lead me down the road of always looking for something to improve what I do or at least give me options on how to do it. The cool part of it all is that I got my wife hooked on the hobby as well so she has become a fantastic cook. We have learned together and have really enjoyed the last 7 years or so, learning as we go!

Forums like this make the whole experience even better, no doubt about it!

RG I got to ask this.........Why two more lol...don't get me wrong I love it but I got to ask

[Smokin Soon]

1968 - Hibachi for a quick Steak or burger, girls loved it on the beach.
70's a mix of cheap Charcoal Grills
1986 Charmglow gas grill from Costco
1993 Weber Gennises Gas
1995 Brinkman Electric Smoker
1999 Bradley Electric Smoker
2004 Charbroil Big Easy, found 2 at a surplus store new $50 each. Heavy use for Wings at work.
2007 Traeger 070, still in action
2015 Weber Q120 for travel or quick sear.
2018 Probably a Mak 1 Star, not much into stainless. Needs too much attention to look good.
And probably a few that I just plain forgot about!

[rwalters]

1968 - Hibachi for a quick Steak or burger, girls loved it on the beach.
70's a mix of cheap Charcoal Grills
1986 Charmglow gas grill from Costco
1993 Weber Gennises Gas
1995 Brinkman Electric Smoker
1999 Bradley Electric Smoker
2004 Charbroil Big Easy, found 2 at a surplus store new $50 each. Heavy use for Wings at work.
2007 Traeger 070, still in action
2015 Weber Q120 for travel or quick sear.
2018 Probably a Mak 1 Star, not much into stainless. Needs too much attention to look good.
And probably a few that I just plain forgot about!

Great memory! And how exciting to have a MAK in your near future

[rwalters]

What a fantastic topic! I love all of the stories thus far except for Tee's, he's holding out

I guess I share what a lot of you have already said, I grew up with my Dad manning the grill (not very well mind you) and actually got used to his blackened chicken (not cajun blackened either,lol), meatball burgers and burnt hot dogs and steak. Hell, I thought that's just how it was! Steak was to be very well done and eaten with steak sauce, sometimes even (wait for it)..........KETCHUP! Oh the humanity!

It wasn't until my 18th birthday that I saw the light. My brother came down and cooked me a New York Strip that he marinated in Dale's marinade, cooked it a shade better than medium but not med well and it was THE BEST STEAK I'D EVER EATEN at the time anyway. I was amazed at how easily it cut AND chewed, this was not my Dad's tough shoe leather ribeye, no sir. This was good eats.

That got the ball rolling. I married very young and at the ripe old age of 24 or so I bought a cheap little Hibachi and would cook burgers and dogs on it every once in a blue moon. It wasn't until I was maybe 29 or 30 that I got really into cooking outdoors though. I was renting a house at the time that had a natural gas hookup on the deck so I took a cheap LP grill that I had but never used and converted it to use NG and then I began cooking on that POS gasser all the time! That lead to me buying a little cheapo Brinkmann water smoker and that led to a generic charcoal grill. I had a gasser, charcoal grill and smoker and was happy!

I had MANY failures cooking on that water smoker so I put my BBQ cooking on extended pause for a while and focused more on grilling. I got to where I could feed a crowd and no one got sick, lol. I thought I was the cock of the walk (old school term for you younguns, Google it!).

As time went on, I really wanted to get back into smoking, making BBQ, so that lead me to buy an offset smoker. It was a Cheapo Depot from Wally World but I got pretty good at it or so I thought. My life changing moment came when I went to a customer's house that had a Big Green Egg. I was curious about them, had seen them in the past but never gave it much consideration. This guy though, he started telling me how he would put a couple of pork butts on it and smoke it overnight and take it into his restaurant and serve BBQ sandwiches every once in a while. The idea of cooking unattended intrigued me to no end. I had BGE on the brain! The price is what held me back. You see, at the time I wasn't nearly as adept as I am now at sneaking things past the wife

My big break came while looking on Craigslist of all places. I was looking at used Big Green Eggs when I came across the BIG STEEL KEG! They were cheaper, wouldn't break, were portable via a hitch adapter. I was smitten I wasn't able to get the used one as it sold quickly but was able to find a new one at a local Ace Hardware. It was $679.00 before tax and I got it as an early b-day present in 2011. From there, I learned how to smoke, grill, bake, etc on it and loved it SO much I ended up getting 2 more!

As some of you know, I became a accidental hoarder. I figured if the Keg was great, what else was I missing out on? That has lead me down the road of always looking for something to improve what I do or at least give me options on how to do it. The cool part of it all is that I got my wife hooked on the hobby as well so she has become a fantastic cook. We have learned together and have really enjoyed the last 7 years or so, learning as we go!

Forums like this make the whole experience even better, no doubt about it!

WOW, what an adventure! So tell me more about Dales steak marinade.  I’ve heard of it, but never used or tried it. Good stuff?

[RG]

What a fantastic topic! I love all of the stories thus far except for Tee's, he's holding out

I guess I share what a lot of you have already said, I grew up with my Dad manning the grill (not very well mind you) and actually got used to his blackened chicken (not cajun blackened either,lol), meatball burgers and burnt hot dogs and steak. Hell, I thought that's just how it was! Steak was to be very well done and eaten with steak sauce, sometimes even (wait for it)..........KETCHUP! Oh the humanity!

It wasn't until my 18th birthday that I saw the light. My brother came down and cooked me a New York Strip that he marinated in Dale's marinade, cooked it a shade better than medium but not med well and it was THE BEST STEAK I'D EVER EATEN at the time anyway. I was amazed at how easily it cut AND chewed, this was not my Dad's tough shoe leather ribeye, no sir. This was good eats.

That got the ball rolling. I married very young and at the ripe old age of 24 or so I bought a cheap little Hibachi and would cook burgers and dogs on it every once in a blue moon. It wasn't until I was maybe 29 or 30 that I got really into cooking outdoors though. I was renting a house at the time that had a natural gas hookup on the deck so I took a cheap LP grill that I had but never used and converted it to use NG and then I began cooking on that POS gasser all the time! That lead to me buying a little cheapo Brinkmann water smoker and that led to a generic charcoal grill. I had a gasser, charcoal grill and smoker and was happy!

I had MANY failures cooking on that water smoker so I put my BBQ cooking on extended pause for a while and focused more on grilling. I got to where I could feed a crowd and no one got sick, lol. I thought I was the cock of the walk (old school term for you younguns, Google it!).

As time went on, I really wanted to get back into smoking, making BBQ, so that lead me to buy an offset smoker. It was a Cheapo Depot from Wally World but I got pretty good at it or so I thought. My life changing moment came when I went to a customer's house that had a Big Green Egg. I was curious about them, had seen them in the past but never gave it much consideration. This guy though, he started telling me how he would put a couple of pork butts on it and smoke it overnight and take it into his restaurant and serve BBQ sandwiches every once in a while. The idea of cooking unattended intrigued me to no end. I had BGE on the brain! The price is what held me back. You see, at the time I wasn't nearly as adept as I am now at sneaking things past the wife

My big break came while looking on Craigslist of all places. I was looking at used Big Green Eggs when I came across the BIG STEEL KEG! They were cheaper, wouldn't break, were portable via a hitch adapter. I was smitten I wasn't able to get the used one as it sold quickly but was able to find a new one at a local Ace Hardware. It was $679.00 before tax and I got it as an early b-day present in 2011. From there, I learned how to smoke, grill, bake, etc on it and loved it SO much I ended up getting 2 more!

As some of you know, I became a accidental hoarder. I figured if the Keg was great, what else was I missing out on? That has lead me down the road of always looking for something to improve what I do or at least give me options on how to do it. The cool part of it all is that I got my wife hooked on the hobby as well so she has become a fantastic cook. We have learned together and have really enjoyed the last 7 years or so, learning as we go!

Forums like this make the whole experience even better, no doubt about it!

RG I got to ask this.........Why two more lol...don't get me wrong I love it but I got to ask

Because 3 more would just be too many!

I used to do a lot of cooking for friends, family. I had get togethers quite frequently and I needed more cookers. I started out with one Keg, gave my offset and gasser away (not the original gasser, this one was nice). I first added another keg, then built an outdoor kitchen with a drop in gasser and side burner. THEN added a Traeger, then the Smokin'-It #3, then a pitboss pellet grill then a Pit Barrel Cooker and somewhere in there bought the 3rd keg (actually won it in a raffle at a Kegtoberfest), then another pitboss and then UUNI 2S, the KBQ (my favorite of ALL time!) then La Caja China and I'm sure others I am leaving out.

So, that's how the cookie crumbles!

[RG]

WOW, what an adventure! So tell me more about Dales steak marinade.  I’ve heard of it, but never used or tried it. Good stuff?

It's good, I got burned out on it back about 12 years ago, haven't had it since but it's good. If I were to use it now, I'd probably do it on thick pork chops, center cut. That would be a good meat for you to try it on.

[UWFSAE]

Ahhhh, the mere mention of Dale's ...

A college roommate's dad, a retired SEAL and high school swim coach, would throw down on some steak cookouts with that stuff in Pensacola.  You could take a select grade steak and make it taste pretty darn good.  Super salty, but in a good way.  Heck, I used to put a bit on stir fry pork and white rice for a quick and cheap meal.

[rwalters]

What a fantastic topic! I love all of the stories thus far except for Tee's, he's holding out

I guess I share what a lot of you have already said, I grew up with my Dad manning the grill (not very well mind you) and actually got used to his blackened chicken (not cajun blackened either,lol), meatball burgers and burnt hot dogs and steak. Hell, I thought that's just how it was! Steak was to be very well done and eaten with steak sauce, sometimes even (wait for it)..........KETCHUP! Oh the humanity!

It wasn't until my 18th birthday that I saw the light. My brother came down and cooked me a New York Strip that he marinated in Dale's marinade, cooked it a shade better than medium but not med well and it was THE BEST STEAK I'D EVER EATEN at the time anyway. I was amazed at how easily it cut AND chewed, this was not my Dad's tough shoe leather ribeye, no sir. This was good eats.

That got the ball rolling. I married very young and at the ripe old age of 24 or so I bought a cheap little Hibachi and would cook burgers and dogs on it every once in a blue moon. It wasn't until I was maybe 29 or 30 that I got really into cooking outdoors though. I was renting a house at the time that had a natural gas hookup on the deck so I took a cheap LP grill that I had but never used and converted it to use NG and then I began cooking on that POS gasser all the time! That lead to me buying a little cheapo Brinkmann water smoker and that led to a generic charcoal grill. I had a gasser, charcoal grill and smoker and was happy!

I had MANY failures cooking on that water smoker so I put my BBQ cooking on extended pause for a while and focused more on grilling. I got to where I could feed a crowd and no one got sick, lol. I thought I was the cock of the walk (old school term for you younguns, Google it!).

As time went on, I really wanted to get back into smoking, making BBQ, so that lead me to buy an offset smoker. It was a Cheapo Depot from Wally World but I got pretty good at it or so I thought. My life changing moment came when I went to a customer's house that had a Big Green Egg. I was curious about them, had seen them in the past but never gave it much consideration. This guy though, he started telling me how he would put a couple of pork butts on it and smoke it overnight and take it into his restaurant and serve BBQ sandwiches every once in a while. The idea of cooking unattended intrigued me to no end. I had BGE on the brain! The price is what held me back. You see, at the time I wasn't nearly as adept as I am now at sneaking things past the wife

My big break came while looking on Craigslist of all places. I was looking at used Big Green Eggs when I came across the BIG STEEL KEG! They were cheaper, wouldn't break, were portable via a hitch adapter. I was smitten I wasn't able to get the used one as it sold quickly but was able to find a new one at a local Ace Hardware. It was $679.00 before tax and I got it as an early b-day present in 2011. From there, I learned how to smoke, grill, bake, etc on it and loved it SO much I ended up getting 2 more!

As some of you know, I became a accidental hoarder. I figured if the Keg was great, what else was I missing out on? That has lead me down the road of always looking for something to improve what I do or at least give me options on how to do it. The cool part of it all is that I got my wife hooked on the hobby as well so she has become a fantastic cook. We have learned together and have really enjoyed the last 7 years or so, learning as we go!

Forums like this make the whole experience even better, no doubt about it!

RG I got to ask this.........Why two more lol...don't get me wrong I love it but I got to ask

Because 3 more would just be too many!

I used to do a lot of cooking for friends, family. I had get togethers quite frequently and I needed more cookers. I started out with one Keg, gave my offset and gasser away (not the original gasser, this one was nice). I first added another keg, then built an outdoor kitchen with a drop in gasser and side burner. THEN added a Traeger, then the Smokin'-It #3, then a pitboss pellet grill then a Pit Barrel Cooker and somewhere in there bought the 3rd keg (actually won it in a raffle at a Kegtoberfest), then another pitboss and then UUNI 2S, the KBQ (my favorite of ALL time!) then La Caja China and I'm sure others I am leaving out.

So, that's how the cookie crumbles!

Man, you make me feel a lot better, as if I don’t really have “issues”... thanks, buddy

[rwalters]

Ahhhh, the mere mention of Dale's ...

A college roommate's dad, a retired SEAL and high school swim coach, would throw down on some steak cookouts with that stuff in Pensacola.  You could take a select grade steak and make it taste pretty darn good.  Super salty, but in a good way.  Heck, I used to put a bit on stir fry pork and white rice for a quick and cheap meal.

WOW, what an adventure! So tell me more about Dales steak marinade.  I’ve heard of it, but never used or tried it. Good stuff?

It's good, I got burned out on it back about 12 years ago, haven't had it since but it's good. If I were to use it now, I'd probably do it on thick pork chops, center cut. That would be a good meat for you to try it on.

Alright, gonna grab some Dale’s soon and give it a whirl.

[sparky]

I grew up with just a dad.  It was charcoal for everything.  It was a opened grill with a handle you could spin and raise the grill grate up and down.  It was either direct or indirect cooking.  All proteins, veges, fruit and Popp opened biscuits.  So when I got stationed on my ship after boot camp I took a little smokey Joe with me that my dad bought me for getting thru boot camp.  One night few of us just got off the 8-12 watch.  We push the huey out of the helo deck onto the flight deck.  We tied her down.  I broke out my little smokey Joe and some kingsford.  Well... About 0100 the captain comes walking thru the helo deck.  The whole place is dark except a light over the BBQ with me kneeling down over the smokey Joe flipping hamburgers and T- bone steaks.  The captain says who's bbq is that and do you guys know there are 55 gallon drums of JP5 (helo fuel) over in the corner.  It's my bbq sir and I knew about the JP5 drums.  The next thing I said was  "sir how would you like your steak cooked?".  He said, " seaman Rowe, did you break into the gallery?". The chief cook Eli comes out of the shadows and said he supplied the left over steaks from dinner.  The captain says how many are you here.  15 of my friends come out into the light.  The captain  leaves and come back with 2 cases of Hamms beer.  Seaman Rowe medium rare on the steak.  He sat there until 4am eating and drinking with us.  I'll never forget that.  All because my little smokey Joe.  I have had one ever since (jumbo joe now).  I love charcoal.