I mean it this time...I may never cook again on the offset smoker. I have learned a lot from using the Pecos offset. Recently, seems like she's telling me it's time to move on. Good wood dealers are hard to find. They want to sell you what they want to get rid of - not what you're looking for. They don't want to cut and split it to the size I need for my smoker. I have to cut & split and stack and I'm just too old for that. It takes more these days to tend the thing, too, not leaving much "gas in the tank" at the end of the day. I'm not whining...I'm just telling it like it is.
I am truly blessed to be able to enjoy outdoor cooking. As I've said many times, it is therapy for me.
A number of you have pitched the idea of cooking with a pelletizer. The method is pretty cut and dried - load the pellets, select the temp, push the button and wait. Kinda like cookin' in the kitchen. True, it is fairly easy and stress free, but I NEED the "pokability " of a fire...that's the therapy part of it. Even at this stage of my life, I can't sit still. It may be ADHD, it may be the simple fidgets, but after 5 minutes...DANG - I gotta move.
So, I won't be gettin' a pelletizer anytime soon.
I DID make a decision about a new cooker to replace the Pecos and in some cases, The Weber. I wanted a quality charcoal grill that would do double duty as a low and slow smoker and give me enough space to cook a lot if I ever need too.
We decided to get the ASSASSIN 48" in red. Deb was very helpful thru the process and urged me to pay the extra $100 to go from 36" to 48" size. The standard color is black, but she wanted to surprise me for Valentines by ordering the optional color choice for the door.
The Assassin is made by C & C Manufacturing Co of Macon GA - less than 8 miles from our house. Their primary line is the gravity-fed smokers and many competitors are winning using their products. The also "custom build" any size smoker or grill to meet the needs of their customers. You can read more (if you're interested) on their website.
For now, I'll show you the one they delivered last Friday. After seasoning the grill on Friday, I smoked some spare ribs as I tried to get familiar with this monster of a grill. There is definitely a learning curve, but I'll keep experimenting and hopefully get better. After the first video is a short video to show how the ribs came out.
The vids are unlisted, but you should be able to view thru these links:
Thanks for watchin'...and many thanks to my videographer-in-training.
