Merry Christmas to ME - More Outdoor Cooking Gear to Enjoy!

I love to be outside.  So, cooking outside is a favorite of mine.  I can often be found on Saturday or Sunday evening, cold beer in hand, standing over the grill on the deck.  I have been wanting to add a Smoker to my outdoor cooking equipment for sometime.  Merry Christmas to me.  I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Brinkman gas smoker.  OK - if you are a traditionalist, I apologize for buying a gas smoker as I realize a proper southern boy only smokes food with a wood or charcoal smoker.  However, my research found that gas is one of the easiest to use and operate, is fairly portable in case you want to take the smoker tailgating or camping, and fell right into my price range.  Gas fueled smokers are also recommended by a couple people who have "authored" books about BBQ techniques. 

GOOD RESOURCES
One of my co-workers, Ray Parrish, who is a fabulous cook, gave me a great book to read titled "Backyard BBQ - The Art of Smokology".  The author is an award winning, professionally trained chef who specializes in BBQ, and has won several contests and awards over the past 20 years.  Also, my neighbors the Fortangs gave me a book for Christmas titled "Smoke & Spice" by Cheryl and Bill Jamison.  Tons or recipes for outdoor cooking. 

TEST RUN
I "seasoned" the smoker Friday night - basically, all this consists of is using the smoker as if you were cooking something, but not cooking something.  It puts a nice coat of smokey residue all over the inside of the smoker and burns off any leftover oils from the assembly process.  We then bought 3 racks of ribs Sunday, and used the "Kansas City Sloppy Rib's" recipe as a trial run with the smoker.  They turned out really good.  I wouldn't say they are better than my Dr. Pepper Ribs, just different with the smoked flavor.  My next smoking adventure will be on Christmas Day when we will prepare a 13 lb Turkey in the Smoker.  The prep work will start with the Brine process on Christmas eve followed by 5 hours in the smoker on Christmas Day.....stay tuned!