Back to it!

Okay. A lot's been going on over here. I'm getting a new concrete pad installed at my place, where I will park my new smoker. Well, new to me, anyway.

It's a Pitt's and Spitt's 30x60, with the two lower-temp boxes on the left, a big ole firebox, and a propane eye. It's really nice. Should do everything I need.

I'm planning to pick it up and fire it up this weekend. Wooo!

A five month reprieve.

Yes, there's been no posting. Not a whole lot of 'cue cooking, either. This was a big summer and I had to reset some things...

1) The trailer has to be rebuilt. We've got a lot of what we need, except..

2) time. Jason's been on two HUGE projects, one of which won best in show at the Southeastern Flower Show a couple weeks ago. I've been getting out of my old role at work, getting into my new role at work, and --best of all-- spending a lot of time making beer.

3) It's winter. I'm generally hunkered down at home on my little rig making a few briskets here and there. Nothing worth writing about, really.

Oh! Big News! Fox Bros. BBQ took over the old Asada mexican joint right down from where I used to live in L5P. The (ahem second) best barbecue in Atlanta is about a mile and a half away! Yay!

Sometimes it's Actually Work

So tomorrow, two of my very good friends are having a wedding party. I believe the wedding was a private affair and this represents the community celebration. He's designed the business cards for the venture that this will eventually become; she is my cat's doctor. She is a vegetarian, but for this party, they've ordered over 100lbs of barbecue: 60lbs brisket, 25 lbs pork shoulder, and a whole rack of chicken. My first order this size. So all week I've been hauling cuts of meat, mixing up spices for the rub, and the other chores that go along with this.

I'm getting to the end of my backyard's firewood bounty (which my neighbor calls "God's endorsement of your cue") so I now have to worry about obtaining firewood. Craigslist has lots of people who offer free firewood; it's usually a tree down in their yard and you can have it, if you can haul it off. So, I need a chainsaw. As is my usual style, I want to buy a chainsaw that will last twenty years. I want it to be a professionals' tool. I went with a Husqvarna 455 Rancher.

So I went to the first place that had responded about the firewood. The lady told me that it was at so-and-so address, to go ahead and chop it up. Well, apparently her idea of what constitutes "firewood" diverges a bit from mine. It was a freakin' stick! 3" wide at the fat end. I got maybe 15lbs of wood out of it. I felt like a fool chopping up this twig with a 20" husky. (But it cut the stuff like butter!)

When I get home from work tonight I'm going to have to prep the briskets and shop for the veggie offerings. We're making these killer veggie burgers for the bride. Then, the briskets will go on the trailer at midnight or so. They'll cook all night and until around noon tomorrow, when I'll pull them off, wrap them in cellophane and put them in the warm cooler. The shoulders will have the same treatment. Then the grill can rest until around 4, when I'll drag it over to their house, fire it up again, and throw the chicken on.

So as I said, this is the biggest catering job I've done yet. I'm pretty confident but it's a lot of work.

Oh and the business cards? I ordered them, paid extra to have them here by today. Nope. They're here monday. Dagblammit.

Crazy Times

At an outing last week, someone backed into the trailer. FAST. As in, they launched it into the pickup truck behind it. The trailer fared better than the truck, but it will definitely require some serious reconfiguration.

And the week before, I bottomed it out pulling into a parking lot, and popped the jack foot out (stripping the bolts.) So that's damaged too.

What I'm going to do is order two new axles, much shorter ones and not drop axles, and we're going to build ourselves a better trailer.

On the other hand, the food is immensely popular, as evidenced by the fact that we're using it every weekend. Last night someone told me that last week's brisket was the best thing she'd ever tasted.

The Drive Invasion

Steven says "You need to get there early to secure a prime spot." Doors at 9, I figure, 7:45. I was 2nd in line. I started the briskets before they opened, and pulled the smoker right down to the very front, center, in front of the screen, and then set about with the "campsite." Which was, the Suburban with a tarp hanging over the back to provide shade and rain protection.



We connected up with the group next door, the Star Bar folks. The leader of this group seemed to be Jim Stacy, one of the Star Bar's owners, and we made briskets and sausages enough to feed all those guys too. Jim invited us in on the low country boil he was making:




This is currently my desktop background.


It was a great event! Muscle cars and bands. The headliner was Blue yster Cult -- yes, the REAL Blue Oyster Cult! Too cool.


And here is exactly why we're glad we brought the tarp.

Drive In-Vasion!

The Dawgs (or at least the main dawg) will be barbecuing at Starlight Six for the Drive-In-Vasion, or however the heck you spell it. Drop on by!

And soon, we will return to work...

Having steel delivered at the end of August for this project, and now that the heat is breaking, we'll be getting back to building.

For the friend you hate...

... the gift is corporate 'cue.