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I know BBQ is usually associated with Summer, but I’m here to tell ya that you can smoke a brisket year round in North Texas. This morning for example I woke up at 4:30 to fire up the Weber and was greeted by lightning, thunder, and the torrential rain that we get here in the Spring. Was I dissuaded? Nay nay. I just moved the bbq up onto the tiny little covered part of the porch and fired away. Many a Christmas season I’ve been out in the falling snow, in the dark in temperatures below 30 just smokin’ away.

[caption id="attachment_291" align="alignleft" width="100" caption="1 Photo"][/caption]Woo Hoo! The office potluck is this Friday and your’s truly gets to do the ‘cue. Better yet, the meat is on the company dime - sweet fancy Moses! I checked the brisket price at 7 different stores, and as I suspected Wal Mart had the best price - $1.52 per pound. Also, they always have good prices on other basics like charcoal and sea salt. Any-hoo, off the boss and I went, and picked up a 13 pound brisket, 2 racks of beef ribs, and 4 packages of Johnsonville Brats. Niiiiice. Should be a good amount

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I’ve been asked countless times about what kind of basting brush I use. Well, brace yourselves, it’s pretty exotic…..I use a soup spoon. I’ve tried brushes of various types in the past, and maybe I’m using them wrong but they always start to burn and no matter what kind of hair it is the smell of it burning is awful. Plus, cleaning them is a nightmare. One popular alternative to the brush is a spray bottle. Some people fill them with apple juice or some other liquid to spray on the meat while cooking. If you want to try this method, don’t be cheap, buy a new one. If you grab one out of the laundry room or from under the kitchen sink who knows what kind of residue will be in there?

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A few days ago I made a very bold move - I cooked up some grub with no water pan in the Weber. Yikes ! I just figured that it would be more appropriate to do a direct grill for shish kabobs. Using a variation of one of Mike S.’s marinades I soaked some chicken bits in soy sauce and pineapple juice - two cups of each. I drizzled some orange and red peppers with olive oil, shook on some garlic powder, and used red onion chunks and canned pineapple chunks straight. I didn’t have metal skewers so I picked up a bag of bamboo skewers at Kroger and they worked great.

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If you use a chimney starter, propane starter, Minion Method, or just have patience you can probably stop reading here. However, if you approach your barbeque with reckless abandon and have a touch of pyromania, read on….

When I light up the coals I use LOTS of lighter fluid, not for any reasons of efficiency, but just because I love a big ball of fire. To get the fire raging I fan the flames with the tool that is the best, and always at hand - the lid of my Weber.