Shhhhh-mo-kin'

This is the first time I've ever smoked any kind of meat. I'm so excited that God's providence has allowed us to purchase this smoker. It's no smokehouse, but I couldn't be more grateful!

This picture is where I toast to the grilling and smoking experience, silently asking God to bless the efforts to learn this new skill. Just to make sure there will be something edible at the end, I am also grilling pork steaks, while the smoker is processing the end of the pork butt, a slab of ribs and some rib tips. You might think an army was suppose to drop by, but no, it was just Greg and I. It's our new diet, all smoked meat, all the time. OK, so we ate it all week long, and my son was over on one of those days. We just 'look' like we could have eaten it all in one sitting.

I don't know about where you live, but here in these parts of Missouri one does not grill meat without a proper beer in hand. Why, what if the fire blazes up? How are you going to put out the fire and not ruin the meat flavor by dousing it with water. If you said pour beer on it, you are allowed to move to Missouri someday. Oh wait, the Nazi's will probably require more than that to travel around, but that's a little ways off, and a whole other subject. We're talking about grilling/smoking meat right now, and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop distracting me.

Here we see the 'close to finished' product. Go get a napkin, because I see you drooling a little. You'll need it in order to look at the next picture anyway.

I have to say that for a first try, these turned out excellent. For my next trick, I will attempt to smoke a beef brisket. I am told they are much more difficult to do, and that is why I chose not to start out trying to smoke one.

And walla - grilled pork steaks done on our cowboy grill. It's the best grill ever. Someday though, I need to make use of the hooks to make my side dishes over the fire.

The smoker has helped me immensely in being able to figure out how a wood stove will work. I've never used one, but do plan to get one in the near future, Lord willing. I expect it will work a lot like the smoker, in that you use the flew and air flow to adjust the temperature. In smoking the meat I was able to maintain a steady 300 degrees throughout most of the process. Obviously opening the unit, and necessary addition of wood/charcoal fuel caused fluctuation in the temperature, but when closed it quickly regained heat.

Anyway, if your ever around these parts, let me know, and I'll cook ya up a mess 'o meat.

Bring toothpicks.

Peace in Christ Jesus.