Waxing Nostalgic at the End of Summer BBQ

[tabs]

Today is the last holiday of the summer season, so I have the BBQ Pit fired up and am doing the obligatory Baby Backs.

That got me to thinking about all the BBQs I've owned and which one I liked the best. I started BBQing just over 30 years ago. My first BBQ was a little $4.00 Hibach which I used to do Country Syle Ribs and Baked Potatoes. After awhile I graduated to a Weber Smokey Joe and after I bought my first house I bought a 24" Weber Kettle at Builders Emporium for $39.00. I have been using that same Q for 26 years, and it is still going strong. I bought a MECO Water Smoker some place along the way, but that was just to cumbersome to use, so that unit mostly sat. About 20 years ago a friend bought a 35 gallon Drum BBQ for me down on Century Blvd in LA. I made some really great Q on that one, eventually the bottom rusted out of it and when I moved to LV it wound up in the trash. The major drawback to that unit was it was a direct fire unit. I put the fire at one end of the unit and the meat on the other. I used that Drum Q for 13 years until I bought a New Braunfels Bandera in 2001, which had the firebox on the side and had a vertical smoking chamber which made it look like a filing cabinet. The major drawback to the Bandera was that the gauge of the metal was thin, so it was harder to keep the a constant temperature and it used quiet abit of fuel to keep it going, I sold that one about 3 weeks ago. The water pan at the bottom of the smoke chamber helped to keep the temperature constant. After I moved to LV, I bought a Big Green Egg, I had always been curious about those units so I gave one a try. They are a bit unwieldly to use as a Grill..hard to beat a Weber for ease of use. As a roasting unit for chicken or beef roasts the Egg is hard to beat, and there are other things to cook on it like pizza. Capacity of the Egg is a bit limited. That finally brings me to the David Klose of Houston BBQ Pit which I bought in late 2005. It is a Drum Style unit with firebox on the side, made out of 1/4" steel plate with the firebox at 1/2" steel plate, the thing weighs over 600 lb. However for using hardwood logs and maintaining constant temperature it really can't be beat. It is a real proffessional BBQers unit which turns out uniformily great product. Of all the units I have owned the Klose is the best for smoking and the Weber is best for grilling, with the Egg being someplace in between.

[Don Plumley]

Scared me - I thought you were Waxing Nostatic at your bbq.

[Zeke]

Good post on BBQ's. I have used the original version of the egg and it can be one of the best if you learn to use it correctly and trust it. For burgers and dogs, a Weber, or clone, is hard to beat. All this stainless propane crap at the Home Defect is plain stupid. You need charcoal, or at least briquets, to eat well.

Now, tabs is spot on about the big boy when it comes to serious cooking, but I don't have that many friends. So, a tiny George Foreman does one or two people just fine.

[craigster59]

I too have gone from hibachi to Weber to smoker to high end gas grill. My Wife bought me a new Weber for my birthday, and it is 'hands down" the best all-around grill. We do a lot of 'deep pit' around here, but I don't think I'll be putting a 5' hole in the ground anytime soon.

[Bill Douglas]

Ma readin and ma spellin aints so good, me too, so I thought Nostatic was getting a full wax at the BBQ.

[Joeaksa]

Doing my "end of summer" and the start of our beautiful season BBQ tonight...