So, we've been on a journey. My wife Jen and I spent a couple of years with the MAK 2-Star General. We loved it. I wanted to get a BPS drum basically ever since they were put on the market. I never did for a few reasons. One was getting a drum. One was dealing with assembly. Then, Bubba's Barrels and BPS solved that. Still, I was intimidated by dealing with charcoal. Maybe, watching my dad struggle with lighting the charcoal and managing the fire for our kettle in the 1970's had a bit to do with that. Who knows? Maybe, I remembered all of that incorrectly. Anyway, now, we have chimneys and other devices to do our dirty work.
Then, Jen and I visited Victor Arguinzoniz's Asador Etxebarri in the Basque Region of Spain. We were blown away! Victor is our freaking hero. Based on that, I knew that I had to get closer to the fire, to the wood, to the coals--something more natural, more elemental. Don't get me wrong. We love the MAK. It was just time to grow as cooks. Reading bits and pieces of Adam Perry Lang's "Charred and Scruffed" was further inspiration.
So, I lusted after a simple Weber Kettle, which Jen kindly bought me for my birthday earlier this year. It seemed like a small, contained way to learn what the heck we were doing with charcoal and wood. It snowballed from there. We fell in love with the way we were cooking on the Weber. It was just a small leap to convince Jen to let me get a Pit Barrel Cooker, whose 30-gallon drum seemed a bit more manageable than a big 55-gallon BPS drum on the little patio at our current digs, which is already home to a cabinet for our pellets and charcoal, a MAK 2-Star, and the Weber.
Let me tell you, Jen loves that PBC. I feel like a kid whose toy got hijacked by another kid.
Over the past couple of weeks, Jen and I have enjoyed chickens, soup made from chickens cooked on the PBC, tri-tips, and ribs. Jen says they are the best ribs she's ever made. I totally agree. Today, at Costco, we picked up brisket for tomorrow's cook, more ribs, more chickens, and more grilling veggies. We love this PBC. Jen is hooked on cooking with the PBC. To think, she was afraid to light the charcoal before I showed her how to use the chimney. Now, she's all about cooking with the charcoal grills! She does it more than I!
I still want a BPS drum. One day, when we move back into bigger digs, I'll pull the trigger on one among other grilling and smoking tools. At least, I hope to do so. We'd love a collection of globally inspired grills and smokers. We want a kabob grill, a yakitori grill, an Argentinian-inspired grill like one of Grillworks' creations. One day.
Then, Jen and I visited Victor Arguinzoniz's Asador Etxebarri in the Basque Region of Spain. We were blown away! Victor is our freaking hero. Based on that, I knew that I had to get closer to the fire, to the wood, to the coals--something more natural, more elemental. Don't get me wrong. We love the MAK. It was just time to grow as cooks. Reading bits and pieces of Adam Perry Lang's "Charred and Scruffed" was further inspiration.
So, I lusted after a simple Weber Kettle, which Jen kindly bought me for my birthday earlier this year. It seemed like a small, contained way to learn what the heck we were doing with charcoal and wood. It snowballed from there. We fell in love with the way we were cooking on the Weber. It was just a small leap to convince Jen to let me get a Pit Barrel Cooker, whose 30-gallon drum seemed a bit more manageable than a big 55-gallon BPS drum on the little patio at our current digs, which is already home to a cabinet for our pellets and charcoal, a MAK 2-Star, and the Weber.
Let me tell you, Jen loves that PBC. I feel like a kid whose toy got hijacked by another kid.
Over the past couple of weeks, Jen and I have enjoyed chickens, soup made from chickens cooked on the PBC, tri-tips, and ribs. Jen says they are the best ribs she's ever made. I totally agree. Today, at Costco, we picked up brisket for tomorrow's cook, more ribs, more chickens, and more grilling veggies. We love this PBC. Jen is hooked on cooking with the PBC. To think, she was afraid to light the charcoal before I showed her how to use the chimney. Now, she's all about cooking with the charcoal grills! She does it more than I!I still want a BPS drum. One day, when we move back into bigger digs, I'll pull the trigger on one among other grilling and smoking tools. At least, I hope to do so. We'd love a collection of globally inspired grills and smokers. We want a kabob grill, a yakitori grill, an Argentinian-inspired grill like one of Grillworks' creations. One day.
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