Firstly, (at the risk of this sounding like some sort of acceptance speech - I shall reserve that for competition time
) many thanks to the administrator for sorting out my membership to this forum. I just read through a few of the previous introductions, and Im not sure I can compete with Maximus616.
I too am an ex serviceman and BBQ's were much a way of life during off-duty time when the sun was out... or in. As long as it could be lit, it was on - and there was much determination to get it to light! Although I was not in the Catering Corps, I was involved in teaching ingenious methods for cooking in the field where white goods were scarce but wood and earth was aplenty. Since leaving the Forces, Ive mainly been assigned to being House cook on the conventional oven apparatus and not managed to have many BBQ's, but having recently attended a party on an RAF base I found myself stepping in when the lads decided that conventional lighting methods werent dramatic enough and so employed a canister of petrol - thats the RAF Police for you!
I need our meat to taste more flavoursome; A smoker is the order of the day. One that can be used in the Winter as well as the Summer. Ive smoked in a ground oven before, but Ive not used a 'proper' BBQ smoker. It is now my intention to build one. After looking around the Internet, I was very pleased to find that the British BBQ scene is advancing beyond burnt grissle burgers and black sausages. I was also wondering why we dont have the cook offs that the Americans do - Ive now found out that we do but no-one told me!
Im hoping to tap into the wealth of knowledge here, to build a decent smoker. (ive already looked around for drum conversion kits but, as usual, everything seems to be available in the States and not here). Im also hoping that I can do a part time turn at the local school and village fairs selling some decent smoked BBQ!
All help welcome and never turned away!
Ta
