Yes, you can absolutely make ribs in the oven — and done right, they come out just as tender as anything off a smoker. The method I’ve used for close to 40 years, going back to a restaurant called Gadgets in the 1980s, bakes the ribs low and slow in a covered pan, then finishes…
From Bark to Bite: A Low & Slow Pork Butt Obsession
Smoking a pork butt low and slow overnight is one of the most reliable ways to get tender, flavorful pulled pork, and it holds up whether you’re doing one butt or six. Here’s the full method I use on a 22″ Weber Smokey Mountain: the trim, the rub, the hickory, the overnight stall, and the…
Korean-Style Hickory Smoked Beef Short Ribs
I was looking for something new to smoke and found some great-looking Korean-style short ribs at Sam’s — thin, cross-cut slices across the bone rather than the thicker traditional cut. The marbling caught my eye, so I decided to give them a try. Cost was just under $10/lb, with the whole package running about $31…
Reverse Seared Tomahawk Steak — Dry Brined, Smoked, Seared Over Coals
I’d seen tomahawk steaks around several times but never felt the urge to buy one until this past weekend. I was looking for something to post that I hadn’t done before, and this was a good-looking piece of meat for only $32. I did a little research on how to prepare it and decided on…
Oven Cooked Prime Rib — No Rest Required, Slice and Serve
I decided to cook a prime rib for Easter this year. Publix tends to discount beef around this time of year, and I was able to snag a nice standing rib roast for $6.99/lb. I’ve cooked prime rib in the oven before, and I’ve also smoked one. My daughter gifted me a book a few…
Big Breakfast Saturday
One of the things I have enjoyed most about being a Blackstone owner is cooking breakfast on it. Saturday seems to be the best day for me to do this, normally after golf. I tend to cook the same thing every week. I purchase all ingredients at Aldi and it comes out to around $10…
Smash Burger perfection, process and pictures
One of the things I have made the most on my Blackstone is smash burgers in the close to a year that I have owned the grill. This post will detail the process and outcomes. A little research that I completed resulted in the method that I follow. The beauty of the Blackstone is to…
One-Pan Sausage, Peppers and Onions in the Oven
I’ve been a fan of sausages for a long time and have made them almost every way there is — grilled, smoked, you name it. This is the method I’ve landed on as genuinely foolproof: everything cooks in one pan, in the oven, at 350°F, for about 60 minutes total. The trick that makes it…
White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Snaps my holiday tradition.
My mother did a lot of home baking as long as I could remember. This is a recipe that she provided me that I have made every year for the last 10 years or so. It is an easy recipe to make, and the cookies are really good, and a nice contrast of flavors. Dipped…
Cherry and Apple Smoked Turkey
I decided to smoke a turkey this year for Thanksgiving. I purchased a 15 lb. Butterball and decided this year to not do a brine. I have read that truly the only time you “need” to brine one is if it was a organic natural turkey. Butterball type turkeys are already treated/injected prior to packaging….
Sous Vide Picanha — A Highly Recommended Cut, Finally Tried
Early in my sous vide journey, I watched a lot of content from a YouTube channel called Sous Vide Everything. I learned a lot from it early on and refined what worked best for me using this method. Some cuts turn out incredible sous vide; others, in my opinion, aren’t worth the extra effort. The…
Birria Tacos… My new favorite Tacos
While always looking for something new to cook and display, I decided to figure out how to make these properly. It took 5 attempts to virtually master the meal, in my opinion. Originally I was purchasing 1lb packages of beef from Aldi and cooking in the Instant Pot. While this did a good job with…
Introducing SPAM Fries with a cast of characters
I completed a quick smoke, after spending a lot of time playing around with my Blackstone Grill and the new Pizza oven lately. Back to the basics, chicken thighs and Italian sausages and an old familiar friend SPAM. SPAM gets a bad wrap, but I ate it as a kid and never had a problem…
Expert Grill Charcoal Pizza Oven Review: Is the $97 Walmart Pizza Oven Worth Buying?
Quick Verdict ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4.5/5) Price Paid: $97 Would I Buy Again?YES Best For:Anyone wanting wood-fired pizza without spending $400+. What I Love ✔ Incredible value ✔ Easy assembly ✔ Reaches very high temperatures ✔ Makes outstanding pizza Biggest Drawback The cooking window is fairly short before the stone needs time to recover. 2026 Update –…
The Stones said “Give Me Shelter” and I agree.
I do a lot of outdoor cooking and I have used many different methods when dealing with the weather. Sometimes it was avoidance, and choosing not to cook on days when the weather was not expected to cooperate. I have use umbrellas, and I used a portable pop up canopy for years until it was…
Street Corn on the Blackstone
Prep time, 10 minutes Cooke time 15 minutes Ingredients 2 cans of corn 2 tablespoons of mayo 2 tablespoons of sour cream 2 tablespoons of lime juice chipotle powder (as much as you want) 1/2 lb of crisp bacon 5 oz of Queso Fresco cheese 2 oz of crumbled FETA cheese or cotija cheese (which…
Hickory Smoked and Seasoned Cashews
A quick add on smoke after the plate ribs was to smoke some cashews. This is a smoke I have completed many times and only takes about 90 minutes. I purchase canisters from Sams, normally purchase the Planters variety, this time they were Sams private label. The cashews come salted. I place them in a…
Smoking American Wagyu Beef Ribs — A Gift Certificate Well Spent
I’d always wanted to try smoking beef ribs. I imagine they’re easy to find anywhere in Texas, but here in Middle Tennessee, they’re hard to come by. My daughter gifted me a certificate for Snake River Farms, and I finally pulled the trigger and ordered from them. The ribs arrived professionally packaged, sealed, and shipped…
Blackstone Beauty
I had never understood the fascination of the Blackstone grill, but I am glad that I took the plunge and purchased one. As a long time restaurant employee in my younger days, it brings back memories. One of the first things I am glad for is that I went with the large grill. Seems like…
The new kid in town
I had looked at getting a flat top grill for a while. I did my investigation looking at brands and options. I had looked at adding a removeable top to my Weber Propane, but ultimately decided to purchase a BlackStone. This is basic unit, but the large 4 burner, also comes with a removable metal…
Can a Smoker Run Unattended Overnight? Midnight at the Old Smoker
Yes, a smoker can absolutely run unattended overnight — I gave up babysitting mine a long time ago, and it’s held up through brisket cooks, pork butt cooks, and even genuinely cold weather. This particular smoke was a fairly typical overnight run, except for one thing: it was 19°F outside, cold even for Middle Tennessee,…
Picture Gallery
I have taken a ton of pictures over the last decade, plenty of them food related. Brisket Cheese Chicken Pork Butts Prime Rib Pork Loin Ribs Turkey Pastrami Spam Nuts Burgers and Sandwiches miscellaneous
Should You Slice or Pull Pork Butt? Here’s the Difference
Most people automatically pull a pork butt after smoking it. I don’t always. I cook it to the same finished temperature I would for pulling, and I rest it the same way. But sometimes, after one additional step, I’ll slice it instead — and for sandwiches or serving guests, I actually prefer it that way….
How to Smoke Pulled Pork for a Crowd: Large Pulled Pork Project
This cook had some extra weight to it: it was the first smoke on a replacement 22″ Weber Smokey Mountain, bought after a garage fire took out my previous smokers a few years earlier. I’d been watching Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for months — during the pandemic, even used WSMs were hard to find —…
How to Stop a Pellet Tube From Flaming Instead of Smoking
The Problem My original smoke tube didn’t survive the garage fire, so this smoke started with a replacement — and a new problem. The whole point of a pellet tube is a slow smolder, not a flame, but this one kept doing the opposite. What Happened There’s a fine line between smoking and flaming. If…
Sometimes you feel like a nut…..
Finally getting back to normal after a stormy year. As I normally do near the holidays, I smoked some nuts. I purchased the products from Sam’s, as I have had good luck with the brands in the past. It was a decent day on Sunday so I smoked three batches of nuts. I did two…
Celebratory Brisket — Hot and Fast, After the Rebuild
It had been a long time since I’d smoked a brisket, since the last one ended up costing well north of $100K in repairs and replacement. I had good reason to celebrate this time, though — the rebuild after the fire was finally finished. If you haven’t read the full story of how that happened,…
Back Yard Smoking…
With everything going on the world, with the pandemic I was excited to find a large brisket (close to 20 lbs.) at my local Kroger. I typically do overnight smokes, and always watch the weather prior to smoking. Weather looked good Friday night so I started the brisket about 8:30 PM and it was a…
Another Midnight Brisket — Testing the 22″ WSM
My local Kroger must have bought too much brisket, because they were closing them out — I ended up picking up 2 full packer choice grade briskets at $1.99/lb. One went in the freezer; this one I prepared with my standard overnight process. I normally run my 18″ WSM for brisket, but decided to try…
Sous Vide Brisket, Then Smoked — Does It Beat the Real Thing?
As a fan of trying every cooking method I can, I decided to sous vide a brisket before finishing it on the smoker. I’d seen plenty of people online talk about how great this turns out. This flat came from the same 12.5 lb full packer as my Burnt Ends Project post — the point…