New Member

[CookinWithWood]

Hey, long time lurker, first time poster here. I've been smoking and making various BBQ for about 4 years. This year I finally decided to get serious and learn a lot more detail and upgrade my equipment.

I moved to DFW from Michigan last year and it's supposed to be a temporary assignment (we'll see...) so I just purchased a Weber kettle to be able grill. I kept reading about all the delicious smoked meat on the forum so I started learning to use it for smoking small stuff and writing down all my recipes, cook times/temps and learning a ton.

I convinced my wife we needed a bigger cooking area so we could BBQ with all our new neighbors (everyone is so friendly here) so I picked up an Old Country Smokers Pecos model at Academy. So far I'm three cooks in and it's definitely an upgrade over the Weber and my hillbilly engineered setup I have up at the house in MI.

I'm going to keep reading and learning from all the experts on here so I can keep entertaining the neighbors.

[TX1911]

Welcome!

[GRailsback]

Welcome from Cypress TX.

[Papa Tom]

Welcome aboard just make yourself at home looks like you are picking up the Texan way of life just fine.....

[OldUsedParts]

Howdy and Welcome

[Rambo]

Welcome and that's some great looking brisket

[limey]

Big Welcome and you did really good on the pit selection and brisket.

[Boots]

Lookit that brisket, rookie hit a dinger. That is NOT a rookie type of brisket, well done and Howdy Neighbor. Since you live in Frisco (know it well) here are a few locals tips:

Matador Meats - Frisco
Great Outdoors - Frisco and McKinney - premier old school sandwich shops
iFly - Frisco - Skydiving practice machine. Kids love it.
Rudy's - Frisco on the Tollway. Darn decent barbecue and you can pump yer tank too. Beer is cold.
Cane Rosso - Frisco near the Star/Cowboys complex. Real good pizza. Beer is cold.

Local Yocal Meats and Barbecue - both in McKinney - awesome places. If you go to the restaurant (and you should) ask to say hello to Matt Hamilton the proprietor, he is a good friend. Just tell him "Boots" from up on Weston Road sent you. Matt is a competition cook as well and all around great guy. The bar is BONA FIDE, no lie.
Blue Goose Café - McKinney and Frisco - Great local Tex-Mex food place. Highly recommend the brisket tacos. Margaritas are good too.
The McKinney Square - this is old downtown McKinney, a great and authentic square which has been completely revived and is vibrant and alive. Home to various festivals over the years like Oktoberfest (yah yah, ist gut), Bike the Bricks, Dickens of a Christmas, etc. Plus or minus a hundred years ago, it was home to 27 saloons! Now it's home to restaurants, bars, artists galleries (like Kim Guthrie), and lots of stuff to do. Nuff said.
Bluebird Café - FM 1461 just NW of McKinney. Little bitty lunch time stop in place with nice food in an old house. Real quaint.
Meyers Park - McKinney - Home to the Collin County farm museum and experimental gardens (pretty) and numerous indoor horse shows, garden shows, antique and vintage shows, etc.)
THUNDER ROAD - Weston Road north from CR 168, a favorite of cyclists, Harleys, sports car and vintage car clubs (even had a tribe of scooter enthusiasts one day, looked like a Vespa jailbreak), who cruise up this scenic road in the spring summer and fall every Saturday, right by my front door, on their way to see farms and fields and horses and butterflies and cows and hawks and tractors and sheep and goats and coyotes and... Llamas!??!. Yep, there's people got some of those. You see a big tall brown and white one on the left, that's 'ol Ray. You see an Appaloosa horse, say hello to Joe (aka 'Ol Tunder) and his sidekick Don Key Hoty. Be careful on Dead Man's Curve coming right off CR 168 then heading north, it's a bit squirrely shaped, you'll wanna stick to yer lane, but north of their it's smooth sailing all the way up to itty bitty downtown Weston, Texas, where you can stop in at Steve Goldstein's place and buy real honest to goodness homegrown honey.

And last but not least amongst many more....

THERE'S A REAL LIVE SHERMAN TANK OUTSIDE THE VFW HALL ON THE NORTH SIDE JUST OFF HIGHWAY 5. Great for photos and kid climbing.

[CookinWithWood]

Dang Boots, thanks for the compliment and all the tips. I "accidentally" got my new neighbor hooked on BBQ, and we have been looking for a good butcher to help us step up our game. Looks like we need to pay a visit to Matador. It's maybe 10 minutes from work too, so that's a nice bonus.

I have to admit I have a couple of briskets, and other meats under my belt but I'm definitely still learning the ropes. Here are some of my recent cooks from this year.

Christmas Eve Brisket https://imgur.com/gallery/tO6R7cJ

New Year's Day Pork Shoulder https://imgur.com/gallery/leU7KtQ


Saturday Afternoon Beef Ribs https://imgur.com/gallery/o4AAkSR

[spacetrucker]

looks like you are gonna fit right in...
off to a good start for sure
welcome to the forum