Where Smoke Meets Fire: The Origin

How many backyard burger grillers are out there in the world? If you are reading this, you've probably fired a couple hotdogs or chicken breasts on a gas grill from your local hardware chain. What? This isn't you? You must be the hardcore enthusiast, who smokes his meat, low and slow, soaking up the flavor of burning hickory or mesquite.

I have found that these sides tend to be at odds. Charcoal vs. Gas. Hot and quick versus low and slow. These ideologies, the flavoring, the preparation involved with each, and everything in between is what this blog is about. I started out watching my dad cook burgers and steaks on the grill as a youngin', and moved on to trying my own hand as a teen. In college I bought a gas grill. Then a charcoal grill. After law school I was using gas primarily, but a friend opened my eyes to the world of smoking, slow and low - so juicy and tender it falls apart.

I thought I had found the mother load, and to be honest - I still love smoking large cuts. There is this primal instinct in every man (and many of you ladies out there) that makes us want to cook our food with some type of flame - from charcoal, or gas, or what have you - that cannot be matched by a frying pan or a kitchen oven.

Those backyard cookouts, whether they are once a year, or once a week are ingrained in our society. What I want to do here, is share my thoughts on grilling techniques, recipes, and the fruits of my labor on smoking with a cheap offset smoker. 

This is the place for the everyman. Whether you are just starting to smoke and/or grill, or have been at it for years, and still want to get that perfect steak, I want to help. After this introductory blog, I'm going to start by explaining Smoke versus Fire (charcoal smoking versus gas grilling) and what each is best suited for. So, stay tuned for that and much more to come soon!