Howling Hog BBQ (at Howling Wolf Farm)

The barbecue season has definitely and without question begun. I say this not because of the wonderful food I 'cued two weekends ago, but because I have begun spending money in preparation for the Harpoon Championships already.

Today I placed an order with Cabella's for a new 12'X 12' EZ-Up tent (our old one was destroyed by wind during a thunderstorm) and a Coleman camp stove. Last year I really found that I needed some sort of tabletop stove to cook ingredients and most importantly - to make coffee!

I also sent an email to Seabrisket BBQ, the New England rep for Backwoods Smokers. I have been saving my comp time since February, and I should have enough to finally purchase the grill I've wanted for the past year.

I'm going to buy one of their "Party" models with a BBQ Guru attachment on it. From their web site:

"The Party Unit has six (6) shelves that are 15 1/2" by 16 1/2" in size. This unit cooks between 225 to 250 degrees on approximately 8-9 pounds of charcoal and wood for flavoring. The Party Unit will maintain this heat for 6-7 hours...Handling Capacity: 85 lbs. Boston Butt or 15 Slabs of St. Louis Style Ribs...Cooking Surface Area: 11 sq. ft"

I had the fortune to meet the folks who compete as "Feeding Freindz" at Harpoon last season, and they were using two of these units. They look solid and the added capacity will be excellent. But, the main reason I'm going with this grill is the insulation. I've been using cheap smokers since I started learning the art of "slow and low" cooking. These units are thin single-walled steel and in a breeze I struggle to keep them up to temp. I should have no such problems with the insulated Backwoods Smoker. And, of course, the notion of being able to drop half a bag of charcoal and wood pieces into my smoker and leave it alone for hours is quite appealing. I can't do that with my present models.

And helping me extend the time between fire checks will be the BBQ Guru. From the Backwoods Smoker web site:

The guru base unit controls a fan that is connected to your fire box through an induction tube. The base unit reads the temperature you have set for your pit, then calculates how much air to blow into your fire box to get the heat level in your pit just right. When your pit reaches the desired temp, the guru goes into maintain mode, "puffing" your firebox once every two to three seconds to maintain the right temperature.

Feeding Freindz had these units as well, and aside from one technical problem the night of the competition (which was fixed by Shotgun Fred, creator of the BBQ Guru, who had a nearby booth), they really did the trick.

So, I'm hoping to get a response from Rick at Seabrisket in the next day or so. As soon as I can, I'm going to place this order. Gotta get practicing!

I'm going to be hemorrhaging money for the next month! Ahhh, well. Anything for the 'cue!

Mule