As some of you already know, my birthday was this week. We don’t all feel love and appreciation the same way, but gifts really strike a chord in my heart. My wife had a great time getting ready for my birthday. Instead of putting 28 candles on the cake (I guess I’m officially too old for candles now), she wrapped up 28 gifts. Please don’t think I got 28 smokers and grills. 🙂 A lot of the gifts were small items, such as jeans, peanut butter candy, and camera gear on my Amazon wishlist.

Marlin (my brother who works in sales) grilled chicken for us on his Meadow Creek BBQ26S Chicken Cooker. My wife made some sides and a chocolate / peanut butter cake with a chocolate glaze. (It was too good.) We had a great time with my whole family in the evening.

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I have an SQ36 Smoker for my own personal use. The SQ36 is great for cooking in the back yard, front yard, side yard, or on the porch roof. I love it. I can pull it out onto the grass, fire it up, and have a nice little time smoking with the boys.

But someday, when I “get big”, I would really like to have a TS250 smoker on a trailer. It would have a BBQ42 chicken cooker mounted to the front. The chicken cooker would be insulated so I could grill more than twice as much meat with the same amount of charcoal. The firebox on the smoker would be insulated too. The paint outside the firebox would stay nice a lot longer with less maintenance because I invested in a double wall and insulation.

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I feel like I’m doing pretty well with my monthly recipe goal. January was off to a slow start (or rather I was!), but I was able to publish the second recipe and it’s not even March yet. This month’s I shared my fun and easy recipe for smoked sausage fatties. I took it the simple route. But then I got to thinking I should also share the bacon weave fattie recipe from my friend Jeff Phillips.

So here you go:
Bacon Explosion Fatty Recipe

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On January 20, my wife and I helped plan, decorate, and cook for couple’s night at our church. The barbecue (yes, ‘que of course! :-)) turned out well, except that I totally forgot to glaze the ham with sauce and honey before serving it. Oh, well, I got quite a few good comments and no bad, so apparently it wasn’t too serious.

Whether you’re trying to plan a sweetheart banquet or just love good barbecue, you will find some great inspiration in this post. It was a bit stressful getting everything ready and I didn’t get as many pictures of the food as I wish, so I will try to fill in the blanks with my story.

My wife and I love decorating for this kind of stuff.

I made smoked ham and smoked skinless turkey breasts on my SQ36 Offset Meadow Creek Smoker. My wife planned the rest of the menu: Creamy Potato Sticks, green beans, 7-layer salad, butterhorn rolls, and three different kinds of ice cream pies. (Keep reading this post for recipes.)

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It’s a dream come true to be able to post new recipes and tips in my recipe library and here on my blog. Last week I finally got around to writing down my tips for smoking split bone-in chicken breasts. We’ve been cooking them about as long as we’ve been into low and slow barbecue, and I’ve learned a few tips and tricks that can help you crank out amazing barbecue very quickly and get raving reviews from your friends and customers.

Cooking outrageous barbecue is very easy if you listen to people with experience or follow their advice. On the other hand, making dog food is also very easy. I’m here to help you cut through trial and error and get right down to awesomeness.

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Are you dreaming of your next custom pit trailer? I just reworked my custom pit trailers page and added a few Ultimate Caterer photo galleries.

Poke around and see what we can do. You just might get a few good ideas. If you’d like, we can help you arrange your pick of Meadow Creek smokers, pig roasters, chicken cookers, and sinks on your dream barbecue trailer. Use our online quote request form to send us your ideas and we’ll provide a floor plan and price free of charge.

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