A Rookie Mistake

Ok, I was planning on spending the day Sunday barbecuing and watching football. The Patriots were away and I was finally going to have 12 hours to just relax and worship the BBQ gods. Butt, (pun intended) Mother Nature didn’t feel I was worthy and dumped a whole bunch of rain on my parade. Anyway, my plan to fire up the smoker and test out my prized discovery of Wicked Good Charcoal Competition Blend will have to wait.

Yes, I said Competition Blend. For those of you who have been following the saga I finally got my paws on a bag of the mythical and magical lump coal blend. How, you ask, did I finally come to possess this rare and wonderful ingredient? It was in my garage. I figure it has been sitting there for about 15 months hidden among all of my good intentions and cobwebs. If I remember correctly the story is somewhat entertaining.

For the Forth of July 2005 my mother decided she wanted to learn how to use a water smoker. You see, for the years prior I would make barbecued ribs and chicken and of course man the grill. In 2005 my mom decided she wanted the glory that real BBQ brings to every backyard chef and I was demoted from pit master to pit crew. Anyway, about a week before the party I helped her buy her very own Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. I also had her pick up a couple bags of lump charcoal when she purchased the WSM. I didn’t specify what brand and she just bought what ever the store had in stock. At the time I really didn’t understand the whole charcoal thing. In fact I had just started using lump myself.

The night before the party I went to my folk’s house to help mom mix the rub and dry marinate her ribs and chicken. Before I left that evening we carefully recorded the steps of the barbecuing process in her first BBQ journal. She was my first student and possibly the one to blame for this blog. I tried to tell her everything from how to light the charcoal, to what to put in the water pan, to how a "beer timer” works. All was ready to go and I figured I was just down the street if she had any trouble in the morning. I returned home confident and somewhat relieved that I could sleep in. Little did I know we should have practiced lighting the charcoal.

My phone rang for the first time around 6:00 AM. Mom couldn’t get the charcoal to light and dad was about to douse it with lighter fluid. The one thing I forbid them to use was lighter fluid. I explained once again how to use the chimney over the phone and volunteered to head over and help get things started. Mom declined my invitation and I went back to sleep. At 6:30 the phone rang again. They still couldn’t get it lit and were now getting worried that the food wouldn’t be done in time for their guests. Dad was again threatening to use the fluid and didn’t understand why charcoal chimneys and lighter fluids don’t mix. And trust me they don’t.

I arrived in the backyard at around 7:30AM and the smoker was just coming up to temperature. Mom was bringing out the ribs and chicken, a bit tentatively, and dad was walking toward us from the side of the house clutching a bag of briquettes. You know the ones in the blue and white bag. He gave me a smile and informed me about the two bags of lump charcoal already it the back of my truck. Well those two bags ended up on a high shelf in the very back of my garage. It’s amazing how much I have learned about BBQ over the past year. It is even more amazing how much I still have to learn. A rookie mistake over a year ago has allowed me to truly appreciate what I now know is a gift from the BBQ gods.

Anyway, if you’re driving buy and you smell the sweet sweet smoke come on back, say hi and have a taste. There’s always plenty.