No, not cigarettes — yuck! I recently got a smoker for my birthday, and put it to good use today on a chicken:
Yes, he kind of looks like R2D2
This is my new charcoal smoker/grill. As you can see its a Brinkmann “Smoke N Grill.” There’s a tray in the bottom that you put the charcoal and a few wood pieces in. Then there’s a water pan, and a grill grate, and then at the top is a second grill grate.
Now that I’ve had my grill for a few weeks, and gotten some good use out of it, I thought I’d post some of my thoughts about it as a sort of review.
I’ve always wanted a nice barbecue, but living in apartments put a damper on that idea for a while. So, since we moved, I’ve been thinking about getting one and watching to see what was available. First, this is what I’ve been cooking on for the past 2-3 years:
It did its job pretty well. You could get it hot, slap some food on it, and it would come out good. But those gas tanks are so small, they only lasted a few weeks when we use it alot. And don’t even get me started about bending down below my knees to cook! Also, its not big enough for a rack of ribs.. 
I did some shopping: The cheaper barbeques have smaller grills, usually 2 burners, and put out up to about 40,000 BTUs. These are the sub-$200 grills, and they usually look the part. They’d certainly get the job done, but if I could get something better, I’m sure I would appreciate it.
The big grills were anywhere from $200 and up. They have larger grills, 3 or 4 burners, side burners, and put out about 50,000 BTUs. Most come in stainless steel, and some come in colors as well. Different models have various features like the side burners, digital timers, meat thermometers, wood-chip boxes, etc, etc.. So of course I wanted one of those with all the fancy gadgets and gizmos!
In the course of my web travels, I saw this BBQ at Walmart, that they had just dropped the price on: Walmart.com
It looked pretty nice: stainless steel, multiple burners, and 68,000 BTUs. It also has a searing burner, a back burner (rotisserie), and storage underneath. Did I mention that it will give off SIXTY-EIGHT-THOUSAND BRITISH THERMAL UNITS. Afterall, you gotta cook with heat. 
A few days later, we went to the local Walmart to check it out. And bought it. The guys at Walmart were nice enough to help us tie it into the trunk — since it wouldn’t fit anywhere in the car! And this is my new BBQ:
I cooked this chicken last week, and it just turned out so pretty that I had to take a picture of it:
Ever had these? I’m throwing a party! More coming soon…
For dinner, I made BBQ ribs, twice-baked potatoes, and golden crusted brussel sprouts. It was delicious! These ribs were pork spare-ribs which I hadn’t tried cooking before. Twice-baked potatoes are always tasty and I found the brussel sprouts recipe on 101 Cookbooks. Read more for the details…
