The Texas BBQ Forum

I thought I did one of these posts when I first signed up, but there's nothing showing here or in the list of my posts. That being the case, I guess this is overdue.

We'll start with the easy stuff. My real name is Rob. The RMS part of my screen name is my initials.

Due to too much experience with trolls, and being aware of how much info is data mined off the internet for who knows what use, I tend to not disclose a ton of personal information, at least at first.

That excuse aside though, I live in the California central valley. My dad's side of the family is from central Tennessee though, and my mom's side is from South Texas. I'm a retired automotive technician who also has an Associate's Degree in Cyber Security. Tried working in Real Estate for a while too, but being a Realtor is an expensive job with a ton of competition.

Cooks run in the family. My dad was good at throwing simple stuff together in the kitchen. My uncle is a great amateur cook, and I have a cousin who's a professional chef in Vegas. I've been cooking indoors for ages and my cousin is probably the only one in the family that can outdo me now. Not that I'll be competing on Iron Chef anytime soon, mind you, LOL. I've been grilling seriously for about 6 years now. I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but here in the People's Republic of California (as close to a political comment as I'll make here), apartment complexes won't let tenants grill. Can't blame them as some dingbat seems to burn down an apartment building every year here grilling against the rules. I cans has house now however. Did I mention the eccentric sense of humor?

So at this point, I know my way around a gas grill fairly well, consider myself fairly talented with a pellet pooper, and and hopeless with charcoal, LOL. Pellet pooper cooking is easy though, since they regulate the temperature and fuel for you.

My grill is a Rec Tec 680, and I swear by the thing's performance.




Yes, that's my Stetson too. Never go anywhere without it. I do tend to stand out here in CA with it also, LOL.

BBQ wise, I love cooking anything. Brisket and seafood are my weak areas though. Hoping I can pick up some good tips here in that regard. Get better with charcoal and gas too. I grew up on my family's South Texas BBQ sauce, so that's the style I strongly prefer, not that stuff that's 75% brown sugar and molasses.

Guess that's enough rambling for now.

Welcome doesn't seem appropriate, but whatever.

Welcome!

Nice to have a opened minded person from California

Howdy Neighbor, having spent considerable time in the PRC (and that's not a reference to China, nuff said), I can testify there are many, many wonderful people still let in that beautiful state, of which you must be one. Example, we drove out to Yosemite (beautiful, especially Tuolumne if I spelled that right) from Fresno, and then over to Monterey from there. Little farm towns, almond fields and cattle everywhere, made a Texan feel a bit at home.

Of all the pellet poopers, I think the Rec Tec is the sharpest looking except for that blessed orange paint (I went to the other school). That nebulous factor aside, I bet it cooks like a champ. We look forward to lots of tri-tip photos from you as well...a number of the Faithful here have spent some considerable time studying Santa Maria barbecue from over on the Central Coast, so any insights you have on cooking in Central Caly are certainly welcome as well.

Again, welcome aboard, pull up a chair and open a cold one, happy to have you.

-Boots

And welcome from the South Pacific as well. Look forward to,your cooks.

Russ

Thanks for the warm welcome all.

Boots is right about some of the folks out here in California. If you get away from the coast and an hour or so North of LA, most of the folks are fairly down to earth with more traditional values. Cali gets it's bad rep from all the folks that live in LA and the SF bay area. They're the majority of the population unfortunately so they pretty much run things. Got a friend that escaped to small town coastal Oregon, and he says it's the same thing there. Portland has the majority of the population for the state, sooo...

Harris Ranch is right off of Interstate 5, about an hour north of LA. Pretty huge cattle ranch. Not near as big as I hear the King Ranch is out there in Texas though. I hear that ranch is as big as Rhode Island.

I'd escape to Texas myself, but my last trip thru it was on a bus. We pulled into Dallas at zero dark thirty in the dead of summer, and the heat and humidity at that hour made Atlanta (where I'd came from) feel like Alaska, LOL.


As for the Santa Maria tri-tip preferred by the yuppies in the coastal valleys (ie Napa), I'll see what I can do for y'all.

Oh my Buddha, what a extraordinary welcome.
And this is not the debt of my horrible english, i never introduced myself like this

Welcome....nice little cooker.