benhood
New member
User name is basically my name. I live in Gunter, TX (Go Tigers) - north of the Dallas Ft Worth Metroplex. Was searching for a place to learn of recipes, tips, etc as I am a brand new owner of the Weber Searwood XL 600. Never owned a pellet grill/smoker before. Never operated one either. Son-in-law has a Recteq and loves it. Although I work in the IT field, my passion is hunting/fishing and cooking. I have been cooking/baking/drying/canning since I was in grade school (over 50 years ago) and have had the fortune to have great friends who were top chefs in their careers. So learned a lot from those guys. Smoking and bbq'ng foods, cooking on my grills is just comforting to me. Currently I have a Big Green Egg, a Blackstone griddle, a Old Country Brazos stick burner offset and a Solo Stove Pi Prime pizza oven (I love pizza and make it all the time). What led me to stepping into the Pellet smoker/grill world basically comes down to time. When it comes to doing long cooks, it has become harder to dedicate a day - 2 days of almost constant attention. Thus, I feel like the Pellet smoker can afford me the time to still do long cooks without needing to "be on call constantly" to the cooking device. I still love my offset and think it is hard to beat on a brisket or pork butt for that famous taste, but I think the challenge of almost matching that on the Searwood is going to be fun. Seen lots of folks very satisfied with the results they've gotten. Plus I just like variety and trying new things. My grown kids are into this cooking/bbq'ng thing as well - they all have kamado's / blackstones / or pellet grills and they all do really well with the dishes they prepare from those devices. It's a family thing and lots of fun.
