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inspired by bella: a reader’s story
“In the Kitchen with Bella” reader John sends some photos and a story about how he was inspired by our recipes here to go out and build a backyard grill to fix up some of our recipes. That’s right build a grill. Perhaps it’s more properly called a backyard wood-fired oven. Click through to read the rest of his story in his own words and to see some photos.
“Hi Dom,
“Afer reading your entry about baked beans, I started thinking about digging out the bean pot that belonged to my grandmother and is now somewhere in our basement. The problem was that I couldn’t bring myself to put the oven on for 6 hours with the heatwave we’ve been having. Then along came your grilled chicken recipe and I put aside beans for the moment.
“Now I love to grill; we do it all summer long and, like you, we’re charcoal only. But lately, I had been thinking more about barbecue and less about grilling. And then it hit me—an outdoor smoker would solve both problems. Visions of pulled pork mingled with pots of baked beans and all without heating the house. So, thanks for inspiring me to head off to Home Depot and Lowes.
“I built a simple barbecue pit in an afternoon with cinder blocks and it worked great. I bought a wireless thermometer so I don’t have to open the smoke chamber to figure out when the food is done, put my son to work splitting wood, and we smoked a chicken yesterday. It was in for about three and a half hours and when I sliced the breast, juices just ran down to the cutting board. I never saw such moist chicken. Next I want to try a pork shoulder and a pot of baked beans. The only question I have there is about adding water to the beans while they cook. I’m not sure if I can get away with adding all the water first but I’m planning to give it a try soon.“
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