Your worst BBQ disaster.

[OWENMUSTANG]

Here's mine...

last sunday. 2 nice racks...toast! no really...burnt to a crisp..:cry: :cry: :cry:

got 3 1/2 hrs into the cook..going great.. looks like the lower rack in my WSM shifted into the door...when i found out about it, pit temps were over 350..(guru stops at 350) and the door was laying on the driveway.

we mourn for the loss of our dear friend, porky, who sadly, passed before joining us for dinner..

looks like i need to find some good rib racks:idea:

help me feel better... what was yours???

[Woodman]

I accidentally put rub all over a naked woman...........:twisted: :shock:

[Papa Tom]

I accidentally put rub all over a naked woman...........:twisted: :shock:

Shame on ewe Woody.......:!:

[Buckeye]

I accidentally put rub all over a naked woman...........:twisted: :shock:

Bet yer sheep wuz madder'n hell fer waste'n it on her.:twisted: :sarcastic:

[cortez]

i was useing a WSM with my guru.i was useing the foil ball in my water pan like they said to do. it was my second cook with my guru.. i looked my water pan over before i started the foil balls looked good to me so i used them again. just put new foil on top of water pan. started the cook about a hour in i can out to check things. flame were coming out the top vent bottom vents and the door. by the time i got it out every thing was burned up all my probes for my guru were toast had to get all new. and the butts were dead.. i learned that the foil ball have a lot of grease in them.. who know? not me..wife all most chit herself she thought it was so funny..because i had just told her how with the guru. i didnt have to watch the fire all the time. thats why i need one..oh will..

[Papa Tom]

This didn't turn out a disaster but it was a SOB to deal with.
I did a meat catering for 200 in Arkansas a 4th of July event.
Because the roads were Ozark mountain gravel twisties I just loaded up a Traeger 075 in the back of my pickup and headed up.
The plan was to do the brisket then put it in a warmer at the facility then do the ribs in time for the eats.
I had put a new digital controller on the pit and tested it before hand and it worked fine. But NOOOO about 2AM that controller went bonkers and just kept shoveling fuel on the fire, we had grease fires and pellet overflow. :evil: Anyway I spent the rest of the night and all the next day turning that POS on and off to control the temp. :!:
The meat turned out fine, got lots of complements and I was only grouchy with those I love.
Then to top it off the ramp I used to unload the pit disappeared and I had to go find someone with a front end loader to lift it.
I can laugh now.

[Bowhnter2]

I don't know, have pretty much averted disaster because of the info and vast knowledge gained here :D

Had the door fall off the WSM too, but ribs were just done quicker, no burn.

Maybe this, the first and only time I smoked a turkey that was pre-forum a few years ago for thanksgiving. It was cold, windy, rainy, and I used a cheap ol water smoker, could never get the temps up, we finally ate around 8:30.

But I injected that bird with some kind of very strong garlic butter concoction, and gave my company some of the best gas they have had :oops:

[1044]

I ate some of Texana's Q.

[Zeeman]

Looking at 1044 after he ate Texana's Q.
z

[Bad Santa]

Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea...:shock:

:lol: :lol:

[Bad Santa]

Worst BBQ disaster I can think of, as of late, would be anybody trying a sampling of that crap that Ol' George, from "Ham on the Street" turned in for his rib entry at the Humble Rodeo Cookoff.
That was some kind of ugly mess that smelled worse than it looked....smoked ribs with a bad reddish/brown mole' sauce all over it.....:shock: :crazy:

[Roger]

I've had trouble smoking turkey for a long time, which I used to blame on a very cheap smoker - or it may have been inexperience. But last Thanksgiving I smoked one that came out next to perfect (is there such a thing as perfect?). The day was cold and rainy and I just didn't feel good, so we had the dark meat for supper, and saved the white (our favorite) for later. So a couple days later my wife put out the rest of the turkey and left the room. When she returned, there was no turkey to be seen. Eventually I found the plastic bag on the den floor - absolutely empty, bones and all. The next day we had one sick minature schnauser.

[OWENMUSTANG]

I accidentally put rub all over a naked woman...........:twisted: :shock:

Sure that wasn't a sheep?:D

[3970010]

i was useing a WSM with my guru. i was useing the foil ball in my water pan like they said to do. it was my second cook with my guru.. i looked my water pan over before i started the foil balls looked good to me so i used them again.

I am having a hard time understanding what you would use foil balls for. There has got to be joke in there somewhere


Worst BBQ disaster I can think of, as of late, would be anybody trying a sampling of that crap that Ol' George, from "Ham on the Street" turned in for his rib entry at the Humble Rodeo Cookoff.
That was some kind of ugly mess that smelled worse than it looked....smoked ribs with a bad reddish/brown mole' sauce all over it.....:shock: :crazy:

That was the nastiest piece of food I have ever had in my life. I am just now even starting to think about forgiving Texana for having me taste that. I can not express in words to yall how nasty that was. Nutmeg paste of something like that.

[HFD26]

About 20 years ago, I was smoking 4 briskets for my neighbor in a 5 x 3 steel and wood frame smokehouse. It had a off set fire box. I put an electric element at the bottom so I could keep the temp up around 230. I made a quick store run, and when I returned and was driving down my street, I saw a large column of black smoke coming up from behind my house. The grease had dripped down onto the electric element and ignited the wood frame. As I ran around the side of the house, I grabbed the garden hose and told my son to turn off the breaker box. The smokehouse was fully engulfed in flames. The fire was confined to the smokehouse thank God, but the smokehouse and briskets were a total loss.

[Buckeye]

About 20 years ago, I was smoking 4 briskets for my neighbor in a 5 x 3 steel and wood frame smokehouse. It had a off set fire box. I put an electric element at the bottom so I could keep the temp up around 230. I made a quick store run, and when I returned and was driving down my street, I saw a large column of black smoke coming up from behind my house. The grease had dripped down onto the electric element and ignited the wood frame. As I ran around the side of the house, I grabbed the garden hose and told my son to turn off the breaker box. The smokehouse was fully engulfed in flames. The fire was confined to the smokehouse thank God, but the smokehouse and briskets were a total loss.

:shock: :shock: Glad ya got back in time. Now "that's" a dizzaster.:shock:
(serious kwestyun: bein' a fireman.....considerin' tha way it happened, did ya feel kinda embarrassed? :oops: )

[HFD26]

You bet I was embarrassed, to this day I never told anyone at work about it. After it was out, my son laughed his ***** off at the way I was standing back from the fire and rapidly shaking the hose back and fourth.

[cortez]

I am having a hard time understanding what you would use foil balls for. There has got to be joke in there somewhere

no joke thats what they told me at guru to do.the guru was designed to be use without water. they said if you use water it will throw the guru off.. i have know idea if thats true or not..

[grillmaster]

my worst one was around thanksgiving i was cookin up some chicken breasts on the gasser. i went inside to prepare some of the sides i looked out the window and it looked like my house was on fire. i hadn't cleaned the grease trap out in awhile and wooosh grease fire. i got it out but i m surprised nobody called the fire department. needless to say the chicken was toast looked like hockey pucks crispy crittered they were.

[DaHorns]

I had a similar experience as grillmaster, a little over a years ago I was making a VERY LARGE amount of ABTs on a gasser. I started them off and everything was going great, all of the sudden dark smoke started to roll out from under the lid, so I opened it and had a HUGE grease fire from the bacon grease. Needless to say the ABTs were ruined and it took about 10-15 minutes for the fire to go out. Did I mention that the gasser was right next to my new truck and my uncle was a fireman and it was his gasser? Very exciting times..........:crazy:

[ZBQ]

You guys get you minds out of the gutters!!:lol:

The foil balls thing is not a joke.

The foil balls are usually used with the double Brinkman charcoal bowl in place of a water pan in the WSM or Peidmont Pan method. You can find the instructions for making the Piedmont pan over at the TVWB site or at the BBQ Central site too. I use this method and really like it because the clean up of the water pan is a breeze.

The foil balls are meant to act as a spacer and support. You crumple up foil into balls and put it into the bottom of the Peidmont Pan and THEN you stretch foil across the top of all of it and seal around the edges of the water pan. Leave enough sag in the middle so that the drippings will pool in the middle. The foil balls are just to support the middle of the stretched foil so that when drippings get on it they don't weigh it down and collapse it. The foil balls are NOT meant to be used ALONE. :rolleyes: They must not have told you that.:?

Next cook you just replace the stretched foil.

With the foil stretched over the top of the balls the foil balls never get dirty and that is why they told you not to replace them.

Hope this helps. Any more questions just ask.:D

[atbguy]

I guess one of my worst screw ups was I have an ECB, and well I just set it directly on the ground, which at the time was grass in front of our apartment building. I'd go out on the porch and periodically check on the temp and noticed what looked like burned grass around my smoker... Few days later I was talkin with the neighbor and he mentioned having to stomp out the grass fire around my smoker... :oops: Needless to say I take better precautions now when cooking on a surface that's not concrete...

[ZBQ]

My worst experience was before I had discovered Texas BBQ Rub and had no idea what real BBQ was. I was trying to make my own rub from a recipe I found on the Food Network of all places and I misread the recipe. It called for 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 Tbs. black pepper. I put in 2 Tbs. brown sugar and 1/2 cup black pepper!!:shock: Needless to say the rub made the ribs inedible. :rolleyes: I use nothing but Texas BBQ Rub now for Q'n.:)

The other bad part was I was trying to do them on my gasser and they were dry as dust and tough and rubbery because I didn't cook them long enough.

I asked the wife what my worst BBQ experience was and this was the first thing out of her mouth and it was over 3 years ago. Guess it made quite an impression.

She just told me to tell Bill Cannon thanks for saving her from my dismal attempts at making a rub and to thank all of you guys on the board for teaching me how to do good Q.:D

[PhotoKirk]

I learned this one the hard way: There is a huge difference between a CLOVE of garlic and a BULB of garlic.


On the bright side, I'll never get scurvy.

[david brace]

I learned this one the hard way: There is a huge difference between a CLOVE of garlic and a BULB of garlic.


On the bright side, I'll never get scurvy.
So??? What's wrong with a bulb of garlic? In the Italian tradition of cooking, one is used at every meal. My blood pressure is ALWAYS 120/80.

I thought that scurvy was relieved or avoided by citrus? Isn't that why the Brits were nicknamed "Limey's"?

DB

[david brace]

Shame on ewe Woody.......:!:

Good one, Papa Tom !!!

DB

[Woodman]

The first brisket I ever cooked. I had not come here yet and cooked it on an ECB (my FIRSt mistake) by [I]time[I] as opposed to internal temperature. I will never forget my family trying to chew that mudflap while all the while assuring me it was "good!":shock:

[yakman]

I learned this one the hard way: There is a huge difference between a CLOVE of garlic and a BULB of garlic.

That's okay PhotoKirk, nothing wrong with that mistake. In our house there is no such thing as using too much garlic. We'd never consider using a single clove of garlic for anything....simply not enough to make a statement. Garlic is sort of like chocolate.....hard to get too much. The mantra "Death by chocolate" is interchangeable with "Death by garlic" in our house. We have a recipe for "40 clove chicken"....think about how many "bulbs" of garlic that equates to!"

[TexLaw]

Fortunately, I haven't had any infernos like what I've read here! I do remember the first pork butt that I cooked, many years ago.

I had cooked ribs and briskets and a bunch of other things with other folks, so I had a clue what to do about that, but pulled pork was something I just didn't grow up with. Not knowing any better, I cooked the pork butt like a pork loin roast, taking it up to about 145 on my Weber kettle (indirect).

When I took it off to let it rest, it looked and smelled great. I was pretty excited. Then, I sliced it. I could actually hear the knife go through that ridiculously tough piece of meat. One bit could've lasted a half hour. I remember looking at my wife and saying something like "Sorry, honey. I'll just have to learn how to do that better." The next one worked. :)


TL

[PhotoKirk]

So??? What's wrong with a bulb of garlic? In the Italian tradition of cooking, one is used at every meal. My blood pressure is ALWAYS 120/80.

I thought that scurvy was relieved or avoided by citrus? Isn't that why the Brits were nicknamed "Limey's"?

DB

Sailors used to eat garlic to avoid getting scurvy. A daily ration of garlic was given to sailors in both the British and French navies.

[Buckeye]

Come ta think of it, my ferst brisket wuz a joke. Not fully rememberin' all tha instruckshuns on how ta cook a brisket.....I went on whut I "thaut" I remembered :oops: . Along with missin' a step or two of tha process I also missunderstood cert'n terminology and tha key werd wuz "pull".
I thaut pull ment take it off tha pit for good. I did pull it at 160......I did foil it......but I didn't put it back on tha pit....insted I stuck it in tha cooler for bout 4 hrs. :shock: I thaut I had dun it rite til I tried slice'n it. Tha chewin' part goes without sayin'......it wuz boot leather but with a very nice flaver.:sarcastic:

[Zeeman]

Turn dat sucker in......I've seem dem win:lol: :D Just askole Texasna.
z

[Buckeye]

:shock: Did you jus call Tecksana a *******? :sarcastic:

[3970010]

:shock: Did you jus call Tecksana a *******? :sarcastic:

it appears that he may have

[Texana]

Naw ... Tee dun tole me he aint real bright in the head ...

but ...

He aint stupid .... or so she tell me anyway

[Zeeman]

:D
z

[kpigout]

Come ta think of it, my ferst brisket wuz a joke. Not fully rememberin' all tha instruckshuns on how ta cook a brisket.....I went on whut I "thaut" I remembered :oops: . Along with missin' a step or two of tha process I also missunderstood cert'n terminology and tha key werd wuz "pull".
I thaut pull ment take it off tha pit for good. I did pull it at 160......I did foil it......but I didn't put it back on tha pit....insted I stuck it in tha cooler for bout 4 hrs. :shock: I thaut I had dun it rite til I tried slice'n it. Tha chewin' part goes without sayin'......it wuz boot leather but with a very nice flaver.:sarcastic:


I entered a brisket contest before I had ever cooked a brisket in my life. I cooked one to practice the week before the contest, and the one I cooked for the contest was only the second i ever cooked. It was at the Don Strange Ranch, and 63 teams entered. I placed 11th. Turned out to be the only contest I ever entered. Sorry, no disaster story on this one...lol.

[cortez]

You guys get you minds out of the gutters!!:lol:

The foil balls thing is not a joke.

The foil balls are usually used with the double Brinkman charcoal bowl in place of a water pan in the WSM or Peidmont Pan method. You can find the instructions for making the Piedmont pan over at the TVWB site or at the BBQ Central site too. I use this method and really like it because the clean up of the water pan is a breeze.

The foil balls are meant to act as a spacer and support. You crumple up foil into balls and put it into the bottom of the Peidmont Pan and THEN you stretch foil across the top of all of it and seal around the edges of the water pan. Leave enough sag in the middle so that the drippings will pool in the middle. The foil balls are just to support the middle of the stretched foil so that when drippings get on it they don't weigh it down and collapse it. The foil balls are NOT meant to be used ALONE. :rolleyes: They must not have told you that.:?

Next cook you just replace the stretched foil.

With the foil stretched over the top of the balls the foil balls never get dirty and that is why they told you not to replace them.

Hope this helps. Any more questions just ask.:D

Mahalos , for the heads up.. i did learn that later..

[Buckeye]

I entered a brisket contest before I had ever cooked a brisket in my life. I cooked one to practice the week before the contest, and the one I cooked for the contest was only the second i ever cooked. It was at the Don Strange Ranch, and 63 teams entered. I placed 11th. Turned out to be the only contest I ever entered. Sorry, no disaster story on this one...lol.

RATS!!!.....an heer I thaut you were fittin' ta tell me tha same thing happened ta you.:oops: :oops:

1 iz tha loneliest #. :sarcastic: :D

[adolpho]

Last Labor Day weekend I was reheating 12 frozen briskets I previously cooked for a Homeowners Assoc. party. First, I got my pit to around 350 degrees because I was only reheating them. I stuffed them in my pit and since they were double wrapped in foil, nothing to worry about, just keep the temp up. Heck I've done this many times before. An hour in I heard a lot of sizzling and the temp had skyrocketed to 500+ degrees. Heavy smoke started coming from the stack, so I suspected a grease fire, and it would be my first. I didn't realize how hot the 3/8" steel gets and even with gloves I was burning my self as I opened the pit up. Sure enough flames everywhere. Remember, the briskets are double wrapped, so I assumed I can grab them with my gloves on and throw them in the "hot" chest. I grabbed the first one and didn't know that dripping grease that's on fire will follow you. Woooo, was I shocked as I dropped the brisket on the ground. I then got my ash shovel and took the briskets out with that. After taking all the briskets out, the fire continued for about five minutes, then burned out. Meanwhile, I had sore/burned hands and singed hairs on my forearms. Good thing we were the only ones there when it happened. Of course I threw the one dropped brisket out.:wink:

[david brace]

Sailors used to eat garlic to avoid getting scurvy. A daily ration of garlic was given to sailors in both the British and French navies.

OK PK...you won Final Jeopardy on that one. I was just going by memory...:o

Now I gotta look that up.:wink:

DB

[Papa Tom]

Heavy smoke started coming from the stack, so I suspected a grease fire, and it would be my first. I didn't realize how hot the 3/8" steel gets and even with gloves I was burning my self as I opened the pit up. Sure enough flames everywhere.

I can visualize this one grease fires are like chimney fires, they are soooo much fun we should do it more often.
Ya know I see those pits that are layered thick with grease and I think "someday that there pit is gonna put global warming over the edge". :)

[ibornagain]

This is so funny...

several years ago I converted an old Frig. into a smoker...Had the inside completly lined with SS 10ga metal, had added a gas burner in the bottom so that I could lay wood on the grate that was mounted on the inside...very nice... But no comparsion to the Gator that I now have...

I had put the brisket on & had a good bed of coles. I closed the door & started cutting the grass...about an hour later I made a pass by the smoker & notice the Temp guage that I had put on the top of the frig. was reading 500 degrees!!!!

I jumped off the mower opened the door & the Brisket was so chared that it looked like a peice of charcol....I had forgotten to turn the Gas off...

I removed it & tossed it into the woods..

Lesson learned pay attention...

[OWENMUSTANG]

:lol: good stuff... i almost feel better about the loss of the porky twins....

if nothing else, sure is a way to make you a tad bit more humble:oops:

[Texana]

My worst BBQ disaster .....

Well to the truth this one is related to BBQ ...

Here goes ...

Talking to BBQ people about freight charges for TPJ ....

Yep that would be it .... big disaster ... every time ... and I still dont learn.

Good thread ....

[Papa Tom]

Just had dinner and it deserves a mention here. My wife is normally a excellent cook and my physique shows it ( hers doesn't though) .
Well she's learning how to use the gasser and planned for dinner grilled salmon, buttered new potatoes and asparagus. I guess that she missed class the day they covered " Thawing Before Grilling" because what we had is best described as blackened sushi. Also she might of skipped out on "New Potatoes Take a Little Longer to Cook". :oops:
Asparagus was fine.
And I will live to see another day because nobody here knows her so she will never know I told the world. :D

[ZBQ]

:lol: Smart man Papa Tom!!:wink:

[Grubber]

Ok I've been lurking here for a couple years, but this one made me respond.
Now let me preface this by saying that I'm a died in the wool stick burner. I just don't get the whole gasser thing.
But on this particular evening I put a brisket on for an all-nighter and thought I would try out a homemade gas assist in order to get some sleep.
About 3:00 am I wake up and decide to check on it.
Lo and behold, the temp was down to 100 degrees and there was no flame on the burner, but the gas is still pouring out of the canister. Now I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer to begin with, and having to engage my brain 3:00am can never be a good thing.
Anyway, I turn off the gas and open the doors for what seems like a proper amount of time which turned out to be not a proper amount of time. I found this out after I tried to light the burner again.
I didn't tell anyone about my adventure until the next day when they asked where my eyebrows and arm hair were.
Not only did I get the crap scared out of me, it was a long time until I could get that smell of burning hair out of my nose.

The brisket wasn't bad though. Only a slight propaney aftertaste.

[Grubber]

I decided being lazy can definitely give you owwweeees.