Backyard SmokeMaster BBQ

06/05/2026

Last call. Founding pricing closes tonight at 11:59 PM.

Saturday, October 17 — Live Cook Day. Eight seats. My backyard. After tonight, you'll still be able to grab a seat (if any are left), but you'll pay more.

backyardsmokemaster.com/society

06/04/2026

What if your charcoal grill could run itself the way a pellet grill does — but you still got real charcoal and wood flavor? That's what pulled me in to the Giant Huntsman by Spider Grills.

26-inch kettle/kamado-style cooker. 502 square inches (nearly double a Big Green Egg). 5mm carbon steel build. Hinged lid. And the Venom controller built in, which automatically manages temperature so you can set it and walk away.
If you saw my Poor Man's Brisket cook a couple weeks back, this is the grill that did the work.

Full walkaround, my startup hack, and the two reasons it earned a spot in my backyard arsenal — all in the new video.

👉

What if your charcoal grill could run itself like a pellet grill — ...

06/03/2026

48 hours left on founding pricing.

The Live Cook Day on October 17 — 8 seats, my backyard, food and drinks included, a full day at every grill and smoker I own. After Friday, prices go up.

If this has been on your "I should probably do this" list, this is the moment.

Full VIP: backyardsmokemaster.com/society
Cook day ticket only: backyardsmokemaster.com/cookday26

06/03/2026

You've been told marinades soak deep into your meat.

They don't.

Cut open a chicken breast you marinated overnight and the flavor stops a couple millimeters in. Past that? Plain chicken. Same chicken it always was.

So what's actually going on — and which method (marinade, brine, or injection) should you reach for on your next cook?

This Wednesday at 6PM PST, we settle all three: The Marinade Lie — Injection vs. Brining vs. Marinade — What Actually Works.

👇 Livestream link in the first comment.

06/01/2026

The Live Cook Day didn't start as a plan. It started as a recurring joke in the podcast — "Kenyatta, when are you doing a whole hog cook?"

Then I started thinking about it for real.

Not a class. Not a demo. A small group of folks who actually love this craft, in my backyard on October 17, cooking whatever the group wants to learn. Together.

Eight seats. Founding rates close Friday, June 5.

backyardsmokemaster.com/society

05/29/2026

Saturday, October 17, 2026. My backyard. Eight people.

This isn't a cooking class — it's a day where you tell me what you want to see cooked, and we get into it. Brisket. Beef ribs. Whole hog. Whatever the group wants to dig into.

Stick burners, drum smokers, the Huntsman, Weber kettle, pellet grill, Smoke Slinger — all of them fired up. Food and drinks included.

Founding member pricing closes Friday, June 5. After that, both the VIP membership and the standalone cook day ticket prices go up. Founding members lock in their rate as long as they remain subscribed.

Two paths in:
🔥 Full VIP membership (cook day + ongoing benefits): backyardsmokemaster.com/society
🎟️ Just the cook day ticket: backyardsmokemaster.com/cookday26

05/27/2026

Spray bottle BBQ truth time 👇
That apple juice you've been hitting your brisket with every 45 minutes? It's barely making it past the surface of the meat.

But here's the thing — spritzing absolutely works. Just not for the reason you've been told.

This Wednesday on the Backyard SmokeMaster Podcast, we're cracking open the Spritzing Lie:
🔥 What spritzing ACTUALLY does (the science)
🔥 What to spritz with — and what to skip
🔥 The right strategy for pellet grills, kettles, kamados, offsets, and drums

Wed 5/27 · 6PM PST · Live on YouTube

What do YOU spritz with? Drop it in the comments 👇

🔗 Livestream link in the comments

05/20/2026

🍔 This Memorial Day weekend, millions of burgers are going to hit grills across this country — and most of them are going to come out worse than they should.

Not because the cooks don't care. Because the cooks are following advice that's flat wrong.

Dimple or no dimple? Salt early or salt late? Press the patty or never touch it? Medium rare or well done? Every "rule" you've heard contradicts another one — because most of them aren't based on anything but tips passed down from dads, blogs, and YouTube videos by people who've never tested them.

This Wednesday, May 20 at 6pm PST — Episode 109 of the Backyard SmokeMaster BBQ Podcast: "The Ultimate Burger Lie: How to Get Juicy Patties This Memorial Day"

Six burger lies. Six food-science truths. And a clear playbook you can use this Memorial Day weekend to put out the best burgers your backyard has ever seen.

Set your reminder — link in the comments. 🔥

05/17/2026

Beef prices have gotten out of hand. $10+/pound for brisket in some parts of the country — and I get it, that's a lot to drop on a backyard cook.
So I tested whether a bone-in chuck roast, cooked the exact same way I'd cook a brisket, could deliver the same experience for a fraction of the price. Texas-style salt and pepper, 275°F on the Giant Huntsman, wrapped in butcher paper with beef tallow, rested long.

Half the cost. Half the cook time. The full verdict — including my honest take on what it nails and what it doesn't — is in the new video.

👉

Beef prices have hit unimaginable levels — over $10 a pound for brisket in some parts of the country. So I went looking for an alternative that delivers the ...

05/13/2026

New video up: St. Louis Ribs — How to Trim, Season, and Get Them Ready to Cook.

I'm walking through exactly how I prep a rack of St. Louis spares for the smoker, including:

• What actually makes a rib "St. Louis" (it's just the cut)
• Why I grab mine at Costco and skip half the trim work
• The silver skin shortcut I use instead of peeling
• Why I've ditched commercial rubs and gone back to just salt and pepper

After the direct heat rib experiment a couple weeks ago, Jeannine and I were both blown away by the salt-and-pepper rack. That's officially the move now — and you'll see exactly how I'm applying it in this one.

Watch the full breakdown here → https://youtu.be/yy7nNHAcOZM

And if you want early access to videos like this plus the conversations behind them, come join us inside the Backyard SmokeMaster Society → https://backyardsmokemaster.com/society

– Backyard SmokeMaster BBQ

Before you put ribs on the smoker, the prep work makes all the difference. In this video, I'm breaking down exactly how I get St. Louis style spare ribs read...