I find that freezing certain herbs retains the flavor better, especially basil and parsley. For basil, I chop it and mix with a little olive oil. I use a muffin tin for the little tiny muffins to freeze the mixture. Each individual "muffin" is about the right size for what I need. When frozen, I pop them out and put them in a freezer baggie. Do the same with parsley. I also find that freezing hot peppers makes them better to use in winter salsas. They are almost like fresh. Just pop those in a freezer baggie without blanching and take out what I need throughout the winter. I do dry peppers also. I have an electric smoker and find it very useful for drying peppers (and the left over smokiness gives them a nice flavor!)

Thanks all y'all! Does this site still have some kinks in it? I know for sure I responded last night.....strange. It could have been me too. Just bought a new laptop and haven't had much time to play with it and add ad blocker yet. Several post I've opened the text run into the ads on the right. What a pia. Maggie,I had never heard of smoked bologna until we moved south. Thinking it's a Oklahoma/Texas thing as most bbq joints serve it down here. Thanks Annie! Between the dinner/buffet, his favorite band playing for free and donations they raised a good sum of money for his wife and kids. Ci lantro, those Brach's Stars have been hard to find forever it seems. I was glad to find the dark ones but I guess they are becoming a thing of the past. Popcorn in the soup, oh yeah, I/we have done that more than once. Allye is a hoot and she will talk your ear off for sure. Thankfully she is potty trained now too. Not a fan of changing "muddy diapers" here...although I've done it many times over the years even though I don't have kids. LOL! Good to be back friends! David

I've owned and used many different types of BBQ and smoker equipment over the years. Hands down the best I have ever owned is one called Smokin Tex. It is a heavy duty electric smoker made out of all stainless steel....even the racks. This type of smoker is designed to produce real PIT TYPE barbeque.....as you cook "low and slow" at 225 degrees F. You do not need a water pan and only use one or two small pieces of wood (the size of a chicken egg in its smoke box). Because you cook at a low temperature....it is impossilbe for food to char onto the cooking grills. Accordingly, they are very easy to clean in a dishwasher or by hand. It is IMPOSSIBLE to produce bad pit style BBQ in this smoker. Every thing comes out perfect......each and every time......with absolutely no attention needed for either the food or the smoker. I cooked a 10 pound brisket in my smoker the day before yesterday. Here is the proceure.......just before cooking, season the brisket with a heavy coating of Tony Chacherie's More Spice cajun seasoning (it has less salt in it). Place two small pieces of APPLE wood into the smoker box. Cover the smoker box and the smoker bottom with foil for easy cleaning. Place the brisket in the smoker and insert a thermometer. Set the smoker thermostat to 225 degrees F. Remove the Brisket when the meat temperature reaches 190.....about 9 hours. You do not have to turn or watch the meat. It is truly set it and forget it. The brisket is very tender and to die for good. It is absoultely IMPOSSIBLE to mess up. Same can be said about chicken, ribs, vegetables, and seafood. One note of caution....because the food is cooked at such a low temperature for a long period of time, the fat undergoes a "special" chemical reaction where it gets a wonderful sweet flavor to it that is hard to resist eating. (I'm a chemist so I pay attention to food chemical reactions.) Hamburgers do not shrink when cooked in this smoker and one does not have to cook with smoke. Just don't add any wood. Also, this type smoker makes a great FOOD WARMER..... We Cajuns love to party hard and my smoker comes in real handy as a warmer when we "Laissez les bons temps rouler!! (Let the good times roll.) Again, cleanup is a cinch with this type smoker.....because cooking at a low temperatue simply does not allow the food to bake onto the racks!! I 100% guarantee that you will love this type smoker. My son has an electric Masterbuilt smoker that works on the same principle. It does produce excellent BBQ; however, it is nowhere near as durable or well insulated as the Smokin Tex. Being well insulated allows for cooking in this smoker even in the coldest weather....that is an important plus for me when I want to make me a batch of jerky in the winter. I'm into cold smoking too......absoultely love to smoke all types of cheese in it. Lightly smoked mac and cheese is so good!! I can asssure you that this is not SPAM. I usually hang out on the GW fig forum.....but I really LOVE to cook too. I've attached a link below so that you can see the smoker that I use. I purchaseed a nice cart and many other accessories for mine. These low temperature bbq smokers come in various sizes. There is usually another all stainless steel electric smoker for sale on eBay that is much cheaper than the Smokin Tex and looks very similar to this one. I did not see it in my current search. If interested in this type product be sure to check out other sales sites. Tell your husband that he will produce THE BEST BBQ in town with this type smoker........no joke. Here is a link that might be useful: All Stainless Electric Smoker

Your brisket was tough due to the cooking method. It is very important to realize that by cooking a beef brisket to 195 degrees F DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN A TENDER BRISKET. "How" you arrived at that final temperature is the whole secret. You must VERY slowly approach that final temperature by cooking it at about 225 degrees (never never any higher than 250 absolute max). This is what's called LOW AND SLOW smoking. "Magical" chemistry related things will happen to the fat and collagen when you cook it this way. Those very "flavorful" and "tenderizing" chemical reactions will not occur to any great extent by cooking it any other way. If you try to hurry the process along.....the magic will not happen. And believe me you don't want to miss the magic. IMO, brining a fresh brisket that is to be smoked is absolutely ridiculous. Brining will in no way shape or form produce a better tasting brisket than one that is cooked "Low and Slow". Low and slow means cooking at a low temperature around 225 degrees F for a long time. A good test to see if a brisket is done is to press your finger into the fattiest part of the meat. If it is soft and your finger doesn't have a problem penetrating, it's ready! In the future, take your brisket and season it literally JUST BEFORE you smoke it. Use Toni Chachere's Mo Spice seasoning mix if you can find it. It has less salt in it. DO NOT brine nor season your brisket the night before. There are very specific reasons for doing it this way. Smoke it with some chips (apple-wood is best) only for the first hour or so of the process. Keep the temperature in the cooking area around 225 until it is done. I cook mine to about 180 degrees then use the very reliable and accurate finger poking test. This very simple procedure will produce the most tender, the most juicy, and the most flavorful "beefy" tasting piece of meat that you have ever eaten. The external and internal fat whithin the brisket is "magically" broken down into a "sweet" tasting chemical sugar that only occurs at certain low temperatures. The fat that does not melt away will become "to die for" good tasting.....but, very unhealthy to eat too much of it. The converted fat residue that remains inside of the brisket muscle fibers will impart that wonderful beefy taste to the meat. And the collagen will have broken down to make the meat very tender. You simply CANNOT rush this process and try to hurry it up to arrive faster at the 190 desired end point. The brisket will be done when it passes the poke test. Again, the magic will not occur if you rush this process. FYI, an 8 pound brisket will take about 10 hours to get to that tender/juicy point. This is "extremely" easy to do in a temperature controlled "electric" smoker. However, it most certainly can be done on a BBQ pit. The real brisket experts over in Texas do it all the time. Sorry to hear that your brisket did not come out well. The cooks at Cook's Illustrated don't know much about cast iron pans either. Dan Semper Fi-cus