Today I undertook a right of passage - I got my very own barbecue! Sure, I've cooked on them before, even had a few disposable ones, but now I have my very own. I am a real man now.

Basically I got a small bonus for some work I've been doing and I decided to splurge on a treat for myself (I'm spending enough on car insurance this month, a treat is good). I was thinking about options and decided I needed a smoker for the garden. I love smoked food; it's a slow, gentle cooking style which has always worked well for me. So I started researching and I discovered all kinds of wonderful things, like what an American style smoker looks like (my favourite looked like a traction engine actually), the way you need vents in various places to control things, keeping the wood chips away from the food, and other smoking related trivia (nicotine free obviously).

Being a bank holiday weekend the DIY shops all have sales on, so armed with my new knowledge a journey was undertaken. Now, I will confess to doses of geek and male lust as I browsed the ranges on offer. The many, many pounds, super combo smoker, barbecue, rotisserie, hot-plate thing (it probably even had buttons to go hunt the food for you too) was very tempting but the decision was made for something simpler. In fact something almost completely different, because it allows more experimentation. It's a propane barbecue! That's awful for smoking I know, however I got a magic cast iron box type thingie which means I can use it as a smoker! So now there are some oak chips soaking ready for smoking. And a fridge full of meat purchased just for trying out on the new toy ready for eating.

I may never eat anything but barbecued meat ever again. Else this may be a disaster and it'll never be used again after today. My digestive system possibly votes for the second, my taste buds are firmly rooting for the first.