Favorite Cultural Icon

Take a look at this sign and this building. Nothing special, right? Wrong! When I see a place like this, it brings back memories of any number of places like it that I went to as a kid with my mom or day, with friends, or other loved ones. It reminds me of the simple blue collar folks that were always chatting with you and other customers that kind in for a burger and a shake or a root beer. Places like this welcome people of all walks of life But, they represent simple American life, a common meal of the average person.

This place in east Dallas has been around for a long time. I just found out about it in recent months and finally made a point to try it out. I was not disappointed. Even though I have only been there once, I feel like I’ve been there hundreds of times.

Dairy-Ette in east Dallas ( a drive-in)

Getting started smoking meat

I decided to share a little video on the smokers I use to smoke meat along with a few tips and rules. Here’s a synopsis:

1. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a smoker. You can start with a cheap charcoal grill.

2. Dave’s essential rules of BBQ or smokin’ meat. 1. Don’t kill anyone 2. Cook it ‘til it’s done

3. The big decision on getting a smoker and starting is whether you’re comfortable using charcoal and managing your fire or whether you want to make it easy on yourself and get a smoker with an electric heating element for which you can set specific cooking temps. I used one of these for a number of years. I had the Masterbuilt brand. This allowed me to not worry about the fire and just decide how I want to season the meat and what wood I wanted to use.