The cooks are only half of it. These are the workshop visits, the gear, and the lessons that came from years of getting a fire wrong before getting it right.
BBQ talk
5:12
Ross breaks down SPG (salt, pepper and garlic): what each one does to the meat, why none of them overpowers the others, and why he'd make it the first BBQ seasoning anyone buys.
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Technique
6:00
Ross cuts the money muscle, also called the pork collar, out of a $23 Costco pork shoulder by following its natural seams, then trims it into a clean, lean cylinder ready to season and smoke on its own.
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Technique
7:07
Ross trims a $90 Costco packer brisket step by step: hard fat and silver skin off, about a quarter inch of fat left on top, and every edge rounded so nothing burns in the smoker's moving heat.
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News
10:01
Ross looks at Canada's September 8, 2026 round of counter-tariffs, which by his reading lists qualifying U.S.-origin barbecues and parts at 25%, what that could mean for BBQ costs, and the Canadian makers worth knowing.
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Gear
6:29
Ross's case for the offset smoker over pellet and charcoal grills: heavy steel that lasts, real wood you choose, a fire you control, room for a crowd, hot-and-fast cooking and low-temperature smoking of cured sausage.
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Competition
7:58
Part two of the Smoke on the Bay BBQ Cookoff: an overnight offset fire through wind and rain, the Atlantic Canadian sauces behind each box, and Ross's honest account of what went wrong and what he would change.
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Competition
4:56
Part one of the Smoke on the Bay BBQ Cookoff: the plan before a KCBS weekend in Nova Scotia, from trimming competition chicken thighs to a five-hour rib schedule, a three-way money muscle box and grass-fed brisket.
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Behind the scenes
4:04
A day behind the scenes in a friend’s wood-fired pizza truck — oak fuel, a 500–600°F dome, a stone floor held above 400°F, and the fire management that keeps it all running through a service.
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The journey
3:50
The small, awkward offset smoker that taught fire management the hard way — and what actually carried over to running a custom 250-gallon pit years later.
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Workshop visit
3:22
A look around R&R Smokers, the Atlantic Canadian shop building everything from backyard Signature Series offsets to 1,000-gallon custom pits and competition drum smokers — including the 250-gallon offset most of the cooks on this site come off.
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