SMOKIN

Story and PhotoS by Eric JohnSon

It’s summer time and for many that’s the green light for cooking out as much as possible.

For others, however, winter is that green light, especially when you find a passion for a new way of cooking.

Josh Kunze and Cody Steinbrink are two such people and their passion has taken them deep into the world of cooking through smoking.

“I’ve smoked mac and cheese,” Kunze said as he and Steinbrink watched over Steinbrink’s smoker filled with three pork butts and an entire top shelf of bacon-wrapped jalapeños. “That’s probably one of my favorite things to smoke. Not everybody thinks of that right away. I’ve done smoked desserts before.”

“I literally go up and down the aisles, thinking, ‘hmm, wonder if I can smoke that?’” he added.

Kunze’s journey into the world of smoking began after he purchased a pellet smoker last year. It didn’t take long for it to take hold.

He would cook in all sorts of weather, including the snow and the cold, and as he smoked he would take pictures and post them on Facebook.

Along the way, Steinbrink started asking questions and talking more with Kunze about the process and what goes into it. As Steinbrink tells it, it was Kunze who first opened the smoking door wide for him, reminding Kunze of how it went.

“How it all started is you had bought your smoker from Ace and then I commented on your Facebook post and you said, ‘hey, I got this old one,’” Steinbrink told him.

From there the two friends, who have known each other during their time living in Lyle. In fact Kunze was Steinbrink’s football coach when he was a freshman.

Josh Kunze, who made the move to smoking last year, shows off Cody Steinbrink’s smoker. It was Kunze who helped get Steinbrink into the culinary art.

“We’ve been kind of bouncing ideas and things off each other,” Kunze said. “I kind of used a buddy’s Pintrest as my source of inspiration and recipes. Cody got into some Facebook groups and got some really good feedback from those.”

When Steinbrink got his first smoker from Kunze, it was smaller and held a limited amount of food, but it was a first step and far better than what he had been trying before that.

“I would constantly try and smoke on my charcoal grill, but it was never what I wanted,” Steinbrink said. “They would be edible, but they were not what you’re desiring. I fell into that thing and his old smoker and I did my first rack of ribs on there and I was like ‘wow.’ I was doing it so wrong on this charcoal grill.”

“This is 10 times better than all that,” Steinbrink continued. “It’s actually, honestly turned into kind of an addiction. What can I cook next? How can I make it better? I use Facebook — smoking is totally a trial and error thing. I’ve wrecked stuff, I’m not even going to lie. I wrecked a rack on that last smoker — easily.”

This entire process has given both men a heightened appreciation for cooking, the techniques and the styles used to cook the food. It also opened up so many things that neither of them knew or thought possible. That understanding is made easier considering the wide spectrum of barbecue tastes. “What you do is appreciate it more,” Kunze said. “I would have never thought to look at a pork butt and cut it open to see what kind of smoke ring you have. People like the bark a certain way. Some people like it crispy, some people don’t. There’s so many different ways to do the pallet. Everybody has a different idea of Smoke pellets are what gives the food being smoked the lovely tastes. what barbecue is. You can see that at a national level too. Nashville barbecue vs. North Carolina barbecue and it means a totally different thing.” A fun side product, which highlights the versatility of smokers, is that a person who is into smoking doesn’t have to give up grilling. While it may take a little longer, it’s still possible to enjoy a piece of meat as if it were cooked on a regular charcoal grill.