Margaret went to the salon this weekend, so while she was getting worked on, I made a little trip to BBQ Galore to pick up some stuff. Since I had some time, I decided to do some window shipping there in addition to picking up the things that I came for.

I noticed that Steven Raichlen (who’s How To Grill is my grilling bible) now has a line of grilling products. The most interesting thing I saw from him were Wine Barrel Staves. These are the pieces of the wood barrel the wine ferments in when you make wine. As a result of sitting in the barrel so long, some of the wine flavor is embedded into the wood of the barrel. Looking at the staves, you can see the dark red color of the wine. You then use the stave as a smoking source when cooking your meat. This way you not only get the wood flavor, but also a bit of the wine flavor from the smoke.

Rather than getting that fancy, I just picked up a bag of hickory wood chips (BBQ Galore Brand). I’ve tried both their Apple Wood and Mesquite Wood chips and was very happy, so I thought I would try something a little different. The last time I made ribs (July 4th), I didn’t have any wood chips at all! The ribs still tasted good, but that smoke flavor would have really put it over the top. I won’t have this problem the next time!

I also picked up a sauce mop, so I could apply mop sauces to my meat while cooking. And since there is nothing more embarrassing than running out of propane, I got one of those magnetic propane level indicators so I could see how much propane I have left.