Technique & cooking guides
Our most-read articles are the ones you can act on tonight:
- Prime Rib Cooking Times — why recipes disagree, and how to nail a roast whether you go high heat or low and slow.
- Barbecue Success With the Rule of Thirds — the grill-zone habit that stops you burning food forever.
- What Is a Smoke Ring? — the science behind barbecue's pink badge of honor.
- Build Your Own BBQ Pit — our very first feature, still the best weekend project in barbecue.
Over the years we also covered the small stuff that makes a big difference: keeping sauces low in sugar so they do not burn, understanding cooking times for big cuts, and the endless, joyful debate over wood, rubs, and technique. For hands-on walkthroughs, see the how-to guides.
Stories from the community
Some of the writing we are proudest of was never about technique at all. When a major hurricane displaced thousands of families, a request went out for barbecue cooks willing to feed a relief camp of well over a thousand evacuees. Within hours, a member of our forum had volunteered to organize the entire cook — and the community delivered. Another time, word reached the Ring that soldiers stationed overseas were missing a taste of home; members pooled their efforts to get a barbecue grill shipped to the unit so they could cook for themselves far from home.
These are the stories that define barbecue culture better than any recipe: generous, practical, and quick to show up when it counts. We keep them here, and in our news section, as a record of what this community is really about.
Contribute
The Smoke Ring's library grew from techniques, cooks and stories shared by its members. The Ring guide explains that community model, while the joining page records how barbecue sites became part of the loop.