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Essential Tips For The Novice Smoker

Author: Barbecue Smoker Recipe Man

Writing a website full of BBQ Smoker Recipes is a time consuming business even at the best of times. I take pride in ensuring that the pictures I put up on my site are of food that I have cooked and not some glossy template purchased on the internet and I also want my recipes to be innovative. What I enjoy most of all is when readers use my feedback form with ideas for improvements to my site and also to suggest recipes, there's so much creativity out there and to harness just a small amount of it is truly humbling.

It's a two way street of course and just as I get some great free barbecue recipes in return and I also get a lot of questions to which answers are free of charge. Many of the questions start with the sentence "I've just won / been given a smoker without any instructions and I'm gonna cook for 20 guests at the weekend, do you have any tips for me?"

I'm not sure about tips but my immediate reaction is a combination of:-

· Lucky you winning a smoker
· Cooking for 20 first time out, that's a challenge..........
· Cooking for 20 first time out - are you mad?

Barbecue cooking for any number of people is challenge enough but doing it on a piece of equipment that's never been used before is really asking a lot. Nevertheless I always respond with my "essential tips" for the novice smoker:-

1. Do a trial run. Not just to test your BBQ cooking abilities but also if the smoker is new it will be protected with an oily film that needs to be cleaned up. Just like any oven it's important to give it a run otherwise your first food will not taste right.

2. Keep the temperature in the smoker between 230 - 250°F

3. It's indirect cooking so heat should no be directly under the food, put the drip tray here and this will help keep it moist.

4. If it's a charcoal smoker the coals will start to cool after 60 mins so keep a steady stream on fresh charcoal available and change every 45 mins

5. Slow cooking is the order of the day and you'll need to allow up to 90 mins cooking time per pound of meat

6. Many argue that after 5 hrs smoking, the smoke adds no further flavour so you can finish off in the conventional oven if you wish. (Just wrap the food in foil to keep it moist)

7. Don't be tempted to lift the cover of the barbecue too often - you only let the smoke out

8. Use a thermometer to check the internal temperature.

9. Practice makes perfect - don't give up after the first attempt!

And that last point is so true, I've been cooking on grills and smokers for 20 years and I still get it wrong so don't be too hard on yourself if at first you don't succeed.

Even if you're not a novice smoker, hopefully there's something here for you to take away and you'll have a happy and safe cookout or maybe you have got a tip for me?

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cooking-tips-articles/essential-tips-for-the-novice-smoker-322733.html

About the Author
BBQ Smoker Recipes - Free barbecue grill recipes & meat smoker cooking ideas on gas, charcoal or electric. Free Barbecue Recipes - Outdoor grilling tips, easy fire pit menus, healthy rotisserie suggestions, best homemade bbq sauce recipes. Easy Barbecue Recipes - Easy recipes for the smoker grill with lots of tips.

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How To Create A PowerPoint Template

Author: Nathan Martyn

If you are tired of using PowerPoint's default blank template, it is easy to create your own custom templates. You can add logos and pictures to the template, and also change the fonts and colors. The PowerPoint template can also be saved for future use. A simple template is very easy to create and you can reuse it as many times as you want with little effort. You can use your template to display your company's logo or to make it a little more personal.

Creating a Template

* You will begin by opening a new presentation in PowerPoint

* Select a slide layout and click OK

* You can now alter the template. You can add a color scheme or background, pictures, shapes, ClipArt, or WordArt.

* Click on File>Save As>Design Template

* In the pull down menu under Save As, click on the pull down arrow and choose Microsoft>Templates

* You will want to save the template in the Templates folder

You are now ready to apply your template as a presentation. You will begin by double clicking on the name of your template in the General tab.

Adding Color and Background Graphic

* Select Format>Slide Color Scheme. A dialog box will appear. Examples of color schemes can be found under the Standards tab. Select your color scheme and click on it. For one slide in a presentation click Apply. For all slides in the presentation, click Apply to All.

To create a custom color scheme click on Custom tab. Select the color scheme of your choice and click on Change Color. Once the changes are made, click on Apply or Apply to All.

To change the background, select Format>Background. You will see the Background Dialog Box. Choose the color you want to add to the slide and Click Apply or Apply to All. You can find many web sites allowing the downloading of free quality wallpapers for saving as your template background graphic. When searching for a template background, try to find wallpapers with solid colors and avoid colourful or visually complex images.

Adding Pictures

You can add pictures in AutoShapes, ClipArt, and Pictures from File, or Word Art.

To add an AutoShape, select Insert>Pictures>AutoShape. This will open an AutoShape Toolbar with a list of icons describing different shapes. Select one and choose a shape. A crosshair will appear when you move over on on the slide. Click and Drag until the shape is the size you want.

To move an image below the text, click on the shape. A box with 8 white squares surrounding it will appear behind the text.

To add ClipArt, pictures you have taken, or WordArt, you will follow the same steps. You will want to make sure once you finish the template that you resave it for future use.

There are many more advanced options to customize a template, however it is outside the scope of this article. With a little time and effort, you will be creating enriching PowerPoint templates in minutes.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/how-to-create-a-powerpoint-template-1437393.html

About the Author
Nathan Martyn is webmaster of Free PowerPoint Templates, created with the aim of providing the highest quality free PowerPoint templates and PowerPointbackgrounds.

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Animals Facing Extinction In 2010

Author: Nathan Martyn

In 2004 there was a determination that over fifteen thousand species of plants and animals on the planet were facing extinction. The reasons for this are varied, but the primary factor has become humanity's reckless destruction of their local habitats and the global eco-sphere. There are many well known animals on the list to go extinct as early as the year 2010.

The african elephant is a well known creature to people around the world. Despite the ban on hunting them in many countries, ivory poaching still exists and their numbers dwindle rapidly. The four known varieties of asian elephant: Indian, Ceylon, Sumatran, and Malaysian, have lost half their population in the last few generations.

Several species of whale are doing far worse than even the elephant. The right whale has no more than two hundred and fifty fully adult members of its species left alive. At least twenty percent of their population continues to die off with every generation. The blue whale, largest animal species to ever live on the earth, has continued to loose half it's population over the last few generations.

A smaller whale species, topping out at a mere eighty feet in length compared to the eighty two feet length of the blue whale, is the fin whale. This gentle sea creature has faced a drop in population similar to its cousin species.

One creature that no one would mistake is the gorilla. This sociable and gentle creature can weigh up to six hundred pounds and stand erect at over six feet in height. Sadly, due to the destruction of its habitat it has lost over half its population in only the last three generation.

As far as the great predator species go, there are several that people easily recognize facing extinction in only another generation or two. The cheetah and the Florida cougar.

The cheetah is on the endangered species list, but there is one breed most people do not know of. The species of cheetah known as the asiatic has reached a critical population point and without extreme measures to aid its survival it will go extinct shortly. There are only fifty known members of this species left in the world. They live in Iran.

The Florida cougar, also known as the Florida puma or Florida panther, has an estimated mature population of fifty adult individuals. efforts to Recover the population are now in place to retain the current current number of native panthers in the area. Even with great funding, this is a hard agenda, as the cougar needs contiguous locations for habitat. Every breeding family, forming one male and two to five females, needs 200 square miles of living habitat. A group of 240 panthers needs 8,000 to 12,000 square miles of habitat and sufficient diversity to avoid inbreeding due to a small population size. Many areas of Southern Florida are quick-developing, and decreasing habitat threatens this animal.

Without immediate action these well known species will die, and be lost forever in our own lifetime.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/animals-facing-extinction-in-2010-1438541.html

About the Author
Nathan Martyn is webmaster of Animal Wallpaper, created with the aim of providing the highest quality free animal desktop wallpapers.

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