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It's difficult to be stressed out when you're sitting on your back porch at midnight in the summertime, with a good book, cold drink and a halo of hickory barbeque smoke swirling around your head. The meat was sizzling and the smoke, apart from shooing the mosquitoes away, was heavenly with the aroma of meat, spices and herbs. I couldn't have asked for better therapy to cure the effects of a stressful week. Hundreds of books and documentaries have been written about stress relief. Quite a few years ago, I stumbled upon the perfect remedy for this sickness that strikes just about everyone in America sometimes in their lives, no matter how laid back they appear to be. There's something therapeutic about sitting around the old barbeque smoker, letting your mind relax and wander. Late night sounds of crickets, chirping frogs and the occasional barking of a startled dog blend with a little barbeque music on the radio. I put an Alison Krauss CD on the player and was immediately overcome by her angelic voice laid over a background of a dobro and fiddle. Depending on my stress level, I'll use either the electric smoker or the charcoal cooker I've used for years. Firing up the gas grill and burning a couple of steaks, won't do much to reduce your anxieties because it doesn't take very long to cook steaks, pork chops or even chicken. Spend an hour with this kind of meat and you're done, without ever having exorcized the stress demons. Barbeque therapy is not about simply smoking a pork shoulder or some spare ribs. It's about losing yourself in the journey from raw meat to delicious tasting barbeque, an easy thing to do when it's just you, the grill, a good book, music and several hours to enjoy them all. There's a routine I use when I'm cooking something that will require 6 to 18 hours cooking time; pork ribs, pork shoulders or a turkey. This has nothing to do with the actual preparation of the meat, but it's a ritual that has helped chase away headaches and loosen the muscles and tendons in my neck and shoulders each time I've used this remedy. If the stress is all consuming and relief is no where to be found, I'll get out the charcoal smoker because the cooking is slower than with an electric smoker, thereby taking longer to cook. This gives us more time for the therapy to kick in and heal the mind and soul. Pulling the cover off the smoker, I made sure the grates were clean and there was plenty of charcoal in the bin, along with a supply of hickory chunks. Then I set the stage for the rest of the items that would make the night ahead pleasant; an easy sitting lawn chair, a good book, music box, chips and salsa and a cooler filled with cool drinks. By this time Spike the cat had joined me and watched as I started the fire. He'd bed down close to the edge of the deck where he could listen for any varmints that might be roaming in the night. He's never really stressed, except when he's on catnip and he seems to like these mid-night rituals as much as I. As I settled into my tattered old lawn chair I heard Ruckus the coyote making his nightly overture to the moon, awaking every dog within a half mile radius. He lives on the next hill across the road from us and we only hear from him at night when he howls. I immediately have visions of a chuck wagon on the prairie, with cattle lowing in the night as a cowboy softly sings to his herd of cattle. While the flames from the charcoal were dying and the briquettes were turning gray, I said a little prayer that the barbeque would turn out good and by dawn my stress level would have reduced to a point that I'd be fit to venture back into society. My prayer was answered! Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at: http://www.redfishbob.com http://www.bluemarlinbob.com
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