Leonard MC NEILL, NOT O'Neill

Who started rotating smokers, before Oyler, before Southern....with a small cafe won in a game of chance?  It wasn't
someone named O'Neill.  Bully's name was, and will always be Leonard Mc Neill.  And may he and Lenox Barbecue and Catering be remembered by every participant in the annual Houston Livestock and Rodeo world championship barbecue competition, which he originated.  Barbecue went from the corner of a parking lot and a small trailer to big business, thousands at a catering, charity fund raisers, reunions or a convention, and the Offshore Technology Convention, when it was once the biggest of the big "shows".  Question the authors and their credibility; if they can't get the name right, how good is the rest of their information?????  Over ten thousand at a meal?....several times a year!  Y'all have a great day!

Welcome to Roadfood, texbbqman! Which authors? A book? Magazine article? More info would be helpful. Thanks.

Robb Walsh was one, unless he was mis-quoted, or has now corrected, and have received gifts of books claiming to be 'bibles' of barbecue whose scribblers have picked up the info, incorrectly copying.  But over two years ago made the correction on fcg.bbq-blogspot.com, and recently on The Smoke Ring.  Now I notice that corrections are showing up and the fact of the error is being acknowledged.  It may be dusty web files that still mis-name the man, and, were you to search "Leonard O'Neill, barbecue", you will still find a few of those.
 
I find a lot of criticism of both the Oyler and the Southern (Pride - SP).  We hand trimmed and sliced every morsel ever served. Having used green hickory for over twenty years, based in Houston, with both brands, hauling a SP LARGE trailer in the back of a Mayflower Van to Toronto to introduce Compaq to Canada for an intimate gathering of a few thousand, or serving far more than 10,000 guests at one meal (prepared completely on site) with the 'holes in the ground' pits, or having had the brick flat pit in one restaurant, if one cares about the consistency of their product, if the reliability and healthy quality of their product matters, and if one is serving more than a family get-together, those rotating bakers oven pits are the absolute finest.  The gas is to maintain the wood fire, not to replace it, unless you don't know how to smoke.  Temperatures are maintained, the product is continually basted by the rotation and the color, the red line on the beef, moist sausage and foul, the tender seafood and cabrito and venison....my mouth is watering.
 
I have a New Braunfels (my home town) Smoker (before it went to China) and an Orion...fun, but not the same.  I would love to find a small Oyler or SP I could set up at our house in VA.  It would make our 2-300 guest parties much easier.  Besides, my sauce recipe's pivotal ingredient is drippings, and can't use what I get in the two above.  Would I do it again....in a minute, and always with smiling memories of the beginnings, with Charles and his father, Leonard Mc Neill.

Welcome texasbbqman!

I look forward to hearing all about your BBQ adventures!

Hello texasbbqman, welcome! I have a SP in my BBQ Restaurant not all that far from fairfax, they are indeed the best and surest way to get consistently great product, regardless of what your smoking. Drives me crazy when people say I'm cooking with gas when I'm indeed smoking at a temp controlled by the SP! 11 years pretty much 24/7/363, not one breakdown.
BTW SP makes a unit for home use.

They do make many sizes, don't they, but once on the rotating shelves, tough to go back....as I have been doing for many years, since I am doing it for friends and family. 
Almost latched on to the small SP trailer a couple of years ago, but it turned out to be one of those Ebay puffs of smoke....here today and gone tomorrow, not for real.  How far from Fairfax is your place?  Named?

texbbqman


They do make many sizes, don't they, but once on the rotating shelves, tough to go back....as I have been doing for many years, since I am doing it for friends and family. 
Almost latched on to the small SP trailer a couple of years ago, but it turned out to be one of those Ebay puffs of smoke....here today and gone tomorrow, not for real.  How far from Fairfax is your place?  Named?

Not allowed to advertize here, sorry, but if you go towww.chubbysbbq.net, you'd be very close!!