Recent content by Gaaron G

Thats what I do. I thought thats what everyone did, LOL. I don't think there is any residual reflective heat. The shiny part gets covered in ash very quickly. For me, its makes for easy clean up. Just fold in the corners of the foil and throw it away. The few extra cents for the foil is...

That's what I thought. That's what I did. I didn't notice any difference in smoke or taste. The only difference was the lump behaved erratically. (I used Cowboy lump) A few of the lump pieces were throwing of sparks that shot 8 feet out of my charcoal starter and continued to spark...

Awesome guys, thanks for the responses. That's what I was feeling, if it tastes good, eat it. But I understand the purist point of view too, like Dustin's. It all seems to come back to taste.

A light hearted question from a nooby. During my lurking here I came across (I think a few different times) the idea that using "smoked" anything, like smoked sea salt or smoked paprika, is "cheating" or taboo or not authentic in some way. Is this how everyone views it? My thought is, if its...

I was wondering what grade of meat you were using Dustin? Was it Select, Choice, Prime? This could explain some of the issues involved. When fibers are hot they expand and could allow for a tender probe but when they cool off they shrink and could feel more tight in the probe. Without the...

It all looks very nice. I'm intrigued by the asparagus, is that garlic and grated parmigiana? It looks wonderful.

It looks delicious. I'm hungry now.

Nicely done. I like the color of the skin in the double chicken picture. That's the color I always shoot for.

Here are a few photos of my cook. You can see in the first photos why I was so concerned. In the end it turned out delicious. It was the best brisket I have ever had. The picture with the umbrella shows what I had to do to keep the temps down with the early morning sun hitting the WSM. 11...

Update: I'm a believer! It fits 6 hours in. Wow.

Well, It's on there now arched over my beercan chicken racks. Started at 0430 hrs this A.M. and I'm firmly in the stall 5 1/2 hours in. It still hasn't shrunk enough to lay flat. I'll be patient and wait. "George Castanza", that's hilarious. You guys crack me up. ThermaQ says meat at...

Thanks for the reply. I'm new to this so it's hard for me to see it shrinking that much. I've only done one other brisket and it was separated at the butcher and tiny to begin with, compared to this monster from Costco. I just trimmed it so I'm seeing some possibilities. I'll try your advice...

I need some advice. I'm doing a 16 lbs brisket on my 18.5 WSM tomorrow and it won't fit. I've read to shoe horn it or put something under the middle to arch it....but, no, still won't fit. I would have to take off a good fist size hunk of the thick side of this particular brisket to make it...

Hey everyone, I'm happy to be on the forum. I've been lurking for 6 months or more on this forum and used the information on these pages to make my final decision to buy my WSM 18.5. I have been enjoying my WSM very much and still learning from everyone here. Some of you guys crack me up, and...