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When I'm setting up I just kind of look at the lid and if it all seems smooth it's not going to drop flakes. If it looks rough or uneven or, well, flaky I'll take a paper towel and see if anything comes off. Seems to work well enough.

That's definitely a lot of hickory!

What I've found is that it's best to not change anything. It might use some small extra amount of fuel to get the cooker up to temperature with some extra cold meat in there but not that you would notice it.

That's what I was assuming you were concerned about. And maybe I should say explicitly that I agree that pork that's gone bad has usually pretty obviously gone bad smell-wise. The stuff's cheap, so pitch it if you're concerned, but it sounds fine to me.

Little to no liquid isn't a problem. In fact for me it's more common than not. The color... hard to see without seeing it, but don't expect a bright pink. For me the fat takes on some of the color of the cure (so, brownish), and the meat turns a very dark deep red. When the cure's done and...

TenderQuick has the pink salt as well as regular salt, etc. It's all the elements of the cure except flavorings. I once made bacon, about 4 pounds, with 1/4 cup tenderquick and 1/2 cup grade B maple syrup and it was really good, but not as good as later attempts using maple sugar + maple...

If you want consistent results a thermapen makes it a lot easier. Take some notes, ask everybody if their burger was over or under done or just right, and it doesn't take long to get it dialed in so everybody gets it just how they like it.

My preference is for apple over anything else. And yes, without some eggs what will you dip your bacon into?

I'd keep it well under 200 - shoot for 170. I do a ring of coals, each with a similar sized piece of apple on top, with a couple of lit coals in the middle. That's really all it takes.

It also makes a difference how you drain it. Put each slice on paper towels, so they're not touching, and flip them after a minute. Wicking away any extra oil makes a remarkable difference. If you're still having problems after trying that I'd go with a thinner slice.

I've always used lump because I find the smell of blue bag K to be repulsive - not a food smell at all.

Well done!

This. If you're using pure tung oil and not a modern tung oil finish you'll want to wait a day between coats.

I tend to stir things up a bit and anything big enough to not fall through the grate gets reused. re: the wood - definitely take the approach that a little goes a long way. You can always ramp it up later once you've made a few things.

So how were they?

I'm a big fan of leg of lamb on the rotisserie. Easy tastes great, and everybody assumes it's much more difficult than it really is.

I have a friend with a ceramic cooker, and the wives got to talking about their crazy husbands and when the other guy's wife started talking about the backflash problems they've been having (I think that's what it's called - the giant ball of flame when you open the lid under certain conditions)...

I have a kettle that's from the mid-70s. Bought it for $15, replaced the grates, sanded and oiled the wood handle, works great. I don't know how often they actually used it, but I use it fairly often and it doesn't seem to have aged any more in the last year or so.

It really depends on the brand. Some lump charcoals are more thoroughly carbonized than others. That being said, I think if you can't tell the difference between food cooked over lump made from mesquite versus lump made from oak tree trimmings versus lump made from orangewood trimmings (very...

I like the suggestion to try some apple or similar woods. Also some lump charcoals put out a fair amount of smoke depending on how carbonized it is. Some of the oak lumps in particular you don't really need to add any wood at all. I might start with just the charcoal to start, see how you...