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  1. J

    Organization and Storage of BBQ Supplies and Ingredients

    I have a similar issue. The biggest problem is the gear is spread all over the place instead of in one spot. Some utensils in the garage, some in the kitchen, some lesser used tools in other parts of the house. Most of the spices are in the same place but there are probably a dozen Zip-Locs of...
  2. J

    Do you keep a fire extinguisher around your grill area?

    There's not much flammable by my grill and smoker. I don't keep a fire extinguisher right at hand. If a big wind blew over the lit grill it's possible it could get close enough to the house to be an issue if I wasn't there to deal with it, but then a fire extinguisher wouldn't help if I wasn't...
  3. J

    New technique for my Chile Colorado

    ATK has a similar chili recipe using pork butt they call "Ranch Chili". It's one of my favorites, not the least because I've adapted it to the Instant Pot. A couple years ago I asked for a cast iron Dutch oven to use on the smoker for just this kind of dish. It's still in the box. I may have...
  4. J

    Home made starter cubes

    I got that. I only mentioned the chimney because the lighter fluid-soaked briquettes was how I used to start the chimney. Two or three soaked briqs in the bottom of the chimney, a load of plain briqs on top. Hit the soaked briqs with a lighter and away it goes. I saw a similarity between using...
  5. J

    Home made starter cubes

    I used to soak two briquettes in charcoal lighter fluid. I figured it was a compromise between massive amounts of lighter fluid and struggling with the chimney starter every time. Had a small glass jar specifically for the purpose. Drop in two briquettes, add lighter fluid, swish around, remove...
  6. J

    Advice needed: Ribs using 22 Inch kettle plus charcoal baskets

    "Standard meals" is rather in the mouth of the consumer. I've cold smoked a number of items, such as cheese and pork loin Canadian bacon. The Canadian bacon I then go on to hot smoke but at a very low temperature, 200F last time I did it. I'll generally target 225F as a starting temp for Boston...
  7. J

    Advice needed: Ribs using 22 Inch kettle plus charcoal baskets

    Considering I hit 200F with about four or five briquettes burning at a time, and temperatures well over 400F are readily attainable without huge charcoal loads, I still consider 300F a moderate temperature you may have trouble maintaining by air flow control alone. That's why I suggested a...
  8. J

    Advice needed: Ribs using 22 Inch kettle plus charcoal baskets

    I've tried using a Weber kettle for moderate temperature smoking and found it difficult to keep the temps down using the WSM method of controlling air flow. The "fins" on my kettle are designed for pushing ash toward the openings, not for giving good control over air flow. I found it frustrating...
  9. J

    Big price drop in spare ribs at Sams

    I just repackaged the brats for freezing and was thinking I paid more for the vacuum bags I put them in than I did for the brats. Thankfully the vacuum bags can be re-used. Side note about the brats, I've found they work very well in meatloaf. Remove the skins and mix in with the ground beef...
  10. J

    Smaller grates please

    What is your concern about the WSM grates? Are you concerned about food safety or aesthetics? Unless you're doing something very out of the ordinary, no microbes are going to survive a typical cook. The temperature is going to be hot enough for long enough to kill all microbes.
  11. J

    Smoke Issue

    In my experience, the white smoke at the start is from the briquettes. They give off a lot of white smoke when they're lighting quickly. Once they ash over the smoke stops. They don't seem to smoke as much when they catch very slowly, or perhaps there just isn't enough smoke after the initial...
  12. J

    Preparing to cater my own baby shower

    Awesome job. Love your logo.
  13. J

    Frustrated and in search of advice

    I'd vote for the humidity as the likely cause. When I lived in Florida the summers were almost always close to 90% humidity all the time. Next time, when you hit the stall, try raising the temp to the 275-300 range. That should help you push through and get it done in less time. You might...
  14. J

    Preparing to cater my own baby shower

    I can't speak specifically to mac & cheese, but here's a trick I used once to hold a ham for a long time at serving temp. I took patio blocks and heated them in a very low oven for a couple hours, wrapped the blocks in a lot of newspaper (to protect the cooler) and put them in the bottom of the...
  15. J

    Thermoworks mini sale up to 50% off

    Their silicone trivets are very nice too. They've had those on sale at deep discounts before (though not at the moment from what I could see). The trivets are a waffle mold with a continuous sheet of silicone through the middle. This gets the pot about a quarter inch off the table so even if...
  16. J

    Big price drop in spare ribs at Sams

    Probably clearing out what they stocked for Independence Day and didn't sell. I picked up some brats at Costco this week for under $1/lb because the last sale date was Friday.
  17. J

    Preparing to cater my own baby shower

    I know you're already underway on this, but for future reference, I've smoked a brisket I had in the cryo bag in the refrigerator for three months and it was okay. I'm not saying I recommend that, but it tasted fine and nobody got sick. Normal bacteria isn't an issue since you cook it for so...
  18. J

    Thermoworks mini sale up to 50% off

    It's probably not what most would be looking for at Thermoworks, but a couple years ago I bought the mini spatula/spoonula set during a sale. They don't get a huge amount of use but they are handy when using smaller pots or getting the last of the jam out of the jar. For $6 it's hard to go wrong.
  19. J

    A Connecticut Costco Question

    At Costco today they wanted $4.89/lb for prime packers. Only had a couple, both with huge fat caps. I might have picked one up but I knew there was no room in the fridge. Instead I scored with the brats that didn't sell for Independence Day. They were clearing them out for $2.97 for a 3.5lb...
  20. J

    My Ex Mother in Law Strikes

    Costco had a set of three "prep" bowls of varying size, with the largest big enough to toss salad for about a dozen people. I want to say the set was about $12. It's been a while so I might be off on the price but I'm sure they were under $20. I wouldn't have bought them if they were more than...

 

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