On my kettles, I wrap the portion of the cable with foil that is going to be closed in the lip of the lid. I am more concerned with protecting the cables than having a tight seal. That said, I do very little low and slow with a kettle because of having other other smokers. One thing I have learned is that if I am monitoring meat with a temperature probe using high indirect heat (300+ degrees) on things like tri-tip or pork loins, I cover the exposed portion of the meat probe with foil also. I have found that this leads to less false readings when the Maverick would indicate that I hit my target temp yet the instant read would indicate I will still well under. My theory is that the exposed portion of the probe itself is heating up and it eventually makes it way to the front where the sensor is located giving the false reading. I learned with based on a discussion on another board a couple of years ago and have been doing it ever since.
