I am getting lazy that is why I added a Masterbuilt Gravity feed to the arsenal a couple years ago, wifi and holds temp great. I can see the workmanship of that will not be long term so my next one will be a pellet like a Rectec or similar.
What are you cooking today?
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I am getting lazy that is why I added a Masterbuilt Gravity feed to the arsenal a couple years ago, wifi and holds temp great. I can see the workmanship of that will not be long term so my next one will be a pellet like a Rectec or similar.
My daughter & son-in-law have some kind of pellet smoker, really nice, I'd go in that direction if I cooked enough meat to warrant it but those days are also gone; I'll limp along with the old Kettle for the meat I still cook.
There was a time when I'd camp out in the hut & fuck with the egg(s) for hours and/or all weekend, throw some tunes, beer, friends & other family in there & there was nothing better on earth, they were the kid's raising days so I had the time, a big circle, youth & energy & plenty of other reasons to stay at home, had 6 cookers at the peak between eggs, Webers, and the pizza incinerator.
Just tired now, & everyone's gone, the usage of what's left of my outdoor toys is down to a trickle, sold off 2 of my 3 eggs & barely light the one that's left. It's all good, I enjoy the peace, I've earned the peace, just me & my girl now when she comes by, & family for special occasions.
Did you add a wifi fan controller to any of the eggs? Was a game changer for using mine. But as I said it was a pain in the ass setting it all up to use.
With my MAK I turn it on and I get a text when it's ready for the meat. If using a temp probe it plugs right in to the grill and I have the same full control and monitoring from anywhere using my phone.
I still have gassers, couple kettles and a wood fired pizza oven between NY and PA houses.
Wifi & digital units weren't yet a thing however I had the precursor, the original BBQ Guru analog, basically you dial it in the same way with one probe in the meat, one clipped onto the grid or wherever, and of course the same fan attached to the lower inlet/damper. I'd hook this up for overnight butts. It all still works too, but it's been a long time since I've broken it out.
Interesting story about the Guru, these guys invented this technology & had a little tiny shop in Warminster Pennsylvania at the time, not far from me, I picked this thing up in person at their tiny little shop back then. They were bbq competitors too & very close friends with Dizzy Pig & their team, what a great group of guys, all of them, hung with them many times. I just Googlinated the BBQ Guru & it looks like they've since maybe sold the company, based in Florida now, but if you're interested this is the guy that got the ball rolling:
https://bobtrudnakbbq.com/about-bbq-bob/
no matter how lazy I get I still cannot abide gassers
Wifi & digital units weren't yet a thing however I had the precursor, the original BBQ Guru analog, basically you dial it in the same way with one probe in the meat, one clipped onto the grid or wherever, and of course the same fan attached to the lower inlet/damper. I'd hook this up for overnight butts. It all still works too, but it's been a long time since I've broken it out.
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Interesting story about the Guru, these guys invented this technology & had a little tiny shop in Warminster Pennsylvania at the time, not far from me, I picked this thing up in person at their tiny little shop back then. They were bbq competitors too & very close friends with Dizzy Pig & their team, what a great group of guys, all of them, hung with them many times. I just Googlinated the BBQ Guru & it looks like they've since maybe sold the company, based in Florida now, but if you're interested this is the guy that got the ball rolling:
https://bobtrudnakbbq.com/about-bbq-bob/
no matter how lazy I get I still cannot abide gassers
I have the stoker setup, pretty much like this in the pic. Agreed, only gas we have is our stove.
OP
I was indoctrinated into the tradition of southern wood smoked barbecue by my friend and mentor, C.B. Morrison. At 75 years old, he saw potential in a punk 20 year old, and taught me the secret to perfect pork butts, St. Louis style ribs, Texas Brisket, southern spicy chicken, and a host of other barbecue staples. That man got me back into college and his restaurant is where I met my wife. I can still hear his rough voice. " Joe! You're too damn smart to be running my restaurant. Besides, when I die in a couple of years, what the hell are you gonna do?"
Unknown to me, he spoke to the dean (apparently he had some stroke from a time before he was an old man cooking barbecue for locals) got me re-enrolled, paid for a semester, and gave me $300 for books.
I miss the hell out of that man, and owe more to him than I could ever repay. My son's middle name is his first (Carlisle), and I only barbecue in an indirect heat wood smoker. It's how he taught me. He wouldn't have it any other way.
I was indoctrinated into the tradition of southern wood smoked barbecue by my friend and mentor, C.B. Morrison. At 75 years old, he saw potential in a punk 20 year old, and taught me the secret to perfect pork butts, St. Louis style ribs, Texas Brisket, southern spicy chicken, and a host of other barbecue staples. That man got me back into college and his restaurant is where I met my wife. I can still hear his rough voice. " Joe! You're too damn smart to be running my restaurant. Besides, when I die in a couple of years, what the hell are you gonna do?"
Unknown to me, he spoke to the dean (apparently he had some stroke from a time before he was an old man cooking barbecue for locals) got me re-enrolled, paid for a semester, and gave me $300 for books.
I miss the hell out of that man, and owe more to him than I could ever repay. My son's middle name is his first (Carlisle), and I only barbecue in an indirect heat wood smoker. It's how he taught me. He wouldn't have it any other way.
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Used to have one. Made some great BBQ with it but it’s not worth the work.
OP
I love it. I get to sit on my back porch all day and drink beer!
I would rather be in my hot tub with a gin and tonic while my wifi controlled gravity feed is working...lol
I am a lazy old low tech fat man. I should get into this smoking meat game.
OP
Smoked some chicken then made hot honey and old bay smoked wings.
beautiful weekend, baked a couple pizzas
first up a walnut pesto
and a tomato basil
washed down with a couple local micorbrews
this morning a fresh batch of beignets, brought the box of mix home from Cafe du Monde
my first plate, I think I ended up eating about 15 of the damn things
loaf of bread in the oven now
first up a walnut pesto
and a tomato basil
washed down with a couple local micorbrews
this morning a fresh batch of beignets, brought the box of mix home from Cafe du Monde
my first plate, I think I ended up eating about 15 of the damn things
loaf of bread in the oven now
we made it there one morning, I enjoyed the beignets but not so much the cafe au lait, I'm not a fan of a lot of milk or cream in coffee, I knew before I ordered this cup I wouldn't like it that much but when in Rome...
the first swig was a bit shocking
but it did get more drinkable as I went - so this photo was taken on the ledge along the river-side wall outside the cafe as the place was jam-packed, quite the experience
we made it there one morning, I enjoyed the beignets but not so much the cafe au lait, I'm not a fan of a lot of milk or cream in coffee, I knew before I ordered this cup I wouldn't like it that much but when in Rome...
the first swig was a bit shocking
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I’ve been disappointed with Cafe Du Monde serving the beignets in a sack. They also are not as thick as what they used to be.
I’m not a coffee drinker so I have no dog in that fight.
so I'm working on some alterations to my standard pizza dough I've been using for the past 20+ years, just trying to up the game. Also separating into a high temp outdoor Neapolitan style dough for 800+ degrees baking as well a lower temp 550 degree indoor NY style. Did a goodly bit of poking around & found some formats that looked good. With my girlfriend over for the weekend I did test batch 6 of the high temp '00' flour dough yesterday outside, and my first test batch of the indoor AP flour NY style in the kitchen today. Both came out very tasty, the Neapolitan in particular as I've been ironing out the bugs for the past few weeks, though for a first run of the NY version I think it was pretty respectable.
To the indoor end I picked up a new baking steel for the kitchen, I've heard a lot about them over the years but I have a few stones I've been using forever so it always seemed duplicative. I finally caved & grabbed the baking steel because I've just heard from too many sources that it's a better heat conductor than the stone. They generally run around $80-$100 online which seemed a bit ridiculous, but I ended up finding one on Amazon for $25, just straight up 16x16x1/4 inch thick, no frills, no logos, just a cheap hunk of steel, which by the way is a bit larger than most others which seem to mostly be 16x14 which limits you to a 14 inch pie - I'd prefer a full 16 inch banger so this was a no-brainer.
Anyway here are a few shots of the experiments:
First off we squeeze the tomatoes for the sauce
first Neapolitan in the pizza furnace, didn't have the temp up long enough so it took nearly a full 2 minutes to finish
finished Neapolitan, just plain tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella & a bit of pepperoni
along side a Lancaster Brewery Shoo Fly Pie Porter
and today's NY, used the same sauce along with a 50/50 mixture of dry whole milk mozzarella and part skim mozzarella, and a pinch of salt. This peel is a full 16 so the pie stretched to the edge yields a full large pie
this was after 6 minutes on the steel, probably should've left it another minute but it was absolutely delicious nonetheless
then the second NY pie, same as the other with the roni, left this one in 8 minutes & got a bit better color
some decent leoparding for an indoor pie, I attribute this to the steel
now that baking season has begun in earnest, we'll be expanding the experiments. There are a few variations I want to try as well as a few regional variations I'd like to take a run at like New Haven pizza and there's another local (Delaware) place that uses cheddar in place of mozzarella with the sauce on top. The possibilities are endless. Pizza is life
To the indoor end I picked up a new baking steel for the kitchen, I've heard a lot about them over the years but I have a few stones I've been using forever so it always seemed duplicative. I finally caved & grabbed the baking steel because I've just heard from too many sources that it's a better heat conductor than the stone. They generally run around $80-$100 online which seemed a bit ridiculous, but I ended up finding one on Amazon for $25, just straight up 16x16x1/4 inch thick, no frills, no logos, just a cheap hunk of steel, which by the way is a bit larger than most others which seem to mostly be 16x14 which limits you to a 14 inch pie - I'd prefer a full 16 inch banger so this was a no-brainer.
Anyway here are a few shots of the experiments:
First off we squeeze the tomatoes for the sauce
first Neapolitan in the pizza furnace, didn't have the temp up long enough so it took nearly a full 2 minutes to finish
finished Neapolitan, just plain tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella & a bit of pepperoni
along side a Lancaster Brewery Shoo Fly Pie Porter
and today's NY, used the same sauce along with a 50/50 mixture of dry whole milk mozzarella and part skim mozzarella, and a pinch of salt. This peel is a full 16 so the pie stretched to the edge yields a full large pie
this was after 6 minutes on the steel, probably should've left it another minute but it was absolutely delicious nonetheless
then the second NY pie, same as the other with the roni, left this one in 8 minutes & got a bit better color
some decent leoparding for an indoor pie, I attribute this to the steel
now that baking season has begun in earnest, we'll be expanding the experiments. There are a few variations I want to try as well as a few regional variations I'd like to take a run at like New Haven pizza and there's another local (Delaware) place that uses cheddar in place of mozzarella with the sauce on top. The possibilities are endless. Pizza is life