JMB- those cheddar dogs look good! I may need to get a kettle. You guys do some great work on those briquettes!

Madpick- ribs are so consistently inconsistent. Even among this batch only 1 of the 1/2 racks was just right. 1 completely fell apart when cutting, 1 had a half that was good consistency but the rest fell apart. The ribs on my plate were from the only rack where they were all firm enough to cut through but then fall off the bone when bitten. Ribs are definitely frustrating.

Just a quick tip that will serve you so much in the future ---- NEVER use bbq sauce strait out of the jar.... cut it with apple juice, BEER, dr pepper, BEER, cherry coke, BEER..... Its just too damn thick coming out of the bottle - its overkill. A "thin" sauce does so much better and coats so smoothly..... Its something you will learn..... I started out with thick multi coatings of sauce on things - now its more about the seasoning and the smoke - sauce is just a cover if you eff it up.... still good, but thin it out. It makes the bbq sauce stretch so much further.... that (good) shit aint cheap.

If anyone is looking for a new smoking toy --- this unit is all the talk over on the weber forum.
A 22" Weber kettle crossed with a STEEL kamado with a temp controller!!!!
This unit would easily compete with any pellet smoker as far as ease of use and maintenance from the looks of it..... I'm intrigued.... and $750 (pre order price) seems like a reasonable price for a STEEL kamado. They say it can be run without the controller so it behaves just like a kettle/kamado -- one of the gripes on the weber forum is that people would want it without the controller.... the charcoal 'purists'. It would definitely beat the hell out of any of the 'gravity feed' charcoal smokers.



https://www.spidergrills.com/

I seasoned the Millennium Falcon tonight:



This will get smoked tomorrow, then get a long rest in sous vide, and eaten on Saturday. I'll post more on it after that happens.

This sucker is 15.6 pounds, and about 18 inches across in both directions. It's not a brisket.

If anyone knows what it is, I'll award you huge internet points.

Contest open to U.S residents 18 years of age or older, who are not moderators or admins of this site, and with username other than usrifle or Rutilate.

Wild guess bottom sirloin.


I made a grill cheese from the cheddar that usrifle gave me. I like it better sliced and eaten on a cracker.


Speaking of usrifle is he ok?

Yeah, he's good, I talk to him regularly.

My guess would be its a MONSTER tri-tip with the other cuts still attached..... don't know what its called....

What happened to usrifle? I've been gone for six days.... what did I miss? Did he have a scooter mishap?


Smoked cheese update ---- So - I took the last half of the smoked Monterrey cheese block with me on my flight - along with some oven roasted little smokies - and met up with my brother in Phoenix for the drive down to Tucson --- these ended up being the perfect road snack for the 2 hour ride before we met up with mom and dad for dinner! My brother - who is well versed with smoke - gave the cheese a solid two thumbs up He found it to be quite tasty and didn't think it was 'over smoked' nor did he find any 'ashtray taste' that I had noticed but came to appreciate --- I think the extra resting time really helped tone that down. And it paired NICELY with the little smokies too!!! (I already knew that)

I also brought a block of sharp cheddar down too to have with the rest of the family.... So, that came out of the fridge at 5:30am and didn't get back into a fridge until 5:30pm..... I was a bit concerned because the block had gotten REALLY soft (thank god it was vac sealed to contain it) and it 'looked like' the oils were seeping out into the bag. It sat in the fridge for a couple of days before we got around to breaking into it and it firmed back up with no problem. I was amazed when I opened and sliced it that there wasn't any oil on the surface or bag! Everyone REALLY enjoyed it! I got lots of kudos and 'we're placing orders for xmas' !!! NO complaints of 'this tastes TOO smokey'... even from sis who is somewhat smoke adverse. I could still taste a bit of ashyness myself, but it was still really good! Now I'm wondering if by letting the cheese 'soften' for most of a day had any impact on mellowing and distributing the smoke.....

I've got the last block of xtra sharp white cheddar from the first attempt still in the fridge and planning on another round as soon as cheese goes on sale again!

JMB, I haven't seen him around

Interesting cut of meat that Madpick had there. Hint: not usually sold in the US, more popular in South America.

The wife and I were at Costco this morning and I couldn’t help myself from grabbing some pork belly to put on today. Pig candy at 225 for 3 hours with rub, covered in homemade sweet sauce with soy, honey, and brown sugar for 90 minutes, then uncovered again for 45 minutes to caramelize the sugars.

It was so fatty/sweet/rich I separated the leftovers into 4 vacuum sealed bags for snacking later. I’ll reheat this stuff when it can be tempered by something a little more sensible, like chicken.

Oh the one from Mad Scientist?

That pork belly looks delicious, Mike. But yeah, that's quite a set of flavors you've got on it!

I haven’t seen the mad scientist recipe, but now I’m curious. The sauce was a mix of ideas I’d seen used in different recipes. It turned out mostly just sweet, needed something more defining for character.

I’m eagerly waiting to see pics of Madpick’s mystery meat when he cuts into it!

Sorry I should have quoted MP's post about guessing what meat it is.

As pertaining to your post. Mad scientist probably has a video on that too lol

Just got done assembling a set of meatloafs! God I've been wanting another one for quite a while....
I haven't decided when I'm going to smoke one yet, but the hard messy part is over- it was a good 2.5 hours of making a mess in the kitchen --- cooking it is the easy part

Its so easy when you put saran wrap in the pan..... into the fridge for a while and then the freezer - pull them when they are solid and dust them with rub, rewrap and they are ready anytime!

My 2 propane tanks are empty so tonight's dinner was brought to you by Traeger.

The wind was whipping pretty good around the house. When that happens this smoker struggles to keep the temp above three fiddy.

Tonight was drumsticks slathered in Head Country BBQ sauce. It's a thin sauce so what you see in the picture is half of a bottle. It tastes so good tho.

Skin was just at the crisp level while the meat was still juicy. I prefer how the gas grill gives the skin some char and caramelizes the sugars in the sauce a bit.

But damn, it was so good.