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Thanks for all the kind and fun words about the cook! My inspiration was my over stuffed spice cabinet and how when I open the door, random jars of spices just fall out on to the counter. Other thoughts of Jim Belushi dumping that jar of mustard on his shirt for no real reason in Animal house comes to mind as well. Same concept but with a cocktail. In the book I add kaffir lime leaves but in reality, it is just a moscow mule (vodka, half lime, ginger beer) and ice with a half cup of garlic salt. What is cool is that the salt and alcohol open the cell walls of the meat. There is a low amount of sugar in the ginger brew so it really does not burn and the chop is extremely moist and juicy. The only down side is that you are minus one adult beverage on a cook evening. With proper mis-en-place you can make up for it. Cheers- Paul

For a lot of my sauces, the protein "curdle" doesn't interfere all that much, especially if you're adding something like a Dijon into it. My problem is that I'm almost always just cooking for me, so there's not a lot of jus in the bag. If I did the paper towel strain, I'd lose about half of what little there is (couple of tablespoons) to absorption by the towel - wouldn't be worth the effort.

I helped a friend release his stuck #5 POSK damper. Think "strap wrench" and design a tool two people can operate, involving a stick and straps. Working without an improvised tool is a shoulder injury waiting to happen. The damper assembly can simply fail rather than twist free. We also used some scary solvent like WD40, which we were careful to burn off. When I had my #7 POSK (before my 23KK), I found a stainless steel nut and bolt matching the damper threads. I'd regularly disassemble the damper, then have a swingers partner-swapping party with these four parts and some food-grade grease. Cleans out the built-up gunk and corrosion. Notice that there are threads that can't be cleaned by use alone, because they're past where the damper is completely shut. A lot of crud builds up past this point; a separate nut can clean past this point. With this maintenance procedure, there should be no further problems. Although, one gets these problems by not using the POSK. If one isn't using it, one isn't carrying out maintenance either. Give it to someone who'll use it (like I did) and buy a KK.

I used a batch of fig wood about a decade ago, for spareribs and such. Apparently the "farmer" who delivered it to Monterey Market in Berkeley pulled up in a car somewhat north of $100K. I found it delicious but a bit "distinctive". This is a spice, and one wants the primary impression to be the stellar hunk of protein itself, not the spicing. So this calls for moderation. It's easy to get enamored with new toys, but in cooking, if your guests even notice the odd ingredient, you've lost. Instead, they should simply be wondering why the food tastes so good. Were I using it again, I'd blend it with the vanilla ice cream of the smoking woods world: Apple. In a smoke pot.

Fig grilled salmon

I hate to admit it but when i gave away by BGE i kept the rake that i used for that. It is great just a simple bit of bent metal on the end of a pole that can reach in and also move around ashes etc..

She really is a beauty @bryan I'm open for suggestions on naming her-

Paul - that shot of the sear is just beautiful! Great grill marks and a wonderful money shot! Kudos.

Good looking food. Lets see that grill. What's it's name?

Byron, quite often I make a soup with the bag juices and it is always delicious. I just wing it. That juice sure does curdle and I wouldn't serve it to company but for me it is delicious

It's great technology and I like the concept, but I'm not a buyer at $60. I can just about hit Med Rare just about 99% of the time at this point in life.