braindoc

We had about 3 feet here in East Greenwich, RI. My regular plow guy couldn’t come; his new pickup with heavy duty plow attachment broke down. Fortunately, one neighbor with a Kubota L47 and another with a snow blower came to the rescue. I’ve been working remotely but I’ll venture into my office in Providence tomorrow afternoon. It was not cleaned up well after the last big storm; can’t imagine how bad it will look now. BYW: My wife was in college in Newport for the legendary 1978 blizzard. The school ran out of food so they survived on PBJ sandwiches. I was in med school in Italy. Locals came up to me with newspapers showing photos of the storm. A lot tougher keeping in touch back then! I remember going to a Centro Telefonico to have an operator place calls home. Truly, the good old days. Our backyard -

Just heard from combustion support: ”We have seen on a few models that a longer or shorter probe option than is provided stock would be a good fit for some customers. We are actively producing a couple of options which we expect to be able to share in the beginning of February. I will add your name to a list.” Fingers crossed.

Great news!

I haven’t tried, but once mounted onto the heat deflector the probe does not extend far enough into the KK to fasten it. I’ve asked Combustion if the gauge can be used without the deflector but I’d be surprised that is possible. BTW, anyone familiar with this: https://www.chefstemp.com/product/protemp-s1/ ? They offer their grill gauge probe in different lengths and thicknesses. I already have a Combustion leave-in thermometer so I’m not interested in buying into a new system. Unless . . . There is a hack to use the Combustion thermometer with the Chefstemp grill gauge.

Sobiloff - You bet me to the punch! I just braved the cold to see if the recently arrived gauge fit and was about to post with the same sad news - minus the photos because my fingers are too cold, lol.

I wish you many, many happy years together. Condolences on your loss. Your fellow dog lovers know the intensity of this. It has been more than 5 and 3 years since we lost our chocolate and goldendoodle. My wife and I still toast them every night.

Thanks for the update David. At this point, what’s another few weeks of waiting?

I named David to see if he could say anything about the typhoon. I do agree with you about Combustion’s rollout issues, LOL.

I have their thermometer and ordered the dome probe ages ago. Here is the email I received today: “Typhoon Regasas halted production of the Giant Grill Gauge last week. Our factory was under a mandatory evacuation order and the port of Hong Kong was shut down completely. The good news is that our people are fine. And the factory is fine. The bad news is that everything is out of position. We're not going to be able to get all of the inventory completed, inspected, and onto a plane before the start of Golden Week, when factories and businesses shut down for a week. Production and shipping is set to start back up on October 7th, when factories and businesses reopen. Orders from September 2024 should get shipped out quickly. The exact ship date is dependent on air cargo availability, which is at capacity because this typhoon affected everyone manufacturing in Asia. All pre-orders from October last year until now are still expected to ship this October. Thank you again for sticking with us. Hopefully this is the last update like this and we can get back to cooking! Chris Young Owner, Combustion Inc.” What do you think about this David?  

Thank you so much Paul. This is very helpful.

That’s what I was hoping to hear. Do you start them right away, with the duck? What is your target temp?

Thinking about cooking a duck soon. Drip pan to catch the duck fat?? In case it matters, I have a 32”.

Beautiful! Did you have any flare-ups from the dripping fat? After researching online I’m still unsure whether or not to use a drip pan so the fat doesn’t hit the charcoal. My hangar came a few weeks ago and my first duck is in the freezer. Just waiting for the right time to try.

Maybe my wife will let me get a pickup so I can cruise Rhode Island looking for orchards pruning their trees.

Re: Fruita Wood Do you order the chunks or another size?

Just curious - what smoking woods does everyone prefer? I gravitate toward cherry or apple for poultry/pork, hickory for beef. Maybe its time for me to try some others. Any brands in particular? I’ve been reading about Fruita Wood and wonder if it is as good as the reviews say.

Not answering your specific question, but I’ve used the Combustion Predictive thermometer. Very happy with it though I only used the thermometer and not the predictive software.

Success. Thank you.

✅ Yes, I’ll keep it between the metal.

Should I wedge a heat-resistant shim of some sort under the bottom of that plate to correct the downward slope? This is only a problem on one side.

Dennis: What do I do with my bracket? There is no middle Allen bolt to adjust.

Good for you! Hope you are enjoying Paris, apart from the shopping.

For some reason it seems that the Italians like the brass. We have two from Rameria Mazzetti - in the middle row of the second photo - and a rectangular roasting pan from Navarini in the first photo. To the left of that is a 50-year-old oval pan with brass handles from Bridge Kitchenware, beautifully refinished by Jim Hamann of East Coast Tinning/Duparquet Copper here in East Greenwich. Tyrus, you should check out his website and take a ride down to see his stuff. We have a couple of his new pans too.

The Falk is second from the right, top row. It has a brushed finish. I’m ok with that, my wife is not a fan.

The Made-In is far left, the Mauviel far right.