ThreeDJ16

Hey no sweat dude. 190 is my removal temp. It is not at all uncommon for the temps to dip back down a bit. Anytime during the collagen breakdown phase, you should see some odd stuff like that happening. Let it be for a little longer. Trust your internal thermometer and leave it till 190. Just for info though, I usually shoot for a 225-235 cook temp so it doesn't get so ridiculously long. I sometimes even go a little higher. -=Jasen=-

Ate it again last night for supper, still wonderful. I like to eat the slices cold and warm the tips slightly for sandwiches. Think I have found the technique and season that will be my standard for a while. -=Jasen=-

Oh yeah, a lot of times I double the pineapple juice (or more), simply because it comes in larger quantities than called for and this recipe doesn't quite fill up my pitcher. To compensate I also increase the liquors by 1 ounce. After all, cannot loose it's stress relieving qualities - hehe. -=Jasen=-

Re: De-stressed in Sherman Oaks! Glad you enjoyed! I keep a container of this made up in the fridge; especially for those "Fun" days at work. It keeps for quite a while, but usually doesn't last long enough to find a shelf life - hehe. -=Jasen=-

Re: Good lookin' cow! Thanks! Yeah, I used all three meat probes and the pit probe so I can get the most information for a brisket. Only one of the meat probes is settable though, the other two are just aux to look at. But I placed the one with the alarm monitor in the smallest end so it would get my attention first. Not sure how you could slice the tips. I slice the flat, but the tips just fall apart and are full of fat. I have never had them sliced before, always chopped. To me, it is also the most flavorful, beefy section too. The spice rub did such a nice job of complementing the meat, that I needed no sauce either. -=Jasen=-

Oh yeah, now we are talking! I have actually been meaning to try that! -=Jasen=-

Oh yeah, no problem. I have already cooked some pork shoulders for 18 hours and still have plenty of charcoal. Not a clue on the recipe, I am sure he will re-post it. There is another one I really like in the rub section called Rox's Rub. It is not my recipe, but I posted it in there somewhere. -=Jasen=-

Well for some reason I missed cooking a beef brisket during my vacation and finally got around to doing it yesterday. To start with, I am jumping to the end. While cooking this brisket, I began thinking about how to finish up this brisket. So many folks wrap in foil part way through and place back on the grill or wrap in foil and place in insulated container to cool slowly. Putting foil in my grill was totally out so maybe the latter? But then it struck me that every time I have wrapped a butt or ribs in foil, there is a good deal of juices still in the bottom after it has cooled. Also the meat continues to cook in that foil. So wondering about how to cool and retain the juices, I thought about rapid cooling instead. I mean why not? The meat was cooked to the desired temp and a long, foil wrapped cool down would just cook it more (and dry it out). So anyway, an hour or so in the bottom drawer of the frig, covered with ice packs yielded the best brisket I have ever made. Very little juice in the foil, so it stayed in the meat instead! Now, backing up. I started with a whole packers cut beef brisket. I do not like to separate out the muscle groups as I think it cooks better whole. I am not as concerned about a uniform fat cap as trying to leave enough to keep the entire slab area the same thickness (more fat on thinner meat to keep the bulk thickness even). I do cut out the fat on the edges where the two muscle groups merge (this way later, when I separate on the grill, it is much easier to do). Next step is the season which I prefer to apply the night before. Been experimenting on beef with a homemade blend that is very similar to what is commonly referred to as a poultry season (with a few additions). It is good on chicken, but it is also very good on roast. It is comprised of rosemary, marjoram, thyme, sage, nutmeg, black pepper, salt and hot paprika. I put my food on the cooker while it is coming up to temp. Since I am using the Procom, there is no need for additional trips out to the cooker. Toss it all on the cooker, set it on fire and dial in my temps. I used indirect heat, drip pan on lower grate and meat on main grill with fat turned down. Temp was brought up in stages around 10 minutes apart - 200,225 and 245 was my cook temp. Didn't touch it again until it was time to separate. Around the 12 hours mark, the average of my thermometers in the flat section indicated 190. So using my big grill spatula, I separated the two sections, leaving the tips on the grill and the flat to the frig! Jacked up the temps to 270 and finished out the tips for another hour, then into the frig! Sliced the flats and pulled/chopped the tips - proof is in the pudding. Check out how juicy the finished pics are! -=Jasen=-

Cool, sounds good, now were are the pics??? hehe No pics means it did not happen. There is never a time I ask myself how much charcoal do I need. If I am looking and it is not full, I pour more in! Plain and simple, keep it filled up. It will use what you need and leave what is left for the next cook. I generally fill to the top of the fire ring. -=Jasen=-

Re: Easy, Perfect Bacon What the heck is left over bacon Ain't never seen any of that stuff around here I know, very rare - hehe. But with only two of us, it occasionally happens. -=Jasen=-

For all those folks who make beef jerky and have the jerky screens laying around; here is another use to get more mileage out of them. Bacon is perfectly cooked in the oven on these racks. Place foil under them (mine has a drip pan, so I line it) and lay the bacon out flat, spaced with none touching. Cook at 350 (400 tends to cook to fast) until desired doneness is reached (you might have to rotate trays half way through). The result is perfect, flat crisp bacon with most of the grease in the bottom of the foil. I then take the bacon drippings and store in a tupperware container in the fridge. Drop a teaspoon of this artery cloggin' goodness in any pot of vegetables for instant flavor! I also shred up any left over bacon and store in another container for the same purpose as the drippings. -=Jasen=-

Charcoal Plugs??? A bit of an interesting story about the silicone plugs I thought worth sharing (well, interesting in my opinion anyway). While experimenting, the company were the silicone was purchased from told me to use oil based paint or pigments to color the silicone (as the quantity of pigment they sold would do 100 times what I needed). Well the paint did not work out as it caused the silicone to start hardening before it could be poured into the molds. So after researching paint and pigments on the net....duh.....the most common pigment used for 1000s of years is natural charcoal - hehe. So then it was time to experiment with how much, how long to grind and what medium to mix with before putting in the silicone. Just for info, ended up using small scrap charcoal that had already been through the cooker (to make sure it was fully carbonized), then washed and dried it a couple of times to ensure no ash or other impurities. The first plugs turned out grey as I just placed powdered charcoal in the silicone without a premix medium (and it did not disperse well - so grey with specs). Then I remembered the mineral oil for my butchers block and tried it (most oil based artist paints are made with linseed oil). Worked perfect, no reaction to cause premature thickening and blended well. I also retested the plugs heat capacity in an oven at 450 degrees for almost an hour with no degradation. Then held it in a direct flame for a few seconds with some slight melting, did not catch on fire and was still perfectly usable. So there you go, no silicone was harmed in the production of your polder port plugs, but I did have to rough up some charcoal - hehe. -=Jasen=-

One tip I keep forgetting to add here about the Guru. If anyone is having trouble with overshooting the temp initially (either starting to large a fire or leaving the lid open too long - whatever the reason) a good tip is to set it for a lower temp to begin with. Even though my Procom is tuned in pretty well for the KK (and do not have an overshoot issue), I still often set it for a lower temp first. Say 200, let it stabilize (not long, just 10-15 minutes), then bring it to 225 and do the same till you are at your desired set point (or start higher if a hotter setpoint range is desired). -=Jasen=-

Yeah, put it on the Guru port or if a gasket comes off later, but not on the Tru-tel. I am also not sure how long it would last there anyway. The silicone is only rated to 500. If you are cooking at 650 for a pizza, you might burn off the silicone being the thermometer is located directly in the line of fire. -=Jasen=-

Earlier this week I was in Lowes and asked 2 different people where the JB Weld was. Neither of them had a clue what it was, much less where it was. So I said it's like liquid steel, where is your liquid steel...they couldn't believe there was a such thing as liquid steel. Yep, felt like I had 2 heads They usually carry JB Weld at Lowes. There is an adhesive section right beside the caulk section (which is located in the paint area). Yeah, places like those, you need to know what you want and where it is located before you arrive to avoid frustrations. The high temp silicone is best found at the auto store though. -=Jasen=-

Just checked today and it reached 200 in ten minutes... Stopped the gas at 15 minutes and at the 25 minute mark the thermometer hit 400. Kept the lid closed all the time but had the top opened 3 turns and the bottom fully opened (including an open guru port). Do you get similar times or is it really quicker to have the lid fully opened? PS Got an aussie rub in Cairns and used it today.....pretty good Don't really know as I only experimented using the gas and tracking the temp that one time. Every time I use it for cooking, I simply hit the gas for 90-120 secs for a low temp or 4-5 minutes for a high temp (lid open either way). Now, when I experimented with gas/temp temp stuff. Naturally it will get hotter faster with the lid closed and damper only open 1/2 turn (holds in the heat and just enough open for exhaust flow). But generally in lighting charcoal, I just leave the lid open out of habit. -=Jasen=-

No Rust! Well, the new one I was shipped from Grill Floss has been out in the weather and is showing zero signs of rust! Thumbs up (though I recommend buying direct). -=Jasen=-

Hi Jasen, I reckon you have your burner optimized a bit better than mine. But a 15 minute blast gets mine to 250F (it's winter and bloody cold here) after which I stop the gas and let it come up to temp (or not... for a slow cook); and yep use the guru and set the top to 1/4 open.... Yeah, but I am not using the burner to get it up to temp, I am only using it to start the charcoal. I usually have the lid open too. So the 90-120 seconds is just to light a small amount of charcoal on the bottom. But yeah, my burner is definitely tweaked...hehe. -=Jasen=-

If you are talking about me replying to you in quotes, you simply hit the small quote button on the right side of the message you wish to quote. Then type your message below. -=Jasen=-

Re: Solving the plugged propane FLD

He is making me one. But it is more of a cover to match the color of my grill and only skirts the sides. I was going to ask him to make one that covered the regulator and valve, but I just tried to keep it simple instead. BTW, it will not take you long to check out these things; just remember your settings and count the threads or turns when you remove the jet orifice. -=Jasen=-

Actually, most new tanks also have a anti-leak device just on the inside of the valve adapter. It is basically a check valve that is held open when you insert the nipple/nut from the regulator. So you can actually have the tank valve all the way open and still get zero flow if there is no device attached to it. I might also point out that this valve and the anti-overfill float valve were designed to completely stop flow when activated. So unless they are failing, you should not be receiving any gas at the burner when they are activated (in which case it is time to switch out the tank anyway). Regulators tend to fail when exposed to the elements, so that is a good possibility along with checking the jet orifice (which should be cleaned every now and then anyway - keep the burner efficient). -=Jasen=-

After you look at the other things mentioned here, you can also check your jet orifice too (unscrew the brass fitting that your hose hooks to on the burner). They are notorious for getting gummed up (and for dropping your flame level). -=Jasen=-

I think that is why most people got four! Still have some left for those wanting them! -=Jasen=-