tony b

Serious sammie, Aussie!

I have actually stabbed myself - yet, but usually find a way to slice a finger - typically on the tine NEXT to the one that I'm trying to insert into the meat. I should probably look into getting another one of those gloves myself. I have no idea what happened to my old one?

Not complicated, just drawn out over several days. I just follow Wilburpan's classic method on here. The biggest challenge for me in the past was how to blow air under the skin to separate it from the body. Then I read some online posts to use one of those air pumps used to inflate air mattresses. I got this one on Amazon and it worked like a charm! https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FE9CGE What I'm looking forward to the most this time around is being able to do it on the rotisserie. I didn't have it the last time I did a duck (it's been a while!) If the weather cooperates, I'll take pics on the grill, but will definitely take some of the process, too.

Rockin' it, MacKenzie!

One thing that I hope you figured out right away - OctoFork tines are damn sharp! Never a problem skewering anything with them, including my fingers! I have learned to be very careful so as not to slice a finger pushing meat onto the tines.

PC in da house!

Just bought one. It's destined for Peking Duck on New Years Day!

Just that we're seriously hip is all!

Love her name - it fits her!

Me, too. I use Ruhlman's recipe; but this last batch, I swapped out the juniper berries for the PC. I liked it. http://blog.ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/

Yep, that's them!

Awesome looking bird!!!

Gorgeous looking bacon, MacKenzie! Did you experiment with any Purple Crack in the brine or rub?

Yeah, really windy days do funny things with both the smoker and the KK.

It was nice here today - 51F, but we'll see the deep freeze for Christmas - highs in the teens and lows in the single digits! Maybe some snow on Thursday night? We have seen only one light dusting so far this season.

Play a part - seriously!?! YOU are the sole reason we're all addicted now!

To be quite honest, I've struggled with keeping the chips lit in mine, too! Dennis suggested lighting a medium sized chunk of lump and putting it in the middle of the stack of chips. It works OK, but I still have had times when it goes out later in a longer smoking session. I've started mixing the wood chips with the pellets that they use in the pellet smokers. It seems to work a bit better, so give that a try.

I get almost all of my smoking woods from Fruita Woods. I get their regular chunks for the smoker pot. I use their chips in the cold smoker and I've done the larger splits of red oak for doing Santa Maria style tri-tip roasts directly on the fire. Their stuff is top shelf! https://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/shop?olsFocus=false&olsPage=products

Thanks, Bruce! I do it as a side project every year just for the fun of it. I love hot sauces and have dozens in my pantry and probably have tried hundreds over the years. It's hard to beat some of what's out there and I don't have any thoughts/aspirations of trying my hand at producing one commercially.

Yeah, you need to hollow them out. You can go either route - core them and stuff them like a tube; or, split them down the middle, clean them out and fill them like a canoe. Jalapenos are funny - you can't judge the heat of them externally by any reliable method that I know. You can do a batch of ABTs and most of them will have a nice level of heat and then you get one that takes the top of your head off! Sort of a griller's Russian roulette! If you really don't like a spicy pepper, you can always make them with Poblanos. You just need to double the batch size of the filling to account for the larger pepper.

Open the lid on the KK and see what kind of smoke you're seeing inside. If it's not much, the tube into the KK could be a bit plugged, forcing smoke out the side holes. You will see some smoke leak out, but it shouldn't be a lot.

Serious eats, Keith! Nice use of the PC, too!

Yes, they were whole. With the dark color of the beer to start with, you really can't see whether the PC imparted any color or not. Based upon cooking with them, I know that it did, but it will be hard to see in this particular beer. Same was true in the 2 previous beers that I used them in, as both had purple fruit in them - blackberries and blueberries.

Great Pizza, MacKenzie!