tony b

Birthday present from a friend. They obviously know me well - LOL!

Grabbing the local corn while it lasts. Grilled chicken breast, corn and a nice crusty bread. Side of curried rice and a green salad. Lovely white Rhone wine to wash it all down with. Direct, Main grate, 375F, apple wood chunks.

Reach out to Dennis - he's super nice and easy to work with. He'll answer all your questions without any pressure or upselling.

I like a chuck roast, as it's a lot less meat to deal with than a full brisket. Well, corn season is winding down here, but I did manage to score some local stuff this week. Porkchops and snags with local corn. No plated pics as I had a dinner guest who was hungry! Another friend was over for dinner last night. Ribs and corn this time. Indirect, smoker pot of hickory & apple, 250F. Country style ribs got a slather of mustard based sauce at the end. This friend wasn't as ravenous, so I got to snap a plated pic. Side of homemade potato salad and air fryer hushpuppies.

Looks wonderful, even with the "wrong" bread.

I thought that he was getting ready to smelt some iron ore. 😆

Post over in the other Forum thread for admin help.

I don't use it, no help here. It's probably a plug-in app and the admin just needs to add it.

Says the man with just about every toy for cooking with fire! LOL

Now, THAT'S armageddon!

It actually is the nickname that I gave to the Tazmanian mountain pepper berries.

It was surreal in Napa. Monday it was 110F. Tuesday it dropped like a rock and the sky stayed completely overcast all day. This was Tuesday morning at Trefethen @ 10 am.

@Troble - same scene up here in the Bay area. Left Napa yesterday after folks started closing because of the poor air quality. This was taken as we were leaving at 10:30 am. Quality didn't improve substantially as we traveled south back to San Jose.

I use a small battery-powered blower, called a FiAir. Works well in tandem with my MAPP torch.

Welcome to the Obsession! You are about to be amazed. I have NEVER owned a gas grill. No comparison. But, use good hardwood lump charcoal - Fogo and KJ Big Block are my current choices. Red Devil is good. But, stay away from Cowboy - it's cheap scrap lumber, so you never know what kind of wood it is and it burns up super fast, so it's not really a bargain. Can't wait to see pics of your uncrating and first cooks!

Yeah, we're definitely going to be taming our consumption in the heat. Lots of water. Stags Leap, Trefethen, Cuvaisson, Saintsbury and Walt are on the 2 day agenda. Stops at Stone and Russian River breweries, too.

I hear yah. I'm visiting a friend in San Jose and it's 101F today and suppose to hit 109F tomorrow up in Napa, where we're headed in the morning for 3 days. Hoping to not burn up - both literally (wildfires) or figuratively (heat exhaustion).

Understand that completely. I started out brewing beer before the "craft beer" wave, when the selection of "good beers" was very limited, especially where I live. And, what was available was very expensive. But, even now when I can buy all sorts of amazing beers, both at the store and at local breweries, I still brew my own, just not as much as I used to. Now, it's more about experimentation than trying to clone a commercial beer. New hops and yeasts coming out all the time. I have a new, small brewing system coming that will be more tailored to experimenting with than my current system, which is geared toward making "standard size" batches of 5 gallons. I've enjoyed exploring ciders and meads, as well. Sourcing different ingredients and seeing what I can come up with? A few "winners" and a lot of so-so batches. Similar to concocting your own BBQ rubs. Lots of good commercial ones out there, but nice to tailor your own sometimes. YMMV

Understand that dilemma, especially traveling to visit friends.

It's like many things - beer making, bread making - it's not about saving money so much as it is about control of the ingredients and the satisfaction of making it yourself.

Are you looking for a scale for large quantities or small amounts? How accurate do you want? Modernist Cuisine has nice accurate scales for smaller quantities. Check Webstaurant.com for commercial sizes.

Yes, hone after each use. Sorry, but I'm traveling and using the phone to post; otherwise I'd send you a link to some good videos for knife sharpening. I can't remember the guy's name, it was Richard something, if I'm remembering correctly. I haven't watched them in quite a while.

You are using the smoker pot correctly. Curious as to what you are using the drip pan for, as most of us hardly use it, except for special cases? Normally for indirect cooks I just use a sheet of aluminum foil on the lower grate. I generally only use the smoker pot on cooks longer than 2 hours, which are usually indirect. Plenty of space for charcoal for low & slow cooks lasting up to 20 hours.

Hit me where I live! Sucker for good knives, especially Japanese. I started out with Shuns, which are very good, but have bought a few of the handcrafted ones. Pricey, but amazing. I don't practice enough with my stones. I probably should buy the "cheater" guides, particularly for the 15 degree blades. Be very careful, as this is another rabbit hole that will empty your wallet in a hurry! 🤑