The trick is to smoke the meat and not make the meat smoke
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Gear

Zero Tare Scale Tip

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Now here is a case where I may just be slow and I am the last person to pick up on this capability of a zero tare scale. But in case I am not, here is a way to make quick work out of measuring out ingredients for a recipe where you have the weights. A couple clarifications first. A zero tare digital scale has the ability to ignore the weight of the items on the scale’s platform and reset itself to zero. This allows you to put a plate or a bowl on the platform. The scale is zeroed out so it ignores the bowl and just weighs the content you add. As you may have noticed, I tend to pre-measure my ingredients into bowls. Baking recipes often have the measurements by volume and weight. I like to use weight because it is more accurate than volume. The zero tare feature made it easy: I would put the bowl for that ingredient on the scale, zero it out and add the ingredient. I would do this for each ingredient and then add them to a large bowl to mix together. This was a fairly fast and accurate way to work for sure, but today I found a better way. Read More...
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Emile Henry Pizza Stone

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I never thought I’d own a pizza stone. After all I don’t make pizza in my oven, and I like making pizza on the grill without the stone. I like being able to grill both sides of the crust as opposed to baking one side like you do with a pizza stone. Until two weeks ago I had no reason to want a pizza stone. Then I started making bread from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. This book recommended using a pizza stone for the crispiest crust. Since I was really happy with the results so far on the recipes that didn’t call for a pizza stone, I figured these authors knew what they were talking about. My initial breads were made in loaf pans and a stone wasn’t required. I was going to be graduating to loaves cooked without a loaf pan. The authors said you could use a metal pizza pan, but highly recommended a pizza stone. So suddenly a pizza stone was on my radar. The author’s web site had a blog entry on pizza stones and the Emile Henry Pizza Stone was a dark horse favorite. I noticed it was sold at Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table, which meant it was a serious pizza stone. Poking around and looking at critics reviews of pizza stones on the internet, I found this topped many lists as the best pizza stone. Santa came early this year and I picked up my stone. I really like it a lot and while I may not grill with mine, I figured there are others out there with smaller or round grills who may need to use a pizza stone. That is the reason for this blog. Read More...
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Sweet - FoodSaver Canister Tip

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This blog entry is a quick tip on a great use for FoodSaver canisters. I figured this one was a no brainer, but I’ve found many folks with FoodSavers only use them for leftover food that they’ve cooked. I’d mention this use and often they hadn’t thought of it before this. So I’m sharing it here as a quick tip. Read More...
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Great Grill Light

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I have been on a long time quest to find a great grill light. I have come close in the past, but so far every light has had something about it that has kept me looking. Last night was the inaugural run of a new grill light, that seems to be the closest yet to what I have been looking for in a grill light. The light in question is from Sur La Table and has the simple name of Adjustable Grill Light with Cover. Before I get into this light, I will discuss what I am looking for in a grill light in general and some of the specific models that I have used before this.

I have now owned tow versions of this light which have now both broken in the same manner. I have provided more information in a 2014 blog entry entitled FAILS & PARTIAL SUCCESS Read More...
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Grilled Paella

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This blog entry about my journey to making grilled paellas has a bit of a “What goes around comes around” quality to it. This first paella I saw was the last one I made and best paella I’ve ever made. But let’s begin at the beginning. I saw my first paella on TV three years ago. Steven Raichlen made a Paella Primavera (Vegetable Paella) on the first season of Primal Grill. This Spanish rice dish looked amazing. When a new Spanish restaurant opened in town, paella was the first thing I tried and I was hooked. I had some self-education to do, as well as come up with a source for some special ingredients. I needed to get the special pan used to make paellas and I got a paella cookbook because I knew zip about making paellas. I’ll put some links at the bottom on sources for some of the ingredients and equipment you will need. Read More...
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Remote Read ROTISSERIE Thermometer

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As anyone who has talked to me or read my blogs can tell you: I love my remote read thermometers. I use them whenever I can. If you haven’t read these blogs I will link to them at the end of this post. I have always lamented the fact you couldn’t use one on a meal cooked on the rotisserie. One of the reasons I dropped a lot of money on a fast response instant read meat thermometer was to deal with rotisserie grilling and the need to manually take the temperature of the meat. This year I noticed that Maverick, who makes the other units I own, had come out with a simple but ingenious remote read rotisserie thermometer. It is the Maverick Remote-Chek ET-75. Where this was new technology I tried posting on several BBQ related message boards to see if anyone had any hands on experience with one of these. I got no response and I finally bit the bullet and used some birthday gift money to grab one on Amazon for $38.00. Read More...
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Served up on a Silver Platter

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This blog is about an interesting piece of gear I picked up last summer at Williams-Sonoma. It is called a Grill Tray and I am only just now getting around to using it. But in three uses it has proven to be interesting. I must confess the original big attraction was the companion recipe for grilled nachos that made use of the tray. Now that I have used it a couple times I am finding it is not a one-trick-pony and will have many more uses than I originally thought.
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Everything is Panning Out

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This blog will be more words than pictures. I will attempt to illustrate the many uses I have found for modular sized sheet pans that you find in better cooking stores or restaurant supply houses. About 4 years ago I started using full sheet pans to help with my grilling chores. They proved very versatile and I ended up with two that I bought and two that were given to me. Within the last two years I added 1/2 and 1/4 sheet pans to my arsenal. The modular nature of these pans opens up all kinds of possibilities. Four 1/4 sheet pans fit in a full pan, two 1/4’s in a half sheet pan, two 1/2s in a whole. Better yet there are gridded inserts for these pans. The inserts for the 1/2 sheet pans are non-stick and are a perfect fit for the 1/2 sheet pans. These non-stick inserts came from Williams-Sonoma. The ones for the 1/4 pans are stainless steel and aren’t quite a perfect fit but close enough. These grids open up all sorts of additional possibilities, which I will attempt to show in the pictures. Read More...
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Measuring Up

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The combination of some free time on my hands, the desire to grill, together with some cold and windy weather has seen me find some new ways of using two of my thermometers. The thermometer shown above: the Bonjour Laser Probe Combo Thermometer is proving to be very useful indoors as well. This short blog entry will describe the new uses I have found for both the Bonjour and the Maverick Redi-Chek ET-72 dual probe remote read thermometer.
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