It's a device for interatively calculating an offset to set point with the desired effect of continually minimizing differential measurements.
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There is a thread in the asylum, TB, that covers the WHOLE process with photos and results. Just search.
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No really.....what is it? :-)
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dammed if I know :-)
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Dammed if I know too. I just know i set a temp I want my smoker to run at,and the little black box does it's best to keep it there.
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I have never been able to go all in and shop at a butcher shop, even though we have some very fine ones in Memphis.
I have never been a person who can see great quality, real or perceived, and ante up for it, always thinking that I can
'make do' with the lesser item, old school parents, old school kids. But the idea of it is certainly romantic and has
a cache' that I think is important to some people. If I ate more beef, or was a connoissieur, I think I could
develop a sense of it, I certainly love the finest bourbon I can drink, and smoke the finest cigars I can find.
But it doesn't carry over to the rest of my life. I drive the cheapest car the lot had available new. My bedroom
is only a few degrees warmer than it is outside at night, I'd rather pile up the blankets than heat that room. I sleep
much more comfortably. So yeah, I love 'reduced for quick sale' beef. I occasionally risk the pork, and rarely the chicken.
I have never had an issue with beef, even for jerky.
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Another +1 for Costco. I love those giant pound ribeyes. High gas grill heat, 3.5 to 4 min a side and that's it. Warm, bloody in the center , nice char lines - never tough and always tasty. I'd love to have a local butcher, but I don't. I would definitely pay them a visit pretty often.

BY THE WAY, Costco socks are the warmest socks on the planet, Brad. :-)
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Some at a local market called Western Beef that has incredible prices but I have acquired a taste for Prime beef and find myself often at Fresh Market (like a Whole Foods).
Pricey as heck but the marbling is to die for.
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Meat is so expensive these days, I am strictly buying the tough cuts and working magic with them. Beef cheeks and shoulder; sign me up.

Even beef bones are expensive!. Finding a real butcher is no easy task. Pre-packaged bones are like $2+ a pound!
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My wife picked up two T-Bones at Costco yesterday; grilled them medium rare and they were fantastic. These were USDA Choice, but occasionally Costco has Prime -- and we love that too.

One of our local stores (New Seasons) also has excellent meat -- not just beef, but lamb and pork.
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Tough pick between the Prime shell sirloin or Choice strip as they are the same price per pound.
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I'd probably go with the Strip...
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I usually do.
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Here's a nice article about surviving Whole Foods:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-...b_3895583.html

On Topic:

I buy my meat locally. I'm friends with the offspring of a local butcher in town. Sure, it costs a little more, but I'd much rather keep my money local. I prefer to support local people instead of corporations.
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I have been pleased w/ Costco for the price. Far superior in cost and price to chain grocers. I try not to buy much beef from costco though.

Right here in ft Wayne we have one of the few Wagyu (Kobe) beef operations. Joseph Decuis farms (and restaurant). It's a splurge and I don't do it but once every couple months or so.

Seven sons Farms, also right here (Roanoke, IN) has excellent all-grass fed pasteured beef. They have started a great delivery program with many excellent farmers/producers and they deliver to as far as Cincy and Chicago. Check out their sites:

http://sevensons.net

And

http://www.honoredprairie.com

Gunthorp farms is on "honored prairie" - excellent poultry


I hope we are returning to the small scale family farmers. Their product is more money, and not all would want to budget to afford it, but it's worth it to me.
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Haha, nice one JJIrons. I am with Moses on the go cheap and work magic aspect.
I do not go in for all that much steak, but I put away a lot of jerky and I DO LOVE a good
roast cooked the way the cajuns do it. SO I surf sales on chuck roast as well as baby back ribs
to keep the freezer as stocked as I can, small as it is. My pick of a whole ribeye last month
was RARE indeed. I am glad I did it, but I always regret it some when I think of how
unimportant steaks are to me and how much I paid. But give me a Rival jerky maker and
whatever beef the store can't sell by whatever date they choose and I am happy.
The ribeye is marked in yellow to show where I found a friend's FACE in the marbling. Lucky
it wasn't Jesus.
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Growing up, we bought a beef cow each year and had it butchered. Literally picked it out live and selected it. Did the same thing with a hog. Many times we even cut and sectioned the dead animals ourselves. I find it easy to look and meat in the store now and pick out good pieces/cuts. Local supermarkets are fine after 10 years of home butchering.
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This thread reminds how lucky I am married a ranchers daughter and I hunt. We get our beef, pork, & chicken from father in law. No drugs and each year we pick out of the herd what we want. Then there is also deer and elk 100% natural. It truly saves us a lot of cash. It does cost me a little but most part not as much as the store.
Mack
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Lucky man.
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