:-)

Thanks, Dom.
[Reply]

:-)
[Reply]

It's a little tricky to pull their flyer up but here's a link to March 2015 flyer for your region. This gives an idea of some of their items but is far from all of them.

http://www.restaurantdepot.com/Branc..._midstates.pdf

I don't regularly shop at Costco but my wife does shop and Sam's Club. She is amazing at knowing which stores sell each item at the cheapest. She tells me that while not everything is cheaper at RD, most items are, especially meat, cheese, SPICES, cooking oil and flour. Given my love of BBQ and my wife's baking business we rip through certain things. Flour she goes through over 50 lbs/month and if busy it can be over 100 lbs. Most condiments, sauces, garnishes, and other items like that are far cheaper. Produce is about a wash but since they only sell bulk size containers for produce, we don't buy much of it there as it will spoil before getting used. The meat selection is amazing, they have nearly everything. The cooler is probably 30,000 sq ft. for the location by me. Bring a jacket, hat, and gloves as you'll want to spend time in there. Deli meat at 1/3 the price of most places but it's unsliced. For that reason I'm looking into a commercial grade slicer. They sell whole lambs for $2.99/lb. They have Choice grade Angus top round for $3.19/lb, 81/19 ground chuck for $2.99/lb (sold in 10 lb tubes), pork spare ribs are $2.08/lb. Cheeses of every sort, including exotics/imports, for half what you pay at Kroger & much cheaper than Sams.

My wife still gets household items like paper plates, napkins, Windex, etc at Walmart, most produce at Kroger, and a few odds and ends at Sams.
[Reply]

Very cool Dom. Thanks for the info. I may just have to look into that membership too.
[Reply]

Wow, finding the events list on KCBS website is solid gold. I'll be planning a few weekend trips to some of the local events. I think we should even plan a herf around one.
[Reply]

Dixieline (a San Diego county home improvement chain) has a sale going onthis week for Traeger pellets. 20 pound bags are $11.99! All 8 varieties. No limit. They are regularly $16.99. And ~$14.50 at Costco - and usually only hickory and mesquite.

I bought 8 bags today.
Score. :-)
[Reply]

Nice Peter. I broke out the UDS Monday for the first time this year. I did two pork butts that had been cut in half horizontally. I tried OLS's method of creating more surface area and thus more bark on my PP. It seems to have worked well. Moisture and flavor were very good and there was definitely more bark to go around. I only got a before pic as the after would have had to been taken pretty early in the morning Tuesday.
[Reply]

Did cutting it in half reduce cooking time significantly?
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]

It did reduce time but not in half. Maybe a 1/3 or so less time. I picked a bad night for smoking meat as the temps plunged in the early AM hours which threw my timing off a bit. My UDS holds temp very well when ambient temps are above 25 but that night it dipped down around 15 until the sun came up.
[Reply]

:-)
[Reply]

I'm in KC this week, so all things BBQ. Talking to one of the new guys at the plant, says he spends time with regulars at the KC American Royal competition. Mentioned how these guys use a UDS, but with a vertical charcoal feeder. Reading up on it, sounds like an adaptation of a Stubbs smoker, but on a UDS. Uses a 6" steel pipe, capped, with the fire box on the bottom and a PID controlled fan to heat the UDS. I haven't been able to find a link or image online yet, but look up a Stubbs smoker for an idea of how it works. Sounds pretty cool. Load it up and let the PID take over.
[Reply]

Do you know when the Dixieland sale is over Peter?

EDIT: Just looked it up...29th of this month
[Reply]

Yep. Sunday.
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]

I've got some St. Louis ribs rubbed with Memphis Dust getting ready to go on the WSM in a bit. Going to smoke with one chunk hickory, one apple. No pictures as they'll look the same as the ones on the previous page. :-)
[Reply]

I have been in need of a new grill for a few years now. About 4 years ago my charcoal grill crapped out so I started using the propane grill my wife's grandparents gave us when we got married. 2 years ago, the internals of that grill rusted out so I gutted it and turned it into a charcoal grill. The issue with that is that there are so many holes in a propane grill that the charcoal would heat up so quickly and burn out so quickly that I only got about 15 minutes of cook time. Well this year my mom gave me $300 for my birthday so I went out and bought a new grill.

Image

It has an infared burner, propane grill, charcoal grill, and a smoker box. I broke it in today by cooking a pineapple brat, a new york strip, and a bone in ribeye.

Image
[Reply]

:-)
[Reply]

Cool pit.

Image
[Reply]

That is cool, and a neat use of an old 1/2bbl keg, although it looks to be more of a chimenea than a cooking apparatus.
[Reply]

True. The place that makes these is calling it a fire pit. So definitely more like a chimenea.
[Reply]

You can actually buy these? Too cool.

BTW - wasn't knocking you or it about it being a firepit, just making a comment.
[Reply]