yes sir 102 days, those that say 45/60 days pshhh. I dare you try it 100 too, way more flavor. there's a guy crazy dave who was gonna try 200 days, not sure he ever did. I'll have to track him down and see.

yes the pellicle was cut off I'd say maybe 1/8" -3/16th was a little hard but once you get under the layer it cuts easy. I had thought about keeping the pellicle and make beef love (sauce), maybe next time. No funky smell no funky blue cheese taste as some say. As I mention no seasoning I wanted to see what the "beef would taste like. Really juicy, tender almost melt in your mouth. the fat wasn't like fat, more like melted butter. I laughed when I was in MT. and seeing 20-30$ a pound pending the aging.

tomorrow gonna try garlic and thyme

Treated myself to a bone in NY strip last night! Seasoned it up with some Montreal steak seasoning - put it on the gasser with some hickory/cherry/maple pellets in the tube.... Took it up to ~115 IT --- and turned the burners off for ~30 minutes so it could suck up smoke! Burner back on - splashed with woosty - took it back up to 125 IT ---- turned the burner back off AGAIN for another 30 minutes.... Flipped it - another splash of woosty and took it back up to 135 IT. Has some tallow melting in a bowl on the grill -- slathered both sides to get it ready for searing.... All in ~2.5 hours in the smoke.




As I was preheating the grill --- I noticed that it was starting to bubble and gurgle ~350-400.... so I knew I would be in trouble if I tried to crank it up to 500 --- eminent grease fire for sure.... Luckily I have the trusty 3 burner sitting right next to the 2 burner that was pristinely clean --- fired up all 3 burners and it was at 600 inside of 10 minutes!!! Seared off the first side for ~2 minutes and flipped for another 2....



Let it rest while my flaky Pilsbury biscuits finished cooking.....
Damn..... I haven't had a steak that good in a looong time A PERFECT mr/m steak with a NICE uniform crispy sear! Nothing but steak and biscuits.... and I was more than happy - didn't even open the A1 bottle on the counter. What was left of a 1# steak.... decided to save some for another quick meal this week.... (sorry about the dark pic )

No grey there

Good looking Steak JMB!

Thanx! I'm REALLY liking that SS perf grate --- it allows you to sear the shit out of things without fear of burning it! Even if there is a bunch of grease/fat dripping thru on the the raging burners and flaring, the perf keeps the flames from the meat but let the heat thru and also spreads/diffuses it --- thats my theory..... You don't get that 'burnt' grease/fat flavor like a BK burger. I'm planning on trying some burgers smoked/seared the exact same way soon!

But tonight.... 4 monster chicken legs (that took 3 days to thaw - they were supposed to be for last night ) to go with the leftover biscuits

I'm thinking there could be a market for a grate cover out of this perf..... I'm surprised you don't see more of it. It works really good and cleans AMAZINGLY easy with a SS scrubby --- back to pristine new with some dish soap and minimal amount of elbow grease.

I think you're onto something like with the grate! I'd use one on my Kettle.
Now where to get some....

Edit:. Here's some.

https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/produ ... sheet-304/

Yep --- thats the stuff. I can't find my calipers at the moment, but when I do, I'll post up which one I have. (Tried measuring it with my ruler marked in 32nds/64ths --- my old eyes can't read that shit)
I can't say that the leftover sheet my neighbor gave me was the perfect solution, but it works damn good. I remember him saying its NOT cheap.... Thankfully he gave me enough to make two that size with some usable scrap sizes left over --- after I made some coal 'dividers' for the WSM -- yeah, I wasted some foolishly.... I've got a piece of scrap that fits nicely in my toaster oven and works really well -- toast doesn't get rock hard and perfect for setting a slice of pizza on.... I'm digging it.

My other neighbor had mention seeing SS grill baskets at Costco for a good price that made him think of the sheet --- I had let him borrow it for steaks two weeks ago.... Some of the slotted/slitted/patterned baskets could work just as good.... but they are no where as heavy as this sheet --- I'm guessing its the 0.063" stuff - definitely at least 0.050".

Definitely makes grilling a lot more fool proof --- I'd bet even Rick would have a hard time burning a steak or chicken

ETA --- HOLY shit!!!! I just did some pricing on that site --- 3'x4' 0.250"x0.0375"x0.063" is $717 !!!!!!!!!!
Yeah ---- I don't see many customers in that price range... $60/square foot material cost!
I seem to recall my neighbor saying he had to buy a FULL sheet to get the size he need to make the grill insert for his full size chevy.... thats why he had so much left over..... I thank him for it even more now.....RIP.

Damn! I won't be buying any of that...

There are options all over the place, $25-$75…

One of many:

https://www.amazon.com/SOSCo-Metals-Exp ... 0846&psc=1

So --- I thought I'd throw this out here.....

There is a property just down the street from me that is going to be cleared for building --- the house was just demolished today - there is an 'orchard' behind it --- I finally got a chance to chat with the demo guys about taking some of the wood before its plowed out.... They said 'go for it'! Cool --- I went and scoped out the trees --- there is a bunch of plums - an apple or two - and a big cherry ore two. I want me some apple - and I might grab a chunk of plum and cherry just for the hell of it....

If anyone wants some wood --- post up here. I'm not planning on grabbing more than I need unless there are people that want some. Just so you know - it will be green wood - but I've found that if you slab it into ~2" pucks, it dries easily within a month - especially in this weather!

I can't guarantee anything at the moment, but I'm definitely going to drag my trailer down there with the quad when I see an opportunity open up. Its a matter of how much should I grab when I go. I'm planning on grabbing bigger branches --- nothing under 3" this time --- and hopefully more like 6"+ depending on the tree.

Now that's more like ii!

A 5lb meatloaf tonight.


ETA, its upside down for some reason.

Oh my god. I'd eat that whole thing.

Smoked Meatloaf is the shit. Sandwich leftovers are aven better.

So I joined the Plugged into the wall smoker club today. Coastal farm and ranch was having a big weekend sale and they had the Camp Chef 24 on sale at $350 off. So for less than $500 OTD I joined the electric pellet team. I work with someone who has one of the other Camp Chef grills and really likes it. And did I mention it was $350 off (plus my oldest kicked in a hundred towards it). Now I need to start researching "How do I get more smoke flavor" and "Why wont my WiFi stay connected" ... haha. I really have been spinning my wheels wanting to get an electric controlled smoker for more unattended smokes. The kettles work well, but they do take a good amount of setup and baby sitting through a cook. I think I'll still fire the webers up for quick steak/chicken cooks, but the 4+ hour smokes I'm looking forward to some set it and forget it cooking. Will be easier also to have the kids running the grill during the day when I'm at work. I had them do a cook once on the kettle and they were sold on the idea of something a bit more hands off. I did a lot of research between the gravity charcoal types and a traditional pellet grill. The Masterbuilt grills had some pretty bad reviews on their electronics and overall build quality but they usually had great reviews for more"flavor". I'm sure in the end we will be pleased with the pellet flavor and smoke level. I go pick it up tomorrow from the store. I had to order online since the sale ended today.

Time to go back to the archives and start reading all those pellet suggestion posts.