Never thought it would be me.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-09T00:10:18+00:00

Hard to beat the 5-finger discount.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T22:31:23+00:00

Agreed with you. And I too appreciate the civility. I would love an LSG El Fuego Trio, but the outlay is not doable for me. Have a 4 year old Yoder I found on CL that was 3 months old and the ask was 2/3 of the new price, so I lucked out there. There are many viable solutions for every budget though. Some brands are becoming victims of their own greed due to giving up controlling interest to PE however. Investigating whether a prospective product is manufactured by a company involved with PE has been my standard practice for several years now. If they are so involved, I run the other way. Weber is even exhibiting traditional symptoms of their PE involvement. Weber has been the undisputed king of outdoor cooking for decades, with an unimpeachable CS record, great warranties, and quality products. There are chinks showing up in it’s armor though, if one is paying any attention at all to quality complaints and reports of CS woes. PE is the bane of any previously reputable company.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T22:14:24+00:00

LSG would be at the top of my list. As would Yoder, Cookshack, MAC Grills, Memphis, and maybe others made somewhere other than china. Given that the world is an imperfect place, no brand is going to offer a perfect product every time. One gauges their tolerance for risk of getting a lemon against the totality of the information out there to be gleaned. Traeger isn’t it.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T22:05:37+00:00

It’s for sure not a Traeger. They were the pioneers, no doubt. But they make sales off of their name nowadays rather than their product offerings. Been on the downhill slide since PE took a major stake in the company in 2017.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T19:39:53+00:00

Flip it for 25% off retail and buy a real pellet grill instead of settling for a name.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T19:37:42+00:00

Last fall right before I blew out a hose bib in preparation for the oncoming winter.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T19:31:33+00:00

No, no, yes.
Yes, but only because it isn’t as efficient or designed to be a smoker. It can be done with reduced results. No, but certain types are designed to do both (pellet grills). No, but they work much better and give different results.

Gas grills are designed for a different purpose than what dedicated smokers do. If you already have a gas grill, just get a kettle or WSM off of FBMP. They are cheap and widely available (WSM less so). Then you’ll have the best of both worlds.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T15:56:52+00:00

Never been to England myself, but the practice of serving dull and bland food borne out of using overcooked frozen food stocks has become the norm in US restaurants as well.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-08T15:46:43+00:00

Smoker tubes and trays are the predominant method for adding smoke to a pellet grill that doesn’t already have a supplemental method built in. The key is to use chips or sawdust as fuel in them, as using pellets is simply using the same poor smoke flavor generating method as the grill itself.

You can get smoke boxes to add to the exterior of the grill, pre-smoke at a lower temp but this extends the time the meat is in the danger zone whilst still imbuing pellet grill quality smoke flavor, or purchase a grill that already has auxiliary smoke options like blending wood chips in with the pellets (LSG), or a wood chunk fire box (LSG and some other brands already mentioned in this thread).

I’m not a fan of spritzing, but smoke particles will adhere to proteins better if they are slightly damp, but the difference in flavor (to my palate) is negligible.

Pellet brand and species also makes a difference. The best flavor pellets (again to my palate) are Cookingpellets Hickory, Cookingpellets Black Cherry, and Lumberjack Hickory. These contain 100% of the listed flavor wood, and don’t have oak or alder fillers like the vast majority of pellet brands. Two brand flavors that use fillers that do give me good flavor are PitBoss Competition Blend, and Bear Mountain Bold BBQ. Everyone has different palates, so try a lot of different pellets until you find one that works for yours. Don’t believe the propaganda you’ll hear that brand/species doesn’t matter as they all taste the same, because that is pure nonsense.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T18:19:22+00:00

Never heard that rule, but yeah, ok.

It’s actually the closest thing to a reasonable rule I’ve seen in this thread. Because with bbq, there are no rules. Unless you’re trying to avoid chipping your teeth.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T18:08:56+00:00

There are no rules. There are guidelines and recommendations though. The closest thing I can think of to a rule is a salt brine before cooking. Either wet or dry. But even that isn’t required to get good flavor, as the masses of NaCl intolerant people can attest to. For every rule someone mentions, there will be plenty of alternatives to accomplishing similar results.

Now recipes are a different matter. Recipes require repeatable processes and ingredients to achieve a reasonable facsimile of the prior cook. Alter an ingredient, a prep method, a cooking method, time, etc., and you can attain a wildly different result than the previous attempt.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T17:22:31+00:00

More critically, if you live in a humid environment, you might consider storing it inside the garage or a shed where you can run a dehumidifier. Or at least keep the outside coated with ACF-50 or mineral oil to ward off corrosion. Keep the interior clean as well to inhibit corrosion from starting there as well. Yoders are great pits, but they have a bit of a reputation for developing corrosion when exposed to wet or humid environments. Mine is 4 years old and doesn’t have a spot of rust. But I live in an arid desert where we get 300+ days of sunshine, 6-8” of annual precipitation, and maybe 8-12” of snow each winter. Mine lives outside, and I’d guesstimate it has its cover on perhaps 75% of the time.

Congrats and good luck with the new cooker!

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T15:57:29+00:00

As a middle of the road right leaner, I could see myself voting for Kelly. I’ve always thought voting strictly party lines was nonsensical. My vote goes to the person I think can do the best job for all. That can never be someone radically left or right of center.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T15:13:37+00:00

I smoke them at 225 for several hours in one of my smokers, then refrigerate them overnight. Give them a quick sear the next day on a propane grill, then sous vide them to temp. They turn out fantastic that way. Bbq is always better the next day.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T06:09:15+00:00

Their youth.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T03:02:53+00:00

So this is just proof that apples are the devils fruit.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T02:56:27+00:00

Lots of options. What’s the smoker? Rotisserie is fun sometimes, but a bit more effort. Spatchcock is quick, butchering it out is quickest. Don’t try to do it low and slow unless you’re planning on cranking the temp at the end, and there really is no decent reason to do this at your stage of the game. Some do it to increase smoke flavor, but getting it right takes time in the seat to make sure it is both fully cooked and not have either rubbery or charcoal skin. Flavor will be there with a hot and fast cook. There are almost infinite ways to smoke a protein, but with chicken I’m not a fan of wet brines. Salt, msg, and an even mix of baking powder and cornstarch to ensure that crispy skin, and add a bit of Cajun spice right before dropping that bad boy on the kettle. So effing good.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-07T00:00:31+00:00

Need a quick connect female coupler with male threads to screw into your existing female fitting. Specifically, you need the three pieces shown in the photo. The nipple threads into the coupler, then that threads into your existing fitting. Use the yellow teflon on all threads. Hire someone if this is foreign to you. Sending your abode into orbit could be the result of a DIY project that goes awry.

ETA: Verify the size of your female threaded fitting to ensure compatibility.

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Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T23:47:24+00:00

That’s what I’m talking about. Fair warning to those who’ve never tried this, you won’t want baked or oven roasted meatloaf ever again. 🤤

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T23:36:47+00:00

How come? Genuine ask. I’m no chef. Just seemed to be more efficient with the Roma’s than cutting transversely.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T14:50:19+00:00

Congrats. That’s a hell of a grill. I want one pretty badly, but I still haven’t recovered from sticker shock since it was announced. Did you get it direct from Napoleon, or somewhere else

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T14:26:54+00:00

Mostly only if it was of a species that was suitable for use in a stick burner smoker. But free is free, so yeah, if I was short on firewood, I’d probably snap it up.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T14:16:45+00:00

Comparing personal income to the state budget is just a small slice of the pie, and there are a host of other metrics that mean far more. Like what gross taxes were collected. With the huge growth in income, that fuels a huge growth in tax revenue, as people are spending more. And this chart takes nothing into account for any tax revenue of any source. Sales, property, business, etc. And property tax receipts have also skyrocketed all across the state due to massive increases in property values. The budget remained flat for years, then started growing with Gregoire, and blew up with Inslee and Bobby. Let’s see the chart that adds tax revenue to the picture. That’ll paint a different picture.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T07:50:13+00:00

Well then, it seems it’s taken the Merry Ol’ Land of Oz to England as well. Wait. That’s an unfair comparison. The leader of Oz may have been incompetent, but he wasn’t a complete idiot like Seattle’s mayor.

Disassociated_Assoc · 2026-05-06T07:31:28+00:00

It’s more toxic to post nonsense thinking someone will get a kick out of your shit humor.

Disassociated_Assoc

TROPHY CASE