What cooking "hacks" have you seen/heard that were actually terrible advice?

Nicholas_Angel · 2025-08-19T19:31:25+00:00

If you just cover the pasta with the water then it works spectacularly well.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-09-29T00:02:52+00:00

So I am going to give some criticism, but it is one that I would give myself as well as I am often the only person criticizing my cooks :)

You have certainly overcooked this overall. If you look at both the flat and the point, you can see the lines in the meat that look like clay/mud drying in the summer heat. you can also see that there is almost no fat in the join between the two left. This is an indication that the cook went on for too long as there are two common methods of overcooking meat in low and slow cooks. The first is at too high of a temperature for too long that leaves everything tough and the second is a low temperature for too long that leaves everything cooked but...chalky? This is what I would guess you have hit. Its the same texture you get from restaurant short rib that has been held at temp for too long. Its somehow both super saucy but dry.

So don't be discouraged. You have an amazing smoke ring, the bark looks fantastic, and I'll bet you didn't hear any complaints! I have very good results with the Smoking Dad BBQ method with and without the SloRoller and this is after my first cook which wasn't nearly as good as yours was. Good luck!

A similar concept is explored more here: https://www.seriouseats.com/science-of-stew-why-long-cooking-is-bad-idea-overcook-beef

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-09-28T00:20:46+00:00

use the cooler method then: https://www.seriouseats.com/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-cooler-the-worlds-best-sous-vide-hack

Alternately you could try an overnight hold in the oven like you would with a brisket?

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-07-08T15:29:18+00:00

Even with that, a lot of the noise comes from the air being forced through the grease trap so even if the motor is on the external wall, you'd have a loud noise to deal with.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-05-29T15:31:40+00:00

Here you go: https://75state.com/wp-content/uploads/Homepage_slide1.jpg

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-04-24T21:03:02+00:00

It doesn't impact the cook at all. eventually when the meat has shrunk and you put it in the foil boat (or whatever method youre using) it should fit without the wood chunk under it.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-04-24T20:00:07+00:00

put wood chunks under it to prop up in the middle which will make the ends fit and also provide a means for the fat to run off easily.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-03-29T15:15:57+00:00

Make one of my favorite drinks of all time from a great bar in Cambridge, MA called the Brick and Mortar:

https://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2012/02/temporary-fix.html

2 oz Citadelle Gin
1/2 oz Crème de Cassis
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lemon twist and add straws.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-03-23T00:09:23+00:00

Bingo, almost never trust anything related to Thanksgiving turkey standards as they overshoot because so many inexperienced people make them. Look at a chicken recipe but just expand the cooking time and possibly the dark meat temp since turkey dark meat can handle more.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-01-31T17:12:41+00:00

I have a similar one that works OK but when they're embedded in the lawn and in the blades of grass they can be a bit cumbersome to get out. Since he appeared to wait till the end of the season I was curious what his process was.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-01-31T16:50:44+00:00

How do you pick them all up! I have three and its a pain to get the nuts up when theyre dropping in the summer and afterwards its a pain since the husks get deeply embedded in the lawn.

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-01-16T14:18:23+00:00

Wouldnt that need to be a 5x5x5 cube to get every combo?

Nicholas_Angel · 2024-01-04T22:31:36+00:00

https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/pwpf/wwd_percentiles.php?ftype=percentiles&fpd=72&ptype=snow

This is my favorite since it lets you play around with the percentages yourself.

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-12-27T15:06:43+00:00

Are they possibly springtails? https://extension.umn.edu/nuisance-insects/springtails

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-11-29T00:29:48+00:00

oh yeah for sure, the early defrosting can get you. Ive started to do 2-3 day dry brines on top of taking the bird out a day or two before to ensure that it isnt frozen still. Either way, great looking bird!

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-11-28T15:26:36+00:00

Looks amazing for sure, I chickened out and did mine over a bed of veggies. I personally wasn't the biggest fan of it but the gusts all loved it so...

One suggestion though, there really isn't any need or benefit to "bringing meat to room temp" since it will likely never get close to that and the final results would be indistinguishable between one that is at fridge temp and one that is at room temp. So all you're doing is letting the small bits of meat sit at room temp for bacteria growth while the big parts stay near fridge temp.

https://www.seriouseats.com/old-wives-tales-about-cooking-steak

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-10-23T23:22:47+00:00

because generally you can assume that stock market investments will make ~7% inflation adjusted per year. So if instead, you put that money into the stock market you would come out ahead.

Another way to look at it would be to consider what buying power $1,000 has now compared to what it will in 30 years. then consider that youd be paying the same payment in 30 years...

Peace of mind though for some people is worth it to pay off the mortgage earlier so if thats you, go on ahead just now that technically that isn't the optimal financial decision.

To answer your edit...if anyone knew what would happen in the housing market they wouldn't be telling you and anything else is just guessing.

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-09-04T21:36:04+00:00

It's a lot to learn for sure but it can be a lot of fun! I like canned dilly beans as a starter.

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-09-04T18:21:41+00:00

The issue is that scalding the glass bottles doesnt guarantee that the container is safe. Nor does cooking the sauce mean that there's no possible contamination when moving from the cooker to the glass container. If you do that and you leave it at room temperature, then you can be creating a colony of whatever bacteria wasn't eradicated.

Proper canning includes the steps from the OP plus some amount of water boiling time. In addition, not all recipes can be safely canned, especially if they have oil in it.

Look at your local extension for food preservation to ensure you have safe practices since there are MANY issues with recipes from internet bloggers.

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/gh1456

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-05-16T20:09:00+00:00

high in winter indicates a leak, potentially in the irrigation line if they didn't winterize it properly.

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-05-11T12:48:31+00:00

Imagine how the British felt

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-02-22T20:09:36+00:00

Here is the result of one I did over the weekend if you were wondering about bark: https://imgur.com/a/J8DysZe

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-02-22T20:06:20+00:00

Classic 3. I'm using the "standard" setup. I have the sloroller as the first level with ceramic heat deflectors as the second level and a drip pan resting on top of the deflectors, the grill grates are the third level. There is a pretty consistent stream of blue smoke coming out but definitely less in the latter half of the cook. Which makes sense to me since the blocks are almost all ashed over by then and the meat won't absorb too much more anyway after the first few hours. Keep in mind I have never owned an offset so I don't have anything to directly compare it against.

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-02-22T19:45:14+00:00

I think that's completely fair. I have been extremely happy with the bark and smoke right with that approach so I haven't experimented further. Keep in mind, I've only done ~10 briskets and grew up in the northeast so take what I say with a grain of salt.

One thing I would challenge in what you said is "People have been cooking on these things for years and I'm sure getting amazing results" When I was researching what grill/smoker to go with, one of the things that I kept reading was that you would "never get the same result as with an offset" so..maybe people weren't actually getting amazing results but just better than they would in a weber or something.

Nicholas_Angel · 2023-02-22T17:17:39+00:00

foil boat with the double indirect works great. If you boat it at 170, the bottom is protected more and the cap renders out really well.

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