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Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413748 07/27/15 01:02 PM
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Well the Mak performed admirably. Way too easy. Fill up the hopper, hit the start button, set the grill temp, insert meat probe and set meat temp - drink favorite beverages..... When the meat reaches temp, an obnoxious alarm starts beeping, and the grill temp lowers. Very cool. I smoked an elk rib (very lean), and it came out fantastic. Nice smoke ring and tender. Cooked it till it reached 130. Then we smoked a Wagyu tri tip. 160 deg this time. Perfect. This thing keeps the grill temp within 5 deg, always. Amazing. Looking forward to trying to different things with it.

It does go through the pellets though. Close to 1 pound per hour if you crank the temp up. The taste of the food is well worth it to me though.

Re: Question for the BBQ experts
michael_d #413753 07/27/15 09:01 PM
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Originally Posted By michael_d
Well the Mak performed admirably. Way too easy. Fill up the hopper, hit the start button, set the grill temp, insert meat probe and set meat temp - drink favorite beverages..... When the meat reaches temp, an obnoxious alarm starts beeping, and the grill temp lowers. Very cool. I smoked an elk rib (very lean), and it came out fantastic. Nice smoke ring and tender. Cooked it till it reached 130. Then we smoked a Wagyu tri tip. 160 deg this time. Perfect. This thing keeps the grill temp within 5 deg, always. Amazing. Looking forward to trying to different things with it.

It does go through the pellets though. Close to 1 pound per hour if you crank the temp up. The taste of the food is well worth it to me though.

Sounds like a fairly positive review.
I'm anxious to settle on a temp control as well. I like the idea of having a wireless unit that i can monitor at a distance and even change the temp on the road if you wanted to ramp it up while away from the unit.

That was one thing i read about smokers, is how much in pellet pounds they use. 1lb per hour is about what i recall reading.
What is the cost vs. charcoal i wonder?


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Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413761 07/28/15 02:09 AM
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From what I've read they are more expensive, but that depends on the cooking temp, and what pellets you buy.

Pellets are generally about a buck a pound for grilling pellets, but I'm looking into a local source that is way cheaper. Its a blend of oak, cherry and walnut for about 12 cents per pound.


Fred

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Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413763 07/28/15 02:31 AM
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I know these Maks have Wi-Fi capability, but I have not looked into that yet. I think I need to buy an adapter or something.... The controller does work very well, so far anyway. Can't wait to smoke some chickens, and a turkey.

Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413765 07/28/15 05:40 AM
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Originally Posted By fredk
Its a blend of oak, cherry and walnut for about 12 cents per pound.

And that's probably why it is so cheap.
Kind of an odd blend. Lots of scraps in there perhaps?


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Re: Question for the BBQ experts
michael_d #413766 07/28/15 05:41 AM
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Originally Posted By michael_d
I know these Maks have Wi-Fi capability, but I have not looked into that yet. I think I need to buy an adapter or something.... The controller does work very well, so far anyway. Can't wait to smoke some chickens, and a turkey.

Beer can chicken on the BGE is phenomenal, but i'm looking for a ceramic stand because there's no way i'm going to use an actual beer can during the cooking.


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Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413770 07/28/15 03:42 PM
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Best ribs I've had so far, were smoked on the grill following Michael Symon's recipe. It's in his Carnivore cookbook (highly recommend this to all meat and fat lovers).

Re: Question for the BBQ experts
chesseroo #413772 07/28/15 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted By chesseroo
Originally Posted By fredk
Its a blend of oak, cherry and walnut for about 12 cents per pound.

And that's probably why it is so cheap.
Kind of an odd blend. Lots of scraps in there perhaps?

We covered this a few pages back. Its that cheap because its not 'food grade'. Food grade is marketing bs since there is no certification through the fda or similar organization.

There seems to be a range of opinion as to how much difference in taste various woods and blends make (except mesquite). At $5.00 for a bag, I'll give it a try.

As a side note, some companies selling 'food grade' pellets add 'flavour oils' so those apple pellets may not be apple. Others use mostly filler hardwood with some percentage of the wood named on the bag. Caveat emptor, read the bag carefully.


Fred

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Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413773 07/28/15 04:42 PM
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Originally Posted By fredk
Its that cheap because its not 'food grade'. Food grade is marketing bs since there is no certification through the fda or similar organization.

In this instance, you would have to know how the manufactorer defines "food grade".
I wouldn't write off the concept entirely though. Having researched various charcoal brands, i found the Naked Whiz site to have great info in this regard (don't know if they do pellets or just charcoal).
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm
From personal experience (and i could toss up some photos of this), i ran some similar comparisons to the Naked Whiz reviews. The charcoal from a Canadian Tire bag of Kingsford was utter crap compared to Dragon's Breath or Maple Leaf.
Chunk sizes were small, more dust and numerous rocks, and even pieces of steel!
So, in regards to 'food grade', the initial evidence lends me to think that Kingsford cheapo bags include literally the scrapings off a floor in a sawhouse or from some outdoor pile of scrap wood.

Aside from that, on a full firebox, the Kingsford would give about 8-10 hours of cooking time (averaging 375F). I got more around 12-16 hours from the other two brands and less ash (needed to vacuum twice with the Kingsford and not at all with the other two brands after the firebox was burned out).

Quote:

There seems to be a range of opinion as to how much difference in taste various woods and blends make (except mesquite). At $5.00 for a bag, I'll give it a try./[quote]
Yes i've seen some opinions including one from a 'pro' chef who said the wood type doesn't matter; charcoal is all the same.
On a chemical level, that just isn't true though from a layman's perspective, it would seem logical that burned wood all become nothing but carbon.
Flavour profiles are actually fairly easy to distinguish. I had switched from one brand to another with the first bag having hickory and oak base charcoal, the second bag having maple, birch and beech primarily. The hickory/oak was a much sharper flavour and really overpowered shrimp. It was so noticeable on other lighter foods that we moved away from using it.
Lovely with red meats though.

Now could we possibly tell the difference between beech and birch? Probably not. But between hickory and applewood charcoal? Mesquite and maple?
Easily.

[quote]
As a side note, some companies selling 'food grade' pellets add 'flavour oils' so those apple pellets may not be apple. Others use mostly filler hardwood with some percentage of the wood named on the bag. Caveat emptor, read the bag carefully.

I've read that too.
You really need to know your supplier and what info they provide and how open they are to providing it.
Any company who doesn't want to describe how they source and prep their product is hiding something. You can easily omit proprietary methods while still informing the customer about the rest of the process.


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Re: Question for the BBQ experts
fredk #413774 07/28/15 05:54 PM
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Continuing with the bbq thread, i'm looking at doing some pizzas by end of summer. However we don't have a pizza peel.
Given that the BGE has a grate which doesn't sit level with the edge, it makes sense to get a peel that has a slight bend to the material (e.g. aluminum vs wood), or an angle design built into the actual peel.

Thoughts on these two peels?

http://www.amazon.ca/Kitchen-Supply-14-Inch-16-Inch-Aluminum/dp/B002JPJ0QY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top


http://www.amazon.ca/Cuisinart-CPP-413-A...ords=Pizza+Peel




Which pizza peel do you think is best for the Big Green Egg?
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Votes accepted starting: 07/28/15 05:54 PM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
Last edited by chesseroo; 07/28/15 05:58 PM.

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