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So I looked up a few mods to make on my offset smoker to help with any heat leaks and boost the quality of my cooks. I've settled on a few that I think are manageable and will hopefully take on these little projects soon. 1. Nomex gasket seal rated up to 800degrees. Put this stuff on the cooking chamber edge where the lid comes down. Same with the firebox. 2. Lay a few fire bricks down in the cooking chamber. 3. Install a metal plate where the firebox meets the cooking chamber angling the smoke and heat downward. 4. Extend exhaust down to grill grate. If anyone has any experience doing these, let me know. Any things to watch out for? Pitfalls or non apparent difficulties?

Bingo! This is exactly how a dish/recipe goes from just that to "______'s recipe".

Agreed. Not just for grilling, for cooking in general. Learn how to build a shelter that stands up strong before diving right into handcrafting fancy shutters. Learn your "danger zones" and proper temperatures. Learn how different food reacts in different scenarios. Learn to season with just salt and pepper. And most importantly, above ANY AND ALL, keep trying things and challenging yourself. Understand that cooking involves trial and error. Sometimes food looks great on the surface and is pure yuck once you bite in. That stuff is so important because it builds your foundations of technique and expands your ability to blend flavors and create pure artwork on a plate. You begin to develop your own methods and standards which eventually leads to your own style. This tends to be where the line gets drawn between cooking for necessity, and anything further than that. From labor to live, to labor of love.

B&R United reported earlier that DCU's ownership and Swansea are finalizing their deal for a partnership. Are you talking about Sunderland perhaps? I know that was the last DCU partnership. Truth be told, I agree with you. Just going on the way ownership and the FO has been here, I'm nervous about the direction Swansea is going to go. But I guess we'll have to wait and see. Who knows, maybe we'll see some interaction between DCU, Richmond, Swansea, and Inter Milan all together over the next couple years. That would be pretty cool. I don't think it to be out of the question that once Buzzard Point is official and in use that we could see some friendlies. But I figure that regardless, my favorite American side that I follow religiously has a new partner in a league I really enjoy watching and have been looking for an in so to speak. So I figure no matter what happens, The Swans officially have a new fan. Being as loyal to a fault that I tend to be, even if DCU's ownership finds a way to screw this up, I don't see it changing up my loyalties. Lol I figure this being a much better reason to follow a club than, "Hey I like the colors of those kits!" or another arbitrary reason.

Well folks. As I've made known here before. I enjoy watching the EPL. But I've never specifically had a team since I just never really could find a reasonable stake in any club playing so far away. After the recent partnership, it's officially been decided. Swansea City it is.

Home depot had a special on a smaller beer can chicken frame for about 8 bucks. Like this, but it lays flat and the can holders fold up and snap around the can. Worked well. Although next time I think I'm going to detach the upper shelf of my grill while making BCC because it was getting in the way when closing the lid. They also had a good deal on Kingsford for Memorial Day weekend. 2 18.5lb bags for $10. I used Leinenkugel Lemon Shandy on mine. Mostly because I used lemon juice and lemon pepper in my brine. To add to the brine conversation, I noticed no one mentioned chicken broth for poultry. That's what I used and it was fantastic!

One tip when smoking pork ribs or shoulder. Get a basic spray bottle. Fill it with a little bit of apple cider vinegar and apple juice. Maybe a TBSP per cup of juice. Spray occasionally. Not enough to disrupt cooking. But every now and then if you open up to check the meat, give it a few sprays.

I agree on chicken. That's one that I've gotten down pretty well in numerous different methods. But I'll always brine turkey.

Definitely going to keep a closer eye on it. Thankfully since I brined, and injected the chicken, it wasn't dry at all. The meat itself was fantastic. Moist, tender, and flavorful. But the skin wasn't right and really took away from the flavor.

Appreciate the advice y'all. Honestly, I think my biggest problem is that I'm having more issues getting the temp to anything above 250 honestly. Which really isn't much of a bad thing considering the smoking temp for most that I like is no more than that. I'm not so much concerned about losing smoke as I am losing heat. Which I know tends to be a common design flaw in the lower grade offset smokers. Primary example, I did a beer can chicken on the smoker this past weekend. It was honestly one of the best I've ever done. Did an overnight brine, seasoned and injected before putting on the grill, the whole nine. The chicken itself was DELICIOUS. But my issue, is when smoking a whole chicken like that, if you keep your temp at 250 and below, the skin doesn't quite cook right. It tastes great, but it doesn't get that good peel/flake to it. Instead it gets to where you can't even bite through it and chews almost like gum. A few recipes I was reading said that a shorter smoke time at around 300-325 tends to remedy that. But I was having some trouble maintaining that temp. I think next time I'm gonna start a second chimney right after I dump the first one in the firebox and see if that helps me get up to a higher temp that I can manage through the vents.

You can make buttermilk with some regular milk and lemon juice or white vinegar. 1 Tbsp of vinegar/juice per cup of milk Let stand for 10-15mins. I've done it for fried chicken when I ran out of buttermilk. Whoops, ZGuy beat me to it.

Any of y'all have any experience with using high temp sealants on an offset smoker? Absolutely love my new one. But given that it's not a top of the line model or anything it has a few spots that leak smoke. Mainly where the lid meets the grill, but also a little bit where the firebox connects. I've read that you can get a decent high temp sealant at most hardware stores. Wondering if any of y'all have done this to maximize heat/smoke? Would this maybe be a better question for the home improvement thread?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Backyard-Grill-30-Offset-Smoker/45467839#about Happy birthday to me! Going to pick this up later this evening. Giant had a sale on London broil and pork chops this week. Might have to check it out for the test run.

SET IT! AAAANNNDD FORGET IT!!!!

There are a lot of junk products on info-mercials. But they're not ALL bad. I was and still am a big fan of the old RonCo rotisserie ovens. I've had some amazing food come out of those. I also was gifted a set of those pullstring veggie choppers. I really like them for quick and easy dicing.

Okay. I'd like to divert this a bit if I may. I have a question. Outside of GHH, you I understand for obvious reasons. This is primarily for those of you who are stateside. How did y'all come to pick the Euro clubs you root for? I personally have trouble finding a stake in a team that's playing on a completely different continent. I mean, I can understand it to an extent, certain players or coaches draw your interest, stuff like that. But even though I tune into the BPL on weekend mornings, I just don't really have a team. I think the closest I'd have would be QPR just because I find their story after being rebuilt absolutely fascinating. If you haven't watched "The Four Year Plan", definitely give it a look. Should they ever make it back up to the BPL, I will absolutely watch them whenever I can. But other than stuff like liking the Norwich unis and colors, I just can't seem to get sucked into following one club the way I do the local teams and the college teams I root for.

Sams Club typically has some pretty good prices on meat, some good quality too. Giant typically runs a great special somewhat regularly. Maybe once a month or so where they sell Smithfield pork tenderloins as BOGO free. Love that deal. Especially since those loins tend to be a little smaller and since I'm typically just cooking for my wife and I it's perfect. But they also have some good prices on the big 4-6lb loins. They're not quite as lean. But I use them for pulled pork. Mostly for the same reasons I like the smaller tenderloins for roasting. Since it's just us two, I don't really want to go buy a big shoulder and end up wasting anything. I should hopefully be getting my new charcoal grill with sidecar for smoking next week. I took a couple days off for a long weekend/mini vacation as a birthday present to myself. Going to Philly one day for a DC United game, but should I have the grill by then I'm thinking of doing a long cook on a nice brisket. Long marinade, and then get things fired up at the crack of dawn and let that bad boy smoke for the whole morning and be eating brisket sandwiches by the early evening.

Yeah, it's annoying. I can understand the regional aspect (talking about DCU and Philly Union). Especially since a lot of us tend to just hate all Philly sports around here lol. But there just hasn't been much time to create anything. Without memorable games and moments or reason to create the disdain from one team to the other it just doesn't feel right. When there was a poll to "name the rivalry with Philly!" most of us were just like...Huh? Speaking of though, I'm going on the road trip next week for the Philly game with the Barra. So amped for that. The moment I saw that was falling on my birthday this year it was a lock. Richmond are you going on that trip? Are you an Ultra? Barra? Eagle?

Yeah, there were a lot of stories about the playoff trip last year going around (I'm a Barra member) that folks were getting spit on and threatened through the fences walking up to the stadium. That anyone who may have ventured off from the group ended up in physical altercations. Funny how the league is trying to create a new rivalry with Philly now.

In regards to the rivalry, DCU vs RBNY is one of the most fierce in the league primarily because it goes back to the founding of the league. When they were the Metrostars. A lot of animosity comes from the fact that we're both flagship franchises but the league adores RBNY while considering us an afterthought. Even though we have four titles compared to their ZERO. That's our angle anyway lol. Around the league folks will say it has more to do with the fact that we've played them in the postseason more than any other team. It almost feels annual at this point. The conference format plays a role in the setup of the postseason. Teams play 24 in conference games and 10 out of conference games during the regular season. The top six in each conference advance to the playoffs. Used to be four. But since last year it became six, where the 4seed plays the 5th and the 6th seed plays the third in a single game to determine the semis. The semis and conference finals are a two game aggregate format leading up to the championship game for the MLS Cup.

Atlantic Cup match tonight. So bummed I can't be there, leaving work and heading straight to a side job. DVR it'll have to be. Regardless, **** Jersey, and **** the Metros.

All in the context. Had you said "Personally, I don't rest the meat because I've read from some chefs that it doesn't make a difference and it hasn't in my own experience." This would be a different discussion. But you know that. You pot stirrer you. I myself, much like Zoony, have noticed a difference with resting meat. Especially with flank steak. I do wrap it in foil though. Which doesn't disagree with the tail end of your point. Flank steak is expensive. It sucks. I use it for my tailgate staple in which I slice it, lay it on bacon strips, and roll them up and stick a toothpick in. Season the rolls. And then throw them on the grill at the tailgate. Hard to go wrong. I've taken them to tailgates at Fedex of course, in Charlottesville (Go Hoos!), Happy Valley, Morgantown, and a few others and have yet to get a complaint. But at between $19-25 per flank steak, it becomes a pricy affair. Also... Charcoal and/or wood.

What's your standard time frame and strategy on grilling a whole flank steak? I love Flank steak and use it for a lot of things but typically either oven roast it (I know, but don't knock it until you try it, if you do it right it's DELICIOUS), or I slice it beforehand. To me, flank steak is truly the best at about medium rare after resting for about 15 minutes or so. I like to experiment with different marinades so I'm definitely going to try this one.

You're right. I have done them in the same pan I cooked the bacon in so it's already heated and it is a nice touch. I love the way the outer layers of the sprouts get crispy when you get a good char on em. In that instance I'll occasionally add just a little smidge of non sweet white wine, or wine vinegar to deglaze and it comes out wonderful.

Think I might make one of my specialties tonight. Seared and roasted pork tenderloin. Ever since I got an iron skillet I've gotten better and better at them. Heat that skillet in the oven at about 425-450 until I get the tenderloin seasoned to my liking if I haven't marinated, add a little olive oil to it, and then put the loin on it and put it back in the oven for about 25mins or so depending on the weight. Flipping it over about halfway through. It comes out great. Tenderloins can be a little tricky just because they can come out dry if you're not careful. One of my favorite sides to go with it that I highly recommend is bacon roasted brussell sprouts. If anyone's interested... Preheat the oven to 425. Get your favorite size or form of the sprouts. I typically look for about medium sized "standard" ones. I like to cut the bases off and split them in half. Start with that and put them in a bowl and set aside. Get a pan to cook some bacon, depending on the amount of sprouts you're cooking. I usually do a standard pack of sprouts you can find in the produce section and about five or six pieces of bacon. Cook the bacon until crispy and dry it out, I usually just put a couple paper towels on a plate, and save the grease in the pan. Break up the bacon into crispy bits into the bowl of sprouts. Then pour in the grease. I typically like to add a little salt, pepper, and minced garlic. One nice touch, if you have an orange, cut it in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl. Pine nuts make a nice addition to this as well. Toss this around a bit to get everything good and mixed up and coated. Get a baking sheet. I typically cover with foil to make clean up a little easier. Pour the bowl onto the sheet so that you have an even layer of sprouts. Bake for about 20 minutes, take them out, and enjoy.