Red River Smoke

I think it would look pretty good on my deck.

Good info, I was actually trying to figure out if I could get a chunk of soapstone from a countertop place and make my own half circles. This would be easier though.

I did, but having a Costco membership tipped the scales for me, got a larger grill with accessories for what a standard vision would have cost.

@TKOBBQ it was totally worth it, I brought a friend who has never been near a farm and is a reluctant cooker, but he's a good eater and he loved it, a few people brought their teenage kids with, just good information and good vibes for all the meat eaters out there. I wish it was some sort of nationwide program, but maybe more schools than I think do this sort of thing.

I got the opportunity to attend a "class" put on by the Meat Science people at North Dakota State University (home of the Bison, they have a pretty good football team) on Wednesday and really came away impressed, and full of barbeque! It's put on by the extension service and really it's purpose was to teach and explain food production, but like they said, would pay to go to "Let's learn about agriculture" or "BBQ Bootcamp". I grew up on a dairy farm and later ran some beef cows, but I've been off the farm and in the (sort of) big city for 20 years so it was fun to see all these people with a big passion for food and where it comes from. It was divided into 4 sections, first they took us to their inhouse butcher shop that you can actually shop at. They had a whole side of beef hanging and they showed how it was broken down for the consumers and how even now they are coming up with "new" cuts. (I won't pass up a chuckeye or a Denver steak the next time I see them on sale!) They also talked about the grades prime, select etc. Then we went to the closest thing to a cooking class they had set up, a BGE and a couple of gassers and they had a few samples passing around. The big takeaway for me from this part was to look for the darker colored pork, more marbling, will hold the flavor better it's not darker because it's old. Also they reinforced that pork is safe to eat at a medium temp, you don't have to dry it out like an old shoe. Next up was the rub and marinade class, and they had two full tables of about every spice imaginable, and they retired professor that gave the talk was like don't overdo it. Salt, pepper and garlic is 90% of the spice they use and then just add a little bit of something else to push it one way or another, in other words, let the meat speak for itself. Also talked a bit about mouthfeel and not to over marinate in an aggressive solution, don't turn your meat into mush. They also had some very good vinegar and mayo based sauces, just to get people out of the habit that all BBQ has to be tomato based. Last up was in the show arena and they had a live yearling heifer that they demonstrated cuts of beef and also talked quite about about feeding and raising practices. Growing healthy and nutritious meat for the consumer, and touching on fat content, grass fed vs traditional feeding methods, vaccines and even some on what makes up factors like "Certified Angus" and the beef grades. Then it was time to eat! Pulled pork, ribs, brisket, turkey and a whole mess of sides, and those sauces they were asking us to try. Seriously the best brisket I've ever eaten! I don't know if other schools have a program like this but if they do I recommend going. If you're curious where your food comes from and how it gets to your plate, check it out! Sorry for the long post, here's a link to their page and you can find the recipes they use for their rubs and sauces. One curious thing is that they stressed about using weight measurement instead of volume, but I see they are all presenting in cups and teaspoons. https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ansc/extension-1/bbq-boot-camp

@Pigfqr that's awesome, I was thinking it was a still from that live action show they shot!

It's not traditional pizza crust, more like a flatbread, but my wife's favorite gluten free recipe is just half brown rice flour and half potato flakes. I usually make enough for two at a time: 3/4 C Brown rice flour 3/4 C Dehydrated potato flakes 1/2 t salt 3/4 C water mix dry ingredients in a bowl and start adding water until it sticks together nicely, but it shouldn't be too runny. then I take half and roll it between two sheets of wax paper, pretty thin it should spread out to be about a 10-12 inch crust. Then I stack them on a cookie sheet still in the wax paper and freeze for at least two hours. Remove paper and throw on grill or oven for about 5 minutes until slightly brown, then flip over, top and finish baking. The Ken Forkish recipe also has good reviews but I've not made that yet for her.

Yeah, mine is sold out, but I'm still glad I bought at full price than not having one.

@Pigfqr did they need to have one in the store to get the refund or just just showing the receipt was good enough?

@Pigfqr I think my top vent needs a few more greasy cooks to kind of season in, but one thing I've noticed is that when the grill is cool it turns very easily, but as soon as I heat up the grill it's pretty stiff to move. Otherwise pretty happy with my temp control after I sealed it up. Good luck with the Flame Boss!

@Hoosierref, did you cut it in the middle after the fact or was it poured in two slabs? Also is it for stress relief? Looks awesome, I like the lights!

+1 on getting it to 200 and then I'm 50/50 on the rest, not convinced it does anything.

Any cook you can learn from and still get some good food out of is a good cook, glad it turned out ok!

So @Pigfqr what was the final verdict?

@Pigfqr I would think 6-9 hours at those temps should be in the ballpark, I really tried to stay low on that cook because usually I'm up closer to 300 and my stall is pretty much a non event at that heat, but I wanted to experiment a bit and try a really long cook. I held 220 for about 12 hours when I started running out of lump (one of the butts was just leaving the stall at that point) and then it was another 1.5 to 2 hours in the oven at 275. My porketta took a bit longer than the BBQ one because it ended up being thicker when it was all rolled up. I would say both ended up being equally moist. I think next time I want to get separate pans under each one because I bet an au jus made of the porketta drippings would be pretty great. I need to find a smaller size than the half steamer foil pans I've been using.