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[Gonefishin]

Y’all know that the Yankees are wondering, what the heck is banana pudding!

Not all of us, I’m fairly familiar with southern foods, spent a year in Biloxi and numerous winters all over the south. My BIL retired from UGA and is now up in the Ga mtn, we looked into moving there but the kids and grand kids are up here, just 1 or 2 trips north a year didn’t sit well with my bride, she wants to be here for every birthday, all 10 of them.

 

[Greg Jones]

Be careful…somebody might call you a homeboy knowing all of that.

Hey, we are heading there for home ASAP. Probably the Beaufort area, but just need to take care of some business here first.

 

[AlphaPapa]

(We made a quick trip to Pensacola and brought back some fresh stuff from Joe Patti's)

I have always wanted to go there. My older brother is named Joe Patti. Over the years I have had several people ask me if I am related to the Joe Patti’s seafood folks. I have no idea. May make for a good motorcycle trip sometime.

 

[RHEINLEIN]

Nice looking ribs, do you know the brand? Those have a lot more meat then hat I’ve been getting.

Actually Sams. I had trimmed into St Louis.

 

[Gonefishin]

Although there is a Sam’s in the area, I’ve never been in it, long time Costco member.

Has anyone ever compared meat between the 2 stores?, quality wise, not price.

 

[BigDan]

Although there is a Sam’s in the area, I’ve never been in it, long time Costco member.

Has anyone ever compared meat between the 2 stores?, quality wise, not price.

I’m a recent Costco convert. (8 months) Finally had one close enough to switch (Sams forever)

Costco may not always have name brand, but quality to me is much better all around. Even the Kirkland in my opinion is great quality.

Not to mention the employees are 1000% better and nicer at my Costco compared to Sams.

My .02

 

[O C]

First pizzas on the Deck Boss. Turned out great. When I sold my Chargriller 980, my daughter was disappointed, pizzas off the 980 were her favorite. She was happy with these. Used two 13" stones to do two at once. Set at 450. Took about 10-12 minutes. There was third but no pic lol.

 

[Johnshac]

My first time ever smoking salmon on the 340. Wife said it was the best she has ever had, so that is a plus.
Served with some seafood gumbo.
(We made a quick trip to Pensacola and brought back some fresh stuff from Joe Patti's)

View attachment 20777View attachment 20778View attachment 20779

My first time ever smoking salmon on the 340. Wife said it was the best she has ever had, so that is a plus.
Served with some seafood gumbo.
(We made a quick trip to Pensacola and brought back some fresh stuff from Joe Patti's)

View attachment 20777View attachment 20778View attachment 20779

We load up at Joe Patti’s every chance we get. Place is incredible

 

[SmokeOCD]

Although there is a Sam’s in the area, I’ve never been in it, long time Costco member.

Has anyone ever compared meat between the 2 stores?, quality wise, not price.

I think I like Sam's meat better. Slightly. Still buy from both spots for convenience(they're in opposite directions), but when I'm doing a bigger cookout I like to shop at Sam's. Visually Costco looks like the bigger brighter cleaner meat shop - but I've never had any issues with Sam's. Pork Steaks and Short Ribs are regulars at Sam's - never seen it at Costco.
There is a mix of products that each do not carry - so I have both memberships. You can get Sam's for $10-15 via Groupon for a year. Then next year your Wife gets one and you drop yours.

 

[SmokeZilla]

I have also been to the primary “big box“ stores (Costco, Sam’s, BJs, Restaurant Depot) and find they all have their strengths and weaknesses. In general, Costco has a better selection of prime grade beef products in large sizes and often have American Wagyu (i.e., US Angus) when the others do not. As they don’t grade pork in the US (I am spoiled from visits to Spain, Portugal and other European cities), I actually like the Smith’s Farms bone in pork shoulders/butts at RD since the Costcos in my area only have boneless. When it comes to loading up on the sides (veggies) Sam’s produce seems to have a longer shelf life in my region and my friends and I have noticed produce and fruits from Costco begin to decay within days of purchase which is frustrating when you have 30 lemons, a bunch of asparagus, or other perishable items you buy for a big weekend cook and want to avoid crowds and purchase on a Monday in anticipation of a Friday or Saturday cook. BJs on the other hand has a smaller selection of large portioned proteins but they do have a superior selection of spices and dry herbs in large containers. To compare, if Costco has 20, BJs would have 35. To add balance however, Costco has a lot of local and regional prepared/premixed rubs that I don’t see in other places except Sam’s. Since I don’t like premixed as they are heavily inundated with salt (you can check the label and see what the top 1 or 2 ingredients are to confirm), I mix my own. One additional factor is the check out experience. Costco, Sam’s and BJs are similar but a major deterrent for my Costco and Sam‘s experience is the congestion when a family of 6 feel everyone should be on a field trip to the store and they put the sampling carts near the high traffic areas. I wish they would just use the food cart approach and line them all up in a corral so the people that think they are on a “buffet run” will get out of the way. Nothing more frustrating than having your arms jerk 200lbs of proteins and all the fixins in a cart to a screeching halt because someone’s 5 year old makes a run for a sample cookie in front of you Just my thoughts and I look forward to any responses. YMMV.

EDIT: Let me apologize in advance for my ranting at this time of the year. Especially for those that have family visiting and the most exciting event includes a trip to the local big box store. I wish you each and wish you all a pleasant, relaxing holiday.

EDIT, EDIT: For anyone with similar feelings that has the Executive membership we should rally to have Costco bring back the Executive shopping hours again. It allowed us to have “first pick“ of the items we really need before the crowds show up. This is a big positive for RD as they only allow members into the store and have much better control on the residual “wally world” shopping traffic flow.

 

[Jim6820]

Something goofy is going on! I put a 3# tri-tip on the RT-340 at 2:30 pm. The grill had been pre-heated to 200F for a half hour prior. After the protein was put on, the grill temperature started dropping. Now, that’s to be expected, within reason, before it recovers and stabilizes again.

Well, an hour into the cook and the ambient temperature is cycling between a low of 138F and a high of 298F. It has done this twice now and appears to be on the third cycle without stabilizing. Outside temperature is 53F and little or no wind.

What the heck is going on? I have not been opening the lid; just monitoring with both the RT and Combustion Inc. apps. They pretty much agree—within 3-5 degrees—so I have some verification.

Never had this happen before. Using the same Bear Mountain Hickory pellets as always, so no change there. Any thoughts.

 

[TheRicker]

First pizzas on the Deck Boss. Turned out great. When I sold my Chargriller 980, my daughter was disappointed, pizzas off the 980 were her favorite. She was happy with these. Used two 13" stones to do two at once. Set at 450. Took about 10-12 minutes. There was third but no pic lol.

View attachment 20782

View attachment 20783

Looks very nice.

 

[SmokeOCD]

EDIT, EDIT: For anyone with similar feelings that has the Executive membership we should rally to have Costco bring back the Executive shopping hours again. It allowed us to have “first pick“ of the items we really need before the crowds show up. This is a big positive for RD as they only allow members into the store and have much better control on the residual “wally world” shopping traffic flow.

I don't recall that benefit for Costco. I always thought it was Sam's and still is for their plus members.
RD had frozen flat iron steaks and a great smoked pork loin (bone-in). Outside of that I don't think I miss them that much. Oh, except for the 6 boxes of red bell peppers we buy to roast (blacken) and freeze.

 

[TheRicker]

I have also been to the primary “big box“ stores (Costco, Sam’s, BJs, Restaurant Depot) and find they all have their strengths and weaknesses. In general, Costco has a better selection of prime grade beef products in large sizes and often have American Wagyu (i.e., US Angus) when the others do not. As they don’t grade pork in the US (I am spoiled from visits to Spain, Portugal and other European cities), I actually like the Smith’s Farms bone in pork shoulders/butts at RD since the Costcos in my area only have boneless. When it comes to loading up on the sides (veggies) Sam’s produce seems to have a longer shelf life in my region and my friends and I have noticed produce and fruits from Costco begin to decay within days of purchase which is frustrating when you have 30 lemons, a bunch of asparagus, or other perishable items you buy for a big weekend cook and want to avoid crowds and purchase on a Monday in anticipation of a Friday or Saturday cook. BJs on the other hand has a smaller selection of large portioned proteins but they do have a superior selection of spices and dry herbs in large containers. To compare, if Costco has 20, BJs would have 35. To add balance however, Costco has a lot of local and regional prepared/premixed rubs that I don’t see in other places except Sam’s. Since I don’t like premixed as they are heavily inundated with salt (you can check the label and see what the top 1 or 2 ingredients are to confirm), I mix my own. One additional factor is the check out experience. Costco, Sam’s and BJs are similar but a major deterrent for my Costco and Sam‘s experience is the congestion when a family of 6 feel everyone should be on a field trip to the store and they put the sampling carts near the high traffic areas. I wish they would just use the food cart approach and line them all up in a corral so the people that think they are on a “buffet run” will get out of the way. Nothing more frustrating than having your arms jerk 200lbs of proteins and all the fixins in a cart to a screeching halt because someone’s 5 year old makes a run for a sample cookie in front of you Just my thoughts and I look forward to any responses. YMMV.

EDIT: Let me apologize in advance for my ranting at this time of the year. Especially for those that have family visiting and the most exciting event includes a trip to the local big box store. I wish you each and wish you all a pleasant, relaxing holiday.

EDIT, EDIT: For anyone with similar feelings that has the Executive membership we should rally to have Costco bring back the Executive shopping hours again. It allowed us to have “first pick“ of the items we really need before the crowds show up. This is a big positive for RD as they only allow members into the store and have much better control on the residual “wally world” shopping traffic flow.

As a Costco Executive Member, I support having opportunities to shop without the masses.

Edit response…must be something in the air. I’ve been grumpy and vocal about a number of things.

 

[TheRicker]

Something goofy is going on! I put a 3# tri-tip on the RT-340 at 2:30 pm. The grill had been pre-heated to 200F for a half hour prior. After the protein was put on, the grill temperature started dropping. Now, that’s to be expected, within reason, before it recovers and stabilizes again.

View attachment 20785

Well, an hour into the cook and the ambient temperature is cycling between a low of 138F and a high of 298F. It has done this twice now and appears to be on the third cycle without stabilizing. Outside temperature is 53F and little or no wind.

What the heck is going on? I have not been opening the lid; just monitoring with both the RT and Combustion Inc. apps. They pretty much agree—within 3-5 degrees—so I have some verification.

Never had this happen before. Using the same Bear Mountain Hickory pellets as always, so no change there. Any thoughts.

That’s crazy stuff @Jim6820. My best guesstimate is the chamber’s temp probe is providing bad input to the processor due to being coated with residue or a wire is not making a good connection. Other thought is the processor board. Any chance some grease or corrosive got on it? Keep in mind sodas can be a corrosive. (I used to clean car battery corrosion with Coca Cola.)

 

[Jim6820]

Update: The cycling has continued, but with reduced highs and lows; 165F to 260F. I pulled the protein from the grill at 115F and am resting it while the grill heats and stabilizes (hopefully) at 450F for the final sear. Plan to pull the tri-tip at an internal temp of 138F and rest it for a half hour before slicing.

We’ll see if the grill stabilizes at the higher 450F. Maybe it was just the low (200F) that is a problem. Hope springs eternal.

 

[TheRicker]

Update: The cycling has continued, but with reduced highs and lows; 165F to 260F. I pulled the protein from the grill at 115F and an resting it while the grill heats and stabilizes (hopefully) at 450F for the final sear. Plan to pull the tri-tip at an internal temp of 138F and rest it for a half hour before slicing.

We’ll see if the grill stabilizes at the higher 450F. Maybe it was just the low (200F) that is a problem. Hope springs eternal.

Keep us posted. Intriguing situation…to me at least.

 

[SmokeZilla]

Update: The cycling has continued, but with reduced highs and lows; 165F to 260F. I pulled the protein from the grill at 115F and an resting it while the grill heats and stabilizes (hopefully) at 450F for the final sear. Plan to pull the tri-tip at an internal temp of 138F and rest it for a half hour before slicing.

We’ll see if the grill stabilizes at the higher 450F. Maybe it was just the low (200F) that is a problem. Hope springs eternal.

Jim,

I know you know your equipment well so I’ll skip the elementary stuff (power stability, temp probe cleanliness, fire pot contents, wiring, etc.). Have you checked your feed rate or have you changed pellets for this cook? Other than that, keep us posted on what you find out.

 

[Gonefishin]

Jim, I’ve had a couple occurrences that sound the same. One time last winter it was well below freezing when it just kept right on bouncing, I ended up pulling the meat, cleaning the fire box, and restarting, I wrote it off as just too cold for the smoker.

2nd time was a pork butt maybe 2 weeks ago. I left it go this time and watched the swings slowly moderate and the temp settle down. Here‘s the graph. Still had a few spikes here and there, but other than the startup the cook went well. It was somewhere in the 40’s out for this one. No idea why it did what it did, I vac the firebox every 2 or 3 cooks. Pellets were Bear Mtn. I’ve used it since without any issues.

The spikes after 6 am would have been me spritzing.

 

[TheRicker]

Update: The cycling has continued, but with reduced highs and lows; 165F to 260F. I pulled the protein from the grill at 115F and an resting it while the grill heats and stabilizes (hopefully) at 450F for the final sear. Plan to pull the tri-tip at an internal temp of 138F and rest it for a half hour before slicing.

We’ll see if the grill stabilizes at the higher 450F. Maybe it was just the low (200F) that is a problem. Hope springs eternal.

My apologies if I came across as being too “elementary”. From your postings over time, I consider you a seasoned bbq veteran. I wasn’t trying to insult your intelligence.