Softballguy

Hydra beats Jackpot in the finals, Upper Cut and Sawblaze also in final 4.

I've never done my own au jus before, but I plan on doing Malcolm Reed's recipe this year.

No Bite Force. That one stings.

I'm really happy with mine, and I've only used them on my Weber. Regardless of where you stand on grill marks, when you cook a steak that looks like this and this, people (ok, usually just my wife) take notice.

There's a long thread on Twitter from a guy who seems like he knows what he's talking about. In short, the cougar never wanted to hurt the guy. Cougar attacks are extremely rare, and when they do happen they come out of nowhere. They like sneak attacks and very rarely will fight straight up like this. The cougar just wanted him away from the cubs. Backing up was good, but you want to yell loudly in a deep voice, constantly. Not call the thing "dude" and "kitty cat" while telling it to go home to its babies. He also said never look away and never bend down to the ground - not even for a second. He should have grabbed a branch or a rock that was up higher along the side. Apparently even a branch tossed at it will spook a cougar. Also... don't record it, obviously. I see moleculo's link now... what he said.

I ordered Year of the Dog and Dia Del Perro... both are fantastic. I've been putting them on burgers, eggs, pork, and even my damn hot dogs. Glad I stumbled onto this stuff.

Funny how we're all so smug, or whatever... where a guy who rose to 25k feet by being kinda connected to a bunch of balloons with a device without a parachute immediately at the ready... lifted off in an image we all recognize... and we're like... meh...

I thought it was pretty cool, but the amount of preparation he went through, the certifications... all the learning and training he did in such a short time is even better.

I've got the 4 burner one. It really depends on how often you cook for bigger groups. I've brought it tailgating and have used it to cook for larger family gatherings, so for me the 4 burner option is the way to go even though I only use the entire cooking space a few times a year. When I'm just cooking for our family of 5 I usually just use half the griddle.

That's what I do... Smoke at like 235-250 until about 160, then put in a foil pan, covered, usually with some beef broth or some liquid. Then pull at 198-203... whenever the probe goes in like butter. It's my kids' favorite meal.

Totally agree. He let his own livelihood cloud his judgement. I'm only barely able to let that go for his good takes.

@VitalVegas is a great one... lots of daily content. Great blog and podcast as well. Scott is a bit of an acquired taste, but he breaks more news than anyone in Vegas and he's quite entertaining once you can get past his voice. Also, as mentioned, @LasVegasLocally is great. Much less edgy than Vital Vegas, but good content. @ClassicVegas, @VegasDrinks, @360Vegas (good podcast too), @JacobsVegasLife (good YouTube vids for info as to what's happening now)

Easier, but still gross. I filled mine with sand and now don't have to worry about dumping out a giant pan of water and grease. Holds temps perfectly and cleanup is as easy as folding in some tin foil. (You did say you don't use water, which would make lining that pan with foil an easy cleanup. But if you use water, even with a foil-lined pan it's still something I don't want to deal with.)

I hated dealing with the water pan as well. After reading up on amazingribs.com about the real value of a water pan, I decided to fill my water pan with sand and put foil over the top. It makes the WSM heavy as hell, but the sand doesn't cool the temp like water does and helps stabilize temperatures. I didn't notice any real differences once I switched from water to sand other than I didn't have to deal with the greasy cleanup.

All casinos must be full mask now. What are the odds on another full shutdown? Gotta be decent...