ECB Gasket Question

I bought three bags of chips, mesquite, pecan and apple and the apple is by far my favorite. This weekend, probably Sunday I am gonna do up a rack of ribs. Gonna swing by the butcher Friday to see what he has, although if he has a small butt or one I can cut in half, I might do a PP. 

I did the back to college thing already. Mine are both graduated and gainfully employed. And of course we are all broke, paying off the school loans. 

I still want to do those handles on the lower grate. I have to hunt around, all I see is plastic coat hangers.

Also, boiling the taters in the water pan is a great idea too. No space wasted! 

Glad to hear your kids are doing well - that is a huge help. I have 3 - 1 working FT, the oldest finally finishing up

this fall w/ her degree after a few yrs of realizing that her way wasn't quite working and the youngest starting her

senior yr. What a disgusting racket college has become.... kids AND parents end up financially crippled when it

is over (unless you are rich or on welfare)....sorry for the political commentary if anyone is offended.

Let me know how the PP turns out - that is next on my list after ribs. I know it will get wiped out once I

make some. If nothing else, it will get consumed by co-workers....

Yeah - plastic hangers won't work too well! : ) You should be able to find wire ones fairly easily - a garage

sale, Goodwill, wherever....  You'll need some heavy duty tools to work them, though. A pair of lineman's

pliers is very helpful trying to wrap the end around the grates. It is a huge help having handles on that lower

grate, so it is well worth the effort.

Surprisingly, the taters picked up a ton of smoke flavor even though they were entirely covered by boiling

water the entire time of the cook! I was shocked by how much smoke flavor they had. I've seen others

do taters, carrots, onions, you name it, in their water pans.Works well -just don't expect them to taste

like they do off the stove. Worth doing though, especially if you are camping...less pots & pans to deal

with. Plus, you get those drippings from the meat into the mix... Will have to try some corn on the cob

next time...might be good (of course, it might be awful but what the heck - gotta try it!). I think I'd leave

stuff that absorbs the smoke on just long enough to get cooked to keep the smoke flavoring down to a

minimum. I would think corn would be done in 15 minutes or so....

Good luck - keep me posted how you make out.

John

BTW - I see you live in Mass. - you a Sox fan? I've been one since '66.... not easy when you live in

central NYS! Lived in Holbrook, Mass for a few yrs when I was little (left after 1st grade) but still love the

Boston/NE area. Just beautiful and I have found the people to be very friendly. Where are you located?

Hey John,

I am NorthWest of Boston. I have a PO Box at Nuttings Lake,so I use that on all my stuff, but the name of the town is Billerica just South of Lowell. half hour South of Nashua NH off of Route 3. That should give you some perspective. 

Love the Sox, though I am more of a Pat's fan. And I actually grew up on the West side of Cincinnati, along with the "Big Red Machine" of the 1970's. Heck my sister went to High School with Pete Rose (and no we won't go there either). 

Well, unfortunately I am neither on welfare or rich. I am middle of the middle class and that equates to eternally broke, but as long as I get to do the stupid little things this life has to offer (and yes, tooling around with my smoker and of course smoking "stuff") I will be happy.

I have cooked taters and corn on the grill before and they have come out well, so adding some smoke to 'em can't be a bad thing. I'm sure I have some wire coat hangers around the house somewhere, but the first closet I checked in the hallway only had the plastic ones. 

I'm still trying to decide on my next smoke. I may just do ribs and PP at the same time and just get it over with. My last ribs came out decent, though in hindsight I should have cooked them just another 45 minutes or so and they would have been perfect. 

The good news about all the student loans and everything is that at the rate I am going I will be paying them back with social security...I hope. 

PS your profile doesn't show your location in it when you post. I think if you click on your name in the upper right of this page and then scroll down and click on "Edit Community Profile" the first entry is your location. 

Oh man, Cinci! A best friend of mine is also a life-long Sox fan - he used to have a

Pete Rose glove when he was a kid. He loved it because he loved spitting on his

name in the glove.... needless to say, neither of us are Reds fans.... Not a Pats fan,

been a life-long Bills fan, as they are fairly close (<2hrs) but I am a Bruins fan. Funny,

I never minded the Pats in the old days, but once they started winning (or should I

say dominating), I started really disliking them....I figure they will return to the normalcy

of NFL up & down years the day Brady retires.

I will be glad when this year is finished for my daughter....this has been such an

interminable stretch that I can't stand it. Biggest problem for kids now is being able to

find a job that 1) pays enough so they can pay their bills and 2) won't get outsourced

overseas. The govt needs to get their act together and let Americans fill jobs here

before issuing visas to outsiders for them. This whole country is being managed

into the ground by the uncaring that figure they already have theirs....what a mess...

the founding fathers are rolling in their graves at the complete lack of common sense

by career politicians.

You'll like the veggies in the water pan if you like them cooked on the grill. No fuss,

no cleanup! I always line the water pan with foil anyway, so that helps. You'll get all

those meat drippings in the pan also - you could almost make a soup in there! I used

salt potatoes, which are very common here this time of year. They are small so they

cook easily. If you use larger ones, just cut them up a bit (unless it is a long smoke).

Mine cooked fine in the 2 hrs it took to do the chicken. If you use a dry water pan/

brick setup, you could probably just bake the potatoes in there (but I haven't tried that

yet).

I know what you mean about paying the loans into SS.... I think I read somewhere that

there is a 20 yr repayment cap on them - you pay what you can but after 20 yrs, the

balance gets forgiven by law. Of course, I'm sure Congress will change that to hose

us over again...

I live in Waterloo, NY, which is smack between Syracuse & Rochester....I actually

work in Rochester. I'll adjust my profile asap. I'm in the Finger Lakes, right between

Seneca and Cayuga Lake. Beautiful area, taxes are obscene for what we get back

for them. Welcome to NYS! This area is basically farming and wineries....