New Trends Create Bad Habbits

jeffturnerjr said:

I think there are two things happening here. 1.) legitimate questioning and maybe inexperience 2.) poor planning. Regarding 1.)....I think it is ABSOLUTELY FINE for people to use this forum to talk about mistakes, ask questions, or wig out on things going wrong. No one should make people feel inferior for asking questions.

Regarding number 2.), haven't we all had that, "oh my gosh moment..." When we need to feed people and its not ready? It is the grace we should have to help that brother in the moment but to admonish them to reconsider how they planned. The VERY FACT they starting cooking in the middle of the night tells you they at least had a plan. Maybe not a good one.

Therefore, simply remember where you were at at one point and help people who have questions or are wiggling out.

Click to expand...

:amen:
I've noticed a trend in multiple forums, whether its a BBQ, gun or motorcycle forum, it seems some of the founding or tenure members get tired of the newbies asking something, or doing something different than what they deem as correct.

It's BBQ.... if you mess it up, learn from it. Regardless of technology, pit type, and or time of day.

jeffturnerjr you said it right sir. Thank you. :clap:

Jeanie, I don't own a Thermapen, but, if I find one laying about, I can't help but take temperatures of all kinds of things. Smokejumper now makes me check it out and back in again.

I can certainly see both sides of the discussion here. I do temp control for a living and have been trained to keep temps as precise as possible. For that reason I really enjoy the low n slow aspect of BBQ. I plan to have the time to do it. Heck, it's therapy to me. I will say this, the Thermapen changed my BBQ world from the first time I used it and cut my learning curve by at least half. The reason is, I could not even cook Toast before I got serious about BBQ. OH! And that probe on the Thermapen is just right for checking "probe tender".

^ well those purple Thermapens must be extra special!

Ah. Remember the old days when you could cook how you wanted, when you wanted on what you wanted with whatever for fuel and use whatever meat you wanted and put whatever sauce you wanted on it or not and you didn't have someone telling you that you were doing it wrong or the old school way or the new school way or the better way or the worse way.

I remember those days.

You make a mistake, you learn from it. You want some extra learning from it you can post a question or comment about it. Or you can use the search. But certainly, if we've all learned everything or it's all written down and there's no more questions to ask, then I guess we just move everything to a search db and we shut this place down.

That'd be sad.

Not me, no two sides

You got something to say? I want to hear it. Got a question, ask it. I love this place. I even pulled up to the table and bought a beer. I learn something everyday about cooking, life and hell I even know what kind of dog I want next because of this forum. Fire away. I'll listen.

Sometimes my answers come from way out where the buses don't run. That's ok. We'll laugh.

One of the absolute worst things in the world is the doctor saying "sit down, we need to talk". This other stuff is easy.

nthole said:

Ah. Remember the old days when you could cook how you wanted, when you wanted on what you wanted with whatever for fuel and use whatever meat you wanted and put whatever sauce you wanted on it or not and you didn't have someone telling you that you were doing it wrong or the old school way or the new school way or the better way or the worse way.

I remember those days.

You make a mistake, you learn from it. You want some extra learning from it you can post a question or comment about it. Or you can use the search. But certainly, if we've all learned everything or it's all written down and there's no more questions to ask, then I guess we just move everything to a search db and we shut this place down.

That'd be sad.

Click to expand...

Thank you. :clap2:
I'm thinking we need to get together brother. :thumb:

I'm a "veteran" on forums with topics other than BBQ (I'm a noob here). There are times I have to reel myself in when "a noob asks a stupid question".
Sometimes we have to remember there are people with less knowledge than we have. None of us were born with the knowledge we use on a daily basis.
If you're ever in doubt about your current state of awesome, always remember you were a dumbass noob once too. Yes, you need to be knocked down a notch my friend. You're not special in the grand scheme of life.

16Adams said:

One of the absolute worst things in the world is the doctor saying "sit down, we need to talk"..

Click to expand...

The second worst thing in the world is when a guy like me says the same thing.
(I'm the guy that's about to tell you about your car. If I sit down, you're about to have a bad day) :icon_blush:

I used to sail as a deck officer on tankers. In school we learned all the techniques for navigation primarily dead reckoning, and celestial navigation. By the time I graduated electronic navigation had come to existence (Loran) not GPS as we know it, but pretty clever stuff, for that time, All of the shipping companies that I worked for required that we continue to do all the manual systems that we knew. It could take 45 minutes to take a celestial position, or you could go the loran machine and have one in three minutes. The theory was – if this new technology should fail, you still have a job to do….safely navigate the ship to its destination.

I think that it somewhat applicable here (otherwise I would not be wasting your time). All the new toys are great and I do own them. However there is not enough that can be said about knowing now to work without them. I had a failure on a temp controller this weekend at a comp on one of my cookers. It had been so long since I had to do in manually….I was up most of the night adjusting openings, on a cooker that for years I just used to set and forget.

I think is just makes sense – and you know, sitting there with a cold beer, good book, some hard driving blues and a sleepy dog—I think that is what got me started in this to begin with.

Amen to the original post. BBQ is an art and a true artist uses the brain and talent for the finished product.

Cheers to Bludawg...

nthole said:

Ah. Remember the old days when you could cook how you wanted, when you wanted on what you wanted with whatever for fuel and use whatever meat you wanted and put whatever sauce you wanted on it or not and you didn't have someone telling you that you were doing it wrong or the old school way or the new school way or the better way or the worse way.

I remember those days.

You make a mistake, you learn from it. You want some extra learning from it you can post a question or comment about it. Or you can use the search. But certainly, if we've all learned everything or it's all written down and there's no more questions to ask, then I guess we just move everything to a search db and we shut this place down.

That'd be sad.

Click to expand...

You're 12 years old, I still don't understand how you joined when you were two. The old days, pffft.

Well said for a adolescent

For me the fun is starting the fire and being up all night or early morning just taking care of my wsm.

This has been a really interesting thread, but I have a hard time being critical of anyone that uses what I consider technology to improve their cooks. I do not like pellet poopers or temp control units, but plenty of food better than mine has come off of a pooper or a unit with a controller. I enjoy the overnight process of tending fire and the anticipation of the new day, but I also have been known to fall asleep even when not trying to. That is why I keep a pit probe and meat probes in... just in case. Putting meat in the electric or the oven after the bark is formed and smoke is taken on is a good way to accomplish both parts. Are the habits bad? I guess it depends on the person doing the smoking. Some folks have certainly lost cooks due to relying on technology, but just as many (if not more) have lost cooks because they didn't have enough technology, decent equipment or a solid understanding of meat, temps and equipment. The reality is that everything we use is a "new trend" or new technology unless you are cooking on an open fire with a stick holding the meat (is the stick or fire a new trend too?). :shock: I guess the one part I will get on my soapbox about is that no matter what method you want to use to cook, study and learn. Watching every episode of BBQ Pitmasters will only give you an idea of the process. Doing it over and over again (and failing) and studying why things work and don't (as well as studying the specifics of your desired method) is still necessary. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat and a lot of ways to cook (low and slow vs. hot and fast, foil vs. no foil vs. butcher paper, lump vs. briquettes vs. all wood vs. pellets vs. gas vs. electric vs. whatever). Picking a method and mastering that method will put you a lot further towards success than 99.999% of the folks who bought an offset at the hardware store because it looked like the one they saw on TV and then sold it the next summer at their yard sale.

Amen.

Ron_L said:

This is an interesting discussion. In some ways it reminds me of my time in high school when electronic calculators were just becoming affordable (Yeah, I'm that old). Lots of kids got in trouble because they HAD to have these new, cool toys, but relied on them solely and had no clue when the calculator was giving them the wrong answer. The kids who were most successful with their new toys were those that had a handle on math and at least had a clue what the answer to the problem should be. they used the calculators to speed things up and to help them confirm the right answer, but didn't blindly believe the device.

Electronic draft controls, thermostatically controlled pits like pellet cookers, remote thermometers, even digital thermometers like the thermapen are much the same to me. I'm a geek and I enjoy using these things, but I know what my results will be before I go into the cook, and if the electronic device fails or the information that it is giving me doesn't make sense, I recognize that and know what to do to get things back on track.

These devices are just another tool that is available to us. Using them in your choice, but make sure that you know the process and how to get to the desired result without those toys. Once you have learned that then you can apply the toys to help you, not hinder you.

Click to expand...

QFT...I'm running into the issue at work. I recently got a new manager who is trying to automate our order breakdown process without knowing the how and why of the current process. Therefore, you'll never know when something craps the bed because you do not have any exposure or experience in doing it the hardway.

I would like to get a good electronic thermometer setup as I do not trust the cheapies that I am currently using (I know for a fact the one I have in my mini-WSM is garbage). Basically I just want something that can give me a reliable pit temp and I'll figure out rest. Not knowing that point makes it difficult to have a successful cook as you have no idea how fast you meat is cooking.

I have a 2 and half year old, so after every eats and goes homes I don't get to have a nap, I get to do whatever my son wants to do, which is usually everything all the time. Give me whatever is gonna help me stay awake so I don't wake up on the couch with my son cutting my hair with the meat scissors.

Bbq Bubba said:

Please do not set your pit keeper, go to bed and use the term "pitmaster" in the same sentence.

Click to expand...

Doesn't your Oyler Pit have a handy feature called a thermostat? I also noticed a lot of propane bottles connected to your mobile cooker.

Hmm didn't know pitmasters used propane. :shock: Thermostats are allowed as long as you stay awake...its in the pitmaster rulebook.

luke duke said:

Doesn't your Oyler Pit have a handy feature called a thermostat? I also noticed a lot of propane bottles connected to your mobile cooker.

Click to expand...

whoops. even looks instagramed

Ron_L said:

Electronic draft controls, thermostatically controlled pits like pellet cookers, remote thermometers, even digital thermometers like the thermapen are much the same to me. I'm a geek and I enjoy using these things, but I know what my results will be before I go into the cook, and if the electronic device fails or the information that it is giving me doesn't make sense, I recognize that and know what to do to get things back on track.

These devices are just another tool that is available to us. Using them in your choice, but make sure that you know the process and how to get to the desired result without those toys. Once you have learned that then you can apply the toys to help you, not hinder you.

Click to expand...

Well said, Ron L. :clap:

nthole said:

Ah. Remember the old days when you could cook how you wanted, when you wanted on what you wanted with whatever for fuel and use whatever meat you wanted and put whatever sauce you wanted on it or not and you didn't have someone telling you that you were doing it wrong or the old school way or the new school way or the better way or the worse way.

I remember those days.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the internet. It's where everyone has the correct opinion and feels like they have to share it. :doh:

I wish I had the extra scratch for some of the high-tech pit control gizmos. I'd absolutely use them if it turned out good food with less work/time.