Fortunately, I found a great resource that provides a lot of simple questions you can ask to make sure you’re getting the best, most nutritious food there is available.  They even have specific one-page guides on what to ask beef farmers, pork farmers, and others.  The first time you find yourself standing in front of a farmer and you ask “is your pork raised naturally?” and he looks at you like you just shot his dog, you’ll wish you had read through one of their guides!

Now I’m hooked. I have a lot of expensive fancy cooking equipment. I also really enjoy cooking. But this one little gimmick might be the most useful gadget I have in the kitchen. Not to mention, it makes eating more healthy almost too easy. In the morning I’ll make a couple of eggs and toast, but I’ll also whip up a smoothie. Some raw oats, yogurt, fruit juice, whey protein, and frozen or fresh fruit and you have the perfect breakfast. Good carbs, protein, fruits, vitamins etc.

The bullet is also the cats ass for making protein shakes. I was a total snob with protein shakes and would only use Muscle Milk ready-to-drink shakes. Now I’m switching over to MM powder because making shakes with the Bullet is so easy and much more flexible. Try vanilla whey, a little butterscotch pudding mix, peanut butter and milk. Or chocolate powder, a banana, and milk.

If you don’t have one of these silly little gadgets in your kitchen, you’re missing out on one of the easiest, most convenient way to eat (and live) more healthy.

P.S. Yeah I tried to find an affiliate link but failed. I fail at internet marketing.

P.P.S. The bullet grinds parmesan better than my expensive fancy Kitchen-Aid blender.

First things first, brine:

2 gallons water
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup dried tarragon

I brined the 15lb bird from Friday night to Sunday morning. At 7am on Sunday morning I put her in the egg, at 325 with some pecan wood chips.

Then I went back to sleep. At 11am I woke up, took a look at the Stoker screen on my laptop, and the breast was at a perfect 180F. Pulled it out, bundled it up in tinfoil and a blanket and hit the road to head home.

And here’s the stoker log:

The end result? Best turkey I’ve made yet. Even the white meat was moist and tasty.

OK so its a little cheesy to get a personalized email from someone I don’t even know, but at the same time it makes you feel pretty good that someone took the time to write a personal note with your Order Status. Gail and I have never spoken or met, but I guess that like most good entrepreneurs she cares about her customers and feels like they mean something. There was also a nice hand-written note in the package which arrived yesterday. Ordered on Monday, here by Friday. I also love the fact that they always include small sample baggies of whichever rub you didn’t order. I think I have every one of their rubs in my cabinet now.

My favorite rub is the original Dizzy Dust. I can literally take 2 crappy, frozen, Target chicken tenders out of the freezer. Thaw them. Cover them in Dizzy Dust, throw them on the BGE and in 15 minutes I have phenomenally good tasting chicken tenders. Throw that over a bed of rice, or in a chicken quesadilla. Or on a Friday I’ll coat a 8lb pork butt in Dizzy Dust, and cook it for 20 hours Sat-Sun to have awesome pulled pork for Sunday football. Last time I did pulled pork for the UFC fights, 8lbs was gone in 15 minutes.

Raging River Rub – Chicken, Salmon, Fish
Dizzy Dust – Chicken, Pork (especially butt that you’re going to pull), Beef Brisket
Cow Lick – Steaks, Burgers
Red Eye Express – Steaks, Pork Loin

If you’re a fan of grilling and BBQ check out Dizzy Pig. I personally guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

P.S. For all you skeptical marketers, I want to point out this isn’t an affiliate post. I don’t even think they have an affiliate program, although they should.

Here is a chart of the cook so far, orange is the pit blue is the pork shoulder:

You can see the stoker has done a pretty good job of regulating the temperature. I know it can hold to much more accurate temperatures, but I think I loaded the egg up with so much fuel it is struggling a little bit. I’m going to tweak the dampers a little bit to see if I can get it to hold to within +/- 2 deg.