Is MCS Partly Fueled by Boredom with Success?

[JGo37]

.... and now I need a 26". I've been watching CL for a used one for years -

[JGo37]

so - this needs to be kept a secret, but I'm ready to throw in with you for the Rent'a Grill startup - did you think of this, or did I?

[JGo37]

My 'make it better' has been focused on wood chunks - apple, pecan, hickory, mesquite. I was able to take cherry out of my rotation. When I think of and use oak, it's Royal - not chunks.

[JGo37]

The PK portable video had me drooling for a year, until I kind of forgot about it.

[JGo37]

A Montana Firepit - you dig a 2'x2'x2' hole in the ground, burrowing with a stick run a 45 degree air channel to the bottom of it, throw in the fuel and toss down a grate. An old steel fridge shelf works awesome..

[Clark]

JGo37 Nice looking family!!

[Steve R.]

I'm near that point now. I have three Webers: Smoky Joe, 26" kettle and 22" WSM. I also have a Blackstone 36" griddle and a cheap 2 burner gasser from Home Depot I picked up for grilling duties during the week.

When golf was my passion, I used to say that it's the magician, not the wand, once I figured out that I couldn't buy a better golf game. I just needed to work on my craft using the equipment I already had that was plenty good enough. I think the same applies here.

[jfmorris]

I totally get where you are coming from though. I had window shopped for years - stuff like a pellet cooker - honing in on the Grilla OG - or a gas smoker like the Smoke Vault 24. I ended up not getting either, and instead was blessed to have flat tops and kamados fall into my lap in the last year. I had purged cookers down to 3 in the backyard, from 7, and now am back up to 5, haha. And I could get buy with just 2 I think.

[jfmorris]

Say it isn't so! Your other cookers will get lonely and full of spiderwebs and dust (and maybe rust!). Don't you have a griddle?

I think I could do everything on my Weber Performer or the new SNS Kamado, even griddle cooking if I got the new plancha for it. Capacity for smoking is just limited, so I wouldn't be cooking for a party of dozens of folks with just one cooker. Not that I've done that since before COVID - last party was 80 folks at the house, with 4 cookers going at once.

[Troutman]

This actually is a timely post, one that's been on my mind for a while now. Like a lot of us the MCS bug has struck me several times and as such I've amassed seven cookers and a whole shelf and one large drawer full of paraphernalia and gadgets. About a year or so ago I just stopped, didn't see the point any longer. The truth is, the cooker doesn't make food necessarily any better, it's the cookee (to paraphrase Harry Soo). Some of the world's finest cuisine was perfected using live fire and burying food in earthen ovens.

Yea it's fun to get a new toy, I have an addiction to wrist watches (got about 35 last count). But they don't make me a better keeper of time, I just like them for their intrinsic beauty and mechanical genius. Same with cookers, I just like them for their innovative ways of doing what man has done for centuries. But again, they are tools in the tool belt.

That said, I'm about to embark on a little experiment that brings me back to my roots in bbq several decades ago. I'm going to go for an entire year just cooking everything I grill or smoke on one cooker. I've pretty much thinking that cooker will be my Weber 26" kettle. I can grill, smoke, bake and do just about everything on the sucker. With the addition of fan control and my SNS, the sky is the limit.

So for those of you that like new toys, knock yourselves out. But don't do it thinking you're going to be transformed into the new Aaron Franklin. Learn instead to concentrate on the food and the recipes while improving your cooking techniques. That will bring much better benefit overall then buying that new expensive toy you've been drooling over.

(He now steps down off his soap box)

[tmelosi]

My MCS is fueled by this site....and I keep coming back for more

[LA Pork Butt]

My theory is we want to try a different cooker to see what it is like to cook on it. If we could borrow one for a month and give it back, we would be just as happy as if we owned it and would’t have to worry about where to keep it or how keep it clean.

[GolfGeezer]

My MCS is purely driven by Patriotism!! Make the economy strong! Support local businesses!! Eat More Chikin!! Confirm I should NEVER open a restaurant regardless of cooking method!!

[Skip]

I think that the challenges most Pit Members seem to have are trying to constantly improve not only our cooks but the way we do them. Hence MCS comes into play as we try to cook something better on each and every cooker or device we can get our hands on. Each cooker has it's own quirks and benefits and trying to figure them out is part of the fun. As stated many times before...there is no cure for MCS!

[Old Glory]

For me it's not boredom. Once I learn how to use a cooker I also learn its positives and the shortcomings. MCS kicks in when I read about a new grill on AR and start thinking that grill will fix whatever is missing on my current grill.Then I learn the new grill has a few weaknesses so the cycle repeats itself. Also wanting to try new fuel types and methods Santa Maria and Stick burner here I come!