Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
Last night we had our first .... and last ..... chicken from Crowd Cow. Considering how much we have enjoyed their other meat, we thought this was bound to be a hit out of the park, too. Unfortunately, there was a major problem that leads us to never purchase chicken from Crowd Cow again.
Although flavor, size, etc was great, one leg and two thigh bones were broken. Not just broken, but shattered. There were pieces and chunks of bone throughout the leg and thighs. Those pieces were very inedible because of it.
I of course love smoked meats of all kinds, but also like quick cooks like chicken portions, pork tenderloins, steak and fish. Really into cooking of all kinds.
My outdoor kitchen has a Lone Star Grillz Adjustable and it is wonderful. There also is a Pit Boss 5 Burner Ultimate Griddle and a Pit Boss Copperhead pellet grill.
There is an outdoor fire pit that has grilling capability and limited Santa Maria-style grill raising and lowering.
While I like Crowd Cow I have to agree on the free range chicken. Last order from them for whole chickens had the same conditions and the previous whole chicken order was so tough I ended up boiling them for chicken and dumplings. Even then they were stringy as all get out. Too many other places to buy good whole chickens than to buy from them again.
Picture an organic farm, with thousands of free-range chickens roaming wide-open land. Now picture it from above, from the vantage of a soaring bald eagle. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Crowd Cow messed up too many of my orders, I quit them about 3 years ago. I think they are probably the worst of all the on line purveyors. Bad Cow....BAD.....
I no longer buy chicken from my local butcher that I like for many other things. There are 2 reasons. The chicken thighs they have start to smell slightly funky by the second day. I find that disconcerting. Despite that another time I decided to try a whole chicken from them. I cooked it on the rotisserie and when I went to carve it I found a black tumor in one of the breasts. I was disgusted and threw the entire bird away.
So I buy my chicken from the nicer market (think local Whole Foods type of market). They have a lot of information about the farms the chickens come from, the parts smell fresh for days, and the whole chickens they carry (Smart Chicken brand) have always been good. It's worth it to me to pay extra for quality chicken. Their beef and pork is high quality and I do buy it occasionally, but mostly I still go to my local butcher for those items where the price is much better. I know which farm they get it from and it is a good one.
What's funny, as much as I don't like factory chickens generally, I've never had a bad experience with the whole chickens I have bought at Costco. Probably the best choice for mass market chicken.
I like the Costco meat department but a membership just doesn't end up being worth it for me. I also hate driving out there and dealing with the prolonged experience of shopping in a warehouse. Now that my membership has expired I get my buddy to buy my foil, plastic wrap, and disinfect wipes. Sometimes I have him grab me tri tip, brisket, or other items from the butcher.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan- near Clare. (dead center of lower peninsula)
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Chicken isn't worth buying online for me. I can get, in the markets, the Smart Chicken brand or Mary's (organic or heirloom). If I want, I can get stuff from local farms (Sea Breeze or Stokesberry for you locals) that's as good as I've ever tasted.
Sorry to resurrect an older thread... I'm very surprised by this problem at CC. We started ordering from them not long after the pandemic started, and have had excellent quality from them throughout. We order ground beef, steaks, and chicken thighs from them routinely. Our only complaint about the chx is that the thighs are rarely of similar size, but we just chalked that up to the smaller scale operations, consistency is often sacrificed a bit in all sorts of "craft" consumables. Needless to say, will be on the lookout for anything like this in future.
Since joining here, I've also learned about Creekstone and Porter Road, and am trying them out too. Just got our first Creekstone delivery a couple of days ago and the PR should arrive over the weekend. We'll be very well stocked at that point!
I was worried after seeing this thread as I just placed my first Crowd Cow order last week. It arrived yesterday. While I haven't cooked any of it yet, I was impressed with the packaging. It came packed with dry ice via UPS and everything was frozen solid in a well packed box. The quality of items pass the eyeball test, but as we all know, that doesn't mean much. Communication from Crowd Cow was excellent from ordering through delivery.
We were very early supporters of Crowd Cow, and even have the tee-shirts they sent out in the early days to early adopters. We still order from them regularly. However the CC we knew and loved has gone through a lot of changes over the past several years and not all to the good. This is an interesting article about the on-going issues and changes https://thecounter.org/crowd-cow-bro...rs-craft-meat/
ecowper I agree. While the current model may be more profitable for Crowd Cow, it doesn't feel like they are helping farmers as much as they were in the original model. It's a marketplace for buyers and sellers to connect versus a more full-fledged partnership with farmers.
I know SRF is essentially animal to customer integrated, Wild Forks is probably similar, but don't know about Porter Road or Allen Bros to state the same.
Click, of course, we're buying straight from the ranch.
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