Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I’d have to say, the Tip Top Temp for the Weber Kettle. I never got it to work right. Every time I used it I gave up, set the vents instead and still got great cooks.
Second would be the Vortex. It does what it is supposed to do, but I don’t need to do that very often, and when I do, the BGE works fine.
I grew up in Latin-America enjoying charcoal and/or wood fired grilled foods like burgers and hotdogs, beef, lamb, chicken, pork sausages and while I have always had and still maintain an active interest in cooking, I had "NO" idea how certain mystical items were produced, like baby back ribs... the kind typically served at BBQ restaurants here in the US.
One day, a fellow co-worker from the Midwest explained to me how his family fixed baby back ribs... He recommend boiling ribs for 1 hr., as this would give me that BBQ place experience. Many years passed and countless attempts always yielded the same pitiful shoe leather ribs... 100% awful.
Fortunately, we always had some chicken or beef that ended up saving the day.
About 4 years ago, I heard that smoking and grilling were different concepts, and that pork ribs required using a smoker. Without much hesitation, went to HomeDepot and Lowe’s, compared items and without really knowing anything on the matter, I purchased a cheap offset smoker. I had seen many cheap smokers lined up at stores, but I thought they were just a different type of grill and simply ignored them.
So to answer the question, while not an accessory, the worst BBQ related purchase I’ve made to date was that COS. Back to the story, my wife and I got home, assembled the COS, fired that puppy up and loaded it to the brim... on both ends. The more white smoke that unit produced, the happier we all got.
Here is a photo that I keep to commemorate the event.
After 8 hours of tending and checking, we decided that it had to be done and we gave it a try.
This was the worst meal ever. Nothing was remotely edible. Most everything was undercooked, or mushy over cooked. Food tasted like it had been marinated in creosote for 24 hours, flambé with lighter fluid and finished off with a coat of sprinkled freshly ground lump charcoal.
My wife suggested I go buy a book or research some more. I drove to my local B&N bookstore and got me a dozen books on the topic and when I got to Meathead’s book, it all started to make sense and I quickly realized how confused and "clueless" I was about the smoking thing.
I’m still learning and I have a long way to go; however, if it wasn’t for Meathead
and his book, I would not have been able to crack the code.
I still have the COS, but it’s parked to the side. Maybe it has sentimental value and that’s why it’s still around.
In summary, we don’t know what we don’t know.
I’m thankful for being able to learn from all of you.
Thank you,
Hey man... I know it didn't work out but much respect to you and your wife for that first attempt! Y'all didn't hesitate at all; all-in immediately. Love it!
Weber S-335 gas grill
Weber 26†kettle
Weber 22†kettle
Camp Chef XL Smoke Vault
Camp Chef 3 Burner cook top
Camp Chef Woodwind 36 Pellet grill with sidekick burner
PBC
Accessories:
SnS XL
SnS standard
Vortex
Weber Rotisserie for 22†Kettle
1st gen FireBoard
2nd gen FireBoard
Griddle for Camp Chef cooktop
Several Thermoworks items
Set of Grill Grates
I still have the big honkin needle I bought to inject, then inspect, project & detect big meats I was planning on cookin when I first learnt of this here BBQ thing. I was goin to Q up a storm & the magic needle was what I thought was one of the key accessories in "the big dinner " done. That was about a year before I joined AR. That honkin needle is still in its package waitin to be wrestled & extracted fer use. Mebbee one of these days.
While I’m on that topic, don’t ya love it when you get one of those useless things & ya finally unveil it & yer best half asks ya when ya got that new gizmo & ya honestly tell her that you’ve had it "for a long time", mebbee a year or two! Not realizing that ya wasted money like she suspected but you went and deflected the guiltiness of yer crime/shame. 🕶
Ok, I'll fess up. The wife had the 4 banger and I eventually had 2 of the 6 cylinder models. One for parts. The 6 cyl was fun but they all just rusted away way to early. NJ winters I guess.
@HawkerXPWell, as long as you have expanded the categories, my 1973 Dodge Dart goes right there with your Capri. POS.
As for cooking gear, I'll probably cause a riot, but two purchases I regret are the Sous Vide machine, and the Grill Grates. I have only used my Joule 3 times, and maybe I'll try the QVQ brisket someday and change my mind, but so far I prefer slow cooking in my convection oven at 180-190 until IT hits my goal, then sear.
As for the Grill Grates, the only positive I've found so far is that I can easily lift and flip salmon using their flipping tool. However, it makes these contrived-looking grill marks, which Kenji says is the 'too hot' part of the metal contacting the meat, but the 'in between' areas not in contact with the aluminum are shielded from the burner heat beneath, and don't get the crispy/salty crust. I get a better uniform crust on my salmon (about 75 seconds per each of 4 sides) with the old weber round grates, although I have to take care when flipping.
Since I'm terrible at meal planning, I find the SV a great asset with frozen meat. I can drop a chop or steak in the hot tub and a few hours later be eating it. As for the GGs I like grill marks, and I like the way it is easy to lift off grate. If I want uniform crust I find it in a CI pan. Well I used to, now it's the griddle.
Sous Vide Joule® Turbo Sous Vide
Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker, Bluetooth, 800W
Accessories
SNS
Steelmade Flat Top for Outdoor Grill (Griddle Insert)
BBQ Guru DigiQ (for PBC and 22" Weber Kettle)
BBQ Dragon
Grill Grates for Blaze grill
Hovergrill
About me
Name: Jim
Nick name: Bear
Location: Spokane Valley, Wa.
Born at a very young age at Egland AFB, Ft. Walton Beach, FL.
USAF vet, ECM (F4 & B52)/B52 Crew Chief, Computer Systems NCO, disabled
Former Computer Tech/Admin
Campus Manager/Lead Tech/Tech (IT) for The Kemtah Group contracted to Intel, Rio Rancho, NM.
Short Term Missionary to the Marshall Islands with MAPS of DFM of AOG
For me it is every grill brush I have ever bought. I have yet to find anything that cleans a traditional stainless steel grill grate better than a large crumbled up ball of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
I have already mentioned three items in comments:
- Tip-Top Temp
- Beer Can Chicken Holder
- Meat Claws
One that has not been mentioned (unless I missed it)...
Silicone gloves for handling hot food. They are way to slippery, even with the nubs to handle the hot food. The white cotton gloves inside disposable gloves lets me handle food right on the grill with no issues.
Off set smokers are a rare thing around my neck of the woods. 2 years ago one of the large big box diy stores had a Landmann offset on sale for around €200 so picked pine up took it home and put it together. 1st cook on it couldn't get any heat in the chamber and the offset was leaking smoke and when I did manage to get smoke inside the cook chamber it leaked out the lid & join where the chimney and lid connect. Seals & gaskets later and it still doesn't work properly. Now used as a grill the odd time
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
Worst accessory purchase I've made to date is the rotisserie for my Genesis II E-410.
I've used it EXACTLY once since getting it for Father's Day last June! The Genesis II series has the rotisserie so low that you have to remove the grates to spin ANYTHING, and even then, two 5 pound chickens were hitting the flavorizer bars unless I trussed them tightly to keep the legs and wings up close against the body. I tried putting a drip pan under the chickens with some veggies in it, on top of the flavorizer bars, and it only worked if I mounded the veggies up to the front and back of the pan, to avoid the chicken as it spun around. If I cannot spin a chicken, no way I am ever spinning something big like a turkey! And the spit rod for that grill is so long that its a pain to put things on and off of it.
I went back to splitting or spatchcocking my chickens and cooking them on the grate ever since that one bad experience!
I may try it again with a pork loin or something smaller in diameter than a chicken, but overall, that rotisserie was a huge disappointment. The motor is in a box in the garage, and the super long stainless spit rod is propped up in a corner against the fridge in the garage. Really wish I had gotten the rotisserie for the Weber 22.5" kettle instead.
Along with bear claws, I would have to say a pair of one size fits all rubber bbq gloves that are covered with the square little grippers (I was going to say nipples, but didn't want to raise the ire of the moderators). They are stiff as a board, they are too small for my hands and they aren't insulated. They reminded me of some cheap-ass irrigation boots I had when I was a kid. Now that I think about it, the claws and gloves came as a package deal. Some deal. If I can find the damned things, I will gift them to one of the kids and they can figure out what to do with them. Maybe they can use them while dealing with pouring concrete.
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