doorkfood

How did you do the Turkey!? I'd considered this for Thanksgiving, but most of what I've read recommends splitting it up and cooking white/dark meats separately - which put me off. I've done ribs many times, in brine and bagged. Generally the brine has produced better results, finish those up in a smoker. We often do large cuts of beef, my favorite so far is shoulder clod but I've done brisket, tri-tip, and others as well from about 10-30lbs. I'll cook it in the bag for 12-24 hours depending on the cut & thickness and then finish it with a rub & sear on the grill. I've done a small, whole pig in brine as well! Browned it on a spit before eating and it was delicious. For this kind of big stuff, I use a Marshalltown bucket heater with my company's temp controller- either in a 5 gallon bucket with a towel over the top or an ice chest for the really big stuff. I find that the bucket can benefit from circulation (I use a bubbler) but the ice chest is fine without it. The only downside to this approach is that for brine items- like the pig- the bucket heater can get grimey and is tough to clean without a pressure washer! To solve that problem, I'd like to pick up something that's smooth on the outside instead, with no cavities, such as a heating tube for aquariums like this one.

As in one of the threads linked earlier, I've been happy with "Traceable®" units from Control3 (control3.com). They have many resellers but I usually end up ordering from Control3 or via Amazon. The site is a bit tough to navigate, but you'll only need to do it once. I prefer looking through the .pdf and eyeing the accuracy tables, then checking prices via the website. You want something that comes with calibration results that link back to NIST. Note that some of Control3's units are only calibrated for a specific temperature, and claim very high tolerance, but you don't know what you're getting outside of that range. For example, the 4352 (http://www.control3.com/4052p.htm) is probably the only thermometer anywhere near $25 that you can find online that's within +-0.2°C, but that's only at the few tested points and it may fall within the regular +-1°C elsewhere (granted, it's likely more accurate throughout the range, but you won't know for sure). Some of the probes can get pricey, and you ideally want to get a probe+thermocouple setup that's been calibrated together just so you don't have to worry about additional sources of error. Omega's another good resource to explore. http://www.omega.com...rature/tsc.html They have so many options that it's usually easier just to call and speak with an engineer about what you're looking for.