Smoke Signals from AmazingRibs.com ~ August 21, 2015
 
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* An improved Comprehensive Food Temperature Guide Magnet (retails $9.95 on Amazon.com)

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Why not give a gift membership? Surely you know folks who need to up their grill game: Neighbor? Nephew? Spouse?

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The Only Way To Tell If Meat Is Safely Cooked...

.. is with a thermometer stuck in the center of the thickest part of the meat. If you don't have a thermometer, check out our extensive reviews of more than 150 devices to find something that will keep you and your family safe and your food cooked to perfection.

One of our top rated thermometer brands, Thermoworks, maker of the very best instant read the Thermapen (2 seconds) and its less expensive cousin the Thermopop (5 secs), is selling everything at 15% off, site wide, until September 3, with the code SITEWIDE15. These are what we use. Plus if you purchase using our link, without any additional cost to you, part of your purchase goes to keeping our site up and running. 
Quick Links

DAILY TIPS ON

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Welcome
Smoke Signals is the free e-letter from Barbecue Whisperer and Hedonism Evangelist, Meathead, and the team at AmazingRibs.com. We use Smoke Signals to tell folks about what's new in Barbecutopia & Grillandia. If you like it, please forward a copy to a friend. And remember: No rules in the bedroom or dining room!
Franklin Barbecue calls us "An amazing compendium of barbecue knowledge."

Aaron Franklin owns Franklin Barbecue in Austin. Many call it the best BBQ restaurant in the world and the lines wrap around the block. He is the first Pitmaster nominated for a James Beard Award (this year). His new book "Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto" came out last week. In the "References" section he cites only three resources, Harold McGee, food scientist and author of "On Food And Cooking", Nathan Myhrvold and his team, authors of the six-volume "Modernist Cuisine", and AmazingRibs.com, which he called "An amazing compendium of barbecue knowledge."
Watch Our New Video Series
Hope the grilling season has been great for you, full of delectable meals with family and friends. We've been busy!



We've wrapped up shooting a 15-episode instructional series called "The Science of BBQ & Grilling with Meathead". We featured some of our best recipes (like Last Meal Ribs which you can watch now!), demonstrated great techniques and showed off some sweet grills and smokers!

Click the picture for a short taste of what's in these new videos:


We'll publish a new video monthly 'till June 2016, free on AmazingRibs.com/videos! They are chock full of useful, easy-to-remember knowledge to help you improve your barbecue game. 

Psst! If you're a Pitmaster Club member, you'll get immediate access to all 15 videos! Besides all the other great benefits of the Pitmaster Club, this will really help you to grill while the grillin's good!
AmazingRibs & ChefSteps Cook Indoor Ribs
ChefSteps.com: Amazing Ribs with Meathead, Part II: Exploring Indoor Barbecue
Earlier this summer, our friends at ChefSteps invited Chef Ryan and me to share principles of barbecue with them at their headquarters in Seattle's iconic food temple, Pike Place Market. We love ChefSteps' scientific, modern, and practical take on explaining the alchemy of food and cooking. You'll find their stuff inspirational with beautiful videography and photos. 

In Part 1 of our two-part video series, Grant Crilly, ChefSteps co-founder, whipped up our signature Last Meal Ribs, for us to critique and explain the basics of barbecue
smoking ribs. We reviewed what makes a great rib and key equipment and techniques needed to achieve it. We thought brave Grant did a fantastic job, and we had a blast! 
 
A lot of our friends live in condos and other places where they can't cook outdoors. And we don't want to think about it yet, but winter is inching ever closer. In Part 2 of the ChefSteps series, we explored two approaches to cooking indoor ribs.

Long time readers of AmazingRibs may recall an indoor ribs recipe from a few years back. We took what we learned from the ChefSteps crew and tweaked our recipe

If you haven't explored the ChefSteps website, we encourage you to do so.
Meet, Greet, and Eat! Meathead Cooks at Brookfield Farmers Market, Brookfield, IL, on Saturday, August 29
 
Eggplants are coming in and Meathead and Chef Ryan will grill Eggplant Parm on Saturday, August 29, starting at 8 a.m. until the food runs out at the Brookfield Farmers' Market in Brookfield, ILThe market is located at 8820 Brookfield Avenue, behind the Village Hall and just one block from the Metra commuter train. Many thanks to Anne from the Brookfield Farmers Market and Jim from Ready Jam Farms from Marengo, IL, who is supplying us with some gorgeous produce.

If you're far from the Chicagoland area, but don't want to miss out, check out the Eggplant Parmesan recipe, complete with videoIt's better than baked, believe me!
Book Cover!

Meathead the Book!
I'm also keeping busy with heavy editing for my book, with the help of the good people at my publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. They've revised the cover art and title to "Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling." It will be out in bookstores by Spring 2016. You'll be the first to know when it's available for pre-ordering, right here on Smoke Signals.
Attention Washington and Alaska Smoke Signalers! Washington State Company Recalls Pork Over Salmonella Concerns
On August 14, Kapowsin Meats in Graham, WA, recalled of over 116,000 pounds of whole hogs, potentially contaminated with Salmonella I4, according to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The whole hogs for barbecue of varied weights were dated between April 18, and July 27, 2015. An investigation by FSIS has identified 32 patients with Salmonella. Read more at Meating Place, Industry News.
Italian Volcanic Sand and Hot Spring Cooking, Like the Romans Used To Do
We're always thrilled to share cooking traditions from across the globe. On a small island just off of Italy's eastern coast near Naples and Pompei, lies the town of Ischia, where an ancient practice of cooking using hot volcanic sand and the island's hot springs. The New York Times' Julia Moskin reports on the centuries-old tradition of cooking "al fumarole," in "In Ischia, Italy, Cooking Is Done in the Sand, Not the Stove."
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