My Latest Toy I'm Using On Labor Day

It’s the Labor Day Weekend edition! Around 670 MILLION POUNDS of pork will be sold.

I will be both cooking (new toy listed below) and consuming BBQ all weekend.

For Today:

• 35+ Year annual pig roast

• My personal BBQ setup

• New toy for my BBQ

• Our Labor Day King?

• Research Mode — Looking for Guinea Pigs

This newsletter is officially pre-heated… let’s get into it…

Back in the 80s, my neighbors Bob and Kathy were in a serious car accident. Lifeflighted, things looking grim, they eventually come out of it.

As a token of their appreciation to those that helped their family during those times and to celebrate, they had a big luau. Bob and Kathy’s celebration luau has now been going strong on Labor Day for 35+ years.

Friends drive in, college friends of their kids come down, locals… They smoke a whole hog in the backyard. And they have a “Same Cups” system… there’s a binder with your cup number — you find that cup in a huge bin, put the year on it, and use it again the next time you’re there.

An incredible tradition and Bob is my hero. The guy still plays 5 am pickup basketball in his Converse and has a Bob Cousy shot (not kidding). Legend and I can’t wait for the pig roast.

OTHER LABOR DAY RELATED NOTES:

PETER J. MCGUIRE … OUR LABOR DAY KING?
It was started by a guy named Peter J. McGuire in 1882… at age 29, the guy organized a HUGE parade in NYC (overachiever much?).

It says he was a carpenter, but really the guy sounds like a big time motivational guy. The 1880’s Tony Robbins…

So you can thank him for Labor Day, but just know — he’s also responsible for pushing the 8-hour workday movement.

TRAVEL
The unofficial end to Summer, people are apparently trying to squeeze one more trip in… United Airlines says it expects their busiest Labor Day weekend ever.

P.S. The TSA says that August flights were 2% higher than in 2019. Suck it, Covid.

MY BBQ SETUP:

I like to smoke things… and have been gradually upgrading my XL Big Green Egg setup.

People list their “kits” when it comes to production, so I’ll do the same for my grill.

• Big Green Egg XL (purchased 2015)

• Raised Grid Expander from Ceramic Grill Store (2018)

• Woo Ring Adjustable Rig Combo from Ceramic Grill Store (2019)

• knockoff Kick Ash Basket from Amazon (2023)

• replaced all bands, hinges, gaskets, and thermometer (2023)

The bands and hinge assembly were another $200 so I also bought those from CGS to avoid sales tax.

I love my BGE and the meat science, but in this stage of life where it’s a bit busier, I might just prefer a Traeger pellet grill where I can digitally dial it in and go.

Preferred pulled pork style: Bark-y dry rub (no sauce) and smokey… also will sprinkle a bit of dry rub in there after the initial pull.

LATEST BBQ PURCHASE:
THERMOPRO TWIN TEMPSPIKE PROBES

I like to smoke things… and have been gradually upgrading my XL Big Green Egg setup. For my last smoke, I upgraded from wireless thermometers to a bluetooth meat thermometer… two of them.

Thermopro is known for their thermometers and it seems like a better deal and longer wireless range (500 ft to 133 ft) than digital rival Meater.

There are two temps on each probe — one for the meat and the other for the ambient temperature. “Ambient Temp” is a fancy way of saying, “actual temperature of the grill”…

The verdict: I like. Great success… alarm on my phone went off when the temp got below 220 (at 3 am) and I enjoyed seeing the recording of the internal temps of the butts as the cook progressed.

Price: $129 (Amazon aff link here)

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RESEARCH MODE:

I’m starting to gather info on interesting topics and products out there. Just this past week I’ve researched everything from digital fat suits to IG products to injections in your junk (imagine my search history) ….

If you see anything you wonder about OR would like to be a test subject, please send me a message (you don’t have to inject yourself with anything, I promise).

Honestly, the weirder, the better. ^^^

And on that note, have a safe 3-day holiday weekend everyone!