Happy Holidays. Silly Purchase Regrets and One Thing My Grill Wants for Christmas

[SmokeZilla]

Hello Forum members and guests. I wish you all a happy and safe holiday. I just thought I would go off topic a little bit and start a thread to discuss one of the things we purchased and regretted or a silly purchase we should have never made in the first place. If you are having trouble narrowing down your eccentricities, feel free to ask your spouse, significant other, kids, or favorite pet to assist. Then, if possible, post something that your smoker/grill would ask for if it were animated and could receive a gift for the holidays. One final ask, if you have a picture of your “worst purchase souvenir”, feel free to post it so we can commiserate together. I will open the confessional with the following:

During a recent visit to Costco I found out my local store is one of 22 in the country that has American Wagyu. As a fairly well traveled individual, I have eaten Wagyu in several regions of Japan but, my patriotic spirit drove me to “Buy American” realizing of course that it is only Angus beef with a little more pampering (kind of like a GMC Sierra vs. Chevy Silverado controversy, sorry Ford, no room at the Inn, lol.) Several hundreds of dollars later I thought to myself, “really, am I that out of contol”.

If my grill could talk, it would say... “Dear Santa, I have been a very good Bull this year and I would like to be taller. My owner is 6’3” and doesn’t like a lot of bending because he is too darned old.”

 

[Gonefishin]

I bought this for Thanksgiving, which was cancelled. Didn't ask the price when I ordered it from the farm, drove an hour and noticed the price when the grandma rang it up.

 

[C. Keeper]

I'm living wrong, this is what's going on the grill tonight:

 

[Greg Jones]

I’m assuming this could include non-protein purchases, so I’m going to say that a purchase I have regretted is the recteq griddle for the Bullseye. It’s a fine piece of kit, fits the Bullseye nicely, but it’s not for me. Too inconvenient to use, too bulky to store, and too much time and trouble to clean up. I’m much happier using a large dual handle Lodge skillet as a Bullseye griddle. Not as much capacity as the griddle, but it wins in all the other categories, including price.

The next purchase I have regretted has nothing to do with the product itself, but rather my stupidity. When I first bought my Bullseye I also bought a nice SS drip pan, works great, no complaints. Yesterday I was digging through a tub of misc. BBQ equipment when I found the Exact. Same. Drip Pan. that I had bought for my BGE several years ago. Oh well, now I have a spare!

 

[C. Keeper]

I’m assuming this could include non-protein purchases, so I’m going to say that a purchase I have regretted is the recteq griddle for the Bullseye. It’s a fine piece of kit, fits the Bullseye nicely, but it’s not for me. Too inconvenient to use, too bulky to store, and too much time and trouble to clean up. I’m much happier using a large dual handle Lodge skillet as a Bullseye griddle. Not as much capacity as the griddle, but it wins in all the other categories, including price.

The next purchase I have regretted has nothing to do with the product itself, but rather my stupidity. When I first bought my Bullseye I also bought a nice SS drip pan, works great, no complaints. Yesterday I was digging through a tub of misc. BBQ equipment when I found the Exact. Same. Drip Pan. that I had bought for my BGE several years ago. Oh well, now I have a spare!

What are you using for a SS drip pan for the Bullseye? I purchased the cast iron Aura grate and hope to test it this weekend.

 

[Greg Jones]

What are you using for a SS drip pan for the Bullseye? I purchased the cast iron Aura grate and hope to test it this weekend.

Smokeware 14” This pan is very nice, and they have a 15% off holiday sale on everything right now.

 

[Uncle Bob]

@SmokeZilla , I know Costco has a reputation for, and the label says, "blade tenderized", though those don't look brutalized. Did they really blade a wagyu hunk?

As for purchase regrets, there's not enough bandwidth available here. With a dozen cookers there's always got to be one blivet in the bunch. Mine is a wood burning oven/vertical smoker that is a really well built piece of equipment, and cooks well for designed purposes. Being a stick burner it takes more fussing than I've learned I'm interested in. Lump and chunk cookin' is a breeze, but sticks I'm just not in that kind of mood very often.

I had to chuckle at @Greg Jones "discovering" an already bought piece of hardware. I'm having a "sale" in my garage of the remnants of over 50 years of car hobby stuff. Much of it is just that kind of thing, double buying because of CRS, or buying on spec never to be used. One of the buyers and I were commiserating yesterday about that as he carried out two arm loads of bits and pieces. The good news is I'm moving stuff out of the two garage bays of displayed goodies, a couple grand worth this week alone. The bad news is it doesn't look like much has left at all. I need more buyers.............................

 

[Greg Jones]

I’m just thankful that I like the drip pan. If I bought it years ago, and thought it sucked, and then buy it again, and it still sucks, that level of stupidity I don’t think I would confess!

 

[SmokeZilla]

I’m assuming this could include non-protein purchases, so I’m going to say that a purchase I have regretted is the recteq griddle for the Bullseye. It’s a fine piece of kit, fits the Bullseye nicely, but it’s not for me. Too inconvenient to use, too bulky to store, and too much time and trouble to clean up. I’m much happier using a large dual handle Lodge skillet as a Bullseye griddle. Not as much capacity as the griddle, but it wins in all the other categories, including price.

The next purchase I have regretted has nothing to do with the product itself, but rather my stupidity. When I first bought my Bullseye I also bought a nice SS drip pan, works great, no complaints. Yesterday I was digging through a tub of misc. BBQ equipment when I found the Exact. Same. Drip Pan. that I had bought for my BGE several years ago. Oh well, now I have a spare!

Greg...
I can completely relate to your redundant inventory story. it’s amazing how we easily we can forget what we have. But at least you confirmed it was a good idea twice, haha.

 

[SmokeZilla]

@SmokeZilla , I know Costco has a reputation for, and the label says, "blade tenderized", though those don't look brutalized. Did they really blade a wagyu hunk?

As for purchase regrets, there's not enough bandwidth available here. With a dozen cookers there's always got to be one blivet in the bunch. Mine is a wood burning oven/vertical smoker that is a really well built piece of equipment, and cooks well for designed purposes. Being a stick burner it takes more fussing than I've learned I'm interested in. Lump and chunk cookin' is a breeze, but sticks I'm just not in that kind of mood very often.

I had to chuckle at @Greg Jones "discovering" an already bought piece of hardware. I'm having a "sale" in my garage of the remnants of over 50 years of car hobby stuff. Much of it is just that kind of thing, double buying because of CRS, or buying on spec never to be used. One of the buyers and I were commiserating yesterday about that as he carried out two arm loads of bits and pieces. The good news is I'm moving stuff out of the two garage bays of displayed goodies, a couple grand worth this week alone. The bad news is it doesn't look like much has left at all. I need more buyers.............................

Excellent observation. The spinalis dorsi (cap) was not, some of the other cuts did have slight markings that lead me to believe they were “tenderized”.

 

[SmokeZilla]

@SmokeZilla , I know Costco has a reputation for, and the label says, "blade tenderized", though those don't look brutalized. Did they really blade a wagyu hunk?

As for purchase regrets, there's not enough bandwidth available here. With a dozen cookers there's always got to be one blivet in the bunch. Mine is a wood burning oven/vertical smoker that is a really well built piece of equipment, and cooks well for designed purposes. Being a stick burner it takes more fussing than I've learned I'm interested in. Lump and chunk cookin' is a breeze, but sticks I'm just not in that kind of mood very often.

I had to chuckle at @Greg Jones "discovering" an already bought piece of hardware. I'm having a "sale" in my garage of the remnants of over 50 years of car hobby stuff. Much of it is just that kind of thing, double buying because of CRS, or buying on spec never to be used. One of the buyers and I were commiserating yesterday about that as he carried out two arm loads of bits and pieces. The good news is I'm moving stuff out of the two garage bays of displayed goodies, a couple grand worth this week alone. The bad news is it doesn't look like much has left at all. I need more buyers.............................

I can relate to both stories. I have owned a New Braunsfel vertical smoke for 35 years and everytime I use it I tell myself never again because of all the baysitting it requires compared to my Bull and other grills. I must be a masochist though because I’m getting it ready for 2-20lb turkeys. You and I could probably trade “war stories” on car parts. I’m restoring a 67 Mustang Fastback and Dr. Frankenstein “ain’t got nothing on me” with all the stuff I’ve put into inventory.