Event Announcement: UT Institute of Agriculture to host Smoking School

 [FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post and paid full price for our admission tickets.

University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture is hosting its first Smoking School on June 19th, 2021. It will be held at the arena for the Brehm Animal Science Building. 

• The school will be taught by George Ewart. George is an architect in Knoxville, he is the co-owner of Dead End BBQ and his team won the Tennessee State BBQ Championship in 2007-2008. 
• Sponsors include Tennessee Beef Council, Tennessee Pork Producers Association, Bush's Beans, and Dead End BBQ
• The class will cover brisket and pork ribs, but I know George will also likely cover sides as well.
• The class costs $100 per person and there are only 50 spots available.

LINK TO REGISTRATION

Here are the details from the school:

FAQ: Replacing the Bands on a Large Big Green Egg

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I got a brand new Big Green Egg!

Not really, but it does feel like a brand new Big Green Egg. In reality, I replaced the bands and hinges on both of our large Big Green Eggs.

This isn't a tutorial; rather, it is just my experience replacing the bands and hinges on our Big Green Eggs. For an excellent tutorial, use the one that I used - Jay Wilson's Big Green Egg New Style Band Installation. 

Are Bands Covered by the Warranty?

By the time you need it? Not likely. People often hear "lifetime warranty" about the Big Green Egg, but that's leaving out the keyword "limited." Here's what the BGE warranty says about the bands and other metal components:

Source: https://biggreenegg.com/warranty/ as of 04/10/2021

The good news is, I've owned 3 Big Green Eggs, and none of them have had band issues in the first five years. The downside is that if you need your bands replaced, they are likely out of warranty.

"The Big Green Egg makes every effort to utilize materials that resist rust..."
You know I'm a huge fan of Big Green Egg but I have to call them out on this one.
Several competing brands, like Grill Dome and Vision Grills, use stainless steel bands. This Vision Grills was the third kamado that we bought, and it is still rust-free. 

Fire Roasted Whole Chicken on the Big Green Egg

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This was one of the best yardbirds I've cooked in quite a while; it was juicy, well-seasoned, and had a crispy skin.

Spatchcocked chicken roasting "raised-direct" on a large Big Green Egg.

This isn't a recipe post, rather just a quick report about what I did, which wasn't a lot: no dry brining, no injections, no fiddling around with it. 

Chick Magnet Chicken with a drizzle of Harold's Hog Wash mustard-based BBQ sauce.

Loaded Black Bean Dip

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Even though my time lost in the first round this year, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the NCAA tournament the past few weeks. We've been grilling up a lot of tasty game-day food like this Loaded Black Bean Dip. 

Loaded Black Bean Dip with Homemade white corn tortilla chips.

I got the idea from this recipe from Eating Well magazine but called an audible on the ingredients based on what I had. For ours, we used:

• Black beans, cooked and smashed with garlic salt, cumin, coriander, 
• fire-roasted poblano, peeled and diced
• fire-roasted yellow corn
• cherry tomatoes, cut in 8ths and seasoned with fine salt
• diced red onion
• fire-roasted bell pepper
• green onions
• Pepper jack cheese

It really isn't much of a recipe rather just the general idea.  Here's the video from the cook, it pretty much explains everything.