JUNE

[Micanopy]

Well the saga continues. Walmart is not doing anything. They are not replying to my emails. PayPal hasn’t responded to my email. I plan to call Visa today and ask them to refund me.



Well I was all excited to get my buddy’s commercial griddle, and was promptly disappointed when I saw the condition of it. I had already handed over my smoker, so it was gone. It was an Akorn, which is a metal egg style smoker komado. He also got a PID temperature controller, a charcoal chimney, big bag of charcoal for it, and a few extras and modifications…..and a huge boston butt to get started.

So I am out…….Four hundred bucks to Walmart, and my smoker, and I still don’t have a griddle. Amazing. I am beginning to think God doesn’t want me to have a griddle.

Well this same buddy calls me up last night and says I can have his commercial Char Broiler. Now we are talking. He says that it is in great shape and is a three burner model. This is like a flat top grill you would see in a restaurant. I can’t wait to get my hands on that thing.

It shall be the centerpiece of my new…….outdoor kitchen. Yes, I shall make me an outdoor kitchen. This char broiler can grill all sorts of foods to absolute perfection because of the ability to control the flame so well. I can lay skillets on top and cook foods in my cast iron stuff. I might buy a griddle topper thingie and lay on top of it to do griddling even though I am not supposed to.

Nothing too fancy, but I want it to look cool. I am thinking of building a small roof over the end of the porch, and putting down a cobble stone floor. Then encase the char broiler in stone and some wood. I really don’t know what to do at this point but this would need to be an enhancement to my back porch. I built a 25 x 25 deck for the wedding that abuts up to it, so I need to keep the porch looking nice. It is where she likes to entertain. It is my job to keep fogging them skeeters so she can hang out there with friends.

I plan to turn right around and buy me a brand new Akorn komado smoker, too. I loved that thing. I tried every smoker design out there and none of them worked for me. The fire too hot, fire too cold, fire too hot again. The komado allows me to maintain a steady temperature for those long cooks. I can set a boston butt on it in the evening, and wake up to a ready to go perfectly cooked piece of pig in the morning. Or put some ribs on it and go run errands and come back and eat. I have seven or eight frozen baby back ribs in the freezer, so they will be needing eaten.

Adversity. Why has this been such a huge hassle ? Most people just order a griddle and they are off cooking. Me I get a huge hassle for my money. I did join a smoked meats forum and posted up pictures and the story and such. Title was- Pit Boss Sierra Griddle. That way if someone googles that name my thread might get read and maybe they shy away from that unit. I plan to share my story elsewhere as well. I mean it would be different if we were talking about a small scratch or dent. We are talking crushed here. I am not paying for a crushed griddle.

Char Broiler- here is what one looks like



My buddy says they cost thousands of dollars. I could put this thing on a table top or I could build a cabinet of some kind. This and a smoker and I would have it made. I doubt that I would buy a refrigerator for my outdoor kitchen. I don’t need an oven. I could probably make pizza on my cast iron skillet on top of the broiler. Hmmmmmm

Anyways, work has been going good. Too hot to do much, but I did take some friends tubing on the lake. I went slow and was giving them the tour of homes treatment. They fell off and struggled to get back on the tube. Takes upper body strength. Then I took them back into the cypress trees and through a small creek into a secret pond. My boat runs very shallow for a 20 footer.

Wife is going to hang with her family Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The weather report looks like I can fish on Sunday. Made up some new jigs to try out. Maybe the fish will bite for me. A buddy of mine says he has only been catching four and five a day when he goes. So it maybe that they are hiding.

I bet a whole crappie would toast up nicely on a char broiler. Hmmmmmm….. I can’t wait to see what I can do with that thing.