Thursday August 6, and was a grand success.

We had Meathead, Clint, our resident pizza experts and authors Dave Joachim and Brigit Binns, plus special guest Rob D'Amico of Big Green Egg!

Mark your calendar for our next live Happy Hour on "Fish & Seafood On The Grill" this coming Thursday September 3, 7:30 p.m. CT. We will have a couple special guests- well known Pitmaster Club member "theroc", Brad Orrison and his sister Brooke Orrison-Lewis from The Shed BBQ & Blues Joint in Mississippi! Use the button below or save this link: https://tinyurl.com/pitmasterclub

Unless otherwise noted, all Virtual Happy Hours will take place the first Thursday of each month, at 7:30 p.m. Central Time via Zoom. They last 2 hours give or take. They'll all be recorded and posted here if you can't make it.

Future Topics:

Meathead is excited to share a very special offer from his favorite meat supplier, Allen Brothers!

The total package has a retail price of $339.85 but the Pitmaster Club member discount is only $200, a 41% discount, a savings of $139.85!

Meathead gave a presentation at the International Sous Vide Summit last week.

Check out the video of his presentation, complete with a floating head!

Each month we draw 3 names out of the hat and add them to the winner's list. Here's August's winners:

GRAND PRIZE winners get to select 1 Grand Prize, which includes a grill or smoker from about 10 of our favorite Gold and Platinum Medal-winning cookers. They run in value up near $2,000!

August's GRAND PRIZE winner: Give a congratulations to longtime Charter Member Owen Halterman, a.k.a. "sanguebom"!

Owen selected the Hasty-Bake Gourmet 256 Dual Finish Charcoal Grill, MSRP $1,399.

THIRD PRIZE winners get the Backyard Pitmaster Package with a variety of cool stuff:

August's THIRD PRIZE winner remains unclaimed! Is it you?? Go here to see!

Click here to learn why you must have a US address. Click here to read the complete rules. Click here to see past winners and what they picked.

Make sure the email address in your account settings is one you use regularly, and make sure you have us (@amazingribs.com) whitelisted or added as a contact. And when you get an email from us, OPEN IT! So far THREE different 3rd Prize winners haven't responded, two of them have forfeited and the 3rd is close to it.

NOTICE: If you'd prefer this newsletter be delivered to a different email address, just scroll to the bottom footer of this newsletter and click the "Update Profile" link as the red arrow shows in the example below. There you can change the email address to which this newsletter goes.

Smoked Tomato, Mozzarella, and Pesto Caprese Sandwich, by Dave Joachim

If you keep some smoked cherry tomatoes and basil pesto on hand (both easy to make with our recipes), this sandwich comes together in no time. And it tastes like a summer breeze. Try adding a thin grilled chicken breast!

Canadian and Irish Bacon Now Includes The Curing Calculator, by Meathead

Our popular Curing Calculator, developed by Meathead and Dr. Greg Blonder, pHD, is now built right into the Canadian and Irish bacon recipe! More conveniences to come.

As always, if you want o cure your own meats it is imperative that you read this article first!

Oklahoma Joe's Judge Charcoal Grill, by Jerod Broussard

The large, 18 inch x 30 inch, rectangular cook surface is easy to set up for 2-zone cooking with a moderate indirect side for smoking and roasting, and a hot direct side for searing and finishing.

An adjustable height charcoal grate enables you to drop the fire down to the bottom for low and slow smoking, then lift it up right beneath the cook surface for high temp sizzling, making Judge a 2-zone charcoal champion. It's a practical, versatile cooker that's a pleasure to use.

SmartFire Pro BBQ Controller, by Bill McGrath

The SmartFire Pro BBQ Controller is an integrated thermometer and thermostatically controlled fan that communicates with a smart phone via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, allowing the user to monitor and control a charcoal-fired cooker while monitoring up to three food temperatures.

The controller can mate with a wide variety of cookers using custom mounting adapters and works with both Apple and Android devices.

Green Mountain Grills' Daniel Boone "Prime" Pellet Smoker, by Dave Joachim

If you haven't caught on to the pleasures of pellet cooking, the Daniel Boone Prime from Green Mountain Grills might be the one to light your way. It's their most popular model, a mid-size, mid-priced smoking and outdoor cooking machine with WiFi, a companion smartphone app, solid all-around performance, and more extras than most in its price range.

Green Mountain Grills has two main lines of pellet grills: Choice and Prime. The Choice models have no Wi-Fi, while the Prime models do, along with several other useful upgrades.

MAK Grills 2 Star General Pellet Grill, by Meathead

The MAK is very well thought out and extremely well built. Fit and finish are first class, and the welds and seams show real craftsmanship. There are few backyard cookers built so well. Not even in Chicago winters challenge its ability to maintain steady temps. This is clearly not a cheap unit built overseas to drive down price, as are so many others reviewed on this website. All parts are over-engineered, built to last, and assembled in Oregon, USA.

MAK Grills upgraded their 2-Star General in April 2019, and this is the review of the upgraded model.

Click here for more info about our medals and how we rate and review.

As posted in the Pitmaster Club forum's Discounts And Deals channel in July, through the month of August BBQGuys.com is offering a discounted price, exclusive for our members, on The Cajun Classic 17-inch Reversible Seasoned Cast Iron Griddle. Regular price is $35.00, Pitmaster Club member 10% discount price - $31.50.

*NOTE: Members need to use the Pitmaster Club discount code: PITMASTERCLUB when ordering. Free shipping on orders over $49.

Send the gift of a 1-year Pitmaster Club membership to your friends and family. Your gift recipient will be sent a Visa card that they can use to join the Pitmaster Club along with instructions on how to join. The card will go in the mail within 48 hours. Recipients must live in the US or Canada. Price is $30 and includes one year membership plus printing, postage, and handling. Value of the card: $23.95.

The following shots are member submissions from the past month in our brand new "Show Us What You're Cooking (SUWYC) - Volume 17, Summer 2020" topic.

Well as summer winds down and fall begins lets start this month off with some ribs from JoeSousa. Check out that color on those ribs. Fantastic!

Just to prove that we don't only make meat around here, check out this glorious loaf of sourdough from troymeister.

How about some fresh shrimp tacos topped with mango from Attjack? I will take all four.

What a great cook to end the summer. Here we have a glorious rotisserie chicken from Dewesq55. Nothing like some yard bird on the spin!

Richard Chrz is always cooking up some great ribs, but I think he out did himself this time.

HouseHomey is known as the "chicken man" around here, but did you know he can also crank out some killer burgers? Check out this double-decker!

Burnt ends are always a crowd favorite around here, and SteveB did not disappoint.

I can't think of anything better than breakfast while camping. How about some fresh veggies, eggs and bacon at the camp site? I am sure treesmacker was the envy of the campground after this cook.

Now we head over to Minnesota so meet up with long time member, Skip. He cooked up some amazing homemade pizza on his Big Green Egg. Check out that crust!

Now for my favorite recipe on the site- Meathead's Close To Katz's Pastrami. This was made by FishTalesNC in his Bronco drum smoker. I'd take one of those Reubens!

On these hot summer nights it is tough to beat some brats and kraut, and barelfly made this kraut himself and it looks like it was incredible.

painter is back with a grilled shrimp salad that was marinated in EVOO, garlic, chopped rosemary and chili powder. Also included in the salad was asparagus, roasted tomato, fennel, string beans and lettuce.

What version of "HOT From The Pit!" would be complete with out some beef ribs? How about this monster beef ribs with some keto-inspired cheese sandwiches from Polarbear777.

Did anyone order some salt and pepper sausages... with a view? It looks like Red Man did! What a gorgeous spot to have a meal.

Ernest whipped up some sous vide duck with some Brussels sprouts. What an amazing presentation.

Mosca had his spit turning this month to make an awesome eye of round roast with garlic and rosemary. Amazing!

To round this great month out let's head down to Alabama and wish a big Happy Birthday to jfmorris. On the birthday menu was burgers, grilled mushrooms, onions and toasted buns. Of course there was cake too! Happy birthday, from all of us in The Pitmaster Club!

Your assignment: sharpen your photography skills and set up some great poses to help your pic get in the running for next month's issue. Make sure to consider proper lighting and unique dishes to make your cooks really stand out; for help with food shots, don't miss Meathead's Food Photography article.

To share your cooks, please visit the brand new "Show Us What You're Cooking (SUWYC) - Volume 17, Summer 2020" topic.

The DigestThis.news Bulletin is the weekly newsletter from our companion website DigestThis.news.

Keep up on essential food news "from farm to fork", curated from credible sources by award-winning food journalist (and our chief editor!) Dave Joachim.

Add editor@digestthis.news to your address book so that it lands in your inbox, not your spam folder. The DigestThis.news Bulletin and its companion website, DigestThis.news, are published by AmazingRibs.com.

Don't forget about your FREE digital subscription to “Tailgater Magazine, Your Parking Lot and Backyard Entertainment Guide”. They feature great food & drink recipes, entertainment ideas, and cool gear and products to make your next tailgater super.

Founded in 1989, Barbecue News Magazine is the only magazine devoted to barbecue and it features columns from BBQ Hall of Famers Ardie Davis and Paul Kirk, recipes, news from BBQ associations, a calendar of events, a restaurant guide, book reviews, and ruminations by other experts including the team at AmazingRibs.com. Your FREE digital versions are especially cool because it is interactive. Many articles and ads are clickable linking you to more info.

The 'Cue Sheet, By Robert Moss - Want more tasty bites in recent BBQ news, events, and stories delivered to your email inbox each week? Sign up for The 'Cue Sheet, the email barbecue newsletter from Robert Moss. You'll love it!

"I changed my email, why do the newsletters still go to my old email?"

Our newsletters Smoke Signals, DigestThis.news Bulletin, and Hot From The Pit! come from Constant Contact, which is a separate entity from AmazingRibs.com and the Pitmaster Club software, vBulletin.

When you change your email with us, it currently doesn't change with our newsletter system. You will have to separately tell Constant Contact, this newsletter system here, to update your email too. It's easy! Scroll to the bottom footer of this newsletter, and find the Update Profile link, as shown by the red arrow in this example pic. Fill it out and walah! These newsletters will then go to your new address.

"I'm a member so why am I still getting ads?"

In order for us to block ads you must log in to the Pitmaster Club and then we plant a tiny bit of code on your browser called a cookie. It’s harmless and all it does is tell us “this is a member so block all ads, promos, and aggravation”. But if you block cookies it won't work. Or if you switch browsers or devices, say you go from desktop to phone, or you go from Safari to Chrome, the cookie isn’t there, so you'll need to log in again to get the cookie every time you use a new browser. For more information on blocking ads as a Member, click here.

Join Meathead the last Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Central for his live monthly "fireside chats" on Facebook and YouTube. Bring your toughest questions!

"HOT From The Pit!" is the exclusive members-only monthly newsletter of the AmazingRibs.com Pitmaster Club by

Pit Boss Aaron "Huskee" Lyons

and Moderator John "Spinaker" Bowlsby.

For past issues check out the newsletter archive.