I am thinking of trying a cook where the butt is started higher, say 325, run that way for an hour or two, and then bring the cook temp down to 200-225, and when it hits 190 internal, brought down again to 190 for a 30 minute hold. I guess I didn't communicate very well, sorry. I think your fussing with the cookers temps are a waste of time. However, please, do try both high temp cooking and this method and let us know if there's a noticable difference. I wouldn't even think about doing all that messing around. I rub my ribs with Bayou Blast (my thing, not everyone's) and put them in the pit until they shrink back on the bone a half inch or so. Then I take them out and usually let them rest in a cooler for a couple of hours. The cooler step is optional. If we're ready to eat when they come out of the pit we start on them right then. Nothing about my beef ribs indicates they would be better if I did something else.  My pit runs at about 270°F. I make no attempt to make it run any other temperature. Virtually all of the collagen converts by my method and the meat pulls cleanly off the bones with minimal effort. I never would have tried it with the NBBD, which always ran at about 260F, but looking for a cripser tastier bark that comes from starting a cook at high temperatures is a time honored technique for roasting meats, and with a WSM, (my preference) or a pellet pooper or other electronically controlled pit, you can make those adjustments easily, and its no fuss at all. MartyB in KC

If you want it I will post her cookie recipe, but I give it the same treatment I do the storebought dough, so any chocolate chip cookie recipe will work. Somehow, I missed this post.  So if you are still looking at this thread - thanks! I think I will try your method with a cookie log from the store.  That way I can vary amounts of powder by the cookie. I was thinking of you the other day.  The peppers are in around here. Fresh japs and serranos were 3 lbs for a buck.  Stocked up on those and garlic and onions since my tomatoes are in.  When ripe peppers and ripe tomatoes collide, it is fresh salsa time. Large green pasillas are 6 for a buck, so I am sure we will be having chili rellenos, or something along those lines pretty soon. The anchos seem really nice this year, although they are up to $5.49 a pound.  But they are so perfectly dried and fresh that the bins smell like mix raisins, coffee, and dried fruit.  THAT is what will go in the cookies. I'll let you know how that goes. Robert

The anchos seem really nice this year, although they are up to $5.49 a pound.  But they are so perfectly dried and fresh that the bins smell like mix raisins, coffee, and dried fruit.  THAT is what will go in the cookies. YUM! They aren't much more expensive than that here... yet.... but they aren't that fresh either. But that has to be the perfect ingredient for the cookies. When they are that fresh, I have trouble grinding them, so that's why I make the paste by lightly toasting in a skillet, covering in minimal hot water, wait an hour, and then spin them in the blender. When I try to grind the good fresh anchos, which are still somewhat soft, they take forever to do in small batches and gum up the grinder. I have it that the pasilla is the dried form of the chilaca, (chilicata also) which is a beautiful reddish-brown called achocolatado when ripe. I have grown chilacas, and they are the color of poblanos before they ripen. I recall there is considerable confusion and regional difference in the nomenclature regarding pasilla, chilaca, ancho, mulato, and poblano, so I consulted one of my more scholarly books to refresh my memory. Mulato is a cultivar of the poblano, which is also the same reddish brown achocolatado when ripe, as opposed to the poblano/ancho cultivar which ripens red. Ancho dries reddish brown to purplish brown, Mulato to blackish brown to black. Mulato is said to have a tougher skin, but is sweeter when ripened or dried. I have seen the two colors, as well as everything along that spectrum. Reading further, there are a number of cultivars of poblano and mulato which if all compared together would give a continuous range of color, both fresh ripened, and dried. . I have seen the darker mulato rererred to as a pasilla. But the pasilla is a different species, as noted, the dried form of the chilaca which is the same color as the Mulato. The peppers dried to make the anchos then would be poblanos, or if they are very dark and blackish, mulatos. Apparently its very difficult to distinguish one from the other when they are ripe. So I am guessing that what you are calling fresh pasilla is what I call poblano, and its traditionally used for rellenos, and according to my best source they are also called chile para rellenar in northern Mexico and in Agauscalientes, chili joto for some strange reason, joto meaning homosexual. Go figure the gay chile. Reading further, I see you seem to live in an area where this nomenclature has been somewhat confounded by traditional differences in how these peppers are named. Do they sell pisado chile in your area, squares from Mulato or Ancho that are ground, made into a dense paste, and then formed into squares? Robert, you can't live without this book. I wouldn't steer you wrong, good buddy, you are far enough into peppers that you would devour every word of it. You should be able to order it from UT in Austin where it was published. Hand drawn color plates, biologically correct de_script_ions and dictionary of terms, recipes, and anectdotal information, and regional cultural uses and variations in terminology. Peppers The Domesticated Capsicums by Jean Andrews (Dr. Jean Andrews Smith) I have the paperback version, there is apparently a hardback as well. Library of Congress ISBN number for the paperback is 0-292-76523-1. Published by the University of Texas Press PO Box 7819 Austin TX 78713-7819 MartyB in KC

Robert, you can't live without this book. I wouldn't steer you wrong, good buddy, you are far enough into peppers that you would devour every word of it. You should be able to order it from UT in Austin where it was published. Hand drawn color plates, biologically correct de_script_ions and dictionary of terms, recipes, and anectdotal information, and regional cultural uses and variations in terminology. Thanks, Marty.  I love books like that.  And I do sit and read them because I enjoy them.  I will definitely get it, as there are so many types available around here I am losing track of what we have.  Love to see what they have for recipes, too.  I love those deep hued ground pepper _base_d sauces that are traditional for different dishes.  They can be difficult though, and I need practice.  I have a tendency to overcook them and then only wind up with the heat, not the flavor of the peppers. I'll try Barnes and Noble first, then off to the internet of phone for he book. Thanks! Robert

Yeah, and try the cinnamon, but as with a mole, just a tiny bit will do. Cinnamon freshly ground... right? Oh yeah, there's no excuse for the flavorless powdered crap. %<

Yeah, and try the cinnamon, but as with a mole, just a tiny bit will do. Cinnamon freshly ground... right? Oh yeah, there's no excuse for the flavorless powdered crap. %<