Page 6 - Barbecue News Magazine September 2021

Ardie Davis
aka Remus Powers BBQ Hall of Famer ardiedavis@kc.rr.com
Easy, Tender Brisket
with a Smart Thermometer & No Foil
Pundits will endlessly ponder why some people readily adopt and adapt to new technology while others are either slow to adopt and adapt or just don’t do it.
A major misconcep-
tion is that it has
everything to do
with age. There is
one version or an-
other of, “Old peo-
ple don’t get it.
Young people do.”
Now and then you
may see an older
person who doesn’t
have a mobile phone, for example, but millions of older people who have mobile phones, pads, laptops or personal computers fly in the facetime of the ageist myth.
“Technology is already a central part of life for older Amer- icans,” Brittne Nelson Kakulla reported recently in an arti- cle for AARP Research. Older Americans’ “connection with their devices is only expected to grow,” she continued. “By the year 2030, nearly 132 million Americans age 50 and
older will spend upwards of $84 billion a year on technol- ogy products, a new AARP survey projects.”
In the barbecue arena there’s no right or wrong as to whether you’re hi- tech, low-tech or no-tech, especially with respect to tem- perature mainte- nance. “Old Schoolers” use their hands to measure temperature and
doneness. Others will readily try the next new thing and adopt it or reject it based on how it fits their wants and needs.
New barbecue technology is worthy of lively late night dis- cussions around the barbecue pit amidst the aroma of meat fire perfume as pitmaster friends relax with libations, lamentations and animated talk about all topics under the moon.
Here’s a story to add fuel to the discussion: It’s about a 14.76 pound Angus beef brisket packer, a hi-tech barbecue tool, a grandpa and a grandson.
I’m the grandpa, standing about two months away from the octogenarian gate as you read this. The grandson is my eld- est, Zachary Davis Krause, majoring in aerospace engineer- ing at Kansas University. He’s a Certified Barbecue Judge with an avid interest in barbecue and has spent his summer break interning at the headquarters of Kansas City’s highly successful startup company, FireBoard Labs, described on their home page as “A cloud-connected smart thermometer that you can check anywhere, anytime. Perfect for the kitchen or barbecue.”
BarbecueNews.com - 6
SEPTEMBER 2021