Thanks Derek!!!
(He let me sneak in from the other side of the world...)
You guys got it goin' on!!!
Awesome website, forum and those videos!!!

I'm located on the coast in the "real" Northern California... Eureka, CA
(No offense to my neighbors south of me, but S.F. is NOT Northern California... Heck, it's right in the central part of the state)
This area of the state is somewhat remote and full of the world's tallest trees... The Pacific Coast Redwoods.
My wife and I are into teardrop trailers and camp oven cooking.
She says she's gonna take me to Australia when she retires. (Been saying three years for two years now...)
Really looking forward to meeting you guys in person someday soon!!!

Fogcrawler wrote on Sep 28^th, 2009 at 4:44am:


Let us know when you are on the way..
Could be party time.

Aart

First up we welcome people from all over, everyone brings their way of doing what we all love and as long as you add photos  your accepted.  Australians would never be critical of what initials you use for where you live.  We joke and tease each other about our different states but I guess only having 5 we dont always mention it and most live in towns that the others know where they are.

I hope you allow plenty of time when you do get to visit, most of our attractions are very spread out.  I have only been north in California as far as SF so I wouldnt have made it to your area.  But I loved going up the coast from LA...........well except for the curves and seemly being on the wrong side of the road  

My experiences with my Californian cousins is that the men simply love Australia and our way of life but the females are just a bit picky about things not being exactly the same as home.  As your wife is a camper she should find it fine.  

I am in Sydney and most find it a pretty city along the Harbourside and I hate to say this but if time is a problem I would skip it and head for Queensland.

I am sure we will all be interested to hear of your plans when you get here and share a meal around a campfire if its possible.

G'day Fogcrawler, welcome aboard and I hope you have a great time here.

G,day and welcome Deano
Carolyn meant to say 6 states,5 was a typo
cheers George

No need to worry there Carolyn... What I was refering to was filling up the 22" Maca with these...



This Cabela's 20" will hold one 22 lb. prime rib, but the Maca 22" will hold four roasts and that works out to around $450-$500 just for the meat. (Using the salt method)
Besides using it for meat, about the only other time it gets used is at a teardrop trailer gathering that my wife and I host once every two years here in the redwoods. The 22" Maca holds a lot of food and even with 250 guests it still doesn't get emptied.



My lovely wife and I (We're the short one's) did this roast for our friend Doug, for a teardrop gathering he hosted in the High Sierras earlier this Summer. Doing big prime ribs is fun and certainly has a nice payoff at the end but... I'd have to say that standard 14" ovens are my favorite. I use them for just about everything.

The Cabela's 20"er takes about 40 lbs of rock salt to bury a good sized roast. The Maca 22"er takes about 60 lbs. of rock salt to completely bury four roasts. I don't waste my money on ice cream type rock salt... I use the way cheaper water softener type.
LOL... Those aren't redwoods in the shot above.


These are Redwoods... See my kids standing in the grove?
(Click on the picture for full size)

The salt works well.
I don't know about Australia, but here in the U.S. most restaurants do their prime ribs using the salt method.
Basically it does two things...
1. Just like it intensifies the cold when making ice cream, it works the same way with heat.
2. When the juices from the meat hit the salt, it forms a seal around the meat, keeping more juice inside the meat.

Just two things to be sure of...
1. Just make sure you keep the meat dry beforehand... No wet marinates, just dry seasonings or rubs.
2. You also need to dig the meat out of the salt before it reaches the desired temperature at the center of the roast. Upon removing it from the salt, place it in a foil tray and cover it up with foil over the top for at least 15-20 minutes. This allows the roast to take a set, so all the juices don't rush out once you start slicing it. It will also climb to the desired temperature while tented with foil also.

I use a cabled probe which plugs into a digital thermometer outside of the oven. On a beef prime rib, I'll remove the roast from the salt anywhere between 130-135F. (Leaving the probe in the meat to monitor while tented)
I like 'em to finish out at 150F, giving me a nice medium rare center and medium to medium well end cuts.

I think that other thread is the one Derek posted using pictures from a roast I did at a teardrop gathering at Applegate Lake in Oregon.

Welcome aboard Fogcrawler.  Another belated welcome!  Another Teardrop builder here - and I have a Redwood planted at my place but no where near your size!

Again, welcome!