@jscout - Funny about your heat zone suggestion. I had to cook that way since my old range had various burner sizes and one side got hotter than the other. It's fine to push cooked food over, but when making pancakes and stuff that I want to cook quickly and evenly, it drove me crazy. In fact, it was one of the reasons I opted for all the same size burners and the CC. The 7 gauge griddle will have lots more room to experiment. I ordered the pan on Monday and will have it tomorrow, can't wait. Thanks for the good suggestion about the surface thermometer too! Next up, a new, bigger wok since I am keeping the CC wok grill on the range. Thanks to the good advice of GWers, I am leaning toward a hammered wok form the Wok Shop. Just have to decide on the type of handles, wood/steel, long/spool...

Have not installed my Capital yet and have only done this on my grill.But did not want to leave you in a panic hitting the refresh button:) New Years and beef usually mean Prime Rib. I don't think you want to deal with the bones. So 4 lbs Boneless Ribeye Roast. (BTW saw some really nice ones at my local Costco) 3 teaspoons Kosher salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 8 medium minced garlic cloves (If you are not a fan of garlic,at least 4 cloves) About 4 hrs before dinner rub ingredients into roast. Let sit at room temperature, not in fridge.No it will not spoil. About 1.5 hrs before dinner put in oven. Turn on rotis and broiler. An hour in turn off broiler then check temp. 125 degrees for medium rare. Don't serve good cuts of meat burnt. Remove and cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Cut and serve. I don't like to eat meat with various sauces. Do you? I know some peole like gorgonzola suauces or what not but I prefer to taste the actual beef.

Sharon, that tart looks delicious. Looking forward to the recipe. Beth, Tiramisu birthday cake. What a treat. Jim, this is definitely a keeper recipe. White Beans and Sausage Source: David Leite's - The New Portuguese Table - My Family's White Beans and Sausage 1 pound dried navy, small California white or great northern beans, washed and sorted 1/2 pound bacon 1 large onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced Bay leaf olive oil 3/4 pound Chourico, Linguica or Dry-Cured Smoked Spanish Chorizo cut into 1/4-inch slices 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or more to taste 1 tablespoon sweet paprika water ( I used chicken broth) Salt Freshly ground pepper 3 tablespoons tomato paste (squeeze tube) Fresh chopped flat leaf parsley Heat a large pot over medium low heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring often, until the fat has rendered and the meaty bits are crisp, about 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels. Bump up the heat to medium, add the chourico and sear until lightly browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chourico to paper towels. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of fat from the pot. Or, if the pot is dry , drizzle in some oil. Add the onions and bay leaf and cook, stirring frequently, until deeply golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, adjust the heat as necessary to prevent the onions from burning. Add the garlic and paprika and cook for 1 minute more. Drain the beans and dump them into the pot, along with the chourico and red pepper flakes, and 3 1/2 cups of water (I used chicken broth). Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let burble gently. Stiring occasionally, until the beans are tender. Begin checking at 45 minutes, but it may take as long as 1 1/2 hours , depending on your beans' add more water (chicken broth) if needed. Fish out and toss the bay leaf. Stir in the tomato paste and bacon and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken the cooking liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let the beans sit uncovered for 10 minutes to absorb and excess liquid. Serve. Here is a link that might be useful: Thibeault's Table White Beans and Sausage

Hi, Stacy! Your post just struck such a chord with me, and I wanted to share my experience for what it's worth... My family had always (and I do mean *always*, as in for the last 100 years at least) had a huge Thanksgiving feast with turkey, dressing, ham, homemade rolls, along with countless side dishes and lots of desserts. Then we'd repeat the exact same menu for Christmas dinner. Besides hours of grocery shopping and days of cooking, there was silver to polish, linens to iron, crystal and china to hand-wash, etc., etc. Like you, we usually had a crowd of 16-18, so it was a massive undertaking. But with several good cooks and lots of willing helpers, it was always great fun -- very definitely a pleasure rather than an obligation. A couple of years after I 'inherited' hostess duties from my mother, though, suddenly the joy was all gone and it became overwhelming. Our family reached a point where the grandparents and others of their generation were too old and feeble to help. And the grandchildren were still too young to assume any meaningful responsibilities. There was absolutely nobody to help me with this huge project. Well, except for my sister-in-law, but I refuse to go there.... After serving Thanksgiving dinner that year, I was on the verge of collapse. (As usual, SIL didn't even offer to help with the dishes!) And all I could think about was the fact that it would be deja vu all over again in less than a month -- PLUS all the shopping, wrapping and decorating that makes Christmas 10 times more chaotic. In order to save my mental health, something had to give! So I did the previously unthinkable and announced that our holiday food traditions were about to change dramatically. The Thanksgiving menu would remain basically the same, but Christmas dinner would be way different. I promised them it would be elegant and delicious, but it would also be extremely simplified. To my shock and amazement, all the oldies were extremely supportive. They said it made lots more sense under the circumstances, that they were sure they'd love anything I served, and it would be fun to start a new tradition. (Pretty cool 'tude for people in their 80's and 90's, huh?) The ones who howled with indignation were my kids! I actually had wild-and-crazy teenaged boys up in my face, accusing me of "throwing generations of family tradition down the tubes..." It would have been riotously funny if they hadn't been so genuinely upset. Who knew they had even noticed the enormous effort I put into holiday celebrations, much less cared??? Despite a negative PR campaign (orchestrated by my oldest son) that would have done any politician proud, I stuck to my guns. The result? The most wonderful Christmas dinner you could imagine! I put the boys in charge of the salad. One prepped the spinach and red leaf lettuce and sliced some red onion. Another cooked the bacon and shredded the Swiss cheese, while the third mixed the poppyseed dressing. Their other assignment was to cook the beef tenderloin. (They weren't real great in the kitchen at that point, but they were already superstars on the grill.) Yes, it put a lot of pressure on them to cook such an expensive entree -- but I knew they'd step up to the plate. And they were sooo proud when the beef drew raves! For the first time, one of them invited a girlfriend to join us. When she insisted, with obvious sincerity, that she'd like to help, I accepted her offer. With me providing the recipe and a minimal amount of supervision, she prepared a wonderful crabmeat concoction for our starter course. All I had to do was layer the ingredients for a potato gratin and cook a green veggie, pop some rolls in the oven, and later pull out the cheesecake I'd made two days in advance. It was the most wonderful Christmas dinner! So wonderful, in fact, that we've repeated it every year since. For once, I was able to relax and enjoy it as much as everyone else did. And, of course, the 'cherry on top' was that my sons readily admitted afterwards that they had been wrong and that having a different menu for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners actually made both meals seem more special. Talk about feeling vindicated!! You don't sound like you're on the verge of a mental breakdown over your menu like I was. lol But I would really encourage you to try this different approach! However, like several others have said, stick to the basics. Stuff something that needs help, not this. I've found it's best to allow 1/2 lb. per guest. Unless you have a crowd with unusually large appetites, you'll even have a little bit left over. Good luck! sm P.S. Almost forgot to share the best part of the story. The lovely young woman who so thoughtfully insisted on helping prepare that crab dish 5 years ago? To my joy, she became my DIL last month. Just one more reason our first Christmas dinner without turkey will always rank up there with the most wonderful ever!! :)