HI All, just a quick intro as have been lurking for a while and finally took delivery of my new KK 23 a couple of weeks ago. This one didn't have far to go as I am living in Jakarta (hence title of post), so Dennis was kind enough to drop one on a truck and run it up the road from Surabaya. Arrived a few days after order placed so was lucky not to have to go through the agony of the wait that some of you guys have been through.
Bit of back story. Have always been a keen BBQér, Is part of the Kiwi male DNA to attempt to burn things over a raging hot grill. Also have smoked plenty of freshly caught fish as is also an important part of the kiwi way of life. But my interest in BBQ really took a turn when I spent 3 weeks in Dallas a few years ago for work and visited many of the smokehouse's there. From then on in I began researching what grill to buy next as my trusty 4 burner gas and my little Webber Kettle were coming to the end of their days. A popular TV chef in NZ was using BGE's for his show and that sparked my interest in Kamados. Some research later and it was clear that I could do better than BGE and fell in love with the KK. However living in New Zealand made this look a bit prohibitive from a cost and logistics perspective. Here is where fate intervened. This time last year I was offered a transfer to Jakarta and we arrived late last year. 6 months later, settled down and having convinced the wife that the spend on a KK would be worth it and would be like our souvenir of our time in Indo, I placed the order (with great support from Dennis). It arrived a couple of weeks ago,. Spent the last week or 2 in New Zealand for school holidays, so just got back and did my first firing and burn in last night.
Like with many others, I was a little apprehensive, but went well. Some minor venting in various places, but no lifting of tiles etc. Took it up the various temp ranges using full basket of CoffeeChar. Managed to cook a couple of chickens through the mid-range temps, then seared off a sous-vide steak at raging hot temps. Got the KK up to 750deg and left it there to burn out the basket. Still have a lot to learn about temp control but was pretty happy with my first crack at it. Now just need to track down some smoking wood in Jakarta (which is much harder than you might think).
That's it for now. Look forward to learning more from all of you as you continue to post you knowledge here. This is totally useful for newbies to the KK like me.
