Otto Maddock

Arghh..!! That is one really scary display! The witch morphed into a K7!!! (Ha Ha Ha Ha! Good one, Syzygies! )

I'm really big into Halloween and I'm always on the lookout for a cool new yard display. (We average over 250 kids a year! I use an old baseball pitch counter to count the number of ghosts and goblins that stop by.) Well, the KK crate looked like a great addition to the display. I removed some of the slats, hammered down all of the nails (there weren't many), and painted the outside with black & then white spray paint. I found a scary witch decoration that pops up & down when a noise is made. Here is the result.

Well, I've only done 2 rib cooks and about 6 alltogether. (Have I even put beef on the grill yet?) Unfortunately I'm unable to fire the Komodo up everynight as my job takes most of my waking hours even when I am working local. Weekends are my only solace. Here's the gist about the light color inside: I have not added any wood chunks to the fire yet. Two of my 'taste-testers' don't like the smoky flavor too much. (Previously I've ruined some cooks on my charcoal Weber by allowing the chunks to catch on fire.) I've been using Wicked Good Charcoal which I must say is....wicked good, but doesn't have a lot of smoke too it. I'm finding that 'low & slow' is a completely different animal than grilling, but I don't need to tell that to the folks here. I've been humbled by the Komodo, my learning curve, and the excellent posts/cooks by folks in this community. My experience so far is this: Charcoal Weber = Geo Metro Komodo = 12 cylinder Shelby (Or would it be a big ol' Peterbilt?) I'm just trying to keep it out of the ditch!

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it. I had a feeling the ribs might have been on the grill a bit too long when the spare ribs broke in half when trying to removed them. Once on the cutting board the meat fell off the bone so I ended up doing a pulled-pork thing. We could have had sandwiches! The meat was tender & juicy and the dry rub was nice and spicy. We almost ate both racks. (We needed to save room for some Ben & Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio ice cream. I highly recommend it!) Last week I went to a new BBQ place down the street and the pork ribs were very disappointing and mostly fat. They would not even pull from the bone. The "Kansas City Sauce" tasted like it was nothing more than vinegar and ketchup. I was bothered to think that this type of presentation was the standard. My technogeekiness requires me to compare my ribs to the restaurant's. Hence my request for opinions. There's an axiom in baseball that can be applied to the dinner: In baseball, the hitters will indirectly tell the pitcher how well he is doing with their batting performance. As for the ribs, the guests will indirectly tell the cook how good the food is by eating a lot of it! (or not...) It was nice that everyone had 2nd's and 3rd's. So, in order to pay penance to the rib celestial beings, I have accepted Dennis' (and Fetzervalve's) judgment that requires me to cook more ribs and drink more beer! It will be a long hard road, complete with laughter & fun with friends, but I think I'm up to the challenge!

Second Rib Cook - Request Opinions I jumped back on the horse this weekend with my 2nd pork rib cook. We decided to try rack of baby back ribs and a rack of spare ribs. I used a modified version of Chris Lilly's dry rub in which I replaced 2 tablespoons of paprika with 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper. The ribs were in the Komodo for 6 hours at 250 degrees. The ribs fell off the bone when when I took them off the grill! My question is: Would these be considered to have been left on the grill too long? The ribs were fantastic if I say so myself. We had 5 people for dinner and there was only 3 ribs leftover.

I've actually eaten there. It's pretty good for Seattle. At one time Dixie's BBQ was the bomb, but it's gone downhill for awhile. Pecos Pit in Seattle is probably the best around, but that's a matter of opinion. http://www.seattlepi.com/food/326987_eat10.html

Ali G's BBQ Sweet. Sasha Baron Cohen can come over for dinner anytime!

No kidding! My wife & friends know that there will be a learning curve, but they are more than happy to go along for the ride.

Not quite as tender as some the better ribs I've had, but way better than anything around here. Longer would have been better, but I started too late in the day. 6 hours would have been better. I suspect I'll be learnin' something new with each cook.

2nd Cook: Pork Ribs with Much Better Results My 2nd cook ended with much better results! I decided to try Chris Lilly's dry rub rib recipe from the first Today Show post. The dome stabilized around 260-270 and the indirect grill surface rose from about 205 to 230 throughout the cook. 4 hours later, the result is this: Very tasty.

No drip pan That is correct. I forgot the drip pan! Doh! Fanoogie error. (Fanoogie: Funny/fine/******* new guy.)

Algea/moss in Seattle It's been somewhat of a dry summer in Seattle, but moss can be a problem in western Washington. The rock on the right is a fountain that runs 24/7. My wife doesn't like putting chemicals in it very often. (Atleast it is self-contained.) The cat likes the fountain. He tries to catch the birds that arrive to drink. I had to put a bell on him since he's nabbed a few. The fact that he's caught any is surprising: he's a big boy going on 13 years. Yipes the cat likes to hang with me when I cook on the patio. (He was named by a little girl.)

My old weber's usually settle around 350 degrees. so I was happy that I got the KK to settle around 330 by just eyeballing the vents. Since it was my first cook, I didn't think 330 would be too bad. My previous cooks with this type of cut were really good. I will definitely try a lower & slower approach next time. I'm wondering if the meat was mislabeled. (It's quite possible that I'm calling it the wrong name.) It's never been like that before. The foil on the potatoes is an old habit. I'll try them without the foil next time. That reminds me of an old story I read on Dear Abby: A mom was preparing a roast and she cut the ends off before putting it in the pan. Her daughter asked her why. The mom said,"Grandma always did it that way." Later when talking to grandma, they asked her why she cut the ends off of the roast. Grandma said,"So it can fit in my small baking pan!" Sometimes old habits die hard, even when there is no reason to keep them!

(Stealing Beeps' idea of placing the unit number in the Subject line.) The arrival of the KK crate attracted quite a crowd! I didn't even need to ask for help moving it around the house as my neighbor volunteered! Beer was involved. Here's our new yard art/cookert: The local grocery store makes a pre-prepared garlic bone-in pork roast that we buy on a pretty regular basis. In the past I've cooked them indirect on both my Weber gas and charcoal grills with really good results. Here's the pre-cook view: After playing with the vents, I was able to get the fire temp to 335 degrees. It took about an hour and a half for the roast to get to 155. It looked pretty good for not being seared at all... The previous roasts sliced nice & easy. However, after letting this one sit for 15 minutes, my wife attempted to slice off a piece. It was as tough as my old catcher's mitt. We examined the roast and discovered it was full of gristle. It was like the meat was from a mutant pig. The picture below doesn't do the gristle justice. Oh well. Not a great first cook, (and not because of the KK), but I'll be back at it tomorrow night!

Thanks, Big Poppa & mguerra. I appreciate the info!