Leaderboard

For our second Thanksgiving dinner this year (first was with my sisters with turkey, etc.), I decided to go with a boneless rib roast instead of turkey. Dry rub, refrigerated overnight, smoked at 200°F over cherry and apple wood for 2 hours, then seared (1 - 1 1/2 minutes per side, sear grate) at 475°F. I returned it to the KK main grate for another 20 minutes at 375°F to an internal temperature of 124°F, then foil and towel wrapped and placed in a cooler to rest for 1 1/2 hours (temp rise to 132°F). Served with roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts carbonara, herbed stuffing with turkey gravy, horseradish cream sauce and/or au jus, 2003 Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon and 2009 Schramsberg sparkling wines.

Veal chop for dinner yesterday.

Thanks for the replies. I used a sawzall and cut the board off. I only had one helper. It rolled off with ease after that.

Here is the end of season pizza cook from yesterday. It was about 4C but no wind so it was really quite nice. Did 6 pizzas and and we were very happy with the results.

Big mixed grill tonight… Cevapcicci, pork sausages, a burger patty, Malaysian chicken satay skewers, lamb skewers, scotch fillet steak. With grilled asparagus, potato, corn, mushrooms. A nice varied dinner!

Here we are at 5PM and it's pitch dark outside. Fired up the KK to cook chicken thighs. Plated.

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000. "When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.' The little old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years! 'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?' 'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.

Chicken cooked on top rack of KK. All that fat came out of the chicken and was super yummy on roasted potatoes. Cooked for 45 mins at 210C and reached internal temp 89C.

had a guest last night for yakitori with a small appetite. its hard to cook for people who don't really eat...

today was my first time using real japanese binchotan. so this is some magic charcoal. absolutely ZERO flareups. none. super hot and i reckon i can reuse this two more times. so i guess the high cost is worth it.. tonight i grilled those little spanish peppers (carry-on from barcelona), A5 rib eye dap, pork secreto, cuttlefish, corn.. we bought a live cuttlefish from the pier today. $5 usd. im so spoiled by live seafood, i can’t eat frozen anymore..

I found this bottom round roast in the freezer and upon inspection noticed it had been there for quite some time, just over 1 1/2 years, no worries, it was carefully wrapped in a vacuum shrink pkge and showed no sign of freezer burn. I like a small low fire while roasting, starting with charcoal briquettes and building upon that with small splits of various kinds of wood until the base changes to all wood coals. I used two spices Americo and Gringo from Arizona, from when I was there last as well as some salt. I stole Tekebos' idea for cauliflower but came up short when my wife didn't want the heat, a neutral spice with a cream sauce was the only available option, next time we'll leave the tin uncovered for a charring of the veggies as opposed to steaming them. After the roast was finished it was wrapped in foil and allowed to rest over the coals at a safe distance staying warm until it ready to carve. It was warm day and there aren't many left, so here it is with a few pics.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First pot of the season, chicken and andouille. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yesterday being Thankschristmagiving I was in charge of bread and the turkey. Now everyone is free to travel and see grandkids for Thanksgiving and Christmas 👍

After years wondering if I'd ever find fatalii peppers again, I stumbled on the mother lode at a new participant in my local farmers market. New batch of my favorite Caribbean hot sauce recipe. Garlic, onions, carrots, lime juice, rice vinegar, and more chile heat than many people can handle. Think habanero, only more heat and a more complex flavor.

Hey, guys (and gals), I am back, for better or worse, after a misadventure relating to my change of email addresses. The University finally took away my old email that I had used for nearly 20 years and now my new and permanent email, should you need it, is "[email protected]." But on to ribs: one is always trying to make sure they are tender and juicy, and done but not dry. One wants to have a good ratio of smokiness without being overpowering. So my latest adjustments: 1) It take my 32" KK, using the Fireboard controller, pretty much an hour to ramp up from cold to my target temperature, 225*. In the meanwhile, there is all that nice smoke....why not use it? We know that the meat absorbs the smoke better when the surface is cold, and virtually stops absorbing smoke when the surface temperature reaches 135 or so. Why wait till the smoker is at final cooking temperature (225) to put the meat in? I use apple wood for ribs, anyway,it is a good match for pork ribs, though apple and is sweeter and LIGHTER than some other wood choices. Why not put the meat in early and give it a longer extended time for exposure to the smoke? (Also more air turbulence passing through during the ramp-up period than when the KK has settled at 225 and the Fireboard is just giving it a little push from the fan now and then.) I am using the 2/1/1 method (of course), and I start the clock for the first segment when I hit 225*. 2) Moist cooking during the second segment is to my thinking, maybe the most important stage for getting the meat cooked through AND keeping it moist. I had started some time ago cooking during this hour with the meat side down. Now I also include a liberal sprinkling of dark brown sugar in the foil where the meat side will be placed, a couple of large pats of unsalted butter, and , and very liberal spritzing of water up and down the foil. I also turn the temp up to 235* for this hour. 3) I turn the temp back down to 225* for the last hour, when the ribs come out of the foil for finishing (though admittedly, it takes some time for the temp to fall.) Yesterdays ribs were a success, and I would have taken photos but it was snowing quite a bit off and on. Yes, in beautiful, "300 sunny days a year" Denver we are having a weather s**tshow" of a weekend, 4 to 8" of snow around town, high of maybe 30 today......The sun comes out and it disappears fast , by Wednesday it will be mid 50's again (48* for Halloween Tuesday), and we will be back to beautiful fall weather. This is MOST unusual. It's nice to be back.Thank you, Dennis, for all the help.

A leg of lamb soaked in Balsamic vin for 16 hours, rubbed with salt and Italian spice mix afterwards and let to stand for an hour then cooked indirect (1/2 basket on the 23) with a deflector at 250-65 under heavy smoke. For better results let the lamb marinate for 36 hours, it reveals a greater sweet tangy taste and for a more intense version you could poke with a fork prior to placing in a bag for it's long soak. Don't remove the fat it thins on it's own. The balsamic has sugars and will burn, this is good. I liked a 145-50 degree pull for a center pinkish appearance. Save the gravy from when it rests, it's very dark.

Best demonstration of how well a KK is insulated..

It is a cold windy miserable day here so I resorted to comfort food, steamed fresh spinach, homemade fresh pasta and meatloaf. Up Close.

Duuuuuuude [emoji1786] It’s taken forever to find some plate ribs around here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pork Rib on the KK today. This time of year one starts out in the sunshine and the next thing you know it is pitch dark and a flash is needed to grab a pix.

NASA: "You’ve got to help us Tony. We need a man to go to Mars. We asked Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and The Rock. They all said the mission is too dangerous. Please help us out!" Tony: "First of all, don’t ask a candy ass to do a man’s job. I’ll handle it." The next day Tony shows up and they load his equipment onto the rocket. NASA: "Everything looks good except this case you have that says Acapulco Gold on it. You can’t bring that with you." Tony grabs a pre-rolled out of the case, strikes a kitchen match on his abs, and then blows smoke in the director’s face. Looks him in the eye with a Clint Eastwood squint and says, “let’s rock.” A few months later the rocket lands on Mars. As Tony steps out, he sees a Martian girl stirring a huge pot. Tony uses his famous pick-up line on her…. Tony: "Hey good lookin’. Whatcha got cooking?" Martian Girl: "Just watch." After she stirred for about 45 minutes, the most beautiful baby Tony ever saw crawled out of the pot. Tony is amazed and tells her so. Martian Girl: "How do they make babies where you’re from?" Tony felt it was his duty to demonstrate. Tony: "So that, little lady, is how it’s done on Earth." Martian Girl: "So, where’s the baby?" Tony: "It takes a few months." Martian Girl: "Then why did you stop stirring?"

We had a big storm in the UK yesterday and today was meant to be dry. No such luck, it is pouring with rain. Thankfully the rain started after I had cleaned both KKs out and refilled with charcoal/cocoshell briquettes. Today I am using the 32 and have the following sequence of cooks: 1. Roast aubergines on the coals for a dip for tomorrow's dinner 2. Bulk bake my favourite cauliflower and harissa dish with my Auntie who loves it too 3. Low and slow some lamb shank (an opportunity to test how fast I can get the KK to cool down) 4. Bake a carrot and pistachio cake for tomorrow's dinner 5. Roast some potatoes and a spatchcock chicken for tonight's dinner I have listed all of these now so that I can't opt out and run for the Indoor Kitchen (IDK) when the weather gets too bad. Timing should mean that I should be able to keep the KK going all day without having to re-light. Wish me luck!

The products of Friday's cook went into dinner last night. Here is the aubergine dip with walnuts on top. It was a hit, with some naan bread. We had five courses, each matched with a cocktail. Here is the fleet of limoncello sour drinks. Followed by roasted poussin and saffron rice with barberries and crispy onions. Luckily there was a break in the weather and I was able to get the poussin off the KK without getting soaked! The gluten free carrot, pistachio and coconut cake, half cooked in the KK and half in the IDK oven turned out nice. We finished with poached dried apricots stuffed with clotted cream and topped off with walnuts. Simple(ish) and tasty. All but one of the recipes came out of the book Persiana. I will try to find and post the recipes that are available online.

So far so good. I was not brave enough to put the aubergines directly on the coals. Wanted more control over the cooking process so put the upper grate in upside down so that I was as close as possible to the fire. Cooked at about 200C for about 40 minutes, turning regularly. The flesh came out nice and easy, scooped it with a spoon. Here are the cauliflower quarters before the chilli butter was applied Into KK to cook for an hour and ten minutes at about 180C

I love my KK but my PK is still a great grill for hot and fast stuff! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

shabu shabu does it drive anyone here crazy that shabu is basically eating boiled meat in water? in my case, i'm boiling A5, pork belly, and pork shoulder in broth..🤓

Tonite was a Tri-tip, this piece is oh so good prepared med rare to the pink side. Seasoned with a local Montreal plus a shake of Nebraska and it tasted well. Along side were parsley potatoes with onion and garlic followed with yesterdays leftovers. Additionally a spooky pic after the sun had set, looks like a few aliens were enjoying the fire while we escaped for a few. My wife did brush my arm while I took the pic but it does look spooky with head phones.

Big Bad 32" Dark Autumn Nebula

The cauliflower dish from Friday was from Ottolenghi's book Flavour. Link to an online version here: https://www.irishexaminer.com/recipes/?c-recipeid=4124 Some of the Persiana recipes are here:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/12/persiana-recipes-sabrina-ghayour-cookbook The rice on Saturday came from the Moro book. A version of the recipe is here https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-mororec19g-2009aug19-story.html And, especially for @C6Bill and his lady friend, here is a link to a very close version of the aubergine dish. I promise you won't taste the purple! https://saffronandherbs.com/2021/10/23/mirza-ghasemi/

Cake ended up in the IDK oven to finish off while I cranked up the KK to cook the chicken and warm up the cauliflower. The chicken came out great after one hour on the top rack at 200C. Crispy, crunchy skin and juicy inside. Super yummy. Reminds you why it's good to have a KK.

As you can imagine, I have been a bit busy today. What with cooking, chatting and eating with my Aunt, running in and out to the KK and making up the next dish to go in. Now got to get out of daytime clothes into something more presentable for when our guests arrive in 15 minutes. So... recipes will need to wait until Sunday but here is a bit more on progress today. The legendary KK skill at keeping food moist worked against me with the cauliflower. After the first 30 minutes it was lovely and soft but no crisping, not like when it is cooked in the oven. I cranked the KK up after an hour and it was cooked a half hour later. Probably a bit too cooked, some of the onions were quite black. But it was all very tasty. So tasty that I am going to abandon the idea of cooking potatoes tonight and we will have the cauliflower with the chicken instead. KK legend is that you should not overshoot your temp or it will take you ages to get it back down. I have never really bought into that legend. To lower the temp today I wound the top hat down to just off the seat and closed off the bottom air supply to about a quarter. Here are my timings: At 15:12 the temp was at about 215C Half an hour later it was down to 200C. An hour later it was at 180C and finally, at 17:00, a full 1 hour and 48 mins later, it was down to my target 160C. So yeah, I accept that it does take a while to get the temp down when you have heat soaked a beast as big as a 32 but it is not impossible. Dark outside so I took a picture of the cake indoors before it went into the KK beside the pot with the lamb shanks in. The only problem that I have now is that the cake is cooking slowly and I need to raise the temp in the KK to put the chicken in. This is where I wish I had followed @ckreef's advice. If you have more than one KK or piece of BBQ kit, just light both, all. You will likely need it and it is better to have it hot in time than not!

i've never seen black cod sold fresh. only frozen. they say patagonia toothfish and black cod are the same, but they are clearly not the same fish.. i got a delivery of spanish beef today. a rib eye and tenderloin chain. what we have in abundance in fresh seafood, we don't have in meat and poultry- like the incredible selection you get in europe. so i have to pay up the wazoo for this stuff...

update on this. i achieved target weight but i'm not ready to consume it. i've read its best to vac seal i for a few more months? to develop the flavour more. anyway, it feels like i have half of what i started. smells good but the casing was a pain to remove..

i used to eat this every other day when i was working in lower Manhattan. sold out quick so i always made sure i got to the soup kitchen on time.. adapted from this yt recipe, but i used pork meat and added a ton of chili flakes in the meatballs. italian style foods are always better spicy for some reason. the broth is homemade. i don't like broth from a box. oh and when making the meatballs, they are supposed to be mini, so piping them through a disposable pastry bag is the way to go. you don't want to roll these by hand. it would take forever...

21" Supreme Terra Blue Pebble

Here's a book with recipes and pairing suggestions, so many paths and possibility combinations. Invented in China during the late 70's or 80's by Jing Gao as a condiment, the product is still running strong. Oil is the carrier holding all the flavors together, the crisp essentially is your base filler with the chili flakes for the crunch. Many youtube video's to watch by simply typing in Chili crisp

Cooked the cusseta chicken last night for a dinner party (recipe in prior post on this thread). Kk42, basket splitter set up with charcoal in the center. As you can see, indirect with foil on main grate. Food on upper grate. Used thermoworks billows for temp control. Took about 90 mins to fully heat soak the grill. Temp at 325, used cold smoker attachment with pellets for a modest amount of clean smoke. Basted the chicken every 15-20 mins per recipe. Cooking time - 2 hrs. Results were awesome. This recipe does not produce crispy skin due to basting and vinegar in basting sauce but the flavor is great. If I were trying for crispy skin it would be air drying the chicken overnight, cooking with a dry rub, probe the chicken, no opening the lid, start a little higher maybe at 350, and allow the temperature to creep higher towards the end of the cook. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Buy local or bye bye local.

Two more with an early 23" but note the snow is not melting except the lower part of the damper top where the hot air exits.

This is a non-KK cooker ... djami I luuuuuuv the smell of BBQ in the morning

A feast for sure and with matching drinks! I need to get on that invitation list!

I finally managed to try something I've wanted to do for a few years - pumpkin pie, only instead of being in a crust, it's in the pumpkin shell for scooping out. I was sure I saw an episode of Good Eats where Alton did one but searching on the interwebs only found his recipe for pumpkin soup served in the pumpkin so I was on my own. Side note - I've actually never made a traditional pumpkin pie with a crust so this was a totally new adventure. I was wanting to get a locally grown pie pumpkin but life intervened and I ended up getting one from the grocery store. I cut the top off, scooped out the seeds, and cut and scooped as much of the flesh as I was comfortable doing without compromising the shell strength. I ended up with about 2 pounds of pumpkin. I considered smoking it but decided to go a bit simpler and roasted it in the oven. Since I had several cans of sweetened condensed milk on hand, I found a pumpkin pie recipe that used it; the recipe has a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree, so I doubled it. It also called for pumpkin pie spice which I didn't have so I found a recipe for that on the interwebs as well. Tossed the roasted pumpkin and other ingredients into the blender and pureed it, then poured it all back into the pumpkin shell after a taste test - it was tasty! I put the pumpkin top back on the pumpkin and put it into the preheated oven in a foil pan. I had no idea on how long to bake it since it was encased in the shell and was much thicker than the average pie, so I monitored the filling temp using my Thermoworks Signals. After a while, I got an alert from the Signals indicating the temperature had shot over my target temp; the shell had softened up enough that the top had fallen into the filling, pushing the thermometer probe into the pumpkin shell. I tried to salvage the top but it came apart when I tried to pick it up out of the filling, so I put the pumpkin back in the oven without the shell after repositioning the probe. Once the filling made it to the proper temperature, I took the pumpkin out of the oven and let it cool before refrigerating overnight. The shell was very soft and was sagging into the filling so I trimmed it some before serving. I stuck some graham crackers around the edge of the filling and crumbled more on top. Other than the issue with the lid and the shell getting too soft to easily transport, this was a success and very tasty. If I do this again, I'll bake the filling for a while before putting it in the shell and bake the shell just looking enough for it to soften just enough to not taste raw as well as baking the lid separately to allow more heat into the filling. I may try smoking it as well. I think this would be a good dessert for a party or holiday meal, especially if it can be presented with the intact pumpkin top. I've attached pics chronicling the whole process.

i dunno how people run bbq restaurants and still be profitable. it's too time consuming (labour), and the ingredients too expensive (meat). the pricing does not reflect the effort put into making it. but you can't charge people any more..

These are the photos which informed and confirmed my decision to buy my first Komodo Kamado in 2016. Nice to see them again.

Thanks, Poochie. It's and Alfa 5 Minuti oven and does a wonderful job on a pizza. Actually there is a last of the season pizza party scheduled for tomorrow. It's going to be a cool one, 5C is the high for the day. Still I am sure it will be fun and very tasty.

I’m in Michigan and use mine often in winter. If the pictures Dennis added didn’t give you all of the confidence you wanted, I’ve used it sub zero a couple of times because we have a Christmas ribs tradition. Usually something similar for Super Bowl, and last year I actually did pizzas for Super Bowl when it was below freezing. I haven’t ever had any issues. Takes longer to get to temp of course, but same stability as always once there. I’ve also never brought in my thermometer…so far it hasn’t required a change. But now that I’ve put that on the forum, no doubt this will be the year [emoji23]. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup, we are going to need info on the dip. I myself wouldn't eat it as i have a purple food rule, only purple foods i eat are M&M's and Black Raspberry ice cream. Other than that no purple food for me !!!! But the lady friend likes it so i would be willing to cook it

Winner, winner chicken dinner with a Mediterranean slaw of Balsamic, cheese and crunchies, TaeTa Tots and sliced cukes dressed in Apple cider vin, Franks red hot a shot of lime and some salt..yum. Let them soak in the frig for an hour. And if you wondering what happened to the trees taken down, here's about 25%

Smoked with oak and apple wood, then braised to finish. Could have used some more time braising to fully render all fat. A little spongy still but great flavor nonetheless. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk