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I don't get flare ups. It took me several reads to confirm that no one on this thread is reporting actual flare ups. Are people using drip pans as a precautionary measure, or do they find it necessary and prefer the effect on the bird? I cook direct, no drip pan. I sometimes spatchcock, but more often spatchcock then separate the legs, for a chance to cook the legs longer than the breast. This depends on the proportions of the bird. What temperature? Ah, there's the rub. We all have an astonishing reliance on a single number to describe the state of our cooker. This reasoning is appropriate while driving: How fast am I going? How much gas is left? This reasoning is less appropriate while cooking. The current temperature of the air inside a KK is only a partial description of the KK's state. The temperature history over the past several hours, together with a sense of how the fire is doing, is a more complete description of the KK's state. Food cooks in the KK through a combination of the effects of hot air, and the effects of radiant heat. The "why" in why food tastes better from the KK than an indoor oven is largely the radiant heat effect. The "why" in why a KK is worth several times its competitors is largely how well it enables cooking with radiant heat. Cooking indirect, if one ignores the radiant heat effect and starts as soon as the air reaches the desired temperature, one might as well be roasting in an indoor oven. Cooking direct, the radiant heat at this point is mostly from the fire below, and one might as well be broiling in an indoor oven, while hanging upside down. On the other hand, if one starts a fire as early as possible, and cooks on the trailing edge of a viable fire, one is cooking mostly with radiant heat, coming more evenly from all directions. The air temperature will make no sense; it will mock our desire to believe in a single number. But watch how the food cooks. I'm used to cooking both bread and chicken at air temperatures of 450 F to 500 F. Lately we've moved to holding the air temperature at 400 F for several hours, till the fire is waning, then baking the bread. Last weekend, I then removed the bread hardware (a stack of baking stones, cast iron skillet filled with SS chains for initial steam) and baked our chicken. 400 F under these conditions behaved nearly like 475 F with a younger fire, only better. The bread had a thicker crust without burning, and the chicken had a crispy skin while cooked perfectly through, with no need to turn the pieces to avoid burning. So why do we believe in air temperatures? Certainly, hardware such as a BBQ Guru depends solely on air temperature. And I used my KK thermometer, holding it steady at 400 F for hours, to achieve the effect I'm describing. But that's with a mental model of the interaction of air temperature and time. I'm told that when one plays a pipe organ in a church, the sound comes out at various delays, many seconds later. One adapts, but one can't simply walk up and play as if it is an electric piano. Same with a KK?