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Yeah, I agree, you can do it either way, and until now and receiving the new dual vent door, I was a small opening on top, wide open on bottom kind of guy. In experimenting with the new bottom damper, I've been trying to hold everything but the vents constant for the last few cooks and have been watching more closely. I have noted that a breeze blowing across the top hat and really increase the suction. What can be a light colored smoke (not billowy, but not blue) can suddenly get blue / super clean with a pickup in the breeze. This has led me to the conclusion that, for my taste buds, the best setup is very small draft door opening on bottom, large opening on top -- BUT, I need to use more smoking wood in this setup because I do like a smokier flavor. I think I've decided I like the smoke that is fast moving across the food, and faster means more smoke wood, but not a lot more...and the beauty is, the pit temp still holds constant. Fun stuff.

Please use the forum to host images.. This forum has lost hundreds of images from hosting companies that change their urls when merging with other companies or users close accounts or they just closed accounts etc.. I believe the new images posted are larger now..

Local brewery (Backpocket) partnered up with Rustic Rooster Farms for a good old-fashioned pig roast yesterday, except they had a bouzhier name for it - Boucherie. Beer AND BBQ Pork, you KNOW that I was there! They did the pigs "La Caja China" style - so instead of "pigs in a blanket," we had "pigs in a coffin!" THE MAN (Carl, owner of Rustic Rooster) and his pig. I wasn't patient enough to get to sample all 4 breeds, as they were serving them sequentially, as each one was finished. I had pig #1 (mulefoot) and pig #2 (red wattle). After pig #2 was just about finished, the crowd started to thin out - it was getting late in the afternoon by that point. I'd had pig #3 (Iowa Swabian Hall) before and wasn't about to wait around hours to get to pig #4, the mangalitsa, the one that I REALLY wanted to try. Oh yeah, and I had some yummy beers too! Overall, a very good day!

When we visit the USA once a year, we head to Northern Kentucky where my folks live, and nearby Cincinnati, Ohio (where my wife's folks live). My favorite steakhouse in America (and I have been to many of the big boys that you see in the 'top steakhouse' restaurants) is The Precinct, by Jeff Ruby. It is a mandatory stop anytime we go home. They have recently started marketing their steaks, and I was flabbergasted when I saw they were also marketing their seasoning. If you can afford the steaks, I'd vouch for them over a lot of the other high-end online guys. They are sending you non-frozen beef overnight...the same stuff you get in their restaurants. My favorite is the bone-in ribeye. I've gone through two tins of the seasoning in six months. I'm just now ordering some more and having it sent to my folks place since you can't actually buy it in the restaurant. It made me think to share and encourage others to try it... Link to seasoning: http://shop.jeffruby.com/seasonings Link to their suggested method for applying seasoning and cooking their steaks (note the application of the seasoning in the video): http://shop.jeffruby.com/cooking-tips If anyone tries it, let me know what you think.

Just wanted to introduce myself. I was lucky enough to purchase the 23" KK that Ducaticrsig listed for sale a short time ago. I've been wanting a KK for a few years and am ecstatic to finally have one ( even if second hand). I have to say it's much more impressive to see one in person than on the web. My wife now understamfs why I'd pay more for a used 23" than for a brand new Big Joe ( I was going to buy one at the Costco roadshow when I saw Craig's posting). She won't admit it but I think she likes the KK as much as me. Who knew an "expensive" Grillsmoker/oven would go over so well?

Perhaps I should have called it wing soup because that is what I did- I had some Hakurei turnip on hand so thru that in along with some precooked mushrooms, some onions, the turnip greens, spaghetti and Kale into the pot with chicken stock made with grilled chicken. topped with some Gran Padano cheese. with cheese -

I do it in the pressure cooker in canning jars. That way you can stash them in your pantry for when you need them. A batch of 4 small mason jars lasts me quite a while and I use the garlic paste and/or oil almost daily. And, they make great Christmas presents for your foodie friends! Ken, instead of peeling all that garlic, try this trick, it really works! Works in a jar, too.

I don't always take the time to spiral them, but I do always take the time to put a few slits here and there in our dogs...not so much for aesthetics, but this actually keeps them from the shriveling up as they cool... I also like one long slit down the middle with some thin sliced fresh jalapenos worked in and a sprinkling of cheese at the end.

Ignore the inferior POSK #7 in this photo... When we lived in the USA, this was a purpose built area for my cooker. Just used these simple pavers that you can pick up at any of the big warehouse type hardware stores. I put them down on a bed of pea gravel and it was all boxed in with some landscaping timber to keep things from shifting around... Just an idea.

I love peeling about a couple dozen cloves of garlic, putting them them in a proclean dish, cover them with olive oil and popping it in the oven/kamado at 250-275 for about an hour until quite soft. At the end, I've got some wonderful garlic infused olive oil and garlic cloves that spreads on toast points like butter. Top with some fresh diced tomatoes with minced herbs and it's one great appiteaser! I'm so dadgummed hungry for spaghetti thanks to you guys I can't stand it!

I have remotely activated his KK's flashback recovery alert system.. First time he takes the grill to high temps, the damper top will spin closed, front draft door will also close and after 8 minutes the grill's latch will open creating a huge flashback that will be picked up by infrared sensors in our satellites that will send exact coordinates to the local popo.. His goose will be well cooked!

The question is now, if you're trying to get more smoke flavor into your foods, should you try the opposite vent settings? Put your smoke wood on, let the billowy stuff burn off, then add food. My thinking is that the longer the smoke is in contact with food, the smokier it will be. Top vent open pulls the smoke thru much more quickly than the opposite. I get the thin blue smoke either way, it just depends on how smokey you want your food. This may all be painfully obvious, but you've at least proven your chunks don't just evaporate. Robert