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Can’t escape physics, the inevitable expansion created at high temperatures loosens the compression between the small bits of the cocoa char.. the result is it being crumbly after it cools. You will find it is much stronger and not as crumbly after doing low and slow cooks where the lack of wood smoke flavor is also most important. Even funky tasting low-quality lump charcoal cleans up at high temps.. next time you’re grilling taken note of the flames in the charcoal, this is the organic material burning off. These volatiles create flavors by condensing on your meat at low temperatures. The coco excels at creating targeted flavor profiles. This is not possible using lump charcoal where the result is a combination of the condensed vapors of your lump charcoal and your smoking wood. The charcoal baskets flitter is my favorite accessory for two reasons.. first, I’m very often cooking only for myself and my significant other, and I don’t want light the whole charcoal basket to grill to steaks. The second I was surprised to discover is I love having two zones mostly because my hand tires using the glove and I can actually grill on the 32 without a glove. I just stay behind that raging wall of hot air. The Sunbrella covers are a must if you live in a repetitive freeze-thaw zone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uhhhh - NO !!!! . Gone all the way around the dial and then back up to 212 on the thermometer. Top vent set at 3 turns and bottom vent assembly removed. I should probably recalibrate my thermometer after this ride. . Looking in the bottom vent assembly. . . . . Three small filet mignon's. 2 1/2 minutes total time. . 45 seconds - rotate 45 seconds - flip Take picture 30 seconds - rotate 30 seconds - pull . Not the best picture for showing the rageing coals because I used the flash. . . . . . . With a parmesan cheese crust and in the broiler for about 40 seconds. . . . . . . On the rare side of md rare but how else would you eat a filet mignon? . . . . . One of the best steaks I've cooked in a while. Also the hottest I've ever taken this KK. Looking forward to doing it again. . . Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

Ran a few pounds of Northern Nevada Pronghorn meat through my LEM grinder earlier today. I like the smash burger technique using the KK as the heat source and a large cast iron pan to transfer the heat. Pronghorn meat, like most wild game, is completely devoid of its own fat. I'm not one to mix in other domestic animal meat or fat so the cast iron technique works very very well. I get the pan to 600-ish degrees F, add about 2-3T olive oil and then the round seasoned balls of Pronghorn...nearly immediately flatted with a stiff spatula. The meat is so lean it absorbs all the olive oil. Unlike beef there is zero fat or moisture in the cast iron after their cooked and removed.

Hi @churchi, Here’s my method of getting Smaug up to steak searing temps fast. I start with a full basket of charcoal, and light it over a fairly wide area. I do use a weed torch, but the main purpose is to get a lot of charcoal lit, not to blast the charcoal with the weed torch. I have the lid open with the bottom vents fully open, with the grate off. After five minutes, I’ll flip over the lit chunks in the top layer of the charcoal a bit in order to get the top surface to give off heat, put the grate in, close the lid and open the top vent as high as it would go. I can usually hit 500-600ºF within 15 minutes. I think that the moving the charcoal around after five minutes helps a lot, because it gets lit coals right at the top of the basket and distributes the fire more quickly than letting it burn on its own. (That’s also why I leave the grate off at first so I don’t have to maneuver a hot grate later to stir up the charcoal.) I’ve noticed in the past that if I’m going for a high temperature, and there’s large pieces of charcoal on the top that are burning only on the bottom side, the unlit portion of the charcoal is preventing heat from coming through. Flipping over those pieces did a lot to speed up the process. I’ve noticed that when my thermometer approaches 500ºF, the top surface of the charcoal will mainly be on fire, but the larger chunks will have a dark spot in the middle that isn’t actually burning. Here’s a picture from the Serious Eats website that shows what I mean. This looks like a good charcoal fire, but it’s really not at full blast yet. You see those large pieces of charcoal in the middle that still look black? That’s charcoal that’s not burning. I think this acts as an insulator, blocking the fire underneath it, and preventing the temperature from rising higher. Turning those pieces over helps the temperature come up faster. Hope that helps! Try this method with your KK 32”. I’d be curious to see how well it works for you.

It is the best Bi-metal thermometer I can find.. Period. Anybody know of a better one? We just recently added the KK logo and all grills now get a dual temp version...

Now thats one hot fire.

Please do not do this.. This is over 1500º on the lower grill, probably 1800º + in the charcoal basket and for simple safety and longevity of your KK it's just not advised. Forum link: Careful.. Dome 900º ~ Lower grill 1452º!! While you might not have kept it there that long these kiln like cooks can cause the strap cast into the body to expand causing damage to your KK and also can cause the 304 stainless rods to droop in your charcoal basket. You also can't escape physics and there will be unnecessary crazing/ expansion cracks formed. While the KK is designed to handle the expansion.. It's Pros VS Cons.. weigh up on the con side.. Remember unlike all other grills all of the air leaving the chimney on the Komodo Kamado is forced to the charcoal. there is no gap between the firebox and body and no holes drilled through the firebox which lets air bypass the charcoal.

You all are welcome at our table anytime!!

She's enjoying the Pond Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Thats great Ken. It's good to make some room before bbq season sets in.