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I have learned something or added something new to my cooks from everyone here and thats what great about this forum.

Did a small boneless blade roast (about 2 pounds) last night. Added the following to a casserole- 1t Better than Bullion 1C water 2T Worcestershire sauce Mix and add to casserole, spice the roast and add it also. Cook uncovered on the KK at 250-275F for 6 hours or until can be pulled. Pull. Cook some Portabella mushrooms, pile on some pulled beef, and add some cheese and tomatoes, etc. This burger comes with a warning, it is very juicy and I do mean juicy but delicious.

The prize for winning the Guru Italian challenge was a set of Grill Grates. Me and Brad (from Grill Grates) came up with a good configuration. They are sectional so they can fit my 16" main grate or any of my 19" grates. I won't post the full review I did but I really like this after market set of grates. Allows for direct heat grilling while keeping most of the drippings from going down into the KK. They also come with a kewl grate tool that allows you to get up under your food and lift it straight up to flip. (perfect system for whole fish cooks) Anyway here are my initial cooks using the Grill Grates. Really small leg quarters (it's what I had). Burgers using the grate tool. The back 2 are feta burgers. Whole fish. This system with the grate tool worked really well for flipping the fish without tearing up the skin. Lastly a few chicken legs on the 16" Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

A personal thank you to Dennis for his advice and patience helping me select the right model and accessories. I have always owned gas grills and smoking is completely new to me. It was quite a site to see four guys with the delivery guy pushing the crate on the pallet jack up my long steep driveway. I plan on doing my first cool tomorrow figured I start with some ribs. Dennis' advise was to do some slow cooks and enjoy it before I do the burn in. Here is a pic of my 23 Ultimate -Jeff

Here's something that I never had happen on my green kamado... I'm cooking 6 racks of Baby Back Ribs on my KK this evening, to take to a family reunion tomorrow. The aroma of the cook is driving me crazy (Probably the neighbor's too!). I look over at the KK, and see moisture dripping off the top vent, and running down the outside of the dome! The air inside the KK is so moist that the smoke coming out of the top vent is condensing, and forming drops that are big enough to run down the sides. Those are going to be some incredible ribs!

It might be cold, wet and miserable but Pebbles is definitely up to the challenge.:) Chicken thighs ready for the KK. Grilling. Potato Wedges. Plated. The finale.

Again, I can't thank everyone for all the info! Looking forward to really getting into some great cooks and of course, posting photos in return for all the help I've gotten from the forum.

They are English Mastiffs, Daisy and Diesel. They are 5, he is 210lbs and she is 195lbs and they are brother and sister.

My dogs would love them, but their mother would allow it

This Tony agrees with this ^^ Tony!!

Welcome to the Obsession! You are going to love cooking on yours. And, we expect to see pictures of that first rib cook!

Congratulations on the engagement. One of my favorite sayings is "Show them how much you love them - cook them tasty food!" Looks like it worked again!!! Super looking ribs, too. The family is going to "volunteer" you for all the cooking from now on.

^ +1 That's how i usually get my KK going.

To really increase airflow into the KK you can actually pull the bottom vents partially out as is shown below. This can really turbo a fire. More oxygen means more charcoal can join the fun!

One of the things I love about having a KK grill is that it’s like having a charcoal grill that’s as efficient as a gas grill. Here’s what I do to get a hot fire lit quickly in Smaug. 1. Workflow. This is by far the most important. For hot fast cooks, I’ll light my grill first, and then do food prep. However long it takes the fire to heat up, prepping the food will take more time. By the time food prep is done, Smaug will be at 500-600ºF, easy. 2. Full basket of charcoal, and skip the huge pieces. Heat is all about how much charcoal is burning at one time. Having a less than full basket of charcoal works against this, and having smaller pieces increases the surface area of charcoal that can be burning. Huge pieces of charcoal are great for low and slow cooks, but not so good for high heat cooks. 3. Vents. Bottom and top vents wide open. As far as the actual fire making process, here’s what I tend to do, if I’m doing nothing but lighting the grill. I start with a full basket of charcoal, lit it over a fairly wide area, close the lid with the top vent fully open, with the bottom vents fully open, with the grate off. After five minutes, I’ll open the lid, flip over the 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, and close the lid. I’ll hit 500-600ºF in 10-15 minutes consistently. 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 hits 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. But as I said above, I go through all this only if I don’t have anything else to do. What I do much more often these days is light the grill over a wide area, put the grates in, close the lid, and open the top and bottom vents all the way. Then I do food prep. By the time I’m done, Smaug is at steak-searing temperatures.

Charles - beautiful pics of the Grill Grates in action! Gorgeous chicken, fish, and burgers! I was about to ask you if those Grill Grates were no being shipped to prize winners in a gold color when it dawned on me that you were just breaking them in and that the color would get considerably darker over time. I hope you like your Grill Grates as much as I do mine. Grill Grates and my ThermaPen are the BEST accessories to my KK equipment. Well worth every cent and more. Congrats and kudos on some very fine cooks!

There are blocks nailed around the feet of the grill, you have to pry those off. As I said earlier, the top of the crate is a ramp designed to use for rolling the grill off the pallet. Also FYI, remove the 10mm bolts at the very bottom of the legs of the crate, and the entire crate lifts off, with no disassembly required. It's fairly light, but bulky. Rob

Thanks, Geo. Next time I'll use a bigger beef roast for this recipe. It turned out to be one of those dishes you just want to pick and pick at, it was so good.

Thanks all. Yeppers... It didn't take long after I took delivery of the KK For Miss Jean to agree to marry me. Those KK's are really "Chick-magnets", and everybody knows that the ones with pebbles cook better! I've heard of marrying someone for their money, but this might be the first recorded instance of someone marrying for a KK!

Ribs are cooked and ready to go to the reunion. They turned out really moist and tasty. Hope the family likes 'em... This will be the weekend where we tell them that "Miss Jean" has agreed to become "Mrs. Geo"!

Geo, I love those pictures. Moisture, moisture, the KK is superior in keeping food moist.:) When I do the chicken drum sticks, they end up like sacks of moisture, puncture that skin to get the temp and you get a fountain.

Exactly!! Steam from a grill!! Find that anywhyelse! I've been burned by steam more than once when opening my grills. Rob

Thanks CC but don't you sell yourself short like Rob did.:)

Ribs and brisket, maybe. When it comes to ANYTHING else, you got it!! Rob

this was the first thing that I noticed when I upgraded. I did ribs in December for my first low and slow, and when I opened the lid to srpitz I was hit in the face with steam lol. The minimal airflow and the vacuum that is created keeps all of the good moisture inside where it should be. I was shocked with the amount of liquid that dripped from the dampers.

I often have puddles of moisture under my lower vent. Kks are truly sealed vessels, these little moisture trails prove it. Rob

I'm with Bosceaux Mac, you set a standard. In that standard though, are a number of outstanding kker's, bosceaux, the kreef's, and so on. There are so many excellent kk cooks, it's impossible to name them all. I'm unworthy!! Rob

Mac you are next level

Boy, am I in great company and that includes CC and a whole lot of other folks posting here and I bet a whole lot of others who perhaps don't post but do read.

^ +1. I know that Ken didn't mean any disrespect to the rest of us here about our cooks. But, some folks do present better than others. I'm not one of them. Wish there was someway that we could have the KK equivalent of the EggFest, so we could all show up and show off our food - "up close and personal," as they say during the Olympics!

No worries on the slight lift to get the KK off the box on the bottom of the pallet. Get the propane/MAPP torch for killing weeds, something like this one - http://smile.amazon.com/Bernzomatic-19425-JT850-Self-Igniting-Outdoor/dp/B00008ZA0F Promise the neighbor that you'll cook him some ribs/brisket/pulled pork (whatever), if he lets you move the KK through his back yard. Bribery of food works every time!

CC what am I.... Chopped liver? LOL I think you need to take these celebrities for what they are worth. SR was doing what we do on the forums in book format well before it was popular. His cooks are inspirational and get your creative ideas flowing. That is how I approach all BBQ these days. I know a lot more than I once did, but have a long way to go, however, with videos like this.... I get ideas and try to incorporate them into my own style and taste profile. Yeah he looks raw a bit, but we also know way more about BBQ now and he appeals to the average joe BBQ guy. He markets his stuff for the weekend griller that really has no knowledge about Q. But watch the videos and think of his methods as an idea to build on. That pork loin is in my future with a few tweaks to make it more bosco friendly

you guys are too funny! I was married once and have to say it was the best time of my life, with the kids and all. been single now for almost 30 years; one of the reasons I could get my BB32. Sorry to say its still out in the garage. Tomorrow my friend is coming over and we are going to get it off the pallet. I'll probably have wait a couple weeks before I can move it out back to the patio. have to remove some fence ext. also have to get ok from my neighbor to go across his back yard. gotta take down 2 fences. curses on these zero lot line homes. i'm thinking of getting the propane burner so I can preheat my BB in hurry. any comments on that? I have question about that box underneath the komodo is secured to the pallet, or can i tilt the BB and remove the box. Seems to me if I scooch it off the box it may damage some of the edge tile at the bottom. any help on the subject will be muchly appreciated. hope all is well with guys.

Tnx to both of you for the prompt reply! We have a 23 and have been using it but still some questions. Anyone ever available to have a chat by phone?