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For our first wedding anniversary, my wife and I took a trip to Italy. It was the first time for both of us. One of the meals we had was in Murano, which is well know for its glassmaking tradition. But what I remember most from that part of our trip was eating a plate of grilled squid. It was very simple: squid, cleaned, grilled, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and some lemon. So simple, yet so delicious. It’s a meal that I still remember even though it was more than 15 years ago. We were at the Korean grocery store picking up food to do Korean BBQ. At this grocery store, I always stroll through the seafood section even if I’m not intending to get any seafood. I noticed that they had fresh squid for sale. I picked up three of them, to see what I could do with them. Here’s the squid. As it turns out, cleaning and prepping squid is pretty simple. The first order of business is to cut the tentacle end from the body. I made a cut between the eye and the tentacles. Once I did this, the guts came out easily. Then I rinsed the squid under running water, to rinse away the ink and any slime from the inside of the body. The bodies have a long thin bone in them. It looks clear, almost like plastic. You can just grab it and pull it out. The bodies are also covered with a thin skin. It’s easy to peel the skin off. Once the skin is off, the fins can be peeled off the main part of the body. Some people say that removing the skin and the fins isn’t necessary. I took the skin off all the squid bodies, but I left the fins on two of them. For the tentacles, there’s a sharp beak in the center. This just pops out. After I was done disassembling the squid, I patted them with a paper towel to make them as dry as I could. Then I sprinkled some olive oil on them. Cook the parts on the grill at high heat. I once posted a picture of Smaug cooking just four hotdogs. Cooking just three squid is equally ridiculous. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on them, and add a drizzle of lime juice (we were out of lemons), and you’re done. These squid were really good. The one thing I didn’t anticipate was the development of a slimy juice inside the bodies of some of the squid as it cooked. The juice that developed had an interesting taste to it. If you like the green stuff inside a lobster, or uni (sea urchin sushi), this stuff tasted like that. I think it was a result of me not rinsing out the squid enough. The fins were indeed edible, but not as nice as the body. It was a little tougher. I’ll definitely be doing this again, although next time I’ll be sure to rinse the squid more carefully.

I use to be an Akorn owner (CI grates) now I'm a KK owner (SS grates). I found no real difference. Once either gets up to 500* it'll leave grill marks. . I believe it wouldn't matter what the material was, as long as it doesn't melt and it's at 500* it's going to give you grill marks. . With that said, CI might heat up a little quicker which would give you the perception of doing a better job. But I've never tested that out. . Reef's Bistro

@Stile88 - I've had cast iron in the past and I'd would cook on cast iron again if you paid me major money! Cast iron rusts and there is nothing you can do to stop that. The temps CI is subjected in searing types of cooks destroys the seasoning. You have to constantly reseason CI. I've lived in both Houston and Denver and I can tell you no matter how humid or dry the climate, CI rusts. CI is a very brittle metal and breaks all the time, especially in cold climates like Denver in the winter. To me, CI is a pain in the arse. There is a reason why high end kamado and other high end grill manufacturers don't use CI.

First a little explanation...........for the last ten years I have lived on a boat in the summer time, on a small lake north of Syracuse that is part of the Erie Canal system. You can reach Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Hudson River from our lake. I do most of my cooking during the summertime at the marina. When I bought the KK last fall, I moved it to my friend Sue's house for the winter. Yesterday was the big moving day to take Mac to the marina. I built a cart to hold the grill so i could cook on it this winter. I put some small caster wheels on it, so that it could be wheeled in and out of the garage. That set up worked great. So now it is spring and it is time to think about the logistics of how I'm actually going to move the KK to it's summer home. I come up this plan to change the small caster wheels to big honking pneumatic off road tires. With these tires I will be able to roll the grill & cart up the landscaping trailer ramp and then back down and across the grass at the marina. I purchase them and mount the new tires on the cart. Yesterday being moving day..................I strap the grill to the dolly, line it up with the landscaping trailer ramp, give the caster dolly tire a kick to straighten it out and I hear air escaping from the tire I just kicked. Mister coordination somehow managed to kick and break the valve stem on the tire. WTH????????? OK....now I have a flat tire. Time for plan B!!!!!! I drop the trailer ramp, line up the listing grill with the surface of the trailer and push the KK off the dolly onto the trailer. Get it to the middle of the trailer and strap the heck out of it. With the grill secured to my liking, I take off for the 15 mile trip with a stop at Tractor Supply to buy a new caster tire for the dolly. I luck out and they have the matching tire, so I complete the drive to the marina. I switch the flat tire with the new tire and reverse the process of off loading the grill on to the dolly. The off-loading goes without a hitch and the grill & dolly travel the 40 feet to the grill tent without a problem (two people will be much better next time around). Push the unit up a little ramp onto the pallet platform and get the KK in place. I mount the dolly on blocks to get the weight off the tires and level the grill. Plan to build a skirt around the bottom to keep the sun off and make it look finished. I bought some plastic seats with storage to hold the grill accessories and they fit perfectly under the side tables. Will even open with out hitting the tables. My anti-theft cover.................disguising the KK as a Char-Broil The grill tent overview. And....................... Finally, Mac's view at her new home. First cook is Wednesday night........baking some bread and smoking some beef ribs. Looking forward to a great BBQ summer!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to look!!!

TY Aussie Joe (hopefully soon to be Aussie KK) for nudging me in the right direction with this cook. . Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops with a tomato, curry, lemon sauce with carrots and onions. Served with wild rice. . Let's get to it. . Slightly caramelized the carrots, onions and lemon. . Pan seared the Lamb shoulder chops. . Deglazed the pan with the red wine/beef broth mixture then dump everything in a Dutch oven. . Almost done. . Dinner is served. Outstanding flavor combination. Will definitely do this again. Reef's Bistro

G'day everyone I'm the new member you are referring to yeah I spoke with Dennis yesterday nice bloke. yes I am keen on getting one just waiting on some business to get settled .and yes you may know me on the Guru as Aussie Joe.can you guess what Ora means . Chris

Fill the basket completely full (all the way to the handles) you'll have more than enough lump to do an extra long low-n-slow. Still some left for the next day. . Get the temperature settled in at whatever your looking for. With that much meat on I would go for 250*-275*. After it's settled in at that temperature let it ride for another 30-60 minutes. This allows for the complete interior of the KK to get to temp so it takes less time to recover after putting the meat on. When you put the meat on and your temp drops don't touch the vents it will work it's way back to where you had it stable at. Reef's Bistro

Great story and I love the anti-theft cover. Reef's Bistro

I like the SS grates on the KK and get excellent results. I have used carbon steel and cast in the past and do like those as well. From a maintenance stand point stainless is the way go.

Ditto CC: I had cast iron grates on one of my big gas barbies years ago. And even though I have decades of cast iron & carbon steel pan use, and use them nearly every day, under my belt I wouldn't go back to cast iron grates; too maintenance intensive even here in the dry high desert. Season the KK's SS grates and they'll perform admirably for all types of grilling/baking on the KK.

I am not able to confirm this, but memories tell me that the heat transfer coefficients between most iron based materials isn't that different.

I talked to him on the phone today.. LOL hook is deeply set! He's done..

Rob

Thanks, Charles. The stone just seemed like the logical thing to do. I think it really helped the process. Those breast were done in about 30 minutes at 350. Top and bottom cooking.

Great looking breaded chicken. I like the use of the stone. Reef's Bistro

CC great looking cook looks fantastic

Trust frozen squid. It's fine, one could call freezing a tenderizing technique. Look again, especially in any ethnic market freezer. I clean then freeze my own, handy in a chest freezer for paella or the even better Catalan Fideuà (noodles replace rice). I had been avoiding eating octopus because they're so smart. They're actually lawyers; when boom times turn bust they don't extend each other this courtesy!

CC, nice to see your chicken cook, looks very tasty and goes nicely with that friend prepared salad. Those taste even better.:)

That a fine meal you have going on there Ken.

Looks great CC! Its been a while since I have oven baked breaded chicken but need to follow you and do it in my KK!

Thanks, CC. I did enjoy that dinner. Rotisserie cooking is so easy almost mess free especially since the rotisserie fits into the dishwasher. :)

@DennisLinkletter awesome mate. I am in for one of these too. Also @MacKenzie im with you on this with the straight rod attachment for the rotisserie. Cant wait to see the final product for that too. Ill also be adding to the order the straight single piece of bar that goes into the roti motor. I had a mishap last week when i spun a few chickens and as we spin the othe rway over here the loctite dissolved and the birds stopped spinning. Going to tac weld the piece this week to stop this.

Sounds great but I think that second cup of sugar could be reduced greatly.. We tossed all our refined sugar the first of the year, now are using maple syrup and honey as our go to sweeteners. But of course, I have some white and brown sugar hidden from the wife (for business. LOL)

“Here’s to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” - Homer Simpson

Let's add a rotisserie chicken dinner to that post. Served with Harvard Beets and boiled potatoes.

Here it is.. Will have better shots after I come back from the factory tomorrow.

What size do you think the shoulder are? If you can use both the main and upper grate you should be able to quite a few on. I wonder if you can use the lower grate at the same time too and just sit a deflector right on the charcoal basket.

I hadn't originally planned on doing a planked salmon for dinner, but i was in the market and spotted these in the case - Marked down to $4 each - Alaskan Wild King Salmon on its own alder plank! Had to go for it. Did some nice veggie kabobs to go with. Went Asian flavors with the dinner. Bourbon Teriyaki glaze on the salmon with some Yardbird Fin & Feather. Kabobs were sprayed with canola oil and dusted with Lane's Qnami. On the KK, direct, with some alder wood chunks, @ 325F. Finished. Plated with some coconut ginger rice, with a bit of Togarashi. Headed back to the store today to see if they have any more of these. If so, I'll repackage with the foodsaver and toss in the freezer, as it was a nice tasty piece of fish!