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I've been doing this a long time. What do I actually use, some or all of the time? A second charcoal basket, to save extruded coconut charcoal between low & slow cooks, while I use lump charcoal for high temp cooks. A terra cotta plant saucer for storing the spare basket, to contain ashes. (If one can afford to do so, one could simply use charcoal from KK for everything. We've thought about it, even 500 F chicken tastes better over charcoal from Dennis.) A basket splitter, to make more efficient use of good lump charcoal for small cooks. The splitter constrains the airflow to pass through the fire, even for a small fire. A cover. It rains here part of the year, and this keeps moisture out. Two long neck "weed burner" propane torches, with hose clamps added on the neck so that they balance on the rim of the KK, for lighting fires. A paint brush and a soft cloth dust mask for removing ash. A plastic painter's pan to set below the ash door, for collecting the ash as one brushes it out. This lives in the most recent empty charcoal bag converted to ash storage. Obviously, cold ashes only. Silicone heat resistant gloves. And other gloves, but these take the most heat. There are many options. A 3/8" wrench for scraping grill grates. Get one with the correct round to match the grate. (This is radically better than grill floss or countless other options. Anyone in a reasonable state of mental health will tell you that they're happy with the best solution they've found so far for a problem. Only trust comparisons, when someone has alternated between the two best candidates long enough to break their prejudices.) A metal water heater pan, some improvised way to plug the hole (figure this out at the store), and heavy duty scrubbies from the painting aisle (these blow away anything for the kitchen) for soaking and cleaning grills. (I'll sometimes trust a high heat cook instead, after a good wrench scraping.) I happen to have an electric pressure washer, for deck maintenance. After large low & slows (feeding 60 with pulled pork or brisket) it does a wonderful job of cleaning all grates (again, in the water heater pan). A paella pan, to use as heat deflector and drip pan. Line with foil for easy cleanup. (An official KK drip pan looks worth it to me; it will likely be my next purchase.) Two bath towels, and a cooler, for resting and transporting monumental meats. Heavy duty aluminum foil, for lining the plant saucer (easy disposal once the fat cools) and for wrapping monumental meats to rest in a cooler. Pink butcher paper, for following Austin Franklin barbecue technique. (The white is no better than aluminum foil; the pink breathes.) The official KK pizza stone, for bread or pizza. (I used to use a custom rectangular FibraMent-D baking stone, for two loaves of bread. Dennis got the pizza stone right, and I no longer use anything else.) A Baking Steel, for burgers or Japanese or Spanish griddle technique. The 15" by 1/4" round also fits an indoor oven and can be lifted by anyone. A 16" by 1/2" can be custom ordered, for more thermal punch. A Steam Pan, as described in KK as Steam Oven for Bread. A giant cast iron frying pan with the handle sawed off, filled with two spools of stainless steel chain, to go on the lower rack for bread cooks. (A KK single bottom drip pan would work here without rusting. Buy two, or keep moving the chain as needed.) Freeze 350g of ice in ziplock or vacuum seal bags, and slide the ice in to generate (after a delay making it possible to close the lid safely) enough steam to replicate a commercial bread oven. This is detailed in Keller's Bouchon Bakery but not original to them. This is superior to baking bread in a Dutch oven. Keller took much flack for this on other forums, from fools with zero understanding of physics who think that 10g of water from a plant spritzer suffices. A Smoke Pot, as described in A Dutch Oven Smoke Pot. Find a one or two quart cast iron Dutch oven, drill three 1/8" holes in the bottom, add smoking wood, and seal the lid on with flour paste. Nestle in with the charcoal, and heat it as much as possible while torch lighting the fuel directly under the pot. For low & slow cooks this controls smoke, avoiding nasty combustion byproducts; above 300 F even smoke from such a pot will taste as nasty as open wood. Try this at your own risk, you may be ordered to never use smoke any other way. I'm planning to test an all metal Kleen Kanteen as an easier alternative; I haven't yet. (One needs to work through an obsession with excessive smoke, if one has had one's heart broken too often on the BBQ trail from restaurants with inadequate smoke. There's a sweet spot where smoke is one more flavor in balance; find it.) A DigiQ DX2 BBQ Guru setup, for absolute control of longer cooks. This is indeed optional but very nice; I went years without after my previous unit died of old age. Then I committed to some major cooks for parties where I needed to be sure. A KK is remarkably stable, but if one goes eight hours without checking it can find a new equilibrium as the fire evolves. A Solo Stove Campfire, as described in Solo Stove. It provides a nimble way to make small fires away from the KK. For example, I now use mine to preheat my smoke pot. The applications are endless, and it's fun to use. What have I tried and discarded or given away? A rotisserie. Have you tried cleaning one of these!? I have found ways I actively prefer for cooking anything on the KK that one might use a rotisserie to cook. Chicken, direct at 500 F over a nearly spent fire, and tend it a few times. (If you do have an electric pressure washer handy, then cleaning a rotisserie would not be an ordeal. I don't miss mine. It was fussy.) As a rule, avoid all aspirational purchases in life. There's only so much one needs to do before baby comes home, one can figure out the rest as one goes. Try life without a rotisserie, for example, and see if a BBQ Guru is indicated.

TY Chris - definitely fast with zero recovery time between pizzas. Fired up the Blackstone and went inside to make the pies. By the time I had the two made sitting on the table ready to go the Blackstone was ready. . The other nice thing is since it's an open face oven you can watch them so you know exactly when to pull them. Just be careful with whatever flashlight you use to look in there. I've already deformed one with the heat - LOL Reef's Bistro

Get the basket that way you don't need to remove the splitter each time. Or just have as a spare. Shipping is st it's cheapest right now with this big order so get everything cover??

Ceramic Chef, International Man of Mystery!

You're not

Haven't posted many cooks in a while but here is a quick week night dinner. Wings and sausages cooked direct on the main grate at 370f.

This tasted fantastic. Yup I could have done homemade but sometimes it's just easier. The grocery store has a lot of really great tasting off the wall items you just have to look around and don't be afraid to try. The boxed Parmesan & Herb Crust. Chicken breasts coated. At 400* it's getting there. Time to take the potatoes off. "Mrs skreef it's time for your help" - LOL Box said 22 - 27 minutes - I went 35, looks done to me. Served with rustic mashed potatoes and chicken gravy -TY Mrs skreef. Another fast and simple meal. Reef's Bistro

Artisan Pies cooked on the Blackstone propane pizza oven at 650* . Pepperoni - 2 minutes 10 seconds Cheese - 1 minute 50 seconds . I did slightly tweak the KA Artisan Pizza recipe. Probably the softest pizza edge I've ever cooked. I love the Blackstone Pizza Oven - only 15 minutes to be fully preheated. It's just faster and easier than a kamado for hot fast pizzas. . Reef's Bistro

Can't wait to do a pizza on Ora though☺ Outback Kamado Bar and Grill ♨

Yea I was waiting for Homeland Security to come knocking on the door within the next couple of days - LOL Reef's Bistro

They turned out well definitely a lot quicker than arking up the komodo Outback Kamado Bar and Grill ♨

Charles - those are really gorgeous pizza pies! I could eat both of them right now. Congrats and kudos!

ck, what I wouldn't give for slice of those pizzas, delicious.

hey guys the charcoal arrived today. 1 ton!!!! 50 boxes coco char and 50 boxes coffee char. I have it stashed in the garage nice and dry. looking forward to hearing from you.

To be honest, I’ve never had a situation where a split setup would seem to be that much better than reconfiguring the grill while doing a reverse sear. Here’s my take. When doing a reverse sear, I typically have the dome thermometer in the 200-225ºF range, the deflector plate in, and the meat on the main grill. After the steak hits the IT I want, I’ll put the steak on a plate temporarily, put some gloves on, take the main grate out, and then take the deflector plate out. This would be difficult if the grill was at steak searing temperatures. But at 200-225ºF, it’s not a problem at all. Then I put the searing grate in, open the vents all the way, and wait for Smaug to heat up to steak searing temps. This takes a few minutes, but it’s much faster than you may think. I remember once talking about the KJ Divide and Conquer system as solving a problem that didn’t really exist. To be fair, I’ve never used the D&C system, but then again, I can’t see doing the first part of a reverse sear with a full on fire so that I could go straight from the first step to the second step of the cook without reconfiguring anything. If I’m going to start a reverse sear with a full on fire, I’ll just cook the steak directly, since I can get results like this without the reverse sear.

Sounds good to me too.