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Cooked up some store made chicken kabobs and some Italian barese sausages. Cooked indirect on the main grate then a quick sear on the lower level.

Yes we are thrilled.. we are waiting and going to try give her a personality appropriate name..

Finally got the smash burgers how I like them after several rounds of experimentation. I got everything done before the patties went on as I am just now realizing how fast that process goes. First mix up the secret burger sauce. Fry up some onions and bacon and a splash of apple cider vinegar in the onions to make them really tasty. Grilled the sides (prosciutto wrapped asparagus-my 6 year old loves these and ate two bundles himself I am so glad I saw these a ckreef`s post and thin sliced yellow squash with bbq rub) After those are done， on go the approximately 2 and a half ounce balls of hamburger seasoned with salt and pepper and smashed only ONE time (this was key for me) Flipped， melted cheese and all the toppings I prepared plus lettuce and tomato on a brioche bun( yes I know I would be better homemade， but these are dang good. If you have a sprouts near you I would check them out they are seriously good and even better toasted a little) Then I'm sitting down to dinner. So good. Don't think I've had a better burger anywhere......ever. I think I finally figured out a formula that works for my tastes.

Why do you think I cook everything outside - I hate my kitchen but I love my KK's - LOL Reef's Bistro

Friday night is quickly becoming pizza night. . Saturday night was stuffed scallops although they were stuffed with shrimp. Lobster risotto. . Sunday night was grouper, plank grilled then finished with a parmesan cheese crust and a lime Buerre Blanc Sauce. . A great weekend of fine meals. Had a really tough day Saturday with a huge yard project in 99* heat. I needed some good grilled food along with a nice cool Sunday morning motorcycle ride to get some breakfast. Reef's Bistro

Kitchen reno pixs - I didn't know where to post these so here we go What you see is just how my kitchen looks everyday, no staging. I like a small kitchen, no sitting around in my kitchen, down to business. Also like to have a lot of tools on the cupboard although they are not all there by any means. This is what started the renovations, the stove vent. Called the carpenter and asked if he would put one in for me. Carpenter says no problem. Once that was in, well let's switch the fridge and dishwasher, it will give me more counter. Carpenter says no problem. Well maybe I should put in a new counter top all the way around. OK, let's get granite. Well maybe we should tile between the counter top and cupboards. Carpenter says no problem. We have leftover tiles let's put them around the bathroom sink. Carpenter says no problem. I need some outlets on the deck can you give me three more please. Carpenter says no problem. There were a bunch of little jobs I also thought might as well get done. Carpenter says no problem. This is what started it all. The big switch. Let's make some in the wall storage, Carpenter says no problem. Some of the tool collection. More tools- A stained glass light that I made. It is over the kitchen sink. The view from the kitchen window. What I tell everyone that comes into my kitchen, my granite counter top even has a diamond in the rough. I then proudly show it off.:) Actually the pix doesn't show it off as well as in real life. The piece of quartz is quite sparkly and more clear than in the pix.

I flew to Bandung, west Java with the family this weekend to see some Akita puppies. As some of you may remember I had an Akita that passed about 5 years ago but my daughter was too small/young to get another one. She's grownup now and so it's time to bring another Akita home. This is the beautiful lil' bitch we fell in love with.. Her father is a formidable to say the least.. Even momma has some meat on her..

While the sausage was cooking on the lower grate of the KK I went out to get the first batch of spinach for dinner. WHAT it's all wilted! Got the hose out and water it, came back later and it had revived.:) No KK pixs cooked sausage down on the lower grill and then just when it was time to grab some pixs the phone rang and it was a call that needed to be taken. An hour later here is everything plated. The sausages were from Costco, Canadian made and no preservatives, called Jalapeno and Cheese. They are excellent and I'll buy them again. The interior-

My first rib cook, used the Memphis rib rub then mopped the ribs with the bbq sauce for they last 30 minutes. Real happy to see the smoke ring on the first try Memphis Dust Recipe Makes. About 3 cups. I typically use about 1 tablespoon per side of a slab of St. Louis cut ribs, and a bit less for baby backs. Store the extra in a zipper bag or a glass jar with a tight lid. Takes. 15 minutes. 10 minutes to find everything and 5 minutes to dump them together. Ingredients 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 cup American paprika 1/4 cup garlic powder 2 tablespoons ground black pepper 2 tablespoons ground ginger powder 2 tablespoons onion powder 2 teaspoons rosemary powder

Here's a discount code for $50 off an Anove SV circulator for those who've wanted one, but have been on the fence (hint, hint ckreef!) anova-sfb8stf8 Don't know how many times it can be used, so 1st come, 1st serve is a sure bet!

Thanks a lot! Really appreciate the help I have gotten here in my very first day on the forum! Jim

I'd never tried a whole lamb shoulder before, so when Berkeley Bowl offered me a 9 pound lamb shoulder for $50, it was hard to say no. Have the neighbors over. A bit rich for the oppressive heat, but tasty. This called for Mediterranean rather than classic barbecue flavors, so the rub was a marinade of 1% salt (by weight of the shoulder), black pepper, smashed garlic cloves, lemon peels, rosemary, olive oil. The oil tends to suspend the salt and impede absorption into the meat, so better technique might be to lead with the salt, and apply the marinade later. Multiple sources propose four hours at 325 F, for smaller shoulders. I used pink butcher paper in the style of Franklin Barbecue for the last hour, which turned into two with late arriving guests. Incredibly moist. Or is that sensation fat? A great change of pace, but this doesn't edge out pork butt, where the fat is easier to manage. Working over the leftovers for hash will be like dealing with a bone-riddled fish. I'll vacuum pack as-is, and pick over after warming sous vide.

Ding, ding ding! We have a winner! Um, yeah. If this is your second post, I can't wait to read #100. One of my favorite barbecue books is Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook by Robb Walsh. Not for the recipes, though one reads them and gets the idea. Rather, they're anti-recipes, to counterbalance the idea of saucing inedibly cheap ribs with some concoction made from raspberry jam and eleven other processed foods from the aisles of the supermarket where I get lost (one Apollo 11 astronaut "never trained in the LEM"). Texas butchers sold the parts of the animal that didn't fetch a premium, out the back door on butcher paper to area workers, precooked. As in, over fire with salt, pepper, and smoke. I oversimplify, as the other point of this book, actually a history, is that there are no rules. Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto cooks everything 275 F (in a salvaged 1000 gallon propane tank you modified to a cooker using "basic metal-working skills") because they're running a restaurant, and more than one cooker temperature would be impractical. Mulitple stories in Legends describes the morning cook salvaging and rebuilding the fire, because that's how their setup works. In any case, ceramic cookers are a modern aberration of traditional barbecue technique. Setting aside the expert question of green woods, traditional barbecue was cooked using mature wood embers. One had a second fire, for preparing said embers, to avoid the nasties of initial combustion reaching the food. Charcoal is an incomplete conversion of wood to a neutral fuel. Not all charcoal is equal. Anything Dennis sells is spectacular; if you're younger than Dennis and can come up with the scratch, consider building a shed to store a lifetime supply of his charcoal. Japanese binchu is the diamond grade generic charcoal, though pricey. One can use it as artist charcoal, and the Japanese cook with binchu indoors. The Lump Charcoal Database is a comprehensive review site, although I don't find it practical: If I'm going to ship charcoal I'll buy from Dennis, and what I can find locally is hit or miss. One can also make charcoal; I discovered the idea of a "smoke pot" (drill three 1/8" holes in the bottom of a one or two quart cast iron Dutch oven, fill with smoking wood chips or chunks, seal the lid on with floor paste, and nestle into a low & slow fire for clean smoke with no nasties) while experimenting with making my own charcoal. This isn't practical. I'm now in a regime where I use three classes of charcoal: Extruded coconut (Dennis) for low & slow along with a smoke pot, Coffee lump (Dennis) for somewhat higher temperatures and direct grilling, and hardwood briquets (Lazzari; their warehouse is nearby) for ample fuel for high cooks such as bread and pizza. I could do without the Lazzari charcoal if I could find space to make standardizing on the coffee charcoal practical, and I'm very careful to burn Lazzari charcoal to embers before exposing food to the fire. One could use coffee lump for everything; extruded coconut is not the only class of charcoal that can burn cleanly "like a fuse" with raw charcoal in proximity to the active fire, yet no off flavors. Binchu also fits this bill, so one can keep exploring. I'll keep using my hoard of extruded coconut (some predates Dennis) because I have it, but if I won a pallet of coffee charcoal in a contest I'd probably not look further in that case either. But yes, the wrong charcoal doesn't smolder well for low & slow, and that's the Achilles heel of ceramic low & slow cooking. Dennis makes by far the best ceramic cooker, but he can't eliminate the problem. So instead he also makes charcoal.

Thanks! I appreciate hearing from someone who's "Been There"! The patches seem to be doing OK, almost easier to patch a hole rather than a slit. Jim

Why do you think he cooked all that food - it was for the dogs!

Thanks, Charles. Heck, enchis are nothing but rolled tacos with a little sauce. I'm certain you can get that done. With your abilities, it'll be no big deal.

Great looking meal. Enchiladas is one cook I have not been successful with. I need to climb back on that horse and try again. Reef's Bistro

CC, looks delicious and it reminds me that it has been ages since I did enchiladas. You certainly do have great colour on the casserole too.

Thanks everyone, I am enjoying everything. Time to make breakfast and then sit out next to the KK and have a nice espresso.

Wow, ck, you surely had a fantastic taste weekend, right from start to finish everything looks very tasty.

What a great feed looks teriffic Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

Everything looks awesome great weekend love that speckled black and blue plate Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

Great, my wallet getting thinner. I wish I could lose weight like my wallet.

Who wouldn't be happy with food like that. My birthday is in Oct...hint hint. There nothing that beats smoke wood in the air, I love that smell. The pool looks so good!

What a great idea.

You could open up your own restaurant "Reef's Bistro".

Charles - those are some world class cooks my Friend. Simply wonderful. How you don't weigh 350 pounds eating like this I'll never know. Kudos to you. Reef's Bistro is getting 5 Stars from me in the next Michelin Guide!

All looks super tasty. I especially like the roma & jalapeño pie!! And the fish is right there too

CK, that is really neat, thanks for posting and please do keep us posted on the progress. Guess what I'm going to do with my next pineapple.:)

Taken off nicely ether than throwing them out Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

Not patience - a creative way to use the scraps from the pineapples we buy ;-l . And they are sort of kewl looking plants for the sitting garden. Reef's Bistro

Finished off that breakfast pizza this morning right after seeing that the plants were watered and the critters fed. I have a new and unwelcome guest this morning- He is heading for underneath the wood shed. It had better not jump out and grab my feet. eek! Time to settle down and eat breakfast. and the really healthy part, a fruit smoothie.

finished everything up right on time and I am very pleased with the overall turn out of these two cuts. These were for my cousin who is having a surprise BBQ for her husband. He is a huge fan of BBQ so I hope that I did it right. We should soon see if he approved. From the samples that I took, I think they were about perfect and the butt