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I've grown many varieties of basil plants over the years, including "lettuce leaf" basil, but this plant has the biggest leaves I've ever seen. I got the plant from Territorial Seeds and it's called Mammoth - no sh!t! My favorite thing to do with basil this big (stole this one from a good Italian place here in town) - wrap a nice log of cheese (1/4" square and 2" long - any good melting cheese - Jack, Mozzarella, Swiss, White Cheddar, etc.) inside the basil leaf. Then, wrap the whole thing inside a nice thin slice of salumi (prosciutto, salami, or soprassetta.) You can either put it under the broiler or on the grill (direct heat) for a couple of minutes on each side, until the cheese melts and the salumi starts to crisp up. I did 4 of these as my app while cooking dinner tonight. I used a chile pepper white cheddar cheese and hard salami, with a nice glass of Petite Syrah. Wonderful! If you don't have big ass basil, you can do the same thing with a couple of regular sized basil leaves.

I'm getting ready for smash burgers. One step closer.

We grow Genovese basil from seed for pesto, first batch tomorrow with guests. This is further than I usually let it go, perhaps 5" high each. One of two barrels. An automatic irrigation system is a must (we use Hydrawise) as these seeds need watering multiple times per day. My first trip to Italy, half a lifetime ago, friends in Genova 'educated' me by showing me the basil sold at market. Rather small bunches. They characterized United States basil as lawn clippings, the primary reason that United States pesto was ghastly, inedible. They were very sweet about this, but this was a fervently held belief. English to english translation: We were morons to grow our basil so big, as if we preferred eating six year old sheep. On the other hand, I specifically seek out large weedy basil as a bed on which to cook salmon, which will be our second course tomorrow: Brine the best wild salmon you can find, 1/2 cup salt per gallon, less sugar, four hours. Place on a bed of weed basil in a Spanish cazuela, smoke gently using apple wood till melting. To die for.

@Syzygies - Hi Friend. I just thought you should know I've posted your brilliant idea for the smoke pot in a few other BBQ Forums and it has been met with universal acclaim. In fact the word that is most used is "Genius". I've given you proper attribution and folks have asked that I tell you how much they love your invention. It really is a game changer for them, especially those with kamados of every strip. You're becoming quite the BBQ sensation. I just though you should know that your little smoke pot is really changing the way more than a few look at kamados. Thanks for sharing that jewel with us here.

Cooked some dry aged steaks for dinner tonight. Served with baked potato (microwave cooked), mushrooms and zucchini sprinkled with parmesan. Steaks cooking away My son's steak, a little over cooked for him, oh well. Now my steak. I like my meat well done, so look away if that bothers you...lol. I can't be the only one that likes meat well done. Look at the smoke ring and how tender it is. It helps that these were 40 day dry aged Canadian Prime steaks. Zucchini sprinkled with parmesan after being under the broiler for a minute.

One of my favourite things to do on a Saturday morning is check out the local garage sales ,someone's junk is another person's treasure lots of little nick nacks can be found .I got up early this morning I had to go and vote in our federal election whilst driving home I noticed a garage sale sign so I had to have a look .apart from the usual stuff there was this a hand painted saw the lady is 92 great steady hand for that age Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

that would be me.:)

@MacKenzie - you are such a tease!

LOL just ordered a ringer also. I'm glad I just came back from dinner after seeing all these photos I would have to go get some bbq. happy 4th yall

Had a rerun lunch today and with my home grown lettuce, you should try it Tony. Also added some poblano pepper slices.

Have to agree, nothing much better than breakfast for dinner...but, where are the hash brown potatoes? Will have to try this when my new 23" KK arrives!

Haven't been able to find Weekend Warrior in these parts, but after reading the reviews I ordered some FOGO from Amazon last week.

You got that right! Although in my neck of the woods, Cowboy Charcoal costs almost as much as BGE. Always worked OK to grill meats, but I'm certainly moving on from here. Jim

Yes, I saw it. I even called Dennis and he told me the same thing. I've attached the side tables and here are the latest pictures.

Never! Don't even bother with the spray bottle either. The KK cooks food so moist it isn't necessary. If you put in a pan of water, you'd get too much moisture going and you'll wash off the rub and get no bark.

Bruce, no pan of liquid is needed.

Try doing an individual pizza and cracking an egg on it near the end of the cook. Surprisingly tasty! (sorry, guys. I'm out of KK Forum practice!)

That’s awesome! Push that software release out the door and get cooking. You can always release a x.0.1 fix later.

Up early and started the KK smoking first thing. Did my chores then start a special breakfast - a potato breakfast pizza. Made the pizza shape using previously SV sliced potatoes and sprinkled on a little cheese, oops I need a pix. Added more topping, more cheese, poblano pepper, tomato, sliced Hakurei turnip, cooked bacon and mushrooms and some basil and oregano. Loaded. Grill is ready, running around 475F. Baked for 5 mins. then added the eggs. Baked an additional 5 mins after the eggs went on. Done and ready to plate. Plated. I would do this again and I could have added some cooked sausage but I want the sausage for lunch. Happy Canada Day Everyone.:)

Ken that is some definite comfort food with easy cook and clean up, it doesn't get much better then that.

We are closed for Ramadan/ Idul Fitri.. back at work on the 11th. The samples will be picked up then. We are making only one size 15.3”d x 16.9"w KK shaped. Once I've ok-ed the design cutting and machining them is easy because it's all CNC. We're trying to com up with a clever solution to pick them up. As always no idea on price.. it's never a consideration when we build things. We've never changed or reduced quality on anything to hit a price point.

@Aussie Ora - I'm a bachelor and I wasn't in the mood to scrub pots and pans, hence the steak platter. Necessity is the Mutha of Invention!

Well, it's clear to me that you need a matching 23" so you can use the second rib rack. Rob

At this point, I can't see the justification for getting another grill when this Big Bad 32 will serve my needs. Let's see if I change my mind after six months. I have to admit that I am in shock because I did not expect that the Primo would look so out of place standing next to the KK 32. My wife is right in that, the oval does not belong anywhere near the KK 32. Did I say that I ordered two rib racks so I could do 18 ribs at once for big events. To my surprise, the KK 32 can only accommodate one rib rack. I tried putting a rack on the top grate, but the lid would not close. The full rib rack cannot go on the lower grate either. The only place is the main grate. Did I say every piece of accessory is top-notch? My goodness!

That looks mighty tasty. Ham was probably spectacular.

They look great good idea throwing the egg on top Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

CC, that breakfast for dinner looks very tasty and sure is low on prep. and high on flavour.

@tony b - WHOA! That's some big basilico! And you're right on point about using it for a wrapper for finger foods.

The winner was when she said, "... but I don't need to know." Ding, ding, ding!!

You Yank's don't know what you are missing and besides it wasn't a hot dog in the bun it was a Jalapeno and Cheese sausage, Canadian made. You are just lucky I didn't put ketchup on it, but that only goes on hamburgers and fries.

Well, I DID NOT get very good airflow with the Cowboy crap. Really added a bad taste to a real nice Tri-Tip. Having figured that out and had a good burn with BGE, I don't anticipate any problems from now on, especially with the CoCo (as long as my supply lasts). However, "Once burned, twice cautious", and all that...

Thanks everyone. I'm going to do this again. I think it is important to use SV potatoes, they have a different texture , a little more firm, they seemed to want to stay as they were cut. Another reason SK needs a Sous vide circulator.:)

I have a software release scheduled for next week and the past couple of weeks have been extremely hectic, more so this week. On another note, my wife just saw the grill a few minutes ago and then immediately rushed back inside to grab her camera. When she came back out, she handed me the camera and asked me to start shooting. I took about eight pictures of her standing by the KK 32 and the accessories and two pictures of her standing between the KK 32 and the oval. Afterwards, she said that oval which she likes a lot could not remain under the gazebo next to this new grill because the new grill was making it look bad. She even said that the oval now looks like something I got from Home Depot. She asked whether I was going to give it away to someone or put it far away from the new grill and closer to the house. She also asked whether I would have the welder build a small gazebo for the oval. The last thing she said was "I know how much the oval costs, I can only imagine how much new grill costs, but I don't need to know".

I received my grill today! This thing is awesome! It is BIG! A couple of guys who helped me plus the carrier guy were simply in awe of this grill. They had never seen anything like it. I can't wait to test it out on Sunday or Monday!

OK, so I gave in and did burgers for dinner tonight. Not exactly smash, since they were pre-formed patties at the supermarket. However, they are made out of brisket (80/20 mix). Pre-staged. Then into a preheated cast iron skillet on the lower grate. Cheese? Yes, please. Some assembly required. Plated with double cooked fries. 1st cook in Sous Vide (183F for 40 minutes in a bag with duck fat), 2nd cook in the deep fryer with a mix of duck fat and peanut oil. Oh, and MacKenzie, that would be aioli next to the fries - the proper condiment - LOL! To be honest, need to practice a bit more using the CI skillet. Burger was too rare, even for me. Gives me an excuse to try again soon (it was a 4 pack of burger patties.)

@JimBob67 - I use a MAPP torch exclusively to light my fires. I think that a chimney is a rather blunt instrument under any rubric. It just gets too much charcoal lit. Given the efficiency of the KK and the way in which the KK uses air, less is more. Unlike any other kamado of which I know, all air in the KK flows from the bottom bent directly through the lump pile and out the top vent. Because of that single fact, i.e. all air flows through the basket, the KK requires much less air flow to maintain a fire than other kamados. This translates to much moister cooks. I think you'll find in a big hurry that your KK is more efficient than any other kamado you may have used. For low-n-slow cooks, i.e. 225-275, I typically light a single spot right in the middle of the lump pile. for cooks in the neighborhood of 300-400, I'll light 2 spots equidistant across the basket, i.e. about 1/3 of the way from the left wall and 2/3 of the way from the left wall. For cooks in the 400-500 I generallY light 3 spots in the lump pile, again equidistant from eachpther. For big sears, I'll light 4 or more spots in the lump pile. I use KK Coconut Charcoal only on my low-n-slow cooks. As @Syzygies mentions in his post above, the Coconut char is simply superior to anything else on the planet for those types of cooks. I have also been known to use it when baking breads and desserts. For all other cooks I use FOGO. It has a very light, faint aroma of oak when it is lit. FOGO has great size distribution and just works incredibly well in my KKs. When it comes to Temp Controllers, the guy you want to talk to is @5698k. He's forgotten more about these types of cooks than I'm ever going to figure out. He is the man. We're always glad to help new KKers ramp up as quickly as they'd like. Welcome! If you have any more questions, post away. There is always someone here who can help you.

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.