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Our #2 select peaches sat for a couple of days in a warm room so they were ready to go. . First up is a batch Grilled Peach Reef Jam. . Next we moved onto Reef's Blueberry BBQ Sauce. . Third at bat was Reef's Komodo Peaches. . A friend had given me a dehydrator. Figured it was time to try it out with 3 trays of peaches. These won't be done for a couple of days. . Finally the "Fruits" of our labor. Reef's Bistro

Sorry for the length of the article but it is interesting. Pitmasters Embrace New Barbecue Truth: Rested Meat Is Sublime Facebook Twitter Google+ Email June 8, 20154:37 PM ET JIM SHAHIN A few slices of Franklin Barbecue's brisket. "Resting a brisket for a long time is really important," owner Aaron Franklin says. Joshua Bousel/Flickr For years, barbecue hounds planned their visits to barbecue joints with the precision of a Special Forces operation. Why? Because they knew there was a narrow window when the smoked meat would be at its juiciest, smokiest best. Once the window had closed, a platter of would-be sublimity typically deteriorated into a pile of dried-out disappointment. The problem was the "hold." After the meat finished cooking, it had to be kept warm for service through the day. That could mean anything from storing it on a steam table, which turned it to mush, or under heat lamps, which zapped the moisture from it, or leaving it on a pit, which further cooked it and dried it out. THE SALT Texas Pit Masters Bask In Moment Of Barbecue Glory With the red-hot interest in barbecuing, restaurateurs have looked for ways to deal with the problem. Their solution? Technology. Barbecue restaurants increasingly now turn to warming units by companies such as Alto-Shaam and Cambro. The pitmaster can take the meat off the pit hours before service, keep it in a warmer at 140 degrees Fahrenheit (the minimum recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and required by city health codes) without fear of drying out. Indeed, the meat improves. "My observation is that this rested barbecue, which could be two to four hours or more held this way, is the best ever produced," says Jeff Savell, professor of meat science at Texas A&M University, who organizes intensive barbecue camps throughout the year. THE SALT The Texas Road Food Takeover: Smoked, Fried And Tex-Mex The challenge of keeping barbecue at its peak also bedevils the backyard host. The home chef can stay up all night, coddling a brisket, feeding the fire every two hours to assure it runs low-and-slow, and getting the meat just perfect for a 4 p.m. slicing, only to deal with guests who don't arrive until hours later. It's hard to know how best to time the meats. The solution: Don't serve the barbecue fresh from the smoker or grill. "All cooked meat benefits from holding," says Savell. "Obviously, the larger the cut, the longer the holding period." Savell points to the distribution of moisture as the key to successful holding. Raw meat, he explains, is 70 percent water. Cooked meat is about 55 percent. Heat disrupts the proteins in the meat. Resting, or holding, allows the moisture to regroup around the proteins. "When the meat is cut [after resting], the moisture does not rush out," Savell says, "and will remain somewhat bound back to the proteins, resulting in the product we all desire." THE SALT The Past Is Where It's At For The Future Of Barbecue Celebrated Austin pitman Aaron Franklin — he of the recent James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest, PBS show and cookbook — says holding is crucial. "Resting a brisket for a long time is really important," he told an audience in January at Camp Brisket, one of the A&M barbecue courses. He said he keeps his in a custom-designed warmer at 140 degrees F for two to three hours after coming off the pit. Back before Franklin had a restaurant, when he was still throwing barbecues in the backyard in 2009, he looked into how best to hold meats. He used an old 1982 Henny Penny warmer, built for KFC. Upon opening the restaurant, he used an Alto-Shaam warmer, which uses what the company calls "halo heat," a form of gentle warming through uniform radiant heat. But Franklin came to believe that the meats could benefit better from something more akin to convection heat. Now, he uses custom designed warmers. "Barbecue is such a variable," he tells The Salt. "You're trying to regulate every aspect, including how quickly it's going to cool down." Wayne Mueller, the third-generation pitmaster at the legendary Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas, says he improved an already fabled brisket a few years ago when he changed the holding method his family had employed for decades. For years, once a beef brisket was sliced, the pitman used to put it on a pit and it would be held around 150-160 degrees F. But about five years ago, he made changes based on what he noticed when he catered. He pulled the meats off just before they were fully cooked, at about 98 percent, which he says is more a matter of feel than of temperature. He then wrapped the meat in plastic wrap, which acted as an insulator, and set it in a Cambro warmer for an even heat that did not further cook the meat but let it gently rest. Mueller has since changed from the plastic wrap to unwaxed butcher paper because it breathes better and it's cheaper. "What I was finding was that briskets coming out four hours later were fabulous," he says. "Better than what we were serving in the restaurant." He now holds his restaurant briskets from two to four hours in a Cambro. "It took our quality index from a low A to a high A," he says. "Our holding technique adds about eight points to our quality index, a whole letter grade." This cooler may be the most important part of perfecting your barbecue. Jim Shahin for NPR Whether it's a brisket, ribs or a pork shoulder, the idea is the same: Allowing a big piece of meat to rest for a long period of time improves its texture and the overall eating experience. In other words, don't fear the hold, embrace it. The good news is that a backyard chef needn't invest in some high-dollar gadget to get the same result. All it takes is a cooler, some tinfoil and a few towels: Pull the fully cooked meat from the grill. Wrap it in aluminum foil. Better yet, use unwaxed butcher paper to allow a little air flow, which will help maintain the crusty exterior. Swaddle a few old towels around the wrapped meat and place the whole shebang in the ice chest. Shut the lid and leave the meat alone for a couple of hours, depending on size. Big meats, such as beef brisket and pork shoulder, improve with a long hold. A rack of pork ribs also benefits from some time off the grill, but only about a half-hour to an hour of resting. The technique simulates an actual warming oven and works wonders for home-smoked meats. "In my own limited experience," says meat scientist Savell, "when we prepare barbecue for these camps or in my own backyard, longer resting times always results in a better eating experience." And there's one more benefit. Allowing the meat to rest provides flexibility for barbecue-trail pilgrims and home pitmen alike. Which means the traveling chowhounds and patio pitmasters can rest a little, too. Jim Shahin writes the Smoke Signals barbecue and grilling column for the Washington Post. His work has appeared in Texas Monthly, GQ, Southern Living, Esquire.com, Bon Appetit.com and elsewhere. He teaches magazine journalism at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Looks great! Hint: Smoked habanero (over mesquite of course ) goes great with all things peaches (and apricots).

OTB = ??? Haven't yet run across anything to clue me in on the acronym...help please, for the NooB... Just sausages today for this 4th, my last grilling prior to arrival of my 23" Terra Blue KK. I don't yet know where I will place the KK? It may be that when not in use I store it by the house where the old offset smoker sits to the left (not pictured) side of the house. We will see what my tolerance is for pushing the KK around from the house to the circle the is in essence the open side of my grill island area. When working it will either be directly opposite the Lynx or sit in the spot of the covered 15+yr. old Weber performer. The Weber and offset smoker will be gifted to someone or an organization that can put them to use.

Time to fill some buns. I took seriously the idea of getting everything ready before the cook which will be fast. This was the juiciest burger I've ever eaten, It was a savoury slippery sliding smashed cheese burger.

I ordered a new 23" today - Terra Blue - with all the trimmings. I am really looking forward to cooking on this beauty. I currently have a pellet grill and a big weber gasser. The combo has been working ok but there are some things that they just can't do well. After having some food on a friend's BGE, I started looking into ceramic cookers and here I am. The hard part of course was picking out the color and I changed my mind a lot but I finally picked one I couldn't do without. I spent the weekend perusing the entire forum so if you have any questions, do a search or ask me lol. There is a great group here and I look forward to the journey. Steve

Hiya friends! I haven't posted for a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking! Today I was trying a recipe from Diva Q's new book and it was seriously good! Pineapple stand chicken served with fried rice. The chicken was moist and tasty with a hint of sweetness, really good combo of flavours. The book.. Step 1...turn the pineapple into a stand... Step 2..Season chicken and place on stand. I figured since I was using pineapple, something with an asian theme would be great. The family with happy with this decision Step 3..Cook chicken around 300F until done. Mine looked a little drunk and leaning, but it held up! Step 4...serve and enjoy! PS - the rest of the pineapple was grilled and served with ice-cream.....if you know my kids (and me), you'll understand how there are no pics of that!!! Thanks for looking Rak

I had hoped to write this in installments as I smoked overnight from the 3rd to the 4th, but I must be toxic to the Forum system. It was down all day for me. So, this is in retrospect. I decided to do a couple of Boston Blade roasts overnight Sunday, to be ready for some family on the Fourth. For good measure, I also did some Beef Plate Short Ribs. This was my first long-term smoke using the CoCo charcoal and my CyberQ unit. I learned some stuff along the way. First, as all of you have warned me, it's hard to get the temp back down once it's up! I managed to overshoot the 225 target (kept it below 300, though) by keeping the top vent open too much. "Too much" was less than a whole turn open, but I soon discovered that I needed to keep the sliding vent on the fan at 50% or less, and the top barely 1/4 turn open from totally shut! I suspect the top vent was probably more important than the CyberQ or the lower opening. The CoCo burned nicely, but I was surprised that after 12 hours it was pretty well depleted and needed to be replenished. Next time I'm trying BGE which, although probably not as good as the CoCo, will be a little more economical. Took me 15+hours to get the meat to 195. After that, I wrapped it in foil, stuck it in a Coleman, and put the beef plates on. I bought these from Snake River Farms. Supposedly American Wagyu, and for the price I think next time I will get some beef short ribs from my butcher. The things were really fatty. I took them to 190 and people were starting to grumble about being hungry, so perhaps a little more time to get them to 200 might have helped the fattiness. I did try one new thing. This has probably been described, but I haven't seen it. For smoking, I love the articles on using a drilled-out cast iron stockpot, couldn't find one in town so Amazon is bringing one. I decided to try 2-3 chunks of pecan double-wrapped in heavy-duty foil, then sticking a knife blade through the foil in a couple locations. I then slid this into the very bottom of the unit, by opening the ash-removal door and putting it in there. I figured, the volatile smoke fragments would get consumed by the fire right above it, and this would still smoke slowly. Seemed to work very well. I love pecan smoke! The shoulder was great (I've been doing shoulder for 40 years, the last 10 on a pellet smoker (Cookshack Fast Eddy FEC100) but for my first time on the KK, I think it went well. NEXT time I'm going to set the CyberQ at 200, make sure it's holding there, and then dial it up. I know, the KK does hold steady temps by itself, but I like to sleep without worrying. 20 years ago, babysitting it with a beer in hand was a lot of fun. At age 67, think I'll choose sleep. Here are a few photos. Time to heat up some leftovers...

It was a long full weekend at the Bistro. Here is a quick recap. . Friday night leg quarters. Saturday we got up early and went to Lane Packing. A peach orchard and packing facility. Brought home some supplies for the weekend. Saturday night was date night. . Yakatori Date Night - Where you go nowhere, get your date drunk, and make her cook her own food. . Sounds like the perfect date to me. LOL - Actually it's Mrs skreef's favorite date night. We always have a good time playing with the Yakatori grill. Sunday got up early and drilled my new smoke pot. Dinner was beans fresh off the KK, Brats, and summer slaw. After dinner Mrs skreef made a peach cobbler. While she was cooking the cobbler I got the fireworks lined up and ready to go. Just a small $100 display. Just a couple of pictures from Sunday night fireworks. Why do you want to spend extra money on good fiberglass or pvc mortar tubes like these? Because the cheap cardboard tubes they give you blast apart! A mortar shell going off in all directions at ground level definitely adds to the excitement factor. During all this we were working on various house projects. Even so we managed to find time for a motorcycle ride Monday morning. Got home and spent some time canning various things. Reef's Komodo Peaches, Reef's Blueberry BBQ Sauce, and Grilled Peach Reef Jam. Monday night was a few ribs. That's all I got. Various other threads posted detailing some of this. A great weekend for sure. Reef's Bistro

Happy Fourth of July ! This came from AmazingRibs.com Chocolate Chile Barbecue Sauce. Yes, You Read That Right. By Meathead Goldwyn This sauce has the classic taste profile of all the most popular barbecue sauces, sweet, tart, and slightly spicy, but with a wonderful twist: The seductive taste of chocolate. If it sounds weird, well, it is a bit weird, but I'm here to tell you it works. And don't worry, it is not too hot. Of course you can make it hotter if you want... The idea came from, of all places, Charleston, SC. Charleston is emerging as one of the hottest restaurant cities in the nation with creative chefs, many with classic roots, putting modern spins on traditional Southern Cuisine. Chef Ciaran Duffy worked there for many years at Tristan where he developed a Chocolate Chile Barbecue Sauce. I ordered a bottle and loved it, but alas, when Duffy moved west to become the executive chef at the Marriott Del Mar near San Diego, Tristan stopped bottling it. So I created my own recipe. This concoction clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with Southern barbecue sauce traditions which tend to be vinegary, or Charleston which is in the mustard based barbecue sauce belt. Its components are really Caribbean, where the word barbecue originated, Mexican, where chocolateand vanilla come from, Floridian and Brazilian, which produce more oranges than anybody, South American, where tomatoes originated, and Central America, where chile peppers were first discovered. So what could be more far Southern than a blend of them? It is a bit of a novelty, but a darn good one. How to use it? I love it on pork ribs and even meatloaf, not so much on other beef products. So I need you to make a batch, try it, and let me know on which foods you like it. But let it stand alone. If you put it on pork ribs, just salt the meat. Skip the herb and spice rubs. Makes. A bit more than 2 cups of sauce Takes. 45 minutes Keeps. Because it has a high acid and sugar content, it can keep for months in the refrigerator. Ingredients 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup rice vinegar 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup tomato paste 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/8 teaspoon chipotle chile powder About the cocoa. I use Hershey's Natural Unsweetened. Click here to learn more about chocolate and the different types in my article on the Science of Chocolate. Method 1) Mix the sugar and water in a pan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for 30 minutes. 2) Paint it on your ribs. One layer is all that is needed. If you wish, put the sauced ribs over high heat to caramelize the sugars a bit, but watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. Then, for a festive touch, grate some orange zest on top. Serve it with a big red wine.

Right after breaking in the Baking Steel griddle on some local grass fed ranged beef smash burgers (with 2-1/2 hour onions, blue cheese...) but no pics to prove it :D...I used the heat soaked Two-Three to finish the Bing Cherry Turn-Overs. Photos by Rhonda Happy Red, White & Blue 4th of July!

Thanks CC, no word on delivery yet. I picked one off of the website so I hope it won't be too long.

welcome to the fold brother Steve. Dennis' cookers are righteous indeed, and by far the closest thing a Kamado has to eternal life. You will not believe how well built these baby's are... Looking forward to the christening...!

Does anyone remember last year when ck did the same thing with the peaches, made all that wonderful jam and we waited and waited and waited for the taste samples to appear. I finally gave up about January and it wasn't an easy thing for me to do either.

They are very pretty for what they're intended for, but that's just how Dennis rolls!

Hahaha Way to go, Bobby Bo! That dude will have a great 4th of July for the next 18 years, too. I was a big Bobby Bo fan back in his days with the Pirates. For those who don't know, the Mets pay Bobby just shy of $1.2M every July 1st through 2035. It's been going on since 2011, and he hasn't played since then. The Mets owed Bonilla $5.9M for the 2000 season (they wanted to trade him away away, but they had to eat some of his contract). His agent worked out a deal where they didn't have to pay until 2011, but attached 8% interest starting in 2000. The contract called for equal payouts every year through 2035. It was a good idea by the Mets that didn't work out so well. They lowered their cap hit and were able to get a few players to make a push to the World Series in 2000 - but lost. They also had what they thought was a rock-solid plan to pay back Bonilla. The Mets owners were involved with Bernie Madoff. At the time, Madoff's investments were making well over the 8% interest - almost double that. So, the thinking was - put the money designated for Bonilla in a Madoff account. By the time you pay each year, you will have made a nice chunk on the interest. Great plan - except for the fact that Madoff accounts weren't making real money lol

We all recently found out that is a serving tray! Per Dennis. Rob

Also, what am I going to do with this drip pan!!!? I can't use this! It's a GD work of ART!! No way I'm using it for its intended purpose. Fortunately I got the double drip pan to catch the yum, but if anyone on here loves great coffee as much as great food, you may have heard of this guy, Kees Van Westin, who makes these insane hand made espresso machines....this reminds me of that immediately.

Break in....Rock steady at 530F +/- 10deg. for 2 hrs now. Forgot I needed to do this before grilling. Our trusty 22.5 Weber Smokey Mountain saved the day... Lots of venting on the pebble, virtually none so far on the square tile.

Nope don't use the oven very often anymore. We try and do most of the cooking outside. . Love my wife, love my bike. I guess we'll keep it in that order although she might tell you otherwise - LOL . Fireworks just became legal last year in GA. I'm loving it. I'm getting to know what fireworks I like best. . It was a full weekend but had a lot of fun. Reef's Bistro

My, what a busy weekend you guys had!

Charles & Susan - Looks as if you had a wonderful time! I know I certainly had a great time looking at the pictures. Thanks for posting! Kudos and congrats on a LOT of fronts.

Looks like a good time was had by all.

About high heat - if you leave the top vent wide open you'll end up with a raging fire but all the heat is escaping through the wide open top vent. Shut the top vent down to two turns open and your KK temp will start to rise. . As for a complete burn in - 4 hours is not enough time set aside for this. You really should start the procedure early in the morning when you're going to be around the entire day. You can stable at various temps along the way to cook some food but in the end you need it around 500* and let it sit there a few hours to make sure the grill is fully heat soaked all over so venting occurs everywhere on the grill. . An incomplete venting won't hurt anything but it'll probably vent more next time you go high temp. Everytime you get that smell it's venting even if it's a month after your initial burn in. Just make sure you check it on cool down after you get the smell. Eventually the process will complete itself but many of us found it took 2 or 3 high heat sessions for the process to finally be over. Reef's Bistro

Based on my conversation with Dennis, who, by the way, called me right after I posted the picture, that is solvent venting. Yes, the process had started after the temperature had been stuck on 430 for three hours. I let it go another hour before I started cooking again on it. I did not have to go high at all today. I'm really enjoying cooking on my KK 32. Here is what I cooked today:

Hello all and "Happy Independence Day" to all of you plus happy grilling.

To all my KK Family, have a wonderful, happy, and safe 4th of July Holiday! Please remember to never drink and drive.

Pocket Aces seemed like a good analogy for twin 32's! Hard to beat! and yes CC, I have been seated at a few poker tables.... wouldn't exactly say that I 'play' as yet. I'm always a welcome contributor it seems....

My sister is a semi-professional chef and she just loved it.. You are in for a treat. Outside of a trip to Spain, it's on the top of my bucket list places to eat.

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.

Welcome to the Obsession. Those double 32"s look spectacular. Can't wait to set the pics of them in their final home spot and them in action!!

I bought the Rio Grande with high top lid. Huge 24" diameter Semi-Flat bottom at about 10" across Cones up to a height of 4" Gives you 27" of cooking space end to end...this will hold a lot of food!! Weighs in at a hefty 25 pounds and just shy of a 1/4" thick Handles providing a secure and safe place to maneuver while cooking and carry it as well Works great om an old 3 leg burner from yesteryear. We use it a lot at the beach. Joe

Looking good Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

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.:)

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.

Howdy KKers! Greetings from HOT Oklahoma! Here is a recent taco cook here at ChezChef. Quick, easy, and very tasty. I marinated the flank steak in my FoodSaver Quick Marinating Canister for about 4 hours (If you don't have one, I can highly recommend it.). Here is the cooked steak resting on the cutting board.Sliced Steak on the board.And here's the money shot. Sides were black beans and grilled corn on the cob.This was quick, easy, and sumptuous! Thanks for taking a look. Here's to great cooks and evening better memories withfamilyi and friends!

Chicken is so great done on the rotisserie I thought I'd do a couple of slabs of ribs even though I don't have the correct basket for that. They are in the grill @240F. Yesterday I sprinkled the ribs with granulated garlic, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Vacuum sealed and left overnight in the fridge. Ready after 4.5 hours. Cut into the smaller slab. The more meaty slab- Plated with some SV potato salad. Those are the first of the radish for this season and last year's peas. The ribs were perfectly seasoned for my liking and I would definitely use the rotisserie method again.

Not that I'm knocking my early grills.. I'm very proud of them. That being said, your new grill shipped this week has 10 years of development on top of this grill above.. Brett thank you for the kudos, I love to hear customers are pleased with their grills.. 10 years.. yours is one of the earlier OTB grills.. Yes it looks great.. That being said, I do recommend a cover for those early "real grout" KK grills to keep water out of the insulation. Please confirm your top latch is not welded to the handle plate and I'll send you a new CNC made latch with a bearing and paddle for your hand to press on.

This is what Smaug looked like when he arrived last October. Since then, I've been getting a lot of use out of him. I was going to wait until a full year went by to write this, but I think that now's as good a time as any to share my experience with him. There's plenty of information available on the Komodo Kamado website as to what you get out of a KK grill that you don't from the ceramic grill companies (BGE, Primo, KJ, etc.). For me, here are the salient points. Made of refractory cement instead of ceramic. Heat deflector and baking stones are also refractory cement instead of ceramic. Better insulation, which means that you can maintain temperature with less air flow, which means less moisture loss during cooking, which means that your meat will lose less moisture during the cooking process. Better insulation also means that you don't have to worry as much about burns if you touch the outside of the grill during a cook. Without exaggeration, I can touch the outside of my KK 23" with the thermometer above 600ºF without fear of a burn. Tiled on the outside instead of glazed ceramic. Food grade silicone gasket, which is more durable than a felt gasket, and not prone to failure from dripping sauce on it. 3/8" stainless steel rod grills instead of 1/4" rod. Stainless steel hardware all over. Stainless steel charcoal basket instead of ceramic firebox. Firebox is a two piece design instead of one piece, which reduces the chance of it cracking from heat. Design of firebox forces all air through the charcoal, unlike other brands where the air can circulate around the firebox, reducing efficiency. Superior hinge and latch mechanism to other brands. Incorporation of hinge into the body and lid means never having to worry about a lid falling off or having to maintain band tightness. Easier to open, even with a heavier lid. Bottom vent truly airtight. Vent cap design prevents rain from getting into grill and is rust proof. Vent cap design also prevents change in setting when opening grill. Set up for rotisserie cooking out of the box. No need to wait for a rotisserie add on that’s still not on the market. It's true that a KK grill is more expensive than the KJ/BGE/Primo grills for sure, but it's still in line with and even less expensive than many high-end stainless steel gas grills, and I would argue that it is more durable and more flexible than a high-end stainless steel gas grill. I would also argue that it's more durable than the BGE/KJ/Primo grills as well, given the reports of hinge and band failures, gasket failures, firebox cracking, vents that are not quite airtight, and so on. But even better than the feature set of a KK grill is what you can cook with it. Here's some of the food I've made with Smaug since he arrived. Pulled pork. Brisket. Ribs. Korean BBQ. Leg of lamb. Prime rib roast. Grilled salmon and asparagus. And steak, of course. But beyond the great food that Smaug has helped me make, I have to emphasize this key thing from my experience with a KK grill. I was able to do this despite the fact that I had no experience with low and slow cooks prior to getting my KK grill. Everything I have tried has been a huge success, even though it was the very first time I've tried smoking brisket, ribs, pulled pork, a prime rib roast, and so on. I often read people say that it's not the grill, it's the chef, and that the food tastes the same regardless of what grill is used. I'm not so sure about that. I have to believe that the ease of temperature control of the KK grill is a factor in my success. I've had the chance to try out a BGE, and the ability of a KK grill to control air flow and temperature is so much nicer and easier. I doubt that I could have nailed these cooks the way that I did if I had a BGE, KJ, or Primo grill. As I mentioned, prior to getting Smaug, I had zero experience with low and slow cooking, and I've had fantastic results with a variety of low and slow cooks. So either it is the grill that's making a difference, in which case that shows that it's worthwhile getting a KK grill, or I'm a really amazing BBQ genius, in which case you should listen when I say that a KK grill is completely worth buying. And it's only been 11 months. I can only imagine what the next 20 years will be like.