Leaderboard

Can't wait till I can cook on Ora but in the meantime the Joe does well Pork chops with prawn gyoza cabbage and corn Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

the only photo I have but already named it Ora I did not shoot for the stars wanted to stay on the ground [emoji11] Varanus komodoensis is the largest extant lizard on Earth and is endemic to several small islands in Indonesia. The genus name, Varanus is the latinization of the Arabic word "waran" which stands for monitor (Egyptians believed these lizards served as monitors, alerting people to the presence of crocodiles). Its common names include the "Komodo dragon" (Komodo is one of the islands they are found on), "ora" which means land crocodile in the Mangarrai dialect, and Komodo monitor. So basically Ora loves meat nom nom yum[emoji1] Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

Here's the classic "bend test" to see if your ribs are done. Pick up the ribs with a pair of tongs about 1/3 of the way from one end. Lightly bounce the ribs in the tongs and see if the meat is just beginning to pull away from the bones.

Today, I found a good deal on some pork tenderloins and decided that I may as well try for a dish for this months challenge. I went down to the local Chinese Supermarket for the first time and I was blown away. I was hoping to find Char Siu marinade that I found on amazon from Hawaii. It was 18.00 a pack shipped to my house, or at the local Chinese Supermarket 1.80 a pack. I grabbed 5 packages and some other goodies and headed home. I have always wanted to try and make this, as Char Siu pork is one of my favourites when I eat Chinese Food. Mixed the marinade and off into the bag it went. This has a beat powder and it is a powerful dye, my hands may be pink I let this marinade for 6 hours in the fridge. It did a number to the pork. I decided to try my lodge smoking pot today for the first time, and I must say that I was most impressed with the blue smoke and aroma that was generated from this pot. I will use this more often now I removed the tenderloins from the marinade and hit them with a liberal coating of Lanes BBQ Q-NAMI rub. This stuff is the real deal. It has great flavour. Onto the pit at 350 direct they went The Char Siu marinade created almost a shell coating. Very awesome colour when cooked Anyways, I cooked them until an IT of 145 and pulled them and let them rest. They were dripping with moisture thanks to the Komodo Kamado! I thin sliced one and wrapped the other one for tomorrow I picked up my favourite fried rice and sweet and sour sauce to complete the dish tonight. I have to say, the flavour on this tenderloin was amazing. It was sweet, and the Lanes added a little hit of spice. I can't wait to make this again.

Hey everyone, thanks again for all the great comments. The green tile is a beauty. Decided to name her "Maleficent" since she turns into a green dragon as a second form and quoting my friend to tried the pork tenderloin, "what comes out of there is sorcery!" I'll be contacting Dennis soon to discuss some possible upgrades but here first things first, the first cook! It was just some chicken kabobs, a chicken breast and a pork tenderloin with some of my favorite butt rub and rosemary seasoning. Talk a bout tender! I've always praised the results of Sous-Vide chicken and pork, but there's no need with a KK. I was dumbfound as the chicken breast I pulled off continued to drip a stream of juice for about 15 seconds straight (from the places I probed it with the Thermapen). Even though I cooked both the chicken breast and tenderloin to 160f, it had the texture of cooking them at 145f in the Sous-Vide. Amazing! Can't wait to try a brisket.

My first cook is underway though a couple of hours late... Last night for my burn-in I used some old lump charcoal that I had left over from who knows when - ugh, what a mess as it left a ton of ash that I had to clean out today before I could light a new fire for my first cook. While I was cleaning out the ash I received some Fogo charcoal I had ordered so I used some of that as starter for Coco-char that I'm using as the main fuel for my cook. As promised by others it took a while for the Coco-char to catch and burn, but now I am approaching my desired cook temperature. I'm hoping that my decision to forgo the preferred hour-long heat soak does not hurt me since I decided to add my ribs now, with a couple of chunks of cherry wood for my flavoring agent. I am very closely watching the temperature to make sure it stabilizes and holds at 250° for what I expect to be a 5-6 hour cook. I might expect a little bit of a shorter cook if I had allowed the normal heat soak to occur before putting on the ribs – we shall see!

This is a first on the KK some veggie and sausage kabobs; Marinated overnight in Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing and now ready to thread. Ready for the grill. Kabobs on the KK @350F for 10 mins, flip and do another 5-10 mins. The carrots were previously cooked and the sausage comes cooked in the package. Kabobs are ready to eat. Plated . Up Close view. I think I'll do this one again and again. The sausage are the jalapeno and cheese ones that I like so much.

@KevinD - years ago when I lived in Colorado Springs, the big thing was xeriscaping. Had my whole yard xeriscaped. It was okay, but I wished I had left the area around the pool grass so that when you got out of the pool you had some place cool to put your feet. What most folks don't know about xeriscaping is that it still requires a fair amount of maintenance to keep it looking sharp. I wish all you good Cali KKers nothing but the best during this drought!

Aussie, that is a very tasty looking dinner, it's good to keep in practice for Ora's arrival.

Thanks, everyone. Shuley, the onions were wonderful, I wish I had put more on, next time. CK, I do have the wire kabob version and planned to use it but the ends are quite thick(not the wire itself) and they are rounded. I didn't think I could get the food on it as easily without breaking the food up.

Yea I love those king scallop shells. I've used them 3 or 4 times now. Great investment for about $12. . I have them in the freezer loaded with stuffed scallops waiting for my sister to come visit in a couple of weeks. Reef's Bistro

I hear you. I grew up in a family of good cooks who made most things from scratch. All of my life I have had a high standards that most restaurants won't live up to food-wise. On the rare occasion when I do go out it is because I don't feel like cooking and it's just a break, and since I don't have high expectations I'm normally not disappointed – LOL! As for good barbecue it typically is not to be found in Southern California. I have lived in other parts of the country including the south and I know what a good barbecue is and isn't. It's nice to know that I now have the means to more easily achieve excellent barbecue results at home. But more importantly to me, this helps me to do what I really love and that is to cook for friends and family. The KK is an excellent tool that will allow me to do more of what I love...

He was standing and just holding the handle hahaha.

I wished I could see one...but I took everyone's word for it. Funny thing is the guy has never cooked on any kamado.

The results… Outstanding!

Steve, thanks, everyone, we Canadians certainly try to eat well. Thanks, Tony, it's just a little of the marinade, Kraft Zesty Italian. CC, thanks I sure did enjoy it and will be doing this more ofter, it was so easy.

I periodically drive 150 miles to get to my nearest Trader Joes! So, as the song goes - "Don't cry for me, Argentina!"

Hopefully, you logged your top vent positions as you went up in 50F increments, as the KK is very repeatable. It will be your standard temp chart going forward.

I ended up naming mine "Pele" for the Hawaiian Goddess of Fire...

OK it's about 1:15 in the morning Pacific Coast time and I just closed up Pele after about seven hours of running time. I did not bother checking the calibration of the thermometer before mounting it so I'm hoping it is accurate. I didn't get any smell until approximately 650°. I had it sitting at 550° for a couple hours and then took it up to 600° and still nothing so gave 650° a shot and then I began to get "the smell." I let it run at 650° for about a half an hour and then closed the cap Just a bit to back down below 600° and kept it there until just recently. I observed dribbles of the white material in a few spots though no lifting of tiles. Backed it down to about 550° and then 500°, and have now closed Pele up for the night, lightly snuggling down the cap followed a couple of minutes later by closing down the lower vents. But for the higher temperatures I needed to get "the smell", I seemed to have had an uneventful burn-in…

First cook. Not brisket or anything, but still searching out where to find the good cuts on the island. Was very good, family is happy (and full). The basket seperater was a nice way to get a great sear going, and finish the fish on the side while grilling the oil, cumin, paprika, salt n pepper asparagus. Homemade crab cakes with blue and rock crabs my son caught with friends today in Menemsha. Chipotle pepper and lawrys for the Salmon and Swordfish, and the sushi grade tuna in particular was very very good! 5 pepper fresh cracked crusted with a bit of Hawaiian Alaea volcanic sea salt rubbed in....yum.

Sorry, don't have any "how to" pictures of the basket splitter. It's fairly intuitive - look at the pictures in the Store on the main website. The main divider just drops into the middle of the basket and hooks onto the sides. From there, it's what you're trying to accomplish, as there are several different configurations. Most common is to put the half moon shield piece on one side of the basket in between the basket rungs. This gives you the classic two-zone cooking arrangement. Depending on which size grill you have, you can orient the basket to be left/right or front/back zones. It also "turbo's" the airflow throw the half with charcoal, for getting up to searing temperature quickly. There are other variations - full basket, half depth = two half moon grates in the middle of the basket (with or without the splitter, doesn't matter). Gives full grill coverage, but only uses half the charcoal in the basket. There's the quarter basket arrangement - half moon shield piece on one side of the basket in between the basket rungs and one of the half moon grates on the other. Never seen anyone post that they've used that one. It would have to be for a very short cook (e.g., fish, shrimp, etc.) Hope this helps?

I always told my students that people always invest their time, talent, and treasure in those things that are most important to them. Tiny and Ckreef, you good guys prove my point. KUDOS!

I will probably be the least wealthiest kk owner on the planet. I do know how much use I will get out of it, so it made sense to me. I own Akorns and can cook anything I desire on them but if I'm going to cook almost ever night I would rather have the best tool available. Sort of like my motorcycle. Yup a Honda would have worked but I still bought the best American V-twin chopper I could find/afford. I've been saving my pennies too. Also sold a gun and a grill that was not being used to put towards the kk fund. If somebody doesn't understand the kamado I want then they probably also don't understand the motorcycle I ride. I'll just smile and let them go eat McDonald's.

Get'em started young, I say!

Wilbur - I like Smaug so much better than Toothless! LOL! Smaug. A name fit for a KK! Toothless. A name for an Akorn! LMAO! That felt so good! I can say that here and not get flamed! In fact, that felt so good, I need a moment and a cigarette!