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Haven't posted in a while, but thought I'd do some pork shoulder for NYE today. 4kg picnic end shoulder, simple rub, oak and cherry wood, and ending up 20 hours at 235F. Rock solid temp control overnight from the KK - these picnic shoulders seem to take about 25% longer than the butts. Great flavour, nice and moist, plenty of leftovers for 2017. Photos are before, after and pulled. Happy New Year all!

This is my Guru challenge entry for December. Here it is: Tea Smoked Duck Tacos, Asian Vinegar Slaw, and Hoisin Barbecue Sauce, and homemade flour tortillas too! My wife is pulling the evening shift at the hospital for both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, so tonight is our last opportunity for a family celebration before my son heads back to school. We decided to do Tea Smoked Duck Tacos from Steven Raichlen’s Project Smoke, with some minor mods. Many people are intimidated by smoking a duck but it’s really quite easy once you figure out which end to light. I’ll pause for the groans… Please don’t ignite your duck! Do this instead: Raichlen’s smoking mixture consists of Chinese black tea, white rice, brown sugar, star anise, cinnamon sticks, orange peel, and cherry wood chips. His recipe directs us to throw this mixture on the fire at two different times, but I'm not real hot on the idea of throwing brown sugar and rice into the belly of my KK. Instead, this seems like the perfect application for the smoke pot. Just need to take care that none of the small grains of rice or other matter plug one of the holes on the bottom. So…let’s start with a bed of cherry wood chips. Next, we’ll add a layer of foil and make a pouch to contain the other smoking ingredients, then poke holes in the top of the packet: Next, let’s make the rub for the duck, consisting of sugar, salt, black pepper, chinese five spice, ground coriander, and cinnamon. And rub up our duck, first painting it with a tablespoon of dark sesame oil. And make our Asian Vinegar Slaw with some Daikon radish, carrots, and small cucumber. Finally, simmer the Hoisin Barbecue Sauce for a bit. Besides the Hoisin, contains soy sauce, dark sesame oil, dry sherry, ginger, cilantro… I’m using my CyberQ today because I have a really nasty cold and want to minimize my number of trips outside. I put the smoke pot on. Then the duck on the main grate, with the double bottom drip pan below to hopefully catch the fat that renders so I can save it for another day (yum!). The smoke pot is working, and the smoke definitely has a spicy note to it. Not your ordinary wood smoke. After about two hours I'm ready to paint another coat of sesame oil and then crank the heat. Done. Wife and daughter are making homemade flour tortillas. Time to eat! Super delicious. We'll definitely be making this again.

OK, so I did a roti chicken for dinner last night, which means I get to clean the basket, et. al. today. Just wanted to post some before and after pics of soaking the basket/clamps in PBW so folks can judge for themselves. Here's the basket before putting it into the PBW. Not seriously gunked up, but I clean it after every cook, so there's no build up. Mixed up 4 1/2 gals of hot water and 4 TB of PBW. Dropped the basket in for 4 hours. The basket doesn't fit, so it's a good side-by-side to see the PBW end and uncleaned end. Left side is straight out of the soaking bucket - no scrubbing at all. The right end and bracket weren't soaked at all. All I did to the soaked end was a light wipedown with a regular sponge. Here's the end result. While it won't get your basket and brackets looking "brand new," it does a pretty damned good job (IMHO), with minimal work - practically no elbow grease.

In progress. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year to all.. Just walking out the door here in Bangkok.. 2016 has been a surprise in soo many ways, looking forward to 2017. Have a good and safe one.. thanks as always for your friendship and support..

I didn't know where to post this soo.. My neighbour called guess they were making a recipe and needed a can of beans and since we live outside town it's much easier to borrow from your neighbours. I gave them the beans and received some locally made truffle chocolates, guess who won on that trade.... Some were filled with maple cream, which I love and this one was filled with maple cream and maybe cranberry, I could not really tell but it tasted delicious and looked beautiful.

Welcome to the Obsession, Paul! Looking forward to some pics of your cooks and grill down the road. Can't wait to see that dark green one as well, once it's in its new home!

Schweeet! Hope you get what you want. Application driven like most things but a 16 and a 32 ... as other's have here ... that would be a nice combo for a couple empty nesters that do some entertaining.

Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

And the saladlooking good Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

Dee made up a potatoe bake .potato and butternut pumpkinthen some corn and onionthen some cooled down cooked baconthen another layer of potatoshe used half a tub of thickend creamsome minced garlic2 packets of thisand added some milkmixed it to an even consistancy so it will flow through out the bakethen topped with mozzarella Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

Killer mate. Cant wait to see the outcome. That knife sharper is something from another planet!! haha. Never seen something like that before. I got some pork belly going on the KK this evening, Im hoping the crackling turns out mint.

I just got a 5 pound jar of that PBW from Amazon yesterday looking forward to trying it out

That whole meal just looks wonderful. That duck just looks so tasty and this laws making my mouth waterand this laws making my mouth water

What a nice looking meal, and with a cold to boot!! Kudos!!!!!

Mine hasn't been that clean since the day I got it. I really need to order some.

Dang it man. You pulled out all th stops on that cook. Looks delicious and a great entry.

Nicely done mate looks terrific that just had to taste great Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

I have written Dennis privately for advice on the best gasket retrofit for my 2009 23" KK Ultimate. For indoor ovens, a common warning that comes with using ample steam is possible damage to the oven. Electronics? Glass door? Hasn't been my problem. For a KK, the gaskets are perhaps the most vulnerable component. When steam condenses back to water, it transfers a massive wallop of energy; that's why steam burns are so dangerous. Perhaps the KK gaskets are glued on fine for normal use, but can't withstand constant bombardment by steam. I'm too hooked on bread to give up this practice, I'll figure this out, but in the interest of full disclosure I wanted to raise this possible issue.

Beautiful cook, HalfSmoke, awesome and it all looks perfectly delicious.

Yum!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Done and resting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, guys I just ate the last piece today, it is such comfort food.

Nice chook mate.

Perfectly cooked skin.

Just think instead of smoking pot now we can smoke a pipe. Maybe we should put the pot in the pipe before smoking - just sayin .......

Need someone with 2 KK's, a cold smoker, and a pot. I'm one KK short.

Can't see any reason pellets won't work just as well. I have a bag of pellets somewhere. Will give them a try next time. ...and I agree about the generator vs the smoke pot. The pot is great, but the generator is accessible throughout the cook and you get controllable smoke intensity.

After 1 hour, the thin blue smoke is a bit more visible in this pic: And the smoke is definitely flowing: The temp is still hovering around 262 (target is 250), so closing down to the smallest hole. The air pump is on the lowest setting as well. All in all, very happy with the results so far. More to come.