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When I saw this picture, I thought, "What kind of mutant corn-on-the-cob do they have down under?!?!?!" Then I scrolled up and read your post.

Smoked strips of Pork Belly.. They get more smoke in strips.

Used the cold smoker with cherry and coffee wood.. Only salt, pepper, and dried Thai chilies. Fat rendered beautifully, super tasty and moist.. left them to rest, left the room, came back and they were almost gone.. 240º until they split when lifting..

Well, what more can I say. It was such a beautiful surprise to wake up to this- Nice white light and fluffy. Enough to get the snow blower fired up. All of a sudden I noticed a bright white light and wonder what is that doing there, then realized it was the sun. Thanks, Tony for brightening things up.

CeramicChef has entered the building! After an extended absence, I'm back and ready to burn some lump! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa for the extended absence. I had a lot of overseas business that demanded my attention and I screwed up my Forum login here, hence my absence. I just talked to Dennis yesterday and got my password reset I went to Australia to help a friend of mine get his business in shape to sell. The guy is a wonderful entrepreneur, but from an operational standpoint, he's a putz. We got all the books lined out and negotiated the deal. While there, I got a message from a buddy in New Zealand. He asked me to come over and help him die. Lymphoma. Again. That was tough duty. Then I no sooner hit The States and I get a call from an old college buddy and he asks me to come to Houston to help him die as well and act as executor of his (sizable) estate. Cancer on his brain stem. Right now I'm feeling like Typhoid Mary. I'm getting to that age where friends are starting to leave this world and its' rather sobering when you come to that realization. I haven't burned any lump in a very long time. Beauty and The Beast are right where I left them patiently waiting for a pork butt, some NY Strips, and the odd pizza. I've gotta burn some lump and burn it soon. I hope everyone has been well and cooking some great food. Welcome to all the new KK Owners since I've been gone. By now you realize what a great decision you made choosing to join Dennis and the KK Family. It's great to be back and I look forward to getting re-acquainted with my KK Family, seeing all your great cooks, and getting to know all the new members here.

Was planning on putting on the rest of the tile today but was in the 30's this morning and with leaving for a cruise tomorrow just didn't have the time. I went over and took a look at it for the first time since putting on the batch of tiles and they are secured very well. Just need to cleanup a lot of the excess insulation. Looking around online I found that a lot of tile guys will use a nylon brush wheel attached to a drill. They use it on glass back splash tiles in the kitchen so figured it wouldn't damage these tiles. Got the email today that the remaining parts shipped so hoping we can get her done and fired up soon. I just put a brisket in the freezer that I had wet aging for 45 days in the fridge. That may be the inaugural cook.

Pete Wells, the New York Times restaurant critic, reviews Franklin Barbecue: A MacGyver of Slow-Cooked Meats at Franklin Barbecue Spoiler, he likes the brisket. This would be his second bong reference in a review; he can't be unaware of how widely quoted the first reference was: At Thomas Keller’s Per Se, Slips and Stumbles Per Se is his most recent but not most famous take-down; that would be Guy Fieri. As Not Seen on TV

First ever lamb ribs coming tomorrow. Here's the lucky lamb

I can understand ordering pizza delivery. I owned a restaurant back during the 80s, hamburgers, franks, fries, onion rings, and grilled cheese. Made a really good sandwich. But .... you got so tired of eating the same thing every day! We traded bags of burgers for seafood, stakes, pizzas, chicken etc. and we did it all the time. Even chateau briand gets old eventually. I bet even the guys at Franklin's down in Austin get sick of brisket and will kill for a pizza.

Australia: Even the corn will kill you!

Can't wait to see it. The before and after pictures should be stunning.

I get the steel up to 475 500 according to my infra red thermo. any hotter and it burns before it cooks. Thanks eh? I'll try to keep in the loop more LOL well no, you got me there, NOT that it was too cold mind, just choveling the drive is enough and THAT didn't get done till yesterday HA. We did however, do some piggery dogs and home made pita in the fireplace :-p. Sue

You've been on a challenging circuit @CeramicChef! But surely feels great to be back home and getting back into your groove. Your KK groove ;). Good to have you back in our corner!

Great to have you back @CeramicChef. Thats some ride you have been on over the past few months. Looking forward to your posts here again on the forum.

Fancy cheese and bacon ,can't remember the name of the cheese so it must have been fancy lol Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

An easy dinner today, OctoForks pork loin leftovers, mac & cheese leftovers and some veggies.:)

My half chicken is officially finished. Made 4 bottles of stock and a hot chicken sandwich.

When I bought my Kamado Joe I had a word with my insulated cabinet smoker and reassured it that it was still the champ. With my KK’s arrival, no such reassurances were made. This time, the title of "Champ" must be earned. The competitors. On the left is the reigning champ, my 270 Smokers Standard. Boxy but good. On the right, the challenger who needs no introduction. 270 started as a regional brand based in Lexington, VA that made inroads on the competition circuit and is now sold throughout the US and Canada. I was an early adopter, posted a review at BBQ Brethren, and still field IM’s, emails and even occasional phone calls from owners and prospective buyers. It's an insulated cabinet with a unique design known as heated draft. I'll spare you the details, but the bottom line is that it is a convection smoker whose design amps up the flow, promoting very even temps and smoke distribution. Water pans are optional but recommended. Couldn't be more different from a KK in terms of airflow and the means by which it manages temps and moisture. To sustain that air movement, the 270 burns a lot of briquettes. After running my KK for 10 hours at 275 the other day I only needed to add two coco char sticks to reload the basket for today’s cook. The 270 excels at cooking the big four proteins popular on the KCBS circuit, so this is stiff competition for a KK. I’ll be using each cooker with my best practices for each. Here's a view of the 270’s firebox loaded to the brim. I’ll burn a fair amount of that today. Lighting procedure is ½ chimney of lit coals laid on top, burning down Minion style. The ever familiar KK lighting procedure for low and slow. One spot lit. Fifteen minutes before the ribs go on I put the smoke wood in each. One chunk of hickory and one of cherry go in the 270. You can see significant fuel consumption already. We'll add more chunks as the cook goes on. Just how you roll with this thing. And the smoke pot with one chunk hickory, two chunks cherry, and the gaps filled with cherry chips. That's it for this cook. No refills. The ribs: four racks of Costco St. Louis cut spares. Four racks seasoned with Meat Church Honey Hog, with two of those seasoned with a second layer of Honey Hog Hot. One of each will go on each cooker. After two hours, both are looking good: Both cookers are struttin' their stuff, smoking their little hearts out: Maintained a steady 275 on both cookers throughout. For the KK this was effortless. For the 270, I had to actively manage the vent because as the coals burned down, the ash was starting to affect the burn of the remaining coals. Whenever I opened for spritzing, the KK recovered immediately to the same temp. The 270 required 5-10 minutes to recover. After 3-1/2 hours the ribs in both cookers were passing both the bend test and the toothpick test. Here's the fire box of the 270 at the end, full of ash and burned down quite a bit. The final product. The KK ribs are on the right. The 270 ribs are on the left. Don't tell my blind taste testers. The Test: I had four blind taste testers. Three are my wife and two daughters who have eaten plenty of 270 ribs. The fourth is Mr. Qua, my eldest daughter's friend, who helped me move my KK to the back yard and is now pleased as can be to be eating ribs. The Results: Wife and daughter the youngest decided both were equally good, although my wife did pick up on a "smokier" note in the 270 ribs. As we discussed it, we concluded that note was the flavor of the briquettes underlying the wood smoke. Not unpleasant, but distinct. The KK ribs cooked with CoCo Char lacked this note. Daughter the eldest and Mr. Qua both picked the KK ribs without hesitation. When asked why, they both stated immediately that they were more moist. I'm the fifth vote and noted that as we continued to eat ribs (Wife and daughter the youngest finished early, so didn't notice this), the KK ribs retained their moisture as they cooled, while the 270 ribs seemed to dry up a bit. The Verdict: With 3 votes for the KK ribs and 2 votes neutral, the new champ is my KK. The KK was both easier to use by far, and also produced more moist ribs. Look for my 270 on Craigslist soon.