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Thursday was my last day of students so we celebrated this weekend with a little BBQ. I tried out pork belly burnt ends (super fabulous). I pretty much followed John Setzler's timing, just made me own rub was the only difference, a 12 lb brisket, used my new homemade coleslaw dressing, funeral potatoes, Aaron Franklin's "regular sauce" - my older some helped me with this, and cheesecake from the cake bible- my younger son helped me with that. Lots of fun and we had hardly any left overs! I was shocked. Apparently I took no pictures of sides or the finished brisket. Dang it. Trust me it was moist. I mostly wanted to document the pork belly as that was new to me.

Not heaps of meat on these but what's in the middle is so good I've finally found my go to S&P crushed some purple Crack with outback spirits wild herb salt oh my god yum gave the ribs some are up the Jr for a apple and blueberry crumble and plated with some air fryer goodies Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

Heylo.. Just wanted to let the group know that I'm at a Mindfulness, Healing Retreat here in Bali June 2-9th that will probably limit my nightly hours answering the phone because my days will be 7:30am to 9pm. Wish me luck on a 8 day juice fast too.. should have smuggled in some little vacuum packed bags of brisket and Tri Tip for when I start jonesing for meat.. Last Wed was my first day starting with no solid food and no coffee too.. Argh and double Argh.. But happy wife, happy life and she wanted this for her birthday so here I am juice fasting, detoxing, lots of "breathing", meditation, yoga and healing sessions.. Problem is I can't even sit crosslegged or touch my toes.. ARGH.. Tight hip flexors!! Unless I snap and run away, I'll be here until next week Friday.. Wish me luck, 7 days to go.. Best time to catch me on the phone will be 9:30 - 10:30 am or 6"00- 6:45pm EST My staff will be helping me with emails and I will sneak back to the room on breaks and answer mails too.. Thanks for your support and understanding...

It's been a while since I've posted a cook. Here's grilled shrimps and scallops with pasta and pesto and grilled asparagus. No action shots, but here's the final product. So that covers the surf part. Here's the turf and turf. I was volunteered by my wife to make brisket for a friend's BBQ yesterday. Then I heard that they were going to cook ribs. I volunteered to smoke the ribs, because (1) it's really no extra trouble for Smaug to cook two things instead of one for a low and slow cook, and (B) I'm being selfish: I know I can make better ribs than my friends. The brisket was pretty straightforward. My wife picked up a 13 lb. brisket from our local butcher. I've found that one thing that makes brisket cooks more predictable is to keep the size of the brisket as constant as possible. I've been making sure that any brisket I make is around 12 lbs., and I try to stay within 10-15 lbs. overall. The rub was a 50/50 mix of salt and pepper. I set up Smaug, who decided that he wanted to be at 200ºF. The brisket went on at 9:30 PM Friday night. The goal was to have the brisket ready for lunch on Saturday, so I guessed about 15 hours of cook time. Early Saturday morning I prepped the ribs, using the Aaron Franklin rub method, except that I add brown sugar in for ribs. I planned to give the ribs about 6 hours of cook time before lunch. This is what the brisket looked like at that point (9 hours cook time so far). I decided to put the ribs on the lower rack. That's not the usual position for smoking ribs on a KK (or any other kamado grill), but I knew from experience that KK grills are so well insulated that the internal temperature is very even across all the racks. I wanted to keep the brisket flavor straight up beef, salt, and pepper, and I figured that the ribs might benefit from beef fat dripping on them. And then I put the main rack with the brisket back in position. I checked the internal temperature, and at the 14 hour mark the brisket seemed to be in the stall, at 165ºF. But it seemed like it was done, because it was probe tender everywhere I stuck the thermometer probe. Here's the money shot. I decided that probe tender beat internal temperature, and I was afraid of overcooking the flat, since it was considerably thinner than the point compared to other briskets I've cooked. So I took the brisket out, and checked on the ribs. By the bend test, they were not quite done, so I set them on the main grate to finish off. They were ready to go after another 40 minutes. Here's the rib money shot. And here's how they turned out. Brisket. Ribs. So here's my question. I've usually gone for a final IT of 195ºF or so for brisket, and it has been really good. But I think this brisket is the best one I've done so far, by a considerable amount. My theory is that Smaug really did sit in the 200-210ºF range for this cook, and there's something about cooking in this lower range that allows the brisket to get probe tender without getting to a 195ºF IT. My other theory is that when I trim a whole packer brisket prior to cooking, I get pretty aggressive about excavating that big pocket of fat on both sides of the point end. I take out so much of it that it's like the point is being held together by a narrow band of tissue in the center. (I don't have a picture of me doing this, so I hope that explanation made sense.) I haven't seen anyone else do this in the trimming stage of a brisket cook, not even Aaron Franklin. Maybe some of you all do this, and just don't mention it. I think that getting rid of all this extra fat could change the cooking dynamic compared to a typical brisket cook. The next time I'm making a brisket, I'll be checking probe tenderness more aggressively. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Marinated some pork tenderloin cubes overnight in a sauce of sriracha sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch. Saved a little to brush on the cubes once they were cooked. Going for a spin. Part way through you can hear the male pheasant calling, dinner at MacKenzie's. Cooked. Brushed with more sriracha and brown sugar sauce. Plated with some micro greens from the planter on the deck and sprinkled some onion chives and garlic chives. It will be much easier when I get my OctoFork Skewers. Hint hint.

Its not for everybody but certainly there if you want to use it

@Keith OctoForks - you should be, since several of us are eagerly awaiting the skewers to go with our Forks!! Just sayin'

Grilled Spanish Mackerel with homemade sweet chilli sauce. Served with ponzu Udon noodles and grilled honey, ginger cabbage. I've never had Mackerel before so I figured I would give it a try. Was trying to recreate a fish cook that a local Chinese restaurant does. Dinner came out as planned. The sweet chilli sauce had a great flavor but was a tad on the hot side. I warned everyone to come to dinner with their big boy panties on - LOL I now have a couple of recipes that tasted great. In the future will make homemade Ponzu and Sweet Chilli Sauce instead of buying it. I very loosely followed my recipe notes. I'm missing a few process pictures - oh well.......

Looks great! Now I'm thinking about kabob stuff.

Isn't it fun experimenting with different combos for the Purple Crack! This morning's eggs were Purple Crack with Sriracha Salt - tasty!

Very nicely done. Wonderful ribs and even better dessert! I love both. Kudos.

If you ever try it, make sure it is spanish mackerel. some other species are way too oily and fishy tasting for me.

That screams summer loving yum Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

Funeral potatoes are potatoes with sour cream, bacon, cheddar cheese, cream of chicken soup, green onions, garlic powder and a little salt and pepper. They probably have a different name, but that's what everyone I know calls them

Looks like a lot of fun. I don't think I've ever had mackerel.

Hey, Ken! Good to see you posting again. It's been too long!

Can you say "Arrested!"

I might have to find myself a dealer for this stuff. I'm close to a big party college - I wonder what would happen if I started asking around about purple crack.

I have them on the water.. I could also send one airmail directly to you..

My pair of OctoForks arrived today, on schedule. I had been contemplating what I'd cook on them first. Decided to go with the bacon-wrapped pork country style ribs (CSRs) and an ear of corn. Of course I had to take pics of the inaugural cook. The forks assembled and waiting to be loaded up. CSRs dusted with the house rub and wrapped in bacon. The toothpicks are good insurance, as I was using Meat Glue (Transglutaminase) to attach the bacon on the CSRs. Wrapped and finished with Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust on the bacon. Onto the Forks along with an ear of corn. Onto the KK @ 350F, direct, with maple and apple wood. Learned a valuable lesson. The single ear of corn really threw off the balance, even though I kept it close to the rod (center of rotation). The motor really struggled with this geometry. Wondering if it would have helped to put the corn at right angles to the CSRs (turned that fork to be perpendicular to the other one)? Just about ready to come off. Now for problem # 2. The off balance caused the point on the rotisserie rod to unscrew enough to not allow me to remove the rod from the grill. Ended up just taking the food off the forks and leaving the assembly behind to cool off until tomorrow. Good thing nothing was skewered onto the rod! Sounds like some LocTite is in order to solve this problem. Plated. Homemade potato salad, the bacon ribs, and Purple Crack corn (and I don't care! - LOL!)

This story will warm your heart! Here's the full story!! Garvin Teens battling chronic illness got the chance to experience all the glitz and glamour of prom night, thanks to a Florida hospital that was determined to help their patients experience all the normal milestones of growing up. Load Error 17-year-old Ruby Troche, who was diagnosed with gastroparesis, was one of the many extended-stay patients at the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando in attendance. “I missed most of the major high school events that go on in my high school because I’m here most of the time,” Ruby told InsideEdition.com. “It gave me the chance to socialize with everyone else and feel comfortable knowing that people there had similar medical experiences as me.” According to event coordinator Amanda Harris, the hospital brought in DJs, set up a dance floor and rented a photo booth for the big day. “Just because you’re feeling sick doesn’t mean that you don’t get to do the things all your friends get to do,” said Harris, according to the hospital. “It’s just like a prom that you would see at any high school.” Patients who were in the hospital in the last year were invited to attend, and allowed to bring a date. Parents were invited to a special dinner on the other side of the hospital, where they could be present while giving the teens their privacy. Ruby explained she was diagnosed with the condition more than a year ago, and would frequently be admitted into the children’s hospital for stays of up to two months at a time. Like many other patients, she missed most high school events or did not know her classmates well enough to participate in the ones she could attend. She said it’s always been her dream to go to prom, and even though she’s not sure whether she would make it to her own, Ruby said she’s glad to have participated in the hospital’s celebration. “I could feel the happiness and joy in the air, everyone was excited to be there,” Ruby said. “Having this happen just made me really happy I got to experience it with all the people I see most of the time in the hospital.”

Went to visit the seafood truck this morning and came home with scallops. Bacon wrapped scallops with mushrooms on the OctoForks sounded like a tasty cook to me. Add some air fries and homemade tartar sauce. Wrapped scallops and the mushrooms were dipped in melted ghee. On the grill and spinning. Just about done. Done. Plated.

Some of the best advice that we give potential buyers here - load up the shipping pallet with as much charcoal/smoking wood as it will hold. Cheapest price you'll ever pay for it.