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Greetings, So, as with many others on the forum, my path started with an initial interest in ceramic cookers prodded by a brother-in-law who liked one that was on "special" at our local warehouse club. I have to say I was unimpressed with the cooker they offered, especially when I Googled it and saw all the reviews. In my search, I noticed a picture of a beautiful, blue cooker. I hit the link and the rest is history..... six months later both of us have beautiful, 32" BB's in Dark Terra Blue. On a side note I talked the B.I.L. in to buying one first, that way I could figure out what options to get with mine. So, I know everyone likes details and pictures so here goes. As I mentioned the B.I.L. got his first so my first impressions were, OMG that is the most beautiful, huge, quality piece of equipment I'd ever seen and WOW are there a lot of pieces and WOW it is heavy. So, I knew I had have one but, maybe a 23" is really as big as I should get..... A couple of pics of the B.I.L. and his new best friend with his first brisket cook. Purchase, Delivery and Unload: After a few weeks of looking and second guessing myself on what size to get I went with the 32", dark terra blue, basket divider, side tables,baking stone, rotisserie, cover and several boxes of coconut charcoal and coffee wood spits. My decision to go with the 32" came down to the premise that you only get one chance to " buy horsepower", after seeing the flexibility to size the cook to whatever you need with the basket dividers and ceramic inserts it just makes sense if you have the room. With the side tables it takes up quite a footprint.... Delivery took about 6 days from California and everything arrived in good shape. So, with the tools shown I began the unpacking process. My plan was to do the unpack and setup by myself, and get some help to move it into place. As you might notice, I had the delivery guy roll the pallet into the garage. One thing to keep in mind is that typically you have to lift the crate up and over the top of the cooker. Inside the garage, I didn't have the head room inside the garage, now you know what the sawsall is about....IMG_0149.m4v Just make sure you have plenty of clearance for your blade path and wear gloves and safety glasses. Any saw will do the job. I won't bore you with the other details of the unpack. Let's just say that, I got it in place and yes, you need to plan and have help for that. The next weekend was a long weekend for Memorial Day (Thanks to all for your service!) so I had a chance to spend a lot of quality time with the BB. I'll let the pics speak for how great the weekend was. Cutting into the belly.....IMG_0110.m4v I'm so looking forward to many more great memories and really appreciate all the insight and experiences from the members of the forum. Last but, certainly not least, I too, am a Big fan of Dennis, have had several conversations with him and all have been enlightening and insightful. The quality of my experience is only matched by the quality of his product....

Here it is! Pardon my chow boy, he is always nearby.

Over the weekend, I decided to do my first rotisserie cook on the KK. We decided to go with a whole chicken. The bird was brined overnight and rested in the reefer uncovered for about 8 hours to let the skin dry out some. I used butter and Running Wild Peach Rub under the skin and just the rub on the outside. Unfortunately I did not get any plated shots as I was running behind and had hungry people waiting. The chicken was extremely juicy and tasted wonderful. I really like the Running Wild Peach. The skin was not as crispy as I would like so next time, I will forgo the foil drip pan and cook it direct while bumping up the temp for the last 10 minutes. Here is the chicken waiting to go on. Spinning for 30 minutes. Ready to come off. Resting, waiting to be cut.

I'm @ my wits end... Sometimes, late @ night, thinking about life, I'm @ peace with where I'm @ in life. @ other times, I'm @ my limit of endurance. But I always know, @ any time, if I need a dose of friendship and camaraderie, I am welcome @ the KK forum!

Baked bread today and after being away all weekend so there were lots of chores to do including baking bread. Therefore I wanted a quick lunch, scallops on the Baking Steel, sweet potato fries in the air fryer and salad from the deck salad bar. Scallops and fries cooked in the same time, 10 mins. Just coated a small section of the Baking Steel with Ghee and fried the scallops, covered part was through with a stainless steel bowl to make sure they would be done when the fries were done.

I had a Siamese cat that liked riding in the VW Bus and would go on long trips and get out at Rest Stops to potty and come back when called. I taught him Spanish for all his commands and I taught him to swim. He would follow me into the pools alongside a river but was smart enough to avoid the swift current. Fred was a good cat.

The entire show was less dramatic than the show that played out a couple of days ago for the Friday Afternoon Regatta. A big wind suddenly came up with sideways rain and 1/4" hail where we got of 1/2" of rain in 15 minutes. A 33ft sailboat was caught with its spinnaker up (he apparently was not paying attention to the weather) and in the process of them trying to frantically strike the sails they left lines dragging over the transom. Then these geniuses started the auxiliary engine and must have backed over the lines thus fouling the rudder and the prop. So, there they were in an outgoing 12 ft tide and the wind trying to push them in the same direction, all the while drifting diagonally toward the U.S. Navy active ship facility. The Navy Patrol boats were not amused and must have told those guys to put up a sail and sail away from them, which they did but it took them hours to get the 1-1/2 mile back to the marina for a rather bumpy landing. I never could figure out why they did not call 911 On The Water to get their boat towed back so they could get a diver under it. It was pretty entertaining while I had the KK going on the covered patio in this torrential downpour sipping a good Grey Goose VX...

Thanks for the nice comments. Just realized I fat fingered which model I got. We got the 32"..... Apologies for the mix-up. You know what they say about boys and their toys.....

I just bought some PVC pipe so that I can make a frame and cover for it and keep out those peskie little critters that tend to lay eggs on the red and green cabbage greens. Naturally they turn into worms that eat my greens. I figure some fine netting will keep the layers out and I'll have nice clean greens until the fall freeze up. I will make several plantings over the summer and the container is self watering so it doesn't drip all over my deck.

@MacKenzie - dadgummit, these cooks just keep getting better and better. That loaf of bread just looks wonderful! And those plated scallops are droolicious! Kudos, kudos, kudos.

Your rotti chicken looks wonderful.

Thank you for the suggestions and nice comments! Mr. Cue is a smooth coat chow chow. Smooth coat= short coat vs the regular rough coat=long coat. He is a big boy and weighs 87 pounds. I've done 2 cooks on it, promise pics next weekend! Actually that blue is a blue salsify and provence lavender I bought at the mother of all garden centers called Central Valley in St. Helena. Still calling it "The Komado and "Bertha" but will decide by the next cook!!!!!!!!!!

H@!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Happy Birthday! Congrats on another successful trip around the sun! Did you fix yourself a special meal?

What they said^^.

Big Hugs, Doc!!! Just know that you are loved here. We're Family!

H@s off to you, Doc! Th@s truly impressive.

@Bruce Pearson - geez! I hope you had the happiest birthday ever!

Great looking ribs!

My kind of entertainment, especially sipping the cocktail by the KK!

Nice ribs, mate. What did you put on them?

Got myself a rack of shorties thought I would go with a lime twist Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

Not as an actual "test," but i moved my phone, which was running the app, from the kitchen counter (within 6 ft of the KK) to the living room about 15 ft from the KK, and I lost the signal. So, I had to move the phone back to where it was. It sync'ed itself right back up. Was a good spot for it anyway, as that's where the phone charger is plugged in, so I just left it there to recharge. They say if you want more distance, you need the Block version (which isn't in production yet), or to otherwise connect it to WiFi, using an old phone (don't ask me how to do that - I maybe an Engineer, but I'm computer hardware stupid - not my field at all!)

@Aussie Ora - great looking ribs!, very nicely done. Kudos to ya and the KK.

Four ribs fitted nicely Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

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.

We're discussing low consequence science, and I have no doubt that you cook spectacularly well (and I would love to test this assumption if I ever get the chance!). However, anyone can cook better; that's what keeps us excited by the process. You would question the scientific approach in your statement if you substituted "surgery", "late 18th century", and "sterilization", and if you were the patient. For me, it is high consequence when I find myself thinking similar thoughts, because I fear aging. While I have a family history of brain hardware failure, I fear the software failure that can come first. Have I lost interest in revisiting questions I thought I had settled? As a mathematician, that would be career-ending. I came into BBQ in a period when "3:2:1" ribs were all the rage, the conventional norm and the unquestioned advice given to all newcomers. I basically did nothing but experiment in my first several years with a ceramic cooker, and I thought that foiled barbecue was absolutely wretched. One might as well use a crock pot. Much later, when Aaron Franklin's book came out, I was struck by his careful use of pink butcher paper. I made new experiments, and came to appreciate it. There's a parallel here with sous vide. Many people just don't see the need for it. The best cooks I know can outdo sous vide for traditional applications like steak, if they bring their A game with absolutely undivided attention, and nothing goes wrong. Any idiot can achieve better results than before with sous vide. So why would anybody want to be "any idiot" when we all aspire to be masters of technique? Life happens. I also need to fit in two errands, one of which becomes an unexpectedly long distraction. My guests are two hours late. That sort of thing. It is good to know robust techniques, over techniques that are superior in ideal circumstances. An MLB baseball season is 162 games; everything that can go wrong, will, and robust techniques win pennants. Aaron Franklin needs to hold finished barbecue for varying time intervals. We can't always count on guests that are ready to eat, to the minute, when I say the barbecue is done. I love how pink butcher paper holds barbecue. I recently included one rack of ribs as a teaser appetizer for a gumbo party, where I was already using my KK for other ingredients. The gumbo required all of my attention, and the meal timing was uncertain. While I prefer fairly plain ribs (no sauce with jars from the pantry to mask inferior pork) cooked never wrapped, here I wrapped in pink butcher paper for the last hour or two. These were the best ribs I've ever cooked.