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Wow what a day but I got er done. I started by removing my test stones and running some string lines to square everything up properly. I first removed the grass layer. That's the hardest part of the dirt digging. Leveled it off and added another string line to mark the footer section. Dug my 4" footer slab and added rebarb holding it up with stone pieces. Poured the concrete using my new cement mixer "toy". Worth every penny of the $300 I spent on it. Here is Mrs skreef working the cement. By this time I was pooped out and grateful for the help. Here it is. Me and Mrs skreef didn't write our name in the cement but fat cat had to get in on the action. Really excited about this progress. In a couple of days I can start building my stand.

Better show some pics .missed the pulling dee made a slaw .

Not necessary at all where I live but if I get the right type it should leave the stones with a wet/darker look which will better match the WFO. Of course I will do a test spray on a couple of blocks first to make sure it gives me the look I want. Also the blocks I have are stackable up to 48" without being mortared together. After I put 1,500 lbs on top I'm sure they won't go anywhere. The stackable without mortar feature is part of the reason why I bought these blocks, I might just want to move all this sometime in the future. You never know what life holds.

So here is the immediate schedule of events: Mid week build the block stand. Spray on stone/block sealer (I done care about the sealing aspect but will give the blocks a darker wet look). If I can get those 2 items accomplished by Saturday and we have nice weather for Sunday I'll bring the boom truck home from work and move the oven into place. Fingers crossed on this schedule.

Looks good ckreef, just think all that hard work is gonna be over soon and you can just sit back and admire it...with a cordial of course. But..no rest for the weary, there's still work to be done, move them doggies, heeyah

Yep .http://www.bahamafood.com/pork-collars-your-new-secret-ingredient/.

Yeah, you are right, it is difficult to compare without being able to do a side by side comparison. I have not had the opportunity to use Dennis' cocochar but am happy with the cocoshell briquettes that I have found in the UK. One day, I might make it over to Indonesia or to one of your places in the US to see how the good stuff burns. As for binchotan, it still holds a mystical appeal. The fact that you can quench it in water after use may mean that it lasts quite a long time. I'll be working on that angle to justify value for money if I ever get to the point of buying some! We appear to have a similar back order problem here. I placed an order with a company that isn't answering my emails and I may end up filing for a refund through Paypal. There is another, more expensive, source here https://www.chefslocker.co.uk/konro-grill.html. They do have some interesting additional grill sizes on offer and so I might, in the end, bite the bullet and get one from them.

I love pork necks.. I'll never do a shoulder/butt for pulled pork again..

Ok so a lot of people on the guru are saying they don't like wings...... Well I Love wings. I don't do them near often enough. I really wanted to do something different because enough though I love the standard beer brined Frank's sauce hot wing, I just knew that wouldn't be very interesting and I like to stretch myself for challenge cooks. (however I did make some standard Frank's wings during this cook, but they were not the star) of course, perusing serious eats was a good start and low and behold I saw a recipe for jerk chicken wings. Now, I've only had "real" jerk chicken once and I adored it. I bought a bottle of the homemade sauce the restaurant used while on vacation but that bottle is long gone. So I was ecstatic to try making it. And then I got to thinking about my "Thang" I wanted to do cuban black beans and rice (which ended up turning into a coconut rice recipe from kenji that was delicious but a pain in my butt) but I didn't feel like doing either of those on the kamado.... Then it came to me. One of my favorite summer time sides! Mexican street corn salad. This stuff is bomb. Com and whenever I make it, it's gone in a flash. Which is good because it isn't so great leftover. With that lengthy interlude, here is my challenge cook. First things first, assemble the Jerk sauce and marinade All ready to go in the blender And all smooth Then marinated the wings for about 8 hours. Mean while I had been working on the Cuban black beans all day so I got to work on my Mexican corn salad ingredients. All stuff prepped for the corn I got the coconut rice going.... Which took forever but was not that difficult. Also not healthy. But really pretty tasty. After the wings had been marinating for a while I got them on the KK at about 350. The wings on the left are jerk wings, the wings on the right are just dusted with honey high and because BBQ wings for the kids and hot wings in case the jerk wings were gross. Spoiler alert-they were not gross. In fact, when I mixed up the sauce and tasted it it was so good my husband and I were licking the lid of the blender because it was soooo tasty. Then I got the cast iron hot on my Akorn for the corn salad and dumped it in and letting it pop and crackle After a bit it was ready to get all mixed up in the salad. Wings are just about done. Applied sauce to the hot wings and BBQ wings and set the glaze. And all the wings are done and I tossed the jerk wings with a little more sauce since it was so dang good. My plate of food. And dang all these wings were GONE. The next time I make the jerk sauce I will quadruple the recipe so I can have multiple batches in the freezer. My husband said they were the best homemade beans he ever had and went back for 3 servings.... And he never goes back for beans. This corn salad is always a hit and was the first thing gone. It was a great challenge cook. As we were eating my husband said "I love challenge cook night."

Yum looks delicious nice cook

OK, tonight's dinner, being totally confessional, is Leftover Kabobs. I had about half of a previously grilled tri-tip in the fridge that I was desperately trying to think of how to use it up? The muses came to me and said "kabobs!" So, I cut it up into chunks, seasoned the cuts sides with a blend of Dizzy Pig IPA and Sucklebusters Hoochie Mama, then onto one skewer. Some yellow onion and brown mushrooms on the other skewers, slathered with garlic olive oil and Sucklebusters SPG (salt, pepper, garlic) and a dash of purple crack (because!) Grilled direct, at 375F, for about 25 minutes on the lower grate. Done, on a platter of rice pilaf. Plated with a nice Pinot Noir.

I've got a medium backordered through Kirin, expected arrival is "summer"... You can get a large sooner, "early June". Sorry, @tekobo, I meant Korin... In case you were going to look. I'm pretty sure this is the mothership for konro grills.

Yup, thanks. I hadn't cottoned on to the wooden skewer challenge. I shall now go back to look at the grills and decide what I really need. A little one would be available now and would be more practical for storage and portability. On the other hand, the urge to go large (extra) is always hard to resist.

Actually only 2 1/2!! LOL

Not counting the wide versions most of the sites I've seen label them like this: Note this is listed in vents per side. SM - 1 vent MD - 2 vents LG - 3 vents - 30" XL - 3 vents per side with an extra brick panel - 36" I have the LG 30", 3 vents per side version. I use square rods to hold the skewers. They can be moved in and out so no wooden skewer section is exposed to the heat. I suppose on the extra wide version you could have 4 steel tubes running length wise effectively giving you twice the grill. I would need to go back into that website and do the mm to inch conversion on the width to see if that even makes sense. Other than that you're left with 2 options, metal skewers or using the screens. If you stretch wooden skewers across the bigger width you would have to load it completely full or the wood skewer will burn up and your food ends up in the coals (yea it's happened a few times before). Hope that made sense.

I wish I lived closer I wouldn’t mind giving you a hand this looks like a fun project

Yes, it is an interesting site - good references from some of our more famous chefs too. Did you get a LG or extra LG? And when you say that the extra wide versions would force you to use a screen every time is it because you wouldn't be able to bridge the gap with a standard person sized skewer? I may well have to be patient to get the right one but hope to get a konro in time to try it out in the garden this summer. A step up from those nasty smelly portable foil bbqs that I hate sooo much!

Ah. I didn't know pork collar was also the famous secreto. It gets sold in high end restaurants here as the cut to have off an Iberico pig. I generally use pork collar to make delicious cold smoked bacon.

@tekobo interesting website. What they call a LG most places have listed as MD. The extra wide versions are interesting but would definitely force you to use a screen every time. I believe the backorder issue was the factory just didn't produce the special Konro bricks for a couple of years. Once they did the current production run everybody was snatching up the grills. I had been watching the backorder status for about 3 years. As soon as I knew they were coming off backorder status I jumped on it.

I'm excited for you can Remember you asking if it will fit through the door and all you got was a pic of dee's foot lol .you are going to be so stoked when in rocks up .its an amazing experience to see the quality first hand .after you take an hour unwrapping it lol

Either way Bruce depends on your mood/time frame quick or slow lol.I love pork neck for pulling it's the scotch of pork tastes so good and with an injection the flavours shine through

Looks good, mmmm

That looks great! Can't wait until i can cook one on a KK!

Wow Tony! nice cooks looks extra deeeelicious. That pork chop looks like it weighs about 4 lbs.

Looking good Aussie I have a pork collar and can’t decide to make pork steaks or pulled pork. Any suggestions?

Awesome mate, looks killer. Can smash out one of them every weekend Great sunda arvo feed. You running at around 250F or so naked the whole way?

Tyrus the only tip I give to Raymond is work hard and treat your mother well lol..we have a beer economy down here .the odd 6 pack works good

I was pushed over the edge for wings by Shuley's wing cook. Marinated in Frank's Red Hot Sauce, then sprinkled with granulated garlic and black pepper just before putting on the grill. Wing on the KK. Wings are done. Plated with some chicken fried rice.

Finally catching up on some posts, been a busy week, plus the Forum glitch didn't help either. Did some beef ribs for a buddy this week. Came out great. On the KK with guru @ 265F, indirect with hickory, apple and oak chunks in the smoker pot. Plated with mashed cauliflower and grilled asparagus. Did a couple of other nice cooks this week, too. Scored some amazing double cut pork chops. Store had some corn (probably from FL), was OK for this early in the season. Also a batch of Cornell chicken, seeing as a friend wanted to learn how to make it. Have a great weekend!!

Aussie, I give my mechanic a bonus each year at Xmas to a nice restaurant in the area for him and his wife, always pays off. Do you do this with your butcher? I always tip him, he likes home grown, it's all legal now and well appreciated.

I think that CocoChar is a pretty good substitute for binchotan, but that's a bit speculative, seeing as I've never cooked with binchotan in my yakitori grill. Fingers crossed that Dennis solves the shipping problem, as I've been seriously hoarding my last few boxes of CocoChar.

I'm really excited about your new grill @ckreef and it is, partly, @Syzygies' fault. When I was running through my KK purchase options Syzygies slipped in an off the cuff comment about buying binchotan if I was really rich. I was intrigued about a charcoal that required you to be rich and disappeared down the rabbit hole in search of this mystery coal. Way too expensive for me but it led me to yakitori and the konro grills. It seems like an amazing art, making binchotan and then cooking wonderful morsels of meat over it on the konro. Whenever there is a TV programme on BBQ and someone eats really good yakitori it seems like it is a tranformative experience. How far am I on the journey? Well, I have had some sumi bincho briquettes in our basement for some months now (poor man's binchotan at a tenth of the price of the real thing) and am still waiting for my konro grill. Hoping it will come in the next few weeks so I too can spend a leisurely evening eating meat over super-hot coals.

That method of hatching the skin looks good, must try it sometime. Looks like a tasty cook. How to solve the problem of not enough meat? Wait until everyone is out and eat it on your own!