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I had beginner's luck with growing peppers on our allotment for the first time this year. We had an amazing summer and I harvested boxes and boxes of peppers and other good stuff from our new square foot gardening plot. This was last weekend's harvest, radiating happiness on a dismal, rainy day in October. I love peppers and have previously made up Thomas Keller's pepperonata recipe and froze batches for use through the winter. This year I decided to try this April Bloomfield recipe https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/04/six-of-the-best-spring-side-dishes. I liked the results so much I have made the recipe three times so far this season. Here's the latest version. I never actually follow the recipe strictly but the concept is great and will sustain us through the winter. Peppers onto the lower grate of a hot KK. I think it was about 250C. First time I did this I kept the peppers in for about 35 -40 minutes, turning three times. Bad idea, the flesh got too dehydrated and I had a job to get the skin off. This time I left them in for just 25-35 minutes, taking the smaller ones off early. Part way through Into a bowl for about 10-15 minutes to make it easier to separate the skins. This time I also took out the seeds and stalks BEFORE grilling. Made them easier to peel and saved me the messy task of trying to get the seeds out cleanly from the hot soft mess that came out of the grill! Here are the tomatoes, roasted in the IDK oven because I didn't quite get the KK timing right. And best of all, bottled and sealed, ready to dispense summer's delights whenever I want. They are sealed but I also store them in the fridge to be extra sure they will last.

My new toy. Picked up a folding Brod & Taylor proofer. Maintains a humid environment at precise temps for proofing dough. Here it is in action doing what it does best: proofing. This will become English Muffins for tomorrow's breakfast. A completely frivolous purchase, but what the hey.

Congratulations @orthopod! I absolutely love the 22" table top. What colour did you choose? I am looking forward to seeing it in situ. Whenever there is a conversation about cleaning KKs there are the brushers and the vaccers. I still have not worked out what a "shop vac" is. Is it a known thing in the US? Here I bought this really simple and effective vacuum cleaner. It was super cheap as well, under £30 if I remember correctly. The only maintenance required is to wash the filter out every 5-10 uses depending on the amount of stuff you hoovered up. You don't get much simpler or lighter than this:

Mac thanks for the concern. I haven’t been doing much out door cooking lately don’t know why. But I do log on to the site to read posts all the time. I’m still here just in the background I guess lol

While I don't have mine, Others have gotten the Meater Block, and it CAN be connected directly to your home wifi network. Which enables Meater Cloud. So with the Meater Block, Dennis should be able to monitor a cook of mine if I send him a link. I'll be trying these features myself in short order.

Bruce is back, all is well with the world.

Greetings KK’ers. Whilst on sabbatical, I have acquired a Mockmill and been experimenting with Fresh Milled flour. The flavor boost is incredible. Quickbreads require no adaptation at all (so far). My first two sourdough experiments have also been smashingly successful and superbly tasty. A demonstration for your amusement: The mill doing what it does...milling. A loaf of 50% fresh milled hard red spring wheat. The other 50% is Giusto’s Artisan bread flour. This was 84% hydration with only sourdough starter as leaven (no commercial yeast), and no other agents like ascorbic acid or vital wheat gluten. This was baked in a cast iron combo pot in my oven and the result was superb. Much better flavor than any whole wheat bread I’ve ever had. This week’s victim was Spelt Sourdough, using 30% fresh milled spelt, 30% fresh milled high extraction hard red spring wheat (high extraction == some bran removed using a 40 mesh sieve), and 40% Giusto’s Artisan. This was 85% hydration and only sourdough starter leaven. Also, no ascorbic acid or vital wheat gluten. Used an oblong banneton for proofing and oblong clay baker for...well...baking. Again, a superb result and incredible flavor.

I just ordered the 22 table top. Thanks for the conversation Dennis. There is not a lot online about this model. How do you cleanout the charcoal byproducts. Does the front door/air control panel come off? Can someone post some pics

Bruce, how are you doing? Haven't heard from you in some time, I hope all is well. Anyone, hear from Bruce lately?

Why not just pick it up and turn it upside down lol shake the ash out

My block arrived this afternoon. It seems nice nice enough. Setting it up was pretty straight forward. I powered the unit on. It has a stand alone mode that can be selected, but thats not how most will use this. So I selected wifi mode. From there everything was done through the app.. I launched the Meater app on my phone, and it searched and found the Block via bluetooth. Within the app I paired the Block with my phone, and then it showed a list of wifi networks it could see. I selected mine, and entered its password. (raise your hand if your home's wifi password has the word "Bacon" in it ) Next step was linking it up to Meater Cloud. Which again was simple and straightforward within the app. Right now its charging the probes. Picked up a whole meatchicken from the store today. Plan is break out the roti tomorrow, put a probe in each quarter of the bird, and give it a spin on the KK.

Pequod, I've had one since they started and love it. I make yogurt in it also. It is permanently setup in this house.

I'm a diver, go in from the top and scoop up the ashes with a soup can and dump them in a waiting bucket.

LOL - i must be cheap, i use a plastic garbage bag laid out under the front vent, reach in from above and sweep the ash out with a 4" paint brush. I guess that is why Baskin Robbins has 53 flavors!

Tekobo That looks suspiciously like a shop vac

Tekobo I bought an instant p been making pressure cooker stuff. I made pepper beef yesterday, ahhh it turned out just so so veggies were too soft. Next time I’ll Sauté the vegetables and leave them out until the very end of cooking. But it tasted good Lol

That's what us Americans call a shop vac.

Cool. Great to hear from you again @Bruce Pearson. You brighten our days with your positive outlook. And I have missed hearing about your latest shopping splurge. What? No new sauce hoard? How are you getting on with the stuff you bought??

Great to hear from you, Bruce. [emoji16]I guess a lot of us are not cooking. I hope to get one done today.[emoji4]

Pretty as a picture, by God it is a picture! Well done, good show and all that.

That first picture is a cornucopia of great looking veggies. Nice job!

I remove the ash basket and go in from the top. I have a small sweepy brush and a small dust pan type arrangement. All KK's have a fairly large ash area under the lump basket. You'll easily get 5-10 cooks before needing to clean out the ash. Most people fill the basket full of lump, do a cook then shut it down. There will be unused lump leftover. Next cook use a stick of some kind to stir the leftover lump then top it off with fresh lump and fire it up for the next cook. You can go on like this for 5-10 cooks before cleaning it out.

I use a shop vac with a drywall filter, gets the inside nice and clean. The lower draft door does come off, so it’s quite easy to sweep ash out that way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The front door with the dials should slide out like all of the other models.

Sure looks deeeelicious. Just look at those fresh flowers and veggies.

This is the only way I can use my current single Meater effectively given the limited range. It means leaving one phone outdoors with the KK I can then see details of the cook anywhere in the house on my other phone. Not ideal but it works. I am looking forward to the Block even though I don't think I will need four probes. Does anyone know if the Block will allow you to monitor your cook even when you are away from home? It is so long since I last read the blurb...

Those look really good!

As you stated the Meater + is just a Bluetooth repeater built into the charging base. They also have a Meater Link option (in their app) which allows you to Bluetooth repeat with any smart device. All you need is an old smart phone or tablet that has working Bluetooth and you have a Meater + repeater without having to upgrade from the original Meater.

Those ribs are looking very tasty.

Great looking cook @tony b. My local Kurdish kebab place does individual lamb ribs, from the breast, marinated and then cooked relatively quickly on a skewer. Very tasty variation.

Yeah . I'm sure all is good Outback Kamado Bar and Grill

According to his profile he was last on the forum 12 hrs ago

Some people have trouble with reduced rise, using freshly ground flour. This problem is poorly understood by most writers, but understood by professionals. The issue is "green flour"; flour needs to age, but we want to grind fresh and not have the germ go rancid. Michel Suas has the most complete answer: Add 30 to 40 parts per million ascorbic acid. How? Mix AA 1:20 with white flour, sieve multiple times to mix completely, then mix some of that mixture 1:20 with white flour. One now has a 1:440 blend one can measure with a gram scale. This solved all sorts of problems for me. I also found rather noticeable variation in different sources of whole grains. Keep notes, and be sure to experiment. The flavor of adding a "guest grain" in moderation can also be a remarkable change. We don't drink the same wine all the time? Variation in bread grain is also good.

You really have to taste bread that is made with freshly ground wheat berries to appreciate the taste difference, it is truly awesome.

Way beyond me. I'll stick to King Arthur and be perfectly happy.