Leaderboard

I've tried a few different versions of fried provolone over the last few days. I've come up with what I think is the ultimate version. Fried Provolone with sun dried tomatoes and Italian herbs. @MacKenzie do you recognize that small grate. I've found a few different uses for that grate.

See? No eyes.

I recently picked up a Gabby's Grill to try out this type of cooking. It fits into the standard 22" Weber Kettle. It is a fun cook with guests standing around the grill. If you have a kettle sitting around .............it is another alternative to consider. I bought it because I can move it to the family cottage, the boat and the house (have old kettles at each location). Tried it with both lump and wood. The wood burned great in my kettle.

I have avoided rising to the bait. Until now. Fly Eagles Fly.

It can be quite windy around here so I thought a heat shield was in order. A friend on mine whipped this stainless L shaped one and I can flip it over depending on if the wind is coming from the left or right. This is heavy duty stainless steel and it will not be flopping around. I added a small fist full of hickory pellets, maybe too much. These potatoes were already boiled. Done, it took about 20-25 mins. Plated.

Two things I wouldn't buy again: double bottom drip pan (used it once) and rotisserie cradle (I like the spit rod much, much more). Everything else gets a big thumbs up. A portion of that $4500 is likely to go to restoration of one of my hibernating hobbies -- astronomy. Used to have a decent telescope, but the Washington, DC area is too light polluted to see anything without driving an hour or two. Thinking I'd like to do some astrophotography from my nice, dark back yard.

First, a big thank you to @ckreef for initiating this post. The pictures at the start of the post made it very easy for me to assemble my new hot/cold smoker this afternoon. It didn't take long to set up and the 250V air pump that Dennis' team sent with the smoker worked just fine in the UK with an adaptor on the plug. My 1lb bag of pellets was the right size - didn't quite fill the smoker to the top. I lit the pellets from the side using my MAPP torch and they stayed lit for the whole of my two hour cook. Things to note/ask: 1. Too much smoke? I was surprised by how much smoke got pumped out, right from the get go. I turned the pump right down. The goose breasts that I smoked are cooling. Will see if they ended up with the right level of smoke. 2. Too little smoke? When I closed the top vent down to a 1/16th turn to keep the temperature down, I noticed that the smoke from the smoker more or less stopped. Maybe I should have turned the pump up at that point - will experiment next time. 3. Don't need the pump? I took the pump off and found that the smoker continued to smoke when I opened up the KK vents for my next, higher temp cook. Guess the KK vacuum pulled the smoke through? 4. Hot hands? How do you get the smoker off when you are done? Do you have to undo the Allen key bolts? 5. Off switch? How do you turn the smoker off? I think I saw a post in which @MacKenzie but hers in a KK to cut off air supply. I wanted to do the same but see 4 above. Instead I just left the smoker attached to the KK with the vents on the latter closed. Seemed to work. Happy to have my smoker and looking forward to smoking all sorts of food with it.

Cake - Sheep go to heaven goats go to hell (with lyrics)

Someone is always watching, camera on corner,,think you'll have to go underground, satellites, dress in the shower until it blows over. Tekebo can be trusted

The wife went to the store and bought 4lbs of Cod, I like Cod but 4lbs is um, a bit. Fired up the KK to around 300+ and placed the tray in to cook. Used the Rub some Fish and a little Old Bay on them with a good addition of stuffing over the top. Tow sides, one baked was Acorn squash with basil, celery salt and dry chipped onion wrapped in foil at 300. Spinach with caramelized onion was the other. Checked the freezer for old forgotten fish,,,,,,,,,,,,,no luck Mac.

I called it a heat shield in the title, it should have been wind shield. That is what it was designed for but I did notice that it is an excellent heat shield as well.

Looks delicious. I like your wind shield.

Good to hear that your new life is starting to become a reality @Pequod. I looked at your list and suspect I would have found the teak side tables and extra charcoal basket useful if I was anywhere nearby AND you were willing to split the lot. Wouldn't make sense to split it, I know. What I then wondered was whether there was anything on that list that you never used and would not bother to buy if you were starting over. Speaking of starting over, the $4,500 would be a really good seed fund for a goat enabled KK.

Agree. It was a lot of fun. I cooked a tri-tip my first cook and was very happy with the results. Didn't get a super smokey flavor from the cherry wood that I used but the flavor was there. However we did get a great sear and crust on the meat. T-Roy Cooks on a Gabby's Grill go to the 3 minute mark

I do recognize that grate and it is perfect for the Konro. In fact I'm thinking about doing wings on the Konro today and that is what I'll be using. BTW, that cheese is over the top delicious looking.

You take cheese pizza to a whole new meaning, original.

Looking good mate yum Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Looks terrific nicely done Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Two reasons I didn't try the beer. I don't have a beard and I don't like beer. I am a cider girl.

The problem is not leaving the lid open at high temps (that causes other issues with the grout in the lid) but closing and leaving it in the latch in the first position. This half-latched position destroys the gaskets because you then have hot air traveling over them.

I have to agree with you South American lump is a lot more dense. I really miss Wicked Goods Jake’s blend charcoal. It was difficult to light but once it got going there’s was no stopping it. It had very little ash after every cook. The next cook shake the ash off and there’s still a lot of charcoal leftover never had to add very much. To bad Wicked Goods Jake’s blend is no longer in production.

You're just trying to take the fun out of what could be an awesome fish cook. Just Sayin.........

Weird "parallel universes" story. Recipe that I gave Aussie was developed at Cornell University (NY) in their ag program right after WWII to promote folks eating more chicken. The Alabama White Sauce developed by Bob Gibson back in his day was completely independent, from what all I've read about both stories. They are similar, both are riffs on mayonnaise, but I find the Alabama version to be a bit on the sweeter side, whereas the Cornell chicken, as Aussie noted, is much more on the vinegar side. Glad you enjoyed it, Aussie! Cheers, mate!

The ribs turned out great ... Now for the chook thighs. Ready to put on. .on they go over apple. .after a few bastes got them to temp..and plated.. Cheers for the recipie tony b. These tasted so good the cider vinegar shined through which I thought it would but everything blended so well .very tasty Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

I think Aldi's is a weird store - with the mashup of being a grocery store and a hardware store? I agree, I'd much rather trade this new Aldi's for the old Fresh Market any day! They carried both my Dukes mayo and Michaels of Brooklyn pasta sauces. And had by far, the best quality seafood in this area. But, without a regional distribution center, they just couldn't make a go of it out here.

The Aldi's where I live is the crap grocery store of all time. Now Fresh Market, that's an entirely different story. My wallet usually can't handle a trip to Fresh Market.

With them being packaged Down Under, they might be a bit fresher than being shipped from over here. Aldi's are blowing up world wide! Even Cedar Rapids has 3 and the oldest ones both got a face-lift last year. The newest one just opened in the old Fresh Market - given my druthers, I'd rather have the Fresh Market!

It wasn't me, I believe that pellets are like briquettes and hot dogs.. if they are made with good fresh ingredients, they can/should be great!