Leaderboard

My first Short Ribs in my KK Big Bad wowww I’m very very happy

And here it is. Plated Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Memorial Day Weekend, so Shanks for the Memories! Moroccan spiced honey lamb shanks from my pal Adam Perry Lang. Reducing the glaze after an all afternoon braise. Perfect with pearl couscous and a nice Petit Verdot from a winery up the road.

Pizza night Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pizza night. Cheese pizza, pepperoni, Hawaiian, veggie. 6 weeks of consecutive pizza cooking and I can say my crust game is improving. I finally nailed the sauce and will be using this recipe going forward

A rack of lamb and some drumsticks. Tonight Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pizza night. Sourdough crust with 10% fresh milled hard red wheat. DOP San Marzano tomatoes. Fresh mozzarella, prosciutto and artichoke hearts. Baked on the KK 23 with a baking steel for leopard spotted crust. There were no survivors.

All these gorgeous pizza cooks, I'm inspired to going for it tonight. Last night was repeat of a recent favorite: Peri-Peri chicken thighs. Direct, 325F initially, bumped up to 375F to crisp up the skin, peach wood chunks. Plated with roasted garlic couscous, carrot salad, and a nice peanut sauce. My fav summertime wine - Vinho Verde (Broadbent).

Brisket today. 2nd attempt in recent times. Following Franklin and this board’s recs (thanks especially Tony b!). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You set a beautiful looking dinner Tony if it tastes as good as it looks oh boy! I like some please

Wow. Particularly as I've settled on a 3:4 ratio closer to my dough hydration, for a different flavor profile and easier mixing. That would be perfect for sealing smoke pot lids!!!!!

Did something a little different for dinner last night - alder wood planked salmon. Dizzy Pig Raging River, white onion and tomato (dusted with lemon myrtle). Direct, main grate, 325F. Grape vine pieces for smoke. Plated with roasted broccoli and scallions, with a nice chermoula sauce. Hasselback dinner rolls with garlic and green onion tops. Wine is a nice Chardonnay/Viognier blend.

Another Friday night steak dinner in lockdown! A nice Denver steak from the local butcher. Seasoned with Gunpowder and Dizzy Pig Raising the Steaks. Started out on the half grate (direct), then dropped down to the lower grate for the final sear. Mesquite chunks. Plated with air fryer potato wedges (sprayed with duck fat) and creamed spinach with mushrooms. Chimichurri sauce on the steak. Wine is a TJ's Malbec. My dog, Kipper, waiting, not so patiently, for me to take the pictures and give him a treat!

@Pequod the bottom of that crust is superb!

Looks like Pinhead from “Hellraiser.” 😬😊

The pizza stone (if you ordered one, not standard equipment) has a very smooth surface and is shaped like the grates. The "deflector stone" is not polished and round. Like MacKenzie said, makes a nice stepping stone in a garden or a base for a bird bath. No one, not even Dennis, uses it for cooking. The only reason he keeps making them as part of the "standard equipment" is that converts from other kamado grills are used to having them with their old grills.

Welcome back, Bruce! 1. Every grill is a bit different, so there's no "universal" damper settings. Looks like you're going to have to set up the cooler of adult beverages and spend an afternoon re-learning your grill! But, your initial guess at 225F is pretty off - at least on mine (23"). It's like a 1/8 turn (just barely off the seat) on the top. Bottom vent opening isn't critical, as long as it's open enough for the airflow needed to support the temperature you're shooting for. One and Half turns on mine would get me somewhere around 550F or higher. 2. The Maguire polish is only for esthetics, not for any required maintenance on your KK. Patching the grout is the only thing you need to do. 3. I open my top vent a couple of turns during initial startup to make sure the coals are going OK. Once dome temperature gets within 50F of my target, I close it back down to where I think it should be. Normally, I only light one spot of charcoal for a low & slow cook, but if you want to speed things up a little, and don't mind burning up a bit more charcoal, you can always light a couple of spots. Have fun re-learning your grill. Post pics of those amazing cooks that are coming!

Sounds like Franklin cares more about the color of the brisket for when to wrap.. Not related to the stall. He also does not always wrap.. Talks about it in the first two minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMIlyzRFUjU

While I don't plan to be making any sour dough starter in the near future (baking is just not my thing!), I do use the flour paste on my smoker pot to seal up the lid. Beginning to get worried about the flour shortage in the stores. I only have maybe a half pound of AP left. Ain't going to spend the $$ on King Arthur to make flour paste with! Need the cheap stuff (I think this last 2# bag ran me less than $1 on sale - doubt that I'll see that again anytime soon!)

Now there's a use for leftover sourdough starter.

Yup. There's some flexibility here. Why did I go with three 1/8" holes on the first smoke pot? Too many holes, and more air gets in, the wood starts burning normally which we're trying to avoid. On the other hand, a single hole could get blocked by an unlucky arrangement of the wood chunks inside; the pressure would then lift the lid, and we'd again have the wood burning normally. Three holes is like NASA flying with redundant systems. It seemed a good balance, and it's worked out for many of us over the years. I seal my lid with flour paste. Much easier than it looks, and of debatable necessity. I did have other versions of lids come loose (stainless steel containers) ruining my cook. So I'm being cautious. And the flour paste has the romance of the Fez Medina; that's how they improve seals in Morocco. Above 275 F or 300 F the smoke pot can get out of hand. I have a picture somewhere of a six inch stream of flames coming out the bottom, from the gases igniting. This isn't our goal for normal cooks.

Yummy.

Been prepping for this cook in my head fir months. Bought the meat Wednesday. Marinated it for two days. got the bone in leg of lamb even though my butcher told me I was crazy to do bone in on a rotisserie. I was very happy with the results. First time cooking a piece of lamb this big and let alone on the rotisserie. I may have slightly overcooked it but it the flavors were in point served with Mediterranean chickpea salad and homemade Tadziki Quite possibly the most fun/enjoyable cook of my life. Very happy with the first effort IMG_2572.MOV

The veges were a bit on the crispy side, maybe water base rather than oil next time..... but, that will compromise the crackle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if this counts but leftover chicken from Wednesday repurposed with fresh handmade tortillas ($2.99 for pack of 15 from my local market) into quesadillas with fresh avocado (cause we put avocado on everything in San Diego)

From what I've read most of us put our KK's on the deck. Now if your deck is 8 or 9 feet in the air well that's a horse of a different color. I remember just recently Toney mentioning that if he sold the farm the KK is staying planted on the deck because he doesn't want to move it again. Swear to God. So a decision is forthcoming soon and I'm at crossroad. What do think? Should it go up high or stay down low? The weight isn't a concern, I believe I could park my SUV on it. It definitely would be nice to enjoy at short distance, but once it's there I think it may have to stay with the house, ( not that I'm moving anytime soon.) Like Basher I fed the tradesmen, a plate of hotdogs, tatoe salad and chips that disappeared before I could get the picture and these bacon wrapped pork and stuffing things. Drizzled in Saucehound BBQ Spice rub recently purchased on Amazon. This is a good rub for ribs, chicken and gives a nice color,,,just an all around good rub. 5lbs for $39.69....can't beat that

All, I recently reclaimed my weekend hours from work and so am back to learning how to use my 23" grill after a several year hiatus. I have a few questions for the forum. 1. Does anyone have instructions for the dampers and where to set them for the different temperatures? I lost mine during somewhere in my last 3 moves. Yes the Komodo travelled with me through all three. For instance for 225...is it 1.5 turns up top and 40% on damper below? Any good videos on youtube on how to set temperatures....would be great if there were. 2. The white residue on the tile due to water leaking through grout which I just repaired thanks to Dennis. Is this where I use the maguire polish? 3. Any idea for how to get the grill up to speed quicker for a 225 degree cook? Would love to know tricks as I am not very patient and this is likely the one thing that has held me back from using the grill more. Thanks! Bruce

I had a problem with my 23” that was unexpected. Dennis solved it at no charge to me. You can count on Dennis and KK for the ultimate in customer service.

Wrapped at 166-173 on the Meater probes (which have performed great, more on that later). Wasn’t as mahogany as Franklin talks about or pics I’ve seen, but...I guess I was worried about it drying out. Thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ditto to being pizza inspired! Those looked tremendous.

I always fill up on lump and that concrete deflector makes a good stepping stone.

Just going by what he wrote in his book. When you've cooked as many briskets as he has, you can fly by the seat of your pants (gauging by color). Plus, he's talking about all the variables - type of smokers (all of his are off-set stick burners), green vs aged wood (He doesn't use charcoal), etc. So, just experiment and see what techniques work best for you is the main point. What I wrote works for me. YMMV

Thanks Tony. You are correct...am on my 2nd glass of a nice IPA as I write this. I did just figure out the settings after trial and error which your post just confirmed. Had an old thermometer telling me my dome temp was 100 degrees when it was 300...I could tell that when probe was too hot to touch... Cooling KK down took another 1/2 hour so am now behind my cook by an hour so time for one more beer. Anyway, I then backed it down to the 1/4 turn with 1/8 open on bottom and that seems to have been the trick to keep it at 220 temperature. I will try your 2 turns and 50 degree cushion next weekend when I do my first brisket in 5 years. Last one was amazing so hope I figure it out again.

@oakland I just bought a meater probe. Keep us/me updated would love to hear how good the Bluetooth range is.

I would be very happy with that, too!

Thanks! All we have is time these days, so that's the easy part :). Also giving my new meater probes a first run. Forgot to check the calibration, but they're all reading the same so...

Wow! Very very nice! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks amazing as always Tony

Nice! Love Raging River on salmon. Love viognier too.

Well, had a bird in the freezer, so decided to try something new.. After all the shenanigans to get the white and dark done at the same time, icing the breast and all. I looked around and found this.. If you don't know about Guga and his two YouTube channels.. Pretty interesting and entertaining.... I like parts of this technique, and dislike others.. Did not like his way of gravy making, so kinda did it my own way. I cut up the. bird as he did. Vacuum sealed and baptized in 2 SV tanks as instructed. 150 for dark, 131 for breast. Both for 24 hrs. I took the carcass and wings and scraps, and chopped up a leek, celery, carrots, onions, garlic and a few bayleaves and peppercorns. Into a shallow pan @ 425 turning once at 45 min, and the letting it go another hour or so until it was well browned with a nice fond on the bottom. I scraped out all the awesome brown "crud" as Mad Max calls It and reserved in the fridge for later. deglazed the pan with water and put it all that was left in a pressure cooker, with water to almost cover. Brought to high pressure for an hour, then strained out all solids, stole some extraneous scraps from the solids, dusted with cajun spices, and had a snack I mean a feller has to keep his strength up! Took the stock and am reducing bit today, with the giblets and neck. When it is ready will thicken with a little roux if needed, and chop up the neck meat and giblets and toss them back in.. (along with the "crud") I do admit, my house smelling like heaven right now! This evening, will pull the turkey out, pop into the KK until deliciously brown, and along with some SV taters, feast away! I will let ya'll know how it comes out!

Thanks Tony and Steve! Yeah, I have/love the Franklin book, and will be rereading it tonight. Have the correct butcher paper, which I haven't used before. But, any excuse to spend a few bucks to add another tool to the arsenal, right? Agreed on good meat. We're lucky enough in life that this is now a given. This brisket is from Marin Sun Farms here in CA, but...they are 100% grass fed, which is a big Franklin No No working against me, I think (next time I'll be sure to go grain finished). Our weekly meat CSA is also grass only...sooooo...gonna have to source some grain finished brisket. Shouldn't be too hard, just not as easy during virus times. I'll report on the brisket tomorrow!

Turkey done ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gravy!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tonight I’ll spin a pork loin marinated in oak aged balsamic with white truffle. Then spiced with pepper- purple and black, garlic, chillie and paprika. Half an hour into the spin I’ll add the double bottom drip pan with spuds, onion and bacon. Not sure how this will go and the timing- maybe an hour with the 1 and 1/2 hour spin? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Suddenly cold here tonight. No plants yet Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bourbon sausages w/Stone IPA whole grain mustard

Sorry no magic pencil. This is long overdue, years, but it's getting done. Use to be that I got my supplies upstair in the kitchen and walked to the front carrying it all then down to landing and down again to the lower level, through the laundry room and out to the lower deck to cook. Just hope you didn't forget anything because it's all uphill if you did. Anyway I look at now the trip will be shorter.., up or down when the work gets done. This will be #2 spot and the decision as you may be aware of comes from a higher authority. I have the help to move it up, getting it down later is another story. My hearts still in it, the body seems to be elsewhere.

Nice ribs with a 3 blend rub can't wait..... Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

I am posting this with a heavy heart. I appreciate all of you and the friendships made over the years. I love cooking with my KK’s and everything that comes with it... but I am done in 2020. This is taking up too much of my time. I am struggling to keep up with the everyday chores of cooking, cleaning and maintaining my home, so something has to give. I have decided to get rid of my gear. Below is a list of what's available. Serious inquiries only, and please don't insult me with low offers. Thanks for reading and understanding... 1. Vacuum cleaner 2. Dustpan and brush 3. Mop and bucket 4. Lawn Mower 5. Leaf blower 6. Laundry detergent 7. Iron 8. Broom

Winds finally died down early evening and the sun came out last night - so grillin' time! I used the FoodSaver to force marinate some pork souvlaki for dinner. On the lower grate, direct over the basket splitter, a small chunk of peach tossed in, as it was going to be a short cook (about 20 minutes). Plated with some mint basmati, tzatziki, and a nice Greek salad. My last bottle of Bonny Doon rose. Randall Graham has sold the winery, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to get more? This was seriously good. Brought back memories of my trip to Crete a couple of years ago.