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I was challenged by a Jewish friend as to why I was getting two KKs. I said one for meat and one for milk. They naturally adopted their names - Meat and Milk.

I found some steer rib fillet in the butcher today. Invested for the flavour and expected it to be a little chewy. Ended up full of flavour and reasonably tender- not melting, but closer to rump in texture. Here it is plated. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I started by naming mine Fat Man and Little Boy after the famous atomic bombs of the Manhattan Project. But some folks thought I was making a political comment referring to certain politicians. So...now it’s down to “Bubba” and “Hey You.”

I am awaiting the shipment of our 23” Ultimate as I purchased coffee wood charcoal and all are going to ship together. I think many of us are anxiously awaiting the KK coal. I’m pretty excited to try it as I’ve never burned it before. I’ve been thinking about names for our KKs and have decided on Cronos (32” BB) and Hestia (23” Ultimate). 😊

Being one of "those people," I'd like to explain that there's science behind it. All you are trying to accomplish is to block the direct infrared radiation from the hot glowing coals - hence, indirect cooking. A "tissue thin" foil accomplishes that with ease, not because of its mass, but because it's shiny. Just like a mirror reflects visible light, the foil is reflecting the infrared radiation back down and not absorbing it. So, it's not consuming much energy itself (this is where the low mass comes into play), and significantly impacting the overall heat up of the grill. The side benefit is that it also catches the drips from going into the fire. The vast majority of the cooking in the KK is due to convective heat transfer from the hot air flow around the meat. There is some secondary cooking from the radiative heat transfer from the walls/dome, which a heavy slab of similar material underneath the cooking grate will contribute to. But, radiative heat transfer drops off dramatically with distance. (Hence, it is most effective on the upper grate where the food is close to the dome surface.) So, by placing the deflector on top of the charcoal basket handles, while allowing the deflector to be closer to the heat source for faster heat up, isn't contributing a whole lot if you're cooking on the main grate. Placing the deflector on the lower grate will result in a closer proximity to the food and some increase in effectiveness, but being further away from the heat source, will take longer to heat up - about the same rate as the walls/dome. The small incremental mass of the deflector stone is stealing BTUs of energy from the rest of the grill during heat up, with not much payback in overall cooking efficiency. Unlike the walls/dome, which are contributing to holding the heat inside the KK once at thermal equilibrium, the deflector, being wholly inside the grill isn't helping with that. So, the bottomline is - what does the heavy deflector bring to the table that makes it better than the "tissue thin" piece of AL foil?

Hi LYNN, I am so jealous, I have been wanting one of these for over 2 years now. I saw it first in Tokyo in an department store. Fell in love with it straight away. The reason that I can't buy one in Australia, is because it has to be 220v. I am looking at you're photos instead. I have been in touch with the company, they say they are working on a 220v. (drawing board) if and when is a waiting game. Still following you and enjoy your cooking. Hope you are well. Frans

I put slather Louisiana hot Salsa kosher salt and Pepper

Kay. Actually, "The Kay" as grammatical cue that we're not talking about a person. This is common in many languages. Her nickname, in the rare event that something goes wrong, is "Oh Shuck!".

I rarely refer to my KK by her given name - Shahrazad. Captivating, mystical and you fall in love with her more with time.

Agreed, but I have several clay pots already and seriously don't need more! Plus, 2 Tagines and 2 cazeulas. I don't even count the 2 crock pots.

Now I have a hankering for a cheeseburger.

I love Greek mythology. Hestia made a lot of sense as she's the goddess of the Hearth, Family, home, architecture, etc. Cronos is her father and ruled during the Golden Age, so I liked the symbolism (Olive and Gold pebble). I'm pretty simple. Titans are big, the BB is big...

Simple porkchop cook last night. Cajun seasoning. Direct. Main Grate. 325F. Peach wood chunks. Side dish of pasta, cuke/tomato salad, crusty bread and a nice fruity Rose.

When I received my KK my daughter said that's a Colossus, and so it stuck. I never think of the name so much when introducing it to an admirer but, it remains forever with it's christen name. I believe my KK may be related to yours after hearing your chosen names. Yah, I think I'll have Colossus send out out a signal next time he's smoked up to Cronos and Hestia your New Greek companions. And don't forget to wash em down down with a squirt of Windex like the they did in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, that'll cure everything. Enjoy

I’ve been in isolation - forgive me for the lack of content! with isolation brings boredom which brings experimentation. I was getting pretty tired of buying 4kg boxes of charcoal, so thought I would find a wholesaler. I achieved that but they had a minimum order - I had to spend 100 bucks for delivery (80 USD, 500000000 AU pesos). So I made the order up with some timber I wanted to try: oak, Apple wood, and lychee. With all this wood, I decided to cook with just wood! The risk is obviously way too much smoke - but I miss the bbq from Austin and they do it in timber so worth a shot. my first try is Apple wood and ribs. The guy has cut the timber too Long for the 23” - so I decided to only put in three pieces. There was a bit of left over charcoal from the last bbq so I lit that up and a bit of the timber with my brazing torcch. ribs have an Aussie made run on them, can’t remember the brand but it is chipotle flavoured. about 4 hours later at 225 they are ready to take off. The girls like bbq sauce on them so I cranked the temp up to 400 and put the ribs back on lathered in sauce. i got a little distracted by the dog to be honest - the sauce was “over caramelised” or “Moroccan” in patches. Aside from that the ribs were bloody good. is wood the answer - fucked if I know but it is fun trying. I’m going to do Peking duck with lychee in a few weeks - if I can get that sorted it is going to be amazing stay healthy every one - and throw another steak on the barby to be sure! IMG_7156.MOV

Bulgarian. From my trip there back in '18. (No, I didn't pack them in my suitcase. I had them shipped.)

Well, I'll say, it does seem that you do have enough clay pots. Those are fancy ones too.

It did occur to me that the real king might be your dog.

No, my dog Kipper is!

You are leaving room for this family to grow.

Basher, dinner does look delicious.

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

@ Tony, another dinner fit for a King. You are the king of that castle aren't you?

Thanks.. got it.. I will send pics when done

Famous last words.

A little late night snack, pulled chuck roast, a little au jus from the roast, KK smoked cheese and pull apart bread made in the Vermicular

Really nice job on those ribs. Nice photo too.

Hard to tell from the graph but I would bet you were close enough not to make much of a difference. You will also see less of a stall cooking at 275 than at 225.

That is a top drop. Beautiful winters evening here. About 12C That’s about 55f Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Impressive BBQ! ... fyi the 22 TT is bigger than it looks...or what I expected. Everything worked out perfect, cant wait to cook something. All the spects were dead-on accurate... which I was worried about considering I completely finished the space before ever having seen one of these.

Thank you all! I finished the burn-in. In typical fashion I watched it like a hawk and obsessed over it. I had three vent locations. I made the mistake of temperature hunting and the grill got to 650 according to the dome thermometer at one point. There was audible hissing from a section of lifted tiles. I got control of the temperature and brought it back down to 525 degrees, but I made the mistake of trying to push the tiles back in too soon (before the pressure subsided) and ended up tearing the grout in a couple of places. I could smell solvent for a very long time. I made the mistake of thinking it'd take 6 hours so I started at 1800 on Friday evening. I didn't go to sleep until 0630 the next morning. The dome cap was the last area of venting and it took forever for the pressure to subside. I began the task of repairing/patching the grout the next morning. I took the advice of another forum member and used my finger to apply the grout to the necessary areas. It didn't look good, but I followed Dennis' advice... "Less is more." I allowed it to cure for 9 hours and used the pink tile scrotch brite to abrade the areas and remove the grout from the tiles. I was amazed at the results. I'm a bit neurotic and OCD... Self-diagnosed on both accounts. I called my wife over and she could not differentiate between the areas I repaired, and the untouched areas of the cooker. I am so happy with the results. The patch kit and patching process seems to work as well as the cooker!