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Tony B, no problem with the hard, level surface. I did a big batch of babyback ribs yesterday, specifically to pay attention to the ramping up of the heat and keeping the heat low, around 225*. The ramping up went quite slow as I did not want to, again, overshoot the goal and then be unable to effectively bring the KK down to the desired temperature. So if anything, the ribs were relatively under-cooked for the first hour. I also decided to experiment with just straightforward cooking for four hours, instead of using the 2/1/1 method. So while the ribs finished around 225-240*, they were cooking at a lower heat initially. In the first photo, the ribs are covered with the rub and ready to go in the smoker. I forgot to take "after" pictures until they were already plated, but you can see the two angles that the ribs were nicely cooked. I do think that the 2/1/1 method produces slightly more moist and tender than a straight four-hour cook as you see on the plate. However, they were not dry and not tough- good "tooth" feel. One thing I did nearly by accident was a VERY good rub application: I was using my favorite Dizzy Pig rubs and I had about 1/4 of a bottle of of Jamaican Firewalk that needed to be used up- I mixed that 50/50 some Dizzy Dust. AS you can well imagine, the Firewalk has a significant presence of scotch bonnet (habanero) pepper. It really popped up the flavor of the ribs and married beautifully with the smoke and sweet pork. HIGHLY recommended. (We had some potato salad and coleslaw left over from the weekend...it was an easy and delicious meal.)

I finally found a purveyor who could supply beef plate ribs, so I thought we'd give them a shot. These are like what I remember from our last visits to Austin- the beef ribs in Lockhart and in Austin at LA Barbecue were GIGANTIC. Until now, I've only been able to procure beef chuck ribs, and they had excellent flavor and texture. So we'll see if these brontosaurus-sized beef plate ribs are as good. I will report after dinner, starting in the next hour or so. I put them on around 9 AM at 220F- as usual, the temperatures gradually crept up to 280-300 range (does anyone else have problems with temperature creep in their 32" KK's? If I have to cook something that really requires 225, I don't know what I'll do. It seems like it just wants to go to 300*, even when I have it almost entirely tamped down in terms of air flow.) Scott's "BBQ" sauce- really an Eastern Carolina vinegar/pepper sauce was used to mop the ribs about every 90 minutes from 1 to 4:30PM. Two photos of the final product- with and without Scott's basting sauce. I'll report on results, flavor-wise, later. -Jim in Denver

Troble, just so long as your brother had a nice birthday dinner.

I think it looks lovely as a TT @Paul and I was thinking 19TT. However, unless The Husband has a brain transplant, that colour won't be sitting in our garden any time soon. Hope to alight on one that sparks joy in both of us, soon.

Is there a cobalt blue in your future?

I kept it really low heat today, somehow. I think the trick is to start really low and keep it tamped down so it never gets over 250.