Leaderboard

So I just celebrated my 20th anniversary and my wife surprised me with the pizza stone! I was very excited to try it but I’m super novice at pizza vs meats on a grill. She helped me make 4 diff pies tonight with the kids, we had a blast, and 3 out of the 4 were really good. Each got better as the night went on so I’m learning heat soak time for the stone. Anyway, I always see @MacKenzie pizza pics and they look so good that I have a vision and goal I’m after. We have a long way to go though. So I’ll be transparent and show you guys the good and bad. First off, I didn’t have the right tools. No pizza spatula so I went with two regular spatulas, you’ll see the result of that decision on pic 3. The pics from first to the 4th we made, each got better (until the disaster on #3). Learned a ton so I think next pizza night will be another level! I’ll be reading for more tips on this forum as well! Pics below, please don’t laugh too hard at our 3rd one, wrong tools like I said!!!!!!!!

Recipe please! When James was first starting out I bought goat from him. He turned up in my kitchen and slapped a whole goat carcass on my kitchen work top for what felt like no money at all. I gave him some of my 55 day aged pork from Huntsham Farm for him to take home and he loved it. I really like feeding meat to meat suppliers because they know what has gone into producing the quality that they are tasting. No chance that he will be delivering meat personally these days but his website offers good options for those of us who are not near a West Indian community: https://cabrito.co.uk/about/. I see his website promotes kid goat. I asked for nanny goat because I wanted that maturer flavour for making Nigerian goat stew. Now that I have a dry ager I might see what that does for tenderising the meat. Yes, recipe. Please. Silly. Especially ironic for this black Nigerian 52 year old is communing with white Africans/Brits who lived in Africa and watching a video posted by an Australian on a forum established by an American living in Indonesia. A long way from anti-apartheid rallies in the 80s and all the better for it. I still want to cry whenever I think of the day I watched Nelson Mandela walk out of prison on my landlady's telly in Brixton. Human nature means that that pure moment of joy has not translated into long term happiness in South Africa but we all have a long way to go in our different countries.

That is true, but it's liberating in a way - borne out by @Basher 's comment " life is full of short stories of great times." Yes - I will do a photo of Bronze meets Matt Black. @tekobo- I hadn't thought about the dual purpose grill/static RV 42"- I wouldn't want to make the goat homeless though. @Braai-Q- Beers to celebrate KK's arrival : The first is "Triple Bronze" - This is going to be something along the lines of a Belgian Trippel - Bronze coloured and around about 9% alcohol- give or take. The next is "Big Bad Matt Black" - A Stout of around 9% with hops from the garden. I might do a little brother version too. I've not made beers this strong before - but I think the arrival of the KK needs an over engineered beer to match. Starting the yeast cultures next week. Best RD

For the first cook, I decided to try a batch of St. Louis cut ribs. Peeled the skins and rubbed them down with some mustard and my favorite homemade rub last night. Then this morning gave them a nice coating of Meat Church GP. On they went at 1:00 at 225. She held nice and steady for 5½ hours, then bumped her up to 275 for 30 min. They were great. I prefer a little more bark that what I got so might try bumping up the temp at 5 hours instead of 5½. Suggestions are welcome. Burn in will happen this weekend. (The pre-cook and post cook pics got mixed up when I uploaded and I couldn't switch them out)

For years and years I have used this Serious Eats Pizza Recipe. Basic New York-Style Pizza Dough Recipe http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/07/basic-new-york-style-pizza-dough.html Makes 2 x 10 inch pizzas. 319g bread flour 9.25g sugar 4.9g salt 5g instant yeast 18.2g virgin olive oil This will vary depending upon the oil you use so perhaps you should use 1.5T 213g lukewarm water 1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in bowl of food processor. Pulse 3 to 4 times until incorporated. Add olive oil and water. Run food processor until mixture forms ball that rides around the bowl above the blade, about 15 seconds. Continue processing 15 seconds longer. 2. Transfer dough ball to lightly floured surface and knead once or twice by hand until smooth ball is formed. It should pass the windowpane test. Divide dough into two even parts and place each in a covered quart-sized deli container or in a zipper-lock freezer bag. Place in refrigerator and allow to rise at least 1 day, and up to 5. Remove from refrigerator, shape into balls, and allow to rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours before baking. Notes: This dough will be sticky, so I pull it and finger press it to fit the size I wanted. This dough is light and chewy, I love it and so simple and fast to make. ********** Recently I've discovered this recipe and like it a lot there is more chew to the dough and I've made it quite a few times. Roberta’s Pizza Dough https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016230-robertas-pizza-dough?utm_source=sharetools&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website INGREDIENTS 153 grams 00 flour (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon) 153 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons) 8 grams fine sea salt (1 teaspoon) 2 grams active dry yeast (3/4 teaspoon) 4 grams extra-virgin olive oil (1 teaspoon) PREPARATION In a large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt. In a small mixing bowl, stir together 200 grams (a little less than 1 cup) lukewarm tap water, the yeast and the olive oil, then pour it into flour mixture. Knead with your hands until well combined, approximately 3 minutes, then let the mixture rest for 15 minutes. Knead rested dough for 3 minutes. Cut into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with dampened cloth, and let rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature or for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. (If you refrigerate the dough, remove it 30 to 45 minutes before you begin to shape it for pizza.) To make pizza, place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares. Top and bake at 550F.

I bet there was none left over. Pizza always goes down a storm in our house the journey my wife and i had getting the dough right the oven hot arrrg we argued a lot lol Definitely better than my first attemps

Great job Paul. The slower air flow required due to thermal efficiencies of the KK will result in less food moisture evaporation than you are used to. A quick finish over direct heat will crisp up your bark. I'm sure you will work this out. It looks sooo clean

Lobster season started in San Diego yesterday. We get spiny lobsters which don’t have claws but have lots of tail meat. funny thing is I haven’t cooked lobster in 20 years. It was actually one of the first things I ever grilled when I bought my first house in 2001 and I distinctly remembering grilling 4 things. Bourbon sausages, baseball cut sirloin steaks, cheese burgers and lobster always paired (all 4 of my dishes were served with sweet corn and a baked potato) I only cooked on my first propane grill. Lobster might sound weird but I lived around the corner from the fish market and they sold it $10/lb in season....this is circa 2001. They’d clean it and give me a tail and I’d grill it and thought I was fancy....and it was cheap I moved downtown for a bit a didnt have a grill for awhile and whenI finally got back to grilling they were selling our lobsters to China for $35/lb so we never had them. Due to COVID and restaurants being closed etc all the local fisherman have tons of lobster. Today it was $16/lb. I cooked it in the KK at 375 basted with butter, garlic, salt, pepper and chives. Served with Yukon good mashed potatoes with sour cream, Parmesan, chives and garlic and grilled asparagus over mesquite wood with coco char freaking amazing! My wife didn't like lobster, it’s not something we really order out but she loved it tonight. I’ll be cooking it again while this lobster is in season

I did as well

Mac has posted the ideal dough recipe here before. Troble nailed this recipe and it certainly improved my pizzas. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is a little sad, but you Africans may enjoy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Basher for what it’s worth I watched this video. This guy Tommy is my seafood Yoda. He has taught me so much about seafood and cooking. This is old video he did on cleaning lobsters. I did everything right up to the final pull. He’s my local fishmonger so I go shoot the shit with him and he pretty much taught me everything I know about seafood.....although my seafood grilling has gone down exponentially with my KK purchase I simply did butter, garlic, salt, pepper, chive. I am going to probably do this again once a week till the season runs out. Absolutely loved it

Excellent timing once again Troble. I have some crayfish tails in my freezer and was going to use up a voucher my wife gave me for a chef to come over and teach me how to make some good sauces for crayfish and also steaks.( This chef also loves his new Kamado Joe- Dennis, get ready for another shipment to Brisbane) This recipe will also be tried- it looks very simple. https://www.foodservicenews.com.au/recipes/recipe-lennox-hastie-s-frilled-marron-finger-lime-and-native-herbs

Like most people here i have lurked for a while not as long as some as i was without a grill having sold my gasser and thinking i could live with a pellet smoker and WFO. (schoolboy error). My friend has been telling me about his JO and how great it is for many years i looked at that and the BGE then i saw the KK site and started looking, So from no grill to a order in 3 weeks. I know no willpower, but it sure looks nice (Kids picked the colour i wanted Blue) So the UK members continue to grow ! My list of good is as follows:- 42" Matt black pebble (pebble is the best and you get the better taste of food from it apparently) Cold smoker, Grate grabs, Sunbrella cover, Side tables, Roti cradle and h/duty motor, Baking stone, Gas burner. Teak workstation with pull out drawers. How i got all this past my wife i still don't know. Apparently getting to the docks in Surabaya today I am really looking forward to it. Lastly what a great forum to have lurked on with nice people it suits Dennis down to the ground who has been very busy but always had time for me. Kind Regards Sovs

Here is the new and MUCH Improved Cold Smoker Bracket.. These can be used of course with existing cold smokers.. They will be an inexpensive upgrade. Quick, easy.. no tools!

yeah. I recognise that scenario.

Worth checking with Dennis to find out if you need to do one. If you do, it is only required in advance of very hot cooks and so would not affect an inaugural low and slow brisket cook. The manual and information elsewhere on this forum will help guide you through the burn in. Experience of the mad, bad things that can happy with delivery dates means that I would avoid trying to time anything to exactly line up with the arrival of your KKs. If you are able to cure the bellies and vac pack all or a couple so that you have some lee way with the delivery date, it should help to avoid generating unnecessary stress.

Interesting, Liberia is a corner of Africa where the insurance company and Foreign Office forsake you. You'll have to look up @tekobo and her Nigerian Suya on the KK. I was planning on visiting Central African Republic this year but well, we know how that story goes. I have to get back to Africa at least once a year, even if it isn't home. Have you seen a KK in person yet by the way? I have a fantastic recipe for Jamaican Goat Curry (for the free goat) - it does feature Scotch Bonnet but you can substitute if that isn't to your taste.

I lived in Liberia only for a short time logging my Father also lived in Africa in Nigeria for 16 years i lived as a young baby there too then my mother and myself returned to the UK.

I can get behind @Basher's sentiment. The beers sound great but I always thought that beer pairings were with food and not KKs! 😄

Out of interest - where did you live in Africa? My username probably gives a clue as to my origins. I should confess that I am conducting a survey at the moment - the intersection of UK owners with Africa connections who own KKs. It's surprisingly high! 😀

Welcome to the gang. You've not left the group much to work with as you specified everything. So, have you considered a Robin to your 42" Batman? 😀 I can confirm from my 51KK experiences (I have a 32+19 combination before anyone thinks Dennis is cooking up a new model) that black pebble cooks better, stabilises more reliably and imbues all sorts of qualities on the pitmaster owner.

Thank you Mackenzie We are looking forward to getting to know how to cook on one of these,no doubt i will be asking questions when it arrives.

Life can indeed be too short as you can probably tell i can be a bit impulsive

@tony b I should also mention that I always double or triple the garlic called in almost every recipe I use. That Peruvian sauce bring no exception. I use a lot of garlic

It's a HUGE improvement over the bolts... Very pleased with this one.

Good tactic. I don't think the "Honey I shrunk the KK" argument will hold much water when your 32 Big Bad KK arrives. Although...if it ever comes to "it's me or the KK", you would be able to sleep in a 42. Great choice on colour and it sounds like you are a tile man in any case. I thought the same about metallic bronze tiles reflecting the garden but I am sure black will look lovely too!

Speaking of steaks, did a nice bacon-wrapped sirloin last night, direct, lower grate, mesquite and post oak chunks. As an homage, I called this dinner "No Flies On Me Steak Night!" 😄 Duck Fat air-fried Yukon Golds (with Peruvian green sauce - the new "crack" in my house!), chimichurri for the steak, sautéed mushrooms and a nice side salad.

It was great fun following her across the pacific, to LA, then to Miami, then finally to Southwest Florida. My concern was getting her onto the lanai to her final resting spot. Thanks to the great advice here and help from a few friends, the ¾ in plywood ramp worked like a charm. Uncrating was easy, I supported the 4x8 ft ramp with 3 2x6's (may have been overkill but better safe than sorry) and the ramp included in the crate let her glide easily to my ramp. We needed to go up 4 steps for a total of 20 inches. With the 8 foot ramp, that gave us an incline of about 12 degrees and that was very do-able. She now sits on my lanai while I play with temp control. Found a local dealer that has Rockwood charcoal (quite sparky) and I'm getting the hang of temp control. It's quite different than the Primo XL oval I'm used to. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where on the lanai will be her final perch and I definitely need a prep table and storage for accessories, grates, etc. Here are some photos of the process. @StevenS, thanks so much for your help. Though the photos don't show it, we did remove the lid when pushing it up the ramp. Reattaching the lid (primarily inserting the hinge pin) was the toughest part of the whole project.

Yeah, I gave my Weber summit to a coworker.

I haven’t cooked one of these but would probably do like a prime rib roast. Low temp and smoke to about 112-115, pull it and run the KK up to 450-500, then sear all the sides. Since your wife likes rare, might pull it a bit lower before the sear.

It's not that the plate shifted, it's that the food grade silicone gaskets get a bit compressed over time and exposure to high temps causes it to shrink a bit. That being said, I have many, many grills out there with the original gaskets well over 12 years old. I know this because I don't sell that many new ones. But when the grill is latched in the second position, simple press firmly down on the handle.. if it moves down at all.. You need a latch adjustment.

2 out of 3 on #1, it takes a while to get to temp however, once there it's smooth sailing, that should make you happy. #2 is pretty much a given, holds temp and you can do a few errands around town. #3 foods great, as long as you don't kill it. #4 Tools last as long as you care for them. I have a Grill Dome that's lasted me 25+ years, and it's not the same quality as a KK. #5 Cooks on 3 levels. Roto. Split basket, Split zone. Cold smoke. SS grates, it fits the bill and more. I think you'll like it