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Did a Porchetta on the KK last night with Apple and Pear wood. Came out fine but it was a bit fattier than I like. Served up with Sicilian Caponata as I got a bit carried away and bought a few too many aubergines at the local farm shop when I was there the other day. I just did a drive by on the dish while in the fridge (Caponata is superb cold as well) on the way to getting milk out for my morning coffee. Had to make myself stop at one large spoonful. Breakfast of champions! 😆

My last bike got stolen which gave me the coin to buy Ora .I miss riding so looking at this tomorrow Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Like we tell new owners, who've never cooked on a similar grill before - Don't chase the temperatures! Once heat soaked at a specific temperature, it's very hard to lower the temperature again, given the mass of the KK. But, during initial heat ups, you can tweak it back down if you overshoot some (see note below). You'll just end up frustrated if you are constantly messing with the top vent opening to hit some magical target temperature. So, as you're doing, get a feel for the top vent settings (lower vent is not important as long as it's open to supply enough air to keep the fire going - which isn't much). Top vent settings are very repeatable, so make some notes to follow until you've gotten it down pat. You'll find that it doesn't take much movement of the top vent to see a noticeable change in temperature. Give the KK time to stabilize temperature before making any adjustment to watch the change. Also, part of the "Don't chase the temperatures" mantra - don't fret if you miss your target temperature by +/- 50F. All it means is that the cooking time will be a bit different is all. Your food will come out fine. You should be cooking to internal meat temperatures and not by time, anyway. Good luck with the burn-in and happy cooking!!

Thanks Mac, yeah, it ate better today funnily enough. My complaint was that it felt a little fatty last night but the flavours developed and it firmed up. Had it in sandwiches with the balance of Caponata. I managed to stop myself drifting past the fridge with a spoon too often to ensure there was enough left for lunch!

The staff were character actors and when people asked what the parts were made of, they refused to break character which added tremendously to the theatre. It was a lot of sausage meat and bacon from what I could tell! You could have some real fun with an Alien shop - having them all set in KY Jelly (which is what the special FX team used for the slime in the film).

Have not figured out yet what I will cook first. Doing the burn in now just wasting coal. Probably a good thing. Trying to figure out temperature control.

Hey, you both know how to cook it - just git after it!

@Braai-Q My recollection was a herb filling with rosemary and thyme being the strongest, but not overwhelming, flavours - the thing was the crackling which was divine and it was in a bread bun that was about 10 inches across with an apple sauce - just delicious. I believe although I ate this in Northern Italy this is a Roman dish. The other thing is where I was eating it .....

Hi there @Boom Boom. Is this your first time making bacon from the shoulder? I hope you like it. I love it. Good fat alongside the meaty goodness. I prefer cold smoked bacon. Here is a thread I posted about hot and cold smoking a while ago.

It's Sold and already in his new house.

Looks like a Ninja. If you like speed and the thrill it brings you got the right bike. Use to call those a pocket rocket. Not much room for the wife. If there's a sale down at the butchers....looks like you'll be first in line.

@Braai-QHad this for the first time on a skiing holiday in the Italian Dolomites - absolutely fabulous and when I eventually (I hope get a KK) it will be on the menu

Very nice, indeed! What's for dinner?

Tekobo, a friend of mine just turned me onto a facebook group called Makin' bacon and i actually have 2 shoulders curing now along with 43lbs of belly bacon. i have been curing and smoking my own bacon for a bout 5 years now. I got to the point that we were making 150lbs at a time and selling most of it. It became a little side business for me and allowed me to buy equipment and pay for that equipment with the bacon. Who knows, I might start doing it again. I'm looking forward to the cold smoker for this. We have only ever done hot smoking bringing it up to 145 internal temp but this FB group is all about cold smoking so I assume that I will be using the KK for this as well. I will need to see how the grates line up in the KK and I might get hooks to hang the bellies in the grill and use the cold smoker that we ordered. Do you hot or cold smoke your buckboard bacon? do you hang it or just smoke it on the grates?

Brilliant. I've sent this to my butcher who expressed an alarming amount of enthusiasm. When I was working in London, we were right next to Smithfields Meat Market and Microsoft did a launch for a computer game (think it was Resident Evil). Computer games aren't my bag but they did an awesome approach as a nod to the game. This is what my local butcher did this year. I rather fear having shown him the human body parts above together with the Alien Facehugger video that I may have started something.

Aussie Ora: yes, that makes sense: if you haven't got the walls of the KK fully warmed up, and your temperature reading is reflecting primarily the air temperature, getting the heat level to drop would be less problematic. BTW, binge-watching "Rake", a wonderfully done (albeit it might have gone on a season or two too long) got us through the Coronavirus quarantine period last spring.

Great setup, gorgeous KK. Now for the big cook.

Wow! Congratulations @USUAggie. Big Blue looks like it has fitted right in. Looks gorgeous. As does all the lovely coffee char. Have fun.

Congrats Aggie. The work benches beside it will be very handy. What's the first cook?

Meet big blue!