Leaderboard

Tried to step up my pizza game tonight. Started off by brushing the dough with olive oil and sprinkling with sea salt prior to adding toppings. Can’t believe I haven’t been doing this for 9 months, it makes such a big difference in the quality of the crust then moved on to some more adventurous pizzas. First up was a arugula, prosciutto, Parmesan & burrata pizza finished with a balsamic glaze drizzle......WOW. Really great pizza. Tossed the arugula in olive oil and lemon before topping to give it some acid next up my favorite pizza of all the time that the bar by my house in downtown San Diego was famous for. Mashed potato & bacon. I made some garlic, Parmesan & chive mashed potatoes and simply topped it with crispy bacon. I know it sounds gross but 100% of the people I’ve ever seen eat this combo love it. Try it out. Impress your friends! 😀

Pizza bug has hit here too. Blue cheese, egg and rocket.

I think this is what's called 'ugly delicious'. I took this as I was folding in the dry ingredients as part of the final step in making a sticky toffee pudding. It's actually an American take on a sticky toffee pudding using maple syrup. It includes medjool dates steeped in espresso mixed in with light brown sugar, maple syrup, ground cloves, cardamom and nutmeg along with eggs, flour, bicarb, baking powder, salt and a few other ingredients which escape me. Everything ground by hand in a pestle and mortar. I actually tried a new recipe. I have a perfect sticky toffee pudding which is an amalgam of one by Fergus Henderson and another by Marcus Wareing. Anyway, this was steamed for 4 hours in the slow cooker per the recipe but I reckon it would work well in the KK. I think a little smokiness would add to it. I cooked them in two souffle moulds at 50% depth and suspect the same technique would work effectively in the KK. Not sure on temperature, probably around 110-120 I think. Steamed, treacle, sticky toffee puddings are very much a UK thing but are sensational with high quality vanilla ice cream or cream. I felt it was necessary comfort food having read the latest on the state of Brexit negotiations. The aromatics made the kitchen smell incredible. In fact, it still does.

I tried out roadside chicken according to this recipe last night. Not pretty but very tasty. As you can see, I loaded a lot of marinade. On the chicken, the tiles and the grill.

Thanks @Steve Mand @Troble. It's been a while since I made a sticky toffee pudding or anything of that endeavour. This version has 2 cups of maple syrup in it, 1/2 cup of cream.... You get a lofty sugar high which counters the deep food coma that your body wants to go into while it processes the baked aspect of the dessert. I should have had half the portion I did.

Thanks, Troble, now I have a craving for pizza and it's bedtime.

I know you don't actually think I sold all my grills. Only two grills left on the porch that is. 16" Komodo Kamado, Primo Oval Jr, LG Konro, and special side burner setup have all been cleaned up and are in storage in a spare room in the house. What's left on the porch is my 19" Komodo Kamado and my Blackstone Pro series griddle. Let's not forget my picnic table with a large rectangular hole in the middle where the Konro use to reside - LOL I guess this is a testament of what grills I use the most.

Tekobo, would I ever love to see that at my breakfast table. Gorgeous.

Saw your post late Woody and I wanted to mention that I purchased the Hooray Santa Maria style from Hooray Grill. I've seen both other grills and considered them when ordering, but chose the Hooray for a number of reasons. First was the rotisserie on this grill has an enormous 5/8" SS hex rod that could turn an 80 Lb pig and it's fitted with the One grill motor were used to seeing on the KK. The gear mechanism is positioned into the turning motor gear and rests simply by weight and gravity to turn. The fire box doesn't have the refractory brick liner the Sunterra or the Nuke Delta, but has instead a fitted and bolted liner that provides airspace to another adjacent firewall. You would build your fire on a large removeable reinforced steel floor which can easily be cleaned and lifted with the geared mechanism that raises and lowers your grill surface. The raised fire bedliner that sits on welded supports in conjunction with the side slotted firebox liners provide airflow on all sides. 4 attachment brackets raise the fire floor bedliner so you can easily vacuum underneath. The geared mechanism for raising and lowering the grate has no separate break, but works and stops the grill surface with ease. Wherever you stop the wheel the grate remains strong in position. The wires attached to each side of the grill are wound on a creel and not subject to a handle or wound around the top rod. Refractory brick allows water at the seams to seep through and puddle underneath. In the northeast rain is an issue and although I keep my grill covered under a roof and tarpaulin this became a consideration regarding rust. I purchased the 3 ft grill unit which measures approx 46" in length total. There are 3 steel fold down shelves that have steel rods attached to each shelf slotted into the main frame adding additioal length and width when positioned up. The shelves gives a sturdy working surface area for three sides and room for anyone to pull up a tall chair or cook from the opposite side. Since the grill doesn't have the additional weight of refractory brick I can easily maneuver it into position single handedly or to another location without much effort & without the risk of damaging brick. All the grills mentioned provide the same basic function the difference being are you willing after weighing the options to pay the extra for convenience & detailing. The down side may be I don't have split zones and no V-slotted grates. Grates can be purchased or made. I wouldn't mind working with any of the others and I know I'd enjoy them all, however at the end of the day I realize the decision made was right for me.

Love sticky toffee pudding! Never tried to make it though. Killer pizzas everyone!!

I tend to use up small pieces of lump in it, too. Mainly to help start the binchotan, which burns hotter, longer and without any strong odor. Plus, it's like cocochar - I can take out the pieces and put them in the KK to smother them for reuse in the next cook.

Marinade, marinade everywhere, just so long as the chicken tastes great and you don't have to clean those grates.

It's a fun little grill, but the damn binchotan charcoal is a mutha to light! Worse than cocochar.

Expanded response below in thread.

I ended up with an AZ BBQ Tuscan SantaMaria. I got all stainless grates, 3/8" round and v-shape, as well as a 24" wide stainless flat top. lessons learned: 1. You can specify which side you want your reel to raise /lower. 2. You can have the 48 wide cradle split into 2-24" cradles, allowing two different heights. 3. I would get a lid, if it is offered. 4. You can get a brasserie. 5. everything is customizable. good hunting!!

Mine is a Nuke Delta grill. I got it from BBQGuys. It's handmade in Argentina but is a lower end unit. It does not have the V shaped Grates but I do have a set of custom cut Grill Grates for it to take care of the fat issue when needed. I mainly use it for cooking steaks.

Awesome on the package finally arriving. Didn't know that about Famous Dave's. Those spice blend packages came from a kewl spice store on Jekyll Island when we went camping last time. I bought myself the same set of 4 but I haven't tried them yet. Let me know if you need any guidance on the Travel Bug. If you look at its description and goal we are going to make that Travel Bugs owner a very happy person as we definitely gave a huge boost for that goal. Thanks for your help with that.