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I have to say, just about perfect. I think I have the formula, or very close to it with small adjustments. So this was it- applied Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust Rub; 2 hours at 235 in the KK, take out, spritz with water/orange juice mix, wrap in foil; back in for one hour, advance heat to 250; take out of foil and finish for last hour. Mostly apple wood with good hardwood lump charcoal. Really about as close to perfect as I have done. Minor tweaks to formula to follow. I was playing BBQ Santa Claus for all the neighbors up and down the street- some people show up with Christmas cookies, I give away ribs and sauce. Neighbors are happy and I am doing another batch tomorrow along with a brisket I am starting tonight.

Ribs using the famous daves rib rub ckreef sent me Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Garlic, Parmesan, chive & truffle oil fries, homemade ketchup, crispy kale chips and prime beef cheeseburger with tillamook sliced cheddar marinated in soy, Worcester, garlic, cumin and Peruvian salt, served with grilled butter lettuce & homemade ketchup

So here is installment #1: this is the prime brisket, trimmed and subbed with Maldon salt and coarse ground pepper. It goes on the smoker tonight at 250* at midnight, mostly post oak wood. (Thank you, BBQ Guru!), then I get to sleep and by 8 AM it should be ready to wrap and amp up the heat a bit to 275*. It's a beautiful piece of meat and the trimming was very easy.

OMG, I'm in a total meat coma! Dinner was a 1.5 lb Prime NY strip. Direct, lower grate (given how thick this steak was, I didn't want to try cooking it on the sear grate!), mesquite and post oak chunks. Rubbed with Gunpowder and Raising the Steaks. This thing was so massive that it took 25 minutes to get to Rare (125F), flipped it every 5 minutes. So, I was totally glad that I went lower grate, as trying to cook this on the sear grate would have been charred on the outside and Black-n-Blue on the inside. Plated with roasted spuds w/Peruvian green sauce (and a dash of truffle salt), sauteed mushrooms and chimichurri for the steak. A very lovely Conundrum red wine. Side salad as the palette cleanser - bleu cheese notwithstanding!

Decided to make a handle for my wrench to clean the grates.

Just watched the boat carrying my grill sail past my condo. I was literally 1km away. Hard to get a good view due to the weather, but have been tracking on AIS for the last 24 hours. Hopefully they are quick unpacking the container!!

It ended up pretty similar for outcome of cook. Reverse sear took a little longer, hard to distinguish the difference in crust and texture- always expected flavour to be the same. Big difference is ease of cook. Reverse sear definitely easier. Forward sear needs attention at the beginning of cook to manage flare ups- seen by excessive smoke. Reverse sear allowed me to build into the management of this. The outcome was a huge hit. Exactly what was desired. Medium rare with the edges more medium for those not liking the juices. The fat rendered beautifully. Although they look burnt outside, they were not. This was the Balsamic effect. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did the steak today. Not last night in the end. I had to drive and while my wife volunteered to drink the Judith Beck and tell me how it was, this was never going to happen. First time I've done a cote de boeuf. It's always felt like too much meat but when you leave me unattended in a butchery, these things will happen. Cooked at 125°C for about 45 mins to a target internal temp of 52°C using the Fireboard then took it out, pushed the KK to 250°C and seared both sides to eye, around 6 mins each. Did some hasselback potatoes (Mrs BQ) after I saw a recipe for Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin and we realised we were missing some of the ingredients so Mrs BQ created an approximation. All plans for doing chores currently on hold as I nurse this food coma.

Don't they all?? LOL!

Gosh. I remember reading a post by @CeramicChef where he talked about taking time to learn and callibrate each kamado cooker he owned. I didn't remember to put that advice into practice when I dived into cooking on my KKs yesterday. I started with the 32. Impressive. On half a basket of cocoshell briquettes I got it up to 320C/600F in 1.5 hours with all the vents open. Smell of solvent but no bubbling tiles. I should have waited for everything to cool down a bit but I decided to start with baking some bread anyway. I created steam by dropping ice onto the billet of aluminium that @Syzygies turned us on to. Worked well and I got some very brown loaves. Limited oven spring but not surprising given they were heavy with rye porridge and walnuts and had been held in the bulk fermentation stage for two days. Sour and very tasty. Followed that with two pizzas. Added the meat at the very end - coppa on one and cured goose breast on the other. Both tasted good but I should have cooked the bases for a bit longer. As you can see, I need to cut the under paper smaller next time too. No steam this time but this picture lets you see the set up for turning the KK into a steam oven with the aluminium billet in a large baking pan sitting on the basket divider. For dinner I lit up the 16 to cook lamb chops. Again only a partial success. It took ages to get the 16 up to temperature. I think I needed to open up the top cap rather more than I did. I also used a mix of marabu and old binchotan briquettes - the hardest things on earth to light. Had a few flare ups and lots of smoke because of the fat on the lamb. Either need to use a shield over the fire next time or a griddle pan and allow more time. Opening and shutting a little 16 cools things down way more than it does on a bigger KK so I need to get it up to temp and heat soaked and then either cook quickly on the lower grate or slowly with remote monitoring of temp on the higher grate. I now have some brisket going in the 32. I got it up to temp very easily and installed the smoke pot with some chips in it. All good so far. I then closed the top vent and cracked it open a little like I used to on my 21 and 23. I came back about half an hour later to a dome thermometer that was still reading 125 C but no smoke and a dead fire. Revived it with my leaf blower and opened the top vent a little more than a crack. All going well now. Learning on the job and I guess it is less daunting because I have done this before. All good fun and nice to be reminded that cooking over fire is an art that needs to respect the science of the different size KKs that I am now working with. The table that I had made to fit between my 21 and 23 doesn't work with the 23 and 32. I have been trying to figure out what I would like and think I have found the perfect solution in the packing crate that the 16 came in.

I bought a spit rotisserie for my new 32 and 23 and a cradle rotisserie for the 32. I was dreading fiddling about to get them to work but when I read Dennis' message above this morning I thought I would give it a go. I fitted the spit rotisserie to the 32 in just under 6.5 minutes. I did it all on my own and was super pleased. The cradle rotisserie took longer but works beautifully. I will post videos on a new topic when I figure out how to do so.

That's a beautiful looking cook @Basher and the sauce sounds delicious. @RokDok we really are twins separated at birth. We were plunged into Tier 4 with Boris' announcement last night. No mixing for Christmas and so my Southern menu is postponed. Asked The Husband what we should have now that we only have ourselves to impress. He said, "toad in the hole". That's because that's what we had for our first Christmas meal together. With a bottle of Krug.

I thought it might have been you. I was actually expecting a cow and likely from my avatar, you would have been expecting a dog. 😀

Okay, here's the story of an epic fail. I think I have figured it out. But let me tell you what happened, in chronological order, first. First, I prepared a beautiful brisket last night, trimmed it and treated with Maldon salt and coarse ground pepper (photo).. The plan was: put the brisket on the KK around midnight, cook it a little low (245) till 8AM, then get up, check the internal temp, spritz it, turn the heat up to 265 or so, get through the stall, wrap, raise the heat to 285, and finish around 2-3PM or so. That was the plan.... So I had used the BBQ Guru the day before to cook some near-perfect ribs, and everything worked fine. I was controlling the Guru from my Iphone. I took the brisket out 3 hours early to get it closer to room temperature, put it on at 12, went to bed. Woke up at 4AM and checked on the Guru on my phone, still showing 244*. Got up at 8, ambled on downstairs and went out with my Thermapen and spritzer bottle while the Jura espresso maker did its thing. Got out to the KK and it's thermometer is showing 350*....URK! I look at my phone: 244*. What's going on? I open the KK and see this (photo): brisket crisp. Pretty clearly, at some point in the night, the Guru elevated things to 350*, even though my phone app is still showing 244*. Pretty clearly, the app on my phone was frozen, the damage had been done and could not be undone. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. Phone app would not connect to Guru despite being right next to it. So I went and got my Ipad, and opened the app on it, and it was showing the true temp- around 350*. So here's my diagnosis: when I booted up the Ipad last night to read before turning out the night, the Ipad took over the Guru, and it was left on it's last setting, probably 350*. So from now on I am taking the app off my phone and controlling the Guru just from my Ipad. I am sorry, Mrs. Cow, that your brisket was all for naught. Maybe I can salvage enough to make brisket hash, but dinner for our combined family of seven for tonight is off. Lessons learned....

If I know you, you'll be hitting it out of the park within a week on all 3 grills! That's a fact!

Very sad bards. I hate it when you start trusting technology and it then let’s you down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Twins separated at birth @tekobo ? - you'll be telling me next that you're learning Italian too ! My eldest and I have just spent an hour digging up two (rather obscene looking- but quite artistic - they could win the turnip prize) parsnips from the allotment - more like an archaeological dig - they're two feet long - you have to use your fingers to dig them out. We are firing up the Weber and having crispy duck thighs with potatoes cooked in the fat that drips off them. Now , if you're having that tonight I am going to buy a lottery ticket. The big bad 10.2 % matt black stout is the best beer I've ever made. Here's what it looks like :

Excellent cook. Definitely making me hungry.

Rok that’s you with the pigs. I saw that photo on Instagram of the KK on a deck with a pig running around. That’s a great set up. Unfortunately no room at my house for a pet pig. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A mix of Raspberries and Blackberries, that's it. An American secret, so don't let any Canadians know.

@Basher That looks absolutely delicious. I can taste it. Great tip for the marinade and Beurre Balsamique ( :-)) We are having " Toad in the Hole " tonight - the consolation is that it comes form one of these : ( That's not the picture I had in mind - the thumbnails are too small and I 'm still celebrating @tekobo arrivals !

Here are some cray tails cooked before yesterday’s lamb. With the beurre Blanc sauce. This was good...... but the lamb stole the day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Braai that was me. I couldn’t hear much either. Also confused me who was who given their true names showed up onscreen rather than their KK names. It was funny watching the blue wren hop about about her garden on such a classic English winter day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Côte de boeuf with chips for dinner tonight. This is 32 day aged Red Poll cattle. Food miles? > 2. Not cooked côte de boeuf before but going to use the Fireboard and reverse sear. Will try to remember to take pictures of the after. Thinking of an Austrian red to go with this. Likely a Judith Beck Ink.

Nice work!

That's a work of art.

I think there is. That or I'm pregnant. I'm up for a road trip but not advised at the moment. I don't think we can even enter Tier 4.

I forgot about one and left it an extra 8 hours.. my wife loved the beef jerky bark and the inside we mixed with chopped jalapeños and Best Foods mayo to make brisket dip.. Was awesome with fresh corn chips.. The fam wants me to do it again!

Is there such a thing as too much meat?? Great looking cook @B. I reckon when you next think of doing a care package delivery you should head down our way.

Prepared two lamb noisettes yesterday. These are boned out barrel ribs( mid rib section) rolled. I’m loving this cut as the fat roll around the outside making it easy to render at high heat while also having very tender, lean lamb in the middle that can remain medium rare. First rubbed with salt, pepper, cumin, chilli. Then placed in bag with fresh mint and balsamic vinegar to marinate overnight- prefer two days but this will do. Given I’ll cook two today, I can experiment with reverse sear and forward sear and will report back on the difference. The juice in the bag will be reduced on the stovetop for red wine balsamic sauce. Stay tuned, I’ll finish this post within 24 hours. I’m taking bets. Who would favour reverse sear( slowly bring to rare temp on the split grate then finish on searing grill), who favours forward sear( seared on the lower grill first then raised to the split grill and slowly bring to medium internal temp)? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, abbiamo mangiato brisketta (I don't know what brisket is in Italian so just add an a and blag it with a strong Italian accent) sta sera. Anatra con patate mi sembrano molto bene. No google translate was harmed in the production of the above text and all errors are mine and mine alone.

Being IT challenged here, I won't comment on your theory about dueling devices (I have a very similar story to tell* on a different set of gear yesterday!); but, I will wholeheartedly second Robert's advice on setting the top vent almost closed and forcing the Guru fan to do all the work. Plus, set the fan outlet damper to at least half closed. I've had windy days mess up a Guru controlled cook before; because once the grill temp goes above the Guru setpoint, you're screwed! The Guru basically shuts down as a controller at that point and the KK is on its own after that. * I was trying to synch up a new piece of brewing equipment with its controller app on my phone (android). The brewing device has its own WiFi to connect to the cloud, but only works on 2.4 GHz connections. My home WiFi has both 2.4 and 5 GHz connections. So, the brewing equipment was getting stymied by the 5 Gig signal. So, I finally figured out how to disable the 5 Gig signal, let the brewing equipment synch up to the 2.4 Gig signal, then re-establish the 5 Gig network in my house. This was done over a very frustrating 2 day period! So, I know exactly how frustrating this stuff can get. Fortunately, I didn't lose a batch of beer because of it, unlike you losing that gorgeous brisket. Hopefully you can salvage something out of it??

Very nice.

You're my kind of Santa! 🎅

I’m not sure I’m in complete agreement with your guru theory. I control mine from both phone and pad, and I’ve never had one take over from another. Was your pad showing a set temperature of 350°, or simply actual grill temp? When I make a change on my phone, it shows the change on the pad. If the guru loses a connection, it will continue at the current setting, it won’t look for a device wanting instructions. If you have a newer guru, I think it defaults to 250°, so it shouldn’t have gone to 350° from that. It does sound like you have a phone/app issue, but it shouldn’t affect your cook. If you already know this, forgive me, but when using a guru, your top vent must be almost completely closed, forcing the fan to run in order to maintain temperature, or the temperature will simply climb on its own to whatever temperature airflow will allow. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Tekobo, sounds like you are having an interesting time with the new crew. That 16 has a learning curve of it's own. Love the new table. I am waiting to see the results of the brisket cook.

it aggie.

That beer is looking very tasty.

Should be tasty!

We have a solution that works on all motors.. We've made the shaft shorter but welded a washer to prevent it from sliding into the motor... will work on all the different motor sockets with the new bracket.

Update - I did what @tony b suggested - simply used my dremel to extend the bolt slots on the flange. I cut them all the way out so I can slip it onto the two screws welded to the plate attached to the Kamado itself. I have JUST enough contact to screw down the wing nuts and hold everything in place. I could still take off a 1/4 inch form the shaft if I want it to be 100% but this will work for my first rotisserie cook. If it does not work I can them resort to shortening the connector shaft. I think a note in the rotisserie description would help buyers know that the fit varies kamodo to kamodo, motor to motor and that some (simple) modifications may be in order. Thanks again for all the great tips!

Thanks all. Tyrus this is definitely the easier method and a less stressful cook. I meant to say, the sauce from this cook was amazing. I poured the bagged marinate into a pan, added some stock then reduced to 30%, then stirred in a few dollops of butter. Beurre Noir Sauce???? Not sure what you’d call it? Anyway, caramelised with a subtle acid tang from the vinegar. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I neglected to say that it was good to meet @jonj, @BOC, a momentary flash of @Sir Bill, @MacKenzie, @DennisLinkletter and I'm not sure who was on from Australia, audio was terrible but picture was fine. If I've forgotten anyone, I'm sorry, I don't know everyone's real names.

Never in question, Robert.

I couldn't resist lighting the KK after seeing tekobo's 3 KK stash, even though I had to do this for the first time this season- Char Sui Chicken thighs- Add a little sauce and we are off to the races.

Welcome @AAAsh great looking grill. Don’t stress about learning how to cook on the KK it’s actually fairly straight forward once you get the hang of it because it’s so consistent. Tony gave you sound advice but best to just jump in, ask for help here if you need it and start cooking!

Congratulations. I just love the fact that Dennis is so close you. BB32 leaves his world today and arrives with you early next week. That and chicken rice are two good reasons to live in Singapore.

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

Let's see if I can help you understand the how's and why's.. trust me it's really not all that complicated. First of all other rotisseries I know of have one shaft that goes directly to the motor. Most rotisseries are also over open coals or wood with no lid. The square roti spit sits on supports and goes directly into the motor that has a square socket. This is a ONE socket system. The play in the one socket system is 1/3rd that of the KK's three socket system. I wanted a way to run the roti with the lid latched and completely airtight. Rather then make up a wedge and run it with the lid cracked, I installed a drive shaft that runs thru the body. So on the right there is a socket inside the grill attached to the driveshaft in a sleeve with needle bearings and another socket on the outside of the KK in the middle of the side accessory plate. The motor of course it the third socket. This is a three socket system. The first version was all square sockets. Think of the second hand on a clock very little movement at the center creates much more movement at the outside/tip. Because of the tiny bit of play in each socket X 3, the cradle would come around and at some point would fall forward about an inch. Some roti motors also have some slack in the gears and added to this movement. I felt this was unacceptable and gave it a less than quality feel. My solution that reduced the movement by 2/3s was to change the two sockets in the drive train to hex. The hex socket having more faces for the shaft to make contact seemed to do the trick. The motor of course it still square, so the outside the grill shaft is square on the motor side and hex on the KK side. You may be limited by the 23" Ultimate's cradle being 8" but the 32" Big Bad's 10" cradle should hold any turkey you want to throw at it.