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I already had a lot of accessories, but those were missing. I’m ready for a busy summer of cooking. Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

I was gifted this steak, lucky me. Served with air fries and roasted carrots.

Can't walk buy a bargain. I visited my favorite shop and saw this amongst the other knives, a brand new wusthof 8 inch bread knife at a price too low to pass on. Single edge serration only, although I hear they come serrated on both sides at a higher price. Attractive and very sharp, I believe Sygies was looking for a good bread knife, I'm no expert, but this looks like it'll do the job and then some.

The queen of world cuisine has spoken. Thank you at @tekobo for clarifying and making it simple

There used to be a restaurant in San Diego called parallel 33 and they had dishes from countries all along that line that San Diego is on. 33 lines above the equator. They made Moroccan, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, middle eastern food and it was all amazing. I always thought it was a cool concept

Ok Troble, your not going to like me. I began and finished the cook, but my photography fell a bit short. I followed the video for a back up and covered my bases well, I certainly did everything he did, and better. Thing is I got a few picks, but with all the prep and cutting I forgot about the camera. When the pictures were processed they didn't look presentable, anyhow here they are. We did incorporate the pineapple, cilantro, red onion and even some some salsa for the dressing. It was all super good and my daughter and her husband were over to partake. Now you would think, take a picture, nope...stuck in the winter mode, little function. I'm working on the box to incorporate the contents into a cook, Mex/American/Polish cuisine.

Be very careful Basher not to get the sauce on your clothes, the handle on the frig, the door handle and door going outside or any mail hanging around the table,,,don't ask me how I know...I won't tell you.

Recently went freezer deep diving and came up with a couple of packages of snags (beer brats and merguez) that were over 6 years old. Looked just fine. The power of the FoodSaver! Thawed out and tossed on the main grate, direct, 325F. Plated with the leftover au gratin spuds and a salad. No midnight runs to the bathroom, so they were still good (tasty too!) An assortment of good mustards to compliment the snags!

Seems to have the perfect steak:vegetable ratio

No restaurant planned but, if we ever get out of these lockdown restrictions, I am planning a themed banquet a month. Big trestle tables in the garden and menus themed by country. I cannot wait to see and feed my friends again!

@Troble is right, the achiote paste is fundamental to this dish and to other Mexican cooking. You use heroic amounts of it just to make this sauce so don't be daunted by the amount that he has sent you. There is a saying that The Husband and I have - what you are seeking is usually within 5 miles of where you are. I would bet you a lot of money that there is someone in Australia importing (or growing) and selling authentic Mexican chillies. Worth trying to find them to make this dish authentic. The instructions, as I copied them down from the video, are: Adobo sauce toast guallijo peppers, chipotles 2 oz of each take off ends and shake seeds out break up and put back in pan, cover with water simmer for 5 minutes to rehydrate the peppers lift out of liquid and into food processor/blender add half white onion, 1oz of mexican sugar, 1Tbsp cumin, mex oregano, thyme 1 tsp all spice 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 cloves garlic, pineapple and orange juices about half a cup, 1tsp salt Blend Marinade for al pastor achiote paste 14oz. mash up add half cup apple cider vinegar, same olive oil whisk add 2 cups or more of adobo sauce whisk

I understand the challenge. But, I don't think this design would work in the KK, as the vent door is much smaller than the firebox and the attached ash pan wouldn't catch all the ashes inside. I typically just scoop out the ashes from the top for a quick clean, but have a wet/dry shop vac, with the ash filter (a MUST) for really cleaning it out. Done in about 30 seconds. {Damn! The price has gone up a lot in the 5.5 years since I bought mine! I paid $74) PowerSmith PAVC101 10 Amp Ash Vacuum - Shop Wet Dry Vacuums - AmazonSmile AmazonSmile: PowerSmith PAAC301 Double Layer Washable Heat-Resistant Ash and Dust Vacuum Filter: Home Improvement If you don't want to make this kind of investment (small price IMHO to keep using your KK), you can do what many others do and just pull out the vent assembly, place a pan under the opening and use a small whisk broom to sweep out the ashes into the pan. Easy, peasy!

Thank you Troble. Despite our customs destroying part of your package for fear of Khapra Beetle( whatever that is). I thought they had let the mull through- turns out it was oregano and what a lovely floral smell it has. It’s definitely different to our oregano. I spent the last few hours searching Annatto and Achiote recipes and re read your posts. I’ve never seen this before despite our land masses being connected 150 million years ago! I’ll be cooking this lamb shoulder( it’s 2.5kg, that’s 5.5lb) on the weekend for guests and wanted to check I’m on the right track with flavour profiles. The plan was to marinate this for 30 hours before KK low n slow to pull apart with rice, re fried beans, coriander salad, jalapeños. Here is my marinade mix Plus some fresh lime and orange juice. All recipes have garlic, pepper, cumin, orange, lime, coriander seeds and the obvious annatto paste. Some have cloves, cinnamon, star anise, paprika, Mexican chilli. I now have all this apart from Mexican chillies. Am I on the right track, or have I complicated this? My mind is telling me this combo will work, I’m just not sure what Annatto is bringing to the party? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Tyrus looks like a pro! Glad you enjoyed it

Thanks, I have printed it out. It seems to me that the secret of all good Indian cooking is toasting the spices while they are in fresh form, grinding them, and using them immediately.

@tekobo very happy you got to enjoy time with friends. Glad you liked it. Those are Tijuana tacos like you see on Netflix straight from your garden in the UK 😀

Here is a very old thread where I make Tandoori Chicken from "Tandoor: the Great Indian Barbecue" on my previous ceramic cooker: Tandoori Chicken

Tekobo I’m waiting for you to open a restaurant. Just not sure what you would call it? Foods of the Planet? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am in this camp. Having a thermometer in your BBQ gives us the comfort of precision but I tend to simply use it as a rough guide. Just so long as the temps are in the neighbour hood of where I need to be, I’m happy.

You can use a controller but you don’t have to. If you like tech and toys by all means get one. I have three, and never use them anymore! You only need three temps for your KK. Low and slow which is anywhere from 200 to 280. Roasting at 350. And a hot grilling/ pizza fire which you don’t need to measure, you see it. Barely crack the vents top and bottom and you’ll get the low and slow. And only start a LITTLE charcoal. Roasting at 350 is just a little more open on the vents, you’ll learn it quick enough, but again only start a little charcoal. For L&S and for roasting start only a half charcoal chimney at the most. For a hot fire start up a full chimney. That’s it. You will learn to gauge your fire temp by reading the smoke output, you won’t even need the thermometer. Yeah, you’ll get that good! And then you sleep peacefully, confident.

Komodo Kamado April 6 2021 I am almost 80 and not very flexible especially when bending over and trying to maintain my balance while trying to scrape out the ashes. I have used a portable handheld vacuum but that necessitates taking the KK apart and the vacuum cleaner frequently plugs up with residual charcoal. Because of these problems for me, I have given up using my KK and purchased a Memphis pellet grill, but I still prefer my KK if it were not so difficult to clean out the ashes. I had almost given up hope for using my KK again when I came across a competitor's solution, an ash drawer with the air inlet part of the face of the ash drawer. All the ash falls into the drawer then can be pulled and is pulled out and dumped. It seems to me, what we have now simply needs a drawer attached to the air inlet controller face plate and my problem is solved. Of course, this shouldn't be a patent problem because the competitor's face plate has what appears to be non-adjustable air inlet holes whereas our KK has an adjustable air intake system. I guess the competitor must rely solely on the top vent to control temperature. rely

There should be two packs of dried chiptole in your package as well as Guarillo peppers I put everything you need into that package for this dish. You don’t need to purchase anything but the meat

Thanks again Troble and Tekobo. I was on a completely different path. I’ll rewind most of this. Troble the star anise can be considered a replacement to allspice and sugar. A little clove like but with underlying liquorice flavour- I’ll remove this and some other spices. Pretty sure I can find some dried chipotle nearby. I know lamb is not the traditional meat with this. It’s just that I have 35kg of this in my fridge and freezer and thought this marinade would be worth a try. I’ll let you know how it goes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Basher just follow the recipe in the video. He dies it pretty much exactly how I learned to do it in Mexico. You’re referring to it an Annatto I call it Achioete paste, that’s the more common parry. The achioete paste is the key ingredient to making this dish. Without if you can’t do it. It gives the dish the deep red color and distinct flavor. If you look at @Tyrus first pic that’s what you want. A tray of deep red color. The achioete paste brings that. You have to heat it to break it down which is why you do the adobo sauce first with the guarillo and chipotle peppers then add the paste to reduce. If you don’t add the paste you can’t cook this dish first you make the adobo sauce by sautée the guarillo and chipotle peppers. Then you add the achioete paste to that sauce to create the “adobada or al pastor” marinade. It’s a two step process but literally when I cook this dish. I watch that video and I pause it. not sure about star anise or the other directions you’re going but just watch the video follow what he dies abs you’ll be good. Marinating for more than 24 hours is a good idea get some pineapple to serve with tacos, I like to make the cilantro crema sauce to go with it. Chopped red onions, chopped cilantro for garnish

Make sense, buckshot adds an off taste and is hell on the teeth!

The Smith and Wesson 40 cal “Shorty Forty” on the countertop is optional. But a good idea if you live out in the wild Texas Hill Country. For both varmints and “varmints”!!! No kids in the house so it’s cool laying there. Right under that deck below the KK I had to dispatch a big Western Diamondback. I had to crawl under there on my hands and knees and face that thing down. It was buzzing like a chainsaw, my adrenaline was maxed out. But my dogs go back there, and under there. For that little adventure I actually used a shotgun, not a pistol. No I didn’t do a low and slow on it to see if it “tastes like chicken”

@MacKenzie picture perfect!

^ +1.

Hi @Troble, I am sorry that the pictures were so poor. It was our first contact with friends post lockdown. We were only allowed to eat in the garden so it was a bit of a rushed event, trying to cook and eat before it got too cold outdoors. I cooked the meat on the 32 and the flour tortillas on the 23. It all went well and I served them with pineapple, pickled cucumber, an arbol chilli sauce and other things that i cannot remember. I do remember that I forgot to serve slices of lime. Alchohol and happiness induced forgetfulness. Next time!

Made kebabs with some of the rarer bits off the leftover leg last night. Plated with mushroom couscous and a nice salad.

Lamb shoulder slow cooked with wine, stock and creme fraiche. Finished with frozen peas and mint. Super yummy.

Lamb was the calling of the day. Rotisserie boneless leg, with smoker pot of coffee and apple woods, 275F. Pulled at rare (120F). Made some au gratin potatoes to go with it. Two types of Boursin cheese (chive & black pepper), along with cheddar and the top coating of parmesan. Excellent. Plated with the steamed broccoli and a lovely Merlot. Lots of leftover lamb, so thinking a nice stew in the claypot for dinner tonight??

I wouldn't go 750/800 F dome for tandoori chicken in a ceramic cooker, at least for any recipe I know. Every 50 F step above 550 F is pretty dramatic, I'd take them one at a time. Temperature is only one element of the puzzle, and more is not always better; every cooker is different in its heat delivery characteristics. This is not a single variable (temperature) problem. For an example which is approximately two variables, take a pizza stone, where the temperature and the thermal transfer rate of the stone material work together to determine how the stone cooks. A ceramic cooker is a more complex system, closer to a tandoor than to a conventional oven, but not the same. I can't use the same pizza temperatures in my cooker that I saw Sicilians use in room-sized wood fired ovens, and I can't use the same tandoor temperatures that an Indian would use in an authentic tandoor. Nevertheless, if one makes an adjustment to one's cooker, the results can be delicious. Here are some pictures of a tandoori chicken recipe that I like: Here are some notes of mine from 2005, that I've edited a bit for this post: "Tandoor" by Ranjit Rai (ISBN 1585671444; addall.com, overstock.com) is a definitive treatise on Indian Tandoor barbecue, written originally for publication in India. It is quite approachable, particularly if one has cooked other Indian dishes before. Nevertheless, he assumes that one is using ingredients as found in India, and actually cooking in a Tandoor. I find this refreshing; I'm comfortable making adaptations to my circumstances, but I cringe at the idea of others making adjustments for me, that may not be relevant to my circumstances. For example, a ceramic cooker is very much like a Tandoor; much could get lost in translation by starting with a recipe adapted to a conventional oven. The following is my adaptation for a ceramic cooker of his "Tandoori Chicken"; I have tried to be as faithful as possible to his original intent, e.g. bringing into this recipe comments on technique made elsewhere in the book. There are many other recipes given for poultry, lamb, fish, vegetables, bread, accompaniments; I hope that this adaptation serves as an advertisement for the book, which belongs on any comprehensive barbecue bookshelf. This chicken is the first dish I've made on my cooker that is both exciting enough for me, and exciting to Laurie's nine year old daughter, who has requested that we make it every night. 1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs 2 TB vinegar 3 TB oil 1/2 TB ground chile or hot paprika 1 tsp salt This is a typical size for a U.S. chicken, but roughly twice the size of the chicken specified in the recipe, so I give cooking times longer than the book. Nevertheless, quantities here yield plenty of marinade; I'd double everything for three chickens. One can follow the book's cooking times more closely for "tikka", or uniform chunks of meat. Quarter and skin the chicken, and pierce various places with a knife. Trim the quarters of any extraneous extremities, setting the scraps aside to freeze with the wings and backbone for stock. Mix the marinade ingredients, toss the chicken quarters in the marinade, and chill for an hour or so. Arrange the ingredients for the second marinade: 1 cup yogurt 1 tsp salt 2 TB ginger 2 TB garlic 1 bay leaf 3 cloves 4 green cardamom pods 1/4 tsp mace 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 TB black peppercorns 1 tsp caraway seeds 3 red chiles 1 TB oil Drain the yogurt through a paper towel and a strainer. In a large Thai mortar and pestle or equivalent machine, pound the ginger and garlic with the salt to a paste. Use only the black insides of the cardamom pods; seed the chiles. In a heavy frying pan, gently roast each of the dry spices until fragrant, grind in a spice grinder, and pound into the mortar paste. Mix in the oil and yogurt. Drain the original marinade from the chicken, coat with the new marinade, and chill for six hours or as long as practical. ("White" cardamom is simply a bleached version of the green, so stock one kind, green. If you can find mace in strands as shown in the picture, it is far superior to preground mace.) 4 to 8 TB ghee (or clarified butter) Preheat the cooker to 600 F, and set up the upper grill for direct cooking. Have a mop and melted ghee at the ready for basting. Put on the quarters, adjust the cooker to 550 F or so, and turn and baste every 5 minutes. The chicken will be done in 20 to 30 minutes, a matter of taste, the actual cooking temperature, and the size of the bird. As tempting as it is to apply this approach to spatchcocked (butterflied) chicken, at these temperatures either the legs or the breast can finish first. In my opinion the breasts are done when a Thermapen registers in the 140's to 150's F anywhere one probes, and the legs are done in the 150's to 160's. Some may regard these temperatures as undercooked, so cook instead to your liking. The quarters will continue to cook a bit after they come off.