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3 lb. choice Tomahawk for dinner tonight. Almond wood smoked then reverse seared. I had to cook it medium-well for my guests but it was still really good, just not how I prefer it. Also 475ML smoke pot for the win! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Simple chicken thigh cook, but I have to say that I nailed the crispy skin on this one! Direct, main grate, peach wood chunks, 375F. Rub was a gift from my SIL from their trip to Iceland. I found their website, but they don't export to the US. 😢 BUT, their webstore listed the ingredients in it, so I just sat down and starting mixing and comparing it to theirs until I got pretty damn close. Plated with duck fat roasted fingerling potatoes with truffle salt, and sautéed green beans with crispy chili oil. Nice fruity Viognier to go with it. I have to confess that the chicken was so tasty with that crispy skin that I had a 3rd piece!

Speaking of the Vermicular, Have you seen the new their new light weight cast iron frying pans? It is very light, is enamel coasted and has a glass lid that fit exactly as it should. I am enjoying it as much as the Vermicular Musui Kamado. https://www.vermicular.us/shop/frying-pan

I looked up the restaurant @Basher. Looks interesting. Our local Kurdish grill house does grilled lamb ribs so well that I don't try to make them myself. Look forward to hearing about how they work out when you do cook them.

Oops. Sorry to report but that is my small la chamba pot at 5.5Qt. When cooking for more I will be using the 10Qt one which didn't fit in my 23 but does fit in my 32.

That is a seriously large chamba!

They say that to this day in that area on a hot summer day you can still smell the molasses that soaked into the bricks and cobblestones.

If you're looking for a cheap paella pan, these folks got you covered. Lots of sizes to choose from. Paelleras & Pans: CUBANFOODMARKET.COM

Scored a nice tomahawk the other day Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

We've been making our own masa for corn tacos. It's work but very much worth it. The story goes that when Masienda's Oaxacan corn reaches the taco griddle at an upscale Mexican restaurant, the aroma makes the Mexican staff tear up with childhood memories. It's really that good (and Anson Mills doesn't come close for this application): Masienda A shopping list for a full setup: Heirloom Yellow Bolita Corn (Oaxaca) (and/or other varieties) Chef-Grade Cal Chef-Grade Masa Flour (Harina) White Tortilla Press by Doña Rosa (this is better than the one you have) Premier Small Wonder Table Top Wet Grinder 1.5 Liter by SS Premier (as recommended by Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico) One cooks corn with cal and water, then lets it sit overnight, to make nixtamal. Recipes for this are all over the map, and no one accounts for the weight of the corn and the water, unlike the brine recipes in Paul Bertolli's Cooking by Hand. I've found that 4:1 water:corn suffices for any corn variety, and 0.5% cal by weight is a minimum effective dose. For example, 360g corn, 1440g water, 9g cal. Cooking times are also all over the map. One wants to see a partially translucent but not mushy kernel when you cut one open to check. After short cooking times Laurie experienced digestive distress. We've settled on using an old slow cooker on a four hour external timer. It only reaches an effective temperature in the last hour, and the corn comes out right. One then rinses the kernels multiple times to get rid of the dissolved outer layer, then grinds the nixtamal to make masa. Traditionally one used a stone metate; this took hours and a shower. Mexicans often use hand-cranked metal grinders, but this requires two passes, and in Youtube videos they finish on a metate. It is rumored to take hundreds of pounds of corn to stop seeing metal fragments from these grinders. Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo imported a Nixtamatic, a powered Mexican machine. Masienda sells the Molinito, a $1750, 26" x 13" x 19" countertop commercial unit. Bricia Lopez, in Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico recommends an Indian wet grinder. One grinds for 40 minutes, scraping down as needed, after adding 1/3 water by weight. This yields a too-wet masa that one corrects with masa harina; the masa still comes out much better than straight masa harina, even Masienda's. A wet grinder is easy to clean. I cannot speak highly enough of Masienda's tortilla press. I actually had a project languishing over a decade to finish a cherry wood press. Now there's no point. The Masienda press is capable of greater force than any other home press I know. How does one avoid a tortilla thinner at one end? Easy, press, rotate, press. How does one easily peel the tortilla free? Press inside a slit open plastic food storage bag. Lift the plastic off one side. Flip, lift the plastic free from the other side. While I own a comal, I vastly prefer cooking tortillas on a Baking Steel, in a pipeline three tortillas deep, flipping every minute at around 500 F. Restaurants use restaurant griddles the same way. It is essential to lightly season the griddle before starting, or wet tortillas will stick. Nothing beats a Dexter Russell 16160 Traditional Series 6" x 3" Hamburger Turner for flipping the tortillas. This is all truly worth it.

When the summer comes I will get back to experimenting with cooking tacos on a plancha outdoors. For now I am experimenting indoors. I have eaten a lot of tacos over the last few weeks. I had some left over brisket in the fridge. Burnt ends were an option but instead I tried out this brisket and foie gras taco. Delish. The flour tortillas were made with goose fat. I like the fact that the starting point for a taco meal is a table that looks like this: With the tortillas for the last night I tried what I thought was a bit gimmicky and risky: corn tortillas made with beetroot juice. My hands were bright red after rolling these. So beautiful to look at And really delicious to eat. Rubbish photo but I was too excited to move to a room with better lighting. Fish tacos. The fish was brill, fried in panko breadcrumbs.

Tony I am told lamb in the US is finished on grain, aus, nz, and the UK are all grass fed. Totally different flavours. I can taste the difference in kiwi lamb, and some different breeds. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I called the shipping company, and my grill is still in LA but on the truck. It's on the way to Atlanta where it will be loaded on a second truck and shipped to me, I was told near the end of next week. Memorial Day is still on the table!

That looks good Forrest. I’d call that medium- still a touch of pink. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same situation for me. their website says normal transit time form LA to DFW is 5 days....so i hope early next week I can get delivery. I'm going to call them tomorrow as well.

That looks really good! Smoking with almond wood is not something I’ve heard of before....interesting.

@Syzygies: And this is why I stress keeping the bean-molasses mixture to a simmer or below.

I haven’t called yet but the shipping info gave an expected ETA of May 27. I’m hoping to schedule for mid or late in the afternoon, so I don’t have to cancel any patient appointments, lol. BTW, what state are you in?

No stranger than me looking at the KK website every day even though I already bought one. I'm ready to stare out the window at my grill on the patio.

Hi @Troble. It appears avocado leaves are used in the southern states of Mexico and that they are leaves of the Mexican avocado. The version that you have in the US may be toxic. See this article for some interesting information. http://flavorsofthesun.blogspot.com/2008/02/avocado-leaves-secret-mexican.html

Funny you should say that. We used clarified butter for all our "butter" frying needs, including in our air fryer. The Husband is usually in charge of making it and he buys a stack of butter from our local catering supplier. Last time he went, he decided to save himself effort and bought some pre made ghee instead. I was a little snooty at first but I have to admit that I cannot tell the difference when compared to the clarified butter he used to make. Good tip re using ghee to baste grilling food. My decision to make the pilgrimage to the restaurant Ynyshir, in Wales, was based almost entirely on seeing chef Gareth soaking his skewers in liquid butter before grilling. What could be better? Yes they are and I have taken one for Team UK and have ordered some stuff to try.

Those are interesting links. And having settled on a solution never stops me from trying alternatives. One of our favorite aspects of tandoor cooking is basting with ghee. (Another signature use is twice-cooked potatoes; sous vide chunks from a cold start at 185 F = 85 C for nearly two hours, chill and air dry, then fry aggressively till well browned in the amount of ghee one wants to eat. Salt. We actually ordered a white Dutch oven for our Vermicular Musui Kamado as a visual aid to making ghee; I'll bring the original Dutch oven to my New York apartment for a second setup.) Our tandoori requirements are being able to leave the food in a fixed position which will cook evenly without one side burning getting serious "taste of the fire" not tainted by fats burning in the fire being able to baste easily on all sides with ghee, without having to move the food being able to remove the cook for careful Thermapen temperature testing, then return it to the fire if needed. Five vertical skewers well protected by an easily removed heat deflector / drip pan of sufficient diameter seems to me to be the ideal solution. The engineer in me is synthesizing and testing by experiment what I've learned from others on this forum. I'd be eager to try a better solution but it absolutely has to pass my set of requirements.

These let you hang your right side table in the vertical storage position with the rotisserie bracket installed.

Nailed it!

First cook turned out excellent Looking forward to getting a handle of these beast. So far so good! IMG_4286.mov

You're on the right path on your setup for indirect. Yes, you do NOT need a "plate setter" aka - heat deflector in a KK. Wasted charcoal to heat up more material. I'd only wrap the drip pan in foil if you want to keep it looking pristine. Mine looks like crap after all these years, but I don't really care. I don't have a 32" (mine's a 23"), so I can't help with the exact vent settings to get you to 225F, but it's likely going to be very closed down - just off the seat. On mine, it's when I just barely see smoke coming out the top vent. Bottom vent doesn't matter much, just as long as it's open to keep the fire going - 1/4 open on the left dial or one of the medium holes on the right dial. Good luck & post pics of your cook!

@tekobo excellent work. You’re becoming a professional

I started a thread on making nixtamal from Masienda corn, to consolidate what I've posted on other threads such as here: Nixtamal / masa / tacos from Masienda Oaxacan corn

Old Julia Child tip for getting beet stains off your hands - table salt. Mix up a wet paste of salt and water and use it as a scrub for your hands. Then wash with soap & water.

@tekobo interesting....learn something new every day. I have 6 types of avocado trees on my property but they are all Persea Americana which are not used for flavoring per your article.