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I had to keep this cook secret because it was for a surprise party for a friend last weekend. I am really pleased about how it turned out. Like @Syzygies, I have a soft spot for the chef Fergus Henderson. Ever since a friend gave me The Book of St John a couple of years ago I have wanted to make Fergus' quail stuffed suckling pig. It was part of a banquet menu that started with a huge and comforting cucumber, butterhead and lovage salad and ended with strawberries in wine. Everyone enjoyed everything but the pig was the star of the show. I picked up the pig from the farmer a few days in advance and had it hanging in my dry ager. I felt rather sorry for it and promised to make its death worthwhile. On the morning of the party I seasoned and browned the quail Then covered them in a 50:50 mix of creme fraiche and dijon mustard. Fergus' way of "seasoning the pig from the inside out". After the trouble that I had with keeping the first piggy that I did sewn shut, I asked the farmer to cut out a bit of the rib cage to make it easier to sew the pig up at the top end. I managed to get 11 quail into the pig. Sewed it up with a specialised butcher's needle and string. Was easy compared to my previous attempt with upholstery gear. Had to do a bit of manhandling to get the piggy's legs going in the right direction. It had been prepared for a hog roast and, apparently here in the UK that sees you having the legs sticking out. The pig was to be cooked in a pool of apple cider, topped up through the day. The ground under my KK is uneven and so I ended up turning the pig around and topping up with a full bottle of wine to keep the liquid from burning too much at one end. It cooked for 4.5 hours at 180C. After resting for about an hour, the piggy was ready to carve and eat. It was spectacular, having my friends cut it open like a wedding cake - sounded a bit different to a cake as the crackling crunched beautifully - and surprising them with the fact that there were hidden treasures within. Well worth the effort. Served with extra grilled quail.

Spun a chook Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Great color choice flashdaddy! Grendel arrived last Friday but I haven’t had time to describe the arrival. I’ll be posting the details soon. I was also coming from a BGE - a large 12-year-old that I sold about 2 weeks ago.

Added a little more peach wood this time and first 10 minutes without a drip pan. Then added the drip pan with veggies in it. I had some issues getting the rotisserie motor aligned this time, but I will do some more test fitting next week, I’m sure it is user error. But I am real happy with the results 😁

A little sausage cook with roasted veggies. The sausages were only 3/4 cooked as I wanted to finish them off with the veggies. Roasted red and orange peppers, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and shallots. Plated with roasted potatoes.

Amazing! And here I am stressed about my first brisket...

So 106 F here, second day in a row, and a spare the air day also. Our usual way to cook salmon is to brine it, then smoke it in the KK in a cazuela over a bed of basil. Too hot outside... We're finding more uses for the "indoor K" Musui Kamado. I bought their white Dutch oven so Laurie could see ghee cook. So why didn't I realize before today it's a perfect "court bouillon" cooker for fish? Court bouillon is such a classic French technique that it has fallen from favor. I don't know why. Using the Thermapen, and aiming for 125 F internal temperature in a bath held at 200 F, this was spectacular.

Hi All, Sorry I didn't share this sooner. Been really hectic around here. My KK arrived last Friday. The arrival window was 10am-2pm and the moving company finally showed up at 4:45pm and we had dinner reservations at 6:45 with our neighbors. Neighbors drove by and noticed the commotion and came over to admire my new love and it turned into an unpacking party. I had the moving guy (very friendly guy) move the pallet into my backyard. We have a pool with concrete deck so no problems with grass. To get the pallet into the backyard I had to remove two fence panels. Because of the dinner reservations I unfortunately didn't take many pictures. My wife might have a few additional ones I will share later. There is one step up to a raised area of the patio with the KK will live so that's all we had to navigate as far as moving. I have a 1" thick plywood sheet in my garage so we used that with 2x4 blocking underneath to create a bridge from the pallet to the raised patio. We used the blue ropes attached to the front feet to raise the front enough to slide the plywood under them and then the KK moved no problem with just me an my neighbor. It was basically a flat surface at that point. We were 30 min late to dinner but the restaurant had held our table so no problem. The next day I made burgers while being careful to keep the temp below 400. They were awesome but I could have done better if I wasn't so concerned about the temp. The original plan was to cook a brisket first but because of the rush unpacking I wasn't ready yet. So brisket went on the next night. It was a small brisket (only 11lbs). I used the Franklin method and cooked at 230 through the stall and then wrapped. AWESOME. My neighbor has an XL BGE. I've told him he will own a KK within the next 12 months. Guaranteed. My old BGE in the pics below served me well for 10yrs. So as a reward to her I have donated her to a good friend who is in need of an upgrade from his old gasser. he will treat her better than I can considering another has now stolen my heart. I just started the burn in today. She's sitting at 500 for almost an hour now. Nothing exciting happening yet. The BGW was sitting in a table that I made. I've cut it down to create a temporary side table for the KK. I didn't order the side tables because my intention is to build a brick island with granite top to sit beside the KK. I have three straps of spare brick that's been in my garage since I moved in and I've been waiting for the right project to use them. -Eric

Some Kielbasa Kabobs with some rice I did in my Kamado-San. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Peru played Brazil today in Copa America. I’ve been wanting to try to cook my Lomo Saltado in the cast iron wok on the KK for some time now, so I gave it a try. Didn’t have any tomatoes but turned out good. Bought some thin sliced grass fed sirloin and didn’t realize it was almost sandwich thin cut, outside of that it was super tasty, better than the soccer game that’s for sure

Amazing cook Tekobo, your guest must have been very surprised and happy to have a 5 star meal Ike that! Congratulations

That is everyone's reaction. I may have to cover the KK when my buddy comes over or he may not want to take the BGE. 😲

That poor BGE looks so pathetic next to that massive 32" KK!

I think I will always be stressed by brisket - first or hundredth. It holds even more promise and mystique than any piggy. I look forward to seeing your cook. @Bruce Pearson, lovely to hear from you. Yes, it was fun surprising our friends and it made for a lovely afternoon. @MacKenzie, you are welcome at my table anytime but I am guessing a long haul flight doesn’t win against the draw of Moncton. @Basher, the quail cooked in the pig were soft and yielding. I preferred the quail that had been grilled outside of the piggy. Each couple was allowed one of each. Next time, if there is one, I might revert to the pig kidney stuffing. Not sure about the weight - approx 12 kg. All, thank you for your likes!

Very well done Tekobo. What weight was that little pig? Did the quail end up poached in the cream and mustard? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great cook, those veggies and chicken look soooo tasty.

Beautiful cook and great colour on that skin. Oh. to have been at that table.

Welcome, I’m new here too. Excellent choice in color 😉 I’m another that went BGE to KK, but I had a Primo xl for 5 or 6 years in between. All fine cookers but the KK is just on another level.

Nice grill, and glad you could get the coco char.

Looks awesome! I was also a BGE guy that went from gas to Smokey Mountain Cooker to XL BGE (and a mini) to a 32" just this spring. I'm really enjoying it and the BGE experience makes it a seamless transition. Enjoy the process, I know I have. I've also been making You Tube videos as I go to help other newbies, and Dennis has been great prepping me with the right info for the videos! What a great little community we have here.

No bobcat but they do have the pallet jack. They also have something called dura deck that is used to protect delicate ground from heavy equipment, so I'm getting 3 pieces of that instead of plywood. 4x8 sheets rent for $10, so cheaper than plywood and more durable. Should have her fired up tomorrow!

Looks beautiful. Too bad the arrival was so hectic but all that will soon be forgotten if it hasn't already.

@C6Billno I had the pan in the entire time. I did put 3 chunks of peach wood in though to finish a bag and it was smoking very he’s g the first 20-30 minutes

Seasoned the grates and griddle and did the 1st cook. Dry aged ribeye, mushrooms, onions, and a grilled salad with chard, kale, and lettuce, plus some chicken for pasta later in the week. One of the best steaks I've ever had!

Actually you do need the splitter because airflow will always take the path of least resistance.. The air will simply go thru the open area with no charcoal.. this reduces the responsiveness of the controls also.. Ideally you want all the air leaving the damper top to be forced thru the charcoal. This way minor changes actually affect the volume of charcoal you are burning and the temp.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions @Troble. Super helpful. Good to know that flipping the pig was not a big deal. I work out too but I think I might ask for some help if I go that route! I am hosting a friend’s 40th birthday party next week and have a little piggy on order. We are allowed up to 30 in the garden now and it feels like a great opportunity to have a great looking centerpiece like a suckling pig. Will hang it in the dry ager for a few days to help to develop the flavour a little. I hope you found that brisket place in San Antonio and that it was as good as they made it out to be!

@tekobo apologies for the delay I’m actually traveling for work and flew to San Antonio for a dinner last night. Trying to see if I can squeeze in a lunch trip today for a highly regarded brisket place the locals are talking about..... let me try to answer you questions I used my hands to flip the pig it wasn’t very hard at all, it was 24 lbs and you know I work out 😀so I just picked it up, flipped it, sauced it and then flipped it back. I was going for pulled pork from the start so I thought saucing it would be a good idea. I started at 5am at 250 and I flipped it around 11am, cranked it up to 325 after I flipped it to try to crisp the skin. Took it off at 1pm but honestly it probably could’ve stayed on another 30-45 minutes but my guests were hungry. I pulled the pork to make sandwiches, it was soft, juicy and moist but the pig cost me $160, it was also previously frozen so not sure that affected my outcome but both my wife and I felt that my pulled pork had more flavor than the pig and for that price I could’ve bought 5 pork butts easily and cooked them I removed the eyes because we have 6 kids under 5 at the house and I didn’t want to scare them. I actually didn’t drink that much because I was too busy playing in the pool with my friends kids who I hadn’t seen in a year and there were two that were one years old that I hadn’t even met yet. The kids always like me to be the monster in the pool and toss them around and make them fall off the floating animals so I did that all afternoon and woke up sore the next day I wouldn’t change anything about the cook other than to try to find a fresh pig not frozen and I would leave the pig on a bit longer in an effort to crisp the skin more. That being said I don’t think I’ll do the pig again or very often given that my wife and I both preferred my pulled pork over the pig

I went to school in Austin (before Franklin's) so The Salt Lick will always be #1 to me. Hutchin's is the best in DFW area hands down IMHO. Sadly the original McKinney location suffered a kitchen fire a couple of months ago so it's closed at the moment for repairs. Accessories: basket splitter, pizza stone, H/C Smoker, grate grabbers, rotisserie spit, cover, coco char, Coffee Char.