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When KK was new and we were constantly upgrading the grills, there would be certain changes that someone would see on the forum, then buy a grill and complain it did not have the feature / was not the latest and greatest. This got old, so like software I gave the major changes their own version numbers. At a certain point, I carried so much inventory it made adding features difficult. How do I add a $30 cold smoker port when I had 40 23's and 25 32's without making $300k plus worth of grills suddenly dated.. My solution was to photoshop out the ports until all the grills without them were sold and then put of the photos with ports all at once... When I completely sold out last April, I asked myself is there anything that I would like to add now that I could not add before? It was the top lip protector.. the 32" and 42" grills have enough weight that they close with more force and the lip protection makes sense and I like the look.. Bit more robust.. BTW it was simply one basket/16lbs of charcoal at 235º will burn for 85 hours. The 16 lbs was my dense coconut shell charcoal. During lockup this spring I filled the 42" charcoal basket with almost three boxes of coconut shell charcoal and it ran 215 hours. I'll try to post the documentation soon.. I ran a stopwatch and took shots of the burning charcoal everyday at dusk with the stopwatch running then took a shot of the phone with the stopwatch and my phone for the actual time and date. This being proof for the haters and deniers.. LOL

I had the urge to have mac & cheese and being able to cook it outside is so nice in the recent heat and humidity.

A lot of modern stuff contains nitrates. @tony b @tekoboone of the main reasons why you don't see potassium nitrate or saltpetre more often these days is that it is white and looks like table salt. It was removed from mainstream food use because of this. There were issues with it hurting people that mistook it for table salt and sprinkled it on their food directly and used it often in this manner. My bet is that somewhere you could find 'curing salt' that contained the proper proportion of potassium nitrate along with regular salt. The most common is curing salt containing sodium nitrate (like the link you shared about pink curing salt). Fun Fact, when I rubbed the meat, the salt and saltpeter started reacting and turning pink when exposed to moisture. I am pretty sure that in my recipe that I just made, I could do 9 tablespoons of pink curing salt instead of 7 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of saltpeter and it would come out pretty much the same - same flavor and everything - so if you prefer to just get curing salt, that is fine. I just wanted to make my recipe the same as my "Nanny" used to make it. Pink curing salt is roughly 90% salt and 10% sodium nitrate, so the proportions in my recipe are probalby heavier than necessary on the saltpeter. If I wanted to try to minimize, I would do something like 8 tablespoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of saltpeter to get it more in the same proportions with curing salt. But I doubt that at either of these concentrations that it's detrimental to health in curing one roast. Some of it goes into the meat but a lot of it goes down the drain when the meat gets washed before smoking. Research I did before I made this recipe basically says meat that is cured with nitrates is not good for you in large quantities. If you consume them once a month or something, it should be fine. In other words there's no reason to worry about curing one roast and eating it. There's definitely heart disease risk if you do it on a regular basis. In general staying away from mass produced cured meat like corned beef, ham, bacon is a good idea. With vacuum sealing there probably isn't any reason to even use it. It just gives that nice pink color that lets you know you're eating corned beef/pastrami. Potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate do the same thing and have the same health benefit/detriment. I'm sure you could find bacon or ham products with potassium nitrate in it, although sodium nitrate is more common. I would imagine the appearance of Sodium Nitrate is the same reason why you find pink curing salt, but it is hard to find sodium nitrate by itself. It's probably white and looks like table salt. You can confuse pink curing salt with himalayan salt as well, but himalayan salt is not pervasive, and the curing salt isn't pure sodium nitrate. (90/10). I just thought of this - maybe you don't see much (if any) curing salt with potassium nitrate because sodium nitrate does the exact same thing and is cheaper to manufacture? IDK would be interesting to find out. I had to go ahead and cook this thing b/c the refrigerator I kept it in had an issue. It cured for about 6 days. The first picture is how it looked after a couple hours on the smoker before I wrapped it. The second is the final product. It is delicious. I think it would be better with a brisket. But this comes out as a very similar texture as boiling it according to my grandmother's recipe, but tastes much better smoked. \\

That looks gorgeous @johnnymnemonic. Super nice to be re-creating, and bettering, a recipe from your childhood. Your post sent me on a very quick trip down a rabbit hole. I have a range of "chemicals" that I call on when curing meats. Prague No 1 and Prague No 2 are both pink salts. Checking on the ingredients from the brand that I use, No 1 is mostly kosher salt as you say but has 6.25% sodium nitrite. No 2 contains 4.75% of potassium nitrate as well as the sodium nitrite. The former is for short cures and latter for long cures. I also have some saltpetre that I keep in deep store and only get out to use and measure on my drug dealer scales when a recipe calls for it. Saltpetre is the stuff that gets you noticed by the police if you order it in any quantity as it is a component in gunpowder. All of that makes me wonder why I am putting any of this in my food?! Eek. All good. Measured carefully and consuming the resulting cured meats in moderation hasn't killed me, yet.

Today with the help of the local brewery Team i moved the KK to his new place. it’s gorgeous and every detail is perfectly made…. Great craftsmanship Dennis Thanks for all your support! GREETINGS FROM SWITZERLAND

Another extra tasty looking dinner, Tony. 🥂

Smoked Bourbon Chicken 7 SEASON 8 MAIN COURSES CHICKEN GRILLING & BARBECUE This combination sounded perfect. All we had to do was figure out how to infuse smoke and bourbon flavors while keeping the chicken from drying out. SERVES4 TIME2¼ hours, plus 20 minutes resting SEASON 8Break Out the Bourbon HAS VIDEO Watch our test cook make this recipe from start to finish. WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS Cooking the marinade was the first essential step to getting the most flavor compounds into our chicken. Slashing the chickens also allowed for better penetration of the marinade flavors before grilling. Splitting our chickens into halves a... Read More PRINT SAVE TRY THIS RECOMMENDED COOKING COURSE JERK CHICKEN GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS 1 ¼ CUPS BOURBON 1 ¼ CUPS soy sauce ½ CUP packed brown sugar 1 SHALLOT, MINCED 4 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED 2 TEASPOONS PEPPER 2 (3 1/2- TO 4-POUND) whole chickens, GIBLETS DISCARDED 1 CUP WOOD CHIPS 4 (12-INCH) WOODEN SKEWERS VIEW INGREDIENTS KEY EQUIPMENT Chimney Starters * BEFORE YOU BEGIN USE A BOURBON YOU’D BE HAPPY DRINKING. USE ALL THE BASTING LIQUID IN STEP 5. 1 INSTRUCTIONS BRING BOURBON, SOY SAUCE, SUGAR, SHALLOT, GARLIC, AND PEPPER TO BOIL IN MEDIUM SAUCEPAN OVER MEDIUM-HIGH HEAT AND COOK FOR 1 MINUTE. REMOVE FROM HEAT AND LET COOL COMPLETELY. SET ASIDE 3/4 CUP BOURBON MIXTURE FOR BASTING CHICKEN. (BOURBON MIXTURE CAN BE REFRIGERATED UP TO 3 DAYS IN ADVANCE.) 2 WITH CHICKENS BREAST SIDE DOWN, USING KITCHEN SHEARS, CUT THROUGH BONES ON BOTH SIDES OF BACKBONES; DISCARD BACKBONES. FLIP CHICKENS OVER AND, USING CHEF’S KNIFE, SPLIT CHICKENS IN HALF LENGTHWISE THROUGH CENTERS OF BREASTBONES. CUT 1/2-INCH-DEEP SLITS ACROSS BREASTS, THIGHS, AND LEGS, ABOUT 1/2 INCH APART. TUCK WINGTIPS BEHIND BACKS. DIVIDE CHICKEN HALVES BETWEEN TWO 1-GALLON ZIPPER-LOCK BAGS AND DIVIDE REMAINING BOURBON MIXTURE BETWEEN BAGS. SEAL BAGS, TURN TO DISTRIBUTE MARINADE, AND REFRIGERATE FOR AT LEAST 1 HOUR OR UP TO 24 HOURS, FLIPPING OCCASIONALLY. 3 JUST BEFORE GRILLING, SOAK WOOD CHIPS IN WATER FOR 15 MINUTES, THEN DRAIN. USING LARGE PIECE OF HEAVY-DUTY ALUMINUM FOIL, WRAP SOAKED CHIPS IN FOIL PACKET AND CUT SEVERAL VENT HOLES IN TOP. REMOVE CHICKEN HALVES FROM MARINADE AND PAT DRY WITH PAPER TOWELS; DISCARD MARINADE. INSERT 1 SKEWER LENGTHWISE THROUGH THICKEST PART OF BREAST DOWN THROUGH THIGH OF EACH CHICKEN HALF. 4 FOR A CHARCOAL GRILL: OPEN BOTTOM VENT HALFWAY. LIGHT LARGE CHIMNEY STARTER FILLED WITH CHARCOAL BRIQUETTES (6 QUARTS). WHEN TOP COALS ARE PARTIALLY COVERED WITH ASH, POUR INTO STEEPLY BANKED PILE AGAINST SIDE OF GRILL. PLACE WOOD CHIP PACKET ON COALS. SET COOKING GRATE IN PLACE, COVER, AND OPEN LID VENT HALFWAY. HEAT GRILL UNTIL HOT AND WOOD CHIPS ARE SMOKING, ABOUT 5 MINUTES. FOR A GAS GRILL: REMOVE COOKING GRATE AND PLACE WOOD CHIP PACKET DIRECTLY ON PRIMARY BURNER. SET GRATE IN PLACE, TURN ALL BURNERS TO HIGH, COVER, AND HEAT GRILL UNTIL HOT AND WOOD CHIPS ARE SMOKING, ABOUT 15 MINUTES. LEAVE PRIMARY BURNER ON HIGH AND TURN OFF OTHER BURNERS. (ADJUST PRIMARY BURNER AS NEEDED TO MAINTAIN GRILL TEMPERATURE BETWEEN 350 TO 375 DEGREES.) 5 CLEAN AND OIL COOKING GRATE. PLACE CHICKEN HALVES SKIN SIDE UP ON COOLER SIDE OF GRILL WITH LEGS POINTING TOWARD FIRE. COVER AND COOK, BASTING EVERY 15 MINUTES WITH RESERVED BOURBON MIXTURE, UNTIL BREASTS REGISTER 160 DEGREES AND THIGHS REGISTER 175 DEGREES, 75 TO 90 MINUTES, SWITCHING PLACEMENT OF CHICKEN HALVES AFTER 45 MINUTES. (ALL OF BOURBON MIXTURE SHOULD BE USED.) TRANSFER CHICKEN TO CARVING BOARD, TENT LOOSELY WITH FOIL, AND LET REST FOR 20 MINUTES. CARVE AND SERVE.

I’m not crazy about the table clamp set up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Two things that directly lead to my weight loss: I retired. When working, i had a long time between breakfast and lunch and was always very hungry at lunch so I ate too early and too much at lunch. I was then very hungry again at dinner and i are too much then as well as getting take-out too often. I'm sleeping later now which shortens the time between breakfast and lunch so I'm eating less at lunch so i have one "real" meal each day instead of two. I used Noom which helped me with portion control and better balance in my meals; it also helped with strategies for dealing with different circumstances that can lead to overeating. I have some pretty serious back and neck issues as well as severe sleep apnea; i hoped losing weight would help with bit of these but it hasn't. i do feel a bit better overall though and I'm moving better. I'm dreading having to refresh my wardrobe tho - really don't like shopping for clothes. I did make an amazing discovery - losing weight has improved my vision! I'm can now see body parts i hadn't seen in years!

Looks deeeeeelicious Tony nice cook

Broke out the EZKabob yesterday - beef & lamb kabobs with serious garlic and onions. Corn was a must. (No phallic ones this time - ha, ha! I just did a baby kabob with the leftover bits.) Plated with orzo sauced with Boursin and Parm cheeses, basil and cherry tomatoes from the garden and a bit of parsley. Too damned hot/muggy to eat outside last night!

Tri tip marinated with Montreal steak seasoning, garlic powder, Worcester & soy sauce. Cooked indirect and finished on lower grate. Served with Fred’s horseradish sauce and chimichuri slow baked sweet potatoes with Greek yogurt sweet corn on the cob

San Diego Roman style pizza. 2 pepperoni & a veggie (red & yellow bell pepper, mushroom & black olives)

These videos really helped me, they accompany the book The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish. I use the recipes from this book all the time, and the techniques in the videos in the playlist above, and I’m really happy with my results. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can you give an idea as to what you’d like to spend? Knives are a whole new rabbit hole, so budget helps with suggestions. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Troble I do have a weakness for a good knife. First decision is stainless or carbon steel. Stainless requires less maintenance- more rust resistant, however, carbon steel is harder and will hold an edge longer. I’d reckon you could look after a carbon steel knife. I have a few and just wipe them down after use and immediately dry them to store them. If you decide on carbon, pick the steel. I am a big fan of Aogami blue super steel. Holds an incredibly sharp edge for a long time and easy to sharpen. I’ve just purchased a ginsan steel knife- technically it’s a Japanese stainless, however, it has a Rockwell hardness around 62- 63. Too early to rate this knife yet. Out of the box it’s very sharp as most knives are. I struggled with plenty of sharpeners until I purchased a whetstone. They give the best polished edge and with a little practice you can pick it up easily. There is a Russian diamond sharpening system that’s extremely good- it takes a little longer to set up and sharpen knives. I’ve just purchased the Ken onion work sharp tool that sharpens with a belt to get a slightly convex edge. Theoretically this will be a stronger edge. It’s easy to use and quick. Stay away from draw through ceramic discs, I’ve found these to be very inconsistent. I’ll be interested to see what you choose. I have found the French cook Jaque Peppin entertaining lately. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk