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Nice cooks Mac! Here had a nice evening, rediscovering the fun of cooking on my Brawny Bambino aka 16TT. Started with homegrown sweetcorn, cooked in their husks. It was super delicious. No seasoning or butter. Just naked out of the husk. Then I blackened some peppers for a pepper pesto that I'll be making tomorrow. The human scale of the 16 is great, I just turned the peppers with my fingers. And now for a sight that Mac will hate. My dry ager is full of fish. Salt cod from Spain and, at the bottom, tonight's dinner. Rainbow trout fillets left in for half a day to dry the skin out. I oiled the grates and sprayed the fish with oil before cooking. Very pleased with the results. The fish was basted with a soy sauce and mirin mixture and the finished product reminded me of a less intense version of the grilled eel that the Japanese serve. Yum.

I have been neglectful with postings so here goes- Chicken thighs on the KK and veggies. Smoking things up. Plated. Scallops and fries. Sauerkraut coleslaw. Drumsticks and pasta salad. Pulled pork and pasta salad. View over the KK.

Learning all about my kk and loving it. You tube and this Forum are really helpful. Finding accessories to maximize our cooking joy, is of course fun also. This first picture was of it's original location.... outdoors uncovered and wet... Now it lives on a screened and covered back porch.

@Newbie1925 I can tell you that using no probe, no alarm, etc I have gotten decent results on a Big Green Egg, even when going overnight. Only a handful of times have I woken up to a grill that is too cold. Heating up the grill without overshooting temp is easy with a Kamado. You make sure you light enough charcoal, then close the lid with the bottom and top vents open. The dome temperature gauge reaches your desired temp WELL before the grill is heat soaked. Once the dome temp reaches your desired temp, then you close your vents down. I've seen it a bunch with KKs, for 225 it's just that quarter turn up top. When burning the grill in I think is a great time (as others have done) to start with vents constricted and slowly open them and register the temperatures so you get to know your vent settings from the getgo. As far as the longevity of a fire overnight, a lot of it has to do with the way you set your fire and what kind of charcoal you use. Not having too many small pieces of charcoal inhibiting the airflow in the basket, for example. Anyway, like you I'm looking at the meater. I don't mind waking up, either. Now that I'm grilling / smoking on this level it feels like a drop in the bucket and more than ever I will want my food perfect. As far as the rotisserie, I've read mixed reviews. Some people on this forum say it's unnecessary and it's more equipment to store, etc. But there are some stunning pictures of cooks using the rotisseries. With as much cooking area as we have on the grates of our 42s and with such great refractory insulation, you don't really "need" a rotisserie to get fantastic results. However, I'm sure there are some results that you can't replicate without one - like how crispy you can get the skin on a rotisserie chicken on all sides. I'm sure you can achieve very similar results without one, but like everything there's an "ideal" solution and the rotisserie probably is an "ideal" solution for a couple of things. For me, it's not the ideal solution for most of what I do and I think the things I would use a rotisserie for will still come out VERY good without one. I don't want the extra equipment. The main thing I do is smoke lots of meat (pork butts, ribs, briskets, etc) - (and I grill as well). The 42 seemed like the ideal grill and because it is a KK, an amazing smoker too that I can use for a HUGE crowd. My guess is I'm going to be getting rid of my old BGE and gasser since this thing is so massive. IDK maybe not - there's a practical use for multiple grills sometimes. Anyway - I'm getting excited. It's almost irrational how excited I am.

So I have been busy grilling and a lot of remiss with posting. A couple weeks ago I had a friend over who wanted shrimp for dinner so I decided to make paella. Mind you I have never made paella before but I have eaten my share. So I researched and research and found a procedure on Naked Whiz's site. What I found most helpful was Naked Whiz provided the pillars or the important things to pay attention to and the basic procedure this was brilliant since I rarely follow recipes. So again I am not going to plagiarize from Naked Whiz if you want the procedure go to the link above I am going to share my experience, ingredients and what I learned. I wanted to buy the sofrito but could not find anything to my satisfaction however, I did find a recipe on Pinterest that seemed like it was the real deal and I was not wrong. I cooked Heidi's recipe the night before and it provided amazing depth of flavor and I will make it again as a base for many recipes not just paella. I used canned whole San Marzano style tomatoes without the juice. For the liquid I used chicken bone broth by Kettle and Fire with 32 oz of clam juice in the bottle. I made sure this was warmed and ready to add. My ingredients included: 1 lb shrimp soaked 30 minutes in a salt brine 0.6 lb salmon soaked 30 minutes in a salt brine 3 lobster tails soaked 30 minutes in a salt brine 1/2 lb Basque style Chorizo, not my first choice, I would have preferred Spanish style and yes I mixed meats. For veggies I used 1 cup frozen peas Tops from one bunch of asparagus par boiled in the liquid Photo below shows the ingredients ready to go. Everything I read said to have your ingredients prepped and ready to go and it paid off in spades. I got the grill to 550 degrees and away I went. Saute chorizo, warmed the sofrito, browned the rice in the sofrito, added saffron, then added the liquid and cooked for about 30 minutes, added the vegetables and mixed into the rice. Then I added the seafood on top and cooked for about 10 minutes and the results were amazing as demonstrated by the beauty shown in the photo below. The rice was creamy the flavor profile was complex and balanced. Frankly, I have thought about this meal everyday since I have made it. What I learned was this dish is beautiful to look at, amazing flavor, fairly simple to make. I will definitely make this again and thanks to Naked Whiz for the procedure and all the tips. While I have a pork butt smoking as I write this I really want some more paella!

Tekobo, everything was going great until I hit the dry ager and it was all downhill from there.

@Donothank you! - I agree the forum is a great resource and such nice people. I need to start reading about the delivery. Mine should be relatively easy for the freight people, but I might need to go ahead and line up some help to unbox and roll it down out of the crate.

That is pretty terrible. Looks like disappointment.

~ September 8th!!!!!!!!!!!

Correct thank you tony, Lid up on a dry, sunny, low humidity day, With no fire burning. I’m not sure I’d want to be lighting any fire within a KK if there is suspected moisture inside. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FYI - you shouldn't be grilling with the lid open anyway; it's bad for the gaskets.

Well found cave dweller, and welcome. If you suspect there has been water damage, proceed slowly and don’t crank the heat up too high too quickly. Maybe leave the lid up on a bright, sunny, dry day- preferably low humidity. What’s the height from KK to ceiling? I doubt the ceiling will need protection, the heat mostly dissipates above 1m. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to the Obsession! You've just graduated in your BBQ cooking to Master level over your BGE. If the "stone" that you are referring to is the "heat deflector" then don't sweat the damage - you don't need to use it - most of us don't. If it's the pizza stone, then you probably need to replace it - assuming that you want to make pizza or bake bread? As noted, a picture would be helpful in sorting that out for you. Yes, as noted, those are parts for the rotisserie. If you want to use it, here's the recommended motor for it (Dennis does not sell them). Grill Rotisserie Motor Universal Heavy Duty Electric Operated Replacement (onegrill.com)

Please don't shoot the messenger... Your grill is a 23" Ultimate not a 32" Big Bad. You have your side tables reversed.. the square point goes in the rear and mimics the shape of the grill.± Best to use maroon Scotchbrite to remove the stains and oxidation on the teak..

here's a hilarious video - can't believe they let this crap stay up there if this is still a serious product.