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A friend with KK envy gave me some smoked sliced goose breast meat. The season just opened here on Monday and her husband got the goose.

@bruma wine garden crab cake kale, sheep’s milk & garlic pizza Short rib

@tony b that’s precisely why I don’t brew. But this place is 90 minutes from my home. We come at least once a year and it’s like the title of my thread it really inspires me to cook at home. Still got two more nights to go and tomorrow is my birthday and the two meals I’m most excited about. But everything here is cooked outdoor over wood fired grills and the food and price points are much better than I find in San Diego. this was yesterday’s post lunch daytime activity

Another fun mashup dinner - Japanese pork tacos! The marinade was a new one to me - yakiniku. I liked it. Various recipes and pre-made ones out there. Mine was a mix of these 2 recipes: Yakiniku Sauce Recipe | Yummly Homemade Yakiniku Sauce Recipe - WITH VIDEO - PepperScale Marinated pork tenderloin, grilled direct, 325F, with apple wood chunks. Glazed for the last 10 minutes with more sauce. Tacos with Granny Smith apple & celery slaw with chopped fresh mint and cilantro (dressing of mirin, rice vinegar, sesame oil, blood orange olive oil, sugar, togarashi, shiso pepper and kosher salt. The top sauce is sriracha mayo. I will make this again!!

Deckmans

My main reasons for wanting a kk (compared to the big 3 ceramics) is I really don't want to deal with cracked fireboxs. I am constantly seeing posts about cracked ceramic fireboxs from the big 3 (BGE, KJ and Primo) mainly due to high heat stress. I know they have lifetime warranties but buying something that I know I will crack makes no sense. I do way more high heat grilling than Low-n-slow. When I do steaks I tend to do a nuclear burn steak cook. So I must ask the question - do KK's have firebox cracking issues due to high heat stress? I haven't heard any reports of this problem but I've only been looking at kk's for a short while now.

Looks great Mac!

@tony b I haven’t been back to Napa for vacation since 2012 and I don’t see us retiring there anytime soon. This place is 90 minutes from my house and it’s just amazing. Going to the outdoor Santa Maria grill Mecca tonight

I know this is not a KK cook but it does keep me going so I can cook on the KK. Fresh from the garden except the celery and the shallot.

High-quality insulation reduces airflow which creates better barbecue. Charcoal always burns at the maximum volume for the allowed airflow, if you can burn less fuel to maintain your cooking temperature, you will have less airflow, less evaporation, and Bingo.. more retained moisture in your meat. And that's better barbecue. And commonsense would dictate that less airflow gives the vapor that's released from the charcoal more retention time therefore more opportunity to condense on your food. Condensation of course is how the vapor is transferred to the food. So less airflow not only gives you more retained moisture but more smoke flavor. And that's better barbecue.

Sweet jesus- all this food and travel is making me so jealous.... still locked down here in Melbourne (longest lockdown anywhere in the world at >260 days over the last 18 months). One can dream!