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A friend gave me some of her first smoked meat adventure and I'd say it won't be her last, I sure enjoyed it. Loaded with Swiss cheese and some cold slaw.

If you hadn't been banned a long time ago for your bad jokes, you'll never get banned on here!!

Ha ha ha ha. We'll turn you into a multi KK house yet.... Our friends raved about @RokDok's beer. Most of the stash he had brought for The Husband to enjoy was happily consumed by the unplanned guests who dropped in on Saturday night. And before @DennisLinkletter rocks up to tell us off for showing him pics of uncooked food on KKs, here are the pics I took later on of the cook on the 23. I had to move one of the chooks down a level and that got @RokDok thinking that I might need another KK with even more space. Good thinking BatMan? I can just taste those fat soaked potatoes...

Thanks Tekobo. I cooked a rotisserie chicken a few weeks ago and Mrs RD said that, altho it was OK, it was nowhere near as good as cooked by her in the oven indoors. When I mentioned this to Tekobo a gauntlet whizzed past my ear. So, chicken the first way was "Pollo al Matone" - Chicken in a brick - T had bought some brined chicken, spatchcocked one, seasoned it and placed it it a shallow terracotta dish with a loose (very loose) lid which compressed the chicken. The second way was simply placing a trussed chicken ( one that she had brought over from Italy ) - into a small metallic baking tray, and placed these into her 23", thus : Note - over direct heat but high up. Two other chicken ( ready brined too) were rotisseried indirectly on the 32" with the foil wrapped single bottomed tray beneath. Meanwhile, the double bottomed drip tray was in the kitchen over a moderate heat on the stove and par-boiled potatoes were tossed in goose fat. The single bottomed tray was removed and the double bottomed tray with the potatoes were put in under the chicken to cook and crisp. , Finally the chicken were given a direct blast over the direct heat to brown up Meanwhile Sharkey was in the kitchen reducing some stock and wine for a delicious gravy and the runner beans that had been picked earlier were boiled. The chicken in the 23" were simply delicious - moist and lots of juices in the terra-cotta. The rotisserie chicken was moist and delicious - potatoes yummy and crisp - of course accompanied by appropriate beverage. We didn't eat four chicken - Tekobo had prepared an extra one for a friend nearby whose husband was unwell and so they too had a delicious meal. Mrs RD was converted, and it was my turn to be grilled as to why I hadn't achieved results like this.A kind of peace was restored when I suggested it was because I didn't have enough KKs.

Dennis sent a photo of the Terra Blue pebbles on a smoker. I'm sure he won't mind me sharing so here it is... If he does mind I'll be banned for life here, so it was nice knowing you all!

A new butcher shop opened a few minutes from my house today 😁 I just grabbed a few sausages, garlic/cheese and some sweet Italian. So nice to have more options close by

That's an excellent price. Meat prices have gone crazy the last couple of months, so I'm always on the lookout for a good bargain, even if I have to drop down a bit in quality over my usual brands/grades.

Good shout tony b! That could have gone very wrong, very quickly. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But, be mindful that it's an air pump and needs to have a steady supply of intake air or it will burn up the motor. So, if you put it in a ziptop bag, make sure there's a few holes in it; plus, cut the corner off for the hose. If you run it and see the bag collapse, then it's not getting enough intake air.

I’ve run mine in the rain without issues but I had it sitting under a side table. It got wet and did not die on me. I wouldn’t expect the air pump is waterproof and you could run into issues, but in KK land it is probably one of the cheapest things to replace too. To avoid the pain of getting another, the ziploc bag approach is probably a good move. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You have a point!

@RokDok - I just have the one plant of Cascade. It's about 15 years old now. That bucket full was air-dried for 5 days and I put them up in vacuum bags today - got 5 oz of dried. Those chickens all look amazing! I haven't done a matone in a long time. Got me thinking. I have a whole bird in the freezer.

Don't leave out the rosemary sprigs!

I'm just a physician trained at the undergraduate and post graduate levels in microbiology and do what makes sense to me. Each person do as you think best! My guests get very well rested meat, succulent and juicy, and live to tell their friends about it😀

Tony, that is a stunning pix. I love it.

On your longer cooks, like ribs, butts and brisket, you can try spraying them periodically with apple juice/cider vinegar/water/bourbon/beer - whatever strikes your fancy. Smoke likes a damp surface to stick to, so by lightly spritzing the meat during the cook after the bark sets (several hours in), say every 30 mins to an hour, you will pick up some more smoke flavor. Just be careful and don't overdo the spraying each time, as you don't want to wash off that lovely bark that you've worked so hard to create.

You mean like this?? Picked these over the weekend. That's a 3 gallon bucket. Maybe 25% of what's on the plant?

Mesquite wood.

Hi Dono, I've had HEAPS of smoke with the few low/slow cooking sessions I've had with my KK. My first brisket was cooked with a handful or two of mesquite pellets in a simple foil pack with a few holes stabbed into it... so much smoke that I was worried the neighbours would call the fire-brigade, and got told off by the wife as even with all windows shut the house was smokey inside...(photo below). More recently ribs done using the KK external smoker attachment again with pellets; also heaps of smoke. After the epic smoke-fest that was the brisket, I toned things down when doing my pulled pork- and used a few wood chunks as you have done; with a more subtle smoke profile (and happier wife). I'm sure others will chime in- but there are options if you want to up the smoke! Cheers Remi

First attempt at beef-ribs here tonight (or any type of ribs ever actually...) 6.5hrs, 275F a la Franklin, debuted the KK hot/cold smoker with some mesquite. Served with potato salad, cos, and Franklin's espresso BBQ sauce. Another win for the KK- no surprises there.

Unfortunately, my "go-to" guy closed his deli/meat market today. His sausage business (another location) will be closing at the end to October. Classic pandemic trifecta: Delivery costs (Chomp, Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc.) cutting into slim margins, skyrocketing meat prices this summer, and hard to get/retain employees. Sad days indeed! 😢