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Surf & Turf night. Seafood truck came to town and I loaded up on fresh shrimp. Surf = bacon wrapped shrimp with cajun seasoning & a slather of sauce. Turf = Denver steak with Dizzy Pig Raising the Steaks. Direct, lower grate, mesquite wood chunks. The "washed out blob" in the pic is the slice of rustic Italian bread from the local bakery - one of my favs! Plated with a nice baked spud, shrooms, and side salad. Decent Beaujolais to wash it all down with.

You know what it’s like @tekobo

Short answer to your second question is that, yes the 22 is a better cooking vessel than the 19. I can say that with confidence even though I have owned neither. I have a 16 and while it is fun to cook on, it has limitations, one of which is how close your food is to the fire. In my larger KKs you have the option to cook indirect higher up or close to the fire on the lower grates. It’s all about flexibility and, in addition to the extra space, the 22 offers better cooking options.

It's our friend Peter's birthday, and his wife asked if a bunch of us would meet in the village pub this evening at 8pm to celebrate. So, as we live next-door to the pub we suggested that the bunch came here for some food first. Now having been under the spell of @tekobo 's KK cooking wizardry - and having eaten her fab veal short ribs we thought this would be a great dish to serve tonight. In view of the fact that it's a pretty significant birthday for Peter, slow cooked ( braised really) rib is moist, succulent and above all soft, it would be easy for him to eat. We could even cut it up small for him if he forgot to bring his teeth. There is a commercial butcher at the end of the road. I know them well and I ordered the short rib from them. An unusual request here in Blighty : " So, let's get this straight Dok - you want Pork Spare Ribs, but not separate - all joined up and not in Pork but in Beef - so - bones with a lump of meat on them". " Yes, indeed , I think that would be a reasonably accurate approximation of my requirement " So, picked them up this morning : The thing is that they are frozen. Mrs RD is always giving me tips and advice and very helpful in pointing out where I've done things wrong, but she suggested browning them in a pan first. 8/10 Roasting them over direct heat with some cherry wood initiated the smokiness, gave a decent Maillard and really helped with the thawing out : Whilst this was happening Mrs RD made a braising stock of : Softened Onion & Garlic, Star Anise, Fresh Ginger, Coriander Powder, Chinese 5-Spice, White wine vinegar, soy sauce and beef stock, which we poured over the browned ribs, followed by a couple;e of bottles of stout from a batch I'd made in 2017.: Both pans now in the KK at about 150 celsius with hunks of cherry wood from our tree which had a haircut a month or so ago.

I do have to say that I have found a good use of the double drip pan - the base for my vertical spike for doing shawarma/gyro/al pastor cooks. I typically don't put veggies in it, but I've enjoyed seeing the pics from others that do it. The reason for the double bottom was a suggestion by several of us here when Dennis 1st rolled out the single pan, was to make sure that the drippings for gravy, etc. didn't burn. It works. I did use it once for a Thanksgiving turkey to make the gravy - yeah, it was a tad smoky, but I liked it. Cold smoker - I've done cheese, salmon (both cold and "warm" smoked (140F), nuts and most recently - smoking beef tallow and pork leaf lard. I have used it to add smoke to hot cooks, but generally default to the smoker pot, because my older KK doesn't have the dual ports - so you have to choose smoker or Guru for your cook. I like using the Guru on long cooks, so I HAVE to use the smoker pot and not the cold smoker. As noted, pellets in the cold smoker are the only way to go - hard to keep wood chips lit. Buy high quality ones that don't have a lot of "binder" added - that's what gunks up the smoker. I like these guys: Our Smoking Pellets - BBQ Lumberjack wood pellets for smoking

That one is made with green habanero peppers. Best guess on the rest - garlic, cumin, cilantro, salt, vinegar. Play around with it and keep a bottle of the original for reference. That's typically how I copy rubs/sauces. @Troble - that's quite the impressive pantry re-stock! You look like you're set for a while! I'm getting a pretty decent crop of Aji this year, so I'm hoping to get enough to make a batch of hot sauce. Not enough peppers last year to bother with.

I’m about 7 months in and I use my double bottom more than my cold smoker. For the cold smoker, I think it really depends if you plan to use the smoker pot, wood direct, or you want the cold smoker to use for your longer smokes. If you only plan to use it for cold smokes, I wouldn’t call it a must have. I mostly use a smoker pot for smoking. I like the cold smoker, but it really only works well with pellets or very small wood chips (I use the small Weber ones often, Dennis’s small coffee would too but I have to chop that down a bit for it to stay lit). Double bottom on the other hand, I use as my drip pan for almost all of my long smokes. Line it with foil for easy clean up, but it really helps keep things clean in the smoker besides the pan itself for me. I also cook veggies in it under some indirect cooks at times. And have used it in conjunction with my cheap Amazon vertical spikes for al pastor and shawarma. Downside to both…they are a pain in the ass to clean. Cold smoker because the residue makes it stick together and tough to take apart sometimes and it has some hard to clean spaces. Double bottom just because the size of it. Id probably use my double bottom even more if I had an easier way to clean it. I have a tub it fits in perfectly for a good soak, so I can’t even say I don’t have a good method, but it becomes an outdoor thing with a hose and tub for me. Anything I can’t wash in the sink, I consider a pain in the ass. All of that said. I have both and I use both. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@tony bmy wife’s family was in town last weekend from Peru and they brought me a TON of spices and sauces from Peru. I’m going to be refining this recipe with some of the rubs they brought me plus my Aji Amarillo plant has about 30-40 peppers on it that are about to turn

Here is the double drip pan in the 23 being used to roast potatoes And here is the double drip pan from the 23 in my 32. It is easy to handle and holds more than enough veg for most purposes i.e. you may be better off getting the double drip pan for the 23 for use in the 32. That gets over the challenges with weight and cleaning of the pan for the 32. I have both and am happy to pick the right pan for the job on the day.

Smoked a chicken on the Komodo kamado with lump and apple wood and roasted fingerling taters in the drip pan. It was the first time i used the cold smoker and it worked well. Filled it about 2/3 full of loose apple wood chips and it pumped smoke for a bit more than an hour. Tighter packing and filling it should get me more time but I'll need to figure out how tight the chips can be without the fire going out

Pooch here is an example of DD pan. Also another use I have most enjoyed from the cold smoker is smoked tea. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

100% agree with@tekobo here. I don’t own it, but by design alone, I think you can expect a better more flexible cooking vessel with the 22”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@RokDok I’m sure Peter was thrilled with a great cook like that. Sounds like an excellent night with good friends, a good meal and the pub….doesn’t get much better than that. We’ll done sir

@tekobo Aji Amarillo are used in Peruvian cooking but I’ve never been able to locate any fresh Aji Amarillo only jarred ones. I believe that using fresh peppers will push my Peruvian cooking over the top closer towards what I taste in Peru the El Yucateco component is the block of red stuff called Achiote paste we use in the Al Pastor/Adobada recipe which is Mexican. You can make that sauce on your own bud you’d need the Annatto seeds. Here’s a couple recipes https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-achiote-paste-2342971 https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/achiote-paste ive never made the paste myself yet but will have to give it a try someday

Well? I followed the trail down to here and came up empty. Need some hunger inducing pics please!!!!

I am the opposite to @tony b. I hardly ever use my cold smoker but I use my double drip pans often. They work as a heat shield, a place to roast potatoes and other veg and a base for my El Pastor roasts. If I had to choose one I might go for the double drip pan from the 23 and use that in the 32. Easier to manoevre and big enough for most things. That said, I have one for the 23 and one for the 32 and the latter was good for when I wanted to roast a suckling pig.

I've heard pork rinds referred to as "fried farts..."

Just saw this in the accessories for the 23" ultimate, but not in stock... https://komodokamado.com/products/23-ultimate-duck-hanger My Santa Maria grill has a cross bar that would work for hanging and I've thought about trying hanging ribs or chickens but the KK would definitely be more fuel efficient and have better heat distribution. Maybe good for tandoori?

The bar within walking distance from my house stocks Pliny. Good stuff! Always takes a little longer walking home!!

Grandma and grandpa were sitting in their rockers on the porch. All of a sudden grandma slaps grandpa so hard he falls off his rocker. “What was that for, grandma?” Grandma: “ That’s for 50 years of bad sex” Grandpa gets back on his rocker then proceeds to slap grandma off hers. ‘What was that for, grandpa?” Grandpa: “That’s for knowing the difference!”

Did another small cookb using oak on the big grill last Saturday. I didn't make too big of a fire this time but did have to add wood during the session. I'm still experimenting with different sear techniques and used the griddle for the sear this time. Cooked all the sides on the grill as well, including baking a couple of potatoes in the embers. Very tasty!

Pizza again. Typical kitchen sink style, 500° KK dome, 485° baking steel, 6 - 6.5 minutes. Per previous comment, note deflector(!) in use under the baking steel on upper grate.

Apparently I did not eat enough Mexican food last week although to be fair I did not have one carne asada taco…..my wife had family in from Peru today so I made carne asada tacos. Flour tortillas, salsa rojo, salsa verde, guacamole, refried beans, cotija cheese and homemade marinated carne cooked over mesquite wood