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Yep, older wines like that can be hit or miss on how well they age and when they "peak" in maturity. A roll of the dice sometimes. This one was a hit! I actually have some 30+ year old stuff in the cellar. I'm surprised that I didn't drink more of the older ones during the lockdowns? Jerk pork chops last night. Chops were marinated all day. Direct on the main grate at 325F. Aluminum pouch of pimento wood chips, leaves and berries (aka - allspice) for true Jamaican flavor. Ya mon! Plated with roasted Yukons (perfect!) and sautéed green beans with jerk seasoning. Sorry, no 25 year old wine tonight - just a "house" rose.

Hickory-smoked pig ribs, molasses/honey bbq sauce, roasted potatoes, and bread fresh out of the bread machine. Good eating!

4lb chuckie for chili.. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Friday night here is generally Steak Night. Last night was no exception. Prime grade ribeye cap, seasoned with Gunpowder and Dizzy Pig Raising the Steaks. Direct on the lower grate. For the "reverse sear," I went caveman on it and held the steak just above the coals with the tongs for about 30 seconds on each side - nice crust. (Note: I would have used the sear grate, but when I was setting up the grill, I noticed that it was not very clean, so I opted out of using it.) Plated with cauliflower "rice," sauteed shrooms and side salad. Splurged and opened a 25 year old bottle of Ridge Zin from my cellar - still holds up!

Pig shots on my 19”, I was at a neighborhood cook off Sunday.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you notice my cooks, i tend to favor simple preparations but decided to complicate things a bit by attempting a variation on a porchetta. I thought my pork loin was too small to attempt a spiraling cut so i just made two slices into the side and filled with onions, yellow sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, kale, shredded Italian cheese blend, fresh basil, SPG, and sprayed with olive oil. Roasted at 325* F with taters and asparagus underneath and used hickory pellets in the cold smoker. The loin needed a bit more cheese and the asparagus was a bit over-charred but everything was still very tasty! Yeah, i know i could do a more attractive plating but i was hungry!

Hello! Been quite busy lately, so didn’t post. But reading and seeing about your great cooks was amazing. For tonite, a couple of Mexican roadside chickens. With some salsa verde made some time ago (kk roaster tomatillos, Serrano peppers, onions, garlic, lime, …). Chicken was cooked at 450F for 45 min. Some pecan chunks in the coal. It was fabulous. Very moist and tasty. As you can see. You can easily fit 2 small birds on the half grid of a 23! Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

Made a huge dish of Mac & Cheese with Butternut squash this evening. https://www.irishexaminer.com/recipes/?c-recipeid=6857 I did roast the squash on the grill earlier in the day. Also add a green habanero pepper and some slice of tomato. I really liked the results. Plated with some pickled hot peppers. Picked these from the garden today, jalapeno and habanero.

My bread machine is over 20 years old and still gets regular use. Bread and pizza dough are the only things I make on a regular basis that I always follow a recipe when making -- i just don't have a feel for how the individual ingredients affect the result. I went thru a period a few years ago when I made bread without using the machine but I didn't really enjoy doing it so I almost always used the machine. I don't use the machine for pizza dough though; I use PizzaApp+ to calculate ingredient proportions and a stand mixer to do most of the kneading. I make pizza almost once a week but I don't think I've posted pics here since I don't bake them in the KK. I have a relatively small electric pizza oven that will hit 750* F and an outdoor gas pizza oven that will go even higher.

Looks like a feast, Tony. My pallet isn't sophisticated enough to appreciate 25 year old wine, but I'll bet it was smooth. Jeffshoaf, that bread is the star of the show for me. I just love that stuff. I wouldn't kick the ribs off the plate either.

Lovely dinner and that wine better hold up if you've been saving it for 25 years.

Did smoked “Texas Chili” today for first time - used MeatChurch seasoning and recipe (https://www.meatchurch.com/blogs/recipes/texas-chili) Came out fantastic, I highly recommend! short version - smoked a small Chuck roast yesterday, today chopped it up and mixed with browned ground beef and some breakfast sausage along with diced and crushed tomatoes, onions, garlic, one can of beer, and the chili seasoning in a large cast iron Dutch oven. Left lid off and smoked at 225-250 for 5 hours with hickory and some cherry wood chunks, then put lid on for last two hours. Stirred every hour and added toppings. IMG_8810.MOV IMG_8780.MOV

An easy dinner and more squash. After all it is squash season. This time a very small butternut squash that I wasn't sure was going to even ripen before the killer frost hit but there it is. Served with chicken burger and roasted potatoes.

Catching up on some recent cooks. Sunday - chicken thighs with Uncle Dougie's wing marinade - my "go-to." Started out on the main grate at 325F, but then dropped down to the lower grate, skin side down, for the last 15 minutes. Plated with orzo pasta and coleslaw (I mixed some clean Uncle Dougie's into the dressing for the slaw instead of the usual vinegar - it's a "keeper!") Monday night was a bit of a quandry as to what to make? Quickly thawed out some thinly cut beef and made some suya skewers. I did add a bit of Gunpowder to the suya mix. I liked it. Lower grate, 400F. Mesquite chunks. Plated with a nice salt-crusted baked potato and some of the leftover coleslaw. Last night was lamb chops. Main grate, 350F, coffee wood chunks. Rubbed with my "house" lamb seasoning, with a bit of extra rosemary. Plated with roasted spuds and a salad. This is "faux" green crack - Trader Joe's Jalapeno Sauce with fresh chopped cilantro and parsley. Works great in a pinch!

Dinner in the dark. Hotel style pork chop, fried potatoes and squash seasoned with thyme, ghee and maple syrup. Plated.

Nothing new to the forum, but always a fall football classic. American football that is. Brisket for Saturday dinner. Then Sunday brisket chili. I forgot to take a picture of it being finally served, but it always comes garnished with a healthy dollop of sour cream, some shredded cheese, cilantro, thinly sliced jalapeño and green onion sprinkled on top. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm going to make myself unpopular amongst the KK devotees here but we debated a pizza oven despite owning a 32 and 19KK. We have a pizza stone for each and a baking steel and have been able to produce consistently excellent pizzas. 12.5% gluten flour is your friend. We've never really made much pizza in the KK since the pizza oven arrived (Alfa Forni). The oven is quicker, more convenient and consumes less fuel. Being able to see the pizza cooking and being able to judge when to turn it is much better than relying on spidey sense to know when to open the KK. Having said that, with experience, you learn how far to open and how quickly to check on the pizza without losing all the heat in the dome. I bought a Fluke 62 Max IR thermometer (recommended like most of what Fluke make) and it taught me a few things about the temperature and hot spots on the stone. What I learned from the pizza oven, I applied to the KK and I'd say that on balance, the pizza oven is more forgiving but you can achieve similar results in the KK. Irrespective of what you use, I highly recommend GI Metal pizza peels as being a KK build quality standard product. We have a rectangular perforated and a turning peel, they're both a joy to use. Also of interest if you're into pizza is Modernist Pizza - due to arrive in September. Looking forward to seeing what I can learn from it.

How to get Kamado hot 500F°+ -Remove any items or debris from the lower intake vent (e.g. ash catcher, small charcoal pieces, etc.) -Make sure the bottom of your firebox is well aligned with your lower intake vent. -Store your charcoal inside away from the wet elements. Only use dry fuel. -Use lump charcoal, it will get a lot hotter then briquettes or extruded charcoal and produce less ash. -Don’t blame your brand of lump charcoal, all major lump brands are capable of producing high heat temps for cooking pizza. -Deliberately build your fire: * Keep in mind small pieces of lump burn hotter however they also restrict airflow. * Larger pieces won’t burn quite as hot but they promote airflow. * Airflow = Heat * Airflow restriction is the primary factor preventing you from getting your Kamado to pizza cooking temperatures. * Do not pour your charcoal directly into your firebox, small pieces of lump can fall into the bottom of your firebox and block free airflow. * Lay your lump charcoal out in a wide mouthed bin. * Sort your lump by large, medium, and small pieces. * Discard any really small lump pieces and the dust that settles at the bottom. * Deliberately build your fire box to promote free airflow. * Start with large chunks (fist size or larger) place them one by one at the bottom of your firebox until you have a complete layer of large chunks on the bottom of your charcoal basket. * Now light your layer of large lump pieces. I prefer using a torch until I get a visual flame coming off of two spots of the large lump pieces. * Once your large lump is lit continue building your lump pile by using medium pieces on top of the large lit coals, lay them on top in such a way they don’t interlock with each other and block airflow. * Fill your firebox to the brim with medium lump atop the large chunks at the bottom. Cooking at high temperatures requires a lot of fuel. If you do not use enough lump your fire will run out of steam. * Optionally, you can place some smaller pieces of lump at the very top of your charcoal basket on top of the medium pieces. Don’t use too many small pieces and ensure they don’t fall down into your firebox. * Again, light several more spots on top of your now fully filled firebox, I recommend lighting until the charcoal is glowing in at least four different additional spots. * Once your fire has been built for airflow and is lit remove any platesetters, fire deflector plates, or any larger objects in your Kamado blocking the free airflow of convective and radiant heat up into the dome. * Close your Kamado lid. * Open your bottom vent completely. * Open your top vent nearly fully open, the more your top vent is open the stronger vacuum airflow will be created making your fire burn hotter. However, if you completely remove the top vent then you also allow some of the hot convective air to escape rather then being trapped in the dome so there is a fine balance, explore this with your own grill. * I like to let the grill heat soak for at least 1/2 hour at a temperature of 50 degrees above my intended cooking temperature. * Time is your freind, I recommend starting this process 2 hours before your intended cook time. Rushing things will lead to unsatisfactory results. * Once you’ve allowed sufficient time for the dome to heat soak open you grill and set up your pizza cook with your stone and deflectors if you are using such. Close you lid once again. * Keep your grill lid open as minimally as possible. You will lose some heat after installing your deflectors, let your Kamado stabilize once again at your cooking temperature for at least 15 minutes without adjusting vents. * Place your pizza on your stone. * Check on your pizza as infrequently as possible, you want to retain dome heat for cooking your toppings. * Burp your grill dome before opening. *Additional tips -You can pre-heat your pizza stone in your oven while you grill is heating up. -An infrared temperature gun is a good idea, this will allow you to determine if your stone is to temp before placing your pizza on. -A fan such as the BBQ dragon, a hair dryer, or leaf blower can force air into your lower vent speeding up this whole process. Getting your Kamado hot too fast can put additional stress on your ceramics. -Beer helps. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk