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Did some pork back ribs on the KK, 240F all the way for about 5 hours and ever though there was little shrinkage, these ribs were delicious. Served with fresh from the garden beet greens, the first of the season. Plated with rice and greens.

My favorite kind of problem solving is to figure out who has a similar but harder problem, and to appropriate their solution. For my most recent batch of masa, I recognized that my basic wet grinder is tuned for wet dosa and idli batter, so I ground masa that wet, drying it later in my convection oven's dehydrate cycle. It was wonderful being able to run the wet grinder unattended. However, the skins formed drying the masa never dissolved away while kneading, and I still ended up adding masa harina, in fact overcorrecting. The second night I mixed back in some water, for more tender tortillas. Huh! @tekobo and I keep debating by messages whether to buy Masienda's Molinito. I finally saw one at an artisanal Mexican restaurant in Oakland, CA. It isn't that big, though I worry about cleanup. The ladies in the kitchen were fascinated by my interest, marveling that I made masa for friends but didn't own a restaurant. Back at my table, there was unanimous agreement that my tortillas were better, clearly same Masienda corn. Two possible explanations: It could be that the original metate is indeed the best way to grind nixtamal, and one pass through even a state-of-the-art spinning mill is no match for careful use of a wet grinder? Or I now recognize, they make their masa too dry. One ends up with the tortilla equivalent to hippy bread: It screams artisanal for those who might otherwise miss it, but is far from delicate. I can see this choice being one of convenience in a busy Mexican restaurant kitchen, just like the pervasive choice to undercook tortillas by my tastes: They need to get product out. Just as North Carolina BBQ joints have managed to convince customers that ropey, overcooked pulled pork is the breed standard, taco joints have managed to condition their customers to accept undercooked tortillas. Easy to work with masa, same story? My most delicate tortillas from wetter masa are more challenging to transfer from the press to the griddle. So perhaps the Molinito is a suitable solution, and the differences are all in execution. I went down a rabbit hole after reading some vendor responses on my wet grinder: The basic model is less suitable for nut butters. They make a higher end model for chocolate refining. Chocolate refining is hard. Ding! Ding! Ding! Diamond Custom Machines has a division Melangers dedicated to chocolate refiners. They answer their phones, if you want to discuss any of this with them. They surmise that these machines would also excel at masa; they're tuned for more viscous mixtures. They import their home models from India, made by the wet grinder manufacturer Premier. They upgrade their top home model with their own stainless steel retrofit, swapping out plastic parts for better tension control and stirring. This model has a better motor drive system than the basic wet grinder, and can be left running all day, as chocolate can require. The basic geometry, stone wheels and container, is identical to the base model I own. Perhaps masa will still need tending. I do keep staring at the stirring system, wondering if I could improve it for masa, and perhaps they have. Certainly a better motor drive, stirring system, and tension control, could help. I took one for the team and ordered one. I'll report back. I'll either move the basic wet grinder to my New York kitchen, or rehome it to someone just starting out.

How did I miss those stuffed shells !!!!! I’m stealing those for as soon as the temps start to drop 😋

I like it when you do that @Syzygies. Super interesting that this company also imports from India. Will be interested in whether you see better results. No chance I am diving down this rabbit hole, I promise. I am currently having fun with pizza dough. Got book by the guy who owns this restaurant https://www.pepeingrani.it/?lang=en and made my first batch of his pizza dough this week. Really liked it. A slight chew and nice, gentle puff. Will post when I have had more of a play and may even introduce y'all to my Italian dough mixer.

Gosh, some lovely cooks there. I don't each much sweet stuff but those blueberry muffins look great @C6Bill!

anova precision oven, 100% steam. i haven't used the pizza oven in a while, it's too hot to be on the roof tending to a wood fire..

Found out last night that the father in law was coming round for dinner today. Ducked out at 8pm and bought a 2kg pork shoulder and a small cabbage. Home made rub, 8.5hrs at 250 with Apple wood chunks (bit hotter when wrapped to get it sorted), made some coleslaw. Dinner sorted, everyone happy (like always with the KK).

Pork belly burnt ends for the win.

Focaccia di Recco (again)

Looks terrific @C6Bill ive been away from home for 3 weeks and drank a lot of beer on my trip so wanted some light and “healthy” today chicken schwarma with pearled cous cous , Mediterranean salad and fresh tadziki

Is it ever a bad day to have sausage with peppers and onions ? I don’t think so lol Added in some mushrooms and a friend supplied potato’s from her garden. The sausage are Polish Sausage from Southside Market & BBQ in Elgin TX i combined everything except the sausage in one of my Detroit Style pizza pans and seasoned with Lemmon pepper and herb&garlic seasoning both from Meat Church. Heated the KK up to 350 with a little post oak. Placed the pan in for an hour on the upper half grate with a drip pan under it on the lowest grate. once the hour passed I placed the pizza pan on top of the drip tray under the half grate and placed the sausages on the half grate. After 15 minutes I rotated the sausages and left for another 15 minutes. By then I felt the potatoes were done enough to drop the sausages down on the lower grate right over the flames. Gave them a good sear then placed them in the pan with everything else. And for desert some friends gave me some fresh blueberries yesterday so I made Jordan Marsh Blueberry muffins. I haven’t had one of those muffins since I was a kid. And while everything was resting I dropped off half the muffins to the friends who gave me the berries 😁 it was a fun day of cooking !!! EDIT: forgot to mention adding a little chicken stock to the veggies

It was stuffed pasta shells night here, stuffed with fresh spinach and ricotta. Added a few more things, mushrooms, olives, German Butter Cheese, aged cheddar, tomatoes and some marinara sauce. Once baked added some chives and parmesan cheese.

Got some nice shorties and gave them some Grill mates steak rub and a bit of melted butter at the end .it always amazes me how these shrink and rise . They were falling of the bone gotta love how the KK keeps things moist. Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk