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So, after sitting on the sidelines for at least a year I’m getting ready to jump into making “Al Pastor” tacos. While I understand that taste is a preference and that coming out of the gate one will likely be tweaking the recipe. For this post. .I’m questioning the quantity of “Achiote Paste” in this specific recipe. I see that “Troble” in his initial post mentioned adjusting the sugar on future cooks. Also, I researched the quantity of “Achiote Paste” on a pretty large number of recipes on the web and I don’t see any that use as much as this recipe. In researching the flavor profile of “Achiote Paste” I see peppery and bitter associated with this. Like making beer there is a balance between sweetness and bitterness. I’m wondering if any of you out there who have made this recipe have decided to cut back on the Achiote paste or have increased the sugar content to offset the bitterness? If yes I would appreciate your feedback. My plan is to cut back on the Achiote Paste to start with and to just taste and adjust until it seems like I have the flavor profile that is pleasing to me. Thanks, PS, just including a picture of the meal we cooked ast Friday - Chicken and Mole Enchiladas, Cheese and onion Enchiladas, Mexican Frijoles y arroz…..everything is homemade including the tortillas and mole (made 9 gallons of mole the weekend before). The plates are simple peasant type my dad had made in El Salvador in 1976…..I treasure these.

It may not look like much but smoked it has an amazing effect on my guests' appetites.

Yep I used wide foil all the way across the lower grate. Essentially allowing the fire / smoke to come up front and back - wide foil leaves about a 1-2 inch gap all the way across front and back which is perfect. I had the two big drip pans that came with the kk42 as well as one smaller one wedged in one side that covered most of the lower grate. I can take a picture once my grates are clean of the arrangement - soaking them now. I would say this setup did not catch 100% of the grease but close. The KK is certainly no worse for wear. All of the bbq came out great, too. Just a crapload of work. Started the cook around 10am sat. Was finally done at 4am Sunday. I held done butts in a hot cooler. Had one with an ice water bath going to cool it down quickly as I pulled it and put each butt in vac sealed bags. I pulled 3 butts worth and bagged the 12 -15 bags, allowed the bags to cool in the cold cooler for 30 mins, then cleaned the utensils and repeated the process until done. Hot bbq stayed hot. Pulled Q cooled down fast. Now I have around 50 vac sealed bags ready to roll. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Bruce Pearson - good to see you still hanging around. Definitely need to cook something on your KK. As the saying goes - It's just like riding a bicycle!

Sygzygies that looks like dried up oatmeal! Have fun cooking with it. I should talk I haven’t cooked anything on my kamado for so long I think I might have forgot how! In fact I still have a boat load of Dennis’s charcoal I bought 7 years ago. Guess I should dig it out and cook something. Have a great day everybody!

I used to buy both Lazzari lump and Lazzari briquettes, again with a natural binder. I've moved on from both, but I don't have a prejudice against briquettes. Taste, convenience... They're certainly a quick way to get a pizza fire going.

The official cold smoker (which I own) and my smoke pot have the same goal in mind. One best meditates on the difference between careful smoke and "chunks of wood on the fire" by getting stoned out of one's gourd on cannabis. Actually, twice. Once rolling a joint, and once using a modern vaporizer. Notice a difference? Same story.