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The KK has been quiet for a couple of months as we were travelling for 6 weeks, and prior to that clearing the freezer of leftovers to leave some space for the house sitter… Finally had a chance to fire it up today for Mother’s Day- my partner loves a scotch fillet steak, so I made her surf and turf with prawns done in a cast iron pan with chilli, garlic, parsley and shed loads of butter. A great success!

Pork tenderloin, air fryer potatoes & asparagus

@Poochie, all of the above are good pieces (ha!) of advice. I found the blender the easiest way to process it all. I was a little worried that the blender might be permanently stained by the mix but it washed off no problem at all. @Troble this continues to be a winner with anyone who eats it. Here's the picture before I sliced it up to crisp up. The pineapple had cooked well and we sliced that up and included in the tacos as we ate. Yummmy. The other spike had six chicken thighs on it (just in case the new girlfriend didn't like pork). I marinaded that in the roadside chicken mix posted elsewhere on the forum. That was a winner too. Colourful sides. The crispy chicken skin was also a hit. The new girlfriend turned out to be a real foodie and told me not to bother with re-frying the beans as a Mexican friend's mother had just served them boiled and they were great. So I did as she said and she was right. I just seasoned with black salt and some Japanese pepper. Missing from the picture is the obligatory jug of green crack sauce from @Troble Peruvian pollo recipe. We finished with pink gooseberry clafoutis. I took my eye off the ball and they got a bit burned but the up side was that meant that the outer part of each "muffin" acted as a cup for the gooey contents. A good time was had by all. And Oli showed his love for his new girlfriend by sharing the last piece of crunchy chicken skin with her. References:

Hey @jeffshoaf, I was relying on you to get folk to buy your ice-cream machine. I see it as the gateway drug for the Pacojet. I have only managed to get one KK'er, that I know of, to get a Pacojet so far. The KK shopping channel competition is on! (P.S. You did hook me on the Ninja. I didn't get the grill combi in the end, just the air fryer).

@tekobo I am a big fan of using the half grate for indirect cooking of the meat then reverse searing on the cast iron pan with some Irish butter. While the meat is resting I cook the veg usually carrots or asparagus in the leftover pan juices.

Looks pretty perfect to me @tekobo nicely done

Thank you for the suggestions. I was under the impression that the bottom vent was the more critical of the two. The spring sounds like a good solution if it comes to it.

That is exactly why I don’t have one of those machines, that looks way too good LOL Hope the foot is healing well !!!!

👍👍

I've done frozen steak before as an experiment. Straight from the freezer (solid) and onto the grate. It works best on thinner steaks (<1") to keep them from overcooking. Since you like a "black & blue" steak, it should work well for you with a thicker cut like this one.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm sure one day after I redo my patio, I'll have another. Most likely a 22" Table Top style, so I can build it in.

@Tekobo, jam packed full of flavour, wow. I can't believe I've missed doing that roadside sauce all these years. Just copied the recipe and will be trying that very very soon. Thanks. 👍👍

Yum @Troble. Your pork tenderloin looks perfectly moist. Here we are having a surfeit of asparagus. I planted 30 crowns five years ago and it means we have a steady stream of asparagus for about 8 weeks. Yummy but I am running out of recipes to try! A simple pan fry like yours is looking very attractive for yesterday's crop.

If not having a standard Margie, this is my go to. Modified from a recipe by Brian Boitano. His recipe is for a batch, mine version is per Margie: 4 cups cubed Watermelon. 2 Tablespoons sugar. 2 Limes, juiced. Add Watermelon and sugar to blender. Puree until smooth. Run through fine mesh strainer into pitcher. Add Lime juice. Mix well, refrigerate. Pour 4 jiggers (6 ounces) of chilled watermelon mixture into a shaker with ice, add 2 jiggers reposado tequila ( I like Corralejo), and one jigger of Triple Sec. Shake well. For garnish, mix 1 teaspoon chili powder with Kosher Salt or Margarita Salt. Dip glass rim in either lime juice or a little Triple Sec, and then the salt mixture. Fill glass with ice, pour Watermelon Margarita over the ice. Enjoy. Very refreshing in the summer time, but great anytime you can get fresh watermelon.

Pork butts, they are good for practicing your temp control. You can cook one at 235 to 250 for 10 to 20 hours, depending on size. You’ll learn vent control the easy way and have some great food at the end of the day 😁 They are nearly impossible to screw up, just don’t overthink it. That is the biggest mistake many make, paralysis by analysis. Just enjoy it 👍

Welcome to the obsession !!!!! And I agree with Tony, listen to Dennis and you’ll be in good shape, that’s a beauty !!!!

Yum !!!!!

@Tekobo, those lamb chops are looking particularly tasty.

Welcome and good luck with the repairs. Others on this Forum have done similar repairs and can help with advice, as well as Dennis. One of the tips that Dennis has given to us is to use syringes, similar to these, to inject the grout into the gaps. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746H8M15

@tekobo you are so ingenious! Nicely done

Thanks for the tip @tekobo about the quick freeze before putting the tandoori on the grill. Gonna remember that one!

Because you can efficiently snuff out the fire after a cook is over and re-light the leftover charcoal for your next cook, load up the charcoal basket so you don't risk not having enough fuel to reach your target temperature or to run out of fuel before your meat is done. The "grapefruit" analogy is just the size of the lit area of the charcoal, not the total amount of fuel to add. My theory of your temperature change has two parts: 1) temperature drops when you put on cold meat, especially large cuts like a whole chicken, but it should recover if the KK was fully heat-soaked. 2) Suspect that you inadvertently moved the top vent when you opened the lid to put the chicken on. A small change in top vent opening will make a noticeable difference in dome temperature. For reference, on my 23" KK, 375F dome is only 1/2 turn of the top vent off the seat. So even a slight closure, hardly noticeable, will affect the temperature by as much as 50F.

I did not make any adjustments to the vents while the chicken was on. I forgot to mention that there wasn't any wind to speak of at the time. I, too started out with a grapefruit-sized amount of charcoal. I realized that the temp wasn't going anywhere and added more. I think maybe a small jackfruit-size amount would yield a more fruitful experience.

Last weekend, some friends came to town for a birthday party and some music. The birthday girl wanted some baby back ribs from one of the local high-end BBQ places. This weekend, I made these. Much better, even if I say so myself.

I’m thinking Cooper would be the first to eat me if I dropped dead lol You can see how he got his name, I couldn’t bring myself to call him Alice lol