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I found this bottom round roast in the freezer and upon inspection noticed it had been there for quite some time, just over 1 1/2 years, no worries, it was carefully wrapped in a vacuum shrink pkge and showed no sign of freezer burn. I like a small low fire while roasting, starting with charcoal briquettes and building upon that with small splits of various kinds of wood until the base changes to all wood coals. I used two spices Americo and Gringo from Arizona, from when I was there last as well as some salt. I stole Tekebos' idea for cauliflower but came up short when my wife didn't want the heat, a neutral spice with a cream sauce was the only available option, next time we'll leave the tin uncovered for a charring of the veggies as opposed to steaming them. After the roast was finished it was wrapped in foil and allowed to rest over the coals at a safe distance staying warm until it ready to carve. It was warm day and there aren't many left, so here it is with a few pics.

Cake ended up in the IDK oven to finish off while I cranked up the KK to cook the chicken and warm up the cauliflower. The chicken came out great after one hour on the top rack at 200C. Crispy, crunchy skin and juicy inside. Super yummy. Reminds you why it's good to have a KK.

As you can imagine, I have been a bit busy today. What with cooking, chatting and eating with my Aunt, running in and out to the KK and making up the next dish to go in. Now got to get out of daytime clothes into something more presentable for when our guests arrive in 15 minutes. So... recipes will need to wait until Sunday but here is a bit more on progress today. The legendary KK skill at keeping food moist worked against me with the cauliflower. After the first 30 minutes it was lovely and soft but no crisping, not like when it is cooked in the oven. I cranked the KK up after an hour and it was cooked a half hour later. Probably a bit too cooked, some of the onions were quite black. But it was all very tasty. So tasty that I am going to abandon the idea of cooking potatoes tonight and we will have the cauliflower with the chicken instead. KK legend is that you should not overshoot your temp or it will take you ages to get it back down. I have never really bought into that legend. To lower the temp today I wound the top hat down to just off the seat and closed off the bottom air supply to about a quarter. Here are my timings: At 15:12 the temp was at about 215C Half an hour later it was down to 200C. An hour later it was at 180C and finally, at 17:00, a full 1 hour and 48 mins later, it was down to my target 160C. So yeah, I accept that it does take a while to get the temp down when you have heat soaked a beast as big as a 32 but it is not impossible. Dark outside so I took a picture of the cake indoors before it went into the KK beside the pot with the lamb shanks in. The only problem that I have now is that the cake is cooking slowly and I need to raise the temp in the KK to put the chicken in. This is where I wish I had followed @ckreef's advice. If you have more than one KK or piece of BBQ kit, just light both, all. You will likely need it and it is better to have it hot in time than not!

So far so good. I was not brave enough to put the aubergines directly on the coals. Wanted more control over the cooking process so put the upper grate in upside down so that I was as close as possible to the fire. Cooked at about 200C for about 40 minutes, turning regularly. The flesh came out nice and easy, scooped it with a spoon. Here are the cauliflower quarters before the chilli butter was applied Into KK to cook for an hour and ten minutes at about 180C

I finally managed to try something I've wanted to do for a few years - pumpkin pie, only instead of being in a crust, it's in the pumpkin shell for scooping out. I was sure I saw an episode of Good Eats where Alton did one but searching on the interwebs only found his recipe for pumpkin soup served in the pumpkin so I was on my own. Side note - I've actually never made a traditional pumpkin pie with a crust so this was a totally new adventure. I was wanting to get a locally grown pie pumpkin but life intervened and I ended up getting one from the grocery store. I cut the top off, scooped out the seeds, and cut and scooped as much of the flesh as I was comfortable doing without compromising the shell strength. I ended up with about 2 pounds of pumpkin. I considered smoking it but decided to go a bit simpler and roasted it in the oven. Since I had several cans of sweetened condensed milk on hand, I found a pumpkin pie recipe that used it; the recipe has a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree, so I doubled it. It also called for pumpkin pie spice which I didn't have so I found a recipe for that on the interwebs as well. Tossed the roasted pumpkin and other ingredients into the blender and pureed it, then poured it all back into the pumpkin shell after a taste test - it was tasty! I put the pumpkin top back on the pumpkin and put it into the preheated oven in a foil pan. I had no idea on how long to bake it since it was encased in the shell and was much thicker than the average pie, so I monitored the filling temp using my Thermoworks Signals. After a while, I got an alert from the Signals indicating the temperature had shot over my target temp; the shell had softened up enough that the top had fallen into the filling, pushing the thermometer probe into the pumpkin shell. I tried to salvage the top but it came apart when I tried to pick it up out of the filling, so I put the pumpkin back in the oven without the shell after repositioning the probe. Once the filling made it to the proper temperature, I took the pumpkin out of the oven and let it cool before refrigerating overnight. The shell was very soft and was sagging into the filling so I trimmed it some before serving. I stuck some graham crackers around the edge of the filling and crumbled more on top. Other than the issue with the lid and the shell getting too soft to easily transport, this was a success and very tasty. If I do this again, I'll bake the filling for a while before putting it in the shell and bake the shell just looking enough for it to soften just enough to not taste raw as well as baking the lid separately to allow more heat into the filling. I may try smoking it as well. I think this would be a good dessert for a party or holiday meal, especially if it can be presented with the intact pumpkin top. I've attached pics chronicling the whole process.

That was a novel idea.

From "the man:" Meathead at Amazing Ribs: Does meat stop taking on smoke? There is a popular myth that at some point the meat stops taking on smoke. Sorry, but meat does not have doors that it shuts at some time during a cook. There is a lot of smoke moving through the cooking chamber although sometimes it is not very visible. If the surface is cold or wet, more of it sticks. Usually, late in the cook, the bark gets pretty warm and dry, and by then the coals are not producing a lot of smoke. Smoke bounces off warm dry surfaces so we are fooled into thinking the meat is somehow saturated with smoke. Throw on a log and baste the meat and it will start taking on smoke again. Just don’t baste so often that you wash off the smoke and rub. To read the rest of the article: What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, And Combustion (amazingribs.com)

Yup, we are going to need info on the dip. I myself wouldn't eat it as i have a purple food rule, only purple foods i eat are M&M's and Black Raspberry ice cream. Other than that no purple food for me !!!! But the lady friend likes it so i would be willing to cook it

Ooooh that Cauliflower looks warm to the lips. I have some Harissa on the shelf and didn't know what to pair it with. What's in the dip, that looks interesting too