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Clafoutis cooked on the KK is turning out to be the hit of the summer. I use this really simple recipe https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/basic-clafoutis-51208430 and everyone, young and old, loves it. Getting them a little burnt and crusty on the outside makes them taste really good. Rhubarb clafoutis Seedless grape clafoutis

...and here I was expecting to FINALLY learn how to cook flamingo.

Hosted the annual Pink Flamingo dinner last evening. Weather was perfect for dining on the deck. Only used the KK this year to cold smoke the salmon for the appetizer course - salmon mousse. You can see the smoker in the lower right hand corner. Was loaded with hickory/maple/cherry wood pellets. First course was ponzu shrimp, done on the yakitori grill. No cooking pics, but here's the plated version, with red lentil pasta with a black garlic scampi sauce and frico crumbles on top. Got busy and could take pics of the rest of the dinner, but here are a couple of the decorations. It's a lot of work, but it's for charity, so it makes it worthwhile.

I’m in nor cal and would love that for my back patio but the wife would kill me. I told her the 32 was the last grill I’d need for many years. That was in November [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome mate was looking at the tracking at around 2.30 this arvo .and noticed they knocked at my door at 1.49 .gotta love usps tracking .so left work early to get to the post office. got there and when they brought out the parcel the lady said this is the one that smells like vinegar .I thought I know there goes uncle doughies you could smell it .so I said she'll be right .ta love .grabbed the parcel and headed home. first I was waiting for this lol...usps told me it had a stay lol. Great selection of rubs the salt looks interesting..get to try both suya master rubs..love the glasses. and now for the uncle doughies glad you put it in a zip lock bag . .there was a small hole in the bag that leaked some into the box but bugger all .I pored it into my old bottle pretty much full. .cheers tony. . Outback kamado Bar and Grill

Guests had a marvelous time; hard to say about the flamingoes, especially a couple of the inflatable ones that drooped by evening's end! Well, this guy had a good time! @Pequod - the main course was "flamingo breasts" - ha, ha! Chicken breasts poached sous vide in red wine, shallot, herbs de Provence and butter for 3 hours at 147F. The jus was reduced for a pan sauce with Boursin cheese (w/shallots & chives). Side dish was red quinoa. The color of the sauce didn't come out as nice as I wanted (more of a grayish purple than pink), but DAMN was it good!

http://www.creativelive.com Could be a great way to up your game.. Discounted to only $10 Capturing-Food-in-Motion-Steve-Hansen

This sauce was an instant hit here! And so easy to make. All jarred and waiting for their debut. I am thinking a nice piece of grilled pork...

Tee hee. That would have been some trick! @MacKenzie I use the cast iron Lodge muffin pan. It is just great (or grate, following @Steve M's line of thought!). When I take the meat off for our main meal, I put the muffin pan on so that it gets nice and hot while we eat. When I am ready, I whip up the batter in a jug, put a bit of clarified butter in each hole, spread it about and pour the batter in. Fruit gets dropped in quickly and then I leave in KK for about 15-25 mins. Puffy and delicious. Everyone eats up really hot and fast. Some choose to adulterate with cream or ice cream. I don't. Always fun.

Haven't gotten them yet but going to M&T next Friday morning. Fingers crossed they have them but they almost always do. August challenge on Kamado Guru is Homemade BBQ Dinner. Everything must be as homemade as possible. Me and Mrs skreef is doing a combined entry. A Homemade BBQ Sampler. The menu as planned (subject to last minute changes): Pulled pork sandwich on homemade bun (cooked in the WFO) topped with smoked Blueberry BBQ Sauce and homemade summer slaw. Beef plate ribs with a drizzle of homemade vinegar BBQ sauce. Brunswick Stew using some of the pulled pork. Baked beans using 2 different homemade BBQ sauces as part of the ingredients. Mrs skreef's dill style potato salad. Fresh creamed corn. And finally for desert a Ranier Cherry and Blueberry pie. Working on various parts of this endeavor this weekend. I'm hoping to wrap up this challenge cook by end of next weekend.

About a year back a friend who sells single malt whisky here in Shanghai, China took me to a great cocktail bar and introduced me to a rising star in the bar-tender world - Daniel An. After chatting for 10 minutes about the various merits of different tipples (for me it's single malts, bourbon, classic martini's and pink gin) he jumped behind the bar as if struck by divine inspiration and whipped up an impossible cocktail: Using Mescal, Rattenhouse rye, sweet vermouth, DOM and 2 bitters he created a twist on the New Orleans "Vieux Carre" that came out like a smoky Manhattan tempered with the honey of a fine bourbon and cut with the crispness of a martini and the lingering aftertaste of bitters... It. Blew. My. Mind. I asked him what it was called and he promptly named it after me: Oliver (my name) and twist for the twist on two cocktails: the Manhattan and the Vieux Carre (and because that was a pretty obvious choice!) And so the Oliver Twist was born! However due to the difficulty of getting good Mescal and the fact that Daniel had limited creative influence in the bar, it would be 12 months before I had the chance to drink this heavenly tonic again. Daniel's rise was unstoppable, competing in barman competitions around the world, the kid for the impoverished boonies 6 hours drive outside of Shanghai did good and achieved his dream: opening his own bar with full creative control. A cozy and beautiful space in the heart of the old colonial former French concession, Monsieur An is free to follow his heart and create insanely good drinks. I finally got to visit him after the place had been open 3 months and when he saw me he didn't even ask me what I wanted... It's officially immortalized on his menu: So I can now tick off "having a drink named after me" from my bucket list (although at 22 bucks a glass I'm not sure how often I'll drink it!!) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Used the Lumber Jack Fruitwood Blend (80% cherry, 20% apple) Pellets for the first time last night. They definitely gave a much stronger smoke profile compared to the B&B cherry pellets. I did have to run them at a MD air flow. Not sure if that was because of a different manufacturer or more likely because the Fruitwood Blend has no oak in it. The biggest observation from my morning cleanup was way, way, way less "gunk" to clean up. It sort of blew me away with the less "gunk". At this point the B&B pellets will go out with the trash. Tomorrow I have a Boston Butt planned for tomorrow with the Fruitwood Blend. Also if all goes as planned going to do some beef plate ribs next weekend using the Hickory Blend.

Tacking onto this thread because I received my care package from @tony b this morning. The Husband came in with a parcel and said "It's from Cedar Rapids". So exciting! I finished my chores and then sat down to open it and fell about laughing when I pulled this out: Maggi cubes! They smell and look just like they did from my childhood. I haven't used them in years for "fear" of MSG but I also know that my Nigerian stews haven't tasted the same since. Will give them a go when I next cook up a stew, thank you. Thanks also for the hot sauce, peanut butter powder and suya pepper @tony b. I will try out the suya pepper at the earliest opportunity and report back.

Makes sense. The smoke blows out of the holes because I get a strong steady breeze from the ocean. I live a 1/2 mile from the ocean on the hillside of a canyon. Nothing blocking the breeze at all from the ocean to home. I’ve put up a blocker in front of smoker before but I don’t always do that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Syzygies thanks for the suggestion. The editing limit was set to 24 hours then not allow more editing, i have now made it unlimited. Lets see how that goes. This will allow you to go back and edit your posts where required. I have enabled the unlimited time editing for just the Owners group for the moment. If we need to expand to all the regular members group let me know. Cheers

Love it, Tony, awesome decorations, right down to the plates. It must have been tremendous fun for everyone.

Another little cook on the Konro, still using leftover lump from the first cook although I did add a few pieces of softwood, couple of hardwood and 2 new pieces of regular lump. Ready to torch the Solo Grill. Done. Plated with potato salad and Swiss chard.

Ranier cherries only come around for 2 maybe 4 weeks then they're gone until next year. I recently went on vacation and then scored a bunch of Blueberries. I thought I had missed out on Ranier cherries this year. Nope scored 5 lbs today at the grocery store When I first discovered Rainer cherries I bought about 2 lbs. I ate almost all of them on the way home from the grocery store - LOL. I'll post a summary thread as I go through all the different parts of my challenge menu. Stay tuned.

I could never find them here either. Even went to my local butcher to ask if they could special order that cut. They said no! I’ve obviously stopped using that butcher. I drove around the corner from him to a local ethnic/Asian supermarket and not only found them, but at a great price too. A few years after that I heard on another BBQ forum that that particular butcher had gotten religion and was selling them. Moral of the story: if you have a local Asian/international market, try there. That’s also where I was sourcing packer briskets until Costco finally got religion.

My response as well once I experienced real, 100% it is what it says it is pellets with no binders or other mystery woods. The mystery pellets made a quick exit to the trash. With the RIGHT pellets, they really are the best way to go in the cold smoker.

Very nice, well done. Did the flamingos have a good time? I bet your guests did.

What a theme! Looks great, well done.

I love the decorations. Nice job!

My eyes...my eyes...so bright [emoji23]. Good job on the charity work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great looking ribs.

I have been dying for a pizza and today was the day. Started the dough yesterday. It was sooo hot and humid today, I bet I could have gotten the KK up to temp. for pizza with 3 tea lights. Perfect day to bake the pizza outside. Tried a new sauce idea, split cherry tomatoes in half and scooped out the seeds and a little of the liquid, trying to reduce some of the liquid as this is going to be a no cook sauce. Put them in the blender, with grated garlic, basil from the garden, olive oil and purple crack. I had a new to me cheese to try on this pizza, Monterey Jack with Green Peppercorns. I liked it on this pizza and expect I will buy it again the next time I see it in the store.

How to get the beans to the brunch? Two briskets make a mess. An electric pressure washer isn't the fastest way to clean all grates, but it's effective and entertaining. What to do with the spent chips in a smoke pot? Reseason my drip pan?

I ordered some meat from a new online source (for me at least), porter road, and grilled up a flat steak with chimichurri. Pretty happy with them. Corn on the cob, fresh squash, and mushrooms. this shot was after adding the chimichurri and the flames came up and kissed the steak.

I need to clean up the freezer and start planning for the fall pork that is on order.

A four pound medley of Rancho Gordo pot beans, to go with brisket for brunch tomorrow.

Ah...the joy and wonder of true two-zone grilling on display. Didn't even use the basket splitter. Just piled the lump to the side, letting distance squared do it’s thing. Simmered the brats in beer on the indirect side, then onto the direct sear with some corn. All done with the flick of a wrist and some tongs. Brats are done! Back to the indirect side to stay warm whilst the corn cooks direct for awhile longer. No grates were moved. Just some more magic with tongs.

Trader Vic's Suffering Bastard isn't named after me, but it certainly could be! Great story, Oliver!