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Well, to tell the whole truth, we do this as well. Actually, we keep a separate suitcase fully packed with knife case (full of trip-only knives), assorted kitchen and grill tools, two pans, bar and wine stuff (including wine and champagne glasses), coffee stuff, etc. ready to go. We have had too many vacation rentals with unacceptable or missing tools.

The top / upper grate, when turned upside down (tall handles up) is also referred to as the sear grate. From the owner's manual: "The upper grate is used above/on top of the main grate but can also be flipped over and used down below above the charcoal basket with the long legs turned up just above the charcoal." Certainly the lower (middle) grate can be used for this purpose, but it is further from the coals and will take longer, allowing the interior temperature of the steak to rise as well. Try the searing grate to see if it meets your needs.

I do the same thing...

Very attractive, placing one of those on the table just cooked inspires a conversation. Look at Basher, on Vaca and sharpening the hotel cutlery lol.

2nd much of what @cruzmisl had to say. If I'm cooking a thinner steak (less that 1.5" thick), I use the lower grate. I will only use the sear grate if it's a thicker cut; otherwise you risk overcooking it or, at a minimum, ending up with that gray band of meat just below the crust. The other key - turn the steak often when searing on the sear grate, which will help minimize the overcooking. I typically turn every 30 secs, and rotate 90 degrees after the second flip to get a nice cross-hatch pattern. Choice of rubs was spot-on advice, too. Too much sugar in the blend will burn and get bitter. So will black pepper. If you want to amp up the flavor, put some compound butter (butter mixed with herbs and spices) on the steak while it's resting after searing or make a nice chimichurri sauce to serve on the side.

Definitely missing my KK thanks Tyrus. I like to cook when on hols, however, the unit we are staying in only has a microwave, a crappy pot and fry pan and a single cooktop. I’d never seen knives as blunt as what’s here- now they r sharp.[emoji23] I guess this becomes the challenge of preparing good food with rubbish gear. Still, Noosa is a pretty place. I usually buy offal for my dog and now will be adding rice to the mix. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So here are the final two photos: this is the finished version of the brisket.....but five hours later. So you cannot let a brisket sit for 5 hours and reheat it and expect it to be as good as Franklin/Micklethwait/LA Barbecue (and 20 other great Austin-area brisket master), but I am getting closer. Back at 1 PM, when I SHOULD have been slicing it, it was probably a lot closer. SO NEXT TIME.....I am going to start the brisket at 6AM for a 6-7PM serving. It seems to be cooking in 11, not 13 or 14 hours. Anyone else have the same experience? The flavor was good. Quite good. I am going to back off a little bit on the salt, but the pepper was pretty much perfect. It was a lot of fun, and the family loved it. And it is a LOT easier for me to get up at 6 than to stay up till 1AM.

Hey Folks - Still trying to get the hang of my BB32. One of my biggest struggles is getting it hot enough to sear steak. I have been doing some reading and I think I have been using the middle grate rather than flipping the top/pizza great upside down and resting it on the charcoal basket. Would really appreciate if someone could explain this....

Ha! I knew I wasn’t alone, my wife thinks I’m nuts. Tony that’s a great collection..... another rabbit hole for me to climb into. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bring my own when I can.

Alas, poor Winston, I ate him well. (all apologies to the Bard!)

I don't have a 32" but a 23" so the specifics regarding the use of the 32" I can't help with. I will however add that this isn't as simple as it sounds. There are a lot of variables that need to be taken into account such as the thickness of the steak, thin will easily overcook, seasonings on the steak, spices can burn, desired level of final "char" etc. I never found in my long term use of the K to go lower than the standard grill. I like a char but there's a limit. A fully lit, coal bed always provided plenty of heat to get a great sear without overloading the temp of the cooker. Meaning, it's not necessary to allow unlimited airflow and allow the dome temp to exceed 1000f. It's hard on the cooker and not necessary. More is not better. I never found going above 600f to produce better results. In fact, it was the opposite. Fwiw, I usually get my steaks cut at two inches. I always like extra for breakfast the following day. Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

Exactly, the upper grate turned upside down works perfect for searing. I love the reverse sear method where you bring the steak up to temp indirectly and then sear at the end. Steaks turn out perfectly every time! I made a video of this method and you can see the top grate upside down and right over the coals. You should have no problem at all getting a nice sear this way. 7A2FD34D-0770-4FEC-BD0F-AEB3E665054F.MOV

We finally got to cook this today . Fortunately our freezer in the garage broke down so we had to move our meat and fish to friends which gave us the chance to get our goat out and prepare the cook. I'm a bit lame at the moment with a hopefully temporary hip problem so Mrs RD did the cook - she is an expert on South Indian curries ( I gave her 10 lessons for Xmas a few years ago from a delightful and very talented local Mumbai lady). Best present I've ever given. I'd been waiting for my daughter to get hold of some Portland Heights Jamaican Curry Powder but we didn't have any so Mrs RD made it from scratch - recipe from the book C is for Carribean. The last time we'd eaten proper curry goat was when we lived in Jamaica 35 years ago . We went with Ray a local and colleague up into "the hills" and chose a goat from a small flock that his folk had. Mrs RD made the mistake of naming the goat Winston - a fine fellow. Next time we saw him he was in a large pot expertly cooked , together with a tub of " Mannish Water" - a delicious broth made of entrails. The curry goat was for my leaving do, together with a few cases of Red Stripe and some rum punch. I can't help feeling that Mrs RD was thinking of Winston when she was cooking today - but she still ate a healthy portion. Didn't have Scotch Bonnet unfortunately and one or two ingredients had to be subbed but it was pretty much to your recipe @Braai-Q, and delicious it was too so thanks for that.

Yep. I have Moroccan ceramic tagines and Bulgarian claypots for making stews and soups in.

I made a holder for the grill temp probe out of a wine cork (have plenty of those lying around - LOL!) I just cut a chunk out of each side, leaving a center strip the width of the gap between the grate rods and just deep enough to hold itself in place. If you make this strip too long, it will likely snap off on you as cork isn't very strong. On the other end of the cork, I just tap in a small nail. I clip the grill probe's alligator clip to the nail. You can buy similar devices premade. But, mine works, and probably cost me $0.02 for the nail. YMMV BBQ Probe Tree - Probe Organizer (bbqguru.com) Why, you may ask? If you clip the probe directly to the grate, you're going to get a falsely high reading from heat conduction from the grate. What you really want to be measuring is the ambient (air) temperature, which is what the actual cooking temperature is. I usually place the cork a couple of inches away from the meat, so the meat temperature doesn't overly influence the grill temperature reading. But, you don't want to get too far away, as you want to be monitoring the air temperature that the meat is seeing; especially if you are cooking indirect, you don't want the grill probe to be exposed to direct heat from the charcoal basket.

fat side up

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Pizza and naan night tonight in our household. Pizza was good, Mrs BQ has been varying the salt content based on how long we have to prove the dough. I think there is a biochemist trying to get out. The reduction in salt content does reduce the elasticity or rather the bases when stretched out are more prone to tearing. Interesting how micro adjustments (reducing salt by a couple of grams) manifests itself so obviously. Topping was homemade passata (San Marzano home grown) with French goat's cheese, saucisson sec, caramelised onion, mozzarella and prosciutto. The naan was a complete failure. I forgot to make the dough as I got distracted with a DIY job that was more complicated than originally thought so I think that'll be for curry night next Saturday. Been meaning to do it for ages. Had some brioche that was nearly stale and decided to do a bread pudding dessert. Brioche soaked in custard (made from milk, egg, Bourbon (Woodford Reserve in this case), vanilla essence. Add banana and pecan (my wife doesn't like nuts so had to forego), leave to soak for up to an hour prodding it to let the brioche absorb the custard. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and then bake for just under an hour at about 180 which was a good use of the residual heat in the KK. Serve with some vanilla ice cream.

Just wanted to let you know that last week, both Mimi and my accountant tested positive for COVID, on Monday 4 more tested positive. Only one is in the hospital (she's stable) the others are doing well.. we delivered their computers to their homes today and hopefully they will be able to work some tomorrow.. If you have/had goods going out, please excuse any delay.. we are working to catch up. Thanks for your understanding.