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Cooked the secreto hot and fast yesterday. Was a lot like skirt steak, on steroids. Bought some more immediately. Salt, pepper, a bit of garlic powder and a coating of chilli vinegar. 10 minutes in KK, flipping every 2 minutes. KK was not heat soaked. Ate with chips, salad and a hot tomato sauce. Delicious. There is a Steve Raichlen recipe online that recommends romesco sauce.

Tri-Tip turned out mighty fine! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey there @Troble. How are you feeling? Guessing you must have hit the drinks hard once you had got the pig cook and all of your food out for the guests. I would have! Now, lots of details required to inform future pig cooks: How did you turn the pig? Why did you take the eyes out? Aesthetics or some other reason? How did it taste and what did your guests think? What would you change, if anything, about the cook? How long did you cook for and at what temp? How much did the little piggy cost? Oh yes, and how did you serve it? Was it pulled or did you cut it? Thank you in advance! I have a party to cater for soon and am considering my options.

Beef ribs for dinner cheap and easy Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

I've been quiet for a while as I've been so busy with work and then summer decided to turn up in the UK and the garden has taken over. Anyway, I've been tuning in, getting hungry and admiring some of the cooks. Al Pastor is definitely on the to do list. 🙂 I did a Boston Butt yesterday while I planted 600 hedge plants. I'm amazed I could lift a fork after that work (despite having a micro digger) but working in the miasma of BBQ which kept drifting across the garden reminded me that good things come to those who lift heavy weights. 😁 Ran the 32KK on 160 for about 6.5h using the Fireboard. Final internal temp was a little higher, think I must have pulled the probe a little early. Served with slaw made with apple, celeriac, fennel - a Steven Reichlan classic.

Pork belly burnt ends. Meat candy.

Lockdown has brought some great food discoveries. Posh restaurants ship you cook at home kits. I have only tried the one called Aktar at Home. He is a Michelin star chef and his curry box is a thing of wonder - great taste, volume and value. I tried his Argentinian meat box. It was fun not to have to prep for a BBQ and our favourite thing was the morcilla. I disappeared down a rabbit hole, trying to find more and came across this company: https://www.bascofinefoods.com This haul arrived a couple of weeks ago: They are bits of an Iberico pig that I had never heard of/used. Albanico, Pluma, Secreto. The only one I knew anything about were the baby back ribs. And sooo fatty. I looked up the Albanico online and found this cook: https://bbq-heroes.com/recipe/pork/amazing-iberico-abanico-sandwich/ We tried it out. I cooked half of the albanico, first indirect and then smokily and satisfyingly on the lower grate. Asparagus cooked while the pork was resting. Sorry, no pix of the sandwich but here is the piggy sliced up. It was freakin’ delicious. A missive from @tony b made me think “suya!” for the remaining half of the Albanico. I took the easy route and cooked it indoors last night. No char or smoke but The Husband still declared it the best suya meat ever. That intramuscular fat just gave it such a great mouth feel and taste. Marbled pork rocks.

Hi Its Memorial Day int he USA today so I dropped an extra video today. This one is the process I used for my first burn and I went ahead and did a cure of the acrylic jacket while I was at it. According to the KK manual, the objective here is to get up to temp slowly and maintain a 500-550 degree F for a couple of hours. Why? Well watch my other video on venting that has all the latest info on construction, humidity & solvent venting etc. Thanks for all the nice notes and appreciation on this forum. Its appreciated. I'm trying to create a down and dirty Kamado You Tube channel: so your Views, Likes, Comments and Subscriptions really help. Thanks all. More vids coming: Rotisserie, Lighting, Cold smoking, and on and on! Oscar

Oscar, thank you very much for the clarification and the great Videos. I didn’t have a chance to watch your video before my initial response to this thread. I’ve now watched both and am finding this information very helpful. I plan on subscribing to your YouTube channel. Cheers

Thanks Jonj. I haven’t been smoking near as long , but have had very good results in the wsm. I have enjoyed all of my Weber gassers (my current one is a 2005 platinum summit rebuilt it to new last year) but now as I used the wsm more and more I really got to notice the difference between gas and charcoal flavors so I had started researching the Kamado styles…. We were moving towards the primo, then saw the KK… well as they say “game over man” so now I work to see how to budget for this new obsession and getting the boss on board 😉.

Hi Forrest.. Always remember that temperature is airflow.. Charcoal always burns at the maximum volume for the loud airflow. Are you sure you had the lid latched? From where the damper top touches the gasket what is "barely cracked" the ear moves how much in inches? The smoker airflow is above the charcoal and so does not really contribute much to airflow thru the charcoal. It's always the damper top setting that controls the exhaust airflow which determines the temp.. And if it's not leaving the damper top, it's not airflow. Always light only a large orange volume of charcoal for low and slow cooks.. The aquarium pump on low would take minutes to fill a balloon.. it's not causing high temps.

Just finished watching, VERY well done! I think these videos are going to be amazing resources for new owners!

Yeah this time they direct transferred me to the depot and scheduled it on the spot. Friday they said I had to wait for a call.. guess it all depends on who you talk to!

INDEED! Plus, lots of bubbly to celebrate that momentous occasion! 🍾 I've been a member of the retiree's club for 8 years now. Never looked back with regrets! Enjoy the ride, man!

Nice cooks, everyone! Making me hungry!

I'm wondering that in the process of opening/closing the lid, the top vent shifted a bit on you, which lead to the temperature increase?? That short of an opening time shouldn't have lead to a sustained temperature rise?

Same as C6BILL, I use my thermapen for everything including temping my latte milk int he AM. A must have!

Okay so I took the initiative and called again this morning since I had not heard anything.. and my delivery is now scheduled for tomorrow between 11AM-2PM! Almost there!

The rib master!! Looking good Aossie.

I love my thermapen, I’d be lost without it

So early in my Learning process my briskets were never done on time and you cannot rush it. I watched a YouTube video put out by Meatchurch titled “Overnight Brisket”. Essentially they were saying start your brisket in the evening at 190 F and cook overnight and then raise the temp in the morning. I did this any my brisket was still not done on time. I’ve since settled on cooking about a 15lb full packer brisket that I’ve been trimming about 1-2lbs off. I’m starting it in the evening at about 225F target and then raising the temp to about 275F in the morning and then wrapping with butcher paper when I hit the 160-170F range. Cooking until it’s done and then foil, towel, and cooler technique. So far I’ve had two successful cooks in a row so planning to stick with this technique. Also, a few years ago I went too the Salt Lick in Texas and was very happy with their brisket and ended up buying their dry rub which I really love on the brisket! I’ve also been making this size brisket for small gatherings and saving the flat for making brisket chili. I also vacuum the leftover brisket in sections and then freeze / reheat via sous vide which I’ve also been very happy with. Congrats on your cook! Paul

@Troble - it came out well. Will be eating leftovers for days though - LOL! This was a small one - 4 lb boneless pork shoulder, but still a lot of meat! I only used half the marinade, so I put up the rest in the freezer for another day. Thinking I want to try it on porkchops next?

6 hours after I pulled it off the grill, foiled and toweled it and stuck it in the cooler at it’s at 159. Still in the safe zone. Yay. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tri-Tip is on, first time using the KK external smoker! [emoji869] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, dammit. Now pebble people can start saying that their grills cook as well as tiled grills!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Cooking at your temperatures powered through the stall. Had you cooked at 225° ish, you’d still be cooking, wondering if it’ll be done in time. Neither is right or wrong, there’s simply a big difference in temps significantly higher than 225° as far as cook times. At the lower temp, the stall can last seemingly forever, or it can be somewhat linear. At 250°+, the cooking is quite linear, and the finish time can be fairly well predicted. Great job, I’m sure your guests will wonder how long you’ve been doing this! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’m seeing another kk in my future! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FINALLY got around to doing the Al Pastor cook with the goodies provided by @Troble (Thanks!). Made the marinade yesterday - best advice - WEAR GLOVES!! Not because of the chilies, but because the annatto paste will stain badly. My t-shirt looks like a crime scene afterwards! Getting started - carved up the pineapple and getting ready to stack the meat on the skewer. All stacked up and headed for the KK. On the KK with smoker pot of hickory and cherry wood chunks. Target temp was 325F but I started out at 250F just to get some extra smoke on it. 3 hours in, I started carving and spritzing with the pineapple/orange juice. I also put on the corn. Plated up with all the fixin's - cilantro, cotija cheese, red onion, fresh pineapple, green salsa. The sides - corn and some drunken beans (pintos in chipotle in adobo sauce with tequila!) And Yes, the tortillas were store bought - don't expect this boy to be making masa for homemade tortillas anytime in this century!

I used Weber Smokey Mountain cookers for over 30 years before getting my first KK. I kept my two WSMs, thinking I would use them as extra space. After using the KK for a couple of years, and not using the Weber's, I gave them both away. They are fine for what they are and I made some very good food on them, but for me there was no going back after the KK experience.

The only trouble is, they probably only deliver in the UK. That said, I am curious about whether you get these cuts of meat in Mexican supermarkets in the US. That albanico tasted like the best rib meat, just without the bones. I think these cuts will be ideal for juicy porky tacos. To be continued…

New video up, tour of the 32” Big Bad. Next video is the burn in. Some content for those of you with grills on a boat! Yes, I do see the Title Text Here, I was too lazy to fix it once the video rendered.

Welcome to the forum Jadeite. No regrets... once you have come this far, most likely you go the whole hog. If you hold off too long everyone here will talk you into the 42”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk