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Received my KK on Tuesday of last week and decided to go all out for my first cook. Coming from a BGE there is definitely a learning curve but it is not too bad. Friday I did the burn in process. Saturday, smoked an 18# brisket, 2 pork butts, and a few slabs of ribs. The day of the party I grilled venison backstraps, chicken kabobs and lamb chops. There are a few things to figure out but I will say the decision between the 23 and the 32 is a no brainer. The extra space makes cooking so much more enjoyable. Everyone at the party was very impressed and can’t wait to try what I cook next.

For our second Thanksgiving dinner this year (first was with my sisters with turkey, etc.), I decided to go with a boneless rib roast instead of turkey. Dry rub, refrigerated overnight, smoked at 200°F over cherry and apple wood for 2 hours, then seared (1 - 1 1/2 minutes per side, sear grate) at 475°F. I returned it to the KK main grate for another 20 minutes at 375°F to an internal temperature of 124°F, then foil and towel wrapped and placed in a cooler to rest for 1 1/2 hours (temp rise to 132°F). Served with roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts carbonara, herbed stuffing with turkey gravy, horseradish cream sauce and/or au jus, 2003 Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon and 2009 Schramsberg sparkling wines.

Was down to my last vacuum bag of pulled pork, so Sunday was smoking butt day! Indirect (AL foil on lower grate), Guru set at 275F, meat alarm at 203F, smoker pot of hickory, apple and peach chunks. Butt was injected the day before with Butchers BBQ pork butt and Cajun Power garlic sauce. Dry rubbed on cook day with 3 Eyz BBQ Original and Holy Gospel (Meat Church). Pork plated with Mojo sauce, Drunken black beans (tequila, lime, onion, garlic, cilantro, S&P), and Jamaican curry rice.

Beautiful day here in the Boston area so I decided to make a batch of chicken breasts. I’ve been dealing with some blood pressure issues lately so I haven’t been doing as much of the good stuff as I had in the past. I’m just trying to teach myself moderation lol But tomorrow I’ll be making an exception and making a nice porterhouse 😁 Anyways todays cooking and a little BB32 eye candy too 😉 My lady friend wanted to try some chicken with just salt and pepper, they don’t look too appetizing but it’s what she wanted so it’s what I made for her. Anyways, happy cooking everyone !!!!! PS, the sourdough is a whole grain sourdough. I’m almost offended that everyone likes it better than my typical extra tangy loafs. Don’t tell them but I do too lol I use KA Super 10 and the KA Harvest Grains to replace 100 grams of the APF

Well I have learned a lot here thank you so much for sharing with me. Here are some pics of a brisket cook i did this weekend. I used B&B char logs and got a 27 hour burn time. So all of my concerns about being able to pull off a long cook are gone. The density of the charcoal is significant because a full basket of the char logs weighed 16 pounds while a full basket of the Blues Hog weighed not quite 6 pounds. This was easily my best brisket ever, it was only a choice cut and it was phenomenal. I separated the point and flat because going into it I was worried about cook time. Throughout the cook I measured the temp on the main grate and the riser grate and once the Kamado came back to 225 after I put the brisket on they were within 2 degrees of each other for the next 9 hours. However, as the kamado was climbing back to temp there was a big gradient between the upper and main grate. The main grate was at 180 and the upper grate was at 120. Probably because the flat was absorbing most of the heat coming up from the pit. When the grate temps finally converged at 225 (took 90 minutes) both the point and flat were at the exact same temperature 103F. Neat!!!

This was the view from my allotment this morning. It is one of 515 small plots that our local council allocates to vegetable growers at this location. We were 7 years on the waiting list and when my name got to the top of the list 15 years ago I made a mad dash to select a plot by the harbour. I am so glad I did.

Smoked with oak and apple wood, then braised to finish. Could have used some more time braising to fully render all fat. A little spongy still but great flavor nonetheless. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Spare ribs on the big grill over hickory. I haven't grilled ribs in over a decade but it was a nice change from smoking them. So good i ate a whole rack and then felt miserable. Also baked some sweet potatoes down in the coals. PXL_20230929_175423483.TS.mp4

Some beef ribs for the Labour Day long weekend

I can't believe i've never cooked corn this way before, pulled the husk back and removed the silk then folded the husk back up and soaked for 20 minutes, cooked at 375 for about 40 minutes turning once. The corn was so sweet and juicy it didn't even need butter. Then did cheeseburgers on the lower grate. Forgot to take pics of the burgers while cooking. That was my big meal yesterday after a late Saturday night seeing Loverboy and Foreigner at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield MA. What a great show I have as few video's from the show on my web site if anyone would like to see Foreigner

Woo hoo! Our Mexican neighbour helped with making the tortillas. I think her expectations were low and this Al Pastor recipe far, far exceeded her and her husband's expectations. Hurrah for @Troble. I made fish tacos to start, followed by Al Pastor and then finished with pineapple and ginger sorbet. I was touched by the fact that she has not been able to get to Mexico for a while (looking after sick old dog) and so was super happy to have the taste of Mexico brought to her. And her husband loved rolling the meat in the fat that accumulated in the bottom of the pan.

Boneless leg of lamb on the rotisserie, Mediterranean salad, dirty rice, pita

Cheeseburgers and corn on the cob

Chicken tacos al pastor last night, with home made corn tortillas. This one’s a firm favourite with the family. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We WON!! Komodo Kamado won the Newsweek Magazine Best Barbecue Smoker Award… Thank you all for your help voting, I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. https://www.newsweek.com/readerschoice/best-bbq-smoker

Did another bacon KK cook, it tastes just wonderful can't get enough of this. Did a 20+ pound smoke on Fri, half for me and half for friends. Sliced my share today and the house smells wonderful. Here are a few pix, nothing special, except the bacon. The following is bacon from my last smoke and the pix is this morning's Breakfast. st I now have 9 packages just like this one in the freezer, should see me thru until the fall. I had a few bites and piece left that I will use for soups or pizza..

I usually cook paella inside, but when I’ve got some time it is so much nicer on the KK. It was a beautiful autumn evening here, and kids were sorted- so it was the perfect time to cook tonight’s paella on the KK with some post oak for smoke. Originally paella was cooked on a pan over fire, so it feels right. Simple one tonight with chorizo, chicken, Roma tomatoes and green beans/ flavoured with saffron, paprika, stock and rosemary from our garden. Spicy pimenton in the adult one. I also love cooking the whole thing outside as you set up your ‘mise en place’ and then just relax. I’m smokey as all hell though, so need a shower. Nevertheless it was so so good- worth the extra effort.

Smoked whole chicken on the meat hanger is a GOOD thing. About 2.5 hours at 250F/120C in the end. Start drooling now...

Early anniversary dinner, screw going out. 8 times out of ten I’m thinking I could have made something better at home. Only thing is the cleanup, I’m exhausted! Those oysters were monstrous and delicious. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Beef for Christmas so a Turkey for New Years. Nice and moist and tender, I really like the smaller butterball turkey’s 😁

Yesterday was one of my sisters birthday, i made beef ribs and some bread for the small party. Hard to tell from the pics but that was a 10 pound slab of ribs lol The SRF beef ribs are sooooo good !!!!

Pichana Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

What is better than one flat crispy KK cooked chicken? From KK to table. Delicious!

Reverse seared ribeyes at 450⁰ topped with chanterelles simmered in a garlic butter sauce. Steamed and grilled the corn and broccolini on the Napoleon grill at medium heat for about 15 minutes. Pulled the ribeye off the lower grate at 128⁰ internal temp and it's perfection. YUMMM!

Roasted a chicken tonight based on a recipe by Samin Nosrat. Served with basmati rice, some veges and the green sauce from @Troble’s famous recipe. It turned out great- crispy skin and super juicy.

The weather here has been miserable for more than 2 weeks, no sun, just rain, wind and cold. I don't care I'm lighting my KK anyway.

Challenger pan has arrived. Am very happy with the results.

Time for a bit of a ‘mixed grill’ tonight. Corn, yellow squash, small red capsicums, large mushrooms, country suasage links, smash burgers, chicken satay skewers, lamb kofta skewers and a couple of scotch fillet steaks. Nice mix for us and the kids- ended up using most the the 32BB lower grate real estate. Great success as always…

Last night was a new experiment - a mash-up of Japanese & Nigerian. Mixed Yakiniku with Suya Pepper rub to marinate beef skewers. I liked how it came out. Will file this one away for future reference. The corn is not local. Won't see the "good stuff" for at least another month or so. This corn was OK.

New first for me on the KK - handmade Bagels! Finally got to use the stone most use for baking Pizza. Bagels went on at 425F for 23 minutes on top grate. With the stone in it took some time to get to temp. Likely due to all the hardware and stone. They did come out very good 👍 will definitely do it again.

After watching Guga's video (2023 BBDO LETD LCS Let's Deliver Carbon Capture BL 15 OLV BUSLDR SOC TRUEV HUM NO 15s YouTube Truevi), I thought that I'd give the compound butter idea a go, seeing as I had the HonDashi in the pantry already. Chuck steak rubbed with Rodney Scott's Porcini, Garlic & Herb pepper rub, grilled on the lower grate. Top half-grate is spinach & cheese stuffed portabello mushrooms with garlic panko crumbs. Plated with some nice cheesy polenta. I did mix in some of the dry rub into the compound butter to tie it all together. I did notice the added flavor that the HonDashi added. Interesting. I'll probably try it again sometime.

Just cooking a few steaks… Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

In Italy at the moment. Baby artichoke risotto for lunch was delicious.

So I gotta griddle - a Halo 4b converted to natural gas using their conversion kit. This is a really different type of cooking for me and I'm enjoying it a lot. Still learning and doing small cooks - it's good training in case I need to get a job at the Waffle House.

Had some family over for dinner tonight. Cranked out a Bistecca Fiorentina for the adults (each steak around 900gram)… sausages and burgers for the kids. Made some home made chips, salad, some no-knead bread… amazing. Everyone happy.

I was inspired by @remi cook of my Peruvian polo a la brass so decided to make it tonight. Never disappoints @tony bi ate at a good Peruvian place yesterday and struck up a conversation with the chef who asked me where I sourced ingredients in San Diego…told him I grow my aji Amarillo and we got to discussing the Peruvian green sauce…the real stuff used a herb called Huacatay and I purchase a plant yesterday https://thegrowers-exchange.com/products/huacatay?variant=40098478522449&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2019-12-19&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj-iu7pTDhQMV0MzCBB1mJQ-HEAQYASABEgLDnfD_BwE I am going to make it my mission to nail down the authentic version of this sauce this year. The jalapeño substitute is fine but the real deal is so much better. This chef used jarred Huacatay but he asked me to bring him the real stuff along with my fresh aji Amarillo which I’ve already started growing this week….stay tuned for updates but I’m gonna figure this out this year….going to Peru for two week over Christmas so I will get this “Peruvian crack” recipe nailed down this year

Couple of racks of baby back pork ribs. 225F for first 2hrs. 275F last 2 hrs. Pulled glazed and wrapped in foil. KK smoke worked great and used my rechargeable pump . Yeah, someone will see in this cook setup, I used the stones for indirect deflectors. They are far enough away from firebox on lower grate, I have not noticed any difference compared to foil and pan. Will do some beef ribs and a 7hr cook and try the foil and pan at 300F and see if there is any difference. IMG_1986.mov

Rotisserie lamb, dirty rice, Mediterranean salad, tadziiki

Took advantage of better temps today and did some chicken drumsticks. Plated with pickled onion, potatoes and carrots. Interior.

First Pulled Pork of the year 😊 I prepared the meat, my wife the coleslaw and buns. Delicious:)

Went to Costco business today to pick up pork biutts for next weekend ebded up leaving with 2 8lb pork butts, 4 pork tenderloins, a 15lb prime brisket and a bone in leg of lamb marinated the lamb in my beef Schwab’s dub and then skin on the rotisserie and made a Mediterranean salad and dirty rice with red onion, salt, pepper, cumin, cardamom, all spices nutmeg mint Served with toasted pita and feta and homemade tadziki

Thinking about @tony b @jonj this afternoon while roasting chickens in 60 degrees & sun weather at 5pm

It was a mild day here and I took advantage to put some ribs on the KK. Fresh pasta, 10mm in width. Pork ribs are done. Plated.

Chuck Roast Burnt Ends today during the blizzard!

Starting to prep for our New Year's Eve party, four days out. Today was marinade and sauce day with a little bit of tortilla action thrown in for good measure. I picked a recipe for chicken tacos with chilmole. The recipe said that preparing the chilmole would remove the ability for the air in your kitchen to sustain life, such is the level of capsaicin that would be released when you roasted the 100 arbol and 8 ancho chilies to the level of blackness required to make the sauce. I had a simple solution to that - fire up my 23 KK, get it well heat soaked and "broil" (we say grill in the UK) the chillis in there. I also made the al pastor marinade as per @Troble's recipe. I doubled the recipe. Our sturdy Vitamix had a job on its hands, getting all that achiote blended in! See this post for more about tacos al pastor After all that work I ended up with three tubs of al pastor marinade and one of chilmole. I also wanted to experiment with tortillas. I started off with beautiful purple corn. This is following the wash after nixtamalisation. Some people say to wash a lot, some say to wash a little. This time I washed a lot. Just depends on when I remember that I don't need to slough off ALL of the outside of the kernel. Machine in action, grinding the corn. IMG_4010.MOV Working on my own I managed to make 42 tortillas in under half an hour. I have left them to cool and will test the reheating methods tomorrow. 42. The Answer to Life the Universe and everything. It is a sign.

Happy New Year. Nice looking spread @PVPAUL. Looks like we both had a good taco night. Tacos are much less common here in the UK so our friends were surprised and blown away by the food, particularly as most of them have nothing to compare my skill level with! First the tortillas. With me rolling and pressing and a friend cooking, we made 308 tortillas in 2.5 hours. I don't have any pics of the process but we had four going at once on my large heavy weight griddle. We covered them over but after six hours waiting the top tortillas were a little curled up, as per photos below. We managed to revive them on the comal and they came out well on the night. We have some left over and I am looking forward to seeing how they perform after being frozen. The friend who helped me is in his late seventies and had never seen a blue corn tortilla before. His first question was "how are you going to turn that into something edible?" We went from that to him comparing the tortilla to a mould (he used to be a university lecturer in biology). He was finally converted by the beauty of watching a pink tortilla rise on the griddle and once he tasted a taco al pastor he became a fully fledged taco evangelist. And here is the spread, ready for people to dive in. We learned lessons from parties past and didn't put all the food out at once, replenishing bowls as needed. The tacos al pastor stole the show, right behind the crispy chicken skin. Everyone loved the home made crema Mexicana, made simply by mixing double cream and buttermilk and leaving in the dough proofer for 36 hours. Best wishes for the New Year to you all and thank you for all the help and advice over the years.

Brisket, honey baked ham, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, stuffing, gravy

Yesterday it was Tuscan style ribs spun on the rotisserie and basted with a balamic herb infused sauce. It was more of a curiousity than a cook and having not used the Santa Maria in a while I wanted to approach it differently, hence the spinning technique. Something also can be said for the entertainment you get from the flames and the primal feeling one gets from cooking over a flame. It's kind of like taking a long trip and finally, but happily reaching your destination and realizing the ride itself was all the fun. Anyhow they came out well, one thing I would do as an alternative is to let them marinate over night and see the contrast. They did flop around some in the beginning, but as some time passed they stiffened up and all was a pleasant sail from there.

Pleased with the results. About 7.5 hours in the KK and an hour resting.