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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.

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.

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 😁

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.

I am still amazed by how little fuel a KK uses to do its job. This is my 16KK fire basket after 12 hours of cooking low and slow. A 3kg lump of pig. The capocollo - pig neck and shoulder. Closest US cut is a pork butt.

Just got back from Thailand with the family for a week. Thanks, Dave, for the head's up. All three of you gentlemen are now moderators. Simply click on the member's name/icon. Then click spam, and the post will be deleted, and the user will be banned. If any other old-school members would like moderator powers, I'll be thrilled to give you those powers! Thanks VERY BIG for your help..

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.

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

It had been awhile since i did beef ribs, but i was going to my sisters for diner I figured it was time for some. And a little steak just to be sure we had enough food lol

3-day salt brine got "very" deep into the roast, then hit with black pepper, garlic, thyme and rosemary overnight. Smoke time was roughly 4.5 hours at 225 degrees (6lbs) over hickory (buried) and cherry and then seared, came out wonderful!😊

I'm very pleased about this nice write-up about Komodo Kamado and me in USA Today... Click here for the USA Today article

finished a 2-day baking class today. i think i need a spiral mixer. pan de cristal at 130% hydration

Last evening I decided to do individual meatloaves, wild rice and freshly picked spinach for dinner. Got the KK fired up- Meatloaf on the KK. Done, I know the pix is not the best but... Plated. The wild rice was very fine, about the size of the lead in a pencil. It's amazing what it turns into.

Took my goths to Safari Park this weekend. Stopped by the far stand on the way home. Got some amazing fruit and produce rainbow carrots, asparagus and sweet white corn on the cob along with pork tenderloin My oldest told me that the asparagus “popped” in her mouth it was so fresh. Great summer meal

Oh my gosh time flies!!! Yep I have finally started cooking so here is a quick recap on the journey to date. The KK arrived in Perth mid August as planned however I had to store it a warehouse until our house build was finally completed late October. Moving into new house house and then taking over a new business collided to leave the KK sitting alone in the pallet in my yard until late November. Christened my KK "Rosie" as in a whole lotta Rosie. Love my Accadacca, Bon was a local and its a whole lotta BBQ in matte black tiles. First cook was a very simple rib steak over direct heat, went well however the flavour was bit off with slightly acrid smokiness. Quickly realised I had to get better quality charcoal and also let it breathe. 2nd cook was chicken fillet, very average result. Poor temperature control. Learner plates on the KK! 3rd cook, Christmas lunch for 15 people, rib eye roast x2, turkey roll, glazed ham. No pressure! Studied the KK forums, watched videos, better charcoal with splitter in, indirect cook, drip pan heat deflector + written plan = success. Moisture retention in the meat is incredible. 4th cook New Years Eve for 25+ people, indirect over 3 levels with beef roasts, turkey roll and beef ribs. Result was fair, learnt a lot. Burn in. Actually did two burn ins spaced a couple of days apart as I could still smell the vapours after 1st burn in. No popping tiles just a couple of small raised areas with pressure cracks on the grout so relieved pressure with sharp blade. 5th cook pizza. More forum time. Nailed it. Roadside chicken, either maryland or spatchcock next. I love the wheels on the KK and how easily I can roll it up to the plate glass window outside the kitchen to keep an eye on the dial and get easy access when needed. Temperature control is AMAZING. Might be the dry heat of our climate but I find I dont have to open the bottom or top vents anywhere near the amount suggested on the forums to get it up to temp. Just climbs beautifully and holds at whatever temp I need. Typically 1/2 to 1 turn on the top vent gets the temp up and keeps the heat in. Everybody who sees it is just blown away. Not too many in Perth. The only item I need is a 240 volt roti motor, having trouble sourcing one here and not sure about the brackets etc to match up with the KK. Anyway that's a long post but I would really like to thank all of the forum members who contribute and helped me get off to flying start. Some pics from Perth. Let there be rock! Milton

A special night calls for a special cut of meat. 1.125kg 42 day dry aged bistecca fiorentina, low and slow until just under rare then seared in the 7th circle of hell. Also some lamb lollipops, chicken skewers and snags for the kids. We started out with yummy negronis. Served with a ‘green papaya salad’ made with green apples. The contrast of spicy, funky and sweet with the rich steak is our favourite. Happy new year!

Happy Holidays to all.. I just realized Komodo Kamado turned 20 last August. First grills sold were on Ebay and I had to use an escrow company for payment because there was no way to collect funds online.. Calling the US was over VOIP, I bought cards with X amount of minutes.. Dial a number, enter a code, get a US dial tone, call the customer.. 15 seconds before disconnect there would be a warning beep.. One model became, seven and the rest is history.. How far we've come, so much to be grateful for.. Thank you all for your support over the years, I really appreciate it.

Just before Xmas I decided better to cure a pork belly before the temperatures turn really cold after Xmas. Cured 11.7pounds of belly and here it is just after smoking on the KK. Thanks goodness the KK holds nice and steady and I didn't have to go out and check on the Temperature. It is all nicely sliced, packaged, vacuum sealed and in the freezer now except for the one package I gave to friends for their Xmas morning breakfast.

Made arancini with black chanterelles and a mozzarella centre last night. Fried rice balls. With added cheese. What's not to like?

made the most random stuff tonight..