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Day 6 of COVID called for a Porchetta here tonight- around 1.5kg, so all done in an hour or just over at 400f. Sliced and served in milk buns with some Dijon, pickled fennel, salad and pickles. Good times. IMG_4254.MOV

Overnight brisket cook. 14.5 hours worth. I used cherry, oak and hickory for the smoke wood. Very juicy and tasty.

Prime rib. Rubbed with Worcester sauce yesterday. Sea salt, black pepper, garlic & onion powered rub cooked at 350 on rotisserie and basted with butter, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme & a dash of soy sauce baste mixture. Mesquite wood chucks to add smoke flavor potatoes Au Gratin with Gruyère cheese, fennel & sweet onions Side Caesar salad not pictured chocolate crusted oreo cookie ice cream pie and chocolate crusted strawberry ice cream pie

Long story but we had Thanksgiving dinner today. I cooked a nice fresh 25 pound turkey and baked s couple loafs of sourdough. I finished the bird with a little maple chipotle bbq sauce 😁 I cooked the breads inside while cooking the turkey in the KK.

I didn't take photos because it was one delivery dude and me hauling stuff. It came in two crates because the lid was in its own crate. The dude unbolted one crate while I undid the other. This was done so he could help me put the lid on. He was a real big help so I greased his palm generously. Well...I had to...he didn't have change for a dollar. Anyway, he leaves happy and now I get to put everything together, which I love to do. New style basket splitter, new style rotisserie basket...all good surprises today. Two boxes of coffee char thrown in for the fun of it. The build quality can't be beat and I look forward to "burning it in" tomorrow. If any of you fret about rolling the smoker off the pallet...don't. This is my second one but it was just as easy as the first one. The pallet is CLEARLY marked with a sticker at the bottom that essentially says "roll the sucker off on this side." See? You can't mess up. There are two bolts by each leg at the bottom that you remove first thing. Then you lift the crate off. Super easy. And last but not least, the top of the pallet is the ramp you use to roll the smoker off the pallet. Aunt Bee could do it. As most people already know, Dennis is a top notch guy to deal with. He'll do anything within reason to keep a customer happy. Dennis never gets tired of talking to potential buyers or owner that don't understand something. If any of you are on the fence about buying one of these cookers, you can't really imagine how over-engineered and heavy duty every part of this smoker is. Spend the money, cry once and then you'll have something to give the grandkids one day. They're probably spoiled brats anyway. Some of these photos are grates and heat deflectors in a cabinet I have in my shop. The dog is more spoiled than the grandkids.

smoked iberico baby back ribs. first time doing a bbq type food on the kk.

I experimented with curing bacon the other day and it turned out amazing. I can never go back to store bought. Recipe and photos below for those who want to try. Dry Curing Rub Pork Belly (2.5kg) 40g salt 40g brown sugar 5g curing salt 5g ground white pepper 5g coriander seed 5g ground mace (nutmeg as a substitute) 5g onion powder 5g garlic powder 5g ground ginger 5g ground fennel seed DAY 1: Remove skin from pork belly. Mix the curing powder and rub pork belly thoroughly. Place in a Ziplock or vacuum sealed bag. Place in refrigerator. DAYS 2-6: Turn the bag over every morning. Day 7: Remove from bag and rinse pork belly thoroughly with cold water. Pat dry and place on drying rack in refrigerator for two days to rest/dry. Day 9: Smoke on KK at 200-225f to an internal temp of 150f. Hickory is great, but other woods are too. Let the pork belly cool for an hour and them place it back on the cooling rack in the refrigerator overnight. Day 10: Slice/portion/eat

Nothing new to the forum, but always a fall football classic. American football that is. Brisket for Saturday dinner. Then Sunday brisket chili. I forgot to take a picture of it being finally served, but it always comes garnished with a healthy dollop of sour cream, some shredded cheese, cilantro, thinly sliced jalapeño and green onion sprinkled on top. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hard to believe these are the first pizzas I’ve cooked all year. Two pepperoni & a pepperoni, sweet bell pepper, mushroom & black olive

Meanwhile here, finally took the plunge on my first overnight cooking session. Black Angus brisket, 5.1kg (11 pound). Convinced the wife that an overnight cook was a better option as otherwise would’ve been a hot and fast session all day to get it done, with much smoke. So I decided that a year in to my KK experience, that I knew (enough) what I was doing. Lit the KK at 9:30pm, giving myself a couple of hours to be close enough to 220. Was worried that I’d end up hotter, so leant on the conservative side. Trimmed and rubbed with Meat Church Holy Cow. On at 11:30pm. I was so stressed that I barely slept- kept dreaming of coming to the KK at 3/4am and finding 400f, and things done… obviously got to sleep eventually. Checked at 6am; 200F, stalled at 140F. Cracked the damper a bit; my little boy (who usually wakes the house up) slept in till 8am bless him… 220F; 145F on the brisket. Let it coast through the stall. Wrapped at 12.5hrs/ 170F. Cranked the KK to 300F to help grill some simple snags and burgers for the kids. Pulled brisket off after 19hrs of cooking. 2hr rest. Served with roast potatoes, horseradish cream and spicy salsa. Beyond delicious… not sure if it was the low/slow (previous have been also amazing but hot/fast), or maybe it was the new butcher…either way. Another win for the KK…

Finally the blizzards let up enough so I could grill some pork patties today. Plated with steamed and roasted cabbage, rice and pickled beets. It sure was nice to cook on the KK for a change.

Made a cherry / maple entry table for a friend. He gave me a very twisted 6 quarter slab, salvaged enough for the top and shelf. Left a live edge on the shelf, facing front.

Fired up the 42 tonight. This thing has a ton of real estate and I am enjoying it. Basket splitter split about 50/50 with the fire on the left side. Used the cold smoker attachment with wood chips left over from a hickory tree felled in my old front yard to generate smoke for those steaks. They smoked up on that top grate on the right side away from the fire while the veggies were cooking down low. Then I put those steaks down on the lower grate for the final sear after taking the veggies off. Everything turned out great. Needless to say , I'm really enjoying my KK. The steaks were as good as they could be made. They were just choice strips from kroger (nothing fancy). Salt, freshly cracked pepper, sage, garlic powder. Veggies were just EVOO and sea salt and the great KK fire. Yum.

Dinner in the dark. Hotel style pork chop, fried potatoes and squash seasoned with thyme, ghee and maple syrup. Plated.

Tonight- paella on the KK. I used to always cook paella on my old gas BBQ, so this was always going to be a KK meal eventually. Simple one for a weeknight dinner- chicken thighs, chorizo and green beans. Yum.

Decided to have a little birthday feast today I forgot to take a pic of the marinated 3 bean salad but between the tomato salad au gratin potatoes and 4 and a half pounds of steak there was hardly room for the ice cream cake !!! I've been using the top grate upside down right on the firebox and have been really happy with the searing 👍

Approximately 6 weeks after it’s arrival (we were away for almost a month just after delivery) I finally got a forklift guy to move the crate to my back porch (yard is gravel and slightly slanted. No other way to do it. Uncrated yesterday finishing just before a monsoon downpour started. We had hoped that the blue would match the pizza oven and it does! Better pictures later if the monsoon clouds go away but wanted to get this picture of the brothers from another mother posted. What everyone says is true, they are more beautiful in person and this thing is incredibly well built! Will get side tables on and get it fired up soon!

Sent Doug from the Naked whiz some of this latest container's coco char to test and I'm thrilled that it was the all time best in two categories.. "The amount of powder/dust/granules in the bottom of the bag was stunningly small, a mere 2 grams for the smaller USPS box and 18 grams for the larger box sent by UPS. (A new world record in both cases.)" "the volume of ash produced was the lowest we have ever tested, lump or coconut!" http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag152.htm

Pizza and wings 650 on the stone this tasted very ny style pizza. nice pool of cheese grease in the middle. nearly died cooking this on the rooftop its so friggin hot…

Comfort food was required today. Did pork meatballs and made some spaghetti pasta to go with them.

Picked up a Sirloin Cap at Costco last weekend for a pichana cook. I did not know they were sold 2 per pack. Nice surprise. So, the pichana cook was delicious but didnt actually happen since I have no pics to share. I did take pics of the other cap i cooked on Wednesday. It went indirect at 230 to 250 to an IT of 112, rested it while my 23 came up to approx. 450 - 500 dome temp. back in for a sear, fat cap down for less than a minute to get a little color, 3 to 3.5 minutes on the other side. Beautifully rare and delicious The rest of the meal is just another fantasy, no other pics... except for the sandwich i had yesterday evening Kook on fellow KK'ers

Sunday Pizza Night! and first time using my stone and doing 'za on the kk the pizza looks a bit comically small but it was around 10" - it just shows the awesome size of the 32BB, and its a 14" peel. 600F in the dome, and ~3 hrs heat-up/soak

My wife asked, What do you want for supper, chicken wings? Nope, I want beef, check the freezer. Well, 10 minutes or so later she comes back with a frozen 3 rib choice rib eye from 12/20 and a recent one from 4/22, it was obvious kind of where to go. So the old piece set out on coolish day in the sun but never thawed completely in the 5 or 6 hours . I cooked it on the Santa Maria, although it could have been done on the KK as well but this had to be a visual cook being partially frozen. Who say's you can't cook a frozen steak and have it come out the way you want. Montreal on one side and a Santa Maria dressing on the other, just right.

My first attempt at tandoori chicken and naan on my new KK32. Naan recipe: https://www.recipetineats.com/naan-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-58510 Heated pizza stone & dome to 550°F, cooked for 1 minute per side. Chicken recipe: https://www.thedeliciouscrescent.com/persian-grilled-chicken-kabobs/ Dome @ 550°F, cooked chicken for ~15min (turn 90° half way through the cook)

Easter cooks. Lamb in salt ash crust for for Easter Sunday and Chicken on rotisserie for Easter Monday. Outdoor cooking, always fun.

Easter Prime Rib! coated in Dijon and rosemary After 3 hours at 250F until 119F internal Rested for 45 mins and seared at 500F Potato for scale

A very good friend of mine died last September, very tragically, on my birthday none the less. He was a big marvel and Avengers fan and we had a long conversation about the Avengers campus at California Adventures and the shawarma cart & Infinity Stone hand /drink holder they sold there. Since he didn’t have kids I promised to bring him home the shirt and drink holder. Unfortunately he didn’t make it to accept it but I went to Disneyland l/CA Adventures with my family last week and I bought the shirt & cup holder as promised. Made the chicken shawarma meal tonight that he would’ve been here for. Some meals mean more than others and tonight was a special one…..

I am mad about a couple of chefs in Wales - Nathan Davies of SY23 and Gareth Ward at Ynyshir. Gareth is my meat hero. My visit to his restaurant a couple of years ago and his subsequent feedback got me ageing a lump of sirloin for 198 days. It was delicious! I am now looking forward to visiting SY23 which is run by Nathan who used to work for Gareth. We rarely eat out because we can cook and eat and drink much better at home but I am sure that Nathan's restaurant will be worth the pilgrimage. He mentioned in an interview that the best thing on his menu is turbot cooked over fire, Basque style. I could not resist. I had a "spare" turbot in the freezer and so I hunted down the clamp that he uses to cook his. Here it is cooked over wood fire on my, sorry the Husband's, Argentinian barbecue. I don't like the fact that the wood burns with a lot of smoke in the Argentinian BBQ and so I burned the logs to embers in my Solo stove first and then transferred them to the Argentinian BBQ. First time trying that and it worked well. Cooked the sides in my 23 KK And ate at table with good friends the Dr and Mrs RokDok. It was soooo tasty. Nice smoky turbot, picked over by hand. Recipe? Didn't really use one but I took inspiration from Lennox Hastie and this recipe online: https://www.seriouseats.com/basque-style-grilled-whole-turbot Great to break away from treating turbot like a sacred piece of fish that can only be served on a fancy plate with a fancy sauce. The clamp is super good. Allows you to cook and turn the fish without sticking to the grate. Will take a pic of the clamp in the 32 in daylight so you can see how it fits. Hurrah.

Roast chicken

Did pizza in the kitchen oven yesterday-

I’ve cleared way too much snow over the past week so I decided to make myself a nice dinner today. Reverse sear on a 38 ounce cowboy ribeye from SRF and tater tot’s

Took advantage of the last "warm" day this week (it was 22F yesterday - today it's 4F) to do a rack of ribs. These were the first ribs that I've ordered from Porter Road. I love their beef, so thought I'd give their pork a try. No regrets - these were some of the juiciest ribs that I've ever had - anywhere! I didn't do anything extraordinary either - no lard slather, no pink butcher paper. The only thing I did was overnight marinade with yellow mustard and dry rub (Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust) and after a couple of hours on the grill, I spritzed them with apple juice & bourbon every 30 minutes or so. Cooked indirect, average temp 250F, 4 1/2 hours, with smoker pot of hickory and apple. There is NO Sauce on these ribs, they are just this shiny & color from the fat and the spritz. Plated with homemade potato salad (tater sallat!)

Great looking meals everyone. Like @alimac23 I’ve also been a busy busy recently so not posting as often… we bought a new house a couple of weeks before Christmas so have been flat out since then getting our current house ready for sale in February- it has been an epic marathon of cleaning/ de-cluttering and beautifying. I hope it all pays off. Did manage to knock out a small brisket today while cleaning windows (250F, peach wood chunks, some salsa, salad, roasted spuds). 9hrs plus a one hour rest. It was sensationally good. Perhaps the last proper KK cook before the move (some holidays coming up, and we plan to move out for the 3-4 week sales campaign).

Bought a 3 bone beef rib Monday morning. seasoned it with olive oil, salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Let it sit overnight. Put the ribs on the KK at 8am Tuesday and cooked it at 250 degrees with some mesquite wood chips. Removed from KK at 6pm. Rested an hour deskinned a bunch of plum tomatoes & vine tomatoes. Threw them into a lot with some sautéed onions & garlic added chicken stock, oregano, salt and fresh basil. Started simmering that Tuesday 5pm made some homemade tomato paste by slow cooking some plum tomatoes on a cookie sheet in the oven. Added the tomato paste around 6pm. Added baby Bella mushrooms at 6pm. Trimmed beef ribs of fat and added to sauce at 7pm. Added 3 beef bones to sauce at 7pm to enhance flavor. Covered and left on simmer overnight, stirring occasionally before bed woke up in the morning big and stirred the sauce, made a fresh pasta dough ball covered and let sit for an hour then put into new Christmas present pasta roller on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Ran it through to level 6 and cut out some fresh pappardelle pasta and hung on rack to dry Strained pasta sauce twice between 12pm-5pm to remove top layer of fat boiled pasta for 4 minutes at 5:30pm served sauce into pasta to mix. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese because the meat was so soft and cooked down for so long it made this really great thick ragu type sauce. Very flavorful and decadent. First time I ever attempted to make pasta by hand. I’d give it a solid B with some moments of A work. Couple of my first strips were still double folded and a bit thick but 85% of the pasta was great. Lotta effort into this one. Eat this again tomorrow and have another rounds worth of sauce in the freezer for another time

Super simple and easy big a classic…Roast Chicken harvested a ton of Meyer Lemons off my tree so made a marinade of meter lemon, butter, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper & rosemary. Rubbed it all over the bird and inside the cavity as well as under the skin on the chicken breast. Stuffed the cavity with lemon rinds and rosemary. Threw it on the 3rd rack up top on the KK. Cut up a pan of celery, carrots and sweet onions and put that on the top grate under the chicken then used the double drip pan on the lower grate to get indirect heat above. Couple apple chunks in the coals and used @tony bjealous devil coals. Cooked at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes rested for 30 minutes also made some baby potatoes and roasted them in the oven at 400 with olive oil, truffle salt, black pepper & rosemary. Pulled them out and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top took some chicken drippings and made a gravy with white wine, chicken stock, butter, rosemary & salt will eat this the next few days

Well, the good news was that we hit 73F yesterday - in Iowa - in the middle of December! But, the warm weather brought very severe winds that spawned t-storms and tornadoes. Lots of wind damage north of me and widespread power outages. While we had 50 - 60 mph winds here with our t-storm last night, it wasn't nearly as bad as the folks west and north that saw 80 - 90 mph winds - and the tornadoes! My power blinked a few times, but never went out. I'd planned ahead and had a pork butt ready for the unseasonably warm day. Overnight cook Tuesday. Finished up mid-morning Wednesday. Guru running at 250F, indirect, with smoker pot loaded with hickory and apple chunks. Followed Meatheat's advice and trimmed a lot of fat off and liberally salted it Monday night. He says that he likes this technique better than injecting (which had been my standard practice.) Tuesday morning it got the CYM treatment with 3 Eyz rub and Dizzy Pig Crossroads. Went on the KK at 10pm. Target was 203F, but pulled it off at 200F around 10am. It had gotten so windy by that point that the Guru controller kept getting blown over and coming unplugged. I didn't catch it in time and the fire went out. Once the KK started to drop in temp, no point in leaving the butt on the grill. I wrapped it in foil and put it in the cooler in the beach towel for 3 hours before I pulled it. And YES, there's pictures! Dinner was pulled pork sammies! Hard to say whether Meathead's technique worked better than injecting, but the results were just as good IMHO.

Wet brined 22lb turkey. Smoked with apple wood. Homemade stuffing, sweet potato mashed potatoes with coconut milk and maple syrup, Yukon good mashed potatoes with sour cream, parmesan & chives, green beans with Parmesan & bread crumbs, homemade gravy. Not pictured homemade bread pudding

An easy dinner and more squash. After all it is squash season. This time a very small butternut squash that I wasn't sure was going to even ripen before the killer frost hit but there it is. Served with chicken burger and roasted potatoes.

What can I say? We gave two of the three chickens away, together with some baked/grilled yams and carrots and green crack. Loved by one and all.

In my ongoing quest to tick off each major type of KK cooking- tonight was time to spin the first chickens. Thanks @Troble for the excellent recipe... Not able to source the proper chilis here in Melbourne at present, but we made do. Enjoyed a barrel-aged Firestone Walker (recently acquired a mixed 24-pack of historical releases from those guys)- happy days! IMG_3063.MOV

Apparently I did not eat enough Mexican food last week although to be fair I did not have one carne asada taco…..my wife had family in from Peru today so I made carne asada tacos. Flour tortillas, salsa rojo, salsa verde, guacamole, refried beans, cotija cheese and homemade marinated carne cooked over mesquite wood

Mrs RD & I had a fabulous weekend staying with @tekobo and @Sharky in their lovely home. Our culinary experience is mainly UK / Europe / Indian / S.E.Asian and @tekobo was once again about to open our eyes to things new. Mexico beckoned - @Troble has already excited us with his accounts of Mexican cuisine just south of the border and when things have settled a bit - that is going to be our next long haul backpack destination. We arrived to find this sitting in the 32" : ( Sorry the pic was taken as we were about to tuck in ) Veal Short Ribs. ( We'd had delightfully seared tuna loin as a starter ) This was to be the tortilla filling. @tekobo and been lured to the burrow entrance by @Syzygies, and had clearly emerged triumphant. The corn kernels had been cooked and treated with lime and prepared to go into the recommended Indian made roller grinder to make the tortilla dough. Here's a picture of it in action , with Mrs RD gazing into it as if it were a crystal ball. It's her birthday next year - maybe my choice of present has been made easier. We were introduced into the ways of the tortilla press and the result was just amazing. Tekobo gave us a packet of Maseca and lent us a tortilla press from her collection and as the haze lifted we saw this rabbit hole....... Three-Way Chicken was a friendly bet which will have to wait for the moment as there is a break in the weather and I need to sort he vegetables out and harvest the hops.... Cheers RD

Corn. From plant to KK to tummy. Yummy.

In the beginning there was lamb, and oh what a lovely lamb it was. Marinated in Balsamic just overnight with fresh rosemary and sage. Staked on the skewer and spun for 2 1/2 hours over an open fire and basted with a special sauce of Allegro, Japanese BBq sauce and apple cider vinegar. The sides as plated were Swiss Chard in a marinera and cheese, fresh garden cukes and cherry tomatoes, chopped kale in a vinaigrette with sweet dried cranberry, sliced almonds and walnuts, and of course a baked potato with butter, sour cream and chive accompanied by a good Polish beer. Also pictured is a herb garden established this year, crowded with herbs, too many. Next year I'll space them differently or build a bigger box.

@Tyrus - I've actually intentionally cooked a frozen steak on the KK. I wanted to get a good crust without overcooking the interior. Sear grate at very high heat.

Today was tomahawk day, the pics don't look all that good but the steak was. I went about 5 degrees over temp as we went for a walk and it cooked a little quicker than expected. Oh well, it was still in the medium rare range so it's all good

Snake River Farms Wagyu Brisket. Rubbed with soy sauce, Worcester, salt & pepper homemade cornbread man n cheese sweet corn on the cobb ribs two ways. Honey mustard, salt & pepper, aji Amarillo, aji panca & bbq sauce honey mustard, dizzy dust, bbq sauce

I like spareribs and these came out very well. I cooked them at 230 degrees for 5 1/2 hours. Royal Oak lump and cherry smoke wood. I did wrap them this time in butcher paper. Next time I won't just to see if there's a difference in the taste.

Simple reverse sear for Thanksgiving

Pizza again. Typical kitchen sink style, 500° KK dome, 485° baking steel, 6 - 6.5 minutes. Per previous comment, note deflector(!) in use under the baking steel on upper grate.