cruzmisl

DEFINITELY NOT necessary. Enjoy your cooker

I'm in Michigan. I have about a half a dozen finchs that come around but I also have a lot of sparrows too that bully the timid finchs away. They (sparrows) have a nest in one of my trees and have this annoying cackle. I want to get rid of it but it seems mean. I guess the Sparrow is the "rat" of the bird world These guys have been coming back for the last 6 years religiously. Kids call them Donald and Daisy They like to hang out in the water on top of my pool cover. I have to say nothing like hanging out on my deck in the morning with my coffee watching the birds. Its really relaxing.

My finch's have returned for the summer

Well a few tips I have used and been very successful. Never place lump on top of lit charcoal. The temps will spike and will be a bear to bring down. I usually bury wood chunks in the lump because you want some heat in the cooker before they start to burn. I find the hotter the fire the cleaner the wood burns but that may be just me. Huge plumes of billowing white smoke isn't as good to my tastebuds. Cleaning out the cooker isn't necessary unless it's stuffed full of ash. Some ash is actually better since it can minimize airflow somewhat. Use a torch to light the very center of the lump then set your guru wide open with everything else except the top damper closed. Top damper about 1/4 turn. Temp on guru, 200f. Once it gets to 200f close the fan down to about 25% (of wide open) and reset the pit temp to 250f. Then wait at least an hour for the cooker to stabilize. This heat soak is important. Once its stable at 250 toss your food on and go to bed. The KEY to the guru is this; lets assume without the airflow of the guru fan the temp of the cooker would only be 200f. You want the fan to have to constantly be puffing air into the cooker to maintain the desired temp of 250F. So you need the cooker closed tighter than you would if you had no guru. I have slept 9hrs straight with no issues several times and I have to say its really nice. FWIW, I like to trim the majority of the fat off my butts too. More surface area for rub which means more bark and correspondinly less fat on me

Thats a LOT of stainless. You wouldn't know there is that much in there by looking at it. Thats a cool stat.

I call BS without pics All kidding aside, welcome! Lets see some pictures of your cooker in its environment. I'm sure you could manage some food pics too. We like to see those as well.

Nice! How did they taste?

That happened to my Mom with a prime rib roast. She was p!ssed but I thought it was hilarious. The more I laughed the more angry she got so I left it alone after that.

what he said.

A good sear depends on amount of heat and moisture of the meat (on the surface). If you have moisture on the meat it will steam. I always pat my steaks dry then oil the steaks before putting them on as it aids in heat transfer. Since the grill is 700f and most oils smoke at 450f I'm not sure how much good it will do. I've wiped at these temps and it just smokes. The grill still looks dry because the oil just burned off.

I'm happy some found it helpful. A few notes though. I typically don't bring the temps that high but for demonstation purposes I let it run high. Anything around 600f will yield the same result. Also the sear marks would have been better had the steaks been cut more even and without a bone. The bone allowed some of the meat to be raised off the grill. Even still they turned out pretty good. Lastly, the sear grill will use less coal but I'm lazy and hate flipping grills around. For the added few cents of lump, I'll stick with my lazy habits

Hi All, Recently there has been many discussions about not being able to get grill marks on steaks, not hot enough, need the grate lower etc etc. I decided to take it upon myself and help fellow owners realize the true potential of their cookers without messing with too much. First I have to say I am not an expert nor do I claim to be. High heat grilling on a KK has the potential to be dangerous so please be aware of flashbacks which can easily occur. Trust me, they aren't a joke. If you value the hair on your head God gave you or the Hair Club for Men down the street gave you, please follow my advice. This is a technique I use and it works very well for me for the last decade or so of cooking on ceramics. Open the top damper at least an inch and the bottom damper should be fully open and the door pulled away from the coooker about 1/2-1" Its also important your ash is cleaned out. Leaving ash from half a dozen low and slows can restrict airflow. It doesn't have to be clean but just be sure there isn't a huge pile in there. Next, put a layer of LUMP on the bottom of the charcoal basket and light with a torch in several different areas. I prefer lump because I find it burns hotter than briquettes and produces less ash. Also don't use giant sized lump pieces, they're great for low and slows but for grilling we want pieces that are smaller. In a few minutes they'll be started. At this point add more lump on top. Don't pile it up to the top because its not necessary and will actually choke the fire and minimize max temperatures. You're looking for a good fuel and airflow balance. Close the lid and after a short wait you'll have a blazing fire that resembles Mordor. After a short wait your temperature gauge will look like this. No this isn't a trick and I didn't take this cold, its actually pushing 800f As you can see the grill temps are correspondingly high. It went down a bit while I tried to take the photo and not get burned but you get the point. Now its time to throw on your desired hunk of beast. High heat grilling like this is not designed for 2" thick cuts. If you attempt it the outside of your meat will be burnt and the inside blue-not good. Ideally its best for 1" cuts (give or take a bit). In this example I threw on some ribeyes I got from a local organic farmer and closed the lid for one minute. I then opened the lid, turned them 45 degrees and closed the lid for another minute. Then I flipped them over and pushed he draft door in all the way so the temps aren't as hot. This is where it gets dangerous. If you choke off the air supply to a ravaging fire and then open the lid shortly after you can have a backdraft which is very serious. Don't peek for at least a minute and then when you do, crack the lid open slightly to allow airflow and then slowly open it fully. Trust me on this one. Cook to desired temperature and this is what you will be rewarded with. I may not win any awards but they tasted great and were cooked to perfection. Sorry no interior meat pics, didn't last that long I hope this helps someone. I burned a hole in my dress shirt doing this and the wife is p!ssed She just bought it on the weekend. Figures a hot cinder pops from the coal when I was lighting it and landed on my right shoulder...... Joe

I'll help. http://www.worldspice.com/home/home.shtml

Yes, it's tomorrows dinner

OK, I'm pulling out some steaks and will do a tutorial in the next few days. I have absolutely no trouble getting good sear marks on my upper grill. Stay tuned.

Honestly I've NEVER used the sear grill and find the heat at the upper grill is quite even (in temps)There are are hotter areas and the "hot spots" will move around depending on how the charcoal is burning. Having said that I see no reason to pull the coal higher into the cooker. If I need high heat for steaks I will light a single layer of lump on the bottom of my basket. Once they're red hot I'll pile on more coals and pull the damper door out about an inch. This really allows a lot of airflow and temps will climb rapidly. If I used that technique with sear grill my steaks would look like meteors and be raw on the inside. In summary, if the coals are lit evenly the heat at the grill will be even. Surely there will be hot spots but no grill is perfectly even.

These would be awesome for friends with big ego's at a party Tough to grow by the sounds of it though.

Re: First KK Rib Cook, EXTRAORDINARY See here

I don't get it. Are you putting the coals on top of the Weber grate and then your food on the standard upper grate?

Absolutely you should. I have the gas option that literally hasn't been used in YEARS. Its just so easy to get grilling temps with lump. Compound that with superior flavor and cooking charactersistics with lump and its not even an "option" anymore. Frankly save your money on the gas, and spend your money on a MAPP torch.

Today it's 50F and sunny. A marked departure from all the snow and cold temps we've had. I'm really enjoying it. Trouble is I decided to clean off the gunk that has accumulated on my coooker for the last 6-7 monhts and its a b!tch. I tried using a Mr. Clean pad and lots of soap but that didn't quite remove all the brown stains on the stainless/tile. I don't have this problem in the summer because I can keep on top of it. Anyone have any better suggestions? I know Dawn Power dissolver http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/powerdissolver.do would work but not sure if it's too harsh for the grout. I brushed it on the stainless being sure to keep it off the tiled portion and it worked great. Any ideas? Thanks, Joe

Looks nice. Next time try and bump the temp to 250. It will cook a bit faster and in my experience yields a better result. Also try expirimenting with injections, mustard etc. Lots of fun.

roasted brussels sprouts=delicious

Nice looking steak! I never use the lower grate though. I find the standard grate height gets more than hot enough and I don't burn the outside of my steaks. Maybe if I didn't cut brontosaurus sized steaks I'd be able to use the lower grill I tried it once and the outside was charred but the inside was still raw. I feel I have much more control using the upper grate. The lower grill is perfect for thin cuts though like skirt or flank steaks. Either way you really can't beat a KK for grilling-there's nothing like it.

What he said. I made the mistake of placing my temp probe for my Guru on the "hot" part of the cooker. Guru worked just as designed but the temp where the meat was 50F less. Needless to say we went out for burgers because my butt wasn't done. See here http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3403&highlight= There are so many new users here I may consider a tutorial. Not that I'm an expert by any stretch but it may help someone out.