jclarkhpa

Re: First cook on KK - RIBS - Need advice Sorry, I'm looking for advice on how to make them more tender. I had to use a fork and knife since they were too firm for teeth. Yet, they came off the bone OK. I know I need to cook them longer, but I'm not sure if I should cook them longer wrapped in foil or if I should have kept them cooking longer before I wrapped them. Does it matter? Thanks,

I have a quick question and hope it's not too stupid. I just got my KK and love it. I'm trying to get a better sense of it and one question I have relates to temperature. First, I had my BBQ Guru pit sensor in the KK the other day and it was near the top grate (the grate flush with with the opening when you lift the lid). It was reading about 20 degrees hotter than the Tru Temp on the dome. That didn't seem right but I'm not sure which one is off, I'll have to calibrate the guru later. However, it lead me to wonder about the temperature variation in the KK. Has anyone done a quick study on temp differences in the KK? IF the temp right at the top grill (flush with the opening) is at 300 degrees, then it's hotter at the bottom grill, but but how much? 50 degrees? Alternatively, is it hotter on the sear grill placed on top of the top grill? I'm assuming it's hotter up there since it's closer to the dome and the reflective heat of the dome. If I were to cook pizzas, I'm guessing I should put the pizza stone on the sear grill on top of the top grill? If I had an idea of how wide the temp variation is from top to bottom inside the KK, I think it should help me when planning where to put my meats, etc. Does it matter or am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Regards,

Hello, I did my first cook on my KK last week, and circumstances caused me to do my most challenging cook, ribs. I have a few questions, but first I'll tell you what I did. I had two spare ribs available so they were immediately inducted into my first cook. I brined them using the recipe found on this forum somewhere, with water, brown sugar, salt, etc. I had to cut them (rib tips, and St. Louis cut then had to be cut in half) just to fit in my brine pot. So two spare ribs became four 1/2 St. Louis ribs and four rib tips. I put a little dry rub on them and they were ready to go. I didn't use my KK rib rack because they were too small for it, next time I'll figure out a different way to brine them so they are full size and can stay on the rack. However, I did put in both the heat deflector wrapped in foil along with the drip pan wrapped in foil. (photo below) I set the KK up with a full basket of charcoal (both CoCo and some mesquite lump) and a little wood. I got it up to 230 and put the ribs on. I kept them there for 3 hours, then pulled them and put them in foil with some brown sugar, butter, honey, and a touch of BBQ sauce. As an experiment, instead of BBQ sauce for a couple of the rib tips, I put in blackberry jam instead. I put them back on the KK for another two hours. After that I took them out of the foil (they looked and smelled good) and put them back on the KK for another 45 minutes. Here's what they looked like when I brought them in. Here's a picture of my plate with some homemade smashed potatoes with carrots. I have one of the rib tips with the blackberry jam on it, and the other was plain. I thought both tasted good. So, here's my problem. Everything went fine except for two things. 1. The ribs were too firm. I'm assuming I should have cooked them for at least another hour, but during which part? Before foiling them? Extending the braising in the foil? After foiling? They were still juicy from the brining, but they weren't tender at all. The taste was good, etc. How do I get them more tender? 2. They could have used a touch more smoke. However, I'm not sure how to do it correctly on the KK. I had some wood mixed in the charcoal basket, hoping that they would smoke throughout the cook. However, I also know the first part of the smoke it the more acrid part, so you're supposed to let that go and wait for the smoke to become clear or blue before adding your meat. How do you add wood without getting that first wave of acrid smoke? Also, if your heat deflector and drip pan are in there, I'm assuming you have to take everything out to add wood, then put everything back in and wait for the temp to stabilize again. Is there an easier way? I feel like I made a lot of progress with my ribs compared to past attempts, but I still have room for improvement. If I can get them more tender I think I'll have a winner. Any suggestions or tips you have would be appreciated. Regards, jclarkhpa 23" Dark Autumn Nebula

Re: New KK in Hawai'i It is an island of contrasts. It has 80% of the world's eco-systems, with deserts, rain forests, snow up on the mountain, grasslands, forests, etc. I can drive 20 minutes West and be in a desert with an average 17" of rain a year, or drive 40 minutes in the other direction and be in a rainforest with an average of a couple hundred inches of rain. The town itself has probably more than 30" of rain difference in the annual average between one side of town and the other. I still go out back and look Lola, both my wife and I love it. Even though I got it early, it's the best Christmas present! In fact, it's going to be my Christmas present and my birthday present for at least 10 years! Good thing I do love it and I'm happy with the deal. Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! (Hawaiian for Merry Christmas and Happy New Year) jclarkhpa 23" Dark Autumn Nebula

Aloha from Hawai'i. I have been looking at a KK for about three years. It was just a wish for a long time, but my wife and I finally decided to pull the trigger. The KK was delivered on Dec 12, here's the pallet on my driveway. [ATTACH]n68641[/ATTACH] I also ordered a pallet of CoCo since shipping to HI is never fun. I hope this lasts a long time. If not, Hawai'i has a lot of Kiawe (a Hawaiian word for a mesquite tree that was brought to the islands long ago). It's possible to get some lump charcoal here, so I'm going to stop using briquettes. I used to have two Weber grills, but within a few days, both of them were given to friends, so they found good homes and I don't have to worry about having them take up space anymore. Here's the grill just about completely put together. She's a thing of beauty. I haven't put the two side wings on it yet in this picture. It's a 23" Dark Autumn Nebula. My wife and I really liked that color as well as a couple other colors. Dennis helped us choose the color for us, and then choose the KK that had the best color that we were looking for among the three that were available at the time! As you can see, she is in a shed. I live in Waimea, on the Island of Hawai'i, also called the Big Island. There are two things that make our location unique amongst most of the rest of Hawai'i. First, Parker Ranch (and the paniolo tradition) is located here in Waimea. Hawaiian cowboys (paniolo) started in the 1800's and cattle ranching has a long tradition here, in fact Parker Ranch is one of the largest privately held cattle ranches in the U.S. The second thing that makes our area unique is the trade winds that blow through the town. We are nestled between the Kohala mountains and Mauna Kea. These mountains act as funnels and the wind increases several fold over what most of the rest of the state experiences. Trade winds turn on and off through the year, and you have have the winds last for weeks. When they get roaring, imagine trying to do a smoke when you have wind speeds averaging between 35-55 mph, and gusts up to 75 mph for a week solid! It was such a hassle putting up a tent, staking it down, checking every 30 minutes to make sure it didn't blow down, hope the temp is consistent in the grill, etc. When we bought the KK we decided to attach a little shed on the side of the garage that will act as a wind and rain break. That way we can grill no matter the weather, and in Hawai'i it changes a lot. Anyway, that's the reason why the grill photos always show it in the shed. There's plenty of ventilation, I just need to run power so I don't need to use my extension cord anymore. Here's a photo of the KK ready to go. A few days later I was able to do the initial burn in. Here's the charcoal basket with it's first load. The burn in didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it was all my fault. I e-mailed Dennis and he called me back and walked me through it, I was getting too hot and he made sure I backed it down and slowed everything down. Dennis has been nothing but spectacular in the entire process, from purchasing to helping me through the first stages of KK ownership starting from ignorant, to knowing enough to be dangerous, and I know he'll be there until I actually know some useful stuff on my own! Here's a panorama shot of my shed. I have my KK on the left and my Backwoods Smoker Fatboy (I've had it for years) on the right. Those are the only two things I kept and moved into the shed. I named the Backwoods Smoker "Betty" after the Ram Jam song, Black Betty. The KK is now named "Lola" after the Sarah Vaughan song, "Whatever Lola Wants" however since she's also pretty burly, I do think the lyrics to the Kinks song "Lola" are also a little applicable. No matter what, we are super happy and love it. I look forward to using Lola more and more. I'll try to post my first cook we did a couple days ago on the forum soon. We had some ribs in the freezer and my wife couldn't wait for me to go get pork butt or a brisket, so my first cook was ribs. It went better than I thought, since I've never cooked on a ceramic grill before, but I still have a lot of room for improvement. For some reason ribs have been very hard for me. I can do pulled pork and brisket really well, but ribs have been my nemesis. I'm now excited that I can tackle ribs and master them as well. I'm also really excited about pizza and making artisan bread. I wasn't getting the heat I wanted in my oven, and Lola will obviously be able to give me more heat than I need. Anyway, I'm looking forward to being part of the KK community. Regards, Josh jclarkhpa 23" Dark Autumn Nebula