Smokydave

Does anyone have one of the 2 door teak cabinets that Dennis sells? I am looking longingly at one, but would like to see some better, bigger pictures. If you could post or send me some shots and give comments that would be great. Also , if anyone has any of the cabinets, how are you maintaining them to keep them nice? Thanks

I've done char siu pork twice and it's AWESOME

Sheer force of will!

Here's the finished product, sliced and ready for the freezer.

Thanks Robert. I have to take a picture of the finished product. Hopefully I'll post tonight.

It rained ALL day today, and I mean hard. Icy roads this morning--many major highways closed until it warmed up. Then the rain just kept coming. Weekends were normally when my late wife and I would spend some quality time, sprinkled around the chores, but now that's she's gone, I usually hate weekends. The rain didn't help. So what better to do on a crummy day than fire up my bronze beauty. I did an easy smoke today. I had cured a pork loin for the last 10 days. Peppered it after soaking and rinsing and threw it on with some maple to make a ham-ish Canadian bacon. Threw some store-bought chorizo on for later in the week and I was all set. The ham/bacon came out tasty (especially the smokey end piece I cut for me and the boys to taste.) I'll freeze it all for some breakfasts down the road. Some nice maple smoke haze

Welcome to the family!

A little behind in uploading this cook, but last weekend I did deep dish pizza. Five kinds of meat, three cheeses, peppers and onions and some sauce. Came out great, but there was a bit too much dough on the bottom (sides were fine). There was little talking during dinner!

Bought a two-rib choice rib roast at Wegmens for Christmas day. Pulverized some fresh rosemary, garlic, black pepper and salt with some olive oil and rubbed it down. On the roti, 2 1/2 hours at 300 and the last 1/2 hour at 400 for a nice crust. One chunk of hickory for some smoke. Nice and tender and the crust was great. Missed my sweet wife this Christmas. It was she that pushed me to buy the KK two years ago. Not the same without her and she would have loved the roast. Cheers to you baby--I miss you terribly.

I haven't posted a cook in a long time. My wife was sick with cancer and succumbed two weeks ago. I decided I had to get back in the saddle and fill some emptiness or I was going to go crazy. So I did an easy cook. Two honey-brined turkey breasts from Wegmens. I dusted with poultry seasoning, granulated garlic and ground pepper. In the foil pan underneath I mixed carrots, celery, onions and mushrooms and a quart of chicken broth. Two-and-a-half hours at 350-ish and I was done. It was difficult to take off the bone as I'm used to carving a whole turkey. It tasted great and was moist. I strained the juice from the pan and didn't thicken--just left it the way it was. Had it all with sides of rice and broccoli. If only my baby had been here to taste it. Effing cancer takes another angel from this world.

I do. I love every part of it except for the Bluetooth. 70' range is way optimistic. Doesn't work well through brick walls and low-E glass also interferes. I regularly lose connection when the windows are closed, even though my ipad/phone is 10 feet away on the other side of the wall. Other than that, it's nearly perfect. Probes kick-ass, especially the armored penetration probe. They last waaaaay longer than the iGrill or other probes. Battery life is terrific. You can get all sorts of other probes because it uses a standard K-type connection. I begged them to put out a wi-fi version, but they did not comment. I still use it every long cook, even with the issues.

Those really look great. You can't find them (or even regular beef ribs) around here, that's for sure!

That is sick, but at least when the astroid or the zombie apocalypse comes, you know where to go first to save the important things.

Norm, you should always belt in your precious cargo!

Glad you made it ok!

Dennis, do these cover a larger area of the grill? How much gap around the outside between the pan and the walls of the smoker?

Bold move! There's no reason you couldn't do the same thing to a chuck roast either and save some hours that way too. I remarked in a thread some time ago that chuck was my new brisket substitute since it was getting harder to find a decent packer around here.

A whole bunch of years ago we bought a metal baker's rack to grow houseplants on. The plants died and we put it in the yard and it collected pots, gloves, fertilizer--you name it. When I got my KK, I turned the rack 90 degrees and it sits next to my smoker. I can put the hot grates on it and it doesn't look so bad. It's not a work of art either. Ok, it's pretty ugly. I can't afford a Dennis table quite yet.

Sorry Frogs. I guess I'm behind the times! I didn't know it was in production. I like it!

It sure looks to me like Frogs cooked on his deflector. Not sure. Frogs, make sure both the front and back doors are tightly pushed in in their frames. I had a number of cooks early on where the one in the back was not tight because a little bit of ash got in between the door and frame when I cleaned it and the coals stayed burning all the way until exhausted.

Had some great food this weekend. Started with a couple of flank steaks from Costco. Grilled them up with some peppers and onions and made fajitas. Rounded out with homemade guacamole. Steaks were $7.99 a lb. I remember when filet was that price! Makes a meat eater weep. On Sunday, I did a couple of large chuck roasts. Rubbed them Friday night with the coffee cardamom rub. Let them go until 170 internal, then sealed in a foil pan with a bottle of stout beer. Served them on rolls with some horseradish sauce, cheesy potatoes and a cucumber and tomato salad. The juice from the pan was awesome. Since it's getting harder to find decent brisket in my area, I've been doing chuck roasts and it's almost as good (but not quite!)

I watched a guy make char siu pork on the grill on TV so I said to myself, "Self, if it goes on the grill, it's got to be better on my KK." All of that happened in the flash of a neuron or two and the decision was made. So I found a million recipes, picked the one out below and then bastardized it to my liking. I bought a bone-in shoulder with the skin on, deboned it, cut off the skin. I sliced it into strips (sort of) and marinated for 24 hours. I left out the honey, added brown sugar, and substituted rice wine vinegar for the sherry. I did not rub it with the rub the recipe said. I reserved about a cup-and-a-half of the marinade to use as a baste. I put it on the KK at 250 with some apple chips. Left it for about 3 hours, put it in a foil pan and sealed it up for an hour. Cranked up the heat and basted for about 15 minutes and it was completely awesome. Better than anything I've had in a Chinese restaurant. http://www.meatwave.com/blog/smoked-chinese-char-siu-pork-shoulder-steaks-recipe Sorry about the crappy picture. We were just about to tear into the pork when I remembered it all doesn't happen without a pic.

Last few times I did butt (no comments please), I got a cryo pak from Costco and they were about 8# a piece. I cook at 250 until the stall, then put them in the pan with two bottles of dark beer. Foil and take to 195-205. Like Porkchop, I strain the liquid and add back. It gives a super nice flavor--the dark beer compliments the pork perfectly.

I also run mine through the coffee grinder because the first time, I didn't get the coffee grounds fine enough and was picking them out of my teeth for hours afterwards. I grind it pretty fine before I'm satisfied-not quite a powder. I've tried with the oil and without and didn't notice much difference. I let it go usually 24+ hours if I can. I use garlic powder and not chopped/fresh. This is my go-to rub for beef and my wife won't let me switch. Also, I know it's better fresh, but I grind a bunch and put it in a sealed mason jar and It tastes just fine. Here's one of my most recent ones--I did use oil on this one.

I've ordered two or three times from Fruita Wood now and will not go back to anyone else. Shipping is free and fast. http://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/