Smokydave

Re: Bacon Cook - VIDEO Look at my belly! Bought a 8.69 lb pork belly at a place called H-Mart, an Asian food store chain. I was struggling to find good belly for bacon. Finally I read about this place and went there. They had three different kinds of sliced/chunked pork bellies, but nothing whole. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I asked a young guy wearing a butcher's coat. His English was not good at all, so I used international sign language for pork belly which basically amounted to pointing at some chunks and then spreading my arms. He was a nice guy and went into the back and came out with this hunk. I almost cried--it was too good to be true. The local butchers and stores here laugh when I ask for belly. Now I have a source and it was $4.29 a pound! So now it's in the fridge for 7 days or so. Pink salt, Kosher salt and some brown sugar for the cure. That's it.

Re: Pallet to Miami I agree with mk. I am kicking myself over ordering a measly two boxes when I could have had so much more when I got my KK!

I've been buying my hickory wood at Depot for some years now and I was never very happy--lots of shredded pieces, lots of bark and sometimes a funky musty bag. Once I returned a whole bag that was full of moldy pieces. I searched the internet for hours looking for wood that was "affordable" and shipping that didn't cost more than the wood. After some time I came across "Fruita Wood Chunks". I ordered a 30lb box of hickory and got free shipping. Cost about 50 bucks but I am very pleased. All big pieces--most at least fist-sized, fresh-smelling, got it in like 4 days. It sounds expensive, but the box should last me quite a while. They have a ton of species to choose from and I highly recommend them. http://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/

Re: Where is the smoke ? I struggle wih this as well. I try adding wood after the KK is up to temp. The problem with this is that I like to heat soak the deflector and grate, so raising the grate flap thing and dropping the wood and hoping that it falls onto lit coals is iffy at best. I tried embedding chunks in the coals hoping they will catch at some point early also doesn't seem to work for me. I would kill to have a small door in the side to add wood! Anyways, if someone has a suggestion or two let me know. I just completed my 19th consecutive weekend cook with my KK and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Re: Doing my part to Help KK Dennis, just waiting for my account to be activated with BBQ Brethren before I can start gushing about how much I love my KK

Re: Anyone interested in a CoCo share in Philly About 20 and I have a friend who may go in with me for more. If we can find a business with a loading dock the shipping price goes down.

Re: CoCo on the BGE I would say 250--just a regular slow burn.

I am trying to convince a friend to share a pallet with me. He's pretty cheap and I am working on him. Unfortunately, I will have to dip into my secret stash of only 1 1/2 boxes to let him try some. He has an XL BGE...does anyone know how much CoCo he should use for maybe a 5-hour burn? I've only ever used it in my KK. Thanks. If anyone else in the Philadelphia area wants to go in on a pallet with me, please let me know.

Re: pork butt and ribs I second Mike's statement. I was scared to spend the money, but from the minute I got my KK, I haven't looked back for a second. Fourteen straight weekend cooks later and I love it more than when it showed up in the giant wooden crate. Every single time I clean it out or wash it I find myself muttering how great it is...weird? Yes! But I don't care! Dennis is all about customer service and his product is second to none.

I bought a "Round Tip" at Costco this week. Ten pounds of primal goodness. Rubbed it with the coffee cardamon rub the night before. Put it on at about 9am yesterday and smoked it with oak for about 7 hours at between 280 and 300. Near the end I took it up to 330 to get some crust. Put it in a pan and foiled when it hit 185 to hold it. My intent was to slice and not pull. When my wife got home after 6, we sliced it and ate it on Portuguese rolls with some sharp provolone. I made some sauce from reduced beef stock and some mushrooms. The meat was beefy and the rub was great as always. It was just a little dry--I think this cut doesn't have as much fat as a shoulder would. The bark was awesome. I should have put it in the pan much earlier in temp and poured a dark beer in it like I usually do so I have some juice to pour over it. Here it is rubbed down: And partly sliced: And some sliced and some falling apart: Tonight we're having boneless rib eyes that I just sliced and seasoned. Mine is over an inch thick. Going to cook it with the new basket splitter I bought from Dennis. Wish me luck--I've not grilled on my KK yet (although I've set a record for myself and BBQ'd 14 weekends in a row now, since I got my big-bad-mama-jamma).

Re: I'm crazy about my KK I bought two boxes with my KK. I used about 2/3 of one box. Got at least 4 cooks on it--great stuff. I'm trying to find someone to share a delivery with me in my area to defray some of the shipping cost!

I took delivery of my Bronze Beauty two days after Christmas. I have now cooked on it every single weekend since. Sometimes twice. Once three times. Pizza, wings, chicken thighs, boneless breasts, whole chicken, baby backs, spares, at least 4 briskets, two shoulders, sausages, crown roast, buckboard bacon, home-cured bacon, chuck roast. I'm practically in tears thinking about it. Got 5 lbs of homne-cured bacon ready for a smoke today or tomorrow. Not much left to cook I think. Been to WalMart at least 4 times to stock up on RO charcoal--people stare at me when I checkout with 4 bags at a time. I love my KK.

I live outside Philadelphia and am looking for someone within a "reasonable" distance to split a CoCo order with me.

Re: High temp fast brisket I did a 7lb brisket flat today using the High Temp method. Rubbed it with the coffee cardamon rub yesterday afternoon so it had about 24 hours sit in the fridge. I did not use the oil. All I can say is "oh my". It has to be one of the top two or three briskets I've ever done. I didn't miss the bark because the flavor explosion distracted me. The rub really brought out a beefy flavor. I may never use my own tried-and-true rub again, now that I've found this one. I highly recommend it!

Re: Another argument for using grill-floss I bought a spray bottle of Zep "Fast 505" at Depot. Spray it on the grates, front and back, let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I use a stainless steel scrubber. Most of it comes off really well with little effort. A little harder scrubber takes care of the rest.

Re: Covering your KK Got my cover. True Brown for my Bronze Beauty. Fits great. I highly recommend. Thank you Johnny!

Re: Covering your KK According to Johnny and USPS, mine should be waiting for me when I get home. I can't wait. There's something obscene about covering my new artwork with a $6 blue tarp, if you get my drift.

Re: I cooked all weekend! I'm outside Philadelphia. I bought the pork belly at a farmer's market. I must have read about a hundred recipes for the bacon before I landed on this: http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/ Sliced it up and fried a couple pieces yesterday. Boy it was wicked good!!

Came home Friday afternoon during the snow to make some pizzas. It was below 20 degrees and snowing pretty good for a while. Fired up my bronze beauty and cooked two pizzas. Even with cornmeal on the peal and stone, I have problems with sticking. Maybe in about 100 more pizzas I'll be good at it! Here's what the last one looked like: n68677 It tasted pretty good. I used a dough recipe from our bread maker. Then on Saturday at about 6pm I fired up a full basket of CoCo, digging into my precious stash of only two boxes. I put about 4 fist-sized lumps of oak in it. It was about 18 degrees at the time and it took about 1 1/2 hours to heat soak the KK. I put a 14 lb brisket in for the long haul. Stayed up till about 1am playing with the vents and left it alone at about 235 dome temp and went to bed. Got up at 7am and it was 275 at the dome and the meat was at 212. Horrified, I took it off. It was falling apart: n68679 A little dry but tasted pretty good after the 12 hour cook. Then, to put a finish on the weekend, when I took the brisket off, I put on a 3lb pork belly I had been curing for about a week: n68678 Smoked between 195 and 210 dome temp for about 3 1/2 hours. Letting it cool now before I slice. I had trouble keeping smoke at the low temp. Used hickory for this one. So now, 19 hours later, this is how much CoCo I have left: n68680 The flames are from the fresh air that got in when I opened the lid to take the picture. Looks like I have about 60% of it left. Probably would have had more if the temp hadn't spiked last night. I've closed it all down to save what I could. Hopefully it's tight and I'll have some left. We'll be having brisket for dinner with some red cabbage slaw I made from scratch with a vinegar dressing. Dennis, I may need to order more CoCo!

Re: Thermoworks probes I sent Thermoworks an email and they said that the probe can't be bent or it would likely break. Do you guys have their probes or different ones? The reason I ask is that I was able to bend my iGrill probe, but the Thermoworks probes look pretty heavy duty. I guess you would ask why don't I just stick with the iGrill? Good question. But I think that if I just stuck with what I have, I wouldn't be on this forum right now and I would still be messing with my 400lb stick-burner instead of my bad-as_ KK!!!

I really like the reviews of the Thermoworks TW8060. Does anyone know if the alligator clip probe and also the probe with the 90 degree bend will fit through the hole in the side of the KK? It seems that the bend may be too sharp to get the probe into the KK.

I got my KK on Thursday. It's everything Dennis and all of you said it would be! I don't regret the extra debt a bit. My first real cook was Sunday. Two racks of ribs. I struggled getting used to the control of the temp and they were overdone by a wide margin. Instead of tender or even falling off the bone, they were just plain falling. Not a bad taste though and I used pecan wood for the first time. I was pleased with the smoke taste. Today I fired up at 7:30 am. I had already bought a 15lb (13 after trimming!) brisket that was rubbed and covered in the fridge for 2 days. I also had an 8lb bone-in butt that I had rubbed with French's mustard and applied the same spice rub...that was also in the fridge for two days. My third meat was a rolled and tied pork roast that I brined for 2 days. I had a big day ahead of me so I loaded about 6 pounds of the Royal Oak (American) lump until I was over the lip of the basket. One wax cube and three chunks of pecan topped it off. I put the meat on before 8. I ramped up to about 350 and aimed for a high temp brisket and pork cook. About 3 hours into it, with horror, I realized the pork roast was probably already done, and it was. I had a great taste, good smoke ring and was not too dry. I had taken it off just right. When the brisket reached 175 internal, I put it in a foil pan with a couple of beers and a spritz of ketchup and sealed it up. Did the same for the butt except I used some apple juice and a smidgen of beer as well as some ketchup (I forgot the cider vinegar--adding it later). I let the KK continue to go at about 290 degrees until about 3:30 when I took the pans out. Both meats came out great even though I think both were a bit over done. When I do it again, I may go at 300 degrees for longer and less time in the foil. Like many who use the foil method, I missed the bark! I doctored up the juices from both meats, adding the vinegar and tonight we ate the brisket with some red cabbage slaw I made. We also had some sliced potatoes baked with heavy cream, butter and some cheese. I'm stuffed. Right now the KK is humming along on the remaining charcoal at about 295 degrees, 10 hours into the "cook". I want to see how long I can go with that much RO lump. I don't dare to dig into the precious ECC I bought with the KK yet! Thanks Dennis for all your help and advice.