LeadDog

Hey Turtle! I love the pictures of you by your cooker. Did you use every smiley there is in that post?

Yea they were really fat this year. Then again they are fat all the rest of the years too, just a little more this year. We think it was from all of the watermelons they ate last year. The deer had its neck broken in August.

Copper? Big deal but then of course I have a Golden Nugget!

Yea I have a HD and and Pizza Stone. I thought about doing it the way you suggested but if it didn't work, I would have to do it all over again. I'll try that next time. I made 6 dozen cookies today and froze 2 dozen for the contest at work. The other 4 dozen are gone.

Compared to Beef yes they were done, no pink meat in them at all. I don't know why but that is the way I like my venison. You also might not pick this up from the picture but those cuts were extra thick. Beef on the other hand I like medium done. Anyway now I know that venison ribs can be cooked in the same way and turn out good.

Ok this time when I got done cooking the cookies I seared some steaks on the lower rack. I think I could have seared them a little bit longer but the end result was very juicy and good. Next I brought the steaks up to the main grill and left them there at 400° for 25 mins. I peaked at them once and turned them over. I'm really happy about how they turned out. My neighbor tried to steal one before I even got to taste them.

We are having a cookie bake off at work so I decided to make Persimmon Oatmeal Cookies in the KK. Cookies In Cookies Out I'll post the recipe when I get it typed up.

Has anyone on Windows tried Firefox to see if it has the problem? I can't install programs on this computer so I can't try it.

DJ go ahead stick your head in the sand ignore the problem. Microsoft, Windows XP and Internet Exploder are EVIL.

It never smears on my Mac. When I'm at work on Windows XP Internet Exploder then I get the smears. The smears stop for me after the page has completely loaded but if I scroll while the page is loading I get the smears.

I think this would be great for Pita Bread that is made in the KK.

Deer ribs tend to be juicy. The 321 method might work in a modified form. The ribs I cooked above might not of had any fat on them, this happens sometimes. The fat on deer is in layers and not marbled like beef. I'm thinking that searing them and then finishing them up high. The other problem is the meat on the small ribs is thin while the meat on the large ribs is thick. I just have to think about what I was doing on the steel cooker and apply this to the KK. Cooking at 225 for 2.5 hours wasn't the way to go but I still have lots of ribs to practice on.

Yes that is venison. I'll have to try a different method next time as the ribs were dried out some from doing it this way. I have been doing some reading and have a few ideas I'll try. I know in the old steel cooker I seared them and cooked them hot and fast.

Since my first cook wasn't to long ago that is one thing I remembered about it too. I had thing wonderful smoke smell all in my clothes.

Ribs are off. I love how the smoke fills the air when you open the lid. The meat thermometer said 180° so I said you are out of there! There was one rib that was still a little bit rare that I saw, the rest were just right. It took about 2:30 hours to cook the ribs. Everyone liked them. Next time I'm going to cook them hotter because I like that flavor better.

Ok started the fire this morning and got the cooker warmed up then put these ribs on. We have always cooked ribs cut apart so I thought I would try cooking them first then cutting them apart. I put a handful of wine soaked oak staves on top of the coals and closed the lid. It was a nice and steady 225° for a long time then it started to climb so I just closed it down a little bit.

Yea I was in a hurry last night to cook something so instead of spending time to read the forum to find out how to use the HD I used my best guess. Now that I have a cooker I can read the posts and put the information to use. Lots of tips and tricks to try now.

Here is what I was going to do for my first cook but even for a 2nd cook it isn't bad. This is Persimmon Bread and it disappears around here about as fast as you can pull it out of the oven or cooker in this case. For recipes I just Googled Persimmon Bread Recipes. Then just start trying different things in your batches. One of these times I'm going to put some orange peel into the recipe. I cooked this one a little bit hotter than I had planned. I got the cooker up to 325 just like last night and thought with the lower draft door pushed in it wouldn't go any higher. I came back to put the bread pan in and the cooker was at 400 so I started closing vents down top and bottom. The cooker dropped to 375° and stayed there for the whole hour of the cook. The top was just cracked open so I could feel the heat and the bottom was at about a 1/4 open. I could smell the chicken from last night as I was cooking the bread. The bread ended up without any smoke or chicken flavor aroma to it at all. I think that our electric bill will go down some now since for me charcoal is so cheap.

It was my first cook ever in a ceramic cooker you expect me to have a good reason? The charcoal bowl was filled almost to the top of the handles. I didn't want to break/burn up something on the first cook by doing something stupid. I knew I had the means by which to get the HD away from the coals and still get the job done so I took what I thought was the safe route. Hey you guys! You know those ribs I'm unthawing? They are venison. I don't think I'm going to be following any of your advice. It has started to rain here so I guess I get to sit inside while the meat cooks tomorrow. It was so cool last night to set a timer and come back and check the chicken instead of having to watch it all the time to keep it from burning.

The top rack that was sitting on the main grill that had the HD and dripping pan on it.

I have a whole bunch of ribs in the freezer, I think it is time to unthaw one and see what this cooker can do.

Crate: The crate looked fine when it got to me and looked well built and able to protect the KK during shipment. I didn't need the crowbar to tear the crate apart but it is there if someone needs it. When the crate had the four sides removed I just made the base of the crate level with my patio and rolled it off, very easy. Lid: I knew there would be a couple of adjustments to make for the lid so I found the included wrench and tightened the spring up so the lid opens almost fully open. Then I adjusted the latch so that the lid closes snugly. Really easy stuff to do. Color: Ok I'm pushing pulling the cooker around and it just strikes me that this thing looks like a great big Golden Nugget. The color is perfect and all of the pictures you have seen of it just are not able to show what it is really like. People here like the color, it must be a California thing. Parts: I put the parts in the KK and started thinking of the different ways to use them. They all fit just right like even a little bit snug. Starting a fire: You know I sell firewood and charcoal but even then there are times that lighting a fire can be hard. This thing was so easy to light I couldn't believe it. I took three wadded up pieces of paper and put them under the basket and it took right off burning. I didn't know what to do for temperatures because of thermometer situation so I was trying different settings out. It looks cool with all of the smoke coming out of it. I finally stuck a thermometer through the prodder hole and saw a temp of 400 so I started cooking the chicken. The temp dropped to about 325 and I opened the top and got it up to 350. The dial on the draft door is wide open and the door is shoved into the cooker. The first cook: I turned the chicken over at 30 mins and was amazed at how brown the top of it was, it was on the top rack. I cut a piece of chicken at 60 mins and juice just ran all over the place but it was still a little bit bloody. The chicken came out at 80 mins and was really great. I liked how it picked up the smoke flavor. Thermometer: I brought the thermometer to work to day and checked it out to see how close it is to being on, it checks out fine. The stem on it just the right size for the thermometer hole but the hole needs to be cleaned out a little bit. Now I can get down to some serious cooking.

You know you can make fun of Curly all of the time but it gets old after a while. I think I figured out the camera problem. I leave the auto focus set to continuous auto focus and that seems to conflict with the flash. Regular auto focus works with the flash in my tests.

The chicken is a big hit. DJ it is dark here now and I have problems getting the flash on my camera to work. I'm now thinking that the flash problem is no longer operator error. Here is a shot before dark.

Chicken is cooking. I need a thermometer to know what kind of temps I'm getting. The chicken is cooking up fine, it has a nice golden brown to it. @Curly I'll have to post the recipe for Persimmon bread it is great stuff. Everyone here gobbles it down like crazy.