dstr8

I thought I had pics of the chicken roast off but after checking...nope. So next time. Its Judy Rodgers' recipe (Zuni Cafe Cookbook adapted to my KK ;); Judy who died a few years ago at age 57 was the owner and chef of the famed Zuni Cafe in San Francisco; I've been there several times...): http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015770-zuni-cafe-chicken I've cooked chickens a multitude of ways over the years including brining, slow roast/smoking, frying, etc., etc., and since trying Judy's recipe a number of years ago its my 'go to' roast chicken recipe. Coupled with a heat soaked KK...its just crazy good worthy of: Repeat, repeat, repeat...

Besides pizza and long slow smoke/roast sessions where I thoroughly heat soak my twenty-three...the flat out best roasted chicken is when I get the KK heat soaked to about 500º...place the whole, meticulously dried, salted, herbed & rested, bird on the top large grate...shut off all air...and 45-60 minutes later you have what I believe is the best roast chicken. Even beats out my rotisserie attachment! Moist (even the breasts), tender, juicy, crisped skin...damn its looking like I just talked myself into a grocery store today run for a whole bird Different tools for different applications. But the KK does it ALL!

Much love here for Dennis' coffee-charcoal too! My only regret? I didn't order more!

Big CONGRATULATIONS Charles!!!

Roasting cauliflower and garlic over CocoChar on my twenty-three. EVO + sea salt + fresh cracked pepper + toasted ground cumin seed over the raw cauliflower turns it into sublime palate sensation after a session with the KK at 550º

Ed, Welcome to dream world of Komodo Kamado! Your outdoor cooking will be forever changed. For the better :). Looks like from your photo the side tables are now solid surface instead of teak slats?

Ready. Set. Go! Congrats Dennis...very much deserved!

All that good looking food CC makes me want to eat!

It was KK pizza night here last night! Leftover smoked pistachio & basil pesto for the sauce, sautéed diced chicken, caramelized fresh thick slices of shiitake mushrooms & raw milk farmstead jack & romano cheeses. But no pics...just good memories

never say never

insane...in a good way

Ditto Ditto Ditto and more Dittos Love cabbage and even though I roast many different vegetables on the KK I never gave cabbage a thought! Thanks!

^ same here...liking the CoffeeChar from Dennis! I wish I would have bought more.

Nice MacK! Ever make your own sausage? I'm 1/2 Italian...grew up helping my Mom & Uncles hand crank meat grinders for all things Italian sausage. My Mom had 3-brothers and each of their Italian sausage "recipes" tasted different. Kinda funny given they learned from the same source :).

Ran a few pounds of Northern Nevada Pronghorn meat through my LEM grinder earlier today. I like the smash burger technique using the KK as the heat source and a large cast iron pan to transfer the heat. Pronghorn meat, like most wild game, is completely devoid of its own fat. I'm not one to mix in other domestic animal meat or fat so the cast iron technique works very very well. I get the pan to 600-ish degrees F, add about 2-3T olive oil and then the round seasoned balls of Pronghorn...nearly immediately flatted with a stiff spatula. The meat is so lean it absorbs all the olive oil. Unlike beef there is zero fat or moisture in the cast iron after their cooked and removed.

And when doing a super low and slow...someone on here welded a gutter spike (or piece of 5/16" or so diameter round solid steel stock) to a small piece of flat plate...light one end of the whole cocochar 'log' and lean it up against the basket for slow controlled burn (and smoke if you set it atop a small pile of smoking wood chips). I smoke my habaneros and tomato halves this way...part drying part slow 'cueing part smoking

I seem to be stuck on 'repeat' From today...

Wow...looks like a winner and something I need...er will try!

Sorry to hear this news Dennis! Just know we're all pulling for you!

Tasty looking brie idea! Another one that works although until you try it you might not believe it: Pastry crust + brie + caramel sauce + dried cranberries + toasted pecans. I will be trying your's!

Watching

I hate moving too! My KK was in storage and out of commission last year for 8-months. It was so long I actually started to think, in very simplistic terms, I could do without my KK and the whole BBQ thing as I downsize and try to make peace with a smaller and simpler life style. It was a failed thought

Well, expanding on the vegetarian subject :)...this Neapolitan dough pizza pie I made last Sunday was quite possibly the best pizza I've ever made; and I've made a ton of them. The Happy Girl Kitchen (small batch stuff from Pacific Grove, CA) jarred tomatoes are in a league of their own and set the stage for some incredibly sweet intense "tomato-ee" tomato essence without the bitter component of nearly all commercially canned or jarred tomatoes... http://happygirlkitchen.com/collections/tomatoes/products/crushed-dry-farmed-tomatoes The dough was textbook perfect. And this pie's dough was the first time I proofed from frozen dough. It was, as I nearly always follow, Jeff Varasano's basic recipe using Caputo 00 flour, 5-day cold ferment before going into the freezer and then nearly an all day slow rise at coolish room temp the day of the bake. The previous Sunday I made a 3-ball batch of dough and only had time to make two pies so I thought putting the dough into the freezer, although not with high expectations on the thaw side, would certainly be better than throwing it out. Now I'm going to do more experiments with making and freezing the dough to verify if this one-pie crust was a fluke or possibly elevated because of the short freezing process... Jeff Varasano's Neapolitan dough recipe (cold fermented 5-days) + roasted red bell + caramelized onion & fennel + Happy Girl Kitchen's canned organic Dry Farmed tomatoes + smoked cheddar, smoked mozzarella, Schoch Dairy's raw milk Romano and provolone cheese blend + sautéed fresh thick sliced shiitake mushrooms (butter & dry sherry finish) + EVO drizzle and arugula added at 3/4 baked. Baked on the my two-three KK at 700ºF for about 4-minutes elevated in the dome atop Dennis' crazy nice shaped baking stone over a combination of Dennis' coffee wood and coco-char lump. Sorry I didn't get any 'on the KK' pie shots darn it.

Alaskan Cod tacos were on the menu tonight. And I always prefer to fry anything outdoors. It was too breezy to set the Iwantani butane burner atop Dennis' teak KK cabinet so my Twenty-Three provided the needed wind break to get the fish fried.

Congratulations! Great color choice . And fasten your seat belt...its easy to become a KK fanatic.