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I don't. Let me qualify that: Bluetooth for this application IMHO is anemic; I just e-mailed Thermoworks yesterday to inquire if they might be working on a similarly affordable wifi version; no reply as of this morning. Whether its the low E filter on our house windows or something else...but even with a 20 foot direct line of site between the BlueTherm Duo and my iPhone (5s) it will only stay connected for about 20-minutes on average. Also, albeit its not a huge issue, it would be nice to not have the red flashing LED and "<ERROR> cycling on/off when only using one thermocouple.

Ok...I thawed the 3.15lb prime grade boneless tied chuck roast out a couple days ago and slathered it with Steven Raichlen's Coffee-Cardamom rub/sauce recipe and then gave it 24-hours to get happy in the fridge. This was my first experiment with the coffee-cardamom sauce marinade and probably won't be my last Then, using KK cocochar and the full basket I heat soaked the KK for about 90-minutes before adding hickory chunks in the MSR pot, for the smoke, and brought the temp down to 200*F. The slathered chuck went from fridge to KK where it stayed for the next 11-hours(!). I was surprised, given the relatively small size of roast it was, it plateaued at 154*F for hours before I gave in and wrapped it in foil. I removed it from the KK at 203*F after 11-hour smoke session! Again, I was very surprised how long it took to get to pulling temp given the roast's small size. Once off the KK I wrapped the foiled roast in towels and let it sit for 2-hours before pulling it. Given how late it was...it will be tomorrow night's dinner fare instead of tonight's! Shows to go ya! Given it was so late when it finally

Welcome aboard Matt! Looks like this isn't your first rodeo ...nice looking piece of beef! You're going to just love your KK! It, as others here relayed to me when I was in shopping mode last year, is an incredibly versatile cooker for long and slow or fast and short cook sessions...and everything in between.

Hmmm...maybe we need to do a comprehensive blind tasting event where a panel tastes samples of smoked meats from 250-ish and the same from 175-200 (degrees F) . Applying the same theoretical advantages for grilling in a KK...less air movement = better meat moisture/juiciness...I would guess a smoking session at 200, albeit longer, would yield relatively higher internal meat moisture content than smoking at 250*+? Just a guess. Having said that I've smoked some amazing meats at both temps so maybe its all moot!

Like most things taste related...all things cedar smoking/cooking being no exception...its very subjective I don't like cedar plank cooking for fish (ditto for meat)...even stronger flavored fish like salmon. The flavor impart, for me at least, gets in the way of the fish instead of complimenting the flavor of the fish/meat. I moved on to alder and maple planks for plank grilling for fish and meats. Although I haven't smoked using cedar, pine, etc., I can't imagine I would like it any better than cedar plank grilling... And paraphrasing my first sentence: YMMV!

^ and chuck Funny how skirt, flap, flank, etc., used to be almost free at butcher shops...and then mex cooking took off in the US...and the rest is history. Including cheap good cuts of beef

I've not tried smoked meatloaf either...sounds great and its on my 'to try' list!

+1 for tony b: For reverse sear I do the initial cook of the meat at 200*F-ish and take it to about 10 degrees F of where I want it...ditto for sous vide'n steaks. Then a high temp sear to finish and bring the meat to destination temp. The purpose of this type of grilling/cooking is to obtain a very even internal meat temp top to bottom and side to side...works great for me for medium-rare end result.

Those look wonderful! We call those "New York Strip Steaks" in US. What we call Porterhouse in the USA is the strip + tenderloin + bone-in (t-bone + bigger loin portion).

I'm originally from Omaha...left in '96...and I don't remember tri-tip there either. "Triangle steaks" was the only thing I remember with "tri" in it. Coulotte steaks was another we had there. Amazing how many different names for the same cut of beef...depending upon regional location.

Oh definitely get the dough to room temp/near room temp apart of your proof! Leave the cover loose over the bowl when you remove it from the refrigerator. Typically I plan on about a 2-hour proof at room temp...which right now is about 62 degrees F. You can always speed the dough proof by putting in a gently warmed oven. But you can't retard the proof...again you will need to experiment.

Here's what I do for pizza dough...made three more last night and the dough/crust was textbook perfect. FWIW I went through many batches of dough before I got it figure out...so be patient but be persistent and keep practicing! I use a sourdough starter recipe for my pizza dough. The base recipe is from Jeff Verasano; here if interested: http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm Nonetheless whatever dough recipe you are using you're going to go from dough vessel you use for the rest/rise to the bench. At the 'dough is still in the bowl/container' phase (after you proof the dough): Dust bench flour atop the dough. Using a silicone spatula gently, moving around the perimeter of the dough ball, coerce the dough from the bowl to the bench. The area on the bench, approximately a foot square or a little less, you will be transferring the dough should be covered with approximately 1/8" deep bench flour. So...now with the dough in the bowl near upside down over the bench floured area on your bench (wood or marble) and working around the perimeter of the dough ball with your silicone spatula drop the dough ball onto the floured bench. You'll end up with the "top" of the dough ball facing down into the flour on the bench and what was the bottom of the dough ball sitting face up on your bench. Dust the now top of the dough ball with a little bench flour. Now start stretching the dough ball into your pizza pie dough shape. When I get to about 3/4 the finished size/diameter of the pizza dough I'll pick the dough up and scrape all but a thin film of bench flour from the bench. And then rotate/stretch the dough to the final shape. If you've done everything right the dough will be elastic but not sticky. If the dough is not stretchy but tends to spring back after you try to stretch it typically this occurs when you have too much flour to water ratio in your dough. I use a wood peel...take 1/4 cup or so of your bench flour and put it on the peel...rub it in to the peel over the entire peel surface. Now shake the excess flour from the peel. One more tip: Don't oil the dough ball! I imagine you purchase the dough in a plastic bag. So after you get it home transfer it to a plastic or glass bowl. If the dough is sticky then just dust it with a little bench flour after you re-ball it (assuming it needs to be re-balled). Here's how I prep the proof bowl, from Jeff's instructions: One or two drops of oil MAXIMUM in the bowl. With a paper towel wipe all but a thin film of oil from the bowl. Think "film"! If you have more than this amount of oil the oil is going to make working with the dough, on the bench, even more difficult. Place the dough onto the peel and again re-shape...then sauce, ingredients, etc. and immediately into the oven/KK. Hope this helps you. Dan

Same here as Hector explained except I just bench flour instead of semolina...both get the job done though. Without a video it still sounds like your dough is too wet. And you could try the pizza screen method...however if your dough is too wet you'll have problems getting the pizza off the screen.

Same story here...ceramic heat deflector positioned in the middle (on the smaller of the two regular grates) of the KK...this by far has produced the best temp management for me. But I do start coals/heat soak process a 1-2 hours in advance of my pizza baking sessions and then about 1/2 hour before I throw the pizzas on I load the coal basket with medium to large lump hardwood to push the KK to 700-800*F. Hector: Looks like you have plenty of heat

^ Ok...just a 180 on the heat deflector. For shorter heat soak sessions on the KK I can see the advantage of not using the ceramic heat deflector. But for my Neapolitan bakes where I want the KK at 700-800*F (dome) I've been using the ceramic heat deflector for additional heat ballast and its working perfectly. This also diverts heat away from the pizza stone and more into the dome...and thus better mimic-ing a pizza oven for Neapolitan style bakes. Mimic being the key word...as iits still a bottom heat source

I'll have a look next time I'm at Costco! Yesterday Costco had USDA Prime grade tri-tip yesterday here in Monterey CA. $7.99/lb. You may/may not be familiar with all things tri-tip and Santa Maria, California. Santa Maria claims to have put tri-tip on the map...regardless one thing that makes Santa Maria style tri-tip unique is their use of red oak logs for smoke-roasting. I have, since moving to California last summer and about a 2-hour drive north of the town of Santa Maria, started using red oak filet chunks (no bark) and have to say tri-tip and red oak smoke do go together quite nicely. Cheers, Dan

I second Dennis' advice for using the sear grate atop the upper grate to elevate the pizza bake into the dome. I started doing this a month ago or so and it really makes a difference, with out bottom heat source, evening out the crust and topping cook timing.

I've not seen this cut locally...is it the same as sliced bottom or top round?

#1: Try for less moisture in the dough; its a very fine line between too moist and too dry. Assuming you've got the below under control this is the #1 reason pizzas stick to peels! #2: I rub bench flour onto/into my wood peel and then tap off the excess; any more flour and the burnt excess flour that adheres to the bottom of the crust will have a very bitter impart to the baked pie crust; ditto for semolina #3: Make sure you're, while stretching, not inadvertently getting small hole(s) in the dough where toppings can leak through...this will guarantee stick to the peel syndrome #4: Once the dough is stretched its vital to get your ingredients on as quickly as possible and get it slid off the peel onto the hot stone. If you delay you raise the risk of having moisture develop between the pie dough and the peel... And when I snap the pizzas from the peel to the stone I also elevate the handle side of the peel so you have a bit of ramp effect...this helps with pizzas containing more ingredients so not to shake the toppings off the pizza when moving it from peel to stone. And if all else fails then build the pizza pie on a pizza baking screen (not solid but well vented "screen" style) and then when the bottom of the crust is baked about 1/2 way...or dry enough to move...use your peel to move the pizza from the baking screen to the stone to finish.

I fool around with many different rubs but to be fair its tough to beat plain old kosher salt and black pepper...for anything more than flavored bark. Mirroring 5698k's waterpan comment...it can't hurt but I've found, after experimenting with/without the water pan in the KK it doesn't make a real difference in flavor, texture or internal meat moisture. However a little water in a pan does keep the dripping juices/fat from burning.

Pork butt is probably my favorite to smoke...and the KK just takes them over the top. But I have to say since getting turned on to chuck roasts, from this forum, I've smoked some incredible samples in that arena too. There is a butcher in Sacramento that has prime (and choice) grade chuck roasts and the additional fat marbling apart of the prime grade makes them especially nice for long slow smoke sessions.

^ me too I'd be <even> more lost without them

Just burgers for the two of us tonight. But oh how the KK makes them taste so much better!

Looks great! Like you I love my rotisserie! If you have the 1/2 coal basket try rotating the basket 90 degrees so the 1/2 basket of coals is at the back of the firebox. You can then stoke the KK to a higher temp...but the meat gets indirect heat on the roti...a win-win combo I've found. Thanks for posting with pics!

The inspiration for this recipe came from Joe Squared's restaurant, seen on Diner's, Dives and Drive-Ins sometime back. For this initial test run for this recipe I was happy, overall, how it turned out. But like most first time recipe try outs there will be a couple minor changes for subsequent versions I found some high quality shucked, raw frozen chopped clams at Whole Foods: Sam's Clams. They were so fresh and inviting I couldn't resist tasting a few raw...incredible! The "sauce" consisted of: Two heads of garlic, roasted then mashed and combined with a little olive oil, salt & pepper and creme fraiche. The toppings: Rendered bacon, raw clams and smoked gouda cheese. The dough: Italian sourdough starter culture using Jeff Verasano's Neapolitan dough recipe. I didn't have quite enough large chunks of lump to get the KK north of about 675*F (dome) but all in all the pies came out very well and tasty. The clams were super tender because I added them to the pizza raw instead of pre-cooked: Perfect! A couple of alterations I will make next time I make this recipe: The "sauce" was a little too thick...so instead of creme fraiche I'm going to use a little heavy cream to thin out a little more. I'll also use 3-heads of roasted garlic. And I'll reduce the amount of cheese by approximately 50%. Sorry, no pics of this pie on the KK...you'll just have to take my word it was baked on the KK