TheNakedWhiz

My wife is a bit of a toss up. Once, she was talking in her sleep and got up on her elbows saying, "Oh sorry. I seem to be in the wrong place!" Then she flopped down and went back to sleep. Then, on another night, she just rolled over and punched me! So, it seems sometimes I'm in trouble in her dreams, other times not.

DS, Here's how you go about convincing the wife: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/what2tel.htm Just substitute KK for BGE.

Just to clarify.... sorry, I couldn't resist. Yes, I use BGE's and a 22" OTB and yes, there is a world of difference in the amount of space available to hold the ash from burning the charcoal between the two.

I already tried and apparently failed, LOL!! Jasen already asked me before posting here. My advice (although I probably said it differently) would be to try using a tripod so you can mess with shutter speed to get the light right and then try a bunch of shots at different settings. Here's a shot taken by Trex over on the BGE forum: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/trexv3001.jpg You might shout out to him and see if he has the EXIF data from the photo.

This is definitely not a matter of cutting Komodo Sustainable charcoal some slack. It just doesn't make sense to do a formal review of something that in essence was a mistake. If Ford asked me to publish a review of a Mustang and what showed up was a Focus, I wouldn't publish the review. It became clear that the manufacturer had pulled a switch on Komodo Sustainable (for whatever reason) so a review was pointless. Komodo Sustainable has explained what happened and offerred to "make it right", so I wouldn't be providing anything useful with a review. Not to mention that I would have had to completely re-do it later. This was not the case in all the previous reviews of coconut charcoal from KAmado. KAmado made claims about how great these charcoals were, that they were made using the same formula as the Philippine charcoal, etc. etc. etc., so there was every reason to review all those charcoals. We all had high hopes that we would see a return of the quality coconut charcoal that was originally sold, and I think everyone had every right to know whether or not this was the case. That I did those reviews certainly wasn't a matter of whether or not KAmado has a good or bad reputation. They were selling products and I reviewed them. When the reviews showed that the products were not very good, KAmado didn't claim that it was a mistake. Instead they denied that my results were accurate. They continued to claim their charcoal was the highest quality charcoal available. If KAmado had told me there had been a mistake and that I should have held off or redone a review, I would have done so. But they chose to stand by their product as sold, so I stood by my reviews. I can assure you that once KOmodo Sustainable has the correct product available, I will do a formal review at that time. P.S. I'm not picking on you, jd. I just want to be clear about what happened in this situation.

When I found out that the charcoal manufacturer and pulled a fast one on Komodo Kamado, I stopped the review. I don't have the time or inclination to do a full review on this stuff since once it is gone, it will be replaced by the higher quality charcoal that will be continued to be sold under the Komodo Sustainable name. If you want my impression, vs. a review, then this charcoal is better than any of the charcoal sold by KAmado except, obviously, for that initial Philippine charcoal. It should do a good job of tiding folks over until KOmodo can straighten out the manufacturer. Once I have a sample of the charcoal that was supposed to be provided by this manufacturer, I'll do the full review.

And just to confirm what Dennis stated, I can attest that what the manufacturer sold Dennis was absolutely different than the sample that the manufacturer provided back in May. Even the size of the extrusions was different. Once I burned it, it was as obvious as night and day that the sample was different than what was delivered.

Some day, a higher life form is going to descend upon the earth and look at sh*t like this and decide we aren't worth it. They'll spray the whole planet with humanicide and just start over. Sigh.

Just make sure you don't skip over the section warning you about putting the cheese in the fridge. Otherwise, you'll be going to Home Depot for some activated charcoal filter material, lol!

And of course, using the "briquette and wood chip" method, I have to think you could get away with 3 briquettes instead of 6, and perhaps smoke longer if necessary. That should help keep the heat down.

I have a web page on cold smoking cheese and jerky on my website. I have smoked cheese below 100 degrees on my BGE and it would be no different on my Komodo Supreme OTB. Here's a link to Information Central: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/infocentral.htm and then head on down the page to the cooking hints and tips section. There are pages for cheese, salmon and jerky. Good luck!

I have a sample for doing the review and I'm working on that now. The pallet share post was to see if we could get a pallet going for the Triangle since there is at least one other person I know here who would be interested.

If someone is interested in getting a pallet going, I'd be in for a few boxes, and I have a buddy who would probably be in for a couple of boxes.

.95 will get you close for most things. The one cooking-related thing that would be totally messed up would be if you were measuring the temps of pans, such as AllClad. The emissivity of polished SS is something like .15. I have a chart out in the garage. (Really, LOL!) There is a chart somewhere on the Thermoworks web site if anyone is interested. But as for cooking, measuring the temp of your griddle for pancakes or your frying pan for crepes, etc. can be useful. AB on Good Eats used one I think to make crepes. But the real best use is what probably saved my marriage. (Yes, my marriage was saved by an IR thermometer. I know. Pathetic.) The wife is ALWAYS complaining of cold hands in the winter. My thought was "bloody woman, put on a pair of mittens!" Well, we went out to walk the dog one cold night. She wore mittens and I didn't. As soon as we got back in the house we checked the temp of our palms. Mine was 92 and hers was 82. Dang! She's been telling the truth all this time, LOL!

It only gives you surface temperatures. It assumes how much of the heat of the surface is being radiated as infrared radiation, measures the strength of the infrared radiation and then computes the temperature. So you need to be pointing it at a solid surface to measure a temperature. You can't measure the air temperature inside an oven, for example.

Just be aware that it is set to a fixed emissivity, probably .95, so it won't give accurate readings on reflective surfaces. Not a problem unless you want to measure a shiny frying pan or something.

I don't think there is any reason not to use natural briquettes like Wicked Good Charcoal's. All they contain is charcoal and a starch binder. The amount of starch binder necessary to make them stick together generates the large amount of ash (although, I have tested lump that made more ash than the WGC briquettes), but I have never noticed a bad smell from natural briquettes. Now Kingsford's new briquettes with "Sure Fire" grooves are another story. They give off incredibly burning irritating smoke while they are lighting. I would never advise anyone to take a deep lung full as it would be quite nasty. You used to be able to take a nice whiff of the old Kingsford but the new stuff is highly irritating. Speaking of K'ford, I noticed they are selling briquettes in a retro sort of bag, now. I had thought it might be like Coke Classic, that they brought the old briquettes back, but nope they are still the new "Sure Fire" briquettes.

Oh Sanny, STOP IT! You know how it affects me when you talk like that, LOL!

Sigh. As usual, I have the answer on my website if only people would just look, LOL! http://www.nakedwhiz.com/what2tel.htm Just make the appropriate edits on name and price, and I think you should be good to go!

I'd say as long as you keep it dry, it doesn't really have a shelf life worth worrying about. I also have some of the 2003 quality E.C. from the Philippines, and it is just fine. As for the flavor, despite the claims of KAmodo, E.C. does indeed impart a fairly significant flavor to the food. The quality 2003 Philippine E.C. did and the vastly inferior briquettes they sold from Thailand and Indonesia did also. Personally, I like the flavor, but like you say, you need to try something before you buy a lifetime supply. If I were going to use E.C. it would be only for overnighters, and I have to wonder, though, if you could detect the flavor from the E.C. underneath the wood smoke and the rub. I have a pork butt in the freezer awaiting delivery of some KOmodo Sustainable charcoal. I'm looking forward to reviewing this new charcoal.

Turns, out those recipes actually came from BBQ U and Steve Raichlen. Here's a link to that: http://www.bbqu.net/season4/404_4.html WORK ALERT: there is sound on this page

Or 18 miles to Research Triangle Park. Good luck on the move, Dennis!

Sometimes, I wonder why I even try, LOL! Of course it's there!

Those would be called "Fines" as in "fine" as in "small". They tend to block the flow of air through the fire, and thus you cannot get a big hot fire. When I get down to the bottom 25% of the bag or so, I quit dumping and start looking to see what's left. I try not to dump fines into the cooker. Good luck!

Sounds like we need a new topic here where orders can be coordinated....