jdbower

For those of you with kids, this is what they're texting about:

I like the FireBoard, and I have their stock fan but I modified their mount to incorporate a ThermoWorks Universal Mount

The square tiles form a sort of ley line effect whereas the randomness of the pebbles causes more even heating - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And now I want burnt ends...

A bar near me had an old-fashioned variant using a duck fat washed scotch and maple syrup - it was delicious! They also fried their own waffle-cut chips in duck fat.

Now I want a top damper with a built in turbine so it can generate power as you cook - charge your phone while you make tasty food!

I'll often resort to searching for the Mad Max method, but really the key (IMHO) is a bag of ice over the breast for a while before cooking. It causes the white meat to cook more slowly and be more juicy while the dark meat comes up to temp.

I don't think it really matters that much, but the PNW is a very different level of rain than San Diego or even NYC. Personally, I'd probably look into a waterproof spray on the existing cover every so often instead of a plastic bag. Looks better, and no concern over melting if there's a stray hot spot. Plus a little better ventilation so water is less likely to be trapped against the cooker to let wee beasties grow.

I'll take mine thin-sliced with some spicy coleslaw and a touch of mustard, thanks!

Obviously the safe answer is to toss it and do another, but personally I find that to be overly cautious. The KK is not exactly loaded with bacteria after a 225F long term burn and you're bringing it back up to a safe temperature. I'd follow my nose - if it smells and looks OK it'll probably be fine. But I may not eat it if I had an important meeting the next day, just in case

Some Pulse probes are definitely on my short list for the next time I'm in San Diego.

It's also pretty nice to be able to check on temps without needing to go outside. But for me messing with gadgets just adds to the fun.

*dumps a gallon of gasoline over the charcoal and flips a lit cigarette butt in while walking away and putting on sunglasses* OK, maybe SOME wrong ways to light a fire...

I got lucky with my new KK in San Diego, I neglected to consider a tight squeeze between a retaining wall and my AC unit but the KK legs slid though with no problem. When I was in Massachusetts I had plenty of clearance, but lots of mushy grass between the driveway and the final resting spot. Luckily, I had a plan that worked flawlessly!

If you have access, one of the most useful aspects of 3D printing is in generating molds. If you are or know any 3D printer hobbyists I believe the Mexi-K is mostly Portland Cement available at Home Despots everywhere. That said, even a bowl of about the right shape would probably do if you're looking for a hobby project. Then you'd just need to source a properly threaded screw (assuming the rust level is not awful) and some high temperature gasket material.

For history: a family-run business used the Kamado name (Kamado being a more generic term for a Korean/Japanese type of cooking). Quality dropped significantly when they moved to manufacturing to Mexico, hence the monikers POSK and MexiK. Dennis saw the poor quality of this product and created Komodo Kamado - improving on the aesthetics and providing a truly premium product superior in every way. What I'm seeing suggests an older MexiK to my untrained eyes, but is definitely not a Komodo Kamado. That said, we're here for the food so you can still find repair advice here moreso than from the original manufacturer. Some repairs are aesthetic, others more functional - but getting the food right is the important part!

Tanks only wish they were this well-built!

FWIW, ABF picked up my shipment on the 12th and delivered to San Diego on the 18th. But mine was custom, so that was LV to SAN only.

When I did the burn-in I was a little surprised at how hot the surface got. Yesterday I put my hand on it without a cook going and it was the same temperature. That radioactive ball of fire in the sky that we're not allowed to look at is pretty strong here!

Being a gadget freak doesn't hurt, either.

It can once you're used to it, but in that configuration you only have a static control of airflow. You can see from the graph below that there were some bursts early, then it was mostly stable until I started to run out of fuel. Here the fan/probe can adjust more easily to say "more oxygen = more hot" while a static configuration would have the temperature drop off. Running low on fuel is usually not an issue for real cooks, low-and-slow has a lot to work with and high temp cooking tends to be short and heavily monitored. For me it's not needing to worry about variables (many of which don't exist in San Diego with consistent weather and little rain), but once the KK is fully heated you need less airflow to feed the fire, a wind gust could create more airflow, an errant bit of charcoal may burn hotter or cooler, rain could start cooling the system from the outside, when the sun goes down you're not getting external heating from it anymore, etc. The huge thermal mass of the KK compensates for all of these pretty nicely - but a computer lets me view them while I'm in my office working during a cook.

The dips are where I opened the lid. Always amazed that not only is it more stable than my (admittedly ancient) electric oven, but also heats up faster.

Yeah, I only stumbled across it after I started looking for a KK-compatible adapter but already had the FireBoard. I'd certainly consider them in the future.

Thanks! It's slightly off-center but the seal is good and it's solidly attached. The San Diego sun is a harsh mistress on photos, but once I get a few cooks under my belt I'll get a more proper cable routing. Plus the upcoming Pulse looks interesting.

Burn-in finally started! FireBoard doesn't have a proper adapter for the KK, so I ended up ordering a Thermoworks Universal Billows Mounting Kit. A few hits with the Dremel to lop off the ears and make two slits on the side and I have it mounted to the nozzle mount for the FireBoard (nozzle mount probably optional but it adds a little insulation). Rumor has it most pre-existing fans will also work fine, but I'm starting from scratch out here. So far so good, just Jealous Devil lump (seems reasonable) lit with a Looftlighter (first time using one of those, not too bad and pretty convenient). Crack the top damper a bit and close off everything else. I set it to 300F initially and got there in about 15 minutes.