jdbower

I've cooked a cheesecake in my KK using Dennis' extruded coconut charcoal - it just gives a delicious hint of smoke. I've been happy with the cheap Cowboy lump at Lowes, but I use it for high temperature cooking which is a different animal entirely. You can check out the Lump Charcoal Database for more thorough reviews from a cultured palate.

Another good tip is to let the cooker warm up before putting the meat on. If you get it going for a while at temperature it will not only heat soak the KK and make the temperature more stable, but also allow the volatiles to burn off the charcoal. If you put the meat on too soon it's possible that you got some of the more acrid thick, white smoke instead of the nicer flavor you get once things are burning smoothly. Regarding the smoke from the back, with a new cooker I'd probably just do as FM says for now. After you've used it a few times you'll probably want to do a lid adjustment (I just loosen the spring tension, opened and closed the lid a few times, and then tightened it back up again). I've found I like to adjust mine in the winter and in the summer - the temperature differences here in MA make the spring noticeably stiffer in the wintertime.

Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum! I would imagine your plan would be fine. The wheels don't lock, but there is a lot of inertia to get it moving. If you're worried, an option is to surround the stone with a border that's slightly higher or to use an angle grinder to mill out some divots for the wheels.

Re: Great Company If they can make one for the 23" I betcha they can make one for the 19.5" and the bigboy grills as well

You can try Loctite Blue - I don't know how it holds up under temperature but it's not permanent. If that fails you can upgrade to Loctite Red - but to separate the parts you'd need a blowtorch and some vise grips. Still, you may be better off just trying to change motors

Alternatively, you can also just remove the motor from the cooker and look at the direction the square hole spins - plus your neighbors don't look at you funny as you're squatting in your cooker

Some FoodSaver models have a short air hose for "rapid marinade" containers. I don't know what pressure they get up to, nor do I know how big of a container you can get (OEM is 2.25 quart, but there may be aftermarket). I've been dying to try mine out but, sadly, I can probably only fit a few chicken breasts or steaks into mine - definitely not a full cut like a ham or loin. They do sell generic lids for things like coffee cans, I wonder if I can craft a pressure-ready, food-safe tube large enough to hold a pork loin that would still fit the lids which are 5.25" in diameter...

I've been pleased with Costco's quality. Kirkland Signature (their home brand) seems to be consistently decent and the stuff they sell is often the best bang-for-the-buck model (one step below the top-of-the-line Kitchenaid, for example). I don't know that I'd get a membership just for mail order, but I do go a few towns over for Costco when there's a BJs and a Sams in my own town.

Here are the beef patties, but I wasn't able to find the prime rib. They do have buffalo prime rib but no word as to whether it comes with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks

So, can one prepare haggis in a ceramic cooker? We've got a few members from Europe, and some from the UK, but I can't remember any Scots off the top of my head. Either way, welcome and I'm sure you'll make some new friends even if most of us are across the pond.

If you love vinegar as much as I do you won't be disappointed! Chris Lilly's book has a lot of great recipes. I do a variant of his Western Carolina Pig Dip (page 224) and his Crisp Spicy Southern Mustard Coleslaw (page 76) is a great hit - but instead of mayo use horseradish mayo (I can find it by the mustard at my local supermarket). Remember, the best part about these recipes is that you can modify them to make them your own!

Re: Aluminum or wood

Normally I do fresh loins, less than a week old from Costco generally. I don't brine, just a dry rub in whatever flavor I'm in the mood for. Frozen I'd probably brine first to try to restore some moisture. I cook at 220F until I get the insides to about 195F - often I'll overshoot over night and have had success up to 205F internal temperature. My argument for pulled loin is that it may be dry but it pairs fantastically with a sauce. If you don't like BBQ sauce or don't like dry pulled pork as much as I do it may not be for you, but it may be worth an experiment. Otherwise I'd look at a tenderloin for pork "steaks" or roasts, but loin is also great sliced and braised with apple cider vinegar, soy sauce and slivered onions if you are unfortunate enough to have to cook inside

I do tenderloin as a roast, I do loin at 220F until I get to about 195. Depending on your tastes it could be construed as a bit dry compared to a butt, but I still find it excellent on a KK and it pairs perfectly with a touch of thin BBQ sauce. If you want a little more moisture when reheating, add some vinegar (white or apple cider) and water before heating.

I'd recommend a low and slow (anything around 220F or so), but my personal preference is a pulled pork loin rather than a butt. It's still a large cut of meat and shows off the KK's temperature control for about 16 hours or so, but I llike the results better since they're not as greasy and they go well with a thin vinegar sauce. That said, my wife prefers the butts/shoulders for the very same reason I dislike them - too bad she's not the one cooking!

Even without using it for temperature control, I love using my Stoker just as a remote thermometer since its accessible everywhere my network is. I even bought a second that's mounted under my oven so I can monitor my inside cooks as well

Might I suggest Moire? In the little picture I first thought it was a Moire effect from the compression before I realized it was two different tile colors - time to visit the old eye doctor! Congrats on the third, are you already planning the next one already?

You know, I don't think we actually have a "how do you use the forum" forum so I moved your post to what's mostly a catch-all so it'll get some attention Rather than changing the dropdown, if you want to hop right to the first unread post you can click on the yellow icon to the left of the topic name. That way you'll hop right to the new content and you can still read top-down.

What if we use Colgate?

Perhaps these will help you get things up and running

I found these on TVWBB:

I have the 23" set up for low-and-slow while the 19.5" is for high heat (for l&s I use extruded coconut fuel, high heat is lump). If I had to do it again I may have gone for two 23" grills in a similar setup; the 19.5" is a fine grill and fantastic if you're space constrained (for example, if it's going on a balcony in an apartment) but since I've got space I haven't found any downsides to the 23" other than being a bit more expensive. I think of it like my double oven. I never thought I'd want a second oven, and then I needed to cook two things at different temperatures. Once that happened I figured out that I could use one to keep things warm or put a light in there to use as a low temperature proofing box - all sorts of things came to mind. But hopefully I won't be in the situation I'm in now with my ovens, one is on the fritz and now I've only got the lower oven until my new one comes in.

I kind of figured that Bay Area was the greater San Francisco area - no want wants to live in Massachusetts... Yes, with a Stoker you close the bottom draft control. I leave mine open a bit during lighting but once I get the fire going I close it off. The top vent is cracked open just a tad. Depending on how hot you want it, maybe a crack and a half - if the temperature plateaus too early you'll probably want it open a little more, if it isn't stable you'll want to close it down a bit. There's a hole just under the lid on the right side for the probe wires.

Welcome aboard! U2PLT still posts here, including links to his latest creations like this one (admittedly from a while ago). Feel free to use our PM/Email to contact him but you may have better luck with his website.

Welcome aboard. I live in the Bay State, you must be nearby Excellent choice of colors, you'll love it so much you'll want another like me! Regarding the Stoker, it's pretty easy to set up and use - a 5CFM blower is probably enough but for my 23" I have a 10CFM (and I like it enough I'm getting another one for my kitchen to control a proofing box and to monitor my oven cooking). You can download StokerLog now and be fully prepared, but if you run into any snags we're here to help. For Lump Charcoal there is no better source than The Naked Whiz. However, most of the time I just end up using what's cheap and close - Cowboy from Lowes. BGE I think has Royal Oak lump which is a decent step up but not too expensive - if I had a BGE store nearby I would use it. Of course Extruded Coconut is great for low and slows but it's a bit hard to find these days. Cooking on a KK is, if anything, easier than the Weber I also previously had. The kettles are OK for high temp grilling, but can't hold a candle to a KK for low and slow - especially in Massachusetts winters. Another great book is Chris Lilly's Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book - a fantastic read.