wilburpan

So i am wondering if the rotisserie add-on for the 32" will be a worthwhile purchase.

 

1. For the people who have them, do you use them much or do you find a purpose built spit would be a better solution?

2. Does using the rotisserie in your Komodo make a huge mess? or dont worry about it as the next cook in it will burn it all off?

 

I have a KK 23â€, with the rotisserie. I love having the rotisserie. 

As far as the mess, it’s relatively easy to clean. I usually use a kitchen sponge with a scrubby side, some Dawn dishwashing liquid, and clean one rod at a time. There aren’t really any in-the-grill cleanup issues. 

Great looking thick slice..  

I can't seem to get the real money shot with the pie baked in the KK to load..

Must be my computer..  

LOL

Blame the winter solstice.

I made another Chicago style deep dish pizza this past weekend, using the same recipe that I had used before. I made two important changes this time.
 
First, I made sure I cooked the pizza at 450ºF, instead of 550ºF. Total cooking time was about 35 minutes.
 
Second, and I think this was the more significant change, when I let the dough rise, this time I heated my oven to 100ºF, put the dough in the oven, and then shut the oven off. The dough rose to a significantly higher volume than the last time.
 
Both changes paid off in the crust. It was much easier to spread out the crust in the pan. The outer crust was not as hard as it was last time, and overall there was a general increased lightness to the crust that was new.
 
At this point, I’m really close to the taste of Chicago style deep dish pizza that I grew up with. I’d like to get the crust to have a little more buttery flavor to it, so I may bump up the amount of corn oil in the dough recipe a little.

In addition, Italian sausage here in New Jersey is not as flavorful as Italian sausage in Chicago. Italian sausage here is pretty bland. Weird, considering it’s not like there aren’t any Italians in New Jersey. It could be that Italian sausage recipes in Chicago are influenced by the Eastern European population there. Maybe that’s why pepperoni is the most popular topping here in NJ, whereas sausage is the most popular pizza topping in the Chicago area. I need to figure out what it is that is missing from the Italian sausage here. Maybe it’s fennel seed.
 
Here are some pictures. And thanks to everyone for their input on my last Chicago style deep dish pizza cook! It really helped.

Looks terrific, as always!

A general question on making desserts in a kamado: I would assume that you would not want a smoky profile on your pie or cheesecake. Do you do anything to limit/get rid of the smoke for cooking dessert?

That’s a great story! So glad everyone had a great time.

Looks great!

Personally, I’m still looking forward to a carbon steel version.

I even called Ryan from the hospital to apologize for not being able to help uncrate!  I really wish I could go, but I'm not allowed to drive until January, let alone life anything...this sucks!!  Sorry bro.

Hospital? What happened? Hopefully you’re ok.

Looks good.

To darken,  perhaps consider 2 things?

 

1) Reverse sear,  take out of  basket,  insert lowest grill, and  sear it a bit.  Probably take off at a lower internal temp. though...

 

This is exactly what I would do. 

Still, that rotisserie is a lot of fun, isn’t it?

Amazing cook, Bosco!

How did you make your au jus? Did you collect drippings from the rack of lamb as it cooked?

What I would do is to cook the gratin part way the day before, and stop after the 1 hour bake, before you crank the oven up to 400ºF. Stick it in the fridge. Take it with you, and use your in-laws’ oven to do the 10 minute bake at 400ºF.

That way, you’ll have a fresh out of the oven gratin, without tying up your in-laws’ oven for an hour.

You know, despite this

and this

this slow boat

digging it out from here

and this

the hardest part of Bosco’s grill journey may very well be getting a KK 23†and a KK 32†from the truck into his backyard.

I did use the baking stone, on the main grate, and put the pan directly on the baking stone.

Thanks for the help! I’ll keep those things in mind the next time I make a Chicago style deep dish pizza.

It strikes me that the cast iron pan probably saved the crust from burning with the elevated cooking temperature.

I should mention that I grew up in Chicago, so I have a pretty good idea as to how this should turn out. 

That looks like a fabulous cook! Makes me sad that I’m the only one in our house that likes lamb.

Even though I’m in pediatrics, and Bosco is over 18, I’m going to put in a second medical vote for going to see someone NOW, especially if you think there’s a nerve issue.

And at this point, crazy glue won’t help. The time to get a laceration put back together is at the time it happened. 

I’ve done a fair amount of cooking throughout my life, but the one area where I have no experience is baking that involves making a dough with yeast that needs to rise. Over the weekend I tried making a Chicago style deep dish pizza.
 
Here’s the before shot, before it went into Smaug.
 

 
Here’s the final product.





(Sorry, Dennis, no money shots of the grill, as it was too dark.)

I followed this recipe from RealDeepDish.com. For the dough, it’s a simple recipe. Combine lukewarm water, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add in all-purpose flour and corn oil. Knead until incorporated, then let rise for 1-2 hours.

The filling turned out great. I had some issues with the crust, however. Ideally, the crust should be browned on the sides and bottom, and be relatively easy to cut through. The crust was nicely browned, but the outer crust turned out much harder than I would have liked. I really had to apply significant pressure with a knife to cut through it. 

Here’s a list of things that I think went wrong.

1. I used a 10†cast iron pan for the cook, and the recipe said that it makes enough dough for a 12†pizza, and I still had trouble getting the dough to cover the bottom and sides pan.

2. When forming the crust in the pan, I put the dough in the middle and stretched it out across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. There was a spot on the bottom that thinned out to the point where it tore a hole. To fix this, I wadded up the dough back into a ball and started over. 

3. Smaug got up to temp faster and higher than I expected, and I cooked the pizza at 550ºF instead of 450ºF like the recipe calls for. I put the pan on the baking stone on the main grate for this cook.

4. I’m not sure that the dough rose enough. I put the dough in a covered bowl for the rising part, and it was bigger after two hours, which is when I used it. The bowl sat out on my kitchen counter for this part, and the temperature in my kitchen was about 70ºF.

My guess that the problem was a combination of (1) the dough not rising enough, (2) I probably should not have I wadded up the dough to start the stretching process over, (3) using too much dough for the size pizza I was making, and (4) cooking at too high a temperature.

But like I said above, I have no experience with rising doughs. This is literally the second time I’ve used yeast and flour together, and the last time I used yeast was in the 1980’s. So I could use some help in figuring out what I need to change the next time I make this, as I realize I could be way off in what went wrong.

Thanks!

That’s a really interesting technique. How low of a target temperature do you think you could achieve with this method? 300ºF? 250ºF?

Wilbur, it sounds similar to a Romanian sausage called Mititei - ground lamb and pork cooked on a kebab, but served in a bun with spicy mustard like a hot dog/brat. 

 

The stacks of thin meat on the vertical rotisserie I know as shawarma. It can come in either chicken or beef/lamb and is seasoned similar to gyro, but the texture is different. 

It’s probably regional variations on terms. Most of the Middle Eastern restaurants around here are owned and run by Turkish people. In addition, the term “gyro†meant something different in Chicago, where I grew up, compared to what a gyro is here in New Jersey.

Here is a reverse rotisserie pork roast. To be honest we couldn't really tell the difference

Well, one difference is that you had to clean the rotisserie.

That looks fantastic!

Let me get this straight. You are getting a KK 32â€. And you get to live in Singapore, with all the great food available there.

So jealous.

Congratulations! You’re going to love your new grill.

That looks delicious, MacKenzie! Wish I could have stopped by for a sample.

Around here, gyros are a bit different. Instead of ground meat, there are many many thinly sliced pieces of lamb and beef put on a skewer, and the whole thing is directly cooked. You slice off the outside as it gets cooked, working your way towards the middle.

Ground lamb formed into a roundish lump is called adana, and are usually smaller than the donair MacKenzie made, about the size of a cocktail wiener. They are then threaded on a skewer, and grilled, so if I wanted this I would order an adana kebab.

Congrats on getting your KK grill home!

That looks great!

Stupid question: were the chicken meat and other ingredients cooked before adding to the pan? Or does the baking process cook the chicken and vegetables at the same time?

KK sent the official email saying that they are on route on the Frankfurt express!!

Frankfurt Express? That doesn’t seem to be a very efficient way of getting your grills to Vancouver.

A while ago I made some pulled pork. The cook itself was pretty straightforward. I made my usual rub mix.



Shaken, not stirred.



Put it all over the pork.



And into Smaug.



Final product, after a 11 hour cook at 225ºF.



Nice smoke ring.



Plated, with roasted cauliflower and cornbread pudding.



It was at this point that I realized I had made a fatal error. This was a 10-1/2 lb. pork butt. There are just four of us. And we had neglected to invite anyone over to help us eat it. So over the course of the week, we proceeded try a variety of dishes made with the pork.

Quesadillas.



Pulled pork sandwiches.



Pulled pork burritos. We may never have to go to Chipotle again.






And finally, pulled pork fried rice. I’m impressed that you can still see the smoke ring on these pieces.

These weren’t just single meals, either. For example, there was enough pulled pork fried rice for dinner one night, and lunch the next day. It was all very yummy, but it’s going to be a little while before I make pulled pork again.