CeramicChef

Dennis - you got your wish here. I belong to another Forum dedicated to all things kamado. I've been cooking on kamados for over 20 years. On the other Forum I saw a thread Komodo Kamado. I'd never heard of it so I thought let's read this thread. Very small number of posts and even smaller number of active posters, but they were unmovable when it came to their kamado's quality, beauty, etc. That got me interested. Then one day someone posted pics and specs of the newly announced KK BB 32". I pulled up the site, started reading, looking, drooling, lusting, dreaming. The more I looked the more I had to have a KK BB 32". Then I called Dennis. Game. Set. Match. Komodo Kamado is a great asset to Dennis Linkletter. Dennis Linkletter is an invaluable asset to Komodo Kamado. If you read this and wonder how all the "Hype" about Komodo Kamado can possibly be true, I assure you the "Hype" you've heard doesn't do the KK justice. Anyone who has a KK quickly runs out of superlatives describing their KK experience. Anyone who eats food cooked on a KK has only one word to describe the food ... WOW! Anyone who sees a KK in its native habitat, the backyard, patio, by a pool, simply stands in awe at its beauty.

I have a BB 32" and find that controlling temps as low as 200°F is not a problem. The reason I say I have the 32 is because as many of you know, it has a unique airflow control manifold. The left hand side is you standar basic dial quite similar to that found on the 23. The difference lies on the right hand side of the manifold. There Dennis has designed a rotating disc with 5 different holes drilled in it. These holes range in size from about 1/8" to about 3/4". The smaller holes make low temperature control, i.e. 200° - 225°F about as simple a process as I've ever seen. I've cooked on kamados for over 20 years and on my previous kamados (BGE & Primo) control at that low a temp range was problematic. Not so with the KK BB 32. That revolutionary airflow control manifold that Dennis has invented is better than anything I've ever seen on a kamado. It's shear genius! I sure hope he's got his intellectual property attorneys patenting that invention!

Tony, et al. - to prolong smoke absorption on low-n-slow cooks you do indeed want prolong that period when meat takes on smoke. To that end, I always put my cooks in the refrigerator after I prep the surface for a cook. Thus, on a pork butt, I'll apply rub, wrap the butt, and refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours. For my friends that like a particularly smokie cook, I'll put the meat in the freezer for the last hour before the cook.

Tony - I fat fingered a reputation vote on my iPad and gave you a thumbs down! Sorry about that ... mea maxima culpa! Obviously it was meant to be thumbs up!

tonyb - you are absolutely correct! Thanks for saving my thermometer! I owe you a Black & Tan!

Well KKers, it snowed in OKC yesterday, about 2.5" from what I hear. Windy as all get out and dadgummed cold. However, The Beast seemed right at home here in OKC and on the patio. Y'all stay warm and have a great week! Oh hey! Dennis, The Beast wanted in yesterday afternoon. I had to tell him NO! I told him that he had a coat on the way from overseas. Any word?

Cookie - nice post! Thanks for being so complete. Now if I can just get some pizza pies that look like those, I'll be fat, dumb, and happy. So far, I'm 2 outta 3! Great looking pizza pies!

Hi KKers! So what's on the menu this coming weekend? I'm helping a friend learn how to cook on his Kamado, a Primo XL I gave him that predated The Beast's arrival here in OKC. We're having deer meat from a fawn taken some time back. Should be very tender and tasty. That will be Sunday after church. I'm thinking that Saturday evening, I'll do a surf and turf for SWMBO and myself. NY Strips and scallops, some cole slaw with Herman's dressing that SWMBO loves, and a roasted head of cauliflower. Friday evening, I think we're having pizza. I've got meetings all day Friday with my attorneys and I'll be hammered flat getting out of that meeting. I'm thinking about grabbing a pizza from Papa Murphy's and throwing it on The Beast. Something quick, easy, and good. I'll post some pics if I can remember to take 'em. Have a great weekend!

I've got a 32 and use the Pit Viper 10 CFM in conjunction with the CyberQ WiFi. Works great. Easy peasy temp control.

I just recently received a BBQ Guru CyberQ WiFi unit controlling a Pit Viper 10 CFM fan. I'm using it on The Beast, a KK BB 32. I light my fire and let it get well established. I put the Fan in its port, get everything hooked up and dialed in on temps, close my top vent until I just feel the gasket grab, and walk away. The unit comes up to temp, the cook goes on and I monitor from my home office desktop. Easy peasy and worth every penny!

Dennis, I'm no intellectual property attorney, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Please tell me your patent attorneys have examined the air control manifold on the KK BB 32 for possible patents. I'm telling you that thing is is most innovative air control feature I've seen on a kamado. It's shear genius and you should be able to protect that thing, or so it would seem in my poor pumpkin head.

But of course! Congrats, Dennis! You worked for it, you earned it, you deserve it! All Meathead did was reaffirm the blatantly obvious to those of us who own a KK.

I just got a CyberQ WiFi from BBQ Guru. I've done a couple of cooks with it on my KK BB 32, aka, The Beast. As I've noted elsewhere here on this forum, temperature control on The Beast is remarkably easy with very few transients. Temp is rock solid once it's dialed in. So the question is: "Do I NEED a temp controller?". Decidedly NO! The temp controller is nice to have but certainly not a necessity. I like being able to sit at my desk in my home office and monitor my cooks. The fact that the CyberQ is WiFi based is a big plus. Bluetooth is limited in range and limited to line of sight. Not so with wifi. Another feature about the CyberQ that I like is it has 3 food temperature probes. You can monitor 3 different items being cooked at one. Now you can really load The Beast with meat. You can do butts, pork loin, and a chicken at once and monitor all three at once. To me this is a real bonus.

It's been quite a while since there have been posts to this thread, but I'm going to jump in and add my 2¢. I got my KK BB 32" aka The Beast about 2 months ago. I've been cooking on ceramic kamados for over 20 years. I started out as do many on a large Big Green Egg. I learned the art of kamado cooking on that cooker. It got Humptied during a move and I replaced it with a medium BGE as I was now single. Big Mistake! I learned the hard way that SIZE MATTERS! Then along came the Primo XL and I was in heaven. Now I own the KK BB 32. The reason I got the 32 over the 23 is specifically because size matters. I regularly entertain 6-10 folks at a time and while the 23 could fill the bill, size matters. I've always said that when it comes to size, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and can't get it! Look, it's simple,economics. A 23 will feed, as Dennis says, about 6 people. My KK BB 32, The Beast, can easily accommodate double that number for significantly less than twice the price! So for me and the way I entertain, it only made sense to purchase the 32". Let's look at operation of the KK BB 32. Talk about easy! The 32 defines easy operation. Temperature control is incredibly easy. Dennis is an engineering genius. Period. The air control manifold on The Beast is the most innovative way of controlling air flow through a kamado I've ever seen. The manifold consists of two dials. The left hand side will be familiar to any KK owner ... Its a dial type with index marks. Everyone knows how to adjust airflow using a dial. No big deal. It's the right hand side of the manifold that is really brilliant and innovative. This part of the manifold is a dial that has 5 holes drilled in it. The holes range in size from about 1/8th of an inch on the small end to about 3/4 of an inch on the large end. These holes, especially the small ones, allow for fine tuning on temperature. By themselves in conjunction with the top vent, low-n-slow temperature control is a cinch. I have two charcoal baskets; one exclusively for use with the Extruded CoCoNut Charcoal and the other for use with my regular lump charcoal, i.e. Fogo. I only use the extruded charcoal for low-n-slow cooks. I use Fogo for all cooks over 400°F. Swapping charcoal for the type of cook becomes simple. I have used the basket splitter sparingly. In fact, I really don't see much use for it in my style of cooking. I always start each cook with a full basket. I only light a single spot for my low-n-slow cooks and I want the fire to be able access an entire basket over a 12-18 hour cook. For high temp runs, I will generally light 4 spots in the basket and get a hot, hot fire cranking in The Beast. Load up the grill with the steaks! If I'm doing steaks for SWMBO and myself, two spots lit is more than sufficient. I will say that i do wear my welders gauntlets when i sear steaks, chops, etc that are low in the belly of The Beast. It's dadgummed HOT down there! Charcoal usage on The Beast is minimal. This is the most efficient kamado I've ever used in terms of how much charcoal is burned for a cook. The Beast never ceases to amaze me. Whether I'm searing steaks, cook pizzas high up in the dome, roasting turkeys, or smoking ribs or butts, The Beast is the most versatile kamado I've ever used. It adapts to me. It doesn't force me to adapt to it. I have yet to run into something that The Beast can't accomplish and do it effortlessly. Again, with respect to size, I firmly believe its better to have it and not need it than to need it and can't get it. Size matters. If you entertain or cook for no more than 6 people, the 23" will most certainly be a great cooker for your needs. However, if you cook for or entertain for more than 8 people, you should really consider the KK BB 32". It's the single most amazing cooker I've ever used.

Ahhhh haaa! Food processor! This I can do .... Now why didn't I think of that? Dennis, as always, I learn something every time we touch base in any way! Thanks.

Tony - that last post covered the waterfront! Thanks for passing on your accumulated wisdom. We newbie KKers appreciate it. You're Aces!

Tony - I love Penzey's. If they don't have it, I don't need it! Thanks.

Ah Tony, my friend! For the turkey cook last weekend we had Bass, Guinness, and made Black and Tans! Tony, I'm a TIGHT sumbuck. When I've got a big time gathering, I'm buying and serving and drinking Miller or Bud or Coors lite. When I'm alone or at a small party, I'm drinking Bass, Guiness, etc. That's when I crack out the Woodford Reserve, Glenlivet, etc. Heck fire ... I'm not really as dumb as I look, all evidence to the contrary! I promise! LOL!

LIAR?! Wilbur, you've got that mushroom thing going on in your cook! I'd have never thought of doing that! But then, I'm not a big mushroom kinda guy ... I would never think of ruining a burger with a fungus!

Wilbur's post of his Portobello Burgers reminded that I didn't post a recent burger feed that I did. While mine is nowhere as impressive as his, it still was pretty dadgummed good. This took place a few Saturday's ago while watching American College Football. So here is that burger cook ... I'm not wanting to do a grand cook just for my fat rat backside, so I decided Simple Is Best. Just a couple of grilled hamburgers on The Beast will do just fine! I found a new brand of Miller named "FORTUNE" and decided to give it a try for hydration purposes. The bottle is black and could be hard to see against The Beast, but it's a pretty good tasting beer. I prefer Miller Lite, but this is a good start. Here is the total extent of the seasonings I'll be using on this cook ... salt, pepper, and essentially garlic. Sometimes Simple Is Best. Finally, here are the hamburger steaks resting until The Beast is heat soaked and ready for the cook. I love a plain old every day ordinary classic hamburger. Mustard, dill pickle, a thin slice of onion, and some good cheddar cheese. Wait, I guess that cheese makes it a cheese burger! Ok KKers, here's the rest of Simple Is Best, but with an undocumented but true twist! So The Beast gets up to temp and on the burgers go! Here's another view to show you how small half-pound burgers look on The Beast ... Things are doing well. Run inside to get the fixin's ready ... As I said, simple is best and this is one very prosaic cook. It doesn't get any simpler or prosaic than French's Yellow Mustard. I grew up on it and I love it! Time to flip the burgers. I'm wearing my welder's gauntlet because it is dadgummed HOT in the belly of The Beast! The feast is ready and I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been cut. Let's get these bad boys assembled and on a plate! And as we're ready to sit down with a cold beer and a balanced plate of grilled goodness ... My dadgummed doorbell ring! Blast it all anyway! I open the door and it's my dear middle brother who lives just around the corner, not 125 yards away. "HEY, whatcha eating'?" he asks. "I thought I smelled you cooking! When do WE eat?" "We?, I asked. "Hey, what kinda beer you got there?" he asked as he walked on by to the table. Oh well, once the camel's nose is under the tent, he's gonna eat and drink. And so fellow Gurus, a sumptuous feast was had by yours truly and his feckless brother, now fast asleep on the sofa! And what did the fearless Sous Chef Skippy do during all this commotion? Where was he? Sitting on his cat tree watching the whole thing go down! And so they lived happily ever after. The End!

I've got the baking stone for The Beast, my 32", and I can tell you it works out great! There is no cycle time when cooking multiple pizzas. I heat soak the stone as I"m heat soaking The Beast. Pizza after pizza and not one hiccup. Best stone I've ever used.

Geez, WIlbur! That looks like some kinda great burger! Kudos to you. Grinding you won burger from chuck ... you continue to amaze. I always have my butcher grind for me ... I guess I'm too lazy or too cheap to buy the grinder attachment! tasty looking burger you've got there! CONGRATS!

Looks very interesting, tony. I think I'm going to have to try this recipe. we have a few Middle Eastern markets around OKC. I'm on a mission to find Zattar. Sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recipe.

tony - dadgummit all anyway. I was hoping that I could buy one of those hangars. That is some beautiful iron work that was made for you! tony, you should patent that thing. It's the best looking cooker for kabobs, etc. that i've seen. really a nice rig. I'll find a metal worker and have him make a duplicate for me. Where do I send the royalty check?

Thanks, Amir, I appreciate the sentiments. Those of us who have a KK know full well what we had before and what we now have. This post if mostly for those that will follow and help them make that decision that takes their cooking talents to a whole new level!