CeramicChef

Hey All - yes, it is the sour cherries not the sweet that go in pies! Its getting to be peach season around here and its time to grill some peaches for desert, for cobblers, and pies. Nectarines as well. Watermelon season is just around the corner. Black Diamond watermelons are simply super when grilled. I've grilled a lot of watermelon, juiced it all, and then used it as a mixer. Absolute(ly) lovely!

Ka- BOOOOOM! Charles, you blew that cook out of the freaking water! KUDOS!

I have always thought I'd like an umbrella like those until I remember I live in Oklahoma where "... the wind comes sweeping down the plain ..." I just can't see myself repeatedly chasing a sail that big in the middle of a cook.

YES! As a good Catholic, I was Altar Boy of the year for 3 years, I feel like I know my fish. @mk1 - that is one very fine mahi cook! Beautifully done. Kudos to you!

@Jeff S - That's a harder question to answer than first meets the eye. I think that the configuration of your lump pile makes more difference than t type of charcoal. I always shake my basket pretty vigorously after dumping in the lump (i'm a dumper not an arranger). What you want is a lump pile that lets air move freely but also has charcoal in contact with other charcoal so that the fire spreads effectively and efficiently. You don't want so much togetherness in the lump pile that air flow through the lump is cut off and the fire extinguishes because it can't spread. An efficient and effective lump pile, to me at least, is made up of large and medium sized pieces. When shaken together after the dump, charcoal is in contact and still has enough interstitial space to allow for the free movement of air to each lit piece of lump. I've found that for me and my needs, FOGO lump provides the best solution. Fogo burns hot, has little ash, lights quickly with my MAPP torch and doesn't spark, has very little odor so that you get the smoke flavor you decide upon by your addition of a specific make wood, and FOGO is 100% charcoal with no concrete, mill scraps, plastic inside the bag, and finally, has very few small pieces and fines in the bag. So, taken all together, there are many factors that affect lump pile performance. The Size of the pieces, the proximity of those pieces to each other, the purpose of the cook, etc. I hope this begins to answer your question.

MacJez - that's young, tender lettuce. It'll be just fine. LOL!

I taught business calc and the stat sequence to both undergrad and grad students. Loved the grad level stats. The undergrad calc and stat not so much, but there were rays of sunshine that made it all worthwhile. I also did a lot of chaos theory stat analysis. Not any more!

@dstr8 - I've done a lot of fruit on the kamado, but never thought of doing grapes! Thanks for a grand idea. Have any of y'all done cherries! Pitted fresh cherries on the KK take fresh cherry pies to another level all together! Really a wonderful, subtle taste. Grilled cherries also take just plain vanilla ice cream into orbit. But first, grilled grapes are in order.

@MacKenzie - what!? No money shot on the bacon? No BLT pic? You're killing me here, MacKenzie! You're killing me! gorgeous bacon and no BLT shot? Oh man. I have this deal figured out … you're teasing us, right!? Please tell me this is a tease and you're going to fry up a mess of that bacon tomorrow and have BLTs tomorrow! Pretty please?

@Pale Rider - an absolutely beautiful setting. Great pics. Thanks, I think … I'm jealous! Congrats on your setup!

@tony b - I'm with you! @egmiii - another software package replacing SAS and SPSS? Yeah, R is Open Source and making real inroads. Free is a great enticement. I called a friend who teaches stat and is a consulting statistician and he speaks highly of R. It's now the Big 3 instead of the Big 2. Alas, R is too late for me!

I understand!

Exactly right! I'm down to a precious few boxes of Coconut Char left from my original order. I'm very judicious with its usage.

@tinyfish - poor woman! Born blind and then she marries Tony …. There is simply just no justice in this world!

@dstr8 - now I've seen everything! Why didn't I ever think of that? Amazing. Great cook and a real eye opener. This is the first cook of this type I've ever seen. I'm gonna try this. Thanks for the idea and pics. Kudos all over northern NV!

@bosco - wow! How you get any better than that is beyond me. Great color, great cook! Kudos!

Ya know, this thing has interesting possibilities. Getting good datat would take a lot of it,e individually, but corporately, we could knock this out pretty quickly. We could all agree to do pork butts on a specific weekend. Record the weight of the butt that goes on the grate and the weight at the end of the cook. First cook is at 225° and record the ambient. Report the time to prone tender, say 203°. Then 2 weeks hence, same thing but crank up cook temp to say, 275, and record the same data as before. No Texas crutch at this stage. Two weeks hence we again cook butts only at different temps between 225-275. Same data recorded and reported. @wilburpan, you've got some access to SAS or SPSS or some big statistical package. Could you and @Syzygies crank the data and see how his model presents? You guys up for some modeling "fun"!?

@egmiii - wow, I've learned something with your post. I just throw the meat on and pull when it proves tender. And i understand a little better now the three stages. I've never run temps up and down during a cook. But I do have a question: after 3 hours at 300°F, how you you get you temp back down to 225°F? TheBeast simply doesn't bleed heat that quickly! What I have done is 225 to the stall, wrap at 160, and then turbo cook at 300 to an Internal Temp of something like 200-205 where it probes like warm butter. I think to a first approximation, @Syzygies method works and shows promise as Phase 1. @egmiii, I think your techniques would be Phase 2 after the validity of Phase 1 is shown. Geez, this sounds like a research program!

@MacKenzie - that bacon impresses me and I'm looking forward to seeing nice thick slabs of bacon on a cheeseburger with tomatoes from your garden! Yummy! What a stunning garden! That's a beautiful verdant green. Tough duty you have!

@Geo - how big a gathering are you and your Bride contemplating? Are you wanting something like finger foods, heavy hors d'oeuvres, or are you thinking a full buffet? What's your budget? Will anyone be available to help or is this all on your shoulders? Congrats on your pending nuptials! I'll circle July 16 on my calendar.

@MacKenzie - WOW! That's so simple even I can follow that recipe! Thanks!

I think if we see an issue 2-3 times it indicates some folks may need a little help.

@DennisLinkletter - Am I the only one here who took one look at the crates my KKs were delivered in and didn't immediately know how to get the KK out of the box? Isn't that pretty self-evident to the most casual observer? After all, it seems to me that your basic customer has an IQ a good little bit above normal. I may be way off base and I've never had to field phone calls like you, but ...? After all, one of the very fundamental things I truly value is that this Forum is a "Stupid Free Zone"! Seriously, there are some really stupid questions posted at many of the forums I visit by people who obviously have a room temperature IQ! I'd see the FAQ section as an evolving and organic section. There are of course some very basics. Over time, the recurring questions you/we see will help guide the establishment of the FAQ section. I personally believe that you've gone above and beyond in every area for the new KK Owner. Maybe I'm different from the norm, but I seriously doubt it. I've always thought, like @5698k above, that an easy to find online version of the Owners' Manual would be a valuable resource. Dennis, I think you're doing one helluva great job. Anything I can do to help you is a pleasure for me to do. Just call. Anytime. You have my number!

Wilbur - I'd count you as a genius, but not a BBQ genius. You're a wonderful backyard chef who is very inventive and you produce wonderful cooks. That's expected. However, you're a genius at the whole Pediatric Oncology thing.

@bosco - AMEN! bosco - you preach heresy! Yeah, right! Cookers do indeed make all the difference in the world. The KK cookers are so cook friendly that you don't have to do all the niggling little things you used to have to do to get things done right. Because you don't have to do those little niggling details, you now have time to do what you wanted to do all along, whether its running errands or really tending to the details of the cooks that make those cooks superior to anything you've done before! I always ask the following question and all I get are blank stares as if I'm 24 carat stupid: If the cooker doesn't matter, why doesn't everyone buy an Akorn?