ckreef

Great looking ribs. Nice way to kick the tires.

Yea I would say a bit late. Shouldn't you be brewing a summer ale this time of the year? Although where I'm posting this from it's going to get into the low 80's today.

Great looking KK. Can't wait to see some cooks.

Great looking brisket. You hit that one out of the ballpark.

I only lite one spot for all temps. I usually start with the top vent at 3 turns and the bottom vent wide open. Once a draft starts going up through the KK the coals will fire up pretty quickly so be prepared to start closing the vents down. My final vent settings are similar to what others have posted. Every once in a while I'll start 2 or 3 spots but that's only when I want a full bed of raging coals.

Once it settles at the target temperature for 20 or 30 minutes the white smoke will go away. How long that takes can depend on the lump you're using. Also you probably got too many coals lit to begin with so they'll need a few minutes to calm down.

Great experiment. Now when some decent steaks are on sale you can take advantage of the sale. Whenever possible get the butcher to fresh cut your steaks instead of buying the precut packages. You never know how long those precut packages have been sitting in the counter. Or even the precut steaks sitting in the "fresh" counter. How long were they in the "fresh" counter?

I'm calling BS or crappyS. Post oak, the stripping of American hard wood forests. Did you see how skinny those trees were. They need another 50 - 100 years before cutting down. They do that crap in the county where I live. Watched this happen over the last 15 years. Now there are almost no hardwoods left. Don't think they plant hardwoods in their place. Can't do that it takes way to long to grow hardwoods. Sorry this is a pet peeve of mine as I've watched all the hardwood forest around where I live cut down for the quick buck.

Off to a good start.

I have a few items stashed away for you. Will order the other items probably today.

Looks like a good one. Those extra heavy duty monsters (like your original one) are just overkill for what we do.

Totally awesome. The other night I was thinking about this wondering how it was coming along.

Yup a slicer would make really quick work of this idea. Although once I got the rhythm I was pretty quick with the knife. The sauce was my Japanese Ginger Dressing. I'll put that on almost anything. One of my top favorite homemade dressings.

LOL

Like minute steaks or steak-umm's but with pork instead. I've done this a few times in the past but usually only 2 flavors at a time. This time I made 8 different marinades. Nothing special but they all taste good. A full boneless pork loin. I rinsed off the outside and trimmed all the fat and silver skin off. I then sliced it in 1/8" slices. Would have been easier with a slicer but my new knife got the job done. 8 piles ready to go. Each pile has 16 slices for 4 servings except today's lunch pile (12 slices - 3 servings). I still had a little pork leftover I'll use for stir fry or something. I took each pile, spread it out on a plate then poked a bunch of holes with a fork. I then put it in a labeled food saver bag with the marinade. All bagged up. I'll put the Chipotle pepper version aside for lunch. The other 7 I rolled up and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen I'll finish the vacuum sealing process. Nice easy weeknight meals ready to go after defrosting. The Chipotle pepper pork-umm's. With a 450* griddle only about 30 seconds per side. Building the sandwiches. Sriracha mayo, Colby Jack cheese, 4 pieces of Pork-umm's, tomatoes. I almost forgot my onions and peppers. At the last minute we decided to make redneck panini's - aka George Forman Grill - it gets the job done. Served with breaded/fried okra. Excellent lunch. A really great way to get a bunch of quick meals stashed in the freezer ready to go.

Great looking pictures.

Nice looking KK. Fits right in with your awesome patio.

Great picture. Nice to put a face to the name.

Great looking pictures.

I thought the first two were white sterile looking crap. The square footage of the first one was getting close to tiny house status. That's more like the square footage of a one bedroom house. If someone had the money to buy the 3rd one I'm sure they could find something nicer unless the space plan was just what you were looking for but the view was awesome.

Really great looking pizzas. Glad you liked the dough. It's our favorite thin crust. Can't really take the credit. It's a King Arthur recipe, I just did the tutorial to make it easier for people to follow along.

He did do a really good job. I am officially his first customer. So far he has 100% five star rating - LOL

Basically yes. He's perfecting his method, and his quality is going up with every run he makes. CKTG has placed an initial order with him. I talk to Ben daily about handles. I know he's got some kewl ideas in the pipeline and I can't wait to see them. As for the question I asked - that was meant for myself as to what knife to get next. I'm not done yet with this adventure. Whatever it is it will have a custom handle. Working with Ben on new ideas.

Ben did an excellent job with these. The question is - what's up next?

Ben, a friend from the Guru (Mewantkj on Kamado Guru) started making custom knife handles. In his original thread I joked about him making handles for my old crappy knives. Well one thing led to another, the idea expanded and the Bistro now has 2 new Japanese knives with custom handles. This first knife was part of the handle deal. I actually bought 2 of these and gave Ben one for his personal collection. Tojiro Shirogami Yanagi 270 mm (10.5") White #2 core, softer iron outer layer. Right handed single bevel. Custom handle: Ferrule/end cap - Wenge Stripes - Mapple Body - Red Palm This second knife was a surprise knife for Mrs skreef. I wanted to get her something special for being such a good sport about this whole knife adventure. She knew she was getting a knife and picked out the wood for her custom handle, she just didn't know exactly what knife it was. Shiro Kamo R-2 (same as SG2) Gyuto 180 mm (7"). R-2 core. Damascus layered stainless in a matte finish. Custom handle: Ferrule/end cap - Wenge Stripes - Mapple Body - Cocobola Fantastic additions to the knife board. Ben did an awesome job with the custom handles, it really makes the knives pop. He has lots of different woods to choose from. I actually have two more handles that I will post once I have them mounted to a knife. One of them is going on a old crappy knife to give it new life.