ckreef

I agree with Aussie that Bush Tomato is awesome stuff. I put that on lots of different things. Goes good on top of scallop or hassle back potatoes. Everything you have looks good. You're going to enjoy the selection.

Awesome find.

Something to think about - when the dome and latch are adjusted properly everything is basically a snug fit. It sounds to me that things have gotten out of adjustment. You shouldn't need to make a custom mod to the latch. I would replace the gasket with a new double gasket, readjust the dome then readjust the bottom latch plate and see what happens before spending time and effort on something that might not really be an issue. I imagine it's possible that when you straightened the latch back out it is no longer exactly as it was when new but I would figure all this out before modifying.

Hell ya blackberry BBQ sauce. Plenty of wild blackberries in GA. When my son was younger we use to go picking every spring and make wild blackberry jam. Maybe me and Mrs skreef should go this spring and make wild blackberry BBQ sauce.

Not coming between me, it's about 70* outside at the moment. Going to fire up the Yakatori grill within the hour. (sorry couldn't stop myself - LOL)

No such thing as running out of lump. I learned a couple of years ago that you buy lump 5, 10, 20 bags at a time. When it goes on sale you buy $100, $200, $300 worth. You'll only use it sooner or later anyway. When you get down to 5 or 10 bags start looking for another deal. Living in GA's high humidity I've never found it to be a problem with long term storage. Just don't let it get rained on.

The sad reality is that high quality ingredients and fresh food is way more expensive than processed and/or mass produced food. Much cheaper to feed kids Little Debbie snacks than to give them fresh fruits for snacks. I have slowly ben turning towards the higher better cuts of meat. Chicken, pork, beef etc..... Definitely costs more but tastes better. Haven't found a really great farmers market but if you shop carefully in the better grocery stores you can find the good stuff but you can't shop by price.

Really looks like you would do good with a 16" KK. Super fast startup and meat really close to the coals. Be careful with that setup. Probably OK with a grill inside the KK but KK's are not designed for really high heat in the upper position (above the firebox).

Latch looks good. Upper vent, time will tell. As for the inside - that looks normal. I wouldn't want you to see a picture of the inside of my 16". I mainly use it for grilling. Black everywhere. Even high heat doesn't change that at the stage I'm in. It's all good - BBQ pantinia. You're going to do a high heat burn in eventually. It'll get as clean as it ever will during that.

Dang it that is totally awesome. My favorite color too. Really great unboxing pictures, TY for posting them.

That is a good question. How long does it say for the cement to be fully cured (not just dry)?

Very nice. You're the first 42" on the forum, congratulations.

A true wood fired pizza oven is on my list but it's so far down the list it wasn't worth mentioning. Since I own a Blackstone it would probably have to be a project type build and the project list is much, much longer than the grill list.

Also realize in many instances there is more units of a particular color than what is listed in the web store. For instance when I bought my Terra Blue there was only one show on the website. I was trying to match my 16" but it wasn't a great match. After talking to Dennis there was actually 4 Terra Blue 19"s in the warehouse (each with a unique serial number). Dennis then sent me a picture of each one so I could pick the best match. Every KK is photographed before leaving the factory.

Yes but then I edited the money shot and tweaked the color just a smige to hard. Maybe years from now I'll get the hang of it.

Blackened Pork Chops I used some Prairie Dust as the seasoning and CI seared the chops turning frequently. Served with rice pilaf. Also salad with Reef's Bistro Sweet House Dressing. This is the last of the house dressing Will have to order some more ingredients really soon. The Prairie Dust worked really well as it's a mild blackening spice which my son appreciated.

Large ceramic Yakatori grill is on the short list. A two burner griddle is on the list. Not sure where I'd put it but the moment I find one on sale for the right price I'm pulling the trigger.

You're doing a great job. Very interesting project. I don't think that grate is part of the original KK. Did you get a lump basket that sits down in the firebox?

It's thin enough to heat up and cool down quickly. But It doesn't season like a carbon steel pan will. One day I'll buy the right carbon steel wok. Also my SS doesn't have a long handle only a loop on each side. Makes you have to wear proper gloves to use it. My next wok will have a decent handle.

Nice start.

Yes @Bruce Pearson is correct. The firebox should not be raised and used in any type of upper configuration. @Garvinque we're just having a debate on the merits of using a kamado or specifically a KK as a heat source for a wok. No big deal. My outdoor propane wok burner along with an 18" SS wok was only $89 so money is not really a factor in the initial purchase. I also added in the CI debate.

You and your "problem" are in good company.

The gas port would probably work if you stuck a big enough burner in it. With that said I don't remember anyone ever using that port and my 19" doesn't have it. The other issue with wok cooks are the hot fast cooking tends to splatter grease. Not a lot but enough that I wouldn't want it in the KK. When my grilling area was in the backyard I use to use my wok all the time. Now that it's on the porch don't want the grease splatter on the porch. Kamados do most cooks fairly well and if I could only have one outdoor cooking method - KK all the way. But there are some cooking scenarios where there are better methods than a kamado. Wok cooking and satay/Yakatori cooking are two good examples. And CI is one of the worst metals you can use for a wok. When you pull it off the heat source it needs to cool down immediately and you just won't get that with CI. But still it's doable with CI, there's just much better options out there.

Is it doable? - yes. Is a kamado a good heat source for a wok? - definitely NOT. Is CI the proper metal for a wok? - definitely NOT. The idea behind wok cooking is to be able to very quickly heat up or cool down the wok depending on what part of the cook you are doing. A kamado is a very stable heat source with no easy way to quickly (within seconds) turn it up or down. Kamados as a wok heat source totally goes against the wok cooking concept. On top of that you would burn through a large amount of lump for what's going to be a less than 5 minute cook. (wok dishes are a huge amount of prep work followed by a couple minutes of cooking) CI heats up slow and cools down even slower, a really bad metal for a wok. Carbon steel followed by SS would be a preferable metal for a wok. (KJ really screwed the pooch on this) (no disrespect @Poochie - LOL) I'm sure there are plenty of KJ wok owners that would disagree with me but that's because they don't own a proper heat source or wok. There are outdoor propane wok burners that run around 65,000 BTU's. Couple that with a proper wok and you have almost immediate heat control. (yes I own one of these) I hope Dennis never goes down this road unless he builds a purpose built wok cooker.

Yes a long allen wrench. A ball end type works best for this since you're coming at it at a slight angle.