DennisLinkletter

It's important to remember as you open the damper top the escaping hot air creates a vacuum which sucks air through the lower draft door and through the charcoal. The more open the damper top is and more freely the air escapes more vacuum. It’s a combination of how much vacuum and the lower settings that creates the airflow. Always remember the temperature is airflow. You will quickly learn what volumes of air create what temperatures. These settings will be the same for every cook. I'm happy to make up some double dials for 23" grills.. but the size of the hole does not give you a set temp.. it's the combination of the two dampers. Just like a garden hose can have many different volumes travel thru the same diameter hose..

I always have shot for 190º on my flats that I will slice.. In a 225º grill you will still get 5-7º climb after you take it out. I even ice my foil wrapped flats sometimes to stop the cooking. Some others might want to chime in here. The ones I've over shot were a bit too fall apart crumbly tender. What's the consensus here?

Great job.. Good idea to have the two hangers too..

Lawry's Seasoned Salt is a staple in our kitchen too.. I grew up with it on everything. Not interested in scrambled eggs without it.

I did pizzas for my son's 17th this weekend.. Each kid made his own. I cheated and bought dough from my local baker. It was at the memory stage.. you know where you roll it out and it pulls back to it's previous shape. That being said we got some great pies and they tasted great.. It's 6:22am been up all night or I'd pull them off the camera and post them.. Going to have to do that soon.. Great looking pies will have to post them to FB page!

Heylo CC.. Looks like a new twist.. for the pre-cook it looks like you were direct at 200º.. I always throw in a drip pan to make it indirect. Did you do a flip during the 30 minute pre-cook to keep both sides uniform? And it looks like you did the entire cook from the main.. Can't argue with the beautiful color/result.. Just love seeing how many ways you can skin the cat and get great results..

The most amazing item I've cooked sous vide is shrimp. You can cook them to where they are crunchy and squeak on your teeth. Awesome.. I was given some 1" steaks which are so easy to over cook.. I sous vide them to 130º then put them in the fridge. Next day I seared them hot and fast cold.. the outside was browned and the cold protected the inside from getting past the 130º and after the rest they were plenty hot enough to eat..

For years (imported US) turkeys were $5 a kilo here in Indonesia, a few months ago they jacked the prices to $15 a kilo. Needless to say no restaurants or friends cooked one this year.. The butterball I was eyeballing was $115.. I passed and took the kids out..

Dave - Please accept my condolences. You and your wife will be in my thoughts and prayers. I can't even imagine loosing my angel.. Effing cancer is right.. Took my father in a way I would not which for an enemy.. I hope you find peace in her memory

Happy Thanksgiving to all.. I am thankful for all your support over the years. This has been a very trying year for both KK and my family. I'm just grateful it's almost over.. when things get really tough it can only get better. Myself and family have survived an attack by the Indonesian tax system, Google dropping KK from their pages and a mother in law with a bad ticker.. There is light at the end of the tunnel, please excuse me if I have not been as available this year as in the past. KK will soon have CoCo Char available on Amazon with prime delivery. There will be two new models released this spring and last but not least a new website with a video blog that will have lots of informative vids with KK tricks and tips.. We also have a new customer relationship / customer service system set up that will more efficiently handle the mountain of emails we now receive daily.. Happy Thanksgiving to you.. Link Family in Myanmar

Please shots of the pies already cooked inside the grill.. Thanks in advance.. Today with Facebook I always need new shots of food on the grill..

My first shot of a KKBB with two turkeys!

As I said earlier, remember it's condensation that get's the vapor/smoke to transfer to your food.. The colder the food.. the more condensation. I'll take big thick steaks out of the fridge for an hour and a half warming up to loose the inner chill on a slab of granite to ensure no cold center. Then throw them into the freezer for about 5-8 minutes prior to putting them into the grill to chill just the very outside of the steak. Takes a long time to get the cold out and the cold back into the center.. meat is insulating.. Tad of smoke and now you have a smoke profile on your steak..

Heylo Wilbur.. Heat in a glazed ceramic pot and a KK are two different beasts.. Don't worry about your KK firebox.. It's massive and the refractory material's "service/working" temp is 2,200ºf Charcoal does not get much over 1,800ºf in your grill.. Once it's expanded and contracted a couple of times, never remove it and you will never have issues with it.. Remember don't/never remove your firebox to clean your grill.. They get wedged into place and will get crazing but they are just fine.. leave them. Baking stone up on your upper grill.. NO heat shield.. First "trial" pizza.. try about 575º dome.. If the top is uncooked when the crust is finished it's not hot enough.. If the top is getting browned/burned and the crust is not ready.. turn it down a bit. At high temps you only use the top damper to adjust. Small changes are apparent quickly. Have fun with them and take photos..

Yes there is a 32" double but the price they gave me did not make sense so I asked them to recalculate and I have not heard back..

I've been basically using the SV as the first part of my now extended reverse sear.. First SV at 132ºf for about 8 hours.. Then I throw it in the refrigerator over night. Next day I smoke it and then sear.. Never worry about needed to cook the center because I did it the day before.. The cold inside keeps you from overcooking while searing browning.. If it's not warm all the way thru it's of course easy to warm it up.. The best part is the thinner, lower part of the tri tip is now perfectly rare also when it is usually pushing medium with a traditional sear because the thick part takes longer..

We use our food processor.. Cut your meat into 1"-1.5" cubes and then pulse the processor until you get the size you want. Works great.. The texture is sooo much better than store bought/ground.

Always remember the hot air leaving the chimney creates vacuum.. so regardless of what your lower setting is the top determines the (vacuum) pressure of air going into the grill.. Open the top completely with enough charcoal lit and the vacuum will suck air around the edges a completely closed draft door.. Another way to get to temp is to start to take note of hoe much fuel is burning for different cooks.. If you are going to 500ºf get out the hair drier.. you'll be shocked at how fast that gets things going..

We all know that the Thermapen is a home run.. I wonder how these work... $239 with the probes.. BLUETHERM® DUO WITH BLUETHERM PRO FOR iOS MODEL #292-601 Read temperature remotely on phones or tablets Two type K Thermocouple inputs Transmits via Bluetooth to iOS or Android devices Download Free Pro Apps IP66/67 splash-proof rating Range to 2501°F (1372°C) depending on probes Backlit high contrast display http://www.thermoworks.com/products/logger/bluetherm_duo.html

With the 32 it's really easy to just slide a box under the front draft door.. no need to do all that strenuous scooping.. lol I generally push the ash under the firebox and pack it down.. it' amazing how long you can go just packing it again and again. I think the high humidity here helps too.. unless it obstructs airflow I just procrastinate as long as possible..

Great Post Wilbur.. I really appreciate this step by step un-crating. Really helps a customer to be understand what they are getting and what un-crating a KK is like.. Thank you!

Susan.. those chilies look great but what really caught my eye were those beautiful tomatoes! WOW..

The coco char uses tapioca starch as a binder.. this along with the pressure of the extruder creates the dense logs.. After it's been heated to high temps the tapioca burns off leaving the chunks and powder held together by compression only.. That's why many people get another/second basket so they can just leave the coco for the next cook and don't need to handle it.. Because it pretty much makes no ash (we're running 2.5% in production) you don't need to do much before the next cook..

Now you understand why I say it can get a bit intimidating to reach down into the beast at high temps.. The basket splitter is really nice to create a place for your hand and arm out of the heat.. Good looking cook and meat.. Love when it has that texture..

Those look awesome.. Here in Asia they always slice then thin.. which is fine but.. But if I eat too much fatty beef ribs I always feel like I drank a glass of oil.. Argh So to eat less of it but still enjoy it my new trick is to make small sandwiches with small diameter baguettes.. The twist is that I scrape out almost all the bread from the inside so there are two areas for filling.. You are basically just using them for their holding ability and the crust.. If anybody has not tried wasabi mayo.. please do.. Sorta down the path of horseradish..