Saucier

1 lb dry small red beans 1/4c olive oil 2 ham hocks 1 lg onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper chopped 8 cloves garlic pressed 2 stalks celery chopped 6 cups chicken stock 1 1/2 cups water 4 bay leaves 1 tsp vermouth 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp dried sage 1Tbl dried parsley 1 tsp cajun seasoning 1 Tbl frank's hot sauce 4 andouille sausage links 1 tsp lea and perrains 1 Tbl ground chipotle powder 4 cups water 2 cups long grain white rice Rinse beans and soak in a lg pot of water overnight In a skillet, heat oil over med heat and Sauté onion, bell pepper, garlic, and celery for 4 min. or so. Rinse beans and transfer to a lg pot. Add all other ingredients except sausage, water & rice. Simmer 3-4 hours, until the gravy gets thick. Pull out the ham hocks & bay leaves. Pull ham scraps from bones, and return to the pot, toss the bones & leaves. Add sausage and cook an additional 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare rice. Add rice and water to saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Or get fancy, use chicken broth instead of H2o, and add a bay leaf or two and some ground saffron! Serve beans over rice & enjoy!

Well, while I was fixin to buy those pork butts, I noticed this poor lonesome brisket, sitting all by itself, and threw it in the cart. So the butts were so good, I rubbed this down last night, and got up this morning and fired it up all over again! I am now sitting in my Lazyboy chair, having a cuppa Jo, and fooling around on the laptop, while the bbq guru sits on its little stand and keeps me appraised of the whaddyacall situmanation. This KK cooking is tough business! ]

Well, yesterday I finally got around to cooking in my new KK. Its new nickname is officially "'Ol Blue" Whipped up a batch of rub, and rubbed down two pork butts, and let them soak overnight. Prepared a basket full of Royal oak, with large chunks of cherry wood mixed in, lit it from the top with a weed torch, and put in the heat deflector and grates, popped them both on, along with the bbq guru goodies, dialed it up to 250 and let it rip. Temp went quickly up to 200, then slowly inched up to 250, where it stayed most of the day. Internal temp went up to 178, and then leveled off after about 8 hours. I had to turn off the ramp mode on the guru, and manually set the pit temp to 250, to finally get my internal temp to 190 where it was supposed to be. Pulled the butts off and let them rest for an hour. Then pulled em. Alls I can say is WOW! I have smoked lots of butts (pork that is) over the years, in lots of different smokers, but this stuff was friggin awesome! The texture was perfect, it had formed a really great bark, and the mixture of oak & cherry was just the ticket! I have never had better PP ever! I had been simmering a batch of bbq sauce all day too, and served it all up to 5 guests on white rolls, with some salad (wife's idea) home made bleu cheese dresssing, and my homemade red beans (will post that recipe if anyone is interested). Didn't hear any complaints, just loud chewing noises coming from the table (like on the Simpsons when they eat) Tomorrow comes brisket!

Smoke it baby! Well, I had to see some smoke from my new baby, so I gave it about 2/3 basket of Cowboy, lit a few pieces, put all the racks in, hooked up the new Guru and let it rip.. Many thanks to DL and DJ for help on the side for many newby questions. I have not used cowboy b4, and it smells like burning moldy old plywood LOL, think I will stick to Royal Oak.... I set the Guru per DJ's specs and put the pit temp to 250, it climbed quickly to 200, then slowly ramped up to 250, stayed there for about 6 hours, then died out and slowly coold back down. I can tell I am going to have some good times with this setup! First Q set for Saturday!!! First smoke signals seen below.. Not a great pic, but needed to document the event anyway!

Updated: 9:08 p.m. PT Sept 25, 2007 MAIDEN, N.C. - A man who bought a smoker Tuesday at an auction of abandoned items might have thought twice had he looked inside first. Maiden police said the man opened up the smoker and saw what he thought was a piece of driftwood wrapped in paper. When he unwrapped it, he found a human leg, cut off 2 to 3 inches above the knee. The smoker had been sold at an auction of items left behind at a storage facility, so investigators contacted the mother and son who had rented the space where the smoker was found. The mother, Peg Steele, explained her son had his leg amputated after a plane crash and kept the leg following the surgery “for religious reasons†she doesn’t know much about. “The rest of the family was very much against it,†Steele said. Steele said her son, John Wood, plans to drive to Maiden, about 35 miles northwest of Charlotte, to reclaim his amputated leg, police said.

Thanks Thanks Dub, I will give 'er a whirl!

More newby questions... Well, I got this baby uncrated, it is indeed one heavy and nicely built piece of kit! I was not able to locate any directions of any type, so not sure if it doesn't come with them, or mine flew away in transit. I figured out most of it with a few exceptions... A Is the stuff in the clear little jug a grout sealer? If so how do I apply it, and is it already sealed and ready for use? Is this just for later? B What are the two kind of skewer looking deals, T-handle on one end and two little hooks on the other? C What is the door, about the size of the flue door, that is made of screen for ? D What order do you use the grills in? The lump basket is obvious, but not sure the order of the next three & the pan? I assume the shallow pan with the nice machining on it is a drip pan? Thanks in advance..

Well, this morning they warehouse guy came in and says, "we got a 700 lb pallet, and I have no idea what this thing is"! I was hoping for the best.. And the wish came true!! So before any terrible thing could befall it, I had it loaded and ran it out to the house! It was hard to go back to the shop.. I really wanted to uncrate it and play !! But there is always tonight, or tomorrow!! Thanks Dennis!!!

Damn! Now thats no fair! You can edit and leave no footprint!!! LOL....

?? Ok Jasen, what do you mean there is no recipe in there ?? LOL

Here are a couple of online spice sources. This first one has very reasonable prices, nothing too exotic though. www.spicebarn.com This place has some killer hard to find things, but pricey. They even have ground saffron! It goes soooo good in a pot of fresh rice. Great color and flavor. Its expensive, but you don't use much at any one time http://www.lepicerie.com/catalog/catego ... age_1.html They also have ground rosemary, and ground celery seed, both of which I prefer in rubs. I hate getting celery seed stuck in my teeth while eating Q ! ..

Re: MMMMM good I am with you on the over seasoning, most people (me included) are tired of bland, crappy food. The worst review I can give a restaurant, is to say that "it lacked any clear and definable flavor". Garlic is the same, if a recipe calls for 2 cloves, it likely will be much superior with 1 head! Would love to try your favorite rub recipe! I have kind of adapted mine over the years.. I completely agree with you on liquid smoke, it is kind of an acrid flavor at best.. Thanks again!!

Re: Rusty Nail I have not heard of them Jasen, worth a purchase ?? You ever listen to Jacintha ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... t=Jacintha ) or Kellye Gray ( http://www.kellyegray.com/music.htm )? I will just have to crank it up with beer or wine as I am not a scotch drinker. -=Jasen=-

LOL Sanny, you are too funny.. Maybe.... Only Terrific Barbeque!! Thanks J... I am glad you couldn't find it, I was fixin to think I was going blind

Hmm Have not had that one, is it peaty too ?

MMMMM good Dub, I made your recipe, and man is it good!!! Got rave reviews from all tasters!! I have kept it in the pot and keep dragging the pot out and keep warming it up as needed, it gets thicker and better tasting each time!! The allspice is a key spice here too.. Just right.. I heeded your advicce doubling the ingredients you suggested... well,, a few tweaks Thanks!! I will try Sanny's when I get time too!

My favorite cocktail (don't have them too often because of the sugar involved) You can use the scotch of your choice, but I prefer a heavy peat flavor, found best in Bowmore or LaPhroaig scotch. Get your best crystal glasses, it just tastes better, and piss on the surgeon general telling us we will die from leaded crystal glasses One shot of either of the two above scotches (the older stuff is nicer), and two shots of Drambuie, over ice. Add two cherries, crank up your stereo equipment, and check out Diana Krall, or even better,,, Eva Cassidy... Enjoy the evening.. Think I will do that now!!

OTB I know this is probably a newby question, but then I am a newby!! What exactly does "OTB" stand for ??

Email from Dennis indicates KK is in the warehouse, and he has sent the information to get it over to me, waiting on a tracking number !!! Through all this reading, I have a cover for it, silicone plugs for the probes, and a bbq guru all on standby! Got hungry a few nights ago, and had to do some butts on the Weber... Can't say it was bad, but really want to try an all nighter on the new KK!! I can't wait!

Re: How ya'll are? Yes, it was a blessing in disguise indeed..!! I will have to tell her to shower more often Y'all have a big hot water heater. Long showers are expensive. So her shower was a blessing (no pun intended).. and entitles you to spend extra dough too.. for the KK upgrade. Won't read about anyone who is not satisfied with their KK or the company!

Re: Oooh a slicer.. I could always fedex you some on dry ice... No lemme see,, what was that price we were discussing

Slicer I think its called a chefmate. I had the 80 dollar ones before, and had nothing but trouble.. I saved my pennies and my DEAR wife let me get one at the local restaurant supply joint. Nice uniform slices at the thickness you choose. Kind of nice as you know exactly whats in your cold cuts, not some chemically induced potion to make it swell up!

Uh huh Yes they are seasoned, with my own rub (heavily). I like spicy. I usually also bard the beef with garlic, and inject the pork loin with Frank's hot sauce. Those weights in the roasts work out right over briquettes. 1 full chimney of (kingsfords, sorry I am just getting into god charcoal). Burn em up to a nice coat of ash, dump on one side of the Weber for indirect. BBQ for 1 hour 20 minutes which gave me 160 on the pork loin, and 125 on the beef. They both came up 5 degrees on the rest. Both were just fantastic! And done at the same time. The Q was still hot, so the wife roasted some chile's for a batch of salsa. Then I shut down the vents to save a bit of charcoal for next time. The next night I did a batch of Jerk chicken breasts, used 15 serranos (with seeds) in the marinade. They were great too!! HOT! What do you like brewing up?

Well as stated, don't have a KK yet.. Still using other stuff to get by. So on Saturday, got the old Weber pot going and did a top sirloin & a pork loin. Had some of each for dinner, then chilled the left overs overnight in the fridge and ran them through the slicer, before portioning out into 4 oz packages for lunches for the week! Here are the roasts. Here they are sliced! MMmmmMMMmmm And last but not least, all portioned out!!! Lets you take your BBq on the road, and you can even eat it out of the baggie without getting your finners dirty & while driving! And thats how I be rollin on a Sunday afternoon!!

Alto shaam PC Yes, they are electric. There is the cook & hold which is likely what you had, I have one of those as well, a double over/under setup, they are for used to hold things like you say, and also to cook, you can set a cook temp, a cook time, and a hold temp. They are used as well for prime rib in the big places like Laurey's etc. They put them in the neight before and cook em low and slow. The ovens are sealed so no moisture gets out. The smoke oven is a single, and is a bit wider and shorter, same cook and hold settings but also has a small tray w/electrode you put hardwood chips in. It does not take too much wood, as the oven is sealed. A pain to clean the smoke oven though. The cook/hold is also great to do whole corned beef, you don't even take it out of the cryovac, there is little to no shrinkage, and it really comes out great!