linuxwrangler

I had never seen that one, before. Looks interesting but the nice thing about the Figure-9 is that it is simple and way cheaper. IIRC, I paid less for a set of 4 _with_ lines than it costs for one of these.

For tying to things with holes/rings (rings in truck-beds, grommets in tarps), the one with the build-in carabiner looks nice (http://niteize.com/collections/carabiner-figure-9) but I've never used one.

I have four of the small and a couple large. Looks like they have a bigger one now called the "big". I usually keep the large pair in the glove box.

Yeah, I have several. Just used them to tie the sled to the roof-rack a week ago.

Now you've gotten me thinking about that old Royal Guardsman song "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron"...

"Curses, foiled again!"

On behalf of my contribution of 0.2% of those posts, you're welcome. And thank you for sponsoring the meeting place.

The biggest influence on my tri-tip cooking is use of the Thermapen. Nothing ruins a tri like getting overdone.

Second, as mentioned above, be sure to cut across the grain. You can go from tough to tender just by the slicing direction.

Re: Moving the KK

Question on moving the KK to the backyard...

If you have concrete all-the-way, I'm with those who recommend the pallet-jack and/or sturdy hand-truck. If you have to get it through some awkward space or over steps, I would tend to use the 2x4 method to carry the crate and not unpack things until you are at the desired location.

When I got my mexi-K, we lifted it off the pallet with forearm-forklifts so it is possible for two people to lift 600 pounds. The forearm-forklift straps are at hardware stores and moving places and are really handy to have around the house as are Teamstraps.

While the devil is in all the details (coil construction, input frequency and so on), induction cookers basically just use a coil energized with alternating current to "induce" current flows in the pan causing the pan itself to heat up. As far as I know, all current models require that the use of ferrous metal in the cookware. So you are probably SOL on the soapstone.

Hey Linux - interesting avatar - did you lose any money in NEOM.OB like I did? ugh!!!!

No - at least not on that one...

This particular type of code is called a datamatrix code which is a 2D code that is popular because it can encode a lot of data in a small space, it is readable at low contrast, and it is free of patent/royalty encumbrance. If you keep your eyes peeled, you will see them all over the place including envelopes (e-stamps), the activation card for software, computer cards/components, etc.

Re: Johnny Boy's KK cover

The worst problem we have here is the waist..

Yeah, I think pretty much anyone into BBQ has that problem.

Sick

Bummer. I caught a cold and while I could have probably done fine with sufficient application of Dayquil, I figured that I shouldn't give the gift that keeps giving to my relations so sent my wife and daughter off to the feast.

But I did light the coconut for first one neighbor and then another to cook their birds and had a nice visit and quick bite with one of them before crashing early.

And while my brother-in-law may be a great guy, I'll take my bird over his Weber and Kingsford method any day.

Re: Emergency Fire Starter

Ace hardware here ran out of propane bottles about 8 months ago...

Darn, there goes my suggestion. My younger-days pyro technique (yes, like many of us, I am astonished that I survived my youth) was to bend a coat-hanger so the hook would stick into the end of the propane bottle so I could hold the bottle with one hand and pull on the hanger with the other. With the bottle tipped down, one would get a blast of liquid propane with each pull. When aimed at an ignition source much fun ensued. Perhaps not as fun as George Goble had with his liquid-oxygen BBQ starting technique (

I haven't tried fully home-made pizza, yet, but have made a number of yummy "cheater pizzas" which are Zachary's deep-dish half-baked finished with a 20-30-minute bake on the grill.

What has worked well for me is to put the stone on the lower grill more as a deflector and putting the pizza directly on the grill. It crisps the crust nicely and oak-charcoal finished chicken pizza is tasty.

There are so many variables like the deep-dish being cooked at lower temps and the thicker and partially-baked crust being more resistant to sagging between the grill rods that I have no idea if the heat-deflector/direct-on-grill technique would work for a baked-from-raw thin-crust pie but it might be worth an experiment.

Who knows whats up. They have had stock trouble for years. You'd think they would figure it out by now......

Sounds, ahem, like another company with which many of us are familiar...

Great, there could be competition for our beloved coconut charcoal: http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/energ ... n-power#at

Turns out it is ideal for a critical portion of a fusion reactor. From the article:

There may soon be a run on coconut futures. Vintage 2002 Indonesian coconut-shell charcoal is being used to help build what may become the first commercially viable Tokamak fusion power electrical generating facility near Cadarache in the south of France...

...The coconut charcoal is an environmental sponge that “adsorbs†the helium and hydrogen byproducts of the thermonuclear fusion reaction.

After 20 years searching for the ideal adsorber...Day’s team decided on charcoal. And not just any charcoal. "We found that coconut-shell charcoal is the best,"....

Re: Chicken Rocket

Everyone seems to have a positive reaction with this type of device and similar items. Why does the Naked Whiz say they are useless in his review of beer can chicken? His test seems conclusive and I never bothered to look into the items with any seriousness.

He probably only got as far as their "theme song" :

http://www.chickenrocket.com/Chicken%20Rocket.mp3

I have yet to try beer-can chicken but I'll offer my $0.02 anyway. The paint and coatings on the beer cans are probably OK up to boiling but I just don't want to find out so I'd much prefer something like the Rocket to a beer-can whether held in a wire frame or free-standing. But the Rocket is made of cast-iron and iron+water+heat=rust. I'd be curious as to people's experience. If I use even a heavily seasoned cast-iron pan for drips on a low-'n'-slow I will end up with at least a few rust spots to clean and re-season. When I take the plunge, I think I'll get one of the stainless units similar to the rocket.

I agree with the comments that if there is less liquid at the end than the start, the beer is doing the trick. There is no need for it all to boil away - in fact I'd be worried if it were all allowed to boil away. Of course this suggests that many research experiments will need to be conducted to determine the optimum beer-for-chicken:beer-for-cook ratio.

As to paths taken, I'm a number of steps behind Dave on the BBQ Galore -> BGE discovery -> internet research -> K -> ...... path but I'm glad I'm on it.

Re: That was quick!

(I'm already getting emails from fellow K-expats who are jealous!)

HEY! I deeply resemble that remark. Actually, it's the K next to the crate that's looking a bit jealous.

Re: New board member

...but dialing in the temps can be a bit tricky...

A notebook can be very handy when starting out. Provided that 1. you start with enough charcoal, 2. nothing is blocked with ash or such and 3. everything is adjusted so you don't have leaks messing with you then settings are very repeatable.

Just remember that it is like a tanker - it reacts to changes in settings very slowly so once you have set things, don't touch them till the temp stabilizes. Then make a note of your damper settings. Try adjusting only one thing at a time - i.e. take a guess on the bottom damper settings and then note temps at various top damper settings.

You might want to make an afternoon of it. Perhaps start by opening the bottom damper wide and cracking the top 1/4 turn (note: I still have a K, not a KK and the thread pitches and damper styles are different so 1/4 turn may not be quite right but should be OK for starting your experiments). Light the coals, crack a cold one and drink slowly. When done, note your temps in your notebook.

Open another 1/8 turn, crack another, repeat. I can now generally nail my most common temps from memory almost as easily as setting the dial on the oven.

Re: Losing my touch....

Couple thoughts.

First, overfilling it is not a problem. I usually pack as much as I can fit every few weeks (give or take depending on type and amount of cooking). Heat output is a function of how fast the charcoal is consumed which is controlled by the airflow. Sort of like a car - it doesn't go faster just because the tank is full.

Second, given similar starting conditions, you will get the same temperatures. But these things are like a supertanker - it takes a long time for steering to have an effect so you have to trust that your control inputs will take effect. And you sometimes have to figure out what is different when things act differently. The two big ones I have seen are 1. not realizing that you have too much ash built up in the bottom of the basket and it is blocking the air or 2. you have just put in a bunch of charcoal and it has absorbed moisture from the air. When the charcoal is moist (even if it doesn't seem like it there is water in there) the thing will stall out just above 200F until the water is driven off. It's easy to overcompensate if you don't trust that the temperature will get to the right place eventually.

One trick for your type of cook is to start the charcoal and open the vents wide open. You need to watch closely and as soon as you hit 400, put on your meat and damp to your known setting for 225. Just like a heat soaked KK can stay hot a long time, a cold one takes a bit of time to heat soak. If you get the fire going quickly and damp down before things are heat-soaked, you may be able to do what you want.

In related news...

Furious Kindling users were left eating only cranberry sauce, potatoes and pumpkin pie after Amazon deleted the turkey from their Thanksgiving dinner.

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos explained that employees responding to a complaint from the publisher of the book "Turkey" had made a "regrettable and inadvertent error" resulting in the loss of the holiday feasts.

While apologizing for the inconvenience, Bezos denied that Amazon would reimburse Kindling users for the cost of the lost meals, time, and travel explaining that the risks were clearly spelled out on page 734 section 15, paragraph 3 through 12 of the Terms of Service to which the users agreed by pressing the "Accept" button when they first used the device.

Re: New Design for draft door airflow wheel and Knob

This is the metal insert that sits inside the refractory material inside the wooden knob and gives the wood type screw it's grip inside the refractory material.

And this is the cow that scared the dog that chased the cat that bit the rat...

Sorry, something about reading this post right after bedtime books with my daughter.

Hey, that's a very useful appliance. You drool over it at the store. Your spouse says "No Way!". You grudgingly agree to "settle" for spending less on a much more beautiful cooker.

In order of increasing grime and decreasing frequency:

Hose off and dry.

Hose off then wash with soap, rinse, dry.

For tough spots, a bit of Bon Ami.

For stainless, it's hard to beat Barkeeper's Friend.

Linux

Do you work in open source?

Yup. All my personal machines have run Linux for over a decade. At work, we are not 100% OS but the only proprietary stuff is some desktops running Windows. We're a small company, but I'm currently managing about 30 Linux servers and growing. I'm fairly active on the PostgreSQL lists and have had some documentation accepted into the project.

Now you are reminding me, I've gotta get registered for OSCON....