Syzygies

Hi All. Cooked a "Red Wattle" heritage pork butt yesterday for a dinner party. The stall took forever, a 21 hour cook starting at 215 F but ramped up to 315 F. I understand to avoid the tyranny of numbers. The "jiggle" was perfect as we took the butt off the cooker. Most meat read 200 F with a Thermapen; the readings near the center bone were 185 F. It was well received. Truth be told, I've never had commercial butt that I enjoyed in the Carolinas, and I think the "disintegrating rope" standard is a steam table scam. Our butt just barely came apart enough to make tacos. In California one finds tortilla factories in larger Mexican restaurants and supermarkets, pressing corn tortillas better than I could each day from fresh masa. The bags of 36 are steamed up and warm when you buy them. My Mexican neighbor heats tortillas in pairs, flipping so each taco has a crisped side and a soft, steamy side. This is not mere expediency. While it does increase throughput, one wants a soft side to face the filling, and one wants to heat the tortillas without drying them out. At this point these tacos are twice-cooked, like the best french fries. Had I pressed my own tortillas from easily found fresh masa, they'd be too thick and once-cooked. As I don't mind (I rather enjoy) the scorn of traditionalists, I wonder if one could even out the pork butt internal temperatures better with something like "potato nails" ? Here is a flat skewer we've seen versions of in every falafel place: Charcoal Companion Stainless Flat Skewers. Unlike many of their brethren, they're a mere 12" long. One could push in a skewer each way, gliding along the bone, to conduct more heat into the center of the butt. Has anyone tried a technique like this?

In 1995, dawn of the internet, I heard that individuals authored web pages themselves, and gave it a try with something I knew. For a time this page was one of few in this niche. Coffee: Resources for home espresso Looking the page over now, I am most struck that I knew then about the idea of getting a home argon tank for preserving wine. I've also understood "scale" for a long time: There is a huge difference between producing steam for bread by pouring 350g of water onto 30 lbs of hot steel, and "oh my I'm cooking now!" spritzing 10g of water into the oven. People actually buy $300 argon wine systems that depend on cartridges the same size as mountain bikers use to fill one tire tube. As in manufacturers really think we're that clueless about scale. 350g of water turns into enough steam to replace the volume of a home oven or 23" KK several times over. 30 seconds of argon trickling from a tank that comes up to my knee will replace the volume of a 750ml wine bottle several times over. Doing less is kidding oneself. In both cases I can taste the difference. So why did I wait two decades to get home argon tanks for saving wine? It works. Any local Airgas can set one up easily. I'll never get those two decades back again. "Did you argon the wine?" has become a verb for us.

Lemons? Did someone say lemons? To speak up for the 23" Ultimate, I've fed 80 multiple times from my 23" Ultimate (six pork butts). The 32" to me looks bigger than I need. The 23" Ultimate will look huge, coming from what broke. I'm also a programmer, like a few others of us here. Programming languages is the extreme case for asking for comparisons. Unless the person weighing in has extensive experience with both options, and the creative-destructive temperament to annihilate both prejudices and habits, curious to see what their Ouija board unconscious then chooses, their preference only reveals their state of mental health. One should be happy with one's choices. People often are. I'm happy with my 23" Ultimate. I can't make a comparison with a 32". I also have a small Weber, which I'll use on occasion to finish sous-vide steak, as a way to conserve use of the best lump charcoal I can find. That has largely ceased after buying a basket splitter for my 23" KK, which serves the same conservation purpose. Others here also own Japanese robata grills, and sometimes use those at table. So, those of you who own both the 23" and the 32", how do you decide which KK to fire up when? Which one do you fire up more when you're not thinking about it?

I generally light charcoal with a propane weed burner. I learned this watching Jiarby light up at a competition long ago, with a rig that crossed Ghostbusters with Commando. If propane isn't doing it for people, try MAPP gas. It burns hotter. For sweating copper pipes, it's like landing a jet rather than a prop plane. I don't get enough practice (I'm a dilettante at every handyman skill) so I stick to propane, which works well enough on every Fogo charcoal I've tried. As I learned from Dennis, fires need air more than heat, once they're lit. There's the trusty hair dryer. I prefer a leaf blower. You could need goggles; what's that barbecue saying? "If you ain't glowing, you ain't blowing!" M18 FUEL Blower Kit

Not my experience, shipping to California. Shipping five reams of laser printer paper to New York City? Good luck with that. It often takes three or four tries. I consider this an AI probe, does Amazon or Staples have any self-awareness? As far as I can tell, neither can fog the proverbial mirror.

Heavy winds and rain expected, sun showers as I worked. Brisket tonight rain or shine, so I finally set up a tarp for my KK. I should have done this long ago.

Friends don't let friends equate Fogo with their house brand bags, then believe reviews that Rockwood is better. Fogo carries many charcoals, all with a cleaner flavor than Rockwood or Lazzari. In ascending order: Lazzari Hardwood Lump - meh, and half the bag is useless crumbs Rockwood - better, inferior to any Fogo charcoal, "dirtier" taste Fogo Cuban Marabu - hint of swimming pool but cleaner taste than Rockwood Fogo Super Premium - a favorite, large lumps don't bother me Fogo Argentinian Quebracho - my favorite Fogo Komodo Kamado Coffee Lump - best lump ever, not available The KK coffee convinced me that charcoal could be transcendent, worth any price, life is too short to compromise. Then I couldn't get more. Fogo is the only supplier that can approximate the same thrill for me. Get a basket splitter, to conserve on fuel, the splitter will pay for itself. Grilled fish with Moroccan red charmoula is spectacular over good charcoal. I order Fogo charcoal directly from Fogo. Free shipping, and it comes quickly.

MacKenzie, you're killing me here. We're surviving on fried rice to use up leftover ribs.

My double bottom "trumpet mute" came. What was I waiting for!?

Dennis got off his plane, and fixed the forum before going to bed.

Such a difficult size. Too much for one, not enough for two...

Leftover short ribs for breakfast. Bacon, hold my beer!

Beef short ribs, after two and four hours. I'm again following Austin Franklin's Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto. Just as one has BBQ stalls, one has intellectual stalls. I had plateaued, in part struggling with the instabilities caused by an aging gasket. A new D-gasket made my KK run better than it ever had before, and I'm relearning how to cook from scratch, to break out of my stall. Of course, one never learns from scratch, but in my line of work one needs to stay in practice tearing down assumptions. Austin Franklin cooks beef ribs at 285 F in a 1,000 gallon propane tank converted to an offset firebox smoker. I'm finding that everything cooks faster in the KK, such as here: He predicted 8-9 hours, while I'm done and holding in under 6 hours. Same for my 10 hour brisket at 275 F; I'll try 8 hours next time.

I used to own a Richard #7 Kamado, and a friend owns a #5. I helped with stuck dampers on both cookers. If POSK is too blue for you, try BTK ("Boat Thief Kamado"). Everyone here was nice to me, and I ended up buying a 23" Ultimate nine years ago. Like moving from a rusted out crop duster to a Lear jet. I had to convince my wife to spend the $700 on the Richard BTK. She convinced me to buy the 23" Ultimate from Dennis. Yes, penetrating oil and a homemade strap wrench. Somehow you have to apply sufficient rotational force without hurting yourself. Once it's apart, find yourself a stainless steel bolt and nut of identical gauge. Then, completely rehabilitate both the existing nut and bolt, by repeatedly working the new, clean hardware up and down the old hardware. Use appropriate solvents to suit the problem. In particular, it is possible to work a nut further along the existing bolt than is possible with the damper itself attached. Cleaning further gives you a margin, so completely closing the top damper never reaches the remaining corrosion. With this hardware, you can clean annually, and avoid future problems. If anything goes wrong, you can make repairs yourself. Your cooker will of course lose any value as an authentic antique, because no one can find the same crappy materials that Richard used at the factory.

An electric pressure washer is a lot easier to set up than gas. It's the easiest way to clean grills post-brisket, getting all the gunk off but leaving seasoning, like a well-loved cast iron pan. One's hands don't get messy! Or perhaps pyromania tends to coexist with hydromania?

Also, dry the skin completely with a hair dryer.

Yes, I put in what I need, guessing high not low.

No, control the oxygen, control the fire. One gets a feel for how much fuel to use, but one can light the fuel everywhere and still hold at 450 F. I can even use a BBQ Guru to hold a fire at 450 F, with their Pit Bull (Large) Fan. The key is to run the pit probe through the dome hole where the Tel-Tru thermometer usually goes, to avoid exposing the wire to excess heat. This is convenient if I'm too busy to watch the fire. Holding 450 F is also pretty easy manually.

Extruded coconut lump burns so clean that one can bake a sour cherry pie. Hard to obtain in recent times. I routinely bake bread in my 23" KK. I get the entire batch of coals lit at once, and try to time the fire so one is coasting at 450 F for the 30 minutes or so I'm actually baking. The KK retains heat amazingly well, but opening it to add cold bread dough, then adding water for steam, draws away a lot of heat. Ideally, my fire is ready for its last hurrah to get back up to cruising altitude one last time. I've got my bread's final rise down like clockwork, making this easier. Cooking dinner, I never control the timing of everything at once quite as well, so the fire needs to be flexible. In general, for higher temperature roasting, I like the results best if the fire is nearly spent, in its "red star" waning phase, with lots of stored heat in the KK walls. This is of course tricky to time, depending on what else is going on.

Wonderful to have a working gasket again, see smoke curling out the top as it should, see the Guru stay locked on to the nearest degree. A cold morning, and I want a stronger smoke profile, for 50 people sampling brisket along with lots of other food. So I give my two quart smoke pot (filled with hickory chips) a turbo start on my Solo Stove Campfire. Or perhaps I just like starting fires.

I love Einkorn. It fits into my "guest" regime: 10% nicely enhances flavor with no downside. 20% starts to make a noticeable change in handling. Not necessarily adverse, but something to learn by experience to correct.

Some people have trouble with reduced rise, using freshly ground flour. This problem is poorly understood by most writers, but understood by professionals. The issue is "green flour"; flour needs to age, but we want to grind fresh and not have the germ go rancid. Michel Suas has the most complete answer: Add 30 to 40 parts per million ascorbic acid. How? Mix AA 1:20 with white flour, sieve multiple times to mix completely, then mix some of that mixture 1:20 with white flour. One now has a 1:440 blend one can measure with a gram scale. This solved all sorts of problems for me. I also found rather noticeable variation in different sources of whole grains. Keep notes, and be sure to experiment. The flavor of adding a "guest grain" in moderation can also be a remarkable change. We don't drink the same wine all the time? Variation in bread grain is also good.

No harder than grinding coffee, with the right equipment (such as this mill). We'd all be milling flour if there was a drug in it somewhere.

I'm pretty happy with my Pharos manual coffee grinder. One gets the burrs in a much more expensive electric grinder, without the motor. And the whole kickstarter thing: One gets excited over untested products. Sounds too much like dating to me.