Syzygies

Interesting replies. Let's just stipulate that nothing beats experience, and there is a boatload of gotchas and nuances here that any rule misses. For an interesting parallel, human stock traders have always valued judgment. Yet there was a time when no one had any idea how to value stock options, then there was a rule. People still bent the rule using experience and judgment, but the rule was a good starting point. The traders that started with the rule now live in bigger houses than us. The traders that ignored the rule sooner or later lost their shirts. Let's confine interest to the practical range of low & slow for large hunks of meat, say 210 F to 285 F, cooking in a KK. You had a plan, but you're starting an hour late. What's your best guess how to adjust your plan? Bend this guess using all the experience and judgment in the world, but start with a baseline guess. What's your baseline guess? My bias here is that cooks who proudly refuse to measure are foolish. This is most so in baking, but also in salting meat. One needs as much experience as Aaron Franklin to salt as accurately by eye as anyone can salt with a scale. Bend the note using judgment, but start with a number. I could start a similar thread on a running forum. I kept race records for many years, including my weight, and my race times were best explained by foot pounds per hour. Of course there were nuances, who was I dating? How was I sleeping? What running shoes? Was I training enough? But the rule worked. The philosophy of calculus predicts this; zoom in on anything that curves, and it looks flat. Asserting a pair of protocols yield the same result is asserting a value for the base temperature in determining degree hours. To give a formula, asserting m hours @ x degrees = n hours @ y degrees is asserting that (m * x - n * y) / (m - n) is the base temperature. For example, asserting that 10 hours @ 220 F = 8 hours @ 240 F is asserting that (2200 - 1920) / (10 - 8 ) = 140 F is the base temperature. Using this base temperature, 10 * (220 - 140) = 8 * (240 - 140) = 800 degree hours either way. So you were planning to cook 10 hours @ 220 F but you find your KK stuck at 240 F. To hell with my math, use your judgment. What is your initial guess how long the cook will take, before you begin prodding and using your judgment, to actually decide when it's done?

Recall the notion of a degree day. For example, growing degree days add up the surplus heat over a base temperature, often 10 C. Three days averaging 15 C, 20 C, 25 C add up to 5+10+15 = 30 degree days. What is the best rule of thumb for degree hours in barbecue? For example, in the thread Dinosaur Beef Ribs, Hector cooked 10 hours @ 235 F. Dave cooked 8 hours @ 285 F. Different pieces of meat, but it was rather evident that Dave overcooked in comparison to Hector. Could one have predicted this by an easy rule of thumb? A base temperature of 35 F makes these two cooks the same: 10 * (235 - 35) = 8 * (285 - 35) = 2000 degree hours, either way. But 35 F is obviously too low, and we know Dave overcooked compared to Hector. One can sous vide pretty much indefinitely at 135 F. We have 10 * (235 - 135) = 1000 degree hours, while 8 * (285-135) = 1200 degree hours. That difference is closer to what we observe, studying the two cooks in the thread. The rate of ideal heat transfer is proportional to the temperature difference, but real world roasting is far more complicated. One follows the water as much as the heat, to understand what is happening. For example, one can model the dwell in a pork butt cook by watching what happens to a wet towel. Nevertheless, a rule of thumb like I propose could be useful for anticipating the effect of small changes in protocol. If I know how long I like to cook a pork butt at 225 F, how do I adjust my cooking times for 240 F? That sort of question could be easily handled by a rule of thumb like I propose, at least for a first guess.

Ok, the two data points here: Hector, 10 hours @ 235 F. Dave, 8 hours @ 285 F. As an experiment I was following Aaron Franklin's protocol for short ribs, a departure from my typical instincts aligned with Hector. He got beautiful sliced ribs, I got pulled beef with bones. Or, more simply, I overcooked these ribs. The "burnt ends" on each tip veered dry, my guests tore through the bark and the meat between bones. They did not share my disappointment. To balance the meal, hedge my bets and feed everybody, I also had a large prime Chateaubriand steak, sous vide 90 minutes @ 132 F. When I took the ribs off to rest, I cranked the KK up to 350 F then roasted the steak a generous number of minutes on each side, indirect same setup as the ribs. Had I done nothing, this would have sliced like restaurant prime rib, no sign of fire. It seems to be an unquestioned religious tenet that one should sear a sous vide steak briefly over direct flame at a very high heat. I don't actually enjoy the surface damage that induces; my approach here is a third way. The meat looked done with surface color and gentle sear marks from the grate, tasted of fire, and sliced up to a plate of medium rare goodness counterbalancing the ribs. I'll do this again and take pictures, highly recommended. For the record, 7 lbs of generously cut beef back ribs, and 2 lbs of Chateaubriand steak, served six adults with hardly any leftovers. This was part of a full meal with appetizers, sides, desserts and too much wine. I reflected later on my mistakes and the zen of barbecue. With a busy day and a "fly by wire" BBQ Guru setup, I did not handle the meat very much, and I should have. It then took me by surprise how completely the ribs fell apart. The meat can take frequent prodding, and the KK is stable enough to easily recover. Cooking indoors, I taste and prod everything at all stages. I can tell when fresh pasta is done without tasting it, by the exact tension as I stir the cooking water. The best pit masters (a level to which I have no right to aspire if I cannot learn this lesson) experience meat the same way. This is not a last-minute check for doneness, this is a continual opening of a door of perception. Imagine that one is serving guests that day, but also training for a future game where one will be presented with many pieces of partially barbecued meat, and asked to assess each piece with no context of cooking history. If one can learn to see this, one realizes that one was cooking blind before. I'd liken this to playing darts. The difference between math and games is that in math one gets to redesign the rules. One could imagine that a gift for barbecue is a knack for knowing cooking times looking at each piece of meat, like being able to throw a dart from a distance and hit the bulls eye. However, if one can redesign the game, one does far better to walk up to the target and push in the dart without a throw. This is continually handling and observing the meat as one cooks. Of course, one does need to play conventional darts, because we need to pick start times and temps for a rough target serving time. And the KK is remarkably stable, it steers like a freighter ship. Agile adjustments in temperature aren't really an option, at least downward. Recall how one finds camp along a river, bushwhacking in the woods: One deliberately aims to miss one way, so one knows which way to turn reaching the river. Here, one should start aiming to overshoot the target serving time, with temps like Hector, and know that there is potential goodness in Aaron Franklin higher temps. Observing the cook all day, decide exactly how to climb the temp to stick the landing at meal time. I'll try again, and that's my game plan.

This should be called the Komodo Affirmation Forum! Never underestimate the power of affirmation. A colleague and I got nice jobs because I kept telling him we were doing the right thing, when all seasoned advice was to take a more traditional approach. I was a broken record, "You're doing great! You're doing great!"

Beef back rib instructions are scarce on the ground, the economics heavily favors selling "shiners" to maximize the boneless rib eye steaks sold separately. My request for a generously butchered rack lead to several days of controversy at one of my go-to butchers. Finally this 7 lb rack was sold to me "it never happened" without boss approval. I wonder where the optimum is, I may be ruining perfectly good rib eye steak here, but I'm sure looking forward to the result.

When I want to wash my grill, I put it in a metal hot water heater pan (inexpensive at box stores, figure out how to plug hole) to soak. The absolute best instrument for scrubbing the grates is then a scrubbing pad found in the painting section of a hardware store. Much tougher than any kitchen scrubbie.

It's a bit of a drive for me (and I'm not available till May 19) but I could be interested. (Edit: I'm now in CA till September.)

The Three Stooges: Larry vs the Lobster Gumbo

Certain friends want to try grilling at 800 F, once they know it's possible. This is a lack of the self control it takes for a good cook to become great. Or perhaps just a healthy experimental nature? In any case, I won't humor them twice. It looks great, but it doesn't taste as good. Also, I don't know for a fact that the byproducts at these temperatures are more harmful than those at lower temperatures, but this is relatively unexplored territory, medically. I think of the Romans getting lead poisoning from their wine vessels. Or, "What's that new mushroom growing in my yard!" If one simply doesn't know, caution is a reasonable response.

Yes. I don't like my instrumentation to offer opinions. When you buy a high end mountain bike, it may not come with peddles. Too personal a choice. The KK on the other hand arrives good to cook, which I wouldn't change. However, my original KK thermometer is lost in the sea of entropy that is my garage. I use two Tel-Tru thermometers in different ranges.

Exactly as Robert does. And hitting the pieces together is fun. Do it with conviction, as practice for when people are watching. I ended up buying a second charcoal basket, which I store on a terra cotta plant saucer. This way I can set unused CoCo aside without handling it, to use hardwood charcoal for hotter cooks.

VacMaster 4-mil pouches I stock 6x6, 6x12, 8x10 and 10x12. I use both 6" bags all the time, while 1,000 of the larger sizes is a lifetime supply. If I had to pick two sizes I'd go for 6x6 and 8x10, although 6x6 and 10x12 would cover more cases.

VacMaster VP215 Today (April 6, 2016) only, VacMaster is selling (at least in the US) the VP215 for 30% off, using code CHAMP. That comes out to $630, less than I paid for my smaller air pump VP115. I recognize the pecking order here. I love the size of my VP115. The oil pump of the larger VP215 is an extra step but worth it by all accounts. My VacMaster has worked for years in light duty home use. The vacuum is chamber machine league, blowing away any clamp machine. Would a better oil pump create a more extreme vacuum? Likely, but I haven't actually needed this. Would an oil pump survive moisture better, following the above notes? Of course, but I've been careful, and I'm factoring in the expense of replacing my machine against the cost of a several times more expensive machine I wouldn't need to replace. Light duty home use here, and I have other expenses. We still have no problems "processing the hunt" e.g. taking an hour to repack a 3 kilo tin of the best anchovies on earth into 4 anchovy packets. For subjective impressions of quality, any chamber machine beats any clamp machine. I'm comparing with very expensive clamp machines. After this, 4 mil bags beat 3 mil bags. One should move to 4 mil bags before worrying about which chamber machine. Many people covet the VP215 as a step up from my VP115. I also covet expensive machines like the Henkelman. It would take personal experience with a machine failing at a quarter of the price, to make me jump.

BBCode (wikipedia) The one reason I used raw BBCode mode before was to edit the "link text" for URLs, because the default link text used to be the URL itself, hideous and amateur in appearance. That has been fixed, with a second line available in the dialog box to provide the "link text". While I abstractly mourn the loss of a toggle for raw BBCode mode, this is now easier!

On a gas grill many moons ago, the best chicken I made was salted, rotisserie with smoke box. On a Weber even longer ago, the best chicken and duck I made was direct over mesquite lump. (My tastes have changed.) I made many tries with a rotisserie and my KK. Even if cleanup was a push, I'd prefer direct grilling in a rather hot KK over a nearly spent fire, after brining and spatchcocking or further parsing the chicken. And cleanup is not a push. Some of us honestly wish we'd never heard of a rotisserie. But they are fun.

The calculator picks the single temp best suited to one's tastes, if one is going to use a single temp. It's in the nature of the beast that any single temp approach will be inferior to protocols like Tony is exploring. It's a hook shot, he needs English on the ball, because the whites and yolks have different needs.

eBay: 1 Aluminum Disc, 1 1/4" thick x 14 3/4" dia., Mic-6 Cast Tooling Plate, Disk (21.6 lbs, $54 USD) So I noticed while making English Muffins that my custom 1/2" x 15" Baking Steel round was having trouble heating evenly. Copper has a great thermal conductivity but it's very expensive. By cost, aluminum is the most efficient conductor. Some people will make pizza directly on an aluminum plate like this; others have noticed that a blackened, seasoned steel plate radiates better. Think of my stack as component stereo. These disks are actually scraps from cutting holes in aluminum plates, sold for less than one would pay to cut the hole. They need some cleanup, easily accomplished with a power sander and very fine tooth, premium sandpaper. Then rubbing alcohol. It takes lots of thermal mass to turn 400ml of water or ice into steam, for simulating a commercial bread oven in a KK or indoor oven. I use steel chain in a cast iron skillet, loosely following Thomas Keller's advice from The Bouchon Bakery. One of these disks in an appropriate vessel would make an interesting alternative.

I bought two bigger Tru-Tels, with different ranges. A trivial expense and a trivial customization. The stock thermometer is fine.

I was an early adopter of two baskets, to preserve KK lump between low & slows, while swapping in different charcoal for pizza and such. I highly recommend this approach. I keep my spare on a terra cotta plant saucer. The main issue is ash dropping through at rest, not pieces flying out during transfer. It wouldn't mean much to me to make this design change. My two baskets will outlast me, and the area between my KK and my garage gets dirty, then the wind sweeps it clean. Leaves from trees (a mild fire risk, I suppose) are a bigger concern than debris from the KK. However, some people are placing their cookers in pristine environments. There's no reason one needs to make any mess while using a KK, and this change would help, at least for those sales. Before one tastes food from this cooker: "I don't want a mess on our beautiful terrace!" After one tastes food from this cooker: "Wow. Whatever it takes! When can we do this again?" So this is probably a pre-sales question.

I love the independent science project aspect of sous vide. It's part of the scientific tradition that anything true is reproducible. One should be able to reproduce the literature, while pretending that there is no literature. Is there a literature? While I find Serious Eats at times amusing, I really dislike their Cooks Illustrated intellectual ancestry, "We swooped in for a day trying everything once, to debunk a century of tradition!" Yeah, right. They miss so much with their "we won't publish anything till we find the cute twist we can add!" hubris. On the other hand, Modernist Cuisine is a well funded billionaire's hobby, representing years of work that wasn't for the money, rather than a day's work to keep web traffic coming. Do I presume that their fearless leader has a natural gift for cooking? Yes, though perhaps not world class. Nevertheless, this question is science, one shouldn't need a natural gift to reproduce the answer. Yes, sous vide eggs are a question of both time and temperature, because the whites and yolks have different needs. This is discussed in the Modernist Cuisine books to far greater length than we ever will. This web page is a rough summary: The Secret to the Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg It sounds like you're homing in on the same answer. There is likely a unique approach, once one parametrizes for doneness.

A head's up, I didn't realize at first that one could buy 4 mil chamber vacuum sealer pouches. They're not as widely available. In use, I can see no disadvantage whatsoever to 4 mil over 3 mil, and many advantages. They're subjectively far more durable. I've seen 3 mil bags fail because an air bubble pierced in the freezer, causing me to lose chicken stock into a water bath. I've seen 3 mil bags fail because a large salt crystal pierced through, packaging salt cod for a chest freezer. I still use bone guards on occasion (6 mil squares one adds for extra protection) but they're needed much less often. And did I say that after you get used to 4 mil, a 3 mil pouch in a hot sous vide water bath just feels flimsy? They cost about a nickel each, I can't imagine anyone here going through quantities where the unit price becomes an issue. Rather, the main issue is that one buys 1,000 bags at a time. They come in four packs of 250, an easy pallet share if one were so motivated. (I'm too busy to make promises.) I own a VacMaster VP115, and my working set of four bags are 6 x 8, 6 x 12, 8 x 10 and 10 x 12. One could scrimp by leaving out the 6 x 8 and cut down 6 x 12 as needed, but the small bags are very convenient for small items. One wants to standardize on a single bag thickness (4 mil for me) to avoid having to reset the sealing time each use, often forgetting. I also use these bags with a $30 impulse sealer, usually the 6 x 12 size. Liquids, and anything hot, can wreck a chamber machine. One can squeeze/burp nearly all of the air out of a bag, hanging off the impulse sealer, if the contents are wet enough. We put up our year's partially dried tomatoes this way. Having tried absolutely everything for storing stock, I try not to be judgmental in other people's kitchens, "oh yeah, that was me twenty years ago", impulse-sealing a chamber pouch of stock is the ideal storage and reheat solution. (To be fair, other people are just trying to achieve "good enough" and get on with their lives, they're probably thinking that I'm Dennis-grade OCD. But hey, I'm here talking to the cult of Dennis.) Some people will note that a chamber vacuum machine can be used just fine with liquids, if one takes care, and they take umbrage that one wouldn't use a chamber vacuum machine for everything, after ponying up the bucks. I'd love to enter a $1,000 stakes race, filling bags with stock. The impulse sealer is much faster. Pay attention while entering the site, for a 15% coupon, then buy everything on one order: VacMaster > BAGS, ROLLS > CHAMBER VACUUM SEALER POUCHES > 4-MIL

There is no doubt that Dennis thought about everything; he can't help it. Coming from an older design that looked turned on a lathe, the asymmetric shape of a KK looked funny at first to me. It is entirely deliberate, for example to maximize height over the grill. Dennis thought about convection, placing the chimney that far back. (Aaron Franklin, another smoke whisperer of Franklin Barbecue fame, also reworked chimney positions for his designs.) A key factor here is that any KK is far better insulated than other brands in the category. So there simply isn't that much convection, even at high temperatures, compared to other cookers. KKs stabilize, quickly, and one needs and wants less airflow.

Now you should try making your own English muffins. As breads go, they're dead simple, and they taste very, very good made fresh. King Arthur Flour English Muffin Recipes We grind our own flour and use sourdough starter, but these are established habits. One needs to tend the griddle (we used a Baking Steel) and then finish in the oven. Comals like made by La Chamba from black Colombian clay are said to heat more evenly, but I haven't tried this.

A round Baking Steel fits nicely. 16" is biggest, 15" will also fit inside a standard oven. I custom ordered a 1/2" 15" which I'm very happy with. Stovetop, these are crepe pans of the gods, also tortillas, chapati and dosas, any flat bread. They'll also custom order 3/8" thick, though 1/4" thick is fine, just less thermal mass for some applications like scaring the bejeesuz out of a sous vide steak. Ideal for burgers. Baking Steel