Syzygies

We have found no advantage to temperatures lower than max'ing out the dial on the dehydrator. Variables include slice sizes, spacing for airflow, and salt (be uniform in every possible way, or tend more frequently, pulling some pieces early). Think eight hours, perhaps fewer or more. We manage to go to a morning farmer's market, and have completed tomatoes in the bowl in the fridge before bedtime. The fruit roll liners simplify cleanup (and prying off overly dry fruit) but aren't strictly necessary. We soak the trays outdoors in one of those blue barrels you'd see filled with beer and ice at a large party, then hose them off onto the lawn, at which point they look basically clean but generally get a ride in the dishwasher. I've also managed to clean them indoors in a NYC apartment, fussier work but not out of reach.

Some pieces of tomato will dry more than others, despite best efforts. Pressing into a bowl and storing in the fridge overnight puts off the work of packaging till more convenient, and allows the wetter pieces to moisten the drier pieces. If one presses hard into the bowl, enough juice will form to nearly cover contents. This is a good rule of thumb if one hasn't weighed before and after, to judge a roughly 4:1 reduction. I own a Vitamix which is ideal for grinding rub ingredients, and I've owned other primitive grain mills. We settled on the Wolfgang Mock grain mill which uses millstones, and produces fresh flours of a similar consistency (after sieving out bran) to what one buys. There are two analogies here with coffee mills. First, many people use blade grinders (think: VitaMix) for coffee but others strongly prefer a good burr grinder (think: Mock), and for some applications such as espresso one is forced to use the better technology. Second, many people think nothing of grinding coffee beans fresh each morning because it is a drug. Grinding flour is no more work with the right equipment, one just doesn't have the drug-induced motivation.

I started out literally following Tom Colichio's recipe from "Think Like a Chef" (more or less same as http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-tomatoes-and-garlic ) then went through a phase where we roasted in a giant cazuela in our KK-predecessor. Eventually we settled down to processing 80-120 lbs of tomatoes per year in a dehydrator (two stacks of eight trays each, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CEM3WM, lined with fruit roll trays http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-LSS-2-6-FD-28JX-FD-61WHC-FD-75PR/dp/B00004W4V9/ smeared with olive oil). We haven't opened a can of tomatoes in about a decade. I'll admit I'm fussy, but I have a gag reaction when I taste canned tomatoes in a $60 restaurant meal, which is one reason we don't eat out much. Canned tomatoes, even the $6 cans from Italy, are atrocious compared to home "roasted" tomatoes. I'm not even a fan of home canning, which made sense before chest freezers but not now. My advice here: Go as fancy as you like, as long as you have the patience to put up your entire tomato supply for the year. Doing something precious for 10% of your supply, and eating out of cans for the other 90% of your supply, doesn't make sense. We were driven back to simplifying our procedure so we could process 25 lbs at a time with minimal effort. Our procedure: Bring a giant pot of water to a boil. Wash tomatoes, blanch in batches 40-60 seconds and cool, to loosen skins. Cool. Skin and core, slice into uniform slices and place loosely (leaving airflow) on dehydrator trays. Salt lightly, e.g. 1/2 tsp per tray. Dry to taste, press into a bowl to stabilize juices. Weigh 225g or so into small vacuum chamber bags, seal with $30 impulse sealer by burping out air. Freeze in chest freezer for year. We aim for a 4:1 reduction, so two pounds of tomatoes yields one packet, ideal for many sauces over a pound of fresh noodles (we grind our own flour for this, our most common dinner including tonight). By feel these are "gooshy" but not dry, and will release juice to just cover, after pressing into a bowl before making packets. This process improves tomato flavor, just as drying other foods such as mushrooms intensifies flavors. Some years we just don't like how fresh tomato salads taste, but these partly dried tomatoes are still excellent. Concentrating fresh tomatoes by cooking down in a sauce is an entirely different effect, and not as good. I'm baffled that I don't know of restaurants that lay in a year's supply this way, selling off the excess e.g. at Eataly. This is such an easy way to gain a dramatic advantage in one's cooking.

Click on the green up arrow in the bottom right corner of his post. The counter says "1" now; that would be me. I did also order one.

Well, Baking Steel now sells round baking steels, in 14", 15" and 16" diameters, perfect for the KK. http://bakingsteel.com/shop/baking-steel-round-16/ I would revise my remarks; baking on steel is more flexible that one might think. One cannot indulge a mindless obsession with very hot fires with anything other than thin crust pizza. However, there's a way to do almost anything on steel successfully, if one adapts one's cooking, free from crippling preconceptions. Whatever it is, figure out a low enough temperature that the inside cooks before the outside burns, and don't worry that the temperature sounds wrong. There's a lot going on that temperature alone doesn't capture. One tastes the history of the fire in anything that comes out of a KK. Of late we've become interested in the classic methods for frying burgers. For so many reasons this should be happening on the KK. This round baking steel would be perfect here. My experience is with The Big! which is 1/2" thick: http://bakingsteel.com/shop/the-big/ The rounds now on sale are clearly 1/4" thick, considering their stated weights. With a choice I'd buy 1/2" but I'm sure these rounds would be very interesting to have. The cost of 1/2" doesn't double because most of the expense is surface prep.

Elgin, TX. Awesome brisket.

I've fit six rather large pork butts at once on my 23". I could imagine wanting the 32" for a slew of spareribs, but one can get quite a few onto the 23".

Apple goes with anything. I only use other woods for a stronger flavor. Apple is the "least disliked" smoking wood, and yet enormously appealing.

I also have two charcoal baskets for my 23". In one I keep leftover KK extruded coconut lump, and in the other my everyday charcoal. Minimizes breakage from handling the partially used charcoal.

Yes, Butt + Picnic = Whole Shoulder. At least half a dozen different muscles each, and I like the picnic every bit as much as the butt. Rather that doing two butts (or picnics) I'll request a whole shoulder, which makes for a nicely monumental presentation. It's pre-order at my usual haunts. If you get someone new, they'll likely go lowest common denominator, and assume you want a butt. So I usually review Dem Bones with them to make sure they know what I mean. At Berkeley Bowl once, they tried to hand me a Cryovac'd pair of butts as a whole shoulder. I caught it in the store, there was an odd symmetry. Picnic doesn't look that much like butt.

Welcome!

I had been using a BBQ Guru where possible for close to a decade. Then, last year, it broke and I didn't like any current feature set (I want an oven dial, period) so I didn't buy a replacement. I'm very happy with all manner of cooks, including overnight, flying manually. This is coming from someone who was hooked on automation, so I do know what I'm missing. One does have to think more about manual control; I like that. It takes time for fires to stabilize, and this involves a predictable drift, so one has to be around to make adjustments for a few hours. The Guru is great if one would rather run errands, go to bed, etc., but it isn't necessary. I've been playing with ways to fix the air inflow, to make the outflow adjustments more understandable and predictable. For example, to heat soak my KK several hours at 400 F for bread (this acts hotter in the actual bake because of radiant heat), I use just the empty Guru port as my only air intake, and count half turns for the dome hat. It takes me three or four half turns to reach 400 F, then fewer, ultimately one half turn, to maintain 400 F.

I remember stories of a Florida Hurricane followed by an extensive power outage, and a ceramic cooker ran 24/7 preserving the contents of the neighborhood chest freezers. In California, we have an on-demand water heater, and a KK. In the worst case (an earthquake drops the neighboring red states into the sea) we plan to trade fire for water.

We fire up our KK as often for bread as anything. Always try to use what's left of the fire somehow; here, a great way to blacken a red pepper for bean soup. Tonight, a ribs snack to go with fresh corn and rocket pasta, with our neighbors.

I was a screen/parchment paper pizza guy, but we ditched all this on our most recent recipe revamp. There's a knack to developing some skin (not too much or too little) on the outside of each dough ball as it rests. YMMV as this depends totally on dough recipe, house humidity. But get this right, and use the skin as the underside, and one is in a different world for transferring pizzas on peels. Second tip is to use generous flour on one's board. I had thought this was an amateur move (and parchment paper isn't?) but I see it everywhere. I was just in Istanbul where they make the most astounding pizza and calzone equivalents (Pide, Börek, etc. Thin crusts with stellar fillings), and they might as well have been assembling in a kid's sandbox filled with flour. Far from a beginner move, it allowed use of a supple dough that beginners dare not try. I do use pizza screens as an emergency maneuver, both with pizza and my regular bread baking. If the stone turns out too hot (radiant heat is at best loosely links to air temperature) I can always quickly switch to a screen, and put it on the upper grill. Now I'm closer to the dome walls, and too much radiant heat from above becomes my new problem. Juggling act...

http://komodokamado.com/forum/topic/2453-everyday-misc-cooking-photos-w-details/?p=45500 I used metal hose clamps.

Yeah, I've never been very good at subscribing to conventional wisdom. These are hardwood briquettes from the Lazzari warehouse in South San Francisco. They're the same wood as their hardwood lump, same source. I'm not sure what they use for binder but it's unobtrusive. The lump on the other hand varies radically in size with a high proportion of crumbs too small to easily use. The lump burns smokier, and is far more likely to leave a sooty taste on food. The briquettes burn very predictably (their geometry induces a consistent "sphere packing" with nice airflow), which is what I need for high heat cooks such as bread, pizza, or chicken. I use exclusively KK extruded lump from Dennis for low cooks. I've priced better conventional lump charcoal for high cooks, and the conclusion is to either stick with what I'm doing, or to just buy charcoal from Dennis for everything. Even if the top Naked Whiz recommendations did ship to California (will this become an issue for Dennis?), they price out similar to buying from Dennis in quantity. To present my "fussy" credentials, my only low & slow smoke source is a "smoke pot" consisting of a two quart cast iron dutch oven with a few 1/8" holes in the bottom, filled with wood chips and chunks, and the lid sealed on each time with flour paste. I tried the REI stainless steel pot with clamping hardware, and I could taste the difference; I threw it out. Open wood tastes like a house fire to me. So if I claim that I prefer the taste and performance of a certain brand of briquette over their equivalent lump, ask yourself why you believe what you believe? BBQ is a religion, but one doesn't have to take all the scriptures literally. Honestly, I pride myself in always being able to take either side of a debate, but I can't even remember how the other side goes, anymore.

My old torch was looking pretty ragged, so I replaced it. I ended up keeping both, and attaching hose clamps to each, for each in a "dueling banjos" (has anyone else seen Steve Martin use two banjos as a slide rule?) approach to quick lights.

Yeah, my ancient BBQ Guru finally failed, so we've been going jungle too. I'm leaning BBQ Guru again, as much as anything so I can standardize the yard (deck LED lights, etc) on 12 volts. I'm sure the 5 volt Stoker would manage just fine on a 6 volt battery, but I don't want the multistandard hassle. So good to know 10 cfm is a nice choice. However, my main concern is freeing myself to go off for hours of errands while holding the fire at 400 F to 450 F to heat soak for bread. Saying 10 cfm is plenty for 225 F is far from the same thing. Stoker probes are rated to 450 F, BBQ Guru probes to 475 F, so worrying about cfm at the hot end of the range is a reasonable question. Does anyone have direct experience maintaining a fire at 450 F with a 10 cfm fan, either brand?

I don't get flare ups. It took me several reads to confirm that no one on this thread is reporting actual flare ups. Are people using drip pans as a precautionary measure, or do they find it necessary and prefer the effect on the bird? I cook direct, no drip pan. I sometimes spatchcock, but more often spatchcock then separate the legs, for a chance to cook the legs longer than the breast. This depends on the proportions of the bird. What temperature? Ah, there's the rub. We all have an astonishing reliance on a single number to describe the state of our cooker. This reasoning is appropriate while driving: How fast am I going? How much gas is left? This reasoning is less appropriate while cooking. The current temperature of the air inside a KK is only a partial description of the KK's state. The temperature history over the past several hours, together with a sense of how the fire is doing, is a more complete description of the KK's state. Food cooks in the KK through a combination of the effects of hot air, and the effects of radiant heat. The "why" in why food tastes better from the KK than an indoor oven is largely the radiant heat effect. The "why" in why a KK is worth several times its competitors is largely how well it enables cooking with radiant heat. Cooking indirect, if one ignores the radiant heat effect and starts as soon as the air reaches the desired temperature, one might as well be roasting in an indoor oven. Cooking direct, the radiant heat at this point is mostly from the fire below, and one might as well be broiling in an indoor oven, while hanging upside down. On the other hand, if one starts a fire as early as possible, and cooks on the trailing edge of a viable fire, one is cooking mostly with radiant heat, coming more evenly from all directions. The air temperature will make no sense; it will mock our desire to believe in a single number. But watch how the food cooks. I'm used to cooking both bread and chicken at air temperatures of 450 F to 500 F. Lately we've moved to holding the air temperature at 400 F for several hours, till the fire is waning, then baking the bread. Last weekend, I then removed the bread hardware (a stack of baking stones, cast iron skillet filled with SS chains for initial steam) and baked our chicken. 400 F under these conditions behaved nearly like 475 F with a younger fire, only better. The bread had a thicker crust without burning, and the chicken had a crispy skin while cooked perfectly through, with no need to turn the pieces to avoid burning. So why do we believe in air temperatures? Certainly, hardware such as a BBQ Guru depends solely on air temperature. And I used my KK thermometer, holding it steady at 400 F for hours, to achieve the effect I'm describing. But that's with a mental model of the interaction of air temperature and time. I'm told that when one plays a pipe organ in a church, the sound comes out at various delays, many seconds later. One adapts, but one can't simply walk up and play as if it is an electric piano. Same with a KK?

By coincidence I just did this with a hunk of sirloin. My butcher called it Chateaubriand but they were liberally using the classic not modern definition, the sirloin closest to the filet, tougher but more flavorful. Some customers should feel hoodwinked, but this was exactly what I wanted. We made a marinade of bruised rosemary, smashed garlic, and olive oil. Next time we'd add some lemon zest. We warmed the packet sous vide to 138 F for 2 hours, then briefly grilled at high heat to establish the exterior texture and flavor. Using some fat in a sous vide packet is an updated version of the classic French "confit". One can reproduce duck confit this way; the only difference is the fat doesn't taste rancid. Non-traditionalists prefer this modern twist on a classic. The effect was like a great steak, almost tender like stew or prime rib. There are those who theorize that more than an hour is too much, because the meat goes to mush. With tougher cuts one wants this effect, at least a bit. Be aware of the issue, and tune each cut separately to taste. 138 F is also a matter of taste. This was medium rare, but unquestionably cooked through. Plenty of people would pick 134 F, some would go even to 140 F.

!!! Was this bossly influence, and/or did you bribe them with ribs? My BBQ Guru finally died, and I'm on the fence whether to go BBQGuru again, or Stoker. Anyone know both well, first-hand, with a strong opinion? The 5 volts is nearly a deal-breaker, though it would help if the Stoker recovers with all settings intact after a middle-of-the-night power outage. Or, if it will accept 6 volts as a proxy for 5 volts. I like to run off a battery, as California power is flaky in the summer.

So I have sous vide equipment in addition to my KK cooker. A marriage that works well: If I"m already using the KK to bake bread, crank it up afterwards. Meanwhile, have steak in the sous vide bath at 134 F or 136 F (to taste) for an hour or more. This really helps challenging but flavorful cuts like flank steak. Now briefly risk incineration in the KK at a high temp to sear, for perfect quick steak dinner. Another marriage that works well: It was actually Laurie's idea to spend the money on the KK. She saw how we loved our first crude approximation. No convincing needed either way.

Thanks, Johnny. People don't realize the hot/cold issue. It has percolated into the dogma of how one "does" sous vide. Yes, but only because one must protect one's equipment. The same plain (not textured) chamber vacuum bags work spectacularly well in a $30 impulse sealer if one has decent manual dexterity (as cooks tend to have), and there is enough liquid in the bag. I routinely put away stock and tomatoes to freeze this way. I'd gladly participate in a $1,000 stakes race putting up thirty packets of stock this way; no one can keep up with me on the impulse sealer, waiting for a chamber vacuum packer to cycle. It's a great bonus that one can transition from conventional to sous vide methods in the same cook while hot, using an impulse sealer. Of course, I still crave a true chamber vacuum packer, with oil pump. It can do things no other sealer can do.

I believe Surly Table only carries stainless steel pans. One can buy carbon steel pans in larger sizes from other sources such as http://www.spanishtable.com/. True paella should be fairly thin (think Italian pizza rather than Chicago pizza). I own four sizes of carbon steel pans, and only use the largest, for which I had to saw off the handles in order to close the KK. Spanish technique would be over an open fire at the beach, and good only if very well executed or there is lots of wine. I saute ingredients with the KK open and guests enjoying the outside with me, then bake. Purists would cringe at the "bake" part but in the case of the KK it works better and contributes more fire flavor. Like all things this affects the amount of liquid to use, which one can't possibly explain in a post, one has to just learn. Bomba rice is different, etc. etc.