Syzygies

Re: Tarpon on Fly Rod Wow. That's not going to fit on the grill, is it?

Re: Emulating Wood burning pizza ovens with KK The flour paste is as thick as possible while well mixed and able to extrude through a nicked corner of a ziplock bag. While getting the hang of it, mix in a cereal bowl? The whole idea is to avoid convection. The smoke pot should rest on the fire. Ideally, at first the fire is entirely under the pot, so all heat also is applied to the wood within. When I light using a MAPP gas torch, I aim the flame under the smoke pot, to get it hot too. (I love MAPP gas. They scent my home gas line so I can detect leaks, and it smells like the dog passed wind. Do they scent MAPP gas? It smells like Italian white truffles.)

Re: Emulating Wood burning pizza ovens with KK I came up with the 2 qt Dutch oven after many experiments, some failed. I tried cooking only with wood, wrong idea unless one has a separate starter fire for making embers away from the food. I tried making my own charcoal: The gases leaving the chamber eventually create enough heat as they burn to maintain the fire that makes the charcoal. This lead me to the design of the smoke pot. In my experience the smoke pot effect is best at lower temperatures, below 300 F. Above 300 F one starts to get a runaway self-sustaining flame, like making charcoal. And the intensity of the flavor, while always more subtle than open wood, gets out of hand at higher temperatures. For making pizza, the first rule of any equipment is "it is what it is". One doesn't heat a house with fake fireplace logs. How does one make the best pizza in a Komodo Kamado? In my experience, I find I want a very stable target pit temperature, ideally so I'm cooking as much as I can with radiant heat. Then, all of the play is in the quality of the dough. Dough is infinitely variable and a lifelong obsession. One can only say one has mastered dough as a way of saying one has given up trying to do better. There's an eGullet thread Modernist Cuisine Baking Steel with some insightful commentary on the differences between ovens, including ceramic yard ovens. Bottom line, our heat source is below, and that's what we've got to work with. There are also instructions on making one's own baking steel. As a future experiment, I'm tempted to have made a round steel disk to go on the upper grill, above pizzas on my main grill, for a very black, close up radiant heat source from above. But of course, this is overworking the problem. Focus on the pizza itself.

Academic version One day while walking downtown, a historian was hit by a bus and was tragically killed. Her soul arrived up in heaven where she was met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter himself. "Welcome to Heaven," said St. Peter. "Before you get settled in though, it seems we have a problem. You see, strangely enough, we've never once had a historian make it this far and we're not really sure what to do with you." "No problem, just let me in" said the woman. "Well, I'd like to, but I have higher orders. What we're going to do is let you have a day in Hell and a day in Heaven and then you can choose where you want to spend eternity" the Saint replied. "Actually, I think I've made up my mind.....I prefer to stay in Heaven". "Sorry, we have rules....." And with that St. Peter put the scholar in an elevator and it went down-down-down to Hell. The doors opened and the historian found herself stepping out into a beautiful seminar room. Down the hall was a lavishly appointed lounge, complete with a small but useful reference library. Standing in front of her were all her former colleagues, a veritable Who's Who of the historian world, all cheering for her. They ran up and kissed her on both cheeks and they talked about old times. They had marvelous historical discussions trashing post-modernism, and then retired to the faculty club for an excellent steak and lobster dinner. She met the Devil, who was actually a really nice guy. And although he was a theorist, he showed a real interest in her work. They talked and joked into the wee hours of the morning. The historian was having such a good time that before she knew it, it was time to leave. Everybody shook her hand and waved good-bye as she got on the elevator. The elevator went up-up-up and opened back up at the Pearly Gates where St. Peter was waiting for her. "Now it's time to spend a day in Heaven" he said. So the historian spent the next 24 hours lounging around on the clouds and playing the harp and singing. She had a great time and before she knew it, her 24 hours were up and St. Peter came and got her. "So, you've spent a day in Hell and you've spent a day in Heaven. Now you must choose your eternity" he said. The historian paused for a second and then replied, "well, I never thought I'd say this. I mean, Heaven has been really great and all, but I think I had a better time in Hell." So St. Peter escorted her to the elevator and again the scholar went down-down-down back to Hell. When the doors of the elevator opened she found herself standing in a desolate wasteland covered in garbage and filth. She saw that her colleagues were dressed in rags and were picking up garbage and putting it in sacks for the evening meal. They barely paused in their work long enough to grumble and tell her that they thought her research was second rate. The Devil came up to her and put his arm around her and laughed at her. "I don't understand," stammered the historian, "yesterday I was here and there was a library and a faculty club and we ate lobster and we talked about my research and had a great time. Now all there is a wasteland of garbage and all my colleagues look miserable and hate me." The Devil looked at her and grinned, "that's because yesterday we were interviewing you, but today you're faculty."

Re: Hell explained What a great version! The original pales by comparison: Hellfire (Snopes)

Re: New BB32 Autumn Nebula coming to Rochester NY Yes, Bryce Bayer. There is also a Bruce Bayer, to whom this invention is sometimes attributed in error. Yep, same here. Night and day difference. "Quinn The Eskimo" was written and sung by Bob Dylan, and covered by Manfred Mann. In my errant youth I took it as a mark of integrity to prefer originals; the Manfred Mann version is actually quite good. Here, as a good-hearted member of his community, Dennis adopted an abandoned group of skilled workers (formerly making POSKs). I mistook his early efforts as copies; I wanted Dylan. Luckily I got over this. Dennis is just plain smarter and more dedicated, and the KK is now far better than any competing ceramic cooker. The POSK did help us to realize that this category is important to us, and we wanted the best. I wish I knew how to make this call the first time. For example, why spend $100 then $200 then $400 on headphones, when you could spend $700 all at once and get a phenomenal pair? But one never knows what matters without making experiments first.

Re: New BB32 Autumn Nebula coming to Rochester NY My hometown! My dad moved there from Maine to work at Kodak: Bayer filter.

Re: Square pizza stone for bread? Wow, great idea. I'd heard about kiln shelves for pizza, but forgotten. A 16" x 16" x 1" tile looks like a perfect place to start. Lopping 1" off each corner takes as much room as a 14" x 16" rectangle each way, and a 14" x 16" rectangle does fit each way. Any idea how easily I can cut the material? A tile cutter, perhaps.

Does anyone have experience with square pizza stones in a KK? I'm baking bread regularly in mine, and a square stone would be the difference between two (bâtard) loaves and three. (My neighbors with chickens trade eggs for bread, so this is a matter of some importance.) I'm thinking that since I wait till the fire is fairly settled, and the KK fairly heat-soaked (a few hours), the corners nearing the sides of the KK is not a big deal? Making cardboard mockups, either a 14" x 16" or a 15" x 15" stone would fit nicely, both with just over 21" diagonals. Or one could go larger, lopping the corners. Fibrament-D is a source I trust, that will cut custom sizes.

Re: Roasted Corn

Re: KK & Korin Konro... I've seen binchotan charcoal in use indoors in sake pubs in Japan. Amazing stuff. I've made charcoal in small batches; one could learn to make a binchotan equivalent. Ultimately, what matters is carbonization, density, and form factor. The extruded coconut lump that Dennis sells is not so far off on the first two measures, and a Japanese pull saw would be ideal for adjusting the form factor. The price of binchotan charcoal ($6/lb now at same site as your binchotan grill) helps to illustrate the value that Dennis delivers with his charcoal. Note that any charcoal this dense is hard to light; use a propane (or hotter, MAPP gas) torch. One would need experience with both charcoals, using this binchotan grill, to know for sure.

Re: Steam for Bread Dennis does make a 19" baking stone. Perhaps I need one!

Re: Where is the smoke ? That is very interesting. I'm torn, I believe it has too many holes to prevent convection burning the wood. But might be intermediate in effect between open chunks and a smoke pot? I priced stainless steel tubes and couldn't figure a way that wasn't $200 with the caps.

Re: Meat slicer advice With really good knives kept really sharp, one can't come close to sliced meat, but sometimes close enough. One does better with a vertical surface to press against. I'm tempted to go into the shop and make an L-shaped cutting board, with a vertical wall at one end to push against. Would it work to provide 1/8" ridges front and back, so a knife leaning against these guides would slice uniform 1/8" slices? An experimental question. Of course each slice would be slower than a machine (and thicker), but taking account of cleanup and storage costs this could still win for some of us. I just served a small tray of eating chorizo from Spanish Table in Berkeley, bought presliced at a significant markup. The unsliced stick I bought last time just wasn't as good, but this time we ran out instantly and more would have been good. Some of use would never buy a full scale slicer because our needs are limited to moments like these, but still yearn for a way to take our knife work the distance.

Re: Where is the smoke ? Yes, I only use this with coconut extruded charcoal from Komodo Kamado. I've never come remotely close to running out of fuel on a 24 hour cook. My idea of a "24 hour" cook gets shorter with experience, I may not have fallen into the "quick brisket" camp but they have a point one should understand, and my longest cooks revolve around the question of serving time, and how late I'm willing to stay up before putting the meat on. "18 hour" cook may be more like it.

Re: Steam for Bread I'm back at bread experiments. I bought two rolls of stainless steel chain at Home Depot; thanks for the tip. The skillet and chain together weigh 28.4 lbs, more than enough to turn ice into 350 grams of steam. It turns out that one wants steam at the very beginning, so there's no need to feed in water as one bakes. Ice is nearly as efficient as water and far more convenient. My preferred setup is now pizza stone on main grill, and steam skillet directly on the charcoal basket, the other grills removed. One can then throw a piece of ice onto the chains through the main grill hinged door, which I've never used in my life up till now. I then close down the intake and top vents for a few minutes, to trap the steam. The fire resumes just fine later. The KK cooks by radiant heat to a greater extent than an indoor oven. I moved to the main grill to actually get further from the walls, and I'm baking at 400 F with similar effect to an indoor oven at 460 F. Others have had this experience, adjusting baking to the KK. Does anyone have a good guess as to the internal volume of a KK? I'm guessing in the neighborhood of 140 liters, about the same as an indoor oven. Water expands by 1600x as it turns to steam, so Bouchon Bakery's advice to use 350 grams of water will produce 560 liters of steam, enough to fill the KK four times over. Yes, one feels steam rushing out, but there is steam left to do the job. The bread shown is 650g total flour: 40% red winter wheat and 12% rye freshly ground and sieved to 82% extraction, and 48% white flour. It is 71% hydration (baker's percentages), 15% sourdough leaven and 2% salt (both by flour weight), 1/4 tsp yeast, and 40 ppm of ascorbic acid (to help the gluten in the "green" freshly ground flour). Bulk rise 3:20, proof rise 2:30, bake for 30 minutes. (I use a speadsheet to generate each recipe from this data.)

Smoke pots Warning: Any tentative experiments with this approach must take place while the women are out of town. There's a "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" aspect to smoke. Men have been on the road their whole lives searching for great 'cue, and like love itself, all too often to be disappointed. The usual tipoff? The smoke, or lack thereof. We learn to seek out intense smoke. Women have a more refined palate, and are open to smoke as one more seasoning, to balance in a great dish. They break down and let us buy a yard oven (oh the lucky few of us that get to be indoor dogs, they keep the rest of us out in the yard and the garage and the shop, better than letting us have any designs on the house itself), only to then wonder if dinner is going to taste like a forest fire for the rest of their lives. Smoke has many components, good and bad. When a chunk of wood burns out in the open, one gets all of these, good and bad. Creosote in particular is rather nasty, though a faint tinge does reassure us menfolk that there was smoke. One needs to read up on classic barbecue technique, as used at scale by dedicated professionals. Smoke comes from wood as a fuel source, but that wood is burned down to embers in a separate fire, then transferred to the cooking pit. How are we to replicate this? My approach, after many experiments, is to drill three 1/8" holes into the bottom of a two quart cast iron Dutch oven, fill it with wood chunks and chips, seal on the top with flour water paste, and nestle this smoke pot into the charcoal. Light the charcoal under the smoke pot with a weed burner propane torch, and let the fire come up to the desired cooking temperature. The smoke pot itself will get going in the same interval. Easiest to mix and apply the flour paste in a ziplock bag with the corner nicked (poor man's piping bag, as for filling ravioli). Many indigenous cultures use flour paste to improve the fit on rickety cookware, this is not a new idea. Here, we want absolutely no convection through the Dutch oven, even if the lid gets knocked. Others have improved the idea of a "smoke pot" to a "smoke bomb": A piece of stainless steel pipe with screw on end caps, and a few holes in the middle. Pricey, but no flour paste. Avoid other metals that aren't appropriate around fire and food. This approach is like distillation. Armagnac tastes better than moonshine in part because only some components are allowed through in the distillation process. Here, the wood releases gases, some of which burn, but the wood never actually catches fire. Note the substantial quantity of smoking wood involved; unless burned down to embers, one never uses that much wood out in the open. In any case, Laurie actually bought me our Komodo Kamado (and I do get the occasional say inside the house), but the rest of this parable holds true. I do not have permission to generate smoke any other way, ever again. She can taste the difference, and so can everyone else.

Re: Sacramento, CA needs sample box of CoCo Char I'm in Concord, CA with a hoard of the stuff. Do you ever come this way? If not, UPS ground would have it there in a day (once I'm back from New York, late this week).

Re: Best vacuum packer? (FoodSaver alternatives?) VacMaster VacStrip bags These are odd looking, but they work, and they're heat safe for sous vide or "simmer in pouch". Nearly all non-chamber machines need to use bags with channels, for the air to get out. The usual approach is to groove channels into the bag itself. These bags are instead identical to chamber bags, with an extra layer of inner material providing air evacuation channels. The result is stronger. I'd still add their bone guard sheets to an order; the Cyclone pulls a tighter vacuum than a FoodSaver, so bones poking a hole in the bag becomes more of a potential problem.

Re: New KK Site is up and running.. I ordered a spare charcoal basket from Dennis years ago. It wasn't $0.08 but it wasn't much. I highly recommend a spare basket, to handle "good" charcoal like extruded coconut as little as possible between cooks, alternating with one's preferred hardwood lump. I store my spare charcoal basket on a terra cotta plant saucer.

Re: Best vacuum packer? (FoodSaver alternatives?) This is a good point; everyone should decide for themselves whether they want to commit the space to a chamber vacuum machine, and whether they can live with a different set of restrictions (no hot liquids, for example). I don't want to commit the space. I am charmed by a compact, easily carried and easily stored unit that gets the job done. (A key part of this for me are the VacStrip bags, superior to FoodSaver bags. They're the equal of heat-safe chamber bags, with an additional inner layer to provide vacuum channels.) Let's make this a fair comparison. Many people are happy with clamp vacuum machines that are 1/3 the price of the Cyclone 30. Many people are also happy with the least expensive chamber vacuum machines on the market. Were I buying a chamber machine now, it would probably be the MiniPack MVS 20 for around $1,600. Its Busch oil pump is spoken of with high regard by those who distinguish makes and types of pumps. That's around 5x the price of the Cyclone 30. The cheapest chamber machines are around 5x the price of FoodSaver level clamp machines. Everyone should decide for themselves, on space, weight, price, restrictions, and what constitutes acceptable quality. Of course the price intervals will overlap. Let's also not forget that we're here because the Komodo Kamado for us defines quality in a ceramic cooker. There are less expensive alternatives, and we've concluded that the differences are well worth the price.

MiniPack Cyclone blowout sale So I wrote MiniPack to ask about the Cyclone 30. They're no longer actively promoting non-chamber machines, finding it too difficult to educate users on liquids. They want to concentrate on their core business of chamber vacuum machines. I just ordered another Cyclone 30 for my other home, at their blowout sale price, just over $300 with shipping and CA tax. [email protected][/email:11cmmtpc] Every now and then I do run a damp paper towel around the gasket, if an oddly wrinkled bag is having trouble getting a vacuum started. The direction do say to press both sides as one starts. This is nevertheless by far my favorite such machine; hopefully my second order speaks for itself.

Re: Best vacuum packer? (FoodSaver alternatives?) PayPal heard nothing from the guy (I did, an apology for being busy) and refunded my money. Whew! However, the boilerplate in the refund included the message: Huh. Apparently, PayPal gave me money back that was in the seller's account. We've also experienced sellers folding without funds; Amex invariably sides with the customer, while other credit cards side with "the man". I'm not sure I trust PayPal for any amount I'm not willing to lose. A conservative rule: It's worth paying more, if they accept Amex. Dennis would be the one exception: We had no concerns using PayPal to buy our Komodo Kamado. This is squarely Dennis's reputation, not PayPal's. I'd hand Dennis cash, and sleep like a baby that night. Bottom line: VakShak doesn't have their act together.

Re: Pimento Wood Chunks It grows like a weed in warm enough climates. I tried growing a tree in Concord, CA (with jerk chicken on my mind) and the frost killed it. I was so hoping you'd found some! A workaround is to toss some allspice (available cheap in bulk at e.g. Indian grocers like Vik's in Berkeley) onto the fire.

I could have used that kind of charm in my single years