Syzygies

Re: you've seen a lamb shank, now look at my beef shank! I didn't say anything, not wanting to jinx your cook, but I've bought beef shank for stew. Specifically, for Robert Delf's Sichuan braised beef noodles, if anyone remembers that book. His Dan Dan noodles rock, using the leftover broth. I combine the two recipes. Even with a many hour wet braise, there simply isn't enough articulation of the flesh, enough dissolvable non-protein interwoven with the flesh, to make the kind of braise one dreams of. Barbecuing adds wonderful elements that a wet braise misses, but I've never seen barbecue perform miracles that were impossible using braise techniques. The Dan Dan noodles were in fact quite tasty, but using this cut is a missed opportunity, unless you're either poor and someone gave you the meat, or you broke down the side of beef and believe in using everything. Not to be harsh, just saying... I have long dreamed of roasting a beef clod, the 20+ lb answer to the question "you think that's a shoulder? How small was that animal, whatever it was?" Yet I never do, tomorrow will be lamb shoulder.

Every day cooking pictures n67213 n67214 Oh wait! Do I have the right thread?

Re: My KK has arrived!! Great account! You're bringing back all of our "first day" smiles.

Re: Lighting Looftlighter Thanks! I'm intrigued. I can see having both a Looftlighter and a Mapp torch. For low and slow I always use a smoke pot. Part of setup is nestling the smoke pot over the middle of the charcoal, and getting a small fire to start first right under the smoke pot. Nothing beats a Mapp torch for this specific task, which heats up the smoke pot as an incidental benefit. I can imagine what I'd do if the Looftlighter was my only option, but it would be more awkward. Two quart cast iron dutch oven, 3 1/8" holes in bottom, filled with chunks and/or chips of smoking wood, lid sealed on with flour paste. This is far more wood than one ever uses, going jungle, and the effect is simply different. We cannot conceive of going back.

Re: Lighting Looftlighter

Direct bird over remains of the fire I go direct, after a four hour brine in 1/2 cup sea salt, 1/3 cup sugar per gallon water. I wait till the fire has died down but the KK is still 500 F. The only part of "spatchcock" that has survived for me is cutting out the backbone. One day I forgot why I spatchcocked, and I haven't since. I quarter the bird. Less drama, carving later, but so what? This leaves the option of taking off the breasts sooner, but I've never needed different cooking times if I size the bird right. I like how quartering creates more roasting surface area. Where the spatchcock form comes into its own is indoors in a shallow pan, again at 500 F, salt, pepper and oil the bird over a bed of rosemary, lemon peel and garlic cloves. Pour in wine as one cooks and make a sauce later from the pan drippings and the garlic. The point here is the bones face down, taking the heat. This also favors the direct fire approach in a KK.

Re: morel site When I click on that link, all sorts of crap opens in addition to the intended Morel site. If he's using free web hosting, without regard to all the "worms" that lets in, how do I know his actual morels aren't also riddled with worms? (They do look beautiful, but would I give a credit card to such an infested web server? Not likely.)

Does Greek Easter count? n67186 A pair of butts for a friend's party. (I ordered a shoulder, but the butcher got the week wrong. My friend had arranged a caterer, but an emergency caused the caterer to cancel. So I got the call.)

Re: Pallet share SF East Bay, CA I'll take ten boxes. On principle. One should hoard this stuff. I stand by my original review that the batch years ago that disappointed Dennis was actually just fine. But the new stuff is really spectacular, best of category. And one hasn't lived until one bangs two sticks together to break them both in half. This takes some force.

Re: Best vacuum packer? (FoodSaver alternatives?) Yeah, we have that one, it's their best one. If it's going to fail, hope it does within warranty as their customer service does its best to compensate for their build quality. Replace the gaskets regularly. Wet them if they're old and you didn't take preceding advice. Press down a little to start the vacuum. Make sure the sealing area is very clean, as anything will disrupt their microscopic seal. I still want to hurl mine into the yard every now and then, and I'm said to be good with objects. I don't like this object. For liquids I've taken to using inexpensive chamber vacuum bags, directly sealed on a $60 impulse sealer that makes a spectacular 4mm seal. I drop the bag over the sealing bar so nearly all the air is on one side, nearly all the liquid is on the other, smooth out the sealing area so there's only the faintest liquid between the plastic layers (not enough to make any noise on sealing) and seal, holding the sealer down a few seconds afterwards for the seal to cool. This is great e.g. for stocks. A 1/4 tsp bubble doesn't bother me. Even a chamber-sealed sous vide pouch will off-gas some bubbles while cooking. I chose bags rated for cooking food; if one is already invested in unrated bags, let sleeping dogs lie. There is a difference, but it isn't worth a debate.

Re: Komodo Kamado Safe / Practical Cookware Yep. My favorite in this category is a large cazuela. It lives in the garage when not in use. Awesome for example for brined salmon over a bed of supermarket basil. Or roasting tomatoes, that sort of thing.

Re: Grill design mod from forum feedback No the coals are low, but not out. It doesn't surprise me that others don't bother. I've made KK chicken perhaps 40 times, for an audience that isn't shy about telling me which version they like better. There's one chicken source within driving range that they like, and my roasting technique is all about the skin and the smoke taste coming out a certain way. The moral of the story: Please your family, and don't be afraid to experiment! There's no one right way.

Re: Grill design mod from forum feedback Sure, you can grill without heat soaking, but if your roasting you will have far better results if you let it heat up. Otherwise, your getting all your heat from below rather than even heat from all sides. I'd add to this that once heat-soaked, one can get a decent cook out of a fire that is nearly spent, with the advantage that the smoke taste is very clean. Our basic roast chicken is brined 4-6 hours in 1/2 cup sea salt, 1/3 cup sugar per gallon water. We make up the brine in a Cambro in advance, so it's cold when the bird goes in, in quarters. I then light a fire about two hours before serving time, and hold it at 450 F. The chicken quarters cook nicely on the main grill in the last half hour, less time than I'd expect using an indoor oven. I turn once and get a great skin, no burning. This wouldn't work if the fire was still raging, no matter what the grill thermometer reads. Except for an innocuous binder, Lazzari hardwood lump and Lazzari hardwood briquets are the same wood, same source. I'm coming to the heretical conclusion that the briquets "ash over" more quickly and uniformly, for a cleaner taste when roasting. I added one piece of lump to last night's chicken, and I could taste the difference. We've considered just using KK extruded coconut charcoal for everything. It would be an economic decision; we never eat in restaurants.

Re: Grill design mod from forum feedback The pictures aren't loading for me.

Re: New Grill - Concord, CA Hey neighbor! We're off of Walnut, between Concord Blvd and Clayton Rd. We never use our Rotisserie, if you want to test drive it. I was going to sell it for a pittance on the forum. Our chicken keeps getting better, other ways. (Don't chase the High Temp God. Sources matter.)

Re: Rib Eye Steaks Yes, this also works great searing in a pan, though I prefer fire. I actually sometimes fire up our small Weber for this duty, but using the KK is just as easy. It depends on whether I left the KK "ready to use". The one point I didn't explain, protein seizes up when it reaches a certain temperature, which depends a bit on the meat but is above the range we're discussing here. Then it takes a long time to tenderize. If it never reaches this "seize up" temperature, time isn't really a factor. The "less than four hours" advice may have as much to do with bacterial danger zones as muddying the taste..

Re: Rib Eye Steaks 136 is medium rare as long as one doesn't cook too far later. Try 134 first? An hour is just a rule of thumb I heard somewhere, without a thickness attached. The beauty of the method is one could go two hours, e.g. having "a drink" with the neighbors and not getting back when expected. After too long, the steak will lose some character, but not much. What happens is the internal temperature of the steak approaches the water bath temperature, in "half lives" like radioactive decay. Suppose that the steak starts out at 72 F in a 136 F water bath (down 64 F), and after ten minutes the steak is 104 F (down 32 F). Then ten minutes is the "half life" of the temperature difference. After twenty minutes the steak will be 120 F (down 16 F). After thirty minutes the steak will be 128 F (down 8 F). After forty minutes the steak will be 132 F (down 4 F). After fifty minutes the steak will be 134 F (down 2 F). Finally, after an hour the steak will be 135 F (down a degree, close enough). If you wait another hour the steak will be very, very close to 136 F, and you hope the wife didn't actually prefer 135 F after all. I actually have no idea (I made that stuff up), but I've heard an hour works.

Re: Rib Eye Steaks Standard sous vide technique would be to vacuum seal the steaks, simmer in a water bath for an hour (We like 136 F, modify to taste), then grill quickly over a hot fire and serve. Once one has tried any approximation of this technique, it is very hard to go back to the other order, sear then dwell. I use the main grill, some like the intensity of the lower grill. It's a balance with the fire intensity (I've tried 900 F, not recommended!) so there isn't a firm rule. A local interpretation of this is the "reverse sear". Search the forums, you've got to try it. Adherents swear by it, for much the same reasons. It has the same effect, with a bit less accuracy, but only using your cooker. One can also play with this style of sous vide with minimal equipment. Vacuum seal or zip lock (if worried about plastic safety, use SousVide-Supreme-Quart-Pouch-Bags) the steak, and stabilize a large pot of water over a small flame, at target temperature.

Re: New Grill - Concord, CA Yep, that's where our KK lives. Do all your neighbors also trade eggs for 'cue?

Re: Best Way to Start Extruded Coconut Charcoal ? ECC leans in the direction of fabled Japanese Binchotan charcoal. From The Japanese Grill: From Classic Yakitori to Steak, Seafood, and Vegetables (A great BBQ book, by the way.): That also works for EEC, but so do lots of methods. My favorite is a propane weed burner. The little screw-on camping canister lasts a long time this way. A MAPP gas canister burns hotter, for the impatient.

Re: So I got 4, going for 7. If that's what they want they have to go to him. I believe that guy has a "business model patent".

Re: Coffee wood too much for Coffee Cardamom Brisket? I did a coffee and apple smoke brisket a few months ago, without reading the warning that coffee wood needs to burn down to ashes a bit to calm down. I instead used a smoke pot: 1 or 2 quart cast iron dutch oven, 3 1/8" holes in bottom anywhere, lid sealed with flour water paste. As usual for this approach the effect was mellow, not excessive.

Re: Soon to be a new KK owner... YAY!!! A KK does come apart into two pieces. The top isn't actually that heavy, and several people can manage the bottom. Of course, if a crane can reach your deck from outside, that would be easiest. No idea how much cranes cost, but piano movers aren't as much as one might think.

Re: Beef and Venison jerky Well, for my yearly batch of hot sauce, using a sauerkraut-style fermentation, I use a $100 pH meter and add enough champagne vinegar to bring down the starting pH well below botulism-supporting levels. (It doesn't take much, gotta love log scales.) There are instances of home sauerkraut botulism, and that's not a "canning" situation. I'd agree with Doc that botulism is highly unlikely here, but it's not impossible. One has to set up protocols to account for people doing some things wrong. There were these guys back in 1945 who knew a great deal, and were very sure that testing an atom bomb wouldn't incinerate the planet. It worked out that they were right. I remind myself of this story whenever I think I know something. When things go wrong, the reason why is always surprising, and tends not to contradict what one already "knew". I wonder if the small amount of acidity required to inhibit botulism would taste good in jerky? Does it occur naturally in some recipes?

Re: Coffee wood impressions Hmm. I missed the warning, and threw in a few chunks with apple chips for my last brisket, using a "smoke pot": A two quart cast iron dutch oven, a few 1/8" holes in bottom, lid sealed on with flour paste. I noticed a different taste but nothing askew, and the brisket was a big hit. Once I worked out the smoke pot idea, Laurie has more or less forbidden me to use open chunks of smoking wood. (Hey, it was her idea to upgrade to the KK, Dennis has really nailed the SAF rating for these cookers.) Two quarts of anything would be pretty rough, burning out in the open, but in a smoke pot the effect is mellow.