Syzygies

Re: Poll - Main and lower handle position/placement As part of testing, you should really try the "grill lifter" tools you include. You didn't think they were for this, but what did we know?!

Hi. Our most recent digital scale died, and luckily we saved earlier editions that still limped along. But we were astonished to realize how dependent we've become on digital scales. For example my sourdough bread recipe is a spreadsheet, enter hydration percentage, freshly-ground flour percentage, that sort of thing and it gives the blow-by-blow directions to the gram. American cookbooks are written for cave people, luckily for many kinds of cooking it simply doesn't matter. So what's the "Thermapen" of digital scales? Is there one? Please don't tell me your favorite $20 scale. Not be rude, but we're hard on scales and we've moved on. At this point I'd rather hear from the folks who roll their eyes that I don't have a chamber vacuum sealer yet. If you're reading this and don't own a Thermapen, just get one. Most of us here have one. Trust me on this one, the difference is night and day. Thermapen

Re: kk tool accessories They came, and I'm staring in disbelief that they can protect my hands from 600 F grill grates? Is this so?

Re: Coals take how Long??? Coals take how long? It depends who you ask!

Thermapens, and marathon "stalls" I've given up on the category. Junk with poor range. Nothing beats a Thermapen. When I ran marathons, I had to learn that it was ok to stop. It may have seemed like I was turning to salt, but stopping wouldn't have completed the process. One stops, one starts again, no big deal. I was also losing so much water that I seemed to be running backwards for a while at the 17 mile mark, but stopping wasn't the culprit. (One sees people running in foil, which may help. One best avoids this "stall" by running very quickly.) It's also ok to open the KK lid during any cook. When I was first learning brisket I found articles where the authors basically set up a police perimeter around their cookers. Nice show of dedication, but not much of an effect either way on the food. Part of judging progress is deciding where to jab with the Thermapen, and feeling how the meat resists a bit of movement of the probe. These are dimensions one loses with automation. Doneness isn't a function of temperature alone.

Re: lighting the grill Yeah, get Dennis to give you a safe maximum temperature, and do a "self cleaning oven" burn at that temperature. All that will turn to ash, and brush off. I've left my KK at 800 F with no apparent damage, but I'm the wrong person to ask. Sure, my old K7 was the poster child for a different manufacturer's shortcomings, but to be fair those tiles were intended for looks, not as a heat shield for re-entry. What did I know!?

Re: lighting the grill

Re: lighting the grill

Re: Florida Charcoal 2011 Well, our dogs are the spiritual leaders of our barbecue pits, with as great an interest as anyone in the outcome. Mine even barks at me whenever she thinks my attention has wandered from dinner...

Re: kk tool accessories Just ordered a pair. I'll also use them for handling the cast iron combo cooker at 500 F / 450 F recommended by the Tartine Bread book... Tartine Bread Lodge LCC3 Logic Pre-Seasoned Combo Cooker (For indoor baking, nothing e.g. La Cloche or a Le Creuset pot comes close to the same effect, trapping the steam needed for rustic loaves.)

Re: Tru Tel Options**

Re: SF Bay Area Buy So I went to pay Dennis using paypal, and I had a balance that nearly covered it. Nice surprise! I have a very healthy kaffir lime tree, and I had shipped 26 boxes of kaffir leaves and limes to fellow cooks who had studied with my Thai cooking teacher (Thai Food and Travel). Most people had paid the postage to my paypal account.

Difference: Them Us

Re: kk tool accessories

Re: SF Bay Area Buy Laurie was thrilled to hear we're joining this order, even though we've got lots of earlier stock on hand. I'd been saving extruded coconuts for low & slow, though I do less of that, more of everything else. She tasted a bit more off flavors from the oak lump in Saturday's burgers, even after I let the fire really burn down before cooking. So I proposed that we could start using extruded coconut for burger nights. We never go out to restaurants as we'd rather cook at home (the KK is easily paid off from this perspective), so why not? She says she likes that I spoil her. I like that I get so much support from Dennis spoiling her! Charcoal is like wine.

Re: kk tool accessories They're for removing hot grates. Reach in to opposite sides, twist to grab, and lift.

Re: Turkey Bikini Jiarby would put a half lemon under each breast.

Don't vary the recipe Neither of the specified all-purpose cleaners (409, Fantastic) contain bleach. One cannot substitute an arbitrary cleaner here without checking the ingredients. Nearly everyone who experiments with homemade mixtures like this knows the most important equation: Ammonia + Bleach = Death Google this first, if you didn't know this, and have any temptation to modify the recipe given here. I label my cleaning products with a sharpie if they have either of these ingredients, and include this equation for the benefit of anyone borrowing my apartment.

Re: SF Bay Area Buy I'm pretty set, but I'd like nevertheless to have some of the new charcoal. I can make up the breakage (e.g. the last 6-8 boxes) to make up a pallet, or I can yield if someone else turns up, if which case I'll make the same offer to the next SF Bay share. I'm up in Concord, so Pleasanton is not so far away, but San Jose is further than I'd like to drive. Were I actually out, I'd want a 28 box pallet for myself. I trust that Dennis will keep making the stuff, so I'm happy to float like this...

Get a second charcoal basket! I bought a second charcoal basket from Dennis. I don't recall it being expensive, and it was well worth it. One holds local hardwood lump for high temp burns, and one holds extruded coconut lump for low & slows. I always use more than enough ECC, and I rest the spare charcoal basket on a terra cotta plant saucer in the garage. Shutdown is a tricky balance. One wants to snuff the fire without getting a stuck top hat. Get the bottom sealed tight, and the top loosely tightened. One can tighten further on one's pick up pass after dinner. (After the waxing ruckus I started, perhaps I should reword that? ) I haven't tried the new lump yet; I'm working through my old stock. The first batch Dennis offered (not made by Dennis) has the flavor characteristics I want, and is probably more fragile than the new stuff. In any case, lifting out the charcoal basket avoids handling the partially burned charcoal. I like to alternate, swapping baskets before each cook. Grill cleanliness is the Achilles' heel of low & slow cooks, but high temp cooks do a wonderful "self cleaning oven" job of cleaning up, after a grill floss cleanup. Now that ECC is readily available, maybe more people will spring for the second charcoal basket.

Re: Waxed for the Winter This was not your fault! Sorry I didn't use a smiley.

Right forum? n66981 Boy, when I first looked at "view unread posts" I really had to wonder if I was on the right forum...

Re: First Burn of KK Extruded Coconut Charcoal Now I'm wondering, does the coffee charcoal work like coke?

Re: First Burn of KK Extruded Coconut Charcoal

Re: Guide the break Ok, I'll bite. I feel like I'm 13 again. Laurie couldn't explain it to me either. I don't get it! As a friend says each time she finds something I build in the back yard, "Explanation please?"