cschaaf

2 hours ago, Chanly1983 said:

Sorry I don’t know how to tag people.

 

@Chanly1983just type the @ symbol then start typing a username. You'll get a popup list with matches. Click the one you want and they will get notified of your reply.

11 hours ago, tekobo said:

I love the way this is working: someone tells everyone what a good cook you are, then they choose what you cook and how you cook it, you cook it but are disappointed by the results and they just get the crap they have always eaten and wonder why anyone thought you were any good at cooking. 

Noooo.  You know what is good on your KK, what you are good at and what people usually like.  Challenge their tastes, mix it up and do what you think is right or don't do it at all.  There is nothing worse than feeling crap after a cook when you were hoping to make people happy but it doesn't work out as planned.

Of course you are also free to ignore bossy old me!

I see where you are coming from, but the only thing worse than cooking exactly what they ask for and having them think "This wasn't any better than I could do" would be to cook it the way you think they should eat it and having them either A. not try it at all because it doesn't look like what they are used to or B. try it and not like it.

On the sous vide front, you could SV 2 at a time, then follow with an ice bath plunge. You can hold them for up to a week in the fridge. Pull them out day of, hit with some additional rub, and smoke 'em.

I've done 6 pork butts at a time this way.

My parents were recently in Iceland. They said food was extremely expensive - so just be prepared. They aren't fancy restaurant people at all and said they went places that were $30 for a simple chicken breast meal. They ate a lot of hot dogs, which are apparently kind of a national dish there. They said the hot dogs were very good and the most affordable meals - about $4-5 for just a hot dog.

They ended up going to a grocery store and eating a lot of cereal lol

I went to Tripadvisor and looked for their recommendations in the cheapest category. Picked some random restaurants and clicked through to check prices. 

Burger place - hamburger, fries and a drink ($18.59), shake ($8.80)

Kebab place - donar ($18.10), grilled chicken salad (22.40), 12" Margareta pizza ($24.36)

Not trying to scare you off, just want to make sure you are aware. My parents were not. lol

I've done both ways, too. I have a Kamado Joe half-moon CI griddle (for the Classic) that I use. I put in the basket splitter and put the griddle over the lump side. 

I can only get 4 patties on there - which is enough for two burgers (I do two 2oz patties per burger - more surface area for crispy bits). Works well when it's just the wife and I. If any of the kids are home, I have to do it in shifts. No big deal, though - I smash them very thin and they are done in about 2 minutes.

No GFCI, @ckreef?

Wow, nice pictures!

It's one of our dreams to go to the Maldives or somewhere in French Polynesia on vacation and stay in one of those bungalos - same idea as you, only do that splurge for a few nights. And do it at the end of the trip; if you stayed in the bungalos on the first night, the rest of the stay would have been a downgrade lol 

That all looks fantastic! Nicely done.

And that is one hell of a mortar and pestle you have there!

On 4/10/2018 at 7:59 PM, John A said:

I see. I was hoping for the grate. That’s one thing that could be improved with the charcoal basket. To have smaller gaps so not as much charcoal can fall through when shacking out the ash. 

That grate was on TOP of the lump, not on the bottom of the basket. It was used as a searing grate right on top of the coals.

I joke about the SV pizza, of course... but there are some that think SV is the answer to every question. And it's not. 

And I totally get that opinion about fried chicken, @Shuley I can skip the normal fried chicken, but I do like chicnek fingers. I've never made fried chicken or chicken fingers the 'traditional' way, but I tried making chicken fingers SV-style, and I'm with @tony b, it's a game changer.

SV isn't for everyone, and it does take some experimenting to find a time and temp that you like. If you love smoke flavor, you can still do it with SV, it just takes more work than it's probably worth.

Speaking of, I made SV corn on the cob for the first time the other night and it was really good... but I doubt I'll do it again. I bet the SV version would win in a taste test, but there are other ways to make it that are easier. 

If you are trying to sous vide your pizzas, you are doing it wrong.

9 hours ago, Jon B. said:

Spoke to him about a month ago and he said he backed off "social media" and is doing most of his posting on Instagram.  I believe he is still some what active on the Guru site.   We are going to try to get together sometime this summer to solve all the worlds problems over a couple cold ones. 

Then he's confused... Instagram IS social media

I asked Dennis about this when I ordered my basket splitter for my 23". The one picture shows a vertical splitter, the half-moon horizontal plate, and, on the other side, a half moon grate that sits at the same level as the plate.

That is an older configuration and it no longer includes the grate - so it's just the two pieces.

Congratulations! Charge up your camera battery and clear some storage space!  

22 hours ago, ckreef said:

Cschaaf, you know you're always welcome anytime   We'll even stop by M&T Meats on the way out and set you up with some veal Tomahawk steaks. The very best cut of steak you'll ever experience. 

 

 

I'll have to remember to bring the cooler. We forget to take a cooler probably 75% of the time when we go to Costco, so my confidence level is low.

Also, if my car breaks down on the way there, I now know who to call.  

Wow! That thing looks amazing. 

One of these days, I'll make it up there and will let you show me how it's done! 

7 hours ago, Pequod said:

Epilogue: Burley Hurley, cap’n of my moving crew, is now my future son-in-law. My daughter disagrees, but we all know it was the steak that did it. KK’s deliver more than food, folks. Just sayin’!

Are you sure Burley Hurley isn't playing the long con and lining himself up for a KK inheritance?

On 4/4/2018 at 8:46 PM, KismetKamado said:

 

Jon - you asked the question, so... like it or not, you get the answer.  But if anyone accuses me of being long-winded ( @cschaaf in particular ), I am blaming it squarely on you....

A few years back, my husband, older daughter and I went to a local BBQ store looking to buy a new gasser since we've always enjoyed cooking outdoors.  They happened to be having an EggFest (crazy in the middle of rural Wyoming, I know).  So, we were kind of wandering around not really too interested in the eggs, but sampling the food and such.  Honestly I wasn't impressed with any of it.  And knowing what I know now, the people manning the eggs didn't really know what they were doing either.  Anyway, we went inside to look at the Weber gassers and gave our daughter a few bucks to entertain herself.  They had some sort of game that you could play to win tickets for a drawing.  Now, I can only describe this game as beer pong - though obviously there was no beer involved.  So, by the time the event was wrapping up, she had quite the stash of tickets.  Where she got the gift of being a natural at that game, I'll never know.....    Long story short (kind of) - we walked away with a Mini Big Green Egg as a prize.  It sat in the garage for months before I played with it one day out of boredom - think I did an Easter ham on it now that I think about it....  Anyway, I was hooked after the first time.  Bought a Vision shortly after that, and then an Akorn Jr, and another Akorn Jr. (because the black came out and I can't stand red), and then I found a used black Big Joe last fall.... In any case,  I totally fell in love with kamado cooking.  And winning that Mini BGE is what started it all.  So, I consider it Kismet - my lot in life - to have landed where I'm at, and that's how I came up with my username.

I primarily had been using my Vision and more recently Big Joe, down on a concrete patio in my back yard over the summer.  In the winter I have been using the Akorn Jr and sometimes Mini BGE (though it's tiny) that I can keep in the garage.  But I don't like Akorn Jr. to get wet which isn't ideal because of snow frequently this time of year and the wind is atrocious as well.....  And my back yard and deck is on the north side of the house, so my winter access to my concrete patio stinks since I have to go out on the deck, down the stairs and around the house.  That's how I decided and justified a Komodo Kamado to myself (really it didn't take much to convince me) and my husband (that was a slightly tougher sell and we may have a full reloading setup showing up sometime soon in what appears to have been some sort of scheme to keep things "fair").  The KK will go on the back deck and be easy access for me year round.  I wouldn't have felt cozy with any of the other kamado's living there.  And it will join my husbands Weber Summit gasser and Traeger Timberline and our Blackstone Pizza Oven.  

There you have it... more than you bargained for in an answer, right.

 

 

I think my screen ran out of ink after that post.  

Can't wait to see what you crank out on your KK.

Whatever it is, "You'll get the chance to put the knife in"

Sorry, I can't help but to think in Pink Floyd lyrics when I see your posts - and Animals is one of my favorite albums of all time.

The way I understand it is - they are pretty much the same thing... except when they aren't.

Shawarma, gyro, donair - are used interchangeably (at least here in North America) - Donair seems to be mostly used in Canada and gyro is the more popular term in the US.

In the US, shawarma tends to be used for non-ground meats, where gyro is used for ground meats.

US Tzatziki sauce differs by region. Sometimes heavy on garlic, sometimes not. Sometimes has dill, sometimes not.

I believe in Canada, there are some tzatziki sauces that are sweet (mostly western Canada) and some that are more garlicky (eastern Canada)

I also like the grill floss. It does a great job on the under-side of the bars, but does maybe lack a bit on the top. If I feel it didn't do the job well enough, I just scrub the top with a bit of crumpled aluminum foil.

I'll have to try the Kurly Kate.

Welcome! Will your first cook be a wing on the main grate with two pork butts on the upper grate? You know, pigs on the wing

13 hours ago, Tyrus said:

The game was invented in Canada, the rules were agreed to and made in Canada. com'on man what don't u c. The US Women's Hockey Team beat Canada and history will show it.  Change the rules ok, but don't recognize the winner. Poor looser. Excuses.............done

 

There was no poor loser'ness' in this thread. Everyone recognized the US won, and no one was suggesting it should be scrubbed from the record books.

No one was crying foul, saying the rules changed, saying the rules were wrongly interpreted, or making any excuses. No one was trying to take anything away from the US women - or the Canadian women. 

We were just discussing if we liked the shootout or not. 

I didn't really care who won or lost that game, I just wanted to see a good game. I'm a fan of an NHL team and I like it better when they win, but overall, I am a hockey fan and I have opinions on what I think is right or wrong for the game. I'm not right, I'm not wrong; they are just my opinions.

Awww, get well soon, rotty!

I had a lab that tore his ACL. When I went to pick him up at the vet, the tech went back to get the dog and the the Dr way saying, "He's going to struggle getting around for a few..." and he couldn't even finish his response and there was a huge ruckus in the back. Tyson tore his leash out of the tech's hands and ran through the back office, down the hall, and out into the waiting area at full speed. Even with one leg in a brace.

He was impossible to slow down during his recovery. 

8 hours ago, tony b said:

Indeed.

If we could set the rules, my vote would be for something close to what they already do with the 1st OT - cut the teams down to 4-on-4 (not counting the goalies), if still tied after 5 minutes, another 5 min OT, but 3-on-3, etc., until somebody scores (sudden death).

I think the NHL discussed that at some point, but went with the regular season shootout. If they want to avoid ties, it's probably the best solution. I'd still rather see a tie.  

That would be a better solution in the Olympic finals than the current shootout format, IMO.