jonj

It seems to me the Trompo King version has at least four interchangeable spikes of various lengths which screw into the base dish, if I remember it correctly. @Troble probably knows for sure. In any event, it would be a nice feature of a DIY version.

Well, to tell the whole truth, we do this as well. Actually, we keep a separate suitcase fully packed with knife case (full of trip-only knives), assorted kitchen and grill tools, two pans, bar and wine stuff (including wine and champagne glasses), coffee stuff, etc. ready to go. We have had too many vacation rentals with unacceptable or missing tools.

That's the ticket!

The top / upper grate, when turned upside down (tall handles up) is also referred to as the sear grate. From the owner's manual: "The upper grate is used above/on top of the main grate but can also be flipped over and used down below above the charcoal basket with the long legs turned up just above the charcoal." Certainly the lower (middle) grate can be used for this purpose, but it is further from the coals and will take longer, allowing the interior temperature of the steak to rise as well. Try the searing grate to see if it meets your needs.

I do the same thing...

Welcome. Your cooks are going to be so much fun (and better).

Well, it looks terrific!

I don't do many briskets but fat side down sounds right.

Well, It seems I have some shopping to do. Better get started before the rush.

Non-KK kontent New Year's Day brunch: Tamale casserole, Hoppin' John and Mimosa. Covering all the food bases to ensure a new and better 2021 (how terrific to be able to use 2021!)

Happy New Year to you all!

@Troble For swordfish, my prep varies a bit but nothing too exotic. Last night was just evo and a little salt and pepper with mesquite smoke wood. Often I will do a marinade for about 30 minutes of evo, shallots, a touch of crushed garlic, salt / pepper and whichever white wine we are having for dinner (chard, sauv blanc, sparkling). Occasionally I change it up with a (very) little soy sauce and rice wine. In the latter two, I probably would just use lump and no smoke wood. I think swordfish is pretty tasty however it is cooked. Especially if it follows a bay shrimp cocktail...

Swordfish night on the 16: Accompanied with bay shrimp cocktail and Schramsberg Hyde Vineyard sparkling wine.

Excellent and thorough video, tekobo!

Prime Rib Christmas: Smoking Searing Resting Carving Ready for dinner with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts and robbed the cradle for a 2016 Caymus cabernet.

We started the day with Dutch Baby, blueberries and bacon, accompanied by sparkling wine (Schramsberg Rose').

Beautiful work!

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes!

Merry Christmas to all!

Okay, so no excuse for a lack of photos! 😉

@Basher I’ll send you a list when I get a chance to put one together.

The wine cellar art was done by one of our friends from college who is an artist. She and her husband are among our closest friends but we haven't seen them in person since last Christmas, due to Covid. Most of our cellar is California based, primarily cabernet sauvignon and Russian River pinot noir, with a smaller amount of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, syrah, and a lot of sparkling wine and Champagne. Sparkling wine makes every day better! We have just a few remaining Bordeaux from the 1990s, but really stopped buying when the first growths moved to four figures per bottle. "A magnum of Champagne is the perfect accompaniment for two gentlemen at lunch, if one of them isn't drinking much," ascribed to Sir Winston Churchill. If he really didn't say it, he should have.

@Troble we play classic and garage rock, Americana, and oddball music which makes us smile. My main instrument is electric bass guitar, mostly Alembics although I do use Hofners when we do a Beatles set. I also play electric 6-string guitar, mostly G&Ls or Fender. I occasionally use a Theremin but am not at all proficient at it. Mostly just strange noises. TMI. In a kind of weird moment of insight, I realized I bought one of my Alembics about a decade ago from Kevin Robell, who lived on Coronado Island at the time. Our wine cellar has a L-O-N-G way to go before we run into any difficulty, so we have that going for us...

Congratulations! Don't forget to order coco and / coffee charcoal. Hard to get right now if not with a KK order.

I've been playing golf once a week with a bubble buddy, although not on as nice a course as you have available. We try for tee times when we can play as a deuce, as there are a lot of mask/Covid conspiracy folks in this part of the country. And, oddly enough, high infection rates in the community (/s). We used to (now retired) work at the same hospital, which is now full of Covid patients, so we and our families are very careful in our behavior. I would consider it poor form to be admitted to my former hospital right now. We play unless the temperature gets below 40°F (we would probably be in shorts and polos if it reached 66°). We play music together once a week as well (we are in the same band when not grounded by Covid) to keep our skills up. Finally, I do a lot of reading. I'm in a long standing (although now Zoom-based) book club but also go through several other books in addition to the selected book of the month. I typically do a fair bit of woodworking, but am finding it is really on the back burner since the pandemic. Not sure why. And oh yes, cooking and working down the wine cellar. The latter will take some diligence.