jonj

Exactly so!

@Troble, beautiful turkey and table!

For our second Thanksgiving dinner this year (first was with my sisters with turkey, etc.), I decided to go with a boneless rib roast instead of turkey. Dry rub, refrigerated overnight, smoked at 200°F over cherry and apple wood for 2 hours, then seared (1 - 1 1/2 minutes per side, sear grate) at 475°F. I returned it to the KK main grate for another 20 minutes at 375°F to an internal temperature of 124°F, then foil and towel wrapped and placed in a cooler to rest for 1 1/2 hours (temp rise to 132°F). Served with roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts carbonara, herbed stuffing with turkey gravy, horseradish cream sauce and/or au jus, 2003 Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon and 2009 Schramsberg sparkling wines.

@tony b, I thought I recognized it!

That is a full agenda!

These are the photos which informed and confirmed my decision to buy my first Komodo Kamado in 2016. Nice to see them again.

I start mine without the temperature controller and wait until the KK is close to, but hasn't yet reached, target temperature.

@Basher, you've reorganized your outdoor kitchen, at least temporarily. Glad to have you back!

This is the Billows damper setting I use: Just barely open with the damper plate. Let the fan work on the intake and output sides both.

weed burner for grilling on KKs. Wax starter for KK smoking and for wood-oven.

@David Chang, I'm late in responding, but what @braindoc posted is basically what I would say. I have no tin-lined copper pans, only nickel-lined or stainless. I chose not to go that route due to the use and care limitations of tin and don't find SS to negatively affect my cooking at all. Heat transfer / responsiveness is fine. Most of my pans are older All-Clad (copper-aluminum-stainless steel hybrid) or Bourgeat (copper-stainless steel) with some other brands mixed in. I don't mind the stainless steel handle esthetic. I would strongly recommend not getting pieces with brass handles unless you are very, very diligent about using pot holders or leather sleeves; they are much worse than cast iron handles in allowing heat transfer directly to your hand. I have a few and even after a couple of decades of use, still (Still!!) manage to occasionally forget how hot they get, even over low heat.

Very nice!

What a wonderful bunch of cooks, @tekobo!

Happy Birthday, Bruce!

I've used my smaller grate only once in 7 years, but I have one of the earlier 16s with the flatter top. I assumed the smaller grate would be of more use with the current Hi-Tops.

@tekobo, after I saw your picture of the lamb chops on those clean grates, I had to go out and apologize to my own (shamefully neglected) 16KK. I've spend half today cleaning its and the 23's grates and will finish up tomorrow. And yes, they were in pretty bad shape from the winter but much, much better now.

Excellent dinner and location for the KK!

@tony b, I actually intended to roast potatoes with the chicken but 1) I foolishly got the oven temp up to 550°C and had to wait over an hour to let it reduce to 400°C (which was still 200° hotter than I wanted) and at that temperature, the thighs took less than 20 minutes to cook and 2) I had some leftover linguine + pesto from the night before and decided to use it for the starch instead. But, yes, the pan would do great for roasting potatoes, etc. It is about 12 gauge steel so isn't going to flex or buck in the heat.

I tried out my new wood oven accessory (Alfa BBQ500) on some chicken thighs yesterday: a round, rotating grill on a stand above a metal tray for drippings or to add coals below. I cooked them too hot (because I was excited and got the fire way beyond necessary) but, with some judicious management, they came out fine. Just a new toy. It worked very well, especially since the fire was 200°C above where I intended... [And yes, these mutant monsters are actually thighs, not breasts! Of the six I cooked (we ate two), only one was "regular" sized - upper left.]

Mine does not have the new threaded ports.

@Poochie, make careful note of how small @tekobo cut up the half block before putting it into the blender. It is hard to turn it into a sauce, but well worth the effort.

@PaulJ, if your ThermoWorks probe wire is 2mm (0.079"), it is larger than that of current ThermoWorks (0.065").

@PaulJ, I saw your post this morning (before full coffee awareness obtained), so I measured my 2016 KK23 probe port, plug, and a typical, current Thermoworks probe wire: KK Probe Port, Internal Diameter = 0.548" KK Probe Port Plug, Outside Diameter (near lip) = 0.551" ThermoWorks Probe Wire (current version) Outside Diameter = 0.065" I hope this helps. It seems to me your port internal diameter may be somewhat smaller than mine, especially if your port plug won't fit into it flush against the tiles. Also, I know ThermoWorks has reduced the outside diameter of their probes over the years, as I have some old probes which are a bit larger than the current versions (won't fit the modern clip holders). Jon

@PaulJ, I still use (and am happy with) the Signals/Billows combination when I have a long cook requiring low temperature control. It is not a gimmick, but a useful tool, at least for me. For short (6 hours or less, plus or minus) cooks like ribs, I just use the inherent stability of the KK and don't bother with the Billows. For brisket or pork shoulder, the Billows is always in use. As @Dono, @MacKenzie, and @tony b have already noted, there is no problem getting three food probes and one pit probe through the access hole, then opening the rubber plug to encompass the cables and inserting it into the access hole. You can carefully bend the right angle probes to about 60° to easily go through the hole, or just use straight probes. I did buy the ThermoWorks power bank to use with the Billows when it became available so I don't have to run an extension cable out to the KK.

On this Forum, the correct answer to the question of “which option” is always “both”!