Naldo

I too, have never foiled a pork butt when using my ceramic. For butts, when done, it does not seem necessary. I totally understand foiling for briskets, though. Once a butt hits 190, you've should have perfect pulled pork everytime, assuming your temp remained in a nominal range.

I found Dennis and the KK a long time ago via a Google search, but at the time I was a proud owner of a K. Like many of us, there's a long, sad story here relative to the K site, but I'll skip that part. Long story short, though, I changed up and went KK my secong time around, and boy am I glad I did! Thanks Dennis!

Yes, welcome, Jocko. I have no tips to offer necessarily, but everyone here on the forum is always helpful--so don't be afraid to ask questions. I recently received my Gen 2.2 about a month or so ago, and I could not be happier. I hope you new Gen 2.2 finds you well.

Yeah, thanks. That really looks great. I, too, will be trying that.

FM, those are absolutely beautiful! I LOVE calzones, and I have not tried cooking any bread or pizza-type stuff on the K or KK yet. The dough on those looks to be just a great texture. I know you mention you used a standard pizza dough--any chance I could convince you to post the recipe though? I am so bad at baking breads and pastries---anything with dough.

Interested Party Hi Dennis, I just sent you another email Dennis. I have someone who is interested, and the free delivery promo could really move them along. Thanks, Naldo (Ron-Port Angeles, WA)

I did read about that, and I, too, L'ed OL! For when I ever try this---how long to cool? A couple hours? I guess it depends on the size of the blocks, huh? Perhaps until they reach room temperature?

Yeah, the briquette and wood chip method---that is incredibly creative as well---just what I was looking for, thanks!

Interesting. I'll try that next time, thanks. How long do you generally air-dry? When ever I do fish, moisture is never an issue, but the white goo---I could do without that!

DJ, that is quite the set-up. So, you are hooking that up to a ceramic and just blowing smoke into it---without any heat source within the ceramic? Is that right? Thanks TNW and tcoliver and Syzygies for the additional info. It sounds like for those type of set-ups, the ice is actually quite helpful in keeping the temps down. The info on your site TNW is really awesome and appreciated---there's so much good info there. I plan on trying this out someday. I think I'll be soing some more low and slows, grilling an droasting to bring myself back up to speed before attempting cold smoking on a ceramic!

Hi DJ, Thnaks for the kudos! I'm not even familiar with what you mwntioned above---what is that?

Thanks Syzygies. Yeah, I guess I was thinking about cheese mostly. I understand I would have a little more leeway with fish, but cheese would indeed lose it's shape and even melt. I'm not familiar with which forum you and tcoliver are speaking about. If it should not be mentioned here, perhaps someone can PM it to me? That is truly funny about the ice trays! I'm still intertested in anyone else's and additional thoughts...

If I understand cold smoking correctly, it should be done at temps of 80 to 100 degrees F. Has anyone ever successfully done this on a KK or other ceramic cooker? This would be for fish or cheese, for example. I understand there is information on-line out there, but I'm more interested in finding out if anyone has done this on a ceramic, and what their technique is. Thanks!

Man, those look good!

Great, thanks tkline! BTW, is that the smaller of the two rotisseries? I'd like to get one (right now I'm debating the rotisserie vs. johnny's covers for my next purchase), and I'm not sure which size to get. I'm thinking the smaller one, as I want to be able to do game hens and such.

I also agree--this is a fantastic idea. Although, I have seen pics of some briskets (one by DJ) that looked incredibly tender and moist just from the KK. However, if my meat came off the kooker and I was not pleased, a pot would be a great way to "bring it back". Add some chicken or beef broth and cook it down a bit longer.

For brining salmon, I have always used the same method, and it has always come out just great. 1 gallon liquid---usually mostly water, 1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, other liquids, if desired (in this case---about 2 cups orange juice), and some spices---which I also add based on volume. I probably added 1TB each of garlic powder and onion powder. This is always done in a plastic, non-reactive container---no aluminum! A small cooler works well. Based on what I'm reading in the thread, brine quantity can really affect the meat and the process, but I've never had a problem, but that could be because I always do it the same way, and I always do two filets, and I'm sure their weight is always relatively close every time. I brine for about 4 to 6 hours---that's all. I have done overnight brining as well, and, if anything, the fish was slightly saltier, but not enough to make it taste bad. I keep my smoked salmon recipe very simple for consistency--as it always comes out good, and I know what the finished product will taste like. Don't get me wrong, I love to try new things. This was my second cook on my new KK, and second cook on a ceramic in over 5 years. Here'a pic of it next day from the side:

That chicken looks great on the rotisserie, and I'm betting it was delicious! What was your temp and time for that and how big was the bird?

Wow, thanks for the link to that. I don't know how I missed that one while I was doing my research on this site over the last few months. That's the best looking brisket from a smoker I have ever seen, so I will definitely try your tip in the future. Thanks again, DJ! -Naldo

I, too, used to own a #5 K, and now I have the Gen 2.2 23" OTB. The #5 is probably close in size to the up and coming 19.5" OTB that Dennis is working on. My opinion is the same as pretty much everyone else. If you have the space on your property or deck to put the 23" OTB--go for that. This way you can cook large and small. The only reason I would get a 19.5 would be if it was going into a condo with a small deck or something like that. The 19.5 will cook plenty, I'm sure, but you don't really waste any coal or anything with the 23" OTB---as you can snuff the fire out when you are done and re-use the leftover coals for the next cook.

What About 2.2s? Does anyone know if sealing is still required with the new grout formulation on the 2.2s?

I agree- a shock wire would be a lot lesds cruel than a shattered KK. That would be un-"bear"able!

This weekend we did some smoked salmon. For the last 15 years, I have lived in Washington state, so, needless to say, on my old POSK, I did a lot of smoked salmon, and the recipe for it is so simple and the end product brings a lot of happiness! I used to get asked all the time to make this for other people's parties. First, the salmon is brined overnight in a simpe brine of orange juice, water, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, and Kosher salt. The planks are soaked for 4 or more hours in water. The salmon is pulled out of the brine, patted down thoroughly, rubbed with black pepper, then glazed with some maple syrup. Then the KK is set-up with the heat deflector, drip pan, and planks go on the upper grill. 200 degrees for about an hour per pound. This is fantastic with bagels and cream cheese.

Hello All, Personally, I am not a big fan of brisket---it's a tricky cut of meat that needs careful attention in order to end up with a moist and tender product. In fact, there have been some interesting posts on this forum lately on the subject. This was our first cook last weekend (week before), and it came out pretty good. As discussed here by others, moving forward I will stick with chuck roasts or rolls. Dry rubbed with garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, paprika, and black pepper, then slathered with French's mustard. Loaded on our KK (our first meat!), and getting ready for it's long journey and transformation...I did heat deflector on the basket, drip pan on the lower grill and the meat on the main grill. If I do brisket again, it will be on the upper grill. After 11 hours on the KK, and some down time in a cooler, we sliced it up and ate it up! Like I said, not my favorite cut of meat for smoking, but we made sandwiches and had bakers and sauteed bok choy with this--I forgot to get a plate shot. Any way, for my first cook on a ceramic in about 5 years, I was very pleased with performance of the KK.

I agree with Firemonkey--bolting it might be the best idea, but the real question is really if this is a common problem in your area. Do bears truly go right up on your neighbors decks and mess with their BBQs? I guess for long cooks overnight, where you may be asleep and all is quiet outside, perhaps this is conceivable. After all, I remember backpacking in Yosemite, and as soon as we set up camp and made a fire, the black bears were hovering on the outskirts of our campsite, and, as soon as we turned in for the night, they came roaming through the camp. In fact, we woke up to the sound of a bear up a tree, holding on with one paw, and swinging the other trying to get at our food sack, which we had tied up to the tree with a rope. He got it down! But, really, the KK is not necessarily top-heavy at all, but I guess a bear could do some damage. They are really strong! That's a tough call if it's really a common problem in that area.