Kevin H

I just measured mine and I'd allow for 67" wing tip to wing tip on a 32" with the tables. You need to allow 40" from the back to the handle to allow clearance for the lid to open.

The magic of rendering pig fat.....one of my favorite sounds.....

It's been a while since I've posted but, saw Mac's eggs and thought I'd share a couple of recent cooks. My KK has been out of service for about 6 months while we rebuilt it's spot. Thankfully, we got done with everything just in time for the lockdown. So, lots of time to catch up recently. Been in a rut using the smoke pot with coffee splits lately. So everything starts out that way. First cook was some pork steaks that I smoked to rare, then took them to temp with a reverse sear and finished them off with a coating of bbq sauce that carmelized with the heat of the sear. We've become addicted to smoked corn. Taken to cutting them, so they stand up and get a full coat of smoke. After reaching temp, I have my top grate turned upside down over the coals to for searing. 20200327_232839000_iOS.MOV Easter cook was smoked wings with a spicy dry rub. The diablo eggs have candied jalapeño and red pepper flakes. The tri-tip came along for the ride... It's been vac packed up for later. I've really enjoyed catching up with all the great postings, plus seeing a lot new names has been great. Our world is small, community is important, stay well and keep sharing.

Finally getting around to posting my Labor Day cook. Did a 3-2-1 with 3 slabs of St. Louis style pork ribs. Full smoke pot for part 1 with a mix of Coffee splits and hickory. 1/2 load of charcoal in the 32", smoking on the "cool" side. 225F for 3 hrs After the 3 hrs of smoke. Ready to wrap. Liberal amounts of Irish butter, more rub and brown sugar. Wrap in plastic and foil, back on for 2 hrs at 275F Final step, unwrap, crank up the heat and sear them off. At least I got one of the 3 to try.... the first two slabs disappeared before I even got to pull a bone.....

The link to my effort below. I’ve done another since and injected instead of brining. Liked it much better. A lot of effort but well worth it. Enjoy!

This is one of my favorite spins. Have used a few other cuts of pork to go with the pineapple. I see you have your basket split to have a cooler side. Really works well for that. Honestly though, the pineapple is really the star of the cook. The last couple of times we smoked pineapple only. Ha.

Tony, Should have captioned my pics better. That was a shot of the tri-tip after I had let it cool and cubed it up for prior to vacupacking / freezing. Thought it was a good shot of what a nice cut of beef tri-tip it is when smoked to medium rare.

This is a cook that has been several months in the making and we are enjoying the final stage this week, so finally get to share. A while back I had some left over tri-tip and added it in to a pot of veggie soup we were making. Wow, what a difference. So, this summer I started buying tri-tips on sale, loading them up with a nice rub, vacupacking and freezing them up for later. Whenever I have a cook going on I’ll throw one of the tri-tips on while I’m doing the other cook. Then I’ll cube them up, re-freeze and save them for what we call “soup weather” here in the Midwest. We had our first pot of the season this week. The perfect amount of smoke flavor from the KK takes it to a whole new level. Thought I’d throw in a shot of the real focus of the cook which was burgers and brats. I tried the ice cube method, I really do think it made a difference. Good char on the outside without drying out the inside. I took everything down to the lower level after the smoking phase. I use my top rack down over the coals for searing / grilling. It has two levels depending on which handles you set it on. Just another great design feature from Dennis!

Had a couple of fun cooks over the weekend. Tried out my griddle plate on some nice Aussie red jumbo shrimp, lobster tails and Mexican corn. The next day spun a nice hen with a pan of vadalias and brussels catching the drippings underneath. It always amazes me how the KK keeps everything so moist! Crisping the skin 4484A6F9-B634-416B-96F2-545173E6810E.MOV

Good choice. It will be a beauty. You will love the real estate. What did you do for accessories? If you need some advice you'll get lots of "help" spending your money from the forum. My advice is shipping will never be as cheap as it is now. Load up on the toys you want and charcoal / wood etc.

Got another one of my "bucket list" cooks under my belt yesterday. Based on the results this won't be the last time for this one. 3 bone, 6 lb, beef short rib plate. 1/2 load of Coco Car, full smoke pot of coffee splits. Had the rib plate on the cool side over a drip pan. Used the hot side for the sides and other cooks throughout the day. I've gotten to the point that I score anything with a fat layer. Just like the way it holds the rub and renders with a little more crispy bits. Kept the KK thermo at about 300F. The cool side grate temp was right at 250. Took about 7 hrs to hit 200F on the slab. The rub/crust was parts 2 parts brown sugar, 1 part salt, 1 part black pepper then 1/2 parts of onion powder, garlic powder and red pepper flake and 1 part of a good espresso grind coffee . Found come coffee syrup at Trader Joes. (you are probably seeing a theme here by now) This stuff is awesome! Rubbed the rib with the syrup then did a very heavy pack on the rub. Let it set for an hour before the cook. The Maui onions are in season now so had to do a version of Raichlen's from his Project Smoke recipe. At about hour 4 I added the top rack and put on some pit beans. Coffee Char Beef Short Ribs:

No, Just made sure it was ripe and then I basted it with the habanero glaze that I was using on the pork. The smoke is the perfect "rub". I'm going to cube the leftovers for kind of a take on Al Pastor. Will put some spice on that for sure. Yeah, the split in the basket matched the split on the rotisserie perfectly. I'm sure Dennis planned that when he designed the 32".

Finally got around to my first "spin". Local butcher has a unique cut on country style pork ribs and it just seemed like a good fit. If you haven't smoked a pineapple before, I'd highly recommend it . 1/2 a basket of lump and applewood chips for a little smoke. 4 hrs later at 295F, basted every hour with a pineapple / habanero glaze, internal at 167F, so I dumped the chips on the coals, pulled the pan and cranked the vents for a final sear on the pork. Ready for a rest. My poor attempt at a MacKenzie pic..... The only thing I'd do different would probably be a 24 hour brine. Chop part was a little dry.... a combo bite with a chunk of pineapple fixed that. Everything on the KK worked flawlessly, as usual.

Merry and Happy to you Aussie. Love the “Sandman”. This is what we woke up to in the Midwest...

MacKenzie, Beautiful meal, always love your mouth watering plating pics. Yes, we are having a lot of fun. The normal weekend greeting I'm getting lately from the neighborhood is "Hi, what's cooking on the smoker this weekend".

CK, Master works as always. I really appreciate the time you take with your pics. Seafood is next on my list. Tony I have a Lodge also. Will def give that a try. Thanks for the insight on the temp and timing ...that was my big question....gotta have the "crust"! Gotta do that before, the garden tomatoes are gone for the year. If it's not running down your chin their too dry. Ha. JD, Those look like nuggets of goodness. Another item to add to my list. Thanks to all for sharing.

All sounds fantastic, and really highlights the diversity of the KK! Otter, Really like APL's method. I too learned brisket from some ole Texas guys. It was always a four day affair, so consequently, I don't do briskets that often. This was my first brisket on the KK and it has me spoiled already. The ability to just load it up and leave it for 6+ hours at a time almost makes it too easy! I really focused on the burnt ends with this one and have to say they turned out great. Had several Kansas City folks at the feed and got kudos from all. Share some pics of yours, please. CK, As usual, you have a mouth watering weekend planned. I'm going to do some shrimp also and would love to see how you did yours. Please share a pic or recipe. Thanks! Tony, I'm a big smash burger fan. Do you have a steel you use? Curious about your technique. Is there a post you can share? While we were finishing up the brisket cook, had some salmon candy prepping to put on. Added some beechwood chips to a smoke tray cranked it down to 200f and let it go all night. It still amazes me when you come back after 7 hours and the temp is exactly as you left it! If you haven't tried it yet, I'd highly recommend it.

Wondered what cooks everyone has planned for the long weekend? I'm about 1/2 way into a 13# full brisket cook. Had it in a marinade for 2 days and put it on last night at 240F with a full smoke pot of coffee splits. The pic is at the 9 hour point. I separated the point from the flat, sprinkled more rub on the cut and put in back in. Will wrap the flat in butcher paper here in a couple of hours and let it soak. Taking the point to the black and crispy stage to make burnt ends.

I'd be happy for just take a bite of that skin. Kudos!

Thanks for the comments! It was a lot of fun and made some great memories with my family and friends. Thought I'd add a video of the skinning. I'd highly recommend picking up a pair of the shears, they are Kershaw Taskmasters. Skinning the Pig

Pulled the pig at almost exactly 8 hrs. Kept the KK at 270F for almost the whole cook, took it up to 300 for the last hour. The loins hit 180F about 6 hrs and the front shoulders at 7 hrs. The back hams were still at 164F at 7 hrs so I pulled the extra foil I had at the hams, pushed all the foil that I had for extras drips tight to the pan and then pulled the pan forward. Within an hour the hams were at 190F plus and the rest of the pig was 200+ to high 190's. As you will see from the pic's below it was a beauty and after I cut the skin away with scissors, the meat just pulled away from the bones. The top quarter inch of the loins were a little dry but all the other was very moist. Everyone commented on the smoke. Coffee wood is something new to the Midwest....was a big hit. The smoke pot lasted about 5 hrs into the cook. I already had about 5 hrs into that pot so the time I got on the pig was about perfect. Lessons Leaned: Couldn't have done it without all the good info on the forum. Foil on the snout and ears worked out well. I'd still do the shield on the hams, just pull it earlier. 31# pig was big on a 32" KK but with a little trussing there was plenty of room. Remote thermometers are a must. I only opened the lid 3 times. I would inject the loins next time. If you take the time to put extra foil on your drip pan, only make it as big as the footprint of your pig... even airflow is important, leave as much room on the exterior as you can. I think the stuffing of the whole onions helped on the moistness of the meat. The fresh rosemary was well worth it. It's a big time commitment but, well worth it if you have a crowd. I think we got every bit of 15lb's of meat. We had 25 eat and I'll bet we have 7-8 lbs left. The stainless wire worked out well for trussing him to fit and sewing up the belly The drip pan juices was great ladled on the pulled pork.

Thanks, Ken. I've done that on a couple of cooks. I try to leave a pretty good gap around the edge but, I noticed it makes a fairly dramatic difference between the shell thermometer and the actual temp at the grate above the foil. Makes sense but, you have to allow for it in your cook. I typically see around 50F variance. 5 hours in and I'm seeing about 15 to 20 degree delta between the loin up top and the shoulder / ham. You can tell by the pictures it didn't effect the smoke to much. I'm loving the coffee wood spits in a smoke pot. I'm thinking on pulling the foil / pan once everything gets to 180F and cranking up to 350F to crisp the skin. 3 to 4 hrs to go....

Rather than wait until the deed is done, I thought I'd do a midway update. Happy 4th! Brined for around 24 hrs. 1lb of kosher salt, 1lb of brown sugar, 2 gallons apple cider vinegar and 40lb of ice... onion, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Piggy ready for his bath.... Morning beer. Lower grate drip tray. Ready for the KK to do it's thing. Two hours in. Smoke pot doing it's thing and looks like a good start. Smallest hole, lower vent setting, 1/4" gap at top vent. Holding 270F at thermo, 224F at grate.

Hi, So, going for a big cook on the 4th. Got a 25-30 pound pig. Plan on putting down for a 24 hr brine. Usually, I just use a pretty normal salt, sugar mix with a few spices for my chicken soaks, any suggestions for a pig would be great. I've read most of the threads on past cooks. Hope for mine to turn out like KJS's. See his thread below. Here is my planned set-up. Any lessons learned or suggestions would be much appreciated. My KK is a 32", here are my initial thoughts bottom up. I do have the dividers for the basket but, planned on doing a full load of extruded coconut. Don't plan on using any of the ceramic inserts. Just built my 4qt smoke pot. Plan on a full load of coffee wood splits in it Bottom grate. Plan on two big roasting pans, with foil out to the grate handles to funnel the drippings into the pans. Main grate. Hadn't planned on putting any foil down like KJS did, Thought the drip pans would shield the bottom of the pig from scorching. I have 4 probe remote thermo. Plan on a couple in the front and back of the pig and one at main grate level Plan on going 250F till temp is there then pull the pig, pull the drip pan and ramp the heat to 350F, put the pig back on and crisp off the skin. Wondering about a mop during the process or just a good ole dry rub? Finishing sauce? Thought some of these looked interesting. sichuan-chili-peanut-vinaigrette-thai-lime-herb-spanish-salsa-verde-sauce-recipes.html I'll take a lot of pics to share. This will be fun. Thanks in advance for comments!

Thanks for the nice comments. Just realized I fat fingered which model I got. We got the 32"..... Apologies for the mix-up. You know what they say about boys and their toys.....