Tyrus

Very cool day here in New England and a TriTip on the menu. This was a bit of a process, last years coals in this cooker were uncooperative, inheritently they burn down to smalls which inhibit air flow, a distraction, an effort that eventually after a lenghty considerable time they do come to rise...then it happened. The cook was on, time to make love...and so we did. It was a marinated piece in a Japenese BBQ sauce overnite and then fork tendered for texture a few hundred times to soften. Placed on the grill with wrapped potatoes in a Southwestern rub, flipped twice and all was nice. Started with a Carrot soup to begin having a peanut butter final addition, cashews on the top then all plated with Cheesy Mex Cauliflower and soft tender potatoes.

Well, I've always said if the lawns to big to cut in a day...you gotta get a bigger mower.

It's a great setting for cooking in SteveL. A 23 will get you there fer sure, and if you thought for some misdirected hmmm... confusion between the two, you'll just have ta settle it out here amongst the crew.

Don't wait, every car has a trunk brother and a back seat....it's just down the street

The best person to ask as a lover of beef ribs would be Aussie Aura, unfortunately he's probably cruising the backroads of the outback in Au on his bike somewhere. It all looked pretty good to me, I'd sure as hell would of liked a chair at the table. All I have to offer is, no two pieces of meat cook the same, 250-75 is the temp, wrap around 160-65 and probe for tenderness. The expert thing is a reach, most here have cooked so long on one influence or another can generally predict the outcome. A lot of factors can sway a cook, nobody's perfect, but for those who can ease through every cook without a care...knows their shit. Be satisfied everyone returned for more then work on any changes you feel overlooked.

Well Braindoc they're pruning the orchards about now getting ready for spring and for $80.00 I bought this crate of apple wood. Mind you now this wood is green (fresh off the tree) and a fork truck had to put it in the bed of my truck. Here's some pics to give you an idea of the quantity vs pre bagged. Now if I was to use this as chunks in the KK you could say it's pretty close to a lifetime supply. Earlier this week I bought seasoned limbs enough to fill a cardboard orange crate for $20, that'll tide me over until I cut these into smaller pieces for seasoning. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Geeez, seems like I cooked that ages ago Dennis. If memory serves me right I believe it was a Top Round, nothing special about the cut an ordinary piece, however they sometime talk to you as you pass by at the market, give them a second glance and your walking down the aisle with em. A cut from my family youth, it's revived on occasion to remember a simpler past. Prepared correctly, it's a fine Sunday dinner

2 nickels is a dime. Loan me dime, by Boz Scaggs,, you gotta have it...goes good with chicken.

Attractive piece of meat

Clearence and positioning Toney. I used the circular SS disc Dennis gave us as a base to sit on the handles of the fire basket then I laid two bricks down on top. Directly on top of the bricks I had a 13 1/4" grate from a tiny cooker, this I centered/laid on the bricks while centering everything in the middle area. This vortec was 13" in diameter with no bottom, it's open on top and bottom. I positioned the vortex unit on top of this grate, the grate holds the charcoal in not allowing anything to fall through between the bricks. This whole assembly once complete gave approx a 1/4' clearence from the top KK grate once in position. Now if I placed the vortex on our lower KK grate and then placed the top grate on it was just off by an 1/8" and wobbled a bit on the vortex. I didn't like it, so I came up with this and it was perfect. I pulled out the lower vent gate a little for good air flow and opened the top pretty wide too, it all settled in around 460 for a long ride and stayed there throughout the duration. I peeked a couple of times, but took 45-50 mins for a 205 internal. This is the way to go, and the advantage of doing it in the KK is even better because you know how good/moist it is in our KK's. Set it and forget it, best wings I've had...no brag, just fact.

Winters are long and with it comes episodes of down time that lead you to look for alternatives in your food prep. That said, it all boils down to, "I got tooo much time on my hands". So as the story goes I bought what is better known as in the BBQ world of Weber products a piece called the vortex. It's a conical cylinder like holder for charcoal, and it's use was developed to assist and aid in cooking by allowing you to position your fire in different ways. It's a fire basket so to say, you can move around to meet your needs. I thought about this and how it applies to chicken wings in a Weber, a good idea, but I thought again and looked at the possibility as to how it would perform in my 23 KK. Here we are, front row and your about to see through the magic of pictures how it all unfolded. Starting with wings marinated, fired up, set up, and cooked up. 45-50 mins later @ 460 degrees with no flip because I was lazy and just wanted one side pretty this is what we got. Try as you might adjusting the knobs on your computer or reaching into your screen to get one, it ain't gonna happen. Now I just know some of you out there are saying I got a 32 it's a 23 the numbers are only reversed, nah too fat brother...your not a club member, 23's only. Accompanied with a quick veggie parm that was almost rivaling them wings. All I can say is, "eat your heart out or make your own."

That looks good Jonj, oh yah real good about now.

Cherry, Maple, White and Red oak, Red and White Birch are common around here braindoc and in abundance on hand. Since I like to resource my own from whats about or at the local firewood provider in his pile to pick, you made realize I haven't had any apple or peach in a while. Rather than order from an on line provider I went ahead and called a local orchad in the area. Springtime is just around the corner and they start pruning soon, they might even thin the herd and remove a few trees for reasons of their own. I spoke to a family member owning the orchard and he asked me to contact him later in the week after he spoke with his grandfather. Just a thought, I like my wood fresh...straight off the farm if available

It's never too cold to grill Toney, it's all in your head...you just couldn't break away from the TV remote. Nice cook by the way

Lately on my internet feed an advertisement for Katz's pastrami has been following me, rather than ordering I decided to make my own. Since it is a weeks long prep soaking in a brine comprised of many spice ingredients and aromatics along with Praugue Powder better known as Curing Salt#1 I knew it needed a controlled and reliable steady cook, one I didn't have to continually watch over...the KK. This was the tricky part for me, the video I followed instructed one to add 4 Tbls of this Backwoods pickling mix that had curing salt as an additive. Now this didn't help, I didn't have this product but only Curing Salt on hand and if you know amounts are critical when using this product. As a safety concern an internet search was conducted leading me to Amazing Ribs.com where a formula plug in showed the ratio of meat weight to H2O giving the recommended amount of CS to use in grams which was approx 1 Tbls. In a liquid suspension you are allowed to increase the amount safely however it will affect the time your meat soaks in the brine as shorter, it was a unusual balancing act so I stayed with 1 Tbls for 1 gal at a weeks duration. Yesterday was cooking day, starting with a full basket knowing this 4.25 lb brisket piece would require at least 7-8hrs of cooking time I dialed the KK in for 250F on this cold 19F degree day. It took approx 45 mins to settle in, I placed the meat on and watched the temp off an on for an additional 1/2 hr. Nothing moved, 250 was holding quite well, so I had a few hours of errands too run and out I went confident it would be where I left it when I returned. To make a long story short, it was not only at 250 upon my return, it remained there throughout the whole cook unencumbered by any more adjustments for what took approx 8 hrs total. I wrapped the brisket point at 160 degrees tightly in foil once it established a bark and ended by probing for tenderness and pulling at 208 degrees. Quite an ordeal of waiting a week but a rewarding event to have such a smooth consistent cook throughout. Now I didn't use any billows apparatus, just a few chunks of oak tossed on top supplied a long sufficient smoke, that's it. You can either slice it thin on a slicer or cut it with a knife, bear in mind straight it may be a little salty otherwise steam in pot with a little water although you'll loose the nice crust. Served here on a Chibatta roll with dijon and cheese, red bliss dill tata salad and brocolli salad.