Tyrus

Looks good even if you didn't use a skewer.

It sure beats suckin wind.

Southwestern sausage with Jalepeno, red and green pepper, vidalia onion, provolone, hot sauce and other things all smoked up on apple wood. Used this little gadget blower that was remarkably useful for getting small splits up to fire, this would trim some time and get you started quicker in the KK. It has 3 speeds on the blower, the first being pretty gentle for getting things going without shooting up a lot of ash and the higher speeds are good for cleaning out your computer keyboard, playstation or any electrical components. Amazon $30. The sausage was very juicy with crisp snapping skins, although it wasn't as spicy as I wanted adding a good hotsauce on the side will do the trick. Smoked for three hours and finished to get to target temp by jumping up the temp for a 160-5 finish....all pork.

What's more important, a probe or a scapel? You know I can't see why such a big therm is important....I put on my 500X cheaters and it ain't much difference.

Forgot the photo's

Sweet Chilli Ribs. People often speak about 321 or a 411 as a base to ribs, my thought on that is basically throw the watch away. Somewhere in around 3-4 hours I check the bend and color, some bend and good presentation, then wrap. In for 45-1hr and finish for 45-1hr with a glazing built into that time. Here's the kicker though, I don't like ribs cooked to the point where they fall apart upon trying to remove from the grill so it's incumbent upon yourself to keep a 45-1hr time frame in foil and probe for tenderness thereafter. The probe doesn't have to be brisket glide, somewhat shy of that with a little drag...then they cut up nicely for plating. Everyone has their own technique, their way of doing things, but this how I do it......for me it eliminates a lot of guess work because it's consistent. Oh, by the way 250 is the temp I like but that can vary too, never 225 you'll be there all day for the same results. This is on the KK, in a barrel hang cook....well that's a whole together different adventure.

I think Dennis supplied us with an extra, not sure I'll have to check. Fully functional 5698k, a piece of sandpaper a good washing might bring it back, it's teak a very stable grain. Maybe I can wash it out a bit, give it a new more defined aged look, you know like ourselves after we get out of the shower. Some old car collector finds are left as they found them, they physically go through the car but leave all the rust as it was found. Kind of a badge it'll wear to have come that far. I've also had that river running out the bottom door, it creeps up on you unoticed, and before you know it there's another chore to do. The accumulation for me if I were to let it go only occurs during larger continuous cooks, most of my cooks are generally smaller so I believe it mostly burns off by evidence of the light ash below. Using the deflector directs any runoff to the side, so there is where the problem possibly resides. Rancid you say, to tell you the truth I've never noticed any odor permeating from the KK in regards to that other than the pleasant aromas from cooking. How that runoff gets there should be left for more inclined minds to solve, I'm just a regular Joe doing what I know.

Trouble is when you got a shiny new latch and the rest of the KK don't match, you begin to feel guilty that a long overdue wash and wipe has to done. That was the plan, put on some Delbert McClinton, lit up a stogie, broke out the heavy duty industrial citrus smellin Zep and polished him up. Have to say it, I'm satisfied. Now I used with this a small brass brush around all the stainless, you want to use a softer metal brush so that you don't scratch the work. It's a all about density of the metals, so brass is fine and does a great job on the tough spots, especially up top around the dome. Down below around the doors grease builds up, in cold climates below 32 it will freeze your adjustments requiring the use of a torch to free it up. Every season I remove the doors and spray it all down to dissolve the grease and polish it up. No catch pans for me, I let all drip down and come back up as flavor and haven't lost a fire as a result or suffered any temp loss either. Looks "'almost" as good as it was when he rolled out of the box, now what other kind of BBQ can claim the same.....not many. This particular concentrate Zep if you can find it will clean your grates, stovetops, engineblocks, and other things, leave it on a minute and brush, works well...then rinse and wipe. All done for another year, your turn.

Two pork tenderloins, one marinated in Peri Peri and dusted with a sweet rub, the other with Head Country rub, sweet chilli sauced, with cheddar cheese and jalepeno slices. Roasted carrrots, cauliflower, mashed & acorn squash and fresh chives popping out from the garden. A Sunday sit down dinner, additionally a Strawberry Reisling that couldn't make the picture, yum.

This past Monday I was stepping out from my truck when the mailman appeared, he had the long awaited pkge plus some bad news as he stated. Apparently the postage was shy $11, this post wasn't leaving and I quickly forked over the cash and shook the box. Ahh the sound of joy lay within...at least I thought so. I opened the big box and found a tiny box, inside was my latch, catch and assorted nuts and washers. I wondered why such a big box for such a little item, was it all that was available, I dismissed the thought and concluded this was the reason for the added postage. Now the game begins. When I spoke with Dennis first he made aware there might be two spot welds on each side of the latch faceplate. My first glance inspection didn't reveal that obstruction but on further review under closer scrutiny... they were there. This required as Dennis had stated the use of a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel attachment. I had this tool within my arsenal, all seemed pretty straight up to this point. However, the handle on the KK isn't removable, an obstacle, so any straight cut to remove the weld required some clever hand manipulation with tool to remove the faceplate. If your unaccustomed to working in tight positions with some tools the way forward could be a bit arduous/difficult. I would best describe the situation as trying to start a screw in a comprimised position with worn threads, the task is challenging yet attainable. It was, and after finding the correct cutting wheel a task that came to fruition. There are 3 cutting wheels, the first is the cheapest for very light jobs which breaks within 5-10 seconds upon use, then the thicker more reliable wheel that'll last, does the job but wears before your eyes and also needs replacement. Lastly the reinforced wheel, it wears slowly, is thicker and reinforced for a more reliable cut. So after quite a few rounds of experimentation of changing this and that the plate came off.....finally. Your going to scratch the bottom plate it sits on a little, it's unavoidable but if your careful it's minimal. After all the work was completed I realized at the bottom of my Dremel tool box there was an attachment for tight working areas, sometime your focus is just straight forward and you forget, anyway I posted the pic to show what it was next to the Dremel. The positioning of the latch needed some tweaking, keeping in mind my worn gasket that needs replacement so for a tight click and good spacing it took a few minutes to find. I wouldn't want to do this everyday, it requires an approach, not too difficult given the obstacles but it's within the field of achievement. Mind you now, after all was said and done.............I like my old one better, call it nostalgia, change, feel, it just seemed to work better....it'll pass.

Sea Bass, caught one off of Martha's Vineyard a ways back....nice fish, mild tasting.

And when your done with your fish you can play checkers. What kinda fish, something says trout to me

Pimento wood...musta been a special occasion, no secret how you value it's importance and scarcity. The snow, better you than me, I've seen enough....looking forward to spring. Nice plate by the way.

I took another dive into the walnut and found that those smoking with black walnut alone experienced a harsh bitter or sooty taste to their meat. The recommendation was to trim the percentage to 80/20 and use a blend of woods less forceful as to say, (lighter). The information or thought should be interpreted as wood used in a stick burner as in post oak for briskets. The lighter colored english/persian walnut is considered better for smoking having a milder profile. I believe and I could be wrong but in kamados generally speaking, two pieces of wood whatever vareity you choose provide more of an accent to food flavoring amongst all the natural charcoal out of the bag. It's good to mention that Paul, all warnings are there for a reason...make your own choice. A California thing, doesn't surprise me.

As I stood by my KK talking with Dennis and I looked for those spot welds, there were none. Apparently it came down to the year of manufacture, that's all, other than that removal with a Dremel cutting wheel would make easy work of any tack weld as you stated. Looking at your break, I'd call that an oddity. For moi, it's pretty straight forward to install, remove the two cap nuts and replace. Weird how it happened though, I opened to take a temp on the meat and the latch stayed in my hand. I said, "this ain't good." So I posted this for those unaware to be mindful of the possibilities, reassure them it's only a speedbump. That's all Folks