Tyrus

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

Finally got around to using a few slices off of piece of KD walnut. I was impressed at the amount of smoke and how long it provided a smoke for. It wasn't white smoke or a creosote laden smoke but an abundant amount yet light on the nose. I feel it worked well, however due to the issue with my latch falling off in my hand I lost track of this experiment by trying to save my cook from failure. But yah, it appears a go with some minor tweaking. Good candidate for the SS smoke pot, that I will try when my new latch is installed.

Just the other day I was finishing up on a country ribs cook and my KK latch ended up coming off in my hand. To say the least I was surprised and my pork was still a ways out from finishing. Obviously without a latch the lid springs back up, so I had to come up with something nearby to hold the cover down in order to finish my cook. This was it and a day later an improved model was developed in the lab, needless to say I called Dennis and another is in the mail. Just keep in mind all our latches aren't created equal, Dennis stated they increase in size the larger the KK. So as to why it broke. Well, if you ever closed your KK and didn't have the latch pulled out from the bottom catch you might on an isolated occasion suddenly find your lid stops abruptly slamming the latch against the catch. There is a preventative measure Dennis built in though, a roller bearing on a small shaft, but even so on occasion it will hit just right and fail. It happens very seldom, but on occasion that disturbance would occur and the resulting accumulation of these incidents add up to popping the weld on the attached plate. Now I'm not a math major but the applied science here dictates that when a moving object suddenly stops against another object, it's kinetic energy is instantly converted into other forms, as potential deformatiom being one or damage more precisely. It's cumulative effect causes the failure way down the road...it may never happen to you, but if it does all is not lost. So keep in mind these innovative alternatives if and when it does to finish your cook.

I like it, just like camping. You have enough there for a few meals. Do they make a linguica to go with that chorizo? Have you tried cacoila, a marinated pork, great for sandwiches and cooks well in the KK?

Your ahead of the curve, it looks like a sit down summer time sandwich. Yum

NapDogg, to add to that I forgot to mention this particular woodworker made slab tables, cutting boards, chess boards and many side craftable items so I knew his sourced wood was good. I hope I didn't step on your toes, it wasn't my intention. With that under the bridge let me step on 5698k's toes. Generally most people prefer naturally seasoned wood for a more intense smoke flavor, KD wood is an effective, readily available choice that prevents bitter, heavy smoke. It's safer to use without running the risk of over smoking, it's clean burning and tends to be lighter...that's a good thing. Moisture content tends to less than 10% while air dried depending if it,s covered and the duration of time should come in around 15-20% as good seasoned characteristics. So what you said is correct on all accounts NapDogg, I would wonder if some soaking to add moisture back could be useful, anyway it will definitely smoke. How'd you come up with the tag NapDogg? I only ask because we're picking up a new dog tomorrow.......we lost ours recently and as C6Bill recently experienced the void was hard to bear. Yah, it should be good. Sorry 5698K

Hey NapDogg, kiln dried wood only uses heat during the process, no chemicals. Maybe you were thinking of pressure treated wood, however as I remember the old arsenic/chromium/copper (CCA) process employed soaking the wood in a bath for predetermined time under pressure. That's maybe why if you remember picking wet boards out of a stack as the reason they were so heavy. Anyhow I digress, all cutting boards, cabinets, furniture etc are made with KD lumber, natural wood dried slowly by heat. Woods like black locust, cedar, teak and redwood have oils or natural chemicals preventing/slowing rot and bug damage. Using these woods for smoking because of the natural oils imparts a nasty flavor to food. I'd say it's safe to use even KD wood although I'd prefer natural from the tree too because it's what were accustomed to and the appearence presents the idea it's safer, nonetheless there isn't much difference.

Found in a butcher shop in Mattapoisett Massachusetts where once a Japanese restaurant use to be. In the display case it was labeled as "Good Fellas" because of the Italian provenance and the ingredients consisting of Capicola Ham, spinich and provolone. It was a large roast but the butcher cut it in half to my liking. Notice the cut and how the stuffing was placed, I hadn't seen this before and thought I'd pass it along if you hadn't. Excellent with Tuscan herbs applied. Plated with steamed Bok Choy drizzled with oyster sauce, & Butternut squash from the KK

Looking at your machine on line and mine I truly can't find a difference. I believe at one point Craftsman had MTD make the blowers for them. The same electric start, gas tank positioning, plate covers, spark plug etc all match up. I have chains on my tires, brutal grab and it has a 26 width bite 8HP. So if your akin to mine I can understand your devotion.

Mexican pizza, have you done this or heard of it? The idea came to me for using Rotel tomatoes and green chiles with some black negro beans. Empty the can, add a dollip of tomatoe paste ( overful table spoon ) and blend by machine. Add this to your dough, then the beans and taco hamburg that you just cooked. Cover with cheese of your liking grated and cook. Now I didn't cook this on the KK because of time constraints so I used the Ooni with the new gas attachment. Brought into the house and covered with sour cream, lettuce and tomato. The pizza was spot on, top and bottom with beautiful leoparding all around...however the middle was a bit gummy. I attribute this to shopping at another store other than my go to for dough and I noticed the dough also didn't have a good rise. Although the pizza was very good besides this gummy it could of used a twist of Taco Sauce as olive oil is applied to a Margarita pizza, preferably after the cook. First time for this, has potential. I will go to confession for not cooking on the KK

Well gcb, it's kinda like this...I asked my wife to wake me up while I was sleeping downstair in a recliner ever "poised to" at a moments notice attack this storm. So at 3am my first glance wasn't as impressive as expected, by 6am the tide had changed immensely and I was out for a series of 3x during the day front and back doing the snow blower/shovel thing. Snow like we experienced as I last remember from 1978 is a rare phenomenon, still thankful it couldn't kick our spirit. That old Craftsman snowblower resides in the garage, I'd put him up against any of todays models,,,it's a beast.

Wings again! Now just hold on a second, it's not the wings, it's the sauce...yep a peach sauce I found on a shelf at a distant brewery/winery out in the Berkshires., not far from Arlo Guthrie's house. If you don't remember him just do a Google. Wineries and breweries are an attraction I'll spin the wheel over for a look and taste, while inside finding local treasures people are making up at home in their kitchen and resting comfortably on shelves could be considered a bonus find So if your in a position and wondering what to cook for dinner, well that old bottle on the shelf you might have forgoten about could be a mix it in thought. Don't tell the wife though if it's gone past the date of expiration, nope you don't want to go there...trust me, besides it's still good way past the date, trust me, research supports this or a finger taste will suffice. Nothing special, it was tasty but it was just a reminder for you to by something next time your out and about or cruisin to no where, so take a chance...you never know.

Nice cook, I recognize the weave...it's called the basket weave or plain weave the simplist of weaves but perfect for your wrap.

An historical piece, not quite an antique but you'd make a great witness Toney if anyone was stangled in a murder case and asked if, "Can you identify this Mr Toney?" A little off script, but good eyes.