tekobo

Two lovely looking grills. Congratulations on the 22 @BowtieBill. That is my secret favourite KK but I don't have the right setting for one. @Rob.C, you struck really lucky with that buy! Beautiful tiles. Now need to see your cooks!

Yummy cauliflower bake with harissa based marinade and peppers. I have made this at least 6 times and It is probably the only meal that would persuade me to become a vegetarian. Before and after about an hour at 180C It is another Ottolenghi recipe, this time from his Flavour book. i have no affiliation with him other than loving the things he does with vegetables. Link to online copy of the recipe is here https://www.irishexaminer.com/recipes/?c-recipeid=4124 I freestyle with the different types of pepper flakes, using what I've got rather than what he asks for and make my own rose harissa. Never disappoints.

Yummy looking food. All look great but my current trigger is @Troble's lamb. Would slice it up so that there were nice soft inside bits alongside the crunchy outside bits and I would lay them on top of a beautiful cheesy leopard skin pizza alla @Mcjudsten. I hate calling out individual cooks as, at a different time of day I would go for brisket in a burger. And it is only breakfast time. No wonder I am not getting any thinner!

Hey @Tyrus. You're right, it was fun and it wasn't that much work. That is just a selection of meals over a period of two weeks and I used the KK because I didn't have an indoor oven. The rest of the time we lived on cichetti (Venetian equivalent of tapas) in the bars we frequented. Back home sweet home, Italian chicken cooked on my 23KK. Could have been crispier but I now know, from my cooking in the 16KK without my usual clay dish, that I should leave clay top off for all or most of the cook. Next time it will be perfect.

Thanks for all your kind comments. We ate(and drank) well. I now need a drying out period with a fair bit of exercise to recover!

Had a blast with my 16KK in Italy and then had an 18hr journey home. 6:20am start in Italy and arrived home at 11:35pm in the UK. I didn't have a working indoor oven and so most of my cooking was done on the KK. Here are my cooking highlights from our stay in Italy: Asparagus mimosa from Plenty by Ottolenghi Sticky sweet and sour plums and sausages from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love except I used apricots instead. Pan was on limit of its capacity. Excuse to go shopping. Best roast potatoes in the world according to our friend Francesco Cooked a couple of these beef ribs in quick succession. Top right is the Castellucio lentils with tomatoes and Gorgonzola dish from the "Plenty" book, made with orzo/pot barley in place of lentils. It worked really well. Bottom left is the roasted potatoes with aioli and buttered pine nuts from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love. Francesco's opinion was that I had ruined the previously perfect roast potatoes by dousing them in aioli. I quite liked it! This dentice or bream was deeelicious. Served us for two meals. I didn't cook it as recommended which was a) to leave the scales on and peel off the skin when cooked and b) to cut a shallow incision on either side of the spine and use the colour of the flesh there to indicate doneness. I hadn't read the recipe when I chose the fish at the fishmongers and so had them take the scales off. The mat that I bought meant that the skin did not stick AND was crispy and tasty to eat. Our local butcher is a magician. From left to right - chicken wrapped in bacon (the best lollipop ever), mixed veal, pork and turkey kebab, lamb kebab and a "carpaccio" kebab which was beef wrapped with lardo. I was given strict instructions for cooking times, from 20 minutes down to 5 minutes. I staggered the timings for putting the kebabs on and they all came out beautifully. Except perhaps for the lamb which I would have had rarer. New pan and spatcocked, practically boneless chicken (dissosato). I omitted to take a photo of the finished product but can assure you that our friend Francesco declared it the "best chicken ever". He has been rude about my chicken cooks in the past but that was because I was cooking with crappy indoor equipment in Airbnbs. He was astounded by the juiciness of the chicken breast. KK magic. Day before our long road trip. Kebabs on a bed of summer courgette with tomatoes and ricotta (I substituted feta) from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love Plus yummy fresh strawberries. Easy to pop in your mouth as you are driving along. Peaches and plums were banned, too dribbly. I have referred to this Ottolenghi book and the other one that I have in Italy called Plenty because I have been using them to explore veg cooking. It is easy to get stuck in a rut with veg and so I forced myself to try new recipes with the great produce available from our local market. It was a real success and I would recommend this and his other books. There can be lots of chopping sometimes but it's worth it.

Hey @Paul, you must be so proud of him! That article was really interesting. Hard to imagine how focussed, fearless and skilled you need to be to compete and win at that level.

Sorry to be late to the party. I hope you had a VERY Happy Birthday @Bruce Pearson

I think that works perfectly - no pressure to share!

Thanks @Paul et al. I have already packed the second grate away but I see the benefit of using it as a surface for placing foil to shield from dripping fat and juices. I used the tray that came with the KK but that does block more of the heat and is lower down than the second grate. One to try. I have fish for tonight or tomorrow but nothing else in the house. Reminds me that I must plan what we are eating over the next few days and get to the market. The market and butchers are shut all day Sunday and on Monday morning so some forethought is required compared to when I am back home in the UK.

The breed of animal also makes a big difference. I like Dexter beef and also Longhorn. It would be worth checking on breed as well as how the animal is fed as you progress with your mission. My ultimate steak was aged 198 days (I had been trying to hit 200 but I counted wrong!). Not sure I would go to that trouble again but we very much enjoyed it. Link to the post I put up at the time.

I've just remembered that one neighbour said she was from Mexico. She is the one most likely to be upwind of the KK. Will try to win her over with @Troble's Al Pastor recipe one day soon....

Those bears of yours look nice and gentle @MacKenzie but I am absolutely certain I would not want them prowling around my yard!!!

Very nice looking sauce @David Chang

Glad to be providing solace to 16KKs around the world. Well done Mac! Quick bit of advice required from 16KK owners. I don't have room to store all KK accessories in my ready access cupboards here and have had to decide on what will go into "deep" storage. Two grates come with the KK but I can't figure out why I would ever want to use anything other than the main grate. Is there any benefit in keeping the smaller grate in easy reach or can I pack it away on my top shelf?

@Firemonkey, that reasoning says I should invite my neighbours round to keep them on side. Not a bad idea, once I have got better at working my 16.

Your post made me laugh a lot @jonj. The only reason my previous post did not include a picture of my grate soaking post-cook in the kitchen sink is that I could not be bothered to dry my hands and go and hunt out my camera. I imagine that would have been a direct pull on your guilt strings. Glad to have been of help! 🤭

I had an attack of the dreaded white smoke this evening. I am desperate not to offend my neighbours in Italy and was horrified to see these plumes of white smoke coming out of my KK when I lit it. This was down to the fact that I did NOT put a shield in when I cooked my ribs low and slow(ish) last night. My cocoshell briquettes (yes they are briquettes but are very very good and are my go-to) were soaked with fat from last night's cook. Past experience says that you can never get rid of that fat and they will smoke for ever more. I aborted the cook, will wait for everything to cool down and will then dispose of those coals and start fresh. From what you described of your set up @PenultimateGriller, this does not sound the same as your problem but I can empathise.

My husband and I managed to lift the KK out of the car between us. Here is the base coming up the apartment building in the lift. And being wheeled through the apartment once we got it on the base. Here is the KK, spring back in and the couple of tiles that came off in the move re-grouted into place. Lovely bundle of asparagus from the market. Lamb chops followed. Feta and lemon zest enhanced the asparagus. Yummy dinner. Welcome to Italy!

I asked for a rack of ribs from my Italian butcher yesterday. When he heard they would be going on the BBQ he insisted on cutting them between each rib like this: I suspect it is because they don't use smokers as much here and expect to have to cook their BBQ ribs a bit more quickly. Anyway, I followed the Italian theme and marinaded with balsamic vinegar, peperoncino and salt. Had to cut the rack in half to fit it on my 16KK and it only took 2.5 hours to cook at about 150C. A bit too salty and slightly dry so I think I may shred and eat with pasta later in the week. Fun to try but will need to take a different approach next time if I do go for the pre-chopped rack.

I remembered that you had posted a pic of your very early KK here, looking close to good as new, which is why I asked. Yes, I imagine KKs have evolved quite a bit since your first purchase. What fun, to have a new toy to play with! Don't be a stranger.

Deleting duplicate post

Road trip. Very long road trip. We drove 15 hours on Sunday to the South of France and a further 6.5 hours into Italy today and my 16KK came with us: Here is Dan the Man, helping us load her into the back of the car Sitting pretty in the boot My husband had originally planned to attach loads of ties to the KK but instead decided to leave the back seats up and we packed all the rest of our stuff around the KK. Resting now after all that driving. Will post photos in a few days when we have her all set up and ready to go.

Nice to meet you @Firemonkey. Excellent taste. Tile AND autumn nebula. The best. Why did you decide to move on from your old KK? Or have you kept them both?

Yeah, @tony b, you are probably right. The texture of that veal was good, just pink in the centre. Will go on experimenting and will figure out whether it is worth continuing a thread about frozen steaks here on a thread about tandoori chicken....