tekobo

I've made all the rookie mistakes possible today and now know why the guru users say it makes sense to be tech assisted. I also know what I did wrong and am hoping I will get the hang of it soon. I did buy one DigiQ but will hold off installing it while I make sense of the KKs. From getting to a steady 150 C, to turning the damper the wrong way and soaring to 250 C+, to bringing it down slowly by closing down the damper to falling asleep and waking to find the fire had actually gone out. Oh well, back on track. The bourguignon is a forgiving dish and will keep going through the evening and into the night. I don't know if you were all dead sure about the colour(s) you selected for your KKs. I wasn't and wondered if there would be some days when the cobalt blue would be just too cheerful. I have no such doubts now and will leave you with a picture of them from last night, not looking too "shouty". I think they are going to fit right in.

And Merry Christmas from me too!

That was so funny. I had told them that it should take four people to lift it but they said they were fine. I said I didn't want to break them before they'd finished the job. Their response was that they had back up to fill in if they broke. Anyway, once they had tried a lift, they were sufficiently rattled to use the winch to make sure the 23 was steady in its descent. They then started fussing because they couldn't orient the 21 so the the winch could support them. At that point I had to tell them to man up and put their boy's toys away. They did and it went like a dream. They are going to advertise themselves as expert BBQ movers. To be fair, they were very careful and showed the KKs respect. They wanted to know if I'd seen one before I ordered them. I hadn't. It's hard to explain how Dennis' creations move you even when you have only seen them online.

Thanks @MacKenzie KK breakfast of warmed up wings and left over beans here!

I feel like a kid at Christmas. I fell asleep at 1am and was awake again at 5am, running through what I will do today. And what a day it will be. I have already been out in the dark to loosen the vent and crack open the KK, thanks for the advice @MacKenzie. I've wandered round the house and located a sink to soak my grills in. Well, I haven't actually located it because it is in the greenhouse outside but I know where they will be going. No whole chickens in my near future @tony b. The capons that arrived yesterday are my Christmas present to my father-in-law who is set on cooking coq au vin. He wanted blood too (apparently it is part of the traditional recipe) but the supplier ignored my whole order completely when I asked last time. I didn't want to jeopardise my access to poultry over the holidays so no blood requested. Thank you all for your good wishes and advice. Today I will be playing with fire. I will fill(!) and light up the 23 and practice with the vents through the day as @Pequod suggested. Given the KK will be hot, I will get on and cook the pig cheek bourguignon that's been on my list all week. And take photos. And do all the other fun things there are to do at this time of year. I think I am getting to like Christmas again. I know some of you are getting KK signs for your Christmas presents. I don't think mine came with any but do say if they are secreted somewhere in/on the case and I have missed them. No matter, the KKs are great as they are. And no, I haven't forgotten about venting in my haste to get on. We have a new year's party planned and I have promised a bbq. Will keep temps within range until after the party and start the new year with a vent. And breathe.

What a great day. I am so happy that I didn't wait to get everything just right before I started to cook. I love the way the KKs look, I respect and adore the engineering but they are here to provide me with food and I don't want to be scared of them. We lit coals in the 21" and after first stabilising at about 140degrees C I took it up to 160 and put the chicken on. I had hoped to get it hotter but went with it anyway. What did I learn? First: step away from the damper! Leave it alone and let the temperatures settle. Second: put more char in the bowl. The KK's efficiency may be legendary but it can't cook on a grapefruit sized pile of coals. Dad and The Husband bailed out at about 9:30pm and I put their wings, drumsticks and thighs in the indoor oven. I held out until 10:30pm by which time the wings were more like they had been in a long slow sous vide than a BBQ. Very tasty. I have left the rest in to cook in the ambient heat from the remaining few coals. Will "pull"(?) them soon and shut the machine down. The 21 feels like a good size for a greedy family of 2-3. I look forward to trying the 23 tomorrow. The photos reflect a less than perfect cook but I am OK with that. Any advice on corrective actions to take gratefully received. @Grant, I will definitely show you some detail on the 21. I think it is worth a separate post, comparing it to the 23 and generally getting to know it. Come on baby, light my fire: What was left after the rest of the chicken went into the IDK Plated in honour of our Brazilian holiday, with fried rice, beans, farofa and chilli.

Oh yes! What fun. Everything happened so fast. The first KK was already being wheeled down our alleyway by the time I got out and they were both deposited, in quick succession, in our garden. Now I know why the delivery company were so reluctant to deliver to our narrow back road: Then I had a bit of a panic when I realised I hadn't got them to orient the boxes the right way for the ramp to work. That is, until we realised the ramp wouldn't work because the delivery company had put an additional pallet under the KK pallet and so the ramp wasn't up to the job. Disembarkation option 1: the boys tried lifting and realised they needed to respect these KKs. Disembarkation option 2: not the right level Disembarkation option 3: bingo! That's why you buy two KKs. So you can screw your two ramps together. A bit of fun bashing out the box under the KK and then a quick run down the ramp, supported by a winch. Much easier with the 21" And here they are in situ. Better shots when it is light tomorrow. Off to light a fire. Yippee! I think the first cook is going to be some no fuss chicken wings.

Not yet. Delivery man rang to say he was 30-45 minutes away. That was 38 minutes ago. Time to go outside and do the waiting for KK dance methinks.

Oh good, somewhere I'd be welcome I hope. Although your football team isn't doing so well. I have followed Philly for years and am just devastated about Wentz's injury. I suspect that is a subject for another forum that I am not yet a member of. To bed now. I think you can probably tell that I am in a pre-delivery frenzy and should get some sleep....

Ha ha. You may well be right. I was hoping Tony wouldn't be offended by my comment and now I have a reason to laugh rather than cringe at my rather African lack of tact...

Not as dramatic as it sounds. The Husband and builder friend will be here and are all prepared to have fun with the KKs whether I get back in time or not. Meeting in London from 8am to 10am. Catch 10:30am train back, arrive station 12noon. Home 12:15pm. IF all goes to plan, I shall be back for the after noon delivery. I just hope they don't decide to be helpful and try to deliver early!!!

Tee hee. Makes me wonder why you keep the books if you can't get at them to use them. I do sacrilegious things with mine - spatter them in cooking liquids and write notes in them about how the cook went. My trouble was that I started to get to the point where I couldn't remember which book a particular recipe was in. Noting which recipes I've cooked on eatyourbooks has been helpful as my book collection has grown. But hey, it won't work for everyone!

I know this is a cold thread but you mention subjects that are close to my heart. I too am a cookbook addict and wondered if you had found the website eatyourbooks? It is a fab service. You pay a small amount per annum - $30 I think - and you can tell it all the cookbooks that you own and you will hopefully find that most have been indexed. This means that you can just type in search criterion and it will list the various recipes in your books that include the ingredient or cooking method or whatever you choose to search on. You will also get a list of ingredients for shopping for each recipe. The eatyourbooks site has transformed my relationship with my cookbooks. You ask: Why do this instead of simply searching the net for recipes? I say: It means you can quickly pick out recipes from your trusted cookbooks or discover what is so great about others that you hardly ever use. And I like books. The other subject that is close to my heart is drink and @Cookie piqued my interest with the Death & Co book ref. My recommendation is for a book from another New York bar, PDT. Great book and it has turned The Husband into my go-to cocktail maker. Awesome. https://www.amazon.com/PDT-Cocktail-Book-Bartenders-Celebrated/dp/1402779232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513791851&sr=8-1&keywords=pdt

Pics will be forthcoming, I promise. My main challenge is not missing the delivery. In a world of Skype and FaceTime, I have stupidly arranged a face to face meeting in London tomorrow that I can't back out of. I have asked for a pm delivery and will be working hard to get back in time for the fun!!

I have just been re-reading this thread to remind myself of what I ordered and why. Your posts made me smile and laugh out loud. You were all so very kind to this newbie. I know you often say "Christmas has come early" to people when their huge KK crate arrives. In my case, I am hoping that is true. Delivery was delayed from yesterday due to Christmas congestion at the port. KKs due to arrive in our back yard tomorrow afternoon. Holding my breath and crossing my fingers...

Hi @sfdrew28. I previously bookmarked a thread where Dennis made comments about the crust on a pizza. I don't know if it is this one you were referring to. In any case, thanks for your post, I will be bookmarking this page for when I make my first pizza.

@Bruce Pearson, I love doing whole chickens, because everyone gets the bit they like AND you get to make stock from the bones afterwards. I did search the forum for chicken cooks on OctoForks but the closest I got to a whole chicken was @MacKenzie's half chicken. Other than that, people seem to use them for chicken pieces. And yes @tony b, there but for the grace of God go I when it comes to not piercing my hand instead of the chicken. Thinking I might keep my butchery gauntlet in the drawer next to the OctoForks so that I remember to use it. Better safe(r) than sorry! The gauntlet won't offer absolute protection but will provide an initial barrier and remind me to be alert. I followed advice re soaking, rubbing and sticking in the dishwasher and they came out nice and clean with little fuss. All good.

Ha ha. Thanks for all the tips @MacKenzie. What I didn't photograph was the comedy configuration where I managed to cover over the central hole before I realised it would prevent the roti bar going through. I plan to sleep well the next few days so that I am wide awake when the delivery man comes knocking!

My KKs will be arriving soon and I am trying to experiment with the accessories that I have bought so far so I won't be overwhelmed by the newness of everything when the KKs arrive. I swing between being terrified by all that I will have to learn and comforted by the fact that you all say that KKs are so intuitive to use. I am gently settling into the latter mode and looking forward to the excitement when they arrive. Anyway, on to the business at hand: I have been trying out my home roti and found the forks to be so feeble that I had to pierce the skin with a knife to get them in! OctoForks to the rescue. I set them up yesterday and here is my first attempt at balancing a whole chicken on the spit: As you can see, I got the centre of gravity all wrong and it was never going to rotate smoothly. With the forks up close and personal to the sides of chicken, I wasn't sure that I liked the fact that the skin on the sides wouldn't see the heat but the skin on the back, which I don't eat, would be beautifully browned. So I switched to this configuration: Still not perfectly balanced but the OctoForks made a really stable cage for the bird. These are really robust birds that we bought in Italy, in the region that invented slow food. The first time I cooked one, I roasted it as normal for an hour and it came out really tough. The thigh meat is almost gamey. Since then I have found that a slow roti makes them nice and tender. This time the chook was in for two and a half hours at 150 degrees C and came out OK. There are a number of areas for improvement. First, try this out in a KK to see if what you say is true about how well it cooks chicken. Second, take the wing tips off and crank up the heat at the end to crisp up the skin. Third maybe brine the chicken and add more purple crack than I did this time. I do have a MEATER now but hadn't managed to charge and pair it in time and so left it out of this cook. Any advice about positioning the Octoforks? It would be good to see photos of your cooks with whole chickens to help make my first KK chicken cook as good as it can be. Or should I just do what Dennis says and go with a spatchcocked bird? Why am I even thinking of defying Dennis?

Hi @MacKenzie, interesting to see that cheddar cheese makes it all the way to Nova Scotia from Somerset. No, I am not familiar with that brand although, as you know, I am a big cheese eater. The pack that my friends sent me last week was from a range of artisanal makers. They took the traceability gig really seriously and each cheese was marked with the name of the person who made it. Thank you Stacey, Charlotte, Trisha, Michael and Charlie, your cheese was delicious. I hope Ivy's secret cheddar recipe made your bread super tasty.

That made me laugh a lot! I did try some on my egg this morning and, moderated by bacon, rocket and a nice baguette, the flavour came through nicely and wasn't harsh. I would use szechuan peppers sparingly and will do the same with these and see how I go. I think the purple crack experiment is going to be fun. And even more fun will be hearing from other KK owners as when they bite into their first one.

@MacKenzie, the time difference means that sleep, rather than fried egg, is on my mind at the mo. Will take yours and @Tyrus's advice and maybe try it on beef too. I think it is definitely an interesting flavour.

I can tell you...purple crack is not floral at all when you eat it! My stock arrived on Saturday and I tried it out straight away on a fried egg. Unfortunately, I hadn't tightened the grinder and ended up with large flecks of the stuff in my egg. A cross between a chilli and a clove I think and, as my father-in-law said as he picked bits out of his teeth afterwards, "if you are going to leave that on the table you'd better warn your guests!" Having sorted out the grind, I am now trying to decide if I like it or not. Tried it in chicken gravy tonight and it imparted an interesting note. Not sure.... Will be good to hear what @Tyrus thinks. I had already ordered mine from another supplier and it may be that the @Aussie Ora's supply is different or superior. Or it may be that clovey chilli is an acquired taste!

it may well take me until the summer to get this into her schedule!

Hmmm. I have a potter friend. Might see if she thinks making such a spoon would be an interesting project. Race to see if I have success there before you make it to the source