tekobo

Sounds like some good detective work all! And very nice looking chook @djami. Keep on jamming.

I was in a cook shop in Sweden over the weekend. I think the must have titled this display "shock and awe" when they dreamt it up! Huuuuuge pots!

Ooooh. I pre-ordered that book months ago. Here's hoping it arrives soon. Fingers crossed for that puff @PVPAUL! Glad to hear you got the adaptation to the grinder working well for you.

@Tyrus Cooking brisket can be like a roller coaster ride. Glad yours turned out so well. Looks good, gentle smoke ring, nice layer of fat and moist.

I am curious to see how the whole set up works. Does your fire basket sit underneath this piece of stainless steel?

I suspect capsaicin is way hotter than anything that I need in my life under normal circs. It was fun to try this but I found it difficult to mix with the oil - had to reheat in the water bath and found that it fell out of suspension afterwards. The oil I put in has a nice gentle heat, with the goo of the majority of the capsaicin sitting at the bottom of the bottle. Will keep playing...

Hi @ChristopherHauser, can you take the piece out and photograph it? It is over the fire box and can't stay there I don't think. It might be an upside down double bottom pan but easiest to tell if you get it out and take a photo.

So...here is the result of my latest chilli experiment. We visited my cousin in NYC earlier in the year. He introduced me to a beautiful chilli oil called Akabanga from Rwanda. I fell in love instantly. It comes in a 20ml bottle with a dropper and you apply 4-5 drops to your food. No more. It's hot but not too hot. Delicious. Given I was growing a lot of chillis myself I figured I really ought to figure out how to make it. The only clue that I could find to how it was made was on this website: https://www.afrolink.co.uk/product-page/akabanga-chilli-oil-product-of-rwanda. It says The recipe consists of 80 percent yellow chilli pepper (scotch bonnet) extract and 20 percent olive oil. Hmm, how do you get an extract of chilli peppers? I found this site that explained how to extract pure capsaicin from chillis: https://italianchilli.com/en/content/22-how-to-extract-pure-capsaicin-from-chillies Yes, I know that capsaicin is murderously potent and has to be treated with respect but I could not resist the challenge. Started with some 95 proof alcohol that we bought in Italy in order to make limoncello. (Drop all your preconceptions, home made limoncello using Amalfi lemons is a revelation.) Per the recipe, I whizzed a load of chillies, mixed them in with the alcohol and let stand for three days. I then strained through a 250 micron and then 50 micron bag. They said to wait for the alcohol to evaporate. I soon realised that was going to take too long. I consulted some websites and found one that explained how to evaporate alcohol from tinctures of cannabis. Simple solution. I put the bowl in my water bath and heated the water up to 81C, just above the boiling temperature for alcohol. Here it is, starting to coagulate as the temperature rose. I now have this sticky residue. It is hard to believe that this is the fearsome capsaicin. It smells lovely and sweet, not hot at all. That said, I stuck a toothpick in and tasted the liquid off the end of the toothpick. It was very hot. Not to be messed with. I am planning to dissolve this extract in oil (1:15 is the only measure I have been able to find online so far) and then dispense it from little 15 ml bottles with a pipette. To build the flavour profile I'll use extra virgin olive oil flavoured by slow cooking onions, garlic and peppers in it this morning. All of that said, there is no way that a factory in a village in Rwanda went to these lengths to make chilli oil! This lady from Cameroon has a much more down to earth method which I will try with my next harvest of chillis.

Hey there @Syzygies. Not controversial round here. Just more and helpful information. The site that I use for my recipes is here https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/cooking-with-chili-peppers/how-to-make-fermented-pepper-mash/ and they talk about a white film of Kahm yeast being normal. This is what I was referring to when I referred to "white mould". Any feedback you have on the method and approach would be gratefully received. I used these fermentation airlock kits https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08G11J5VT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for the first few months and then put the mash in the fridge with a lid to store.

That looks like quite a spread @Troble! Making me hungry.

Because Marc Almond is unforgettable? My mash is in the fridge now. I like to keep it for a couple of years before using it. Helps mellow it out. That, happily, has also worked with my apple cider from last year. It tastes much better a year on.

@C6Bill. You know what's really scary? The fact that you are a Patriots fan. Fly Eagles Fly!

Looking good @tony b. My last mash ended up with lots of white mould. I know it is meant to be a scrape off and keep going job but am worried it will have tainted the taste of the mash. We'll see... I am in the middle of a science experiment to try to recreate a super hot but surprisingly flavoursome chilli oil that my cousin brought me from southern Africa. Will report back soon.

I just looked back at the photo of my chilli haul back in October 2018. Ha! I now have a polytunnel and grow my chillis in the ground. I harvested about half of the peppers last week and this is what I got: I've been having fun processing that lot. Made a few jars of peri peri sauce with the peri peri peppers. My next batch of wings is going to be divine. I smoked the peachy chillis in the KK using my smoke pot. Sorry, no on KK pix but here they are after the event. They are now in a mason jar with vinegar over them in the fridge, ready to be added to all sorts of nice dishes. I also mixed an large number of the red chillis - some of them are ripened Padrons, others Devils Rib and the rest are mushroom pepper - in with a pile of tomatoes, onions and garlic and smoked them in the KK for six hours. Beginning. End, at about midnight Blended and ready to go into jars. It is pretty hot. Will go in jars in the freezer. To be brought out to go on patatas bravas alongside some cooling mayonnaise. That said, I do have quite a lot so I need to think of some other use for this potent sauce!

Nice rack @Aussie Ora 🤪 Reminds me I have one of those folded away somewhere. All round crispy drumsticks, what's not to like? @Troble your budget friendly cook has some cool links for me. I always buy whole or half animals and find it a cost effective way to get good quality meat. I recently realised that it wasn't quite as cost effective as I thought when The Husband worked out how much it cost to run our industrial scale freezer. 😱 We have now got rid of it and bought something that is much more energy efficient and I am focussing on using the space for things that need to be in a freezer rather than as a very cold and expensive cupboard for things like bags of flour! The next step to value will be to finally get around to following your advice about solar and find out what's available (and viable) to install on our roof to help keep our energy bills down.

Brazilian BBQ night here yesterday. Shoulder of lamb smoked with pecan and apple chips in the 32 using the double drip pan from the 23. Picanha prepared and then spun on the 23. Nice spread. There were just six of us to dinner. Lots of lovely left overs for me to eat this week. When I was cleaning the double bottom drip pan this morning I thought I ought to show it off again. I soaked it with ordinary washing up liquid and it came up beautifully clean this morning with minimal scrubbing. Never ceases to amaze me. I find it to be a really good cooking utensil that doesn't warp and is so easy to keep looking good as new.

Congratulations @David Chang. What a find! I hope you got it for a good price. I checked mine and the UV light does not show when the main light is off. I would write to the manufacturer and ask how you check on UV light and filters. I have not done anything with mine since I bought them and would be interested in what you find out. The additional accessories that I have are the meat hangers, the sausage hanger and the salt blocks and salt tray.

I hope you are doing OK after your surgeries @Wobster

Hi @Bunji I forgot to respond to your question about spatchcocked chicken. It is great on the KK. Up high on the top grate at high temp gives you really lovely skin browning. It is different to rotissering a whole chicken but does compare well. I made up the bit about accessories being available to order in the US. I just assumed that must be the case. Others will be able to confirm. Here in the UK it is a bigger deal to get an extra accessory shipped and Dennis usually helps defray the cost by including it in someone else's grill shipment so you only have to cover the cost of a UK to UK transfer. The excitement never fades. KKs are just such a delight to look at and cook with. Like a reliable old friend. You won't regret your decision, I promise.

Hurrah. Colour and TILE choice is very important. Part of your bond with your new friend and a rite of passage. I am thrilled that you have landed on the tile side of the fence. I used to have cobalt blue pebble but migrated to autumn nebula tile and am very happy on the dark side. The good news for you is that you can order accessories when you want and they should be with you within a few days if you are in the US. I wouldn't sweat it. Start using your KK and decide on next steps. I use the roti mainly for chicken but have done a suckling pig and lamb shoulders but those should really be done in the basket rotisserie for security. I generally use the smoke pot but if you want to keep it simple you could go the way @C6Bill recommends or use a foil pouch. The hot/cold smoker is good for specific purposes and, although I don't use it very often, I am pleased that I have it when I do. That said, a simple cold smoking tray that burns powdered wood does work well for the occasional use. Above all, have fun waiting, unboxing and using your KK!

Beautiful brisket. Well worth the year long preparation!

Definite “no” to extra basket. It will take up too much space to store and it is not that difficult to shuffle your coal around if you want to insert or remove your basket splitter. I would say everything else on your different lists is essential. The spit rod rotisserie is fine, doesn’t take up too much space and the prongs can be put into the dishwasher. I left out the baking stone when I first ordered my 32 but I found it was needed for making bread and taking advantage of the full space available on the 32 (individual pizza stones gave you less leeway). I don’t tend to use my hot/cold smoker much but it has been really useful when I have wanted to cold smoke bacon for instance. All that said, I see no mention of tile, pebble or colour. Come on, spill the beans!

Happy Wedding Anniversary @Troble. That looks divine!

P.S. I did a shallow dive down the rabbit hole to understand more about why some copper pans are lined and others not. The need for a high and even heat seems to be the reason for cooking polenta in an unlined copper pan. Acidic foods react with copper but given polenta is not generally acidic, using a traditional unlined pan should not be a problem. I avoid using my tin lined pans at high heat but use them for low and slow in the BBQ. This is because tin melts at temps above 230C (450F).

Hiya @braindoc. Your mission, if you wish to accept it, is to find a way to get the pan out of this restaurant in Padova. Here it is, hiding behind a child's birthday balloon. It is heavy gauge and lined and they confirmed that it is used for polenta. That said, I just googled copper polenta pots online and they look nothing like this one. Oh well, it is lovely, whatever it's official use is.