tekobo

I remember having to dig through different threads to find out about how to cook pizza on a KK when I first started. At the time Charles' posts were the reference set that everyone pointed me to. It's been so long since he last posted that I have temporarily forgotten his forum name. Will go searching in my bookmarks... Ah! @ckreef, how could I forget you? Well, there are some good pizza posts by him, lots of great pizza pics from @MacKenzie and a delightful Chicago Thin thread, amongst many others about pizza, from @Pequod. People like @David Chang are bringing new things to the party and it would be good to have a way to better mine the rich resources on this forum. The search function is OK but you have to sift through a lot of dross to find what you need. Are better ways to use this forum's tools or are there other forum formats that make searching and surfacing information, possibly ranked by popularity, easy and transparent?

Welcome @Stromer. Good luck. The journey to buying a KK is often long. The arrival is so so sweet.

@Tyrus, my husband was very pleased to be told that he is very knowledgeable. Given you were separated at birth, so must you be. We set about thinking about what we could fill the pot with. He thinks it would hold chilli for 200 people. We don't have that many friends. One could probably fry a whole turkey in it. If one liked turkey. Or steam a great big suet pudding. Or, much more safely, fill it with oranges. We are in Italy at the moment and there was a beautiful pan on display in a neighbourhood restaurant that we went to last night. It's for polenta they said. It's not for sale. I may have to sneak back in to steal it. See what you have started @braindoc? I hope you enjoy your journey with copper cookware as much as we enjoy ours.

Made beautiful tortillas yesterday with my current Premier mill. It was a bit fiddly to get it running smoothly and I could not help thinking of the upgrade that @Syzygies talked about. I guess I will appreciate it even more if/when I buy it. In the meantime here are some very tasty tortillas, made with fresh masa.

Oldies are the best. Made this again yesterday. Everyone LOVED it. I had some leftover basil pesto from making pizzas the day before and the combination of pork leg al pastor and Italian pesto was a real winner.

Thanks @Syzygies. Lots of new information. I never knew cinders had anything to do with making vinegar. Lots to learn and, maybe, buy.

I was re-reading this thread this morning. Distraction from doing actual work. This photo made me laugh. Again. I wonder if I should dedicate this day to drinking rather than working?

Turbot on the 32 last night. Took it off when it probed at 63C on both sides. It was perfect.

@Tyrus you and my husband were separated at birth. He bought this humungous pot at an online auction a few years ago. When the tinning guy received it, direct from the auction house, he rang my husband up to ask him if he had any idea how large it was! Anyway, it is completely impractical for cooking unless you are feeding a battalion. It lives in our porch and we fill it with oranges when we buy in bulk. The six bottle wine box in the second picture gives you an idea of the ridiculous scale of the thing.

Never say never @tony b. The fermenting hole is deep and rewarding. @Syzygies, I have been meaning to ask you about vinegars. Do you have any go-to recipes for the vinegars that you make? I have tried to make some fruit vinegars and the jury is out on whether I have made a nice vinegar or something that leads you to screw up your face and say that tastes vinegary in a way that is not complimentary. I have seen the "mother" floating on vinegars but I produced a weird gel like substance when I made a cider vinegar based shrub recently. Have you ever seen anything that looks like the creature in the picture below?

My husband and I scour e-bay and European markets for copper pots and pans and, because they are often bashed up, we get them beaten out and re-tinned by a lovely man at Sherwood Tinning. We recently picked up a set of three pots in France and had them re-tinned. They are the best quality yet, with a beautiful hammered finish and quite a thick gauge. See the difference between one of our standard pots and the beautiful hammered one in the pictures below. I can't say that they cook any better than any other sort of pot but I love the look and they bring me joy every time I pick one up.

@Basher you have to admit that was not just any old "stainless steel welder". He did an awesome job. Are you any closer to getting home and being able to use all your toys yet?

You puzzled me with this statement @tony b. I love shio koji, have only had it when a friend brought it down from a small batch producer in London and have tried unsuccessfully to make my own. It is made by fermenting grains and I don't believe it is left over from making sake. You might mean sake lees? That said, you are the king of retro-engineering. If you ever find out how to make the lovely shio koji paste that the Japanese sell, I will move in with you - OK I don't need to scare you - I will steal the recipe and method from you!

What fun! I love playing with fire and your method is probably better than mine. I was advised to start the fire over to the left in my allegro and the deck then gets heated up by radiant heat. You just built a great big fire in the middle. That must heat the deck up faster. Gonna try that next time. And yes, I too need to replace my marginal yeast before my next try!

Yesterday was veg day in KK land. Bumper harvest from the allotment in the morning. Care for kale, lots of it, anyone? The sweetcorn are now larger. Still sweet but starchier. Slow cooked some sweet potatoes and tried a new bake with cherry tomatoes, potatoes and baby onions. Added in some cooked borlotti beans and charred the remaining corn. That's me set for veg sides for a few days!

Those steaks look gorgeous Robert. Have you cooked one yet and, if so, how did it taste?

Thank you for the pics @jonj It's a lovely oven the 4 pizze. Looking forward to seeing what you cook in it.

Unboxing pics please!

@Poochie your concern about weight reminded me of the "lift" that we had to do when my Alfa Allegro arrived. Five of us assembled to lift it having removed the bricks from the base of the oven to reduce weight. The lift was super easy and we could have done it with four. Two might have a push. It took less than a minute. So I would not worry too much about weight if you can get help. I have tried to bake bread in my Allegro. A silvery black puck was the result. I have tried to cook desserts in my Allegro. Instant burned top to my cake was the result. The KK is much more controllable and I rely on the KK if I want to do any outdoor baking. I use the WFO for high heat roasting and pizza. That said, I have not totally given up on bread in the Allegro. The Alfa website shows cooks baking bread in their WFO. I don't like to be defeated and so will study them carefully to find out how they succeed. In the meantime, my black bread is literally the toast of the town.

Tee hee. Congratulations @jonj! For the record: you solicited the advice but it was given freely and happily. I hope you and your new toy will be very happy together.

Your pizza crust looks lovely @KK787! Definitely a method to try.

When you watch any of the Chef's Table programmes see if you can spot their story telling trope. My husband calls it "journey, death, return". We sit watching the chef's journey, waiting for "death" aka the bad thing that happened in their life to shape them. The good thing is that there is always a positive return at the end to leave us happy and uplifted. Soooo looking forward to this series hitting our screens. As well as his gorgeous puffy edge pizzas, Franco Pepe makes fried pizzas and I want to see more about how he gets those right. They are good for using up older dough balls and I made a really delicious one the other day with Ortiz tinned tuna and nice greens and tomatoes, picked fresh from my garden. 😛

The Japanese Grill book includes a recipe in which you slash chicken thighs, apply marinade and then cook relatively quickly. I applied that principle to the whole bird and came out with good, juicy chicken in less time than normal. And you get more surface area exposed to your marinade. Yum. I used two KKs to cook the five birds but I do have the BIg Bad rotisserie cradle and wonder if I could have got more chickens in and got as good results using that. I must remember to use the cradle more often! @tony b I went searching across the forum for references to octofork and finger. I was sure I would find 20 and that they would all have your name on them. The search function can't be working that well this morning. I only found two. Like Mac, my fingers are fine.

Woo hoo! I am soooo excited. I love the Netflix Chef's Table series and savour every programme. As if the BBQ series was not enough, they now have a September date for release of a six part series on pizza. Includes my new pizza hero Franco Pepe. Great start to my day here.

Looks like lots of chickens gave their lives to the BBQ cause last weekend. Here are my five from Saturday.