tekobo

We were out on our first night back in Padova, Italy yesterday and came across this sign in on of our favourite bars. Thought of you @Basher I hope your renovations are going well.

That looks great @LedHed! Looking forward to getting hold of a meat hanger and trying that out.

Tee hee. Good to see the KK shopping channel is working as well as ever!

@Troble your honesty about having passed out made me burst out laughing. I read your post out to my husband. We then counted up the drinks you had had and then laughed nervously. For us, that sounded like a good round of drinks for lunch with more to come at dinner. Maybe we should be drinking less... It is very kind of you to thank me and others for having shown you the ropes. I want to thank you for all the fun recipes and techniques you have tried out and shared. The chicken shawarma is a great example. I followed and copied you through the stage where you were piling it onto the spit rod of the rotisserie and shaving the chicken off over the fire through to using the much more convenient method of piling the chicken onto a spike like you do in the photo above. Super yummy. I am now away from my KK for a month. I woke up looking at your beautiful chicken shawarma and wondered what it would be like with Nigerian pepper soup spice all over it. Thank you for the inspiration. There is always a great cook around the corner.

That looks beautiful @KK787. Definitely one to try!

Definitely interesting. Thanks for posting @LedHed. I can see some good uses for this: 1. Tandoori cooks - I was surprised at how the papaya element of tandoori marinades helped to tenderise meats. That effect would be great here. Meats that would normally take longer to cook will cook quicker and can be cooked over direct heat on this hanger to get those signature singed edges in a hot and fast cook. 2. Low and slow smoking of poultry - you could get a beautiful all round colour and good smoke flavour and then turn up the heat to crisp up the skin. 3. Cold smoking cured meats - this would have worked perfectly when I was smoking my cured goose breasts for instance. I would not stick the spike through a side of bacon but would use a meat hook to hang it off the top hanger. Yeah, liking this idea. Dennis called it a duck hanger. I’ve not tried to cook duck the oriental way and am not sure how one would deal with the fat rendering out into the fire but would be keen to see someone try!

P.S. I can't believe I missed that cave man steak from @C6Bill. Wow. That must have tasted so good.

Ha. I eat all week too! No on-KK shots for this but it is too tasty not to share and @C6Bill's post gave me the push I needed. I used my smoke pot in the 23 KK to smoke new season garlic cloves in olive oil at 130C for an hour and then added in chopped onion for a further half hour. I used hickory pellets in the smoke pot. The oil and alliums came out fragrant and delicious. I am going to be adding this to everything until it's all gone.

Looks like a good hack that does not require a full blown basket splitter, @Poochie. What was the cook like? Fewer flare ups? Crispy skin?

Horses for courses @Tyrus. If I was to only have one KK it would be the 32. My current plan is to keep the 23 in the split basket configuration to support 2 zone cooking, cooking for 2 and rotisserie cooking. Will probably change my mind soon but that is half the fun. The 16 is currently on loan to a friend.

It is a really beautiful KK and I hope you sell it soon, either on the forum or through other US sites. Jealous of your adventures ahead!

Finally! Crispy crackling in my KK. Cooking pork on a rotisserie means you get all round crunch. Hurrah!

No egg yolk. The similarity to mayo is the fact that it is thickened by the slow addition of oil to the other ingredients. It makes a nice thick, mayonnaise like sauce. All this talk makes me want to go and make some!

I second @Aussie Ora. I hope you have great adventures with your RV. Being footloose and fancy free will be fun. You say that you will get a table top KK in the future. My gut says you already have the best KK there is, in a lovely colour and with a great cabinet and that you should keep it. The cost of buying a new KK at current prices with shipping and the loss you will make on this one makes me think that you would actually save money by spending on storage. Just sayin'...

Hi Tyrus. I agree, black garlic is delicious. I use a recipe from Le Pigeon to make a thick mayonnaise like dressing that I put on everything once I have made it up. Whizz a head of black garlic with a quarter cup of balsamic vinegar, 1 minced shallot, 1 teaspoon kosher salt adding 2/3 cup of olive oil in steady stream while you whizz. Delish.

Found two other pastramis on the forum - Pastrami in Singapore and Pastrami Cook. Both seem to have had successful outcomes. I have not tried this myself. Good luck!

Yippee! A duck hanger out in the wild. Do post pics!

Easter cooks. Lamb in salt ash crust for for Easter Sunday and Chicken on rotisserie for Easter Monday. Outdoor cooking, always fun.

I’ve avoided this debate as it is really a matter of preference. That said, I wanted to say where I have ended up. I did have a shop vac. It took up space, needed to be plugged in and the filter needed cleaning at intervals to keep it functioning well. I got rid of it a few months ago. It is so much easier to just lean in and sweep up with a small dust pan and brush like the one that @PVPAUL has. In windy weather I just lower my collection bucket into the KK to keep the dust from blowing everywhere. And the best news is that this method transfers easily to the pizza oven too.

Yup. No contest when compared with @ckreef. I hope he and Mrs @skreef are doing well.

I’ll be right beside you @C6Bill. I am planning to cook a lamb shoulder for Easter Sunday. Settling on bed of rosemary and red onion at the moment.

Sounds like you had an adventure getting your KK into position @remi! Welcome back. I know the feeling of being without a KK - it was sooo nice to get back in the saddle.

Thank you for sharing @Troble. Good friends stay with you forever.

From what I have read so far, oak is what you need to get the heat up and beech for a bit of flavour. At the moment I have a stack of mixed wood to get through but will order some named logs for my next delivery to try out. I watched this video when I was trying to decide which sort of wood fired oven to get. I went for the Allegro because it heats up quickly and so uses comparatively less wood per cook. You don't get the heat retention of more traditional ovens but I figured that I get that from my KKs.

I had an itch for a 42 KK. This wood fired oven has helped to scratch that itch. Enjoying it so far and am happy with the clean up - just normal kitchen size dishes and sweeping up some ash. Winner alongside my existing kit.