tekobo

Interesting. Here I am trying to get hold of some goat for BBQ and stews. I used to buy older goats which were called "nanny" goat but they have now been re-branded as "ex-dairy" goat. Either way I hope to have some tasty meat, including ribs, to cook up soon.

Looking great @Buzilo. I particularly like the multi KK look. Are you planning to keep the 21?

Looks like a great end to wet day. And that tower of lamb looks delectable @Troble!

I looked up the restaurant @Basher. Looks interesting. Our local Kurdish grill house does grilled lamb ribs so well that I don't try to make them myself. Look forward to hearing about how they work out when you do cook them.

Oops. Sorry to report but that is my small la chamba pot at 5.5Qt. When cooking for more I will be using the 10Qt one which didn't fit in my 23 but does fit in my 32.

Hi @Troble. It appears avocado leaves are used in the southern states of Mexico and that they are leaves of the Mexican avocado. The version that you have in the US may be toxic. See this article for some interesting information. http://flavorsofthesun.blogspot.com/2008/02/avocado-leaves-secret-mexican.html

Funny you should say that. We used clarified butter for all our "butter" frying needs, including in our air fryer. The Husband is usually in charge of making it and he buys a stack of butter from our local catering supplier. Last time he went, he decided to save himself effort and bought some pre made ghee instead. I was a little snooty at first but I have to admit that I cannot tell the difference when compared to the clarified butter he used to make. Good tip re using ghee to baste grilling food. My decision to make the pilgrimage to the restaurant Ynyshir, in Wales, was based almost entirely on seeing chef Gareth soaking his skewers in liquid butter before grilling. What could be better? Yes they are and I have taken one for Team UK and have ordered some stuff to try.

i am not sure @Basher and that is partly because all the flavours were relatively new to me. The leaves smell like a slightly anisey bay leaf to me. I have a massive bag of the stuff and will be trying with other recipes. The black bean paste included a whizzed up avocado leaf. This recipe came from the Tacos - Recipes and Provocations book that I like so much. It was for lamb barbacoa and was very similar to other marinades for lamb barbacoa that I found online. Ancho, guajillo and chipotle morita heated, soaked and then whizzed up with pan roasted garlic cloves and powdered mix of cloves, cumin seeds, canela, black peppercorns and oregano. I have some extra adobo in the fridge and will be looking for other ways to use it ver soon.

I have been watching and wondering with this thread. Why is @Syzygies so excited about a weird prongy attachment to the Trompo King? Can't he just cook tandoori on his KK grates like everyone else? There must be a reason.... I looked around the KK forum and found lots of fun stuff about clay pots that you could put into your KK, to slap naan on the outside and cook your skewers on the inside. Hmm. Interesting so far. By coincidence I received a £15 off code from Aktar at Home. I applied that to one of the tandoori BBQ boxes for delivery mid June. Enough time to find a solution to this tandoori cooking conundrum. This post from @_Ed_ had a reassuringly simple solution - skewers direct into the belly of the KK. I wandered off to find good quality long skewers and found this UK tandoor site and their interesting prongy solutions. Seems like @S is onto something with the prongs. https://tandoor-adventures.uk/collections/accessories-for-tandoor-and-bbq?page=1 And then a random search for tandoori skewers came up with this interesting contraption: https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/thuros-t1-stainless-steel-bbq-skewer-attachment?variant=31473519362106&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7pKFBhDUARIsAFUoMDaZWjmoclweHuL8ClyFDf2LnXY6wSNBhOY-RoyfUJ0oXlCIZDZHf6oaAug2EALw_wcB Could work well, close to the fire in a KK. All good fun. Opinions on all of the above and other stuff welcome!

I love watching the Taco Chronicles on Netflix. The tacos that everyone seems to like best always have the word "fat" used liberally in their description. I sit there, salivating, as the folk stuff tortilla, meat and all those exotic toppings into their mouths. The Husband and I have a fantasy post-COVID trip planned in our heads. We will eat tacos until we burst. Until then, I have to make do with what I can make at home. Yesterday was our freedom to have six friends in the house at last day. We did. Started the day putting this dish in the KK. Mostly lamb belly strips on the bone, marinated overnight in adobo sauce. The sequence is hopefully self explanatory. Avocado leaves lined the bottom and the top of the dish and it cooked for about 12 hours at about 140C. I pulled the bones out with a pair of forks and our guests pulled the wonderfully soft meat out of the greasy swamp with tongs. I also cooked buttermilk marinated lambs kidneys and lamb neck fillet - first indirect and then I abused them on the direct side. First outing for homemade masa tortillas. A great success. I didn't have time to document it properly for @Syzygies' nixtamalisation thread but I shall do so when I try it again. Suffice to say that 500g of corn, with a bit of dry masa harina added to the masa, made more than enough tortillas for the six of us. Here was the production line. And to finish it off? No pretty taco shots. This taco with a smear of black bean paste, sitting on my greasy plate says it all. My Texan girlfriend was one of the guests and she would have wept with joy if she wasn't so busy eating instead.

I was puzzled by this comment when you first posted it @Syzygies Why does one need a grate at all in the TrompoKing pan? I am curious about this and keen to see what happens if you do try this. I have not yet run out of height on the short spike on my cheat Trompo King and am not sure if I will ever need the four spike system but when has that ever stopped any of us trying something new???

Based on @Troble saying that this marinade works for other meats, I tried this out with chicken thighs yesterday. Delicious! Two modifications: I agree with @Troble about the cloves. I ground them up with the other spices but still found that the flavour dominated. I would halve the quantity of cloves next time. The second modification was that I did not use my expensive balsamic vinegar in the marinade. I used this stuff - Saba - instead. All in all, it tasted great.

I am going to post details of this cook elsewhere but, in the meantime, here is a photo of yesterday's cook. First time using the double drip pan under my new vertical spike. Indirect on the 32. Lots of stickiness from the balsamic element of the marinade. The double drip tray cleaned up very well. The Husband did the washing and it just took a half hour soak in ordinary dishwashing liquid and hot water and a bit of elbow grease with a curly kate to get it nice and clean again. No biggie.

The only trouble is, they probably only deliver in the UK. That said, I am curious about whether you get these cuts of meat in Mexican supermarkets in the US. That albanico tasted like the best rib meat, just without the bones. I think these cuts will be ideal for juicy porky tacos. To be continued…

That sounds like a good plan @Troble. The combination of good meat, a KK and your experience should make it really difficult to screw up. Enjoy!

Lockdown has brought some great food discoveries. Posh restaurants ship you cook at home kits. I have only tried the one called Aktar at Home. He is a Michelin star chef and his curry box is a thing of wonder - great taste, volume and value. I tried his Argentinian meat box. It was fun not to have to prep for a BBQ and our favourite thing was the morcilla. I disappeared down a rabbit hole, trying to find more and came across this company: https://www.bascofinefoods.com This haul arrived a couple of weeks ago: They are bits of an Iberico pig that I had never heard of/used. Albanico, Pluma, Secreto. The only one I knew anything about were the baby back ribs. And sooo fatty. I looked up the Albanico online and found this cook: https://bbq-heroes.com/recipe/pork/amazing-iberico-abanico-sandwich/ We tried it out. I cooked half of the albanico, first indirect and then smokily and satisfyingly on the lower grate. Asparagus cooked while the pork was resting. Sorry, no pix of the sandwich but here is the piggy sliced up. It was freakin’ delicious. A missive from @tony b made me think “suya!” for the remaining half of the Albanico. I took the easy route and cooked it indoors last night. No char or smoke but The Husband still declared it the best suya meat ever. That intramuscular fat just gave it such a great mouth feel and taste. Marbled pork rocks.

Err…no! Everyone knows chicken wings ARE THE BEST.

Seems pretty quick to me. And pretty. When is the big day and will it be ready in time?

Countdown! You are making me want to do it again. Our COVID restrictions ease a little more on Monday and we will be allowed 6 people indoors and 30 outdoors. A pig cook, when the weather is better, would be a lovely way to celebrate.

Thanks @BigO. I have not managed to find time to watch it all but I know it’ll be a great video to share with a friend who has caught the KK bug. Cool.

Ooooh. Which one are you going for? Instinctively I like 3 or 5 spokes and probably 3.

That looks awesome @cruzmisl

I bought two of these and had them shipped to me in the UK and shipped one on to @RokDok. Total cost less than one Trompo King. I liked the look of @tony b's cook in his double drip pan and I thought this would be perfect for that application. Looks robust but I have not used it yet.

I am now even more excited by your new acquisition. The thought of helping a young man promote his new business is great. That, and getting a bespoke job done that will delight you for a long time is what it is all about. I look forward to seeing your build pics. The main reason I did not go for a split grill was because I wanted the uninterrupted grilling real estate. I think this will work really well alongside your 23. Hurrah!

@Basher, pretty much as soon as I posted the above message I realised that I was forgetting to say that moving the coals around under the grills does allow you to vary the temperature for different parts of your grill, thus negating the need to have independently rising halves. I also went along to the OxGrills website and was reminded of their GridIron grid bed option. It was too expensive when I first bought my grill but may be cheaper now that they seem to be marketing it more generally on their site. If I end up buying one it will be your fault.