tekobo

Woo hoo @StevenS. I would love an apron with a crest. And decent gloves. Oh yeah, that 23 ultimate sounds like good fun too. You know the drill. Pix! As for the binchotan and konro grill? You won't regret it. Not one little bit. Although it sounds like I might, if I meet your wife. 🤗

Thanks all. The fact that we now have somewhere to sit near the KKs and Argentinian BBQ is great. People can help out and I can be part of the conversation as opposed to having to scurry round the corner to cook. Moving the KKs round to their new position means friends sitting around don't interfere with direct access to the grills and I can move easily between the Argentinian BBQ, the storage underneath it and the KKs. I am so happy we paid attention to sorting out our outside space this year. @Steve M, that float is still in Roy's garage. He is a keen fisherman and brought us a nice trout the other week.

The good and the bad news is that I am in the throes of KK indecision. What size, what colour, what do you guys say, what does Dennis say, what does The Husband think??? On and on it goes. A great pleasure at this stage because all the options in all the colours are available. And a great pain because I really ought to be thinking about other things. Like working to pay for them!

Do you use wood or charcoal in the main? I tried wood and found it very smoky.

I have been waiting for the perfect weather to photograph our new set up. I was too busy enjoying myself to take photos when the weather was good so here is the slightly wet version of our world. These two walls now have an electric shutter between them. They will also get a coat of paint later this summer. Roy's tiling makes us smile everytime we look into our little chimney space. The KKs looking good in their new outdoor setting. I've been meaning to show this to you for ages. The table top between our two KKs is a collaboration between an old shop fitter and his boat fitter mate. Boat fitter made this bridge to go between the KKs. The rest of the garden has grown too. And, the garden configuration is still evolving. We moved the KKs to this new position a week or so ago. It is great. I can walk down the stairs from the kitchen and straight up to the KKs now. It is amazing what a difference that simple change has made to the ease of cooking on the KKs. The journey continues. The KKs are now looking so prominent and so pretty that they have attracted friendly buyers and one or both of them will be going to a new home in the coming months.

Hey there @Tucker. How are you getting on with your Santa Maria grill? The plancha option that you showed in one of your photos got me thinking and I ordered one for my Argentinian grill. Very successful. I am still learning to manage the fire though. Not as easy to light and build the fire as in a KK but I am enjoying the journey.

Thanks all. We always say that no one ever regrets buying a KK and that is true for me. However, i am like @AJR and I want every size in every colour. Not all at the same time but available to me when I need each, for the perfect cook. The next best thing is to swap them out over time, having learned what I need the most. So far The Husband has vetoed the comes with a goat kk. Too big. He is right. Like Mac, my dream set up was a 32 and a 22 TT. We started to investigate the size of the 22TT and realised it was really about the same as 23, just without the convenience of legs and wheels to help with moving its great weight around. Given we are not looking to build it in, it seems a little silly to get the 22TT even though I have hankered after one for a while and 22 is my lucky number. Current options are to get a 32 and keep my current 23. Or to ring the changes with colours and buy a new 32 and 23. A new option is coming to the fore and I would appreciate views from anyone who owns one: the 19TT L'il Isla. Thinking this KK, on the metal trolley that Dennis supplies, could be a good everyday option alongside the 32. Smaller grates to clean and a cute, wheel about option. Lousy idea? We also have the large Argentinian BBQ for grilling so a smaller KK could work well. Ooooh. The best bit is I getting the rush of excitement that KK decisions bring. Wooo. Hooo.

The standing joke round here has been that you get a live goat when you buy a 42" KK. That trope was started courtesy of a video that Dennis(?) posted of a live goat jumping out of a 42. I was supposed to be saving for a 42. Until now. Lockdown has turned us all into shoppers and when I casually mentioned that I might be in the market to sell my KKs, two local friends showed an interest. One of them has committed to buying my 21 but will be waiting until her kitchen re-model is done so that means I won't be KK-less if I manage to sell the 23. So. What shall I buy? I have room for one 42, two 32's or a 32 and pretty much every other size of grill that is not a 42. I am keen to find out what your dream set up is or would be if you had the chance to start over, having had the pleasure of a KK or two in your life. Answers on a post card or, more conveniently, in this thread please.

Funny you should ask. A few weeks ago @Braai-Q sent me this link to Heston Blumenthal's range of bbqs https://www.everdurebyheston.co.uk/products. He was asking about the Cube and how it compared to the traditional Japanese konro that I have. It all looks very cool but I am afraid I never even got around to watching the videos on the site. I am a bit of a traditionalist and I like my reassuringly heavy konro. All the big chefs here seem to use them and during lockdown I have been watching one chef cook on his extra wide version. I was surprised that he was using it a bit like a camping stove. He did grill steaks and things like that but he also made up sauces and slow cooked stews. It's extra width means that you could also cook longer loaded skewers. Yes, I would say my KK of konros would either be the Extra Large or Medium Wide here: https://www.korin.com/grillware/konros-basket-grills-nets-and-bases

That is a very good looking brisket indeed!

There is worse. I love pork ribs but I like them done fast. I also discovered a beef short rib recipe that you could do quickly on a plancha and I prefer that too. None of this is intended to take away from @Aussie Ora's preeminence in the rib department. His cooks almost tempt me to give low and slow ribs another go.

Great start. Welcome to Ole Heavy!

You've done it again @Troble! Lovely looking cook.

Yes, the Bonfire gives off a lot of heat. A Yukon would require you to be a fair way away to avoid singing your eyebrows. My friend's partner told him he couldn't get a Yukon because, "if Kemi didn't get one it really must be too big!".

I am with you @AJR. I have never seen the point of soup and don't think I have ever eaten pumpkin soup. @Aussie Ora's posts are always good to see and challenge me because I am not mad on low n slow ribs either but his cooks always look soooo good.

@TonyCamp, really good. I am a civil engineer and I love concrete. Beautiful job. @Jon B., I just re-read your posts about the Yukon. You have been very influential around these parts. One of my friends was going to get a Bonfire and then fell in love with the Yukon. I used your arguments to persuade him against. He has since bought a Bonfire and so have three of his friends once they'd seen his photos on Instagram. I think you should get a cut from the Solo folk!

I like your optimism Mac!

I tried the smaller burger patties out on friends yesterday. They declared them good to excellent. Downside is that a lot of fat drains out while you cook them and you have to have a means of collecting it. Upside is that the burgers are wonderfully moist and you don't have to cook them "on point" to get them medium rare or rare. They are so juicy that they taste great even when cooked through. We had these on tortillas yesterday. Aside from liking the burgers, I am starting to regret having commenced this journey. I would not normally go for such a complicated recipe and now I have been sucked in! Spent tonight cooking kidney beans with tomatoes that had first been pressure cooked and then infused with tomato vine stalks. Also made a tomato concentrate using the sieved insides of 1.5kg of tomatoes (it was supposed to be 3kg of tomatoes but I rebelled). Tasted like home made tomato puree. It is meant to be spread on the base of the burger buns to amp up the umami flavour. We shall see if all of this is worth it.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I knew that one should only marinade fish for about an hour but other than that I thought that the longer you marinade any meat, the better it will be. I guess it depends on how much citrus or papaya you are using. Will investigate further. I could remember where the pointer was on the dial but not the numbers and certainly not in Farenheit. I went out to look at the thermometer and I reckon I was at about 570F when I started and, having dialled it back, I finished the cook at about 400F. Cooked through and very moist.

Thank you Troble! Our friends loved, loved, loved this method of cooking chicken. As did I. They called it a "posh kebab" and we ate every last bit of chicken on that rotisserie even though we had started with some octopus and followed the chicken with beef burgers. Yummy! I wasn't sure what you meant by "do not over marinade" but I had already marinaded the chicken using this recipe: https://www.feastingathome.com/grilled-chicken-shawarma-recipe/. The skinned and boned thighs were marinaded for about 18 hours before cooking. Here are the marinaded thighs, stacked onto the rotisserie just before cooking. While cooking there was a surprising amount of fat given off by the chicken. I put some water in the tray beneath the chicken to stop the smoking. Here we are at the slicing, crisping up/munching stage. Sooooo yummy.

Thank you for this detailed description @Troble. I am all set, ready to do a copy cat cook tonight. I have 16 boneless thighs marinading in the fridge. Any tips about packing them onto to rotisserie rod? Do you thread each thigh on whole? My mouth is watering already!

Hey there Paul. Great to hear that someone else uses these cuts for burgers. What proportion of each do you use and how much fat do you cut out? I left most of the fat from the short ribs and brisket in and kept the chuck as lean as possible. It becomes a two person job when you make a burger this way - one to stuff the meat in at the top and the other to catch and lay out the strands on the clingfilm. So....this morning I decided to have a burger for breakfast. I bought slider size brioche buns and blue cheese slices from my local supermarket. I was a bit apprehensive when I sliced a couple of burgers off the roll. They looked more like a pork sausage than anything else. Sorry, no photos, I was too busy being worried/disgusted at that stage. Fried in a pan with no added fat, heated the buns, added fresh shallots on the bottom and melted cheese and hot sauce on top and ate them. Wow. I think it was worth the effort so far. Soft and juicy burger. None of the resistance you might normally get when you come to tug your mouthful of burger away from the rest of the burger but still a good chew in the mouth i.e. not pappy and soft. I now realise that this isn't Heston's perfect burger. It's my burger to play with. I think the brioche slider that I chose is a bit sweet for me and also I want to find out how the burgers taste when cooked over charcoal. I do like the slider size. You can eat a good, thick burger without all the extra stodge/carb from a bigger burger bun. I might also go for more chuck ground with the 8mm plate next time, to get a little more chew. Lots to try but I would definitely recommend these cuts of meat and this method of grinding and assembling your patty.

@basher that is helpful to know. I think that even if I don't choose to go for this particular mix of cuts in future, the idea of laying out the strands and rolling them up like this could be a keeper. The proof will be in the eating!

Hey there @PaulW. I would definitely get the smoke generator and the rotisserie. They will expand your options considerably. I don't have a second basket and this brings me to an important point - storage. You really need somewhere to store all the extra grates and other kit when not in use. If you don't have other arrangements I would consider buying a cabinet from Dennis. I have not seen the need for a spare basket and you will need it less when you get your second KK and can have one in one configuration and the other in another.

So far so good. The interesting thing about the burger recipe is the fact that you need to get the strands of minced meat aligned. That means you don't mince the meat and then mix it up. Instead you lay it out in strands and then roll up in cling film to maintain the orientation of the strands. The idea is that this gives a more open texture to your burger. This is what ours looked like when we laid it out as it came out of the mincer. I ended up following the recipe with 2kg chuck added in to the minced 2kg brisket and 4kg short rib meat. With an 8mm hole grinder plate, you end up with some chuck meat to chew within the matrix of meat and fat from the brisket and the short rib. We then rolled each batch of mince up to get something that looks more like a meatloaf than a burger. All three rolls are sitting the the dry ager to cool before getting sliced into individual patties. The rest of Heston's recipe sees you making your own burger buns, ketchup and cheese slices. That will take the rest of the week! In the meantime I think I will buy some burger buns and will try out my first Heston burgers tomorrow. The chilli recipe has been a bit of a headache. Heston specifies a list of chilli powders that are not available to buy in the UK. I was straining to be faithful to the recipe and even contemplated ordering a load of spices from the US. Then I reminded myself of what someone said recently. Recipes are a source of great waste. You buy a bunch of things to cook a particular recipe and then never use them again. And here I was, looking to buy this very specific list of chilli powders and get them shipped from the US. Err....no. I will go round my local shops to see what they have tomorrow and will raid my cupboards for the rest. All good fun. And all because I decided to give my Heston "perfect" recipe books a try rather than give them away. I hope I don't regret that decision.