tekobo

Yup, @Braai-Q is fully responsible for me going with Ox Grills and not Solus Grills which was The Husband's original choice. I am so pleased he intervened. We are still at least two weeks away from being able to use the grill with garden renovations only starting next week if we are lucky. Speaking of searing in the KK: I cooked baby octopus, pork tenderloin and lamb rump directly on birch charcoal from Oxford Charcoal. I really like this cooking method. Photo of the in-KK cook is not great but just look at the results.

I hope the burn in went well. The pizza looks awesome!

Congratulations! Burn in followed by pizza is hard core. Good luck, take your time and enjoy the pizzas.

Nice looking sign and cook @Millercd. Welcome!

When I first saw Pequod's pile of chain at the start of this thread I thought, there is no way I am doing that! However, as Mac says, one heavy aluminium disk in a cake tin feels like a neat solution. Thank you, MacQ for asking for clarity and thank you @Syzygies for explaining so carefully.

This made me smile. Understood. I will start my own exploration this weekend. I don't have the right sort of lodge pan and lid but I can get close with a cast iron casserole and a flat skillet. Once I have tried the standard method I can start to explore, sans pot. Please can you settle a difference of opinion between Mac and me? I think your new calcs mean I only need one aluminium disc. You have two because you can but the second appears to be surplus to requirements. Am I right? Or is Macqueenzie? The cake tin was purchased a week ago from here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008ALVN20/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_H58IDb6FVE884 but I need to wait until I get to the US in November to get the aluminium disc, unless I find a similar by product of cutting holes in metal in the UK.

That sounds great. Really versatile to have all those options. Unlike some people we know... Yes please! I really liked the previous picture of our ODK with your 3 KKs. What does your world look like now?

Tee hee. I have actually butchered half a cow before and I recall there being different names for different parts of the tenderloin. This link feels a bit elementary but it does refer to a tenderloin roast: https://www.ehow.com/list_7156751_different-cuts-beef-tenderloin.html

If it looks like a tenderloin and tastes like a tenderloin my guess is that it is indeed a tenderloin and you got lucky. Really lucky.

I am happy that you re-did your calculations. A single aluminium disk and cake pan feels like a realistic option for me and not having to get chain as well is a bonus. I re-opened the no-knead discussion because my macho application of the slap and fold technique was bad for my health. All the no-knead recipes that I have found online use a cast iron enclosure. Have you found that you can use the same no-knead dough recipes and technique without the cast iron pot or have you tweaked both/either in any way? As an aside I do find it funny that Smoke Pot Syzygies gets so riled by people who think that using a pot to bake bread is akin to using a steam oven. I have learned to let such things flow by, even when people insist on calling my KKs Big Blue Green eggs.

I agree, anchovies are great! How did you cook the pizza whilst camping? Portable pizza oven??

Guessing you don't mean prostate-specific antigen.

Tee hee. I like a clear answer. My question, framed more directly, is: what's your go to pizza sourdough recipe?

Thank you, lots of different things to try. When I read your responses I realised that I was really just looking for justification to buy yet another cook book. I now have a better idea. Look the techniques up online and try them out and put the money for the cookbook into an "avoided purchase" account. I am interested in how that might build up over a year if I reconsider what I spend money on. I suspect I would be very grateful for that avoided purchase sum in twenty years time when I might have less disposable income. In fact, given it will be money that I would have spent in any case, I might make it a high risk investment fund and see how it goes. What fun. I agree. I find it really satisfying to handle the dough by hand and getting to that luscious stage is very rewarding. I have a sourdough starter and have been making bread but have not tried pizza yet. Do you simply use the same recipe for sourdough pizza as you do for bread?

I managed to raise my blood pressure, recklessly and two days after an operation, by kneading bread way too vigorously using the Richard Bertinet slap and fold method. All well with me now but I mentioned this to a guy at work and he told me about the Dutch oven he had bought for his brother for Christmas and how the no-knead method in the Jim Lahey book produces really good bread. Has anyone on the forum tried the no-knead method and do you have a view on whether it is worth trying?

Hey @Tyrus, certainly no need to apologise. It was good to see just how much food you managed to push out for your guests. Sounded great. I looked up the video of Steve Raichlen cooking a whole shoulder clod and it looks like he was cooking on something similar to a Traegar. I think that sounds like a really interesting cook and I am looking forward to seeing you try it, I am pretty sure your grill is ideal for that cook. You have reminded me that I am almost completely out of Dairy cow. I have one thick steak that I am saving for the inauguration of the Argentinian grill. I must chase my supplier as my "bucket list" purchase is a hind quarter of cow and he has not updated me in weeks. Other people must have discovered how good that meat is and he is busy keeping them happy. Harumph.

That sounds like a lot of food and a lot of work. I hope you found time to enjoy yourself! I actually wanted to know if you have anything else on your bucket list but my question was, obviously, not clear. Having cooked a 55lb pig do you have any other ambitions for your KK or Traegar over and above the baseline of eating good food from them whenever we can?

Cooking a whole pig certainly warrants a check mark on your bucket list. What else is on there, food wise?

5 KKs in one life time is enough, I am sure. Looking forward to seeing your new grill in action.

Wow, that looks gorgeous! Well worth the anticipation and effort methinks.

Now there's a loaded 21. Beauty! If you don't mind I would like to add this picture to my thread with the comparison of the 21 and 23. @PVPAUL's post the other day reminded me of that thread and the fact that it is useful when people come to make a decision on which to buy.

Wow. Charles was right about the Santa Maria style grill. I was convinced you were getting another KK @Tucker. I still am, given you said he was correct on both counts. The grill looks great and I look forward to seeing your set up.

Hi @LK BBQ. It sounds like you put a lot into this. It also sounds like you got some good results, using the KK in zero airflow mode. I made the mistake of disappearing down an internet rabbit hole yesterday, reading about how charcoal cooking can be carcinogenic. I pulled out pretty quick and decided that, even though electric would be better in that respect, cooking over fire is tasty and fun! Good luck with re-learning charcoal cooking and I hope we get to see some more of your cooks soon.

If I recall correctly you have owned three KKs in your time @Tucker and sold one. Neat. Looking forward to seeing what you have chosen this time.

We tried the two variants of cotechino last weekend. Both were good but neither was as good as the version that we bought in Italy. The Husband said that was not surprising given the Italians have been making it for hundreds of years and this was our first attempt. I am still interested in improving on our version but am also looking forward to buying the real thing when we return to Padova in December. In the meantime, here is a plate of very tasty sausage masquerading as cotechino.