tekobo

Here is hoping that your wife's general fitness will see her come through this without needing anything too invasive. Good luck.

Now, there's an idea. I could probably buy some hardwood mini logs to match the charcoal and use the wood as an extra layer of the same flavour without relying on the wood to do the heating. I am not a fan of massive beef ribs but you have reminded me of the asado de tira cut that the Brazilians have. Nice. Will have to see how/if I can get hold of some to try out on the grill. He is easily bribed with dried chicken chunks. We call it kitty crack around here.

My first thought was that you don't want to end up with a skating rink when it is wet. Having said that, I remember that you Aussies have a great outdoor aesthetic and you will have lots of products on the market to fit this outdoor use. I like the idea of a poured floor that gives a similar continuous look to that in your artist's impression.

Yeah, John the carpenter is great. He does it for a hobby and is always super excited when we have a new project for him. We learned not to mention anything casually to him because, literally, ten minutes later he would be at the door waiting to measure up!

That looks really rather nice @Basher. Will the roof over sail the BBQ? Will your KK arrive before or after you are done with the reno?

It's going to be ages before I/we can try out the grill but I can't sleep. Too excited. Yes it is awesome and I love it already. I was playing with the wheel earlier and the cog system for locking and unlocking the chain is just so robust and elegant. It would be impossible to be as over the top engineered as a KK but it comes a satisfying second. Glad to hear it. I wondered about not having a firebox. We are not planning to use wood. Is that sacrilege? The Husband thinks charcoal will be fine and I have bought a range of interesting "single varietal" charcoals to try out in this grill. Our first Argentinian grill was a rust bucket but it did teach us that we like this style of grilling. That made this purchase a no-brainer and I'm guessing you may well upgrade sometime in the future. These guys sell some really high end grills for restaurants. We went for their absolutely basic off the peg standard grill, the classic ox: https://www.oxgrills.co.uk/bespoke-grills. We then went to their instagram feed and picked out some features that we liked. The rack over the top creates opportunities for hanging food over the fire, the legs that raise the grill off the deck helped solve our problem about potentially overheating the work surface and raising the grill above the deck means we can warm plates and store platters directly under the grill. The rotisserie option means I can try cooking a suckling pig sometime soon. I am very happy with the "bells and whistles". Naaa. I still love the Konro and have a place for in the new ODK. Drool over these: https://www.oxgrills.co.uk/copy-of-about. I should probably go to bed now but I think I might just sneak downstairs to play with The Husband's new grill.

That's a real compliment coming from you Pequod. I know how much you dislike cats and am pleased that you recognise Sinbad's extrasensory powers.

The Husband has been out of the country all week and only arrived after dark today. To make sure darkness wasn't an impediment to him opening his new present, I got a friend to help me carry the 70kg of grill into the house in readiness for The Husband's arrival. Here it is waiting. I was waiting too. Here it is unwrapped. I don't know what a Santa Maria grill is but I am guessing this is similar, looking at the pictures on the net. In the UK it is described as an Argentinian grill. We went with the no fire basket option - the makers said it would be fine to build the fire in the bed. This purchase has triggered the ODK design that we needed but were not motivated to achieve. Now we must. It is nothing like others have created for their homes. No diggers, no contractors. Just one builder and his mate and he should get it done in max 3 weeks. I am hoping we will be able to use the new grill by mid October at the latest. In the meantime it is sitting on the piece of teak furniture that our 80 year old ex-shop fitter built to The Husband's design. I am thrilled with it because it will house all my KK grates and bits. The Welsh slate that will top the furniture is still at the quarry. This kit is beautifully built. Sinbad the cat knows what I have done. I just have to make sure that The Husband gets to use his present once in a while so he doesn't suspect that I really bought it for me. Thanks for the push Charles. We are going to end up with a practical ODK, garden AND new grill, thanks to your "bad" influence.

Made deeply jealous by one of @ckreef's purchases, I hatched a plan. I asked The Husband if he would like a new toy, just like Charles'? He said yes. So I bought him one. The only trouble is that I now need to wait for him to get home before I can unwrap it!!!

You are wreaking havoc with my appetite here!

Super looking pizza Mac. @SSgt93, mostaccioli are new to me. They look lovely.

When I was 16 I left Nigeria to visit a friend who lived in Kenya. I found it difficult to get my head around the fact that she said I was to bring socks and warm clothing. Cold? In Africa? I learned that lesson the hard way. You seem to be having similar difficulty with my current predicament. You have racoons. We don't and I don't think I have ever seen one in real life. What we do have are foxes (not interested in corn), pigeons (only interested in shredding my brassicas or pooing on them from on high if I put a cage around them - either way the pigeons win) and Fred the cat (mostly interested in cuddles). Oh yes, and rats. The rats are the ones that get the corn. My allotment neighbours seem to have successfully protected theirs with old socks. I don't have any old socks so I have ordered some cheap green socks in the hope that they will blend in. Will report on success or lack thereof.

I am still awaiting your missive regarding our bets for the upcoming season. I thought I might offer to get you a tablecloth in the event that I was to lose but given I am not planning to lose, relying on your daughter's kindness is your best bet.

Ireland? Madagascar? More like a very hungry monkfish.

Phew!

Yes, involving friends made the whole endeavour much easier. My friend and her son were staying over and they did a really good job of making the guacamole, old style, in the mortar and her son was super efficient with rolling the tortillas for cooking. We bought the tablecloth when we were last in Italy and it was just right for this meal. We had planned to cut it into a round to use on our outdoor table but it is so cheery that we have abandoned that plan and will use it indoors to cheer us up as winter draws in.

A by-product of last week's sausage fest was loin of pork that I couldn't bring myself to mince to make sausages. We split it in two - one half for further aging and one half for bacon. I used my new molasses cure and left it in a vacuum bag for 8 days. Cold smoked yesterday using maple pellets. I just love the warming grate in the 23 for this application. I am amazed at how much bacon you can get out of just one half of a pig loin. Much happiness to follow.

Thanks Steve. Looking forward to trying out the press when it finally arrives. The feedback on Amazon was that they sometimes don't get the tortillas thin enough and you have to put discs in and rotate the tortillas to get them flat. Will see how that works out. The consistency of the dough was great and it didn't stick to the rolling pin at all. Of course. Fly Eagles Fly. You bake a lot. I can see why. Working with dough is so pleasurable. Thanks Paul. Will try this next time. It was so easy to make up the dough following your instructions. And lovely and warm to knead with the wet cornflour. Cut and pasted from a different post by @tony b: @tekobo you are much more adventurous than you give yourself credit for! You rock, gurl! And thanks Tony, for keeping the faith.

It was the best sort of lunch. Guests arrived at about 1pm, all gone by 5pm and all followed by a three and a half hour snooze. Nice. Tortillas first. My guess is members of your family might not have thought the tortillas were up to their standard Paul but, for a first go, our guests were very appreciative. The tortilla press did not arrive on time so we did it the old fashioned way - rolling pin and child labour. I heated up a Chinese dish to super hot in the microwave and stored the initial batch of tortillas in there. After the first rush we made them to order. About 10s one side and say 50 the other seemed to do it. Re-heated the black beans On to the brisket. The KKs held steady at 150C for the whole cook. I don't use any of those blowy devices to manage the fire because the KKs are just sooo reliable in my non-windy back garden conditions. Nice to have two KKs to do this but I guess a 32 or 42 would have done this cook in one go. Now, the recipe called for wrapping the dishes in foil. I did not do that, thinking the KKs would preserve moisture. Not so, sauce predictably evaporated leaving tasty bark. Friend did the shredding Whacked up the 21 to cook the sopressa. It's a Venetian sausage that you slice, cook on both sides and then finish with splash of red wine and vinegar. Everyone declared them delicious. Yum And yum Thanks @PVPAUL and @Braai-Q!

Good luck! I hope you have a wonderful day.

I am basing today's lunch around recipes from two fellow KK'ers. First I am making tortilla's according to @PVPAUL's family recipe and second, using @Braai-Q's recommendation for Mexican style brisket. Tortilla recipe here: Brisket recipe here: https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mexican-style-barbecued-beef-brisket-with-quick-pickled-onions/ A girlfriend and I made up the tortilla balls. Double the recipe meant 36 tortillas at 71g each. Yay! It was such fun and the dough felt really good. Now sitting here with damp cloth and cover over them. Will be proving for about two hours before we eat. I tried out my two cooking implements. I didn't get the clay comal hot enough - was being too cautious - will do better when we come to cook for the meal. I did 10s one side and then 1 minute each side. Thinking I should follow Paul's instructions with 10s one side and 1 minute other side so that you get a soft inside to roll. I am sooooo looking forward to lunch. We tried black beans in the first tortilla and it tasted great. I ordered a tortilla press yesterday in the hope that it would arrive in time today. No worries if it doesn't, rolling with a pin seems to work just fine. In fact, I am betting that the Amazon delivery man will arrive just as we finish rolling the last tortilla. What's on the menu? Black beans, brisket and sopressa. To be wrapped in lettuce leaves (low carb friends) or tortillas (everyone once they have seen them!) and topped with pickled cucumbers or pickled red onions and guacamole. Did I say I was looking forward to lunch??

Thanks Mac. I thought that cooking in the skin on the KK would be hard to beat. I have never tried steaming corn. Will try it with my next batch. If the critters on the allotment leave me any. I just read about putting socks or empty pop bottles over the top of the corn once pollinated. Going to try that even though it looks ridiculous!

Wow. @Mcjudsten that looks awesome. Between your pics and Dennis' it is clear that the 42 is a very flexible machine. Hmmmmm...

P.S. She's getting married in the morning, ding dong the bells are going to chime?

Our local fruit and veg man supplies restaurants and always has super fresh produce. I have asked him about sweet peaches and he is going to taste and compare what's available at the market to ensure that I get the sweetest possible. May end up with nectarines if they are what he deems best. Will see how they perform in this syrup.