tekobo

Hi David. I just took a look and the Octoforks site is there but there don't seem to be any products advertised for sale. I dropped Keith, the owner, an email but given it is at his octoforks address that may well have been a waste of time. Will revert if I hear anything. Having said that, although Octoforks are really helpful for some non-standard roti cooks they are not essential and many people don't have them.

Phew. Pleased to hear the we have not missed the big reveal @Braai-Q. As for the pebble v tile debate? Let's see what @SSgt93 goes for when he gets his second KK.

I concur that pebbles are good BUT, scientific proof is required. The Husband vetoed one of my choices - one KK in black tile and one in black pebble. I now wish that I had stood my ground. Someone else will have to do that test. And deal with the wrath from the losers. I am concerned that your reference to "recently" implies that you have sneaked a new KK into your ODK without proper scrutiny. I hope, for your sake, that is not the case.

Congratulations. Thea May looks so peaceful. I like the way you said "first daughter". Here is to many more - boys and girls!

Tee hee. Yes, the Southampton Costco does stock tomahawks and I was tempted to join and drive over to see if they have them on offer. Then I remembered the amount of meat I already have, stockpiled in my freezer. Decided against. I just searched for grits on the Costco UK website and it came up with a big bag of horticultural grit so I might be out of luck there.

I am ignoring all references to third degree burns and hope that you do try your version of this dish sometime. It is really cooked "to taste" and is very tasty. Smoked rice is definitely something I want to explore more. As for grits... I have never tried them but my local Texan friend has some, I think. Will see if she is willing to share in return for a taste of @tony b's recipe. Failing that, an American friend with a card took me to the Costco in Southampton a few weeks ago. It seemed to be an outpost of America so I expect they sell grits there. Thanks @MacKenzie. I was resisting an early lunch but now that I have seen the picture again I think I might go for the last of the leftovers...now!

Way to go Paul! Looking like PVG is going to serve you well. Those porky burnt ends look delicious. Care to share the recipe and method? Yum.

Hey Tyrus, it was safe. Not too hot. This time. Just want to lull you and your screen into a false sense of security.

So, was this steak one of the Piedmontese animals? Or do we have that pleasure to come?

Wow. Just wow.

Yes @rick, I will keep the bark on any trimmings from fruit trees. One of Lumberjack's selling points is that they keep the bark on so, like Tony, I'm going with the pros.

Nigerian Jollof Rice with Chicken and Dodo This is a typical Yoruba party dish in Nigeria. I cooked as much of it as I could in the KK and I am very pleased to report that it tasted great, just like home. A quick run through the component parts. Jollof rice at parties is typically cooked over a wood fire so I simulated the effect by smoking some washed, raw rice before cooking it in my donabe rice cooker. I fried some finely chopped onions in goose fat, fried the smoked rice and then cooked the rice with half water and half smooth tomato sauce. The tomato sauce can be cooked with any spices you like but make sure it has a lot of chilli in - always use a bit more than you think you can stand and it might be close to being right. The rice was fluffy and tasty. A bit more smoke (hoping to have pellets for my Dennis smoker soon) and a bit more salt next time. Smothered some chicken in cooked down onion, tomato and sweet peppers and added some chllis for good measure. At a Nigerian party the chicken would have been deep fried before going into the sauce. Next time I will brown on the KK before the sauce stage. If you have read this far I am guessing it is because you want to know how I came to be cooking an extinct bird. Dodo is what we call fried plantain and has nowt to do with the other dodos. The ripeness of the plantain is important. Green ones won't cut it. The riper they are, the sweeter they taste. The Ivoriennes go so far as to get them to a soft, almost rotting stage before deep frying and slathering in hot sauce as a road side snack. They call it aloco. We don't go that far. Here are some semi soft plantains. Here they are, chopped party style. I guess they go further if cubed this way. When deep fried they absorb a fair bit of fat but come out very tasty. My father prefers them cut on the slant with less surface area exposed to the fat. I was going to give you a triumphant view of my new rotisserie "air fryer" but the less said about that debacle the better. The picture at the start of this thread shows the cubed dodo, deep fried in my IDK. I will continue my experiments with the roti in secret.

Hey there @jr.008, not sure why your photos are not showing on the forum. How did you try to insert them into your post? I use the choose files option usually. That aside, I did manage to download a couple of your photos and your ham looks mighty fine. Good job! Juicy meat and good looking grill marks. Very nice Mac.

Now look what you made me do. I was staying in an Airbnb when I wrote the message above and at about 1am I gave up the fight and got up to make myself a mid-night snack. Fried up some bacon and an egg and, in so doing, set off the smoke alarm. Turns out the alarm also rang in the main house and caused a panic until my host sleepily read my hasty message telling her to ignore my sneaky snack. No more midnight forum forays for me.

I think you should go with what you think will look best. Another consideration is whether you expect to move house. It may be easier to take your KK with you if it is not built into your ODK. Either way, have fun choosing and make sure you have room for a second when you realise how much you love cooking on the KK.

Wow, you are so lucky! Great story and what an elegant looking KK. Pebbles definitely cook best and that colour looks great.

It's midnight here. Shouldn't have hopped on to the forum at this time. All these beautiful pictures will see me gnawing on ribs in my dreams tonight. But first, I shall start with Aussie's wings and will mop up the juices with @Pequod's bread. Just how am I going to get to sleep now?

Good point. Will stick to my own trees, which I have not sprayed. Now that I think about it I have apple, cherry and a mixed native hedge that contains some interesting varieties. I will look them up and make sure to save our prunings. Yay.

This is indeed a fun post. Interesting to see how many wishes have been fulfilled in the meantime. I keep saying I like the 42 and the 22 but I know in my heart of hearts that my 21 and 23 are just right for my needs. I think a small Argentinian grill is still in my future. I like playing with fire and the way the v-shaped grill bars channel the fat away from the flames.

Thanks for the tip @Basher. We have three apple trees on our allotment and it never occurred to me to keep the prunings for smoking food. Will definitely do so this year and will see how they work out next. I'll say this quietly: I am not a fan of purple crack. but I do like to try new stuff and will look out for Cornish Pepper Leaf to see if there are parts of the plant that are of interest.

@MacKenzie you are not wrong, but just remember it's all about the eating and you can't eat a pix no matter how good it looks. Yes, now that I have worked out how to get the fire going quickly this is a super simple dish to make. Fire on, roti bar loaded and in no time at all you have something good to eat. I often have trouble attaching and bracket on the motor to the KK, the springs are a bit stiff and alignment not always easy to achieve. Having read that @ckreef leaves his motor attached the whole time I think I might take a leaf out of his book. Will make roti a more frequent choice here.

Reporting back: I tried wings in my flat rotisserie basket. Had them for lunch yesterday. The colour was great and more even than I expected given the fact that they were encased in a metal grid. The wings were nice and succulent. So good, in fact, that there is no photographic evidence. Thanks for the inspiration @Aussie Ora.

Hey Tony. Your post made me smile. The expression "reach out to" is so American. It has crept into business parlance here in the UK and, when anyone says it to me, my reaction is to think "keep your hands to yourself!". Obviously it is a head thing and I need to get over myself. Yes, I did reach out to the company and they said that pecan and beech are all that they have. I am thinking two pecan blend and one beech blend. They seem fairly versatile, looking at the descriptions of use on the lumberjack website and the smoking wood charts that you and @Basher posted a few weeks ago. 60lb of pellets will be a lot so I will have to get used to those flavours! I am keen to try smoking things other than meat and seafood so I guess this is my opportunity. I am still unsure about what all the bits that came with the cold smoker do but will get to that soon.

Thanks for all the tips. Working my may through the options here in the UK. Lumberjack - 3 No 20 lb bags at £39.69 seems to be best value. This source only has beech and pecan. https://shop.americanbbq.co.uk/bbq-pellets-26-c.asp A-maze-n - lots of variety and bags sized from 2 lb at £6.95 or 5 lb at £11.95 - £13.95 https://www.bbqgourmet.co.uk/smoking--wood-pellets-99-c.asp Traeger - 1 No 20 lb bag at £17.99 and lots of variety - apple, cherry, hickory, maple etc https://abell.co.uk/search?q=traeger+pellets&Search= Seem to be spoilt for choice here. From what you guys have said and what I have been able to read, Lumberjack seems like a good option even though the variety is limited.

How did you get on with these pellets @Pequod? I have found them on amazon.co.uk and they are indeed much cheaper than the A-maze-n pellets which I have also been able to find here. Any advice gratefully received as I prepare to use my new hot/cold smoker.