tekobo

Hi there and welcome @Scottishhammer. I wouldn't talk you out of the 32 unless I could talk you into getting two KKs instead. There is great versatility in having two KKs and I am very happy with my 21 and 23. Maybe you could sneak in a 16 alongside a 23 or 32 if Dennis still has the 16 available for sale? Accessories. I have not yet tried my hot/cold smoker but I get the feeling it could be a game changer for me. Having the ability to pump in smoke when you want it and for as long as you want it is making me giddy with excitement. Just waiting for The Husband to come back from NYC with my Lumberjack pellets in tow. I would say the smoker is NOT optional. If you get a 23 then an upper rear grate is a must to go with your charcoal basket splitter for two zone cooking. My favourite non-Dennis toys are my welder's torch and mini leaf blower for starting fires. I was never in the girl guides and was no good at fire, until now.

I am so happy with my new rear grate on the 23. I have now set up this KK semi-permanently with a half load of charcoal in the front so I can either cook indirect on the rear grate or rotisserie with ease. I have had problems cooking pork in the past. A thin drip tray over the coals never held enough water to stop the smoke from the dripping fat for long and it was difficult to manoeuvre, filled with water. Today I set a pork shoulder to smoke on the rear grate, over a pan of water with smoke pot at the front. Smoked over apple and alder. It tasted great.

I like it. Going and fetching your KK is a great way to avoid all the hassle of waiting on a delivery company to get it to you when they say they will. I bet you'll be up at dawn to drive that baby home. Good luck! Looking forward to the pictures.

Hey there Bruce. At least one person has reviewed the MEATER block on the forum and they were happy with it. I am very keen to get hold of one because the MEATER is the only thermometer I use (for simplicity and lack of wires) and I would like not to have to rig up two phones to get the signal into my house. The only problem is how long it will take them to deliver. I am still waiting for mine, a year and a half on. It would be good to hear from others who have also ordered the block.

OK. Good news, Keith did respond. He said his website is under re-construction but you can get in touch with him direct to buy. His contact email is on the website and the details of the products are back on there: http://octoforks.com

You are so funny Mac. Your next challenge, if you will accept it, is to try out a robust fish like a red mullet. They are soooo tasty (and fishy!) when grilled. The other option is to pat yourself on the back go back to cooking things that you actually like.

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.