tekobo

You're right. You won't get a table. It is shut on Mondays. Tee hee. I haven't had much trouble booking online at relatively short notice and have also been to her new restaurant, Kyseri. Yes, I had heard of Heston's wife restaurant but I have not made it there yet. I am not in London very often these days but I do try to eat somewhere good when I go. Will be heading to Hix's in Soho soon. They do a to die for rhubarb tart when it is in season. My best friend and I usually have it at the bar with cocktails so no need for a reservation. Two reasons to recommend the Ox Club in Leeds if you are ever up there. Four reasons, actually. The food is awesome, great grill, your telling me about the Ox Grill company and it was their chef who gave me the recommendation re: Rochelle Canteen. Karma. You must go. But not on a Monday.

I laughed when I read this Tony. I am sure that, if I search, there will be record of a similar conversation between you and me. I think I finished it with an acerbic comment about not understanding why you have all those books if you don't plan to use them. I won't repeat rude self here. At $30 a year, eat your books works great for me.

No idle threat here. I promise @Pequod, if you buy a 42 I will make sure you get a goat to go with it.

I thought I would try out soufflé on the KK and wondered how best to do it. As usual, if you look, someone, somewhere on the forum will have done what you are trying to do and will have documented it for your reading pleasure. Unusually, there was only one post. This one: @dstr8is an excellent reference and I don't have much to add. As I start with my soufflé experiments, it would be good to know if others have tried soufflé out in their KKs. Here is my first attempt. It was made with a sweet white miso base. I put them in the KK on a cold cast iron tray to avoid burning up the bottoms. They came out well after 13 minutes in the KK. I like how the reflected heat from the dome gave the soufflés a gently browned top. Might cook for slightly less time next time and I need to work at getting a more even rise. Will try running knife round the inside of each filled pot to see if that helps.

You have to try this lasagna recipe. Celeriac is a root vegetable that is relatively low in carbohydrate and here I was able to replace pasta and flour with celeriac to make a gluten free lasagna. I used this vegetarian recipe (https://thepassionatecook.typepad.com/thepassionatecook/2004/06/celeriac_lasagn.html) for inspiration but added in the usual mince in tomato sauce to make this super tasty meat version. First the ugly bit. You can buy nice pretty celeriac from supermarkets but I had a couple left over, still growing in the garden, from the batch I planted last summer. I had run out of ideas about how to use them when I thought about lasagna and went searching on the internet for a recipe. So, here is my rather sad looking over wintered celeriac. Reminded me of the grandad on the Simpsons. Cleaned up. Sorry, didn't photograph this stage properly but, having cut the clean central lump into a rectangle, I cubed the offcuts and put them in to boil. I sliced the rectangle into lasagna "sheets" using a mandolin. Here is the lasagna with layers of mince and sliced celeriac. And this is a magical stage. The Husband whizzed up the boiled chunks in the Vitamix with cream and nutmeg. It made a beautiful smooth spread that looked and tasted just like bechamel. Baked for about half an hour with cheese on top. Super delicious and much lighter to eat than a traditional pasta lasagna. Don't tell nonna!

Tony, Alex, eatyourbooks is a time saver and value add and not a drain. You tell it what cookbooks you have and then it is a breeze to search online for the recipes in your books that contain ingredients x, y an z or to find a recipe you love but can't remember which book it was in. I use recipes from the net but I like using the ones from my books because knowing the author and the book is a good way of determining whether you trust that the recipe will be good, or not. I like Alex's story about testing clients by taking them to Polpo. It reminds me of going to a dive of a sushi bar in Brewer Street that a uni friend and I loved, Kulu Kulu. He introduced me to what we called "heaven in a handroll" - a deep fried prawn rolled up in rice and nori with sliced avocado and raw salmon. A mutual friend who had moved to Washington to work for the World Bank was back in the UK for a visit some years ago. We thought she was very important and wondered if she could/would still be our friend. We decided the test would be whether or not she liked the hand roll. We ordered one and watched her anxiously. She finished the roll and immediately ordered another. We breathed a sigh of relief and welcomed her back. If you are in the Farringdon area you must have/must go to Fergus Henderson's place, St Johns. My true friends love it and eat stuff that even I baulk at - squirrel, spleen and hare. My favourite is lamb's kidney's on toast but there is always something good and tasty to eat there. I meant to recommend the cookbook Oklava. Small but perfectly formed Turkish inspired restaurant within walking distance of Liverpool St station and great book. I do like Angela Hartnett so will look into your recommendation. I love her Welsh back story and the fact that there is a strong Welsh Italian tradition. I work in Cardiff regularly at the moment and have had the pleasure of a couple of good Italian meals there. Must try more. Will also look into the Sausage Bible. Thanks, I like a guarantee.

I had the same problem when I came to decide myself. Created this thread to compare the 21 to the 23 because I think it is less about pure square foot area but how many whole lumps of meat you can fit on each. There was not a great deal of difference from 21 to 23 but expect a step change to the 32.

Tee hee. Don't talk about Meater, vague and fire in any posts that @ckreef might read. Very very sore point about how long it took the Meater folk to deliver the original probe and then start to fulfil Block orders, having held on to their backers' money for months and going on years. These posts reminded me to prod my brother in the US to see if the Meater Block that he bought for me, as a surprise, about a year and a half ago is anywhere near being delivered. The Block is the one to get in my view but don't bank on it arriving anytime soon. In the meantime, you can waste money like me, buying stuff that will meet an imagined or real need.

Lots to report on. First, I had not looked at the Ox Grill link that you provided @Braai-Q. Their grills look really good. I had not thought about the wind and the rain until you mentioned it. Our old Argentinian grill was actually covered and neither Solus nor Ox Grill appear to offer a covered grill. Having said that, it was the cover and casing that was forever needing a re-paint. I have finally realised that I what I am looking for is an Argentinian grill, with a cover, built by Dennis. Books. What can I say? First things first. If you are a cookbook addict then you need eatyourbooks.com. Japanese go-to books are easy to identify. Hashi, written by my teacher Reiko Hashimoto. Interesting modern twists. The Japanese Grill, same as you picked out and great for simple but very tasty grilling. Donabe - lots of variety across the various donabe cooking techniques and lots of opportunities to improvise. Finally a book that opened my eyes to the beauty of Japanese vegetable cookery - The Enlightened Kitchen. Italian books are a bit more difficult. Italian food is so much about simplicity and ingredients. Warm burrata and sliced tomatoes with oil and basil in a New York loft is an experience that will be hard to beat. The books that I love are less about what they contain and more about what they mean to me: Truly Italian by Ursula Ferrigno. This vegetarian book was given to this rabid carnivore by her vegetarian sock and sandal wearing boss when I was leaving my job on a rail electrification project with Railtrack. It opened my eyes to what you can do with boring old veg. I have since bought a pile of cheap second hand books by Ursula from different sellers on Amazon and I love them all. Polpo. A celebrity restaurant cookbook that I chose to take with me on holiday to Italy. It makes us laugh to this day. We ate street food for most of the holiday but I set my heart on trying a recipe for cotechino, lentils and mostarda. We wandered round the market in Padova trying to find the ingredients, only to be met with incomprehension. Who were these strange people, trying to buy cotechino and lenticchie in May? We learned that "seasonality" is not just a word to the Italians, it is a way of life. We returned in December to find gorgonzola al cucchiaio AND all the ingredients for the cotechino recipe, at the right time of year for ingredients that would have spoiled in the pre-refridgeration heat of the summer. Ratio by Ruhlman. Not an Italian cookbook but it was meant to free me from the tyranny of cookbooks by teaching me the formulae that underpin a lot of the food we eat. Using it at the moment to try out different types of fresh pasta. Anything River Cafe. I thought this was just a chi chi restaurant until we took two ten year old boys there to celebrate getting into their secondary school of choice. We have been there for every milestone since and are hoping, in August, to take T back to celebrate getting his law degree from Oxford. The deal is that he pays for our milestone meals once he starts earning money as a hotshot lawyer. I am moving into reference books but am not quite there yet. I have not yet got into The Essentials of Italian Cookery by Marcella Hazan but it comes highly recommended. I am also waiting for my copy of The Silver Spoon, in Italian, to arrive and force me to improve both my cookery and my vocabulary. What fun.

I have accumulated a number of devices based on advice from this forum. I have the CyberQ and have used it just once. It was useful for managing a very long low and slow cook, particularly as I knew I would need to top the coals up during the day and wouldn't have time to keep checking the fire. Super simple to set up and no complaints. However, I haven't bothered to use it again because I use my Meater to monitor low and slow cooks too. The Meater tells me the temp at the level of the meat and I can watch the progress of the cook on my phone. There are issues with range so it is good to get the Meater+ or the Meater block. I just daisy chain my old style Meater through a second phone and have had no issues with that. I also bought the Maverick XR-50 but have not had cause to use it yet. I thought it might come in handy when I have multiple things to monitor but that may well become redundant when I finally get the Meater block with four thermometers. The fact is, I am lazy, can't be bothered to be threading probes through holes and I like the Meater interface so it gets my vote.

Patek Phillipe watches are advertised with the strapline: "You are only looking after it for the next generation" You can take this in any number of directions: 1. Be generous and give it to one of your kids so they don't have to stumble through a lifetime of substandard grills. 2. Be cunning and tell each of your children that they will be getting KK1 or KK2 or yet to be bought KK3 in your will. Keep them keen and looking after you and your KKs in your old age. 3. Be frivolous, sell the KK and buy yourself a watch. The choice is yours.

I went with my heart when I got my KKs. I picked the 21 and the 23 because I liked the way they looked. The 23 was my first KK love and I couldn't quite bring myself to transfer my affection to the 32. It also sounds like a 23 will do most of what you would like That said, I agree with what others have said. The 32 is very versatile and if you are only to have one KK it is probably the one to get.

That sounds way too cool to ignore. Damn! Here is one for the hunter gatherer in you Alex: An Argentinian grill could well be a good complement to your KK(s). The one we used to have came direct from Argentinia and was a rust bucket. These guys in Norfolk make Argentinian grills to drool over: http://www.solusgrills.com. Just saying. In case you want to design your ODK with a future, yet to be discussed, purchase in mind. Thanks for the Japanese book and stockist recommendations. Will investigate both. I hadn't got into the level of quality that sees you shaving your own bonito flakes but I can see that is a new world to explore. How to solve the problem of buying specialist ingredients and not using them up in time? Dedicate a month to one type of cuisine and go all in. Helped me get to know my books, kit and use up the stuff I bought. This year I am, sort of, dedicating the whole year to Japanese and Italian cuisine. Yum.

I agree! I work and could afford to buy a KK myself but am happy that I got to order and The Husband got to pay. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Might have to find the money myself if I decide to trade up to a 42 though!

Result! I do hope you get to keep both KKs and build them into your new ODK. I have no doubt that the KK forum went into a collective silent scream when you suggested moving a KK on. Funny. I do speak German and love cooking Japanese. Current kick is trying out recipes from this donabe book https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TCI531C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_sbeZCbZ3J0RWF and latest purchase is a table top burner for cooking hot pots. Will ride this horse one for a while before considering teppanyaki although I must say that it looks like a beautiful piece of kit. I too am a cookbook freak and would be interested in your Japanese top 5. I'll be interested to know how you find the coco char briquettes. I buy 250kg at a time and that lasts me about a year. I just had a delivery a month ago so won't be needing any more for a while. Also interested in how good a discount you get with your Zimbabwean connection!

Tee hee. This forum is particularly good at assisting you with finding new ways to empty your wallet. So, I think I have grown up and become you. Our (max) five times a year barbecuing habit was because we turned it into an event with our Argentianian BBQ - burning wood to create the embers to lay under the food. The KKs have made life a lot easier and I light one or two up at the drop of a hat. I live with my husband and four cats. The cats are on a raw food diet so I imagine our day to day cooked food needs are similar to yours. Most times I get by with one KK. A quick firing up to cook some wings for one or a recent dinner with three friends where I cooked brisket low and slow through the afternoon, added pork ribs part way through and then put my friend's son's mac n cheese to cook alongside the ribs while the brisket was resting. All perfectly easy and I didn't need anything more than my faithful 21". However, it doesn't take much to make it worth extending to two KKs. Some examples here: Sunday lunch with the in-laws. Nothing special but convenient be able to roti alongside the side cook. Japanese dinner for eight. This cook was early on in my ownership of the KKs and it convinced me of their versatility. I could have sworn that I used both KKs but I really cannot tell from the close up photos. And here I argue against myself, showing what you can do on a 23 - two fat ducks, followed by a klafoutis dessert. I was less brave then and the sides were cooked indoors. Now, I would cook them on the other KK. Both KKs come into their own when we have parties. We had an all day party for 100 in the summer. The 21 held its own through the day, smoking two lots of brisket while I got friends to help with regular cooks of wings and sausages on the 23 through the day. That is an extreme example but I would do the same for 20 if I wanted grilled bites alongside low n slow. A single 23 could well be fine for your needs but I'd go for two KKs over most any other cooker option, any day of the week. Supplies? I buy cocoshell briquettes from : https://www.macsbbq.com/charcoals/proq-cocoshell-briquettes. I buy 25 at a time and they come to £17.20 per box delivered. Haven't tried anything else for regular KK cooks and would be interested in your experience with Lord Logs. Jealous of your ODK plans. Here I have a make shift space in the garden. Trouble is, I can't quite make the decision to swap plant space for more kitchen space and I can't, quite, get used to the idea of moving to the country to get the space I need. Thanks for posting, looking forward to following your journey.

My technique is a little different to yours and it takes 1 to 1.5hrs to get the binchotan white hot. I generally start a fire in the KK with the binchotan sitting on top of cocoshell briquettes i.e. I set it all going at the same time. As with all fires in the KK, I go back after ten, then twenty minutes to blow hard with my leaf blower. Almost always works. I did wonder if this was over kill and I was going to try starting the fire directly in the konro. Not sure how that will work out but will give it a go as I don't have a chimney starter and don't want to buy one just for this purpose. Keen to know how you get on though.

Been meaning to ask @Pequod: how are you getting on with binchotan? I have only ever used coconut shell briquettes in my KK and binchotan in my konro grill and so don't have many comparators. I find the binchotan burns cleanly and creates no odour problems with indoor cooks but I don't know if other options are different or better.

Woo hoo! This looks like a great addition. It means I can set my 23 up in a permanent 2 zone/roti configuration with my 21 available for other types of cooks. Add to cart. Alongside that hot/cold smoker accessory. Yay.

Hi there Alex. A fellow UK KK'er here. I have a 21 KK and a 23 KK. The thing that may change your perspective on whether your 19 will be unloved when the 23 arrives is your ODK. I found that the revelation that you can "switch" a KK on and off when you need it and having an ODK meant that we shifted from the usual UK model of 5 or so BBQs a year to cooking outdoors all year round - at least twice a week in the summer and at least once a week all through the winter. I just don't bother roasting meat in my IDK anymore and have been exploring starters, desserts and everything in between with my KK. The type of cooking that stops you having to flit between IDK and ODK generally warrants a two cooker combo. Hard to say what choice I would make if I had my decision again. I love the 22 TT and the 42 and might like that combo if I had no space restrictions. I shudder to think of having only one KK but if I was going to go down to a single KK I would definitely go for a 32. Whatever you do, I hope it works out for you. Kemi

That looks awesome Charles!

I mostly rely on measuring internal temp and the cook time predictions from my MEATER. In my IDK past I used to use these Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall estimates: http://iolarfood.blogspot.com/2017/01/roasting-meat-hugh-fearnley.html That should give you a good estimate, but checking internal temp during cook will be key.

I forgot to mention the one thing that seems to make the most difference to the speed of lighting - how I build the fire. I use coco shell briquettes which can be quite difficult to light. I find that seeding the centre of my fuel pile with part burned briquettes from the previous cook means that I can get the fire going much faster. I just train the MAPP torch on the part burned briquettes and they take really quickly. @DKMC2000, have fun experimenting!

I love being on this forum because there is always new stuff to discover. I have the same MAPP torch and blower routine as @Pequod but I never leave the lid open. Instead I wind the top hat to three turns to get the fire going and then wind back to 1/2, 1 or 1 and 1/2 turns depending on the cooking temp that I am trying to achieve. It has never occurred to me to pull out the plate at the bottom. In fact I only ever open the large bottom vent half way when I am starting the fire and it seems to work. I am curious about whether leaving the lid up and/or pulling the bottom plate out will get me to heat and eat quicker but I suspect that inertia will see me sticking to my same old routine.

I cook lamb on my KK but couldn't have described it any better than @tony b has above. I don't usually add smoke but internal temp is key. Depends on your taste but I cook to 50C (122F) and leave to rest, after which the IT rises a few degrees and the meat is at the perfect level of rareness for me. Whatever you do, try not to take it to the dry and grainy stage.