tekobo

Ha ha. I love that this African immigrant is getting to comment on classic British food. A bit like when I used to represent England at a regular four countries meeting that included an Englishman who represented Wales, a Scot and a Northern Irish representative with an incomprehensible (to me) accent. I am sure there is a joke in there somewhere. It made me giggle inside anyway. Bubble and squeak is a meal made up of left overs from Sunday that was made and eaten on washday Mondays when mum was too busy to cook a proper meal.

Hi there @Chanly1983. Guessing you will have/will soon be placing your order. Exciting eh? I had a long, drawn out process of choosing my accessories when I was getting my KKs. Your idea of getting everything now so you don't regret it later is a good one. However, you may find that you never use some of the things you buy. I use about half of what I bought. One of my current constraints is that I don't yet have power to my ODK. That means I have never used my CyberQ cloud kit and fan, nor my rotisserie or the Octoforks on my KK. I am not sure I will ever need or want to use the Cyber Q but I will definitely be trying the rotisserie when I finally get power. If I was only allowed three Dennis accessories they would be: pizza stone, rotisserie and sunbrella cover. Three non-Dennis accessories would be my MAPP torch, MEATER thermometer and cast iron plancha. A close fourth would be my La Chamba cookware - having stuff you can transport straight from the KK to table is great. Oh yes, and I do use the smoke pot a lot. And my cheap spiral cold smoker... You can see why we should rename this forum "the KK shopping channel!"

That looks good. Potentially less hassle and more stable than threading the legs through skewers as I have done in the past. Happily, there are a few different versions available in the UK. Will look to see if they have locking legs like yours. AND they do wings too. Yippee.

Great toy and great looking cook. Of course, I want your drumstick hanging toy. Where did you get it from?

Tell me about it! I won't be trying the Mozza recipe for a few weeks yet. I need to re-visit the Ken Forkish Enzo and 48hr doughs first to see if I can make them reliably. I may also want to go back to @Pequod's Chicago South Side for a bit of yummy reassurance before I launch myself on the Mozza recipe and @ckreef's latest. So much food, so little time! That's so funny @MacKenzie. You know what that has taught you don't you? Eat pizza at home!

Lots of stuff! The green splashes were parsley and oregano, the base was deep fried cubed potatoes rolled in aioli and white crab meat and more parsley, the red sauce was a paprika ketchup and it was all topped with a raw egg yolk that was blasted with a brulee torch. Most of the dish was prepared earlier in the day so the main work was getting the potatoes fried and the scallops cooked. This was an example of a risky night. We were hosting a birthday meal for a couple who are our close friends and I asked them to invite four more people of their choice. There was every chance of crashing and burning given the next course included hanger steak (not typically seen as a special occasion cut here), raw oyster mayonnaise and deep fried oysters. I made espresso panna cotta for dessert - simple back up that would soothe anyone who had hated the previous two courses. Happily they loved it all and one 58 year old confessed to enjoying oysters for the first time in her life. So my feeling rubbish today can really only be blamed on the amount of wine I drank.

Sure, I don't disagree with you at all @cschaaf. I am not about forcing people to eat stuff they don't like. We build an instinct for what people like about the food we cook and we learn to tailor that to different audiences and circumstances. What doesn't work is being forced to cook the wrong thing for the tool and time that you have.

I have been feeling rather green around the gills today. Heavy eating and drinking weekend. Heavy use of the KK too but didn't have time to take photos. Except for these two. I am in Love with my Le Pigeon cookbook. Would you believe that this picture is of scallops cooking on a plancha? Well, you should. They have been coated in black squid/cuttlefish ink. And I plated eight of these: It is wonderfully dramatic when you cut into the scallop and it is white inside. Most importantly it all tasted great.

We had follow on pizza for lunch the next day. The Husband felt we had to defend our square cutting credentials. Here is the evidence for the defence.

The goose breasts were ready to try this weekend. On the left is the Italian, grappa coated, cured but not smoked. On the right is the German, whisky coated, cured and hot smoked. The Husband preferred the Italian. He liked the extra fat. I liked them both. I was surprised at how different they were to each other. Goose breast is now definitely our "thing".

It is a thing of wonder, yeast. I love the fact that you can make so many different types of loaves with the simple combination of yeast, water, flour and salt. Good luck. Will you use a machine or knead by hand? The former is more predictable I think but I prefer getting my hands dirty.

Cool! Great first go. Will watch your bread adventures with interest.

Awesome pizza cook @Drew. I am going to get back to trying out the Ken Forkish doughs now that I have got my yeast quantity and measures right. I also watched a programme about Nancy Silverton in LA and subsequently bought her book, Mozza. Her pizza recipe is quite involved but I plan to try it to see how it compares. I'm loving home made pizza on the KK. A world away from store bought domestic oven versions!

What fun! London is a great city to visit. You must use buses when you can and sit on the top deck so you can look around. There are online apps that plot routes and the buses have screens on board that tell you the upcoming stop so you can get off at the right stop. So...food. @tony b is wrong about the boiled meat but right about curries and fish and chips. A Sunday roast with all the trimmings is also typically British - it's the continentals who boil their meat. You can combine a trip to a gastro pub for a roast with a chance to sample the ales. My favourite casual-ish eats in London are these: Konditor and Cook - great cake shop. German. Barrafina - fantastic tapas and you sit at the counter, watching them cook your food. No appointment system but if you turn up about 15 mins before they are due to open, the queues are very short and you get seated quickly. Spanish. Nandos - casual, grilled chicken chain. South African/Portugese. Oklava - fab upmarket Turkish restaurant. I love the food here. I have also asked a friend who knows more to tell me her favourite local Turkish restaurant. If your family like grilled meat I think a typical local Turkish restaurant will be a great thing to try. Dishoom - a chain of restaurants that do small plates. Surprisingly good. Modern Indian. Kulu kulu - revolving sushi bar in the heart of Soho. I haven't been there in a long time but used to love it. There are lots of other Japanese nearby so pick one of them if you like sushi and your guide says they are better. Well, as you can see, we embrace all nationalities' food here. If you make it to the South Bank there are lots of food trucks and lovely places to sit outdoors. There are wild gardens on the top of the National Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Hall. I live about 1.5hours' journey from London by the sea near Portsmouth. You would be very welcome to come down to see the sea, our historic sites and eat off our KKs if you have time. If not, and I happen to be visiting London when you are, I can bring you a KK care package. Brisket, anyone?

I love the way this is working: someone tells everyone what a good cook you are, then they choose what you cook and how you cook it, you cook it but are disappointed by the results and they just get the crap they have always eaten and wonder why anyone thought you were any good at cooking. Noooo. You know what is good on your KK, what you are good at and what people usually like. Challenge their tastes, mix it up and do what you think is right or don't do it at all. There is nothing worse than feeling crap after a cook when you were hoping to make people happy but it doesn't work out as planned. Of course you are also free to ignore bossy old me!

Your ribs look great @jonj. I notice you had a temperature probe in the ribs. Did that work? I remember reading that it was difficult to get a good read on doneness on things like ribs.

Impressive! And fun, I'm guessing. The pizzas look great. Looking forward to seeing your latest dough recipe. I think it should be called the 6 month prep pizza in honour of @Aussie Ora . For my part, I do like the doughs that take a few days to prove. The best bit is having some left over so you have can TWO pizza nights in a row. Diet? What diet??

Mouth...watering.

Oooh. That rub certainly looks interesting. Hard Core Carnivore Black is available in the UK but my first search on amazon.co.uk shows it at about £16. Will hunt a bit harder. Is it worth trying @Aussie Ora or would you rate the Dizzy Pig rubs higher?

Tee hee. That guy has got it made! Great pizzas. Thank you for starting this post, it's been fun.

@Shuley I think it depends on if you are set on tri-tips and ribs. It also depends on if everyone is going to arrive and be there at the same time, all waiting for food out of your magic KK. To reduce pressure on you and waiting time for them, I would have some food that you can cook in advance and hold e.g. brisket or pulled pork or something else that you think they will like. You can then have fun with other stuff that cooks quicker and can be little hot treats that they can add to their plates. Here I might do chicken pieces on skewers or home made sausages - both are always a hit and can be cooked up quickly as more people arrive. So they get the excitement of a BBQ without the anxiety of waiting too long or thinking they are going to miss out on the good stuff.

Lovely looking ribs @amusedtodeath. And great photography.

Of course! The pizzas were a bit square anyway because The Husband had put the dough balls into square containers to prove. He was pleased that that tied in with the square cutting directive. Engineers, eh? We are easily pleased.

Yes, your dad was right! Mother-in-law wasn't feeling well so the three of us worked our way through a sausage pizza and then a pepperoni, mushroom and chilli pizza (notice I cannot quite bring myself to call them pies). I thought the first pizza might have needed a bit more cooking on the crust so I left the second one in for the same time at a slightly higher temp. The verdict? Father-in-law: Liked both equally and was particularly complimentary about the crust. Me: Liked the sausage pizza for flavour but the crust on the pepperoni pizza better The Husband: Liked the pepperoni, mushroom and chilli pizza best and wanted more but settled for some extra wine instead. That leaves us with two balls and more sausage for lunch tomorrow. Hurrah! Thank you very much @Pequod. Best pizza night yet.