tekobo

Welcome @mwerner89, your KK is indeed a beauty. Terra blue. Lovely.

Thanks for posting your pizza dough recipe @Aussie Ora. I asked for it because I was puzzling about why my more recent dough balls were not quite as plump. Since asking for your recipe I have tried out the South Side Thin recipe that @Pequod includes in his post here. It is more dense/has less hydration than the Ken Forkish recipes that I have tried so far - more work when kneading. More importantly, I discovered two things as I prepared my ingredients for this recipe. 1. I should have been multiplying my yeast quantities by 1.25 because I was using dried yeast and not instant dried yeast and 2. my drug dealer scales for measuring small quantities had somehow changed mode from grams to carats and I was using far too small quantities of yeast in my more recent tries. Dough with right amount of yeast and sausage with right amount of wine are now in fridge waiting for pizza night tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Looking forward to the authentic Chicago experience, with or without the paper delivery bags.

Hey Tyrus. As someone who encouraged you to post about your new toy I am sorry that you feel we have not engaged. But - I'm going to paraphrase crudely here - telling me I am in a close minded cult and taking your toys home won't increase my desire to engage. Yeah, sometimes stuff goes off topic and sometimes people completely ignore a post because there is lots else going on that they are more interested in but if you want an ongoing conversation you have to post some more stuff too. I have seen a few offset cookers on TV and I am not going to get more interested in yours unless you tell me more about the set up that you are building, show me more food porn or tell me how you beat that smart arse down the road in a competition. Peace, mate. I've got to get out there and clean some windows before the sun gets too high in the sky.

That dough looks nice and plump @Aussie Ora. Would you share the recipe?

A box of change indeed. I walked up to the bank yesterday carrying my piggy bank. I was very proud. They took me down a peg or two. Apparently they don't just get out a scale and weigh it all. No. You have to pack it into bags of £20 and then they will weigh them. So I had to go and stand at a counter to sort myself, and my money, out. I am still excited. This lot came to £464 and, thanks to the power of modern technology, a couple of online clicks mean that I am now the proud owner of 464 more premium bonds. I won't earn any interest but each month I will have the chance of a small win or maybe even the £1m jackpot. Much better than storing them in a cupboard and I still have the rarer coins sitting in the cupboard appreciating in value. Cash is cool.

Chocolate and beetroot! Some weird, tasty stuff going on here. Keep going, you might just convert me.

Congratulations! Sounds really good. I'd love to go along and look but have never signed up for instagram. Can we have our own show here??

Really good to see your tasty steak results. I am cooking a birthday dinner for friends this weekend and am looking to try this method too. As for your wife not liking lobster - bonus! None of the silly guilt about needing to give the other person the ever so slightly bigger piece.

Touché and too true! I'll re-train as a life coach and make money, helping them adjust to the real world when the realisation finally dawns that life just isn't fair, or safe.

I am more worried about death and taxes. Once the old people who collect coins die off there will be no one to sell them to. I will ride out Brexit, move to a tax free haven and then sell, sell, sell before the Millennials take over the world.

If you were old enough to have one @Bruce Pearson, you would know. On that basis, not wanting to corrupt you, I won't explain about adult beverages. Cherish your liver, I might need it one day.

I went on to eBay straight after I posted my photos here and found that the sought after coins were not quite as valuable as I had been led to believe by the internet hype. That said, most are worth at least £7.50 each. I never realised that £2 coins from as recently 2002 could be worth more than their face value. Plan of action: 1. Smile and thank greengrocer for alerting me to this interesting and potentially lucrative wheeze. 2. Take all the standard £2 coins to the bank. Invest the total in premium bonds. 3. Hang on to the non-standard £2 coins and look out for more. Maybe one day in the future they will make me rich. All good.

Oh yes!

Chicken always used to be lower down on my meat choices but since I got a KK it has shot right to the top. Your cook looks good and has reminded me that it is already three days since I last ate chook. Must rectify that.

Just in time for the Abba reunion I have discovered something really cool about my money. I have been saving £2 coins for years. The pace has slowed recently because we use real money so rarely these days. A week or so ago I thought I really ought to count up the coins to see how many I have. I counted and weighed the first ten coins and then twenty to callibrate and then weighed the lot to see how much I had. £562. Hmmm. What to do with it? I can spend that easily with a few clicks online but spending real cash feels like a greater responsibility. First candidate was a medium Korin and some Binchotan but I am not sure if that is quite symbolic enough. No decision made yet. In meantime, I happened to mention my piggy bank to my greengrocer. His shop is one of the few places where I still spend and receive coins. He told me that some £2 coins are worth more than others. My curiousity was piqued and I found an article online this morning: https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/3524236/rarest-most-valuable-2-pound-coins-designs/ What fun, searching through my pile of coins. I wasn't aware of the different designs and the stories that each represent. The majority of my coins are the least valuable. But I have a number of different designs across the spectrum. And one of the most valuable on the list. This £2 is worth £40. I know this has nothing to do with KKs but I was so excited that I had to share this with someone and you were here. I like playing with money.

Ha. That made me competitive - I wanted your target time so that I could beat it! In reality I generally have things to do while the KK warms up and don't need to rush.

Yes it does. Like I said, I need to chill.

Looks like you have picked out something that is just right for you. Looking forward to seeing your shelter progress. In the meantime, you had better get out there and win some competitions!

Thank you all very much. I used a modification of @Drew's method - kept the pink paper I had already wrapped the brisket in and put it in the oven to keep it warm. It turned out very well. In fact our neighbour's 15 year old daughter was so mesmerised by the meat as I sliced it that I had to repeat the question about how many slices she wanted. I like @tony b's method of wrapping the joint in a bath towel to keep the brisket warm and I definitely want to try @Tucker's more predictable method. The funny thing about trying so hard to make sure that the meat was ready bang on time was that, of course, my guests were not. Reminded me to chill...

Thanks for the really prompt response @Drew. My guess is that your briskets are a lot larger. This one came off a breed of cow called a Dexter - they are cute, relatively small cows that taste very good. I will accept that I will lose the bark and report back on how it eats later.

Every other brisket that I have cooked has ended up with a long stall. This MEATER graph from last week's (small) brisket cook illustrates it well. The green line is the ambient temperature in the KK and the purple line is the internal temperature of the brisket, temperatures in Celsius. As you can see, i broke the stall by increasing the temperature at the end. I am cooking lunch for the neighbours today and I had originally planned to get up at 4am to start the fire and put the brisket on but then decided that starting last night would be a better idea. It was a chance to have the time to ride out the stall and find out how long that takes. Well, what happened to the stall? It all cooked super smoothly and was ready at 4:45 am with no intervention from me! Double boo! I had to get up early anyway AND I now have a brisket resting that won't be eaten until about 1pm. I wrapped the brisket in pink paper and put it in a cooler. Will it last until 1pm? Should I put it back on the grill later in an attempt to re-set the bark? Any advice welcome please. Back to bed now!

Definitely going to give this a try. I too am doing a (relatively) low carb diet but, happily, have allowed myself one pizza night a week. Great fun for trying different doughs although The Husband is getting a bit frustrated with the less successful ones and just wants an improvement on the first one that he thinks was the best so far. Hoping the Chicago Thin will give him something to smile about next week.

I have not ever needed to use a blower. I just open the vents, light one or more spots using my MAPP torch (purchase down to @tony b suggesting ti!) and wait about 15 mins to make sure the fire has started and then up to an hour for full warm up for most cooks. Thanks to this post @MacKenzie, I understand that the blower could save me some fuel in my torch. I am not sure if that is worth it, given my gas canister seems to have lasted forever. Do you get to cooking temperature significantly quicker? Trying to help @Bruce Pearson save some money and cupboard space!

Wow, it has been a really productive week. The WFO looks great in-situ and I am so excited about the food bit. Roll on pizza night!

Tee hee. Your daughter and dog look so patient - not! What fun. A really beautiful KK. Welcome and welcome again!