tekobo

Just catching up on posts while I wait for my dinner to cook. @Pequod' pork loin and @amusedtodeath's chicken and short ribs have just pushed me over the edge. Can I hold on for the ribs to cook? How to stop salivating? Eat the sides while I wait? No, of course not. Why didn't I think of it before? Adult beverage, here I come.

A honeymoon sounds like the ideal time to maximise your KK buying potential! Congratulations on both counts.

Lots to ask you about @MacKenzie! The microgreens looking good. No questions there - you've explained how to "make" those, I just need to execute now. What are the round white things - is that rice or something else? Is that a La Chamba pot I see? And how did it all taste?? Oh yes, good looking cook!

I love your pyramid of rubs Bruce. As someone else said, you don't do things by halves! I got the dizzy dust too, coarse. Will try it soon and we can compare notes. We've got friends coming for dinner tonight and I have sort of set my heart on trying out some Turkish recipes. Not sure that I can sell a Dizzy Pig rub as being authentically Turkish!

Tee hee. it is always a great feeling when you finally settle on the solution that is best for you. Looking forward to seeing your purchase when it arrives. If you don't get hold of Dennis via WhatsApp, do what I do: lurk on the KK website and send him a chat request or ring him when the chat app says he is online. Usually sometime between 5pm to 9:30pm UK time.

Very nice @MacKenzie. I will take a note of the temperatures and give this a try. Cold smoked bacon is more common here so that is all that I have tried so far. Cold smoked came out really well. It amazes and enjoyfuls me what can be done with a KK.

That reminds me. I have been meaning to ask @Tucker whether he had cooked duck for his wife yet. I think we should have a duck-off!

Errrr, nope. The basement is shared territory and he already has a good proportion of it covered in wine so he knows we need to work it out. It's a compromise thing. Again, nope. I doubt you will like them, they are very spicy. The best thing about this recipe is that it is infinitely adaptable to your taste. Get some chilies that you like.

You sneaked that in Tyrus! I hope we will get to see the delivery, unboxing and the goods you produce. And no, don't want to interfere with this installation thread so you will need to start one of your own.

Gosh, that looks really really good @MacKenzie. How did it turn out with the smoke? A bit like you'd used a WFO? If so, that is a lot of money you've saved there.

It sounds like we are going to have a similar voyage of discovery here, apart from the scud launcher pizza wheel! I'll get the stone hotter and dome cooler next time and I too agree that it is nice to have some distinct cheese blobs as opposed to melting it all in from the start. For the four cheese pizza I put the hard cheeses down first and added the soft cheeses in the last minute or so. No photos coz the burnt bits were too ugly. See you when you do your next monthly!

Me too Bruce! I got three of the recommended flavours and threw in a Tsunami Spin because I liked the description. Keen to know what you think of The Works as you explore your latest haul. I might end up buying some more if I am as impressed as they all say we will be.

Of that, you can be sure. It's a really lovely looking KK. I bet you've been out to stroke it a few times.

Similar challenge here. The Husband has declared it a "moving parts puzzle". Next date night will involve agreeing what has to go where or go altogether.

Thanks @tony b. And @Aussie Ora. Four packs will be with me very soon for a modest sum. Laying in supplies in time for traditional English BBQ weather, when it finally turns up!

Awww Tony, what have you gone and done? I generally manage to save on rubs by making them up myself or winning a bet or two. This message from you and everyone else's talk about Dizzy Pig finally pushed me over the edge. Amazon stocks individual sampler packs here but better still is this website where they appear to be having a mega sale on the full size packs https://www.riversidegardencentre.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=dizzy+pig. What do you think? Which would you recommend if I was to constrain myself to just two or three or four?

Yeah, I know @Bruce Pearson, it sounds weird when you say "smoked rice" but I promise you, it is good. The main thing about the recipe is that it is adaptable and you could add Creole spices or even @Tyrus' foreign (to a Nigerian) Bebere spice. I am sure many Nigerians would want to extend the list of ingredients with their favourite additions. The worst sin is for your food to be declared "neither sweet nor hot", or "ko dun, ko ta" in my language, forever damning you to the land of the bland. @Stile88, it is a little alarming when your beautiful pots go all grey in your cooker but I knew that film would wash off. They are now clean and waiting for me to find somewhere to store them! The husband had some this afternoon. He covered a small pot of the rice in pepperonata, broke an egg on top and baked it in the oven. He said he enjoyed it and didn't think it was too spicy. And finally, @amusedtodeath, thanks for the compliments. The "maze looking thingy" is a cheapo cold smoker from amazon. You light it with the candle that comes with it and the whole thing can go on smoking for up to 10 hours. I've never needed it for that long so I stop the fire by jamming in a piece of crunched up foil and save the box for another day. A bit messy to store but nice and easy to use. I didn't get the cold smoker from Dennis when I ordered my KKs and then promptly discovered I needed one for lots of things I like to do, hence this solution. Oh yes, and to answer your other question, I bought bags of different smoking dusts and refill when I have burned a maze's worth.

That is helpful to know. What sort of time do you leave your pizzas on the stone for? I had stone temp at 450F and dome temp at 700F by the time I got to the second pizza. The top got way too crispy by the time I had left it in for six minutes and I still had the softer cheeses to add. I like thin crust pizzas so I reckon I need to cut the time if I don't want crunchy crust pizzas. Pleased to be of help. I hadn't made dough of any sort for quite a few years and was a bit apprehensive yesterday. The Ken Forkish Enzo recipe worked out just fine as did his You Tube video of how to shape the pizza. Thanks for your tips @MacKenzie. Still looking to worship at @ckreef's expert altar, particularly if he has any new tips. No rush though, I am now committed to making pizza at least every fortnight now I know how good it is.

It has taken me a while to get around to trying out a Nigerian/West African recipe in the KK. The arrival of my La Chamba pots encouraged me to try this rice dish in the KK while it was heat soaking for pizza. Ingredients (approx - it is different everytime) 2 cups of long grain rice 14oz can of plum tomatoes 4 scotch bonnet peppers, seeds and all (too hot, even for me, will dial back next time) 1 red capsicum pepper 1 red onion 3 teaspoons of Carribean curry powder salt, pepper Some vegetable oil A slug of chicken stock Method Parboiled the rice in IDK for about 10 minutes so the grains still had a bit of bite to them. Made up the tomato sauce by blending all the other ingredients up to but not including the vegetable oil. Heated the oil in the pan and added the tomato blend. Cooked for about 15 minutes or so. Mixed the rice in with the tomato sauce. Added in a bit of chicken stock. The stock probably wasn't needed as the rice came out a bit softer than usual. Here is the pot in the KK after about 30 minutes. And now for the "party" bit of the recipe. I didn't know this until I started researching recipes but, because food at big parties is cooked by caterers over wood fires, the smoky taste of Jollof rice at parties is distinct from that which you cook at home. I asked my mother about this yesterday and she said yes, she had a friend who would always go to any party that was on just because she loved the taste of smoky Jollof rice. My mum then lamented the fact that caterers generally use gas cookers now and so that taste is not so common. Well, I got to reproduce it last night by putting the cooked rice into my other KK with the cold smoker for about 40 minutes. Yippee, it tasted just like it should.

Finally did our first pizza cook yesterday. A plain margarita. We both loved it. Didn't love, quite as much, the follow on four cheese pizza that I managed to burn but hey, that is part of learning! Happily there is one ball of dough left over and I can try again tonight. Made it on the 21" and the pizza size was just fine for us. Grateful for critical feedback if there is something I should have done differently. I heat soaked the KK for an hour to 550F then put the stone in. Waited for the stone to reach about 450F and then put the first pizza on. Could I have just put the stone in from the start?

Close, @tony b. I picked up some cheap pig cheeks at the supermarket. Normally I would use them in a bourguignon recipe but yesterday I made up the Le Pigeon recipe for pork cheeks with ouzo and feta. This is the first stage, waiting to go in the KK in the La Chamba saute pan. It went in after my pizza cook and cooked overnight in the residual heat. Will form part of a future meal so you'll have to wait for the verdict on the taste. I did use the olives and Pernod in the end.

Great news Bonfire! The colour is great and I really like your side tables. The anticipation builds...

Yeah, it's funny how it takes so many of us so long to acclimatise to the idea of spending that much money on a cooker and then when you do finally take the leap you wonder what took you so long! Welcome.

That's a lot of pressure Bruce, picking something that is worthy of your dad's pot. I have two things in mind. The first calls for ouzo and olives. I don't actually like either. The Husband has suggested substituting Pernod. I don't much like Pernod either. Happily, I have found a substitute online that I do like the sound of - vodka and anise seed. Less overpowering that the other two. Trying to force myself away from my go to French standard so will see if this adapted Greek recipe works.

Cheeky! I have plans I'll have you know. Just need to read the instructions for the pots. Don't want to break one on the very first cook!