tekobo

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!

The Husband was not impressed when I told him that the largest pot didn't fit in the KK. "What? You didn't measure it before ordering?". Then he asked, "Are you sure it doesn't fit?". I mumbled something about the website saying the dimensions were approximate but had to admit that I hadn't checked beforehand. I wasn't offended by his challenge - we are both engineers and tend to question and push back rather than just accept what the other says in order to have an easy life. Anyway, I am glad that he was unimpressed by the fact that I had bought a pot for the KK that didn't actually fit the KK. This morning I went out and tried the RS15 out on the lower grate in the 23". Guess what? It fits! Hurrah! As you can see we have rain and not much sun today. You can't have everything.

Absolutely! @MacKenzie put me on to him and I took The Elements of Pizza with me in the car earlier today to check on my options. It was then that I realised I really didn't have the time to make pizza today, even using his same day recipe. Still keen to try and will set myself up to have pizza for supper tomorrow, no matter how late it gets...

Great, thanks. I worked out that "pizza" and "tonight" are not compatible unless I was ordering a take out.

We just watched a netflix documentary about pizza and have declared tonight pizza night. I know you are the expert @ckreef but I am not sure where to find the definitive recipes. Did a search and saw that you had tried four different doughs but need to keep searching for the definitive tutorial. Grateful if you could post a link just in case I can't find it...

Cool! Looking forward to seeing your WFO cooks.

Ha ha Bruce . Nope. I need to focus on the basics here like making some space for storage and tables and getting some power out to the KKs so that I can try out the rotisserie. Your comment made me wonder what I would do if I had infinite resources though. With the type of space and land that you have in the US I might go for a 42" specially for parties. Having said that, I owe The Husband an Argentinian grill. And I have a konro grill on the way for those small hot Japanese bites. So many choices. Happily they are mostly too expensive in space and money to worry about. Having so much fun trying out new stuff in my current KKs. Yippee Paul! Looking forward to your choice process and, most importantly, finding out what colour you choose! Congratulations on your choice Tom. And good luck with the wife. We are right behind you!

Hi @Paul. You type @ and then start to type the person's name and a menu comes up with everyone whose name starts with that series of letters. You just pick the person off the list. The reason I do it is that I think it alerts them to the fact that you have referred to them. Do you get a notification (or two) when I say @Paul, @Paul?

Thanks @ckreef and @KismetKamado. I too adore ceramics and am so very happy to have these. A potter friend introduced me to donabe pots by way of a gorgeous cookbook called, very originally, Donabe. They too are gorgeous and the book helped me understand why @Jon B. is so happy with his. These La Chamba pots were my 50th birthday present to myself. In 10 months and x days time I hope to have found enough excuses to buy myself a donabe for my 51st!

Tom, i am so pleased that you are getting more expert advice from others! I hope it helps with your decision. Everyone, for my part, when I was making my long and drawn out buying decision it would have been good to see how much you could cook on each level of the different KKs that are available. There are pictures dotted around the place, and I remember that @Paul kindly posted a picture of his 16" fully laden, but it would be great if these could be assembled in one place. Who to ask to set up a pinned page so that we can each post pictures of big cooks to help people visualise what is possible with each KK? Completely randomly and out of the blue, I have just developed a crush on the 22" table top. No one talks about it but it is beautiful in its own sweet way.

Hey, Serena is bred to look like an Ocelot/leopard but she is actually a Bengal. We have four of them and they definitely "get in your business" which is what a breeder told us before we foolishly(?) moved from owning old fluffy cats to owning young mad cats. And yes, I do cook for the navy. The Husband is an ex naval officer and we live in a navy town @tony b here funny to watch but deadly for the insects. Good thing for birds is that they have learned to stay out of our garden. Sad for us although we can watch them over the wall in other people's gardens. Great side benefit is that we can grow and ripen really tasty berries and they don't get eaten before we get to them.

The stock answer to your question is, "go as big as you can afford to, you won't regret it". An equally good answer is, "get what suits your pocket better, you won't regret it and you can buy some good meat with the savings". The main thing is you'll do well either way. You would think I would be the ideal person to help with this problem, given I own a 21 and a 23, but it is not that easy to come down on one side or the other. I have not yet cooked pizza on mine and I have never been in a situation where I had to use just the 21 or the 23. However, I think I should be able to help to settle the grill space concern. I can't do it just now but when I next have a big meat delivery I will lay out say, a bunch of wings or a number of rib racks on the 23 and then the 21 so you can see the difference. I suspect the answer is "not enough to matter". The big step up is with the 32" and that was not in my reckoning and doesn't seem to be in yours. Others with the 21" may be able to reassure you about what they can fit on it. Whatever you choose, welcome to the community and I hope you get your hands on a KK soon!

I sneaked a look at the guru site this morning. The reveal was very funny. Mainly because KK fooled them so well even though all the clues were there. I guess they will get to understand that getting a KK is indeed an Obsession and once someone jokes about it it is sure to come true, sooner or later. What fun.

Serena's a feisty kitty and won't stay still long enough to become a break-in cook! She's limbering up for her second favourite activity of the summer, aside from sleeping in the sun, which is catching and eating flies and bees in mid air. She's a real ace at it. Yes, cooking is the point of all of this. No plans yet. I need one of the pans to speak to me and say they want to be the first into one of the KKs. I've never made flat breads over a BBQ so the comal might be the one to take the prize. Or maybe 'taters in the roasting pan. Or...

Thanks @Bruce, me too! Quick update: Charles at My Toque just got back in touch about the broken piece. No messing around with postal insurance, just a straight refund to my payment card. Great service.

I have been looking jealously at your posts about La Chamba cookware for some time. Postage to the UK looked prohibitive until I got into a conversation with Charles at My Toque. Their postage charge looked the most reasonable and he gave me a discount for buying a few pieces. The pieces, finally, arrived today. Well, they didn't so much as arrive as get rescued from the local Parcel Force depot when I got fed up waiting for the paperwork to get sorted! Box full of polar bear poo, as The Husband calls it. Beautiful artisanal ceramics. Looking to use the pots to cook up dishes in real time and also in the residual heat when I have finished my main cook. The lids don't all fit tightly but well enough for my purposes. Here is the large roasting pan (Their model no SPX) in the 23". I ordered two of these. One broke in transit. It was the only breakage and I am in touch with them about insurance. And the 5.5qt RS6 oval roaster fits just fine in the 21" The 10qt RS15 didn't fit in either KK but, happily, does fit in my indoor oven. Here is Serena, looking grumpy about being asked to give you an idea of the scale of this enormous pot. She looks small but actually weighs 6kg. I am convinced she swallowed something heavy somewhere along the way. And yes, the sun does shine in the UK. Sometimes.

Yet more great food @MacKenzie. I think I will avoid the forum first thing in the morning - making me too hungry!!!

Sooooo unfair! Today is one of my twice weekly fast days and your cook has got my taste buds going. Might have to "postpone" fast to tomorrow. Really good looking cook and, I imagine, really tasty too.

Thanks @MacKenzie. Worth a try. The micro greens look lovely and fresh against the rest of the dish. And really easy to eat at that size!

That looks like a beautiful setting you are leaving. I hope you have found a good place to settle in Scotland. (And some winter protection for the KK!!) Welcome back to the UK. Happy to share information about sources for charcoal and other things I have found over the last few months.