mguerra

I'm just a physician trained at the undergraduate and post graduate levels in microbiology and do what makes sense to me. Each person do as you think best! My guests get very well rested meat, succulent and juicy, and live to tell their friends about it😀

The meat comes off the fire sterile. There are no bacteria to grow unless you somehow inoculate it. It's not true that the second the meat goes below 140 it starts putrefying! You can leave a cooked brisket uncovered laying on a countertop at room temp for a couple days and nothing will happen. I know... (Well actually the dog could pull it down) So holding a roast in a cooler, wrapped and toweled, for well over 24 hours even, won't be a problem. It's not egg salad sitting on a picnic table in 90º heat being swarmed by flies! But, if it concerns you, don't do it. I always do it and never worry what temp it drops to.

Mesquite wood.

Is King Ranch chicken something everybody knows about or is it just us people here in Texas? Well anyway if you know what it is you can use the King Ranch chicken recipe but substitute pulled pork from your Komodo Kamado! Hokey Smokes Bullwinkle, that’s good. If you have never heard of King Ranch chicken look up a recipe and make it once then substitute smoked pork another time…

For evening service put your brisket on the fire at 5 or 6 AM. It will be done with time to rest, if you do an Aaron Franklin 275° cook. For lunch service cook it the day before starting around noon. Rest it until lunch the next day, it will be fine and likely still warm. Don’t worry about the food safety aspect of this, the meat comes off the fire sterile, if you wrapped it with foil or butcher paper partway through the cook it can’t get contaminated. If you cooked it naked, use clean or gloved hands to wrap it and you will NOT have a food safety issue even if the temp goes below 140°

I try to hold them at least 6 hours before service. It does make a difference.

Yeah we had quite the discussion about this on a different thread; I think last year.

Yes cast iron rusts but who cares for a heat deflector. I have the Bayou Classic griddle referenced above, as well as a Lodge cast iron pizza pan that I can use for heat deflectors. But I still use the giant thick ceramic thing primarily. Just because I like it…

Wrap your briskets or shoulders in towels and hold in a cooler for many hours before service. They come out much more tender and juicy. I speculate that the retained heat continues tenderizing the meat, and dissolving the collagen. But since there is no ongoing fire nor airflow there is no drying effect. Well toweled, they will stay quite hot for a LONG time. These meats always taste much better with their “original” cooking heat than a reheat. Filling all the airspace in the cooler aids the heat retention.

We have discussed it many times over the years. Use a shop vac with a cartridge filter and drywall bags. No need to get down on your knees scraping ash out through a little hole. Remove the charcoal basket, just stand up straight, use one or two wands, suck all the ash out in less than a minute. Do it before a cook, so all the embers are cold and out. Easy, fast, no bending, and zero ash dust flying around while you dump a pan of ash in to a receptacle. No need for an expensive live ember vacuum.

I have used MAPP torches, looft lighters, propane torches and so on. The easiest, cleanest, cheapest method is a Weber cube ( or other starter variant) under a chimney of charcoal. WAY better than paper, no ash. Light it and walk away. Try it you probably won’t go back to any other method. If you like use a hair dryer to speed it up. Fill your charcoal basket, place your starter cube or stick on top of the bed, put the chimney on top of that. No need to buy and use gas, nor stand there holding something.

I tried Adams Steak au Poivre as a rub on a pork shoulder. Wow, it was most excellent and got rave reviews from Mrs. Guerra as well as the coonies ( and beagle). IMG_0225.MOV

Sometimes, I smoke the hell out of my meat with that first blast of billowing white smoke and don't wait for the clean blue. I like it that way, on occasion.

I bought a brand new Meco Swinger II after I got the KK, thinking I would use it for "little cooks" like quick grilling. And because it has a nostalgic feeling, it's the kind of grill most everyone had growing up for summer nights in the backyard. Well, as much as I appreciate the nostalgia and aesthetic of it, I never use it. I keep wanting a Primo just to have a piece of American made Kamado goodness, but I can't pull the trigger, I don't need it. The KK fulfills all. Gas? Nah...

When you open the lid there is a big inflow of oxygen in to the KK. If there is a large quantity of charcoal burning, and you feed that large quantity with O2, your temp will go up some. For a low temp cook, be sure to only light a small amount of charcoal to start. Lighting a large amount of charcoal and trying to keep the temps down with small vent settings won't work.

The Smith and Wesson 40 cal “Shorty Forty” on the countertop is optional. But a good idea if you live out in the wild Texas Hill Country. For both varmints and “varmints”!!! No kids in the house so it’s cool laying there. Right under that deck below the KK I had to dispatch a big Western Diamondback. I had to crawl under there on my hands and knees and face that thing down. It was buzzing like a chainsaw, my adrenaline was maxed out. But my dogs go back there, and under there. For that little adventure I actually used a shotgun, not a pistol. No I didn’t do a low and slow on it to see if it “tastes like chicken”

You can use a controller but you don’t have to. If you like tech and toys by all means get one. I have three, and never use them anymore! You only need three temps for your KK. Low and slow which is anywhere from 200 to 280. Roasting at 350. And a hot grilling/ pizza fire which you don’t need to measure, you see it. Barely crack the vents top and bottom and you’ll get the low and slow. And only start a LITTLE charcoal. Roasting at 350 is just a little more open on the vents, you’ll learn it quick enough, but again only start a little charcoal. For L&S and for roasting start only a half charcoal chimney at the most. For a hot fire start up a full chimney. That’s it. You will learn to gauge your fire temp by reading the smoke output, you won’t even need the thermometer. Yeah, you’ll get that good! And then you sleep peacefully, confident.

Ok resurrected, definitely worth exploring this thread for newer members, and revisiting for us older KKers. Larry R had some good stuff.

Still, we had some excellent threads it wouldn’t hurt to resurrect! And Roadside Chicken is one.

I really had no idea how old I looked... https://youtu.be/tXEqWF8XGmo

Yes I used the supplied Norton sanding block along the grain initially. Then I switched to the orbital when I got tired! A belt sander handled with extreme care would do it, but I don’t have one. After I shot that video, I smoothed off the surface with the bronze wool. It is smooth(ish) to the touch and looks superb. Picnics work great for pulled pork, I use them often. Smoke on, brother!

Well never mind! There it is, duh.

Is there a way to add a signature line to your posts, in your profile? A few years back I was encouraging people who were willing to identify themselves by first and or last name. I thought I had a signature line before but the forum has changed a few times over the years.