mguerra

Re: Just learning about our new KK Whoops, we forgot to give Gazza the standard reply. Do you know that your lid latch has two positions? If you push it lightly it will catch on the first detent and you might think you just latched it shut. In fact, my wife did that just 2 days ago. Nope, that first detent leaves the lid slightly open. You have to push the latch hard and feel it go through the first detent and then latch hard in to the the second detent. THAT seals your lid down airtight. And if your lid is not airtight, you cannot achieve low temperature control. Also, you might destroy your gasket by exposing it to a higher heat than it can tolerate.

Re: gyros with pics n67399 n67400 Nice cook, nice post, good pics. I'll try to get some cooks and photos up soon. Actually, now: Last week I got my 4H pig and the butcher cut the shoulders whole. They were huge! And everything was frozen down to about -274F when I picked it up!!! Well, my freezer didn't have enough room for all of it so I just threw the two massive frozen shoulders on the KK and fired it up with a lot of hickory for smoke wood. No rub at all, it wouldn't stick to the glacial surface... I let it come up to temp very slowly with the frozen shoulders in from the start, and then kept the temp about 225 the whole time, with a Stoker. It took 16 1/2 hours to get the shoulders up to 185 internal. Because they were frozen I did not put my temp probe in the meat until about the 12 hour mark. They came out as perfect as you could want. As I have said before, you can cook frozen items on the KK and they come out fine. (The best turkey I ever did was frozen when it went on the fire.) After about a 5 hour rest on the countertop, I pulled the meat, and bagged it in FoodSaver bags. This was the first time I have ever used the FoodSaver device, I like it! I only got the post-op photos, not the pre-op, but they took up almost every square inch of the main grill prior to cooking. So there is a cook report and a couple of pics. I will cure and smoke the hams and bellies later and try to get a good photo set.

Re: Thermoworks probes Ribs, yes, I forgot about that. There are several timed methods for those.

Re: Another argument for using grill-floss I was just reviewing this thread and decided to trash all my brushes. Even though the wire ingestion injuries are rare, I figure if there is an easy and effective non-wire way to clean a grill, I will do that instead. A Grill Floss, an oily rag, a kitchen plastic pot scrubber, whatever.

Re: Thermoworks probes I don't suppose anyone here on the forum needs to know it, but for any newcomers, you definitely want to finish most of your cooks by temperature, not time. The only exception I can think of is the brisket tenderness test. Glad your probe worked out craig.

Re: 32" Main Grilling area - Scale I prefer to use cherry wood when smoking Coca Cola.

Re: Just learning about our new KK One way to start very little charcoal is to simply set one lit True 'Cue, (or equivalent) starter on top of your charcoal. http://www.amazon.com/True-Cue-Natural- ... rue+%22Cue A disadvantage of this is that it will take a long time to get the fire up to and stabilized at 225 or so. If you are hanging around the house and don't mind, it's OK. Sometimes I want to get a 225 fire going, get the meat on and get out of the house in mere minutes. In that case I use the Guru. I open the little sliding vent on the Guru to 1/4 or even less, set the temp to 225, start the fire as above, close the bottom KK vent, barely crack the top vent off its seat, and leave. We have talked about overshoot before. Even if you get some overshoot with the above method, it won't be enough to matter with those tiny vent openings and that tiny fire start. Also, a low and slow is not temperature critical. Any temp from 200 to 275 will yield perfect low and slow results. 225 is THE NUMBER you see referenced all the time for low and slow. Well, that is not written in stone, I promise. That was a long winded comment to say just start a very little bit of charcoal to keep the fire temp down.

Re: SNAKE RIVER FARMS Whole Bone-In Pork Shoulder If you cruise a lot of BBQ and cooking websites, you will see a common thread emerge regarding rubs. Lots of folks use just salt and pepper. I don't use it exclusively, but put in my rub rotation, (please, no clever remarks regarding self gratification!) I know several of the most famous Texas BBQ joints use just S and P on their briskets. When I do it, I like to use a LOT of fresh cracked pepper. Generally I will put over a quarter cup of peppercorns in a whirly blade coffee grinder and grind it that way. Try a brisket this way, you might like it.

Re: **Big Bad 32" Komodo** We used to have a really huge fat doctor here. He was so big we called him "Tres Ninos" because he looked like he was carrying triplets. That 32 incher reminds me of him...

Re: I cooked all weekend! I just found my copy of "Charcuterie" so my pig will get specialty prep...

Re: **Big Bad 32" Komodo** Did you have to reinforce the factory floor with piers driven down to the bedrock? How much does one of those weigh, gross tonnage?

Re: I cooked all weekend! Nice cure recipe, thanks! My pig is meeting his fate this afternoon...

Re: I cooked all weekend! Dave, how did you cure the pork belly? I just bought a pig and will probably cure my own bacon and hams.

Re: Nueske's Meats / Usinger's Meats Nothing subliminal, just confessing to a horrific nutritional episode. Doing a vegetarian penance day today.

Re: Nueske's Meats / Usinger's Meats I had half a pound of cherrywood smoked Nueskes bacon, a chocolate chip cookie and a Dr. Pepper for lunch.

Re: Nueske's Meats / Usinger's Meats Thanks for the tip, just ordered several pounds to try.

Re: Thermoworks probes Just bend it by hand or with the aid of a bench vise. We all do it!

The cooker is great, read all the other posts about that. I had a significant problem requiring a serious fix and it is being taken care of no questions asked at no expense to me. Not only that but from time to time Dennis will send you add-ons and updates at no charge. So you send your money overseas to someone you have never met in person for a product you likely have never seen in person and I can assure you it will be one of the best purchases you have made. WELL worth the price.

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details Once I was cooking something on the main grill and also had a piece of salmon that needed cooking that day. I put the sear grill on top of the main and put the salmon up there, high in the dome. It was the best cooked salmon we ever had, texture wise. Maybe we will try cooking salmon at every possible level to see how it comes out.

Re: Thermoworks probes If I had the Thermoworks probe I would chance it, and try a slow bend, knowing I might break it. All the probes I have bent survived.

Re: berkshire vs. commercial butts We have a thread going, I think in the owners only area, about humane pork. One way to get it very inexpensively is from the high schoolers who raise them for the stock shows. Most of these pigs don't get bought at the livestock show. Most of them are raised pretty humanely at someones home. They are FAR cheaper than commercial humane pork! I'm getting one next week. If you really poke around, you can probably find an artesinal processor who can make some awesome specialty sausages, bacon, caul fat and charcuterie for you.

Re: berkshire vs. commercial butts That is one gorgeous Dane! As for purebreds, there is no dearth of them available from shelters and breed specific rescues. We get all our Coonhounds from rescues. For anyone who has the heart to do it, it is really rewarding to adopt an older dog, even one near death, to make their lives a little easier at the end. You wind up heartbroken, but you saved the dog from a sad demise. Funny thing, they ALL seem to love brisket and pulled pork!!!

Re: I was robbed again.. ;-( If they come in our house, there will be a confrontation. My wife likes her S+W .357 Magnum revolver. I keep a 1911 handy. The five coondogs provide the Early Warning System. And in Texas, the homeowner is king. The sheriff will come over, thank us for our service to the community, and head back to the house.

Re: I was robbed again.. ;-( Care to share the sjambok incident? Glad I was not on the receiving end of that one!!!

Re: Bronze Behemoth Game On! 2 Good video. I think I will run by the butcher shop and grab a chuck roll. The butcher was basically blind from some horrific cataracts which I took out just before Christmas. He is so freaking ecstatic he may comp me the beef!