mguerra

Re: KK in Perth, Australia Great color coordination with the deck! Beautiful.

Re: Cooking at High Altitude with Big Green Egg 29.92 inches of mercury, not millimeters. My mistake. I use mm Hg in one of my clinical measurements and just defaulted to those units.

Re: Cooking at High Altitude with Big Green Egg We posted on this before but here it is again. At any given altitude, the boiling point spread under almost all normal weather conditions will be about plus or minus one degree from what you calculate for standard pressure of 29.92 mm Hg at your altitude. So just use the calculator for your altitude and plug in 29.92 for the pressure. On a really low pressure day the boiling point will be about one degree lower. On a really high pressure day it will be about a degree higher.

Re: Cooking at High Altitude with Big Green Egg From one of our favorite vendors, here is a nice calculator: http://www.thermoworks.com/software/bpcalc.html

Re: Cooking at High Altitude with Big Green Egg At standard atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of water at 3400 ft. is 205.9 degrees F.

Re: Pork Ribs Try a rib cook direct, and then do another one indirect. You won't ever do direct again. Unless. You keep the fire below 220 and put the ribs high up in the dome on the sear grill on top of the main grill. But that's a pain the ass so why bother? Just cook 'em indirect.

Re: Can't put it out! An open thermometer probe port will absolutely keep the fire burning to the last ash! If you want your fire to go out, plug it. The slightest air leak anywhere will burn up all the charcoal.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video My experience with brines is that the herbs, fruits and spices do not really flavor the meat, even after three days of brining. The maple syrup and brown sugar did add some detectable flavor. The meat was not the least bit salty. I used pecan chunks on top of Royal Oak lump. I will guess that since the brining needs to be done at 30 something degrees, the spice and herb essences don't really get liberated in to the solution. Even though you are supposed to bring the brine to a boil prior to using it. Maybe prepping a brine a week ahead and letting the herbs and spices steep at room temp for a week prior to using it might make a flavor difference. The core ingredients of a brine are the salt and sugar used for their osmotic effect. Any added flavors from herbs, spices, liquors etc. are at the users discretion. So try anything. Including bourbon. And let us know. For brining experiments it would be easy and affordable to do chickens.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video That maple syrup brine got raves. My wife doesn't like white meat but said this was the tops and all she ate was the white! These were natural turkeys with no solution. Just pulled the second turkey off the grill a few minutes ago for tomorrows big party, hope they all like it too. I brined for three days, removed from brine, rinsed, patted dry and straight to the KK without any overnight drying in the fridge. Skin came out nice and crispy, though we don't eat it.

Re: Set up help I will do a timing/logistic heat soak tonight. I need to get a bird on the fire early, finish the cook and haul the bird on a road trip. So about midnight I will start the fire and run it at cracked vents. This will burn very little fuel overnight, get the KK thoroughly hot, and about 7AM I'll put the turkey on and open the vents. So I can sleep an extra hour in the morning. So that's a logistic heat soak not done for a presumed cooking result but for timing.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video Two birds actually, a little 8 pounder for Thursday and a 13 for a delayed Thanksgiving on Saturday. I have not tried this brine before. My presumption is the soy just substitutes for some of the salt. There's a plethora of brines out there, I just thought I would try a new one. For new members, there is a huge wealth of info here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html We reference this site fairly often. Check out the "All about brining" topic and the ever popular apple brine article.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video I forgot who mentioned this after being horrified I was brining in an old mop bucket... http://www.amazon.com/Igloo-MSIGLO5X-Wa ... gloo+water They come in various sizes depending on the size of your bird. And hey, I cleaned that bucket out pretty good beforehand and no one got sick.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video The bird is in a Reynolds roasting bag with the brine, all the air squeezed out and the bag tied off. The bird in bag is in a cooler full of ice and water, replenishing the ice as needed to keep cold and safe. Remember from before, you can also use a cylindrical ice water cooler as a brining vessel. It has to be sized to the bird and amount of brine. It is easier to use the bird in bag in cooler to get your proportion of brine to bird correct.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video 4 quarts water 2 cups dark brown sugar 1 cup soy sauce 1 cup maple syrup 3/4 cup sea salt 8-10 whole cloves garlic, peeled 6-8 whole bay leaves 3 large sprigs of thyme 2 teaspoons whole peppercorns Preparation: Place 2 quarts of water and other ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil, dissolving sugar and maple syrup. Remove from heat, add remaining 2 quarts and allow brine to cool completely before using.

Re: Jack Daniels Maple Syrup Brined Turkey Cook - Video Got a bird in maple brine right now...

Re: Cooking at High Altitude with Big Green Egg I wouldn't over analyze it. Just cook it to 195 and enjoy some porky goodness. You never know with any given pork butt.

Re: 7lb Turkey Breast A turkey cooked in the KK, to a proper finish temperature, will come out with very dark skin, not golden. Eats great and tastes fine nonetheless. Even the lightest smoke you can get out in the KK is more smoke than you get in the oven inside!

Re: How did you find Komodo Kamado "That baby was so beautiful, and I could tell Rick was enamored with it," The KK looked pretty good, too.

Re: Cooking salmon I have not tried pompano but my grandfather swore it was as good as fish gets.

Re: She's in the truck! Beautiful set-up.

Re: Set up help I have never found it necessary to pre- heat soak the KK for any cook. I do it sometimes, however, for timing logistics. Conceptually, I hate to waste the heat energy not cooking. Almost all shorter cooks do nicely and finish quite well with an ascending heat profile. You can cook it without precise temperature control. Like a tenderloin. Get the fire going and put the meat on. Open the vents all the way and be sure to have a temp probe in the meat. The fire starts cooler and gets hotter and all the while the tenderloin is cooking, you are not wasting any heat energy. If the meat isn't finished by the time the fire temp hits about 475, close the vents to a small crack. The cook will finish quick enough and the meat will be perfect. I use this exact technique for cut up chicken, works like a charm. Also steaks, way up on the main grill. For steaks, you get a little longer cook and a little more smoke this way. This also gets even cooking throughout the steak like a sous vide. If you like your steaks rare inside and done outside this is not your method! For any cook using this ascending fire temp, you cook up on the main grill away from the fire, direct or indirect at your discretion. It is very relaxed, you don't worry at all about fire temp control except to narrow down the vents at 475. Almost any non low and slow, except pizza or bread, can cook this way.

Re: Beercan Birds a Bamboozlement! I love it when some B.S. gets thoroughly debunked. Nice article. Very Alton Brownish. He totally blew up the myths of basting a turkey and searing meat to "seal in the juices".

Re: Beer Can Chicken Anxiety Absolutely no need to beer can a chicken on the KK. It will be plenty moist and flavorful cooked to 165. A safe, 165 chicken on the KK might even seem underdone to you as it will be pinker and juicier than what you get on a metal grill.

Re: Today's Brisket Cook You bet.

Re: Today's Brisket Cook The Salt Lick. Back in the 70's I went to college in Austin. Every so often we would make a pilgrimage out to The Salt Lick. We thought we died and went to heaven every time. Funny corollary: In those days Coors beer was restricted in distribution. It only came as far east as Marble Falls, Texas. We could not get it in Austin. So we would load up and make the drive to Marble Falls once in a while to stock up on Coors. At that time the drinking age was 18. It was really only because we couldn't get it. I don't really like it, my preference is for Guinness or double bocks. But it was a fun road trip at the time! If it is still there, another good Q trip from Austin is to go out to The Old Coupland Inn. Great food out in the country. You didn't order. They just brought out huge plates of brisket, sausage, side dishes, chicken and put it on the table. I think the waitress just counted the number in your party and brought out a pre-determined amount. It was a serious pig out.