mguerra

Re: Kamado How-To Cookbook? Um, a little.

Re: Just ordered new KK You will get mixed replies on the Guru question (or Stoker). I have good uses for them but most of my cooks are without. Peruse the forum, you will see the various schools of thought. A remote thermometer is another story, I would say it is almost a necessity. It prevents you from constantly opening and closing the lid to check. I like the Oregon Scientific AW-131 because it has good range and good penetration in to the house, and has lasted longer than any Maverick product. The Maverick products are hit or miss on their QC. Their latest product, which several of us really wanted to love, was a POS. The ET 732. It got some good hype and glowing youtube reports, but our results here were awful. Maybe they have fixed the bugs on it by now, do an internet search and find out. And please report back to us what you find out!

Re: Kamado How-To Cookbook? In the months leading up to my buying the KK, I scoured the forums for as much info as I could cram in my head. The day mine arrived I was ready to do a low and slow pork butt and had it cooking within 30 minutes of uncrating. In the driveway. A week later I finally got the help to move it around to the back deck!

Re: Just ordered new KK You CAN cook with wood in your KK but most of us would tell you not to. You can use little amounts of wood for the smoke. Just use lump as your main fuel, it works perfect. Some folks here use briquettes also. Probably you already know this, but don't use starter fluid. Use any other method of starting your lump.

Re: Easter - What's Cookin? I disassemble my pork butts muscle by muscle and keep all the fat and connective tissue for rendering. I chop up the cracklings in to small bits and eat some with the pulled pork, and add them in to veggies. The liquid fat is wonderful to use, judiciously I might add, in mashed potatoes, green beans and just about any where you like. Or, after you shred the pork butt, you can return all the fat and mix in well. People who eat that think they died and went to heaven!

Re: Kamado How-To Cookbook? There's several thousand posts here that constitute that book! Start plowing through...

Re: Small Slow Cooked Standing Rib Roast I cooked two of them yesterday at about 375 start to finish, indirect. They had a decent crisp on them. Also cooked two legs of lamb with one of Alton Brown's marinades, those got rave reviews from people who never eat lamb. I bought bone in and then boned them out, slathered on the marinade, rolled them up and tied with string. Yummy.

Re: Komodo Kamado Safe / Practical Cookware Good tip.

Re: Komodo Kamado Safe / Practical Cookware Well, you can work your ass off getting the smoke and tar off of anything you put in the KK. I just have various pans and cast iron, and a paella pan, I only use in the KK, I don't store(the filthy things) in the kitchen. And I only clean the inside of them.

Re: Grill design mod from forum feedback For grilling, no need to heat soak at all. I don't heat soak a low and slow either. Just put the meat on as soon as the fire is going; and either use the vents or a Guru or Stoker to set the temp. I don't heat soak an indirect roast either. Really, the only time I do a heat soak is not for the purpose of a heat soak. Sometimes I just start the fire well ahead of a cook for logistic/timing purposes, the heat soak is just a by product. The only time I could imagine needing a heat soak is if you are cooking direct, for an extended period. Then you might want to, as was said previously, to get more even cooking. But any indirect cook with the heat deflector stone won't need it.

Re: Grill design mod from forum feedback Dennis' hair dryer trick is super! No blowing ash if you are blowing down on fresh, not used, lump. You will get some serious sparking though.

Re: Annoying the neighbours Dittos to fcnich! Talisker, unless your neighbors are communist vegans, they are going to WANT that smoke coming over the fence. Plus, they'll probably wind up buying a KK after you sample them...

Re: Grill design mod from forum feedback Charcoal chimney, piece of brown paper bag or newspaper, a match, good fire in eight minutes. No rusty ugly tanks on the porch, no regulators, no hoses, no potentially leaky connections, no valves, no piezoelectrics that always fail (eventually), no lugging tanks to get refills, no KK redesign. But, everybody wants to roll their own way... Gas fire starting does have a certain intellectual and /or emotional appeal. It's funny, too. The reason I HAVE a KK is because of investigating a charcoal grill with a gas fire starter! I went down to look at the Weber charcoal grill with the gas starter, and the guy there showed me a Big Green Egg. I never saw a ceramic grill before.It piqued my curiosity. And I thought the BGE was expensive!!! After a long and winding internet journey I wound up with the KK out back. And a charcoal chimney.

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details I ditto madmedik 100% Cook it direct for sure

Re: Anyone ever heard of this before? Let's think about this. The device simply moves the meat around inside the cooker. The only benefit this might add is if the inside of the cooker has hotter and cooler spots. In this way one piece of meat won't be sitting in a cooler spot and another in a hotter spot. If the inside of the cooker has a uniform distribution of temperature, there is no real benefit to this movement. They use similar devices in really large smokers, and undoubtedly there is a need for this since there will certainly be non uniform temps in those big metal boxes. The smaller the cooker, the more uniform we might expect the temp to be. But maybe even a small metal cooker there is enough temperature variation that this might be useful. The KK is probably far more uniform in it's temperature distribution than a metal box. We do know the inside of the KK is not 100% even in it's heat distribution, but it's probably even enough for our purposes. In particular when set up indirect. Cooking direct is another matter altogether. It's definitely hotter down low by the fire. We know how to deal with that. But I can attest to the fact that one can never have enough gadgets and toys!

Re: Tamarind There is one good way to find out! Try it on some inexpensive chicken or burger as a trial and report back.

Re: Joining the Happy line The purpose of the temperature probe hole is to protect your temperature probe wire from damage. Other ceramic cookers don't have this feature. Slightly bending the probe does not damage it. Shutting the lid down on the wire probably will damage it over time. And using the hole is a "cleaner" install of your thermometer, from a design/engineering standpoint. But you don't have to use it...

Re: Joining the Happy line Just bend by hand. No problem. Done it more than once.

Re: Wings Chicken does much better in the KK direct. It comes out done, but rubbery, indirect. I cook mine up high on the main grill, it takes a little longer than down on the next lower level, where you can also cook it. I like it up higher because it gets a little more smoke. Anywhere between 350 to 450 will work. I cook it to a finish temp of 165 or 170.

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details It's a big gamefish, looks kind of like a barracuda or a king mackerel. Very long and slender. Fun to catch and tasty too! In the lower 48 we call them wahoo, in Hawaii they go by the name ono. I caught one in Maui once and had it cooked that night at Mama's Fish House. Some of the best I ever ate.

Re: On the Fence...Need Advice! I generally have a raging fire going in less than ten minutes, using a charcoal chimney and Royal Oak lump. So from my perspective as far as time goes, a gasser is no faster. I fill the chimney half full and as soon as it is going, usually 7 or 8 minutes, I dump it out on a bed of lump in the basket. The meat goes on immediately. For grilling, not low and slow!

Re: On the Fence...Need Advice! What do you think we are going to say? Get One! I have not seen one post where someone had buyers remorse about the price. You won't.

Re: Your other Grill(s) I cook my corn with husk on, but generally for an hour or more. Never dries out. Melt a big wad of butter and mix in some garlic powder, paprika, and fresh craked pepper. Take the corn kernels off the cob and drench with the herby butter. Oh baby that's good.

Re: My First Brisket You absolutely don't need an electronic controller... But you might want one! Or two.

Re: Chris Lilly's 4-Stage Ribs All you have to do with ribs is get close to perfection! Lookin' yummy.