mguerra

Re: Life is Good Chrismas Eve we host my wife's family. We have a tenderloin smoking out back in the Bronze Behemoth. Marinated 24 hours in soy sauce, worcestershire, garlic and olive oil. A pear cake in the oven, homemade tiramisu, au grautin potatoes, roasted asparagus, pine nut sauteed spinach with Burgundy mushrooms. Chateau Haut Bailly 1996 and Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2000, for dinner. I'm tending the KK with a nice Russian River Chardonnay. Merry Christmas and God's blessings to all!

Re: Dear Santa Frans, I don't think you are mad. But if you are married, your spouse might! But hey, with three Primos you are set for some awesome parties. I just bought a third Colnago, which makes four bikes total, and have to hide it from my wife until after Christmas or she will strangle me. Somehow I will convince her it is for fitness and weight control, not just pure Italian bike lust.

Re: Do I buy a Guru or Stoker? And why... Please vote/comm When using the Guru for a 225 or 250 cook, Rorkin is correct that you will barely crack the top vent. Having done a multitude of these cooks is why my damper gets tarred up, by the way. The Guru fan nozzle has an adjustable orifice, for a low temp cook I only open it about 25% or less, if I am going to leave the cooker unattended immediately after starting the fire. Any larger and your temp can overshoot. If I am hanging around, I will open the orifice to 100%, set the temp to 180, and then when it hits 180, close down the orifice to 25% or less and re-set the temp to 225. This just gets it up to temp faster. The Guru orifice stays open all the time whether or not the fan is running. If you leave it 100% open, even with the top damper barely cracked your temps can be hard to keep down. The Stoker orifice is completely closed when the fan is not running, you get less overshoot and a little more precise temp control. Just set the temp you want and forget it. The Stoker button pushing is kind of weird, you have to push the right buttons in the right order to adjust things. I can't memorize it so I keep the little algorithm diagram handy. The Guru buttons are a little easier to navigate. They both work great, one is not really "better" than the other. The CyberQ is supposed to be interfaceable to your computer and the internet, like the Stoker,but I never figured it out.

Re: 1st Brisket attempt The quintessential low and slow brisket. As everyone is sick of hearing, I have converted to the hot fast brisket method. It's stickied in the "Techniques" section. Try it once to see what you think. And that is one hell of a good looking brisket, by the way! Of course, a KK isn't properly christened until you do a pork butt.

Re: Dear Santa What I meant was, if you wanted an airtight metal smoker, you could buy a WSM instead of trying to mod the Brink. Of course the WSM is, I think, $299 for the 22". So no I was not implying they cost the same. But I had the Brink on hand, had not quite convinced my wife to pop 4 G's for the KK, and was tinkering around to try to get some sort of cheap air controlled smoker while I waited her out. I actually think you can do it, but I finally just decided to get the KK and be done with it. Larry R might be able to tell if you can get as good results off a WSM as a KK. My guess is not, or maybe not as easy, or maybe only for certain cooks. I thought of getting a WSM, or a Primo Junior, as a secondary cooker, but then started pestering Dennis to make a KK Junior. He originally told me don't hold your breath, it ain't happening, but... Seems like the squeaky wheel gets the grease! He is at least designing or prototyping one. I have requested to purchase the first production KK Junior, sight unseen.

Re: 1st Brisket attempt How did you cook the brisket?

Re: POSK Stuck Damper Remover I'll try your method Heph.

Re: Bronze Behemoth Game On! 2 Lump is not made by burning wood in a fire, and then putting out the fire to get the coals. Lump is made by putting wood in a metal vessel, a retort, and heating it to drive off all the volatiles and non-carbon molecules until all that is left is carbonized wood, aka "lump". The coals a BBQ joint uses are different, and contain a lot more of the flavorful volatiles and lignin. They start a fire with the wood they want to use, let it burn for a while until the "first part" of the burn is done, then shovel the coals in to the BBQ pit. These burning coals are NOT the same as lump charcoal, and contain more flavor compounds.

Re: Bronze Behemoth Game On! 2 By the way, don't EVER do this: Glom super hot habanero extract enhanced habanero sauce on to a pizza covered in jalapenos. Several hours later when that hits your colon, you will regret that decision...severely.

Re: Bronze Behemoth Game On! 2 I'm having some brisket from a local BBQ joint for lunch. This fellow cooks on 100% oak. He burns the wood down in to coals in a separate fire pit,and then shovels the coals in to his cooking pit and cooks on that. I have to say, it's more flavorful than lump cooked brisket. To do it at home would be a PIA, you could burn the wood down in your KK or in a different device, but it would be a lot more hassle than just firing up some lump. Just throwing some oak on for smoke would not be the same as cooking on the burnt down coals. Nevertheless, just for curiosity I'm going to burn down some oak in to coals in my firepit and then throw them in the KK for a brisket cook. Of course this is nothing new, most BBQ joints do this, we just don't usually do it in our KK's. For any out there who may not be aware, lump charcoal is not wood burned down in to coals. So using lump is not the same as burning wood down in to coals.

Re: POSK Stuck Damper Remover Nah, it will be ok.

Re: POSK Stuck Damper Remover Well, I thought a strap wrench may or may not work, but what the hell, I'll try it.

Re: POSK Stuck Damper Remover I wanted to use a strap wrench on my KK, but the hemispherical shape of the top damper won't allow it to grip.

Re: Ham on the rotisserie I suddenly really want a ham sandwich and a root beer for lunch!

Re: It's on! I love that glass green. Like a pre-arranged marriage, you will probably come to love it, too.

Re: Tri-Tip to die for.. One time add a little worcestershire to your bag of olive oil, soy sauce, and garlic. Marinate a nice piece of beef steak in that and see what you think. This is our go to beef marinade. And whatever other spices you like can go in the marinade, or applied as a rub. Some tenderloins (filets) marinaded overnight in this concoction will blow you away the next night!

Re: Dear Santa I just roast my jalapenos plain and eat them, but if you want to stuff them the roaster may be a good idea after all! Interesting about the Brinkmann. I tried to modify one, the charcoal Gourmet model, not the electric, to be airtight before I got my KK. It has an excellent charcoal basket with a nice round hole in the bottom that could be rigged for a Guru or Stoker. I popped out the thermometer to use that hole for a Weber adjustable vent. The Brinkmann does not have a top vent, it simply has a loose fitting lid. I tried to seal that off with various types of stove gaskets, but never was successful, because the lid and opening are not dead round. Of course you could just get a Weber Smoky Mountain, but I had the Brinkmann on hand and like to tinker. So I just got the KK and gave the Brink to the local humane society re-sale shop.

Re: Got my KK - ready to cook - questions Heat cool expansion contraction is NOT the problem I have. I get a huge amount of tar build up on the gasket itself as well as the mating surface on the damper. A hot cook will not get the tar out of the gasket, it's fully penetrated into the fiber. It might burn some off the inner walls of the cooker, but that's about it. I have just given up worrying about it. If I can figure out a way to totally de-tar my top end, I might try another new gasket and Dennis' little device. For now I use the top damper while cooking and a saucer on top to shut down.

Re: Thanksgiving 2010 Yeah, I skipped the mop bucket this year and went with a roasting bag in an Igloo cooler.

Re: BBQ.About.com, Ultimate Grills, Best of the Best list And if you want to use a Stoker, does Rock's now have an adapter to fit in that Guru sized port?

Re: Dear Santa Don't waste money on a jalapeno roaster, takes up space, unitasker, don't need it. I got one as a gift and just trashed it after never using it for a year. It wasn't stainless and rusted to hell anyway. Toss your jalapenos on the grill, or in a grill wok or veggie basket. Surface thermometer also useless, you have to open the lid to see it. Better to use a remote thermometer, I like the Oregon Scientific AW 131; or if you get a Guru or a Stoker you won't necessarily need that either. But the AW 131 is good to have because it transmits far and reliably. If you are grilling with the lid open, you don't need a surface thermometer, just your eyes to see you have a good hot fire. All the other stuff seems good, a Thermapen should top your list for rotisserie cooking. Guru or Stoker should be the top of the top of the list. I get the exact same complaints, that I'm impossible to buy for and I buy everything I want already; and a demand for a list at Christmas. I hate it, it makes me feel greedy or selfish. And as a Christian I don't like the emphasis on gifts anyway. But it is a tradition and people ARE going to get you gifts, so, just sigh, be polite and give a list. I give people a list of very modestly priced things commensurate with their income.

Re: Got my KK - ready to cook - questions Me, being the person with the bad tar build up. You should see it now! I have to just take the top damper off after every cook and seal the top opening with a terra cotta saucer. If I screw the top damper down, even lightly, I can't get it off. It looks like the damn La Brea tar pits up in there. I de-tarred and replaced the top gasket once, but shortly thereafter the tarry goo re-accumulated and just ripped it right off when unscrewing the top damper. Now I just run it without a top gasket. Dennis sent me a contraption to reduce the surface area of contact of the top damper, but to install it I need to de-tar again and haven't done that yet. But hopefully that device will work.

Re: Hi to all I have never walked in to a Wal-Mart, Lowe's or Home Depot that did not have lump. Every grocery store in town here in Kerrville has it, too. Run in to an HEB and look for a small bag with the Dallas Cowboys logo on it, they have 8 lb bags of lump. Not the size bag you would normally buy, but it will get you going. I think they have similar bags with briquettes, so check the label carefully. Ask at Wal-Mart, they routinely have Royal Oak lump. Super S, if you have those in McKinney, carry B and B brand. (These are Texas grocery stores, ya'll. )

Re: Quick Wrap Fruitcake for our GI's 100% dittos to you on the fruitcake observations, Dennis. Having said that, I always wondered if there is a "good" fruitcake, something home made that did not come in a metal can and seemed like it was baked in June and stored in a warehouse until Christmas. So maybe Cook is on to something there.

Re: Very Sad Story + Photo. Need Advice. From the photo, that unit looks to be about BGE quality. Not extremely thick and the hardware looks like BGE'ish steel. So yes, you could just have him get you a BGE. Or take an equivalent in cash, and upgrade to KK!!! We would love to have you in the "club".