mguerra

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".

Re: Thanksgiving 2010 Sanny; AKA flowergardennj? Thanks for the tip to check out KAF! Looks like some good info there.

Re: Thanksgiving 2010 What's that pan you roasted in?

Re: Got my KK - ready to cook - questions One problem with the turkey on roti is measuring your finish temperature. You can't just use a remote probe with it spinning. So you will have to open the cooker from time to time to check your turkey, letting out all the heat and moisture. This, by the way, is one reason some people are against basting. I just put the deflector stone on the fire basket handles and use the stainless pan for making paella! Flip the stone every other cook to burn off the gunk.

Re: Thanksgiving 2010 Thanksgiving is a state of mind, so you and your Mom are enough people to celebrate. Let us know what you do with that 10 pounder.

Re: Questions for the stoker people 5 CFM is more than adequate for KK in my experience.

Re: Thanksgiving 2010 Here you go: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brining.html All you could want to know right there. Hypertension and brining? I don't know, but I do remember that monument of intellect, surgeon general Jocelyn Elders, saying this: "Everybody's gonna die from sumpin!" So I just enjoy life. Honestly I don't think that much salt gets in the turkey, and how much of it are you actually going to eat, anyway?

We can have one main thread for Thanksgiving here, like last year, if you all like. Keep all our info in one place. Yesterday I watched Alton Brown and Martha Stewart give two totally opposite takes on how to do the bird, it was hilarious. She's a baster and a stuffer, he is adamant that those are terrible ideas. His logic made sense to me, so I'm going with the no basting and no stuffing of the bird. Just finished making the apple brine a few minutes ago, it's cooling. It's oft mentioned to air dry the bird in the fridge for 24 hours after brining to get crispier skin. We don't eat the skin, so I'm skipping that. Alton, and also someone here on our board, mentioned the technique of doing the first thirty minutes of the cook at 500, then nicking it back to 350 for the rest of the cook. Might be a little tough to cool the KK down from 500 to 350, I'm just going 350 all the way, indirect, on a rack in a roasting pan to catch the drippings. A little apple wood for smoke. I think we will also lift up the skin and spread some paste of olive oil, garlic and fresh cracked pepper under there. It works great on roti chicken! A couple of ya'll have talked about icing the breast and I'm for sure trying that trick this year. On a tangential note, Krispy Kreme have some luscious pumpkin spice donuts this time of year, if you like that sort of thing.

Re: Saturday Night Bone-In Hey, it was other folks who ran with "sleeving the probe hole", I left that one alone!

Re: Saturday Night Bone-In "Saturday Night Bone-In"!? Once you get married, you can pretty much forget... Oh, never mind.

Re: Largest turkey for the roti Here's a quick summary of some turkey info. Brine the bird: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/turkey6.html ONLY brine a turkey that does NOT have"enhanced with a solution of..." on the label, those are basically prebrined anyway. A good brining vessel is a cooler or Igloo type drinking jug. Ice the breast with cold packs before cooking since by the time the dark meat is finished the breast will be overdone and dried out if you don't.. Per Alton, don't put stuffing in the bird because it extends the cooking time drying out the breast even more, and harbors bacteria. Instead, put some apple, onion and a cinnamon stick in there to enhance moisture and add flavor. There are numerous recommendations for cooking temps and finish temps, they contradict. One way is to cook at 350 til the thigh joint hits 180. Alton sticks a probe in the breast and pulls the bird when that probe hits 161. After you scour the internet for tips, you just have to pick a method. Check out last years thread, "Thansgiving 2009" Good luck, it's hard to screw it up on a KK!

Re: Hi to all Oh buddy, you don't know how lucky!!!! Welcome. You have the best cooking device you could ever want.

Re: Hi to all Where you located tx?

Re: Rookie about to be called up What's that mountain in the background?

Re: Any news on the smaller cooker? I don't see an email option on your profile page, Dennis.

Re: Spatchcocked Turkey What's a Cambro? A cooler or Igloo type jug?