mguerra

ideas 450 is hot enough for most cooking. To get it hotter use plenty of charcoal, get a lot of it started to begin, and really open up your airflow. Use lump, not briquettes. My guess is the smaller internal volume of the 19.5 should really get hot, and fast!

try this Cook direct, not indirect. But high up away from the fire.

cool capture That is too cool!!! Did you shoot that in RAW? Might be able to clean it up a little with some post processing.

Felicities Happy Birthday to you, and thanks for the fine product!

Truly artisinal That's a great shaped pizza!

" Once I figure out how to add photos, I will start posting them for you all." Ya'll

best guesses I'm no expert on turkey. But I think 300 degrees direct will do it. Indirect cooking poultry takes forever and it comes out rubbery and seems not fully cooked even at a proper finish temp. Problem is measuring your internal temp on a rotating bird! Poultry has to be cooked a little more carefully than other meats and you really want it properly done. I think you will have to open the cooker periodically to take a temp. My guess is check it at the one hour point and then maybe at 20 minute intervals there after. Going 20 minutes too long on an 11 lb bird could not possibly overcook it, I believe. Stick a regular meat thermometer in the thigh, or a Thermapen if you have one. Anyone else have comments? Some of you have good turkey experience.

perfect Oh yeah, it's going to "turn" out alright!! Roti, bird, KK; that's a guaranteed winner.

veg This should be old news to most grillers, but if you have not tried it... Roast some corn on your KK. The current crop is super sweet, at least what we have here in Texas. Pull back the husks, strip out the silk, put the husks back, soak in a pot of water for a little while, shake out the excess water and grill. I had mine high up in the dome on the sear grill above a brisket. I put them on when I foiled the brisket, and ran the temp at 295. I just left them up there wrapped in their husks til the brisket was done and that was 2 hours. My plan was to melt a little creme fresh and some comino and other mexi-spices and put the corn taken off the cobs in there, but that was over-ruled! Several of us tried the corn straight off the cob and it was fantastic! Had just enough of a smoke favor you could tell it was grilled, but not overpowering. It was sublime. I cut it off the cobs, put a little salt, pepper and butter and that was it. Best corn I've ever eaten. The slight hint of smoke made it out of this world tasty.

qualifier Hey, I don't deny the cool gadget factor, I give it a solid ten for that!

disgusting This thing incorporates all the fat and inter-muscular connective tissue in to the pulled pork. I remove ALL of that when hand pulling. No thanks!

deliciosa The Mojo (pronounced Mo Ho, not Mo Joe) pork was delicious! The citrus based sauce gave it a wonderful flavor. In fact, here's a neat trick. Prep and cook your pork butt any way you like, with the paste called for in the recipe, or not. But definitely make the Mojo sauce; that's the flavor bomb for this recipe, more so than the rub. Pour the sauce all over the pulled pork, it's a tangy, delicious alternative to straight pulled pork. The little splash of balsamic in the brisket was excellent as well. It was melt in your mouth tender but not mushy. I had kind of trash talked briskets last year in favor of chuck rolls, but I rescind those remarks! The combo of my marinade and the fast hot foil trick makes for flawless briskies. Of course everyone raved, but that's old news for us KK'ers, isn't it? The real question is if Mike was impressed enough, or goaded enough by his wife, to get a KK. I'm fixing to go play golf with him in an hour and we will see what he says. Get your Mojo on!

as I promised you Oh yeah, the standing order thing! I'm so familiar with that one. They put you up on a pedestal, didn't they? Anybody with low self-esteem just needs a KK, a pork butt, and some friends and family. That will fix it.

In case you missed it, here is the link to the Mojo Cuban Pork Butt from the Whiz: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/mojopork.htm I put the paste on it last night and just now put it on the fire for tomorrows' party. It should be a straight 225 low and slow. The aroma that came off that thing when I took off the Saran Wrap was out of this world!!! Just as heady and aromatic as the Coffee Cardamom rub. ( http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewt ... t=cardamom ) I sure hope it translates to a great cooked flavor. Yesterday I pre-prepared the Mojo sauce; it's in the fridge now and will be re-heated tomorrow. I'll do a brisket tomorrow, it is marinating now with soy sauce, garlic, worcestershire and, in a new twist, a little splash of balsamic vinegar. Hopefully the vinegar won't overtenderize the meat.

P.S. It's possible that Raichlen and others may use grills that don't have as many height adjustments as we do, so maybe they have to be more precise about fire temp control. We have all seen grills that have just one level, and it's usually pretty high up from the fire.

thoughts It is my opinion that when you are grilling you don't need a specific temperature, you need a good hot fire. Which you can eyeball. Then you achieve your desired result by placing the meat or vegetables further or closer to the fire, which is easy on our KK's because of all the grill levels available. Cook it til it's done to your liking. Drop it down to sear it, and you're done. One fire, one temperature, super simple! My preference is too cook the meat evenly throughout, so I cook it a little farther from the fire and a little slower. If you prefer the method of way more done on the outside and way less done on the inside, you cook it down closer to the fire. Five different heat levels is way too complicated for me!

Absolutely no problem to finish them in the KK or the oven at 300. The flavor is there already! They will likely finish on the KK. If you are curious, you could foil one right now just to see how foiling a butt works in the final cooking stage. Or, stick with the proven technique for all four.

little butts So, you should be about five hours in by now, how's it going?

I went to a BBQ shop to check out the Weber Genesis or something, and the guy showed me a Big Green Egg. I thought he was crazy, it was close to a thousand bucks!!! But I was really curious about the whole ceramic thing. Surfed like crazy for a while and saw the RJ product and came within a gnat's whisker of getting a K7. Somehow stumbled on to KK and perused the forums at great length; and convinced myself that even close to $4 G's was OK. Wife was pissed as hell because she thought I spent a grand on it!!! No honey, it was near about 4 with the side tables. After over a year of KK chow, she's a convert. And so is everyone I've fed off the durn thing. And if my buddy Mike does not buy one after I feed him and his wife and mother in law on Monday, he's a big douche!!!

Dude, FILL the basket! Remove what does not burn up and use it later. The first time you run out of fuel, you are going to know what we are talking about. So don't.

Little 4 pounders cook faster than a big picnic. If you figure about two hours/ lb. for a big one, twelve hours should be more than enough for the little ones. Make sure there is a little space between them; that they don't touch. If they are not done at the 10 hour point, kick the temp up to 300 plus. Butts are super forgiving. And they will probably be done by 10 hours anyway. A finish temp anywhere between 185 to 200 will be fine. You are going to look like a star at the party, I guarantee! Nothing makes you look like a BBQ master more than a pork butt on a KK, the guests are going to be gushing all over you. And please give us the feedback of how it went!!!

makes me sick Dittos Firemonkey. Kill it and grill it is God's plan. Kill it for sport, for show, that's a sin.

rainproofing And here is a re-post of a little trick for the rain: Stoker Raingear Photos should be self explanatory. Unfortunately the Stoker isn't rainproof, but here is the 84 cent Wal-Mart solution. And I'm using it tonight because thank God in heaven it's raining in Kerrville!!!! We are in the the worst drought in 50 years. We've had about 6 inches of rain in the past 2 years. http://gallery.me.com/mpguerra#100119 _________________ Michael Guerra,M.D. Kerrville, Texas

try this Smokey, check out the hot fast brisket trick in the "Techniques" section! It is actually much easier and more tender than a low and slow. And a beautiful set-up you have there!!!

revolting The cruelty and inhumanity of bullfighting is just disgusting. I have no empathy at all for the matador, but as a physician I would treat him. Matador, literally translated is "killer". Note the injuries to the bull, not just the POS matador.