mguerra

Hey Larry Good job, Larry, my first cook on night one was a pork butt. It's the best use of a KK!! Don't sweat the exact temp too much, it will come out perfect at any temp between 200 and 300, I guarantee! My first cook, I was out there freaking out about the temp getting to 240, instead of 225. I soon learned this is of no consequence. Enjoy that Zin and fire up a nice cheroot.

method Open the lid by unlocking it fully. If the current spring setting holds the lid fully open, reduce it til the lid just starts to drop a fraction. If the current spring setting has the lid in the down or partially open position, tighten it little by little until when you push it fully open, it stays fully open.

All weather It's so cool you can cook on these babies in any weather.

Ditto Dave Yeah, do what Dave says. You don't want the spring too tight. I set mine so that the lid will not fully self open, but will stay fully open if I push it up to the fully open position. This is the least spring pressure that will hold it, and therefore the least stress on the mounting bosses on the lid and the body. We are having an unusual cold winter here in Texas and the spring setting for summer is a little too light for the cold. So I tighten it a bit in the cold. I'll slack it off when we get to inferno time!

over thinking a non problem The plug is not necessary. You can just leave the little hole open all the time, with or without thermometer wires passing through it. The only possible problem might be that the small air leak could theoretically prevent you from shutting down the fire. You can just stick a cork in there, one that fits naturally or whittle down a wine cork to fit. Sometimes I stick a plug in there while cooking, sometimes not. I have shaved down a wine cork and cut a little slot to allow the wires to pass; don't need to use it though. The silicone plug from jdbower will fit right in there with the thermometer wires, it just snugs right up around them. Sometimes I plug it upon shutdown, sometimes not. Don't worry about it!!! It's a non issue.

clarity Well, what I meant by kin to EC was that they are pure. Of course the similarity ends there. They have some at Lowe's, I'll try it.

source See if jdbower still has any of these: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewt ... cone+plugs

briquettes If I'm not mistaken, Larry comes to us by way of the Weber Smoky Mountain forum. They are briquette people over there, through and through. I have not tried the pure hardwood briquettes, but seems like they would be ok. I mean, they seem awfully kin to extruded coconut.

two methods Here's one answer: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3330 Then there is the low and slow method. Cook between 220 to 250 until an internal temp of about 185 to 195. The time on this is unpredictable, but ballpark about 1-1/2 hours per pound. You can actually get a moister result with the fast cook, but the slow cook is a classic bbq technique. If you search these forums you will find an enormous wealth of info on briskets!

note well If you move it according to the picture you linked, BE SURE to put padding between the 2x4's and the KK. The elastomeric grout is soft and pliable and I gouged the hell out of mine moving it without padding. I fixed it. But pad that thing.

Centex goats We eat a fair bit of cabrito around here in Mexican restaurants. Lots of folks around here raise goats, very common. We also have quite a thriving Mohair industry as well, different goats for that.

re-post Here's a keeper. Marinate a hunk of salmon in pineapple juice for some hours. Lightly brush on some soy sauce. Rub on a mix of brown sugar and cayenne. Grill skin side down, don't flip it. When that white squoogy goo starts oozing out, it's done. Keep the lid shut as much as possible. Absolute heaven.

fitment From the Ribolator website: "You will need a tape measure. 1st place your rotisserie rod and motor onto your grill 2nd remove the grill grates (cooking surface) 3rd depth: (up and down) from the center of the rotisserie rod measure down to the heat plate covering your burners. You will need 5 ½ inches clearance, if you do not have 5 ½ inches, then remove the heat plate covering the burners and re-measure. 4th length: (end to end) now measure lengthwise. You will need 19 inches from end to end. 5th width: (front to back) now measure the width (side to side) you will need 12 ½ inches. The video says 10 ½ inches, this is incorrect. If you find the above measurements will work in your grill, then the Rib-O-Lator™ will fit." In the 5th step above, "Width" actually refers to front to back dimension on our KK's. Looks like you would have to cut the main rod to fit inside the KK, but the rotating device itself seems to fit.

cool device Looks like the main advantage of the ribolator is for gas grills, in that it will do two things. First it looks like it increases the food capacity, and second it prevents one food from being in a hot spot and another food in a cooler spot. Neither of these is an issue in the KK. There is plenty of capacity and pretty even heat from the thick ceramic. But it is a cool toy! And it would impress your guests to pop the lid open and see that thing going around.

foiling See the sticky at the top of the "Techniques" section, high temp brisket. Foiling is not needed in a KK, generally speaking, however it can be used for a fast cook. On butts or briskets. The purpose in a fast cook is tenderization more than moisture retention. These hot fast cooks come out as good if not better than low and slow. Low and slow has a place, however, if for no other reason than purely emotional! If you do some low and slows and some hot fast cooks, you will start to decide when you may want to do one or the other. But for low and slows you really don't need to foil. Here's one reason you might want to, however. Let's say in the latter part of a low and slow you need or want to go do something and you are not sure you will be back at exactly the right time to pull the meat off. Foil it. In this scenario you ARE using the foil for moisture retention. Even if you really let it go longer than you might like, as long as the fire temp is 220ish, and you have the meat foiled, it's going to come out excellent.

probe Go to Radio Shack and get a pair of battery clips big enough to clamp on the grill rods. Maybe take a grill with you. They are cheap! The battery clip will have a pair of tangs that are meant to be crimped to a wire. Just bend them down to where they will loosely grip your pit probe. That's one solution. You can also just lay the pit probe on the grill when doing an indirect cook, I do it all the time. If you are doing a direct fire cook, you don't want the probe or the wire exposed to direct fire. But, you also don't need a pit probe in this scenario. When doing a direct fire cook, you just want a good hot fire, the exact temp of the fire is not critical. What is important is the finish temp of the food; you SHOULD measure that with your food probe. I never use a pit probe on a hot fire cook, just eyeball a good hot fire and measure the meat. Here's another observation. When doing a low and slow cook, (which we have shown is unnecessary), the actual fire temp is not that important. Anything between 200 to 290 is fine for any low and slow. So your dome thermometer is fine for that. Even if the dome temp isn't exactly the same as the grill temp, it doesn't matter. It will be close enough. This is if you are not using a Guru or a Stoker. Of course for one of those units you will use the pit probe since you paid for it and it's real purpose isn't so much to keep the fire at the "right" cooking temp. The real purpose of the Guru or Stoker is to allow you be assured the fire will stay lit and under control while you do something else. Like golf. Or sleep. There's the real reason for a low and slow! So you can do something else. I sort of rambled there. The point is you don't have to clip your probe to the grill.

copper pan sizes If you want a really nice copper paella pan, here is some good info! Dear Michael, Thank you for your message and for visiting LaTienda.com! The measurements for the Copper Paella Pans are as follows: PP-33 9.5" measures 13.25" PP-34 11" measures 15" PP-35 13.5" measures 17.5" PP-37 12.6" measures 16" PP-38 15.75" measures 20" All of the above measurements are from handle to handle. Should you need further assistance please feel free to contact us. Lesa A Robinson Customer Service Manager [email protected] LaTienda.com 3601 La Grange Parkway Toano, Virginia 23168 Tel (757) 566-9606, Fax (757) 566-9603 Toll Free: 888 331-4362 Here is the webpage for the copper pans: http://www.tienda.com/paella/paella_pans.html

sweet Looks pretty heavenly, actually!

versatile Of course you would cook everything, but I just wondered if you were heavy into that Santa Maria Q sub cult. Saw a whole show on Food Network once about the Santa Maria thing. http://lospadrescounty.net/et/smbbq.html

Santa Maria BBQ So, Slu, are you a tri-tip and pinquito bean bbq'er? Where exactly you located?

sourcing There are quite a few websites for paella equipment and supplies, here is just one: http://www.paellapans.com/default.htm They also have some good tips, recipes, ingredients and so on. Best price I can find on saffron is at Amazon, ~$7.00/ gram.

finished product Well, you can buy a nice stainless paella pan for about $100.00, or a cheap carbon steel one for less than $20.00, or use your nice stainless KK heat deflector! Works perfect. I used Arborio rice, which is not the exact recommended rice, but it came out fine. Not sticky nor creamy, just a nice al dente. This was a test cook, and I would say totally successful! The Naked Whiz article referenced above was my guide. I guess the key was that the ratio of liquid to rice was correct, per the Whiz. My wife thought there was a little too much smoke flavor, I did put one small chunk of mesquite in there. Next time I would just go with straight lump. That should give just a hint of outdoorsy flavor to it. Haven't tried paella on your KK? Do it!!!

You can do it! Paella cooking in a KK stainless heat deflector pan on an indirect fire at 350º Hey, I found the º symbol for degrees!!! It is alt and 0 (zero) Taste report follows...

cooler We'll see if this pan warps when used for paella. It will be farther from the heat than when used as a drip pan/ heat deflector; and will contain a fair bit of liquid as well. Those two things will cause it to run cooler than a straight heat deflector. Maybe it won't warp.

Hmm... I was just looking at the stainless paella pans on paellapans.com, and then remembered I have a stainless heat deflector pan in its' virgin state, that came with my KK! It looks to be basically the same shape and depth as a paella pan. And, it's paid for! Anybody ever make paella in their stainless heat deflector? Well, I will, and report on the results.