KlausVanWinkle

And from last night. 

My old, meat-loving partner was in town and staying with us this weekend. So we ended up grilling Friday and Sunday, and went to the local BBQ place on Saturday. 

Friday night I grilled some sweet sriracha marinated jumbo shrimp, garlic bread, peaches and burrata, and summer squash skewers.

Saturday we had brisket, candied bacon, smoked chicken wings, mac n cheese, greens, buttermilk biscuits, etc. 

Sunday night, we had friends over to see my old partner. And I loaded up the grill more than ever before (corn on the deflector plates, lamb and ribs on the main grate and chicken up top). We grilled 18 lamb shanks; a rosemary/garlic rubbed, spatchcocked, heirloom chicken; corn for a miso roasted corn salad; half a rack of ribs; watermelon, mint and feta salad, and fresh artisan bread with some 2010 Coquelicot estate sauvignon blanc. I really recommend that winery if you're every in the Santa Ynez area.  I swear this was a candid photo. 

And last weekend, I grilled a rack of ribs, peaches with burrata and mint, garlic bread, and yellow beets. 

Grilled some sweet Sriracha glazed jumbo shrimp, garlic bread, squash and carrots on Saturday. And some yogurt marinated lamb kabobs and bread on Sunday. 

2 hours ago, amusedtodeath said:

I believe you need space between your stone and your baking steel. I've always used a stone on a lower grid, and another stone/steel to cook on at a higher level on a second grid. Otherwise, the bottom often gets too hot for me. Regardless of the cooker. 

Although with the KK, the fire is far enough away, that may not hold true. I'll find out upon my first pizza cook! 

That's been my experience too. I tried the aluminum pan thing last night but it melted. Going back to the ceramic plates on the lower grate, steel on the upper. 

1 hour ago, tony b said:

What did you cook it on? I can tell from the glimpse of the grates and your talking about "felt line," that it's not a KK. The nice thing about pizza cooks on the KK, is that you can put the stone on the upper grate, closer to the top walls, so the top of the pizza cooks along with the crust bottom on the stone. 

I have a Primo XL. I wanted the oval shape but couldn't swing a KK yet. I cook it on the upper grate so the lid of the grill acts as the upper plate. I'd like to slot it between the two grates but the legs for the upper grate get in the way. I can usually get the top and bottom to cook evenly, but not if I'm using the baking steel as the deflector. 

My wife wanted to see what I'd been working on, so I cooked even more pizzas last night. This time I tried using an aluminum pan to deflect heat instead. The grill heated up more quickly, but my lower grate must be a lot closer to the fire than on a KK, because the pan melted after about 40mins.

Pizzas still turned out well. I'm trying to replicate the pizza at Pizzatown USA in Elmwood, NJ. It's a coal-fired style with minimal cheese, and a real savory/buttery sauce. 

Last nights: 

This was the setup from the other night:

My wife's been out of town. So I've been doing some pizza experimenting. 

I tried trader joes dough, and Serious Eats NY pizza sauce. But I thought it tasted too much like marinara. 

So last night I experimented with my own sauce recipe based off Marcella Hazan's pasta sauce. I also made my own 24hr cold fermented NY, coal-fired-style pizza dough. This dough was a revelation. I could finally stretch the dough into a decent sized pizza shape. I grated some mozzarella and tried my best to dry it. 5mins in the kamado on a baking steel at 600F. The bottom cooked a little too quickly. Next time, I'll move the ceramic stones to the felt line so the steel doesn't get too much hotter than the ambient temp. 

delete

23 hours ago, Paul said:

Just beautiful! Great looking bird. Nailed the color. Looks moist, how'd it eat?

Delicious. Very juicy and flavorful. Even the leftovers were good. We saved the carcass and bones for some future stock and soup.

Smoked and roasted a pasture raised, heirloom chicken that actually tasted like chicken. Spatchcocked, Dry brined, butter under the skin, and coated with oil. Lightly smoked with applewood and pecan. 

On 3/8/2018 at 9:43 AM, MacKenzie said:

Made a little flat bread for breakfast this morning. We are in the middle of a nor'easter so no place to go.

Add a little Parmesan Cheese.

Fold it over and devour.

 

Stop following me McKenzie! 

Went for an Argentinian-style steak dinner this weekend. One of the better steaks I've grilled. 

We went for an Argentinian-style meal. Grass fed skirt steak. Kosher salt/corn starch rub, with a quick trip to the freezer. Then reverse seared with mesquite smoke. Topped with a chimichurri sauce. My wife added home made sour dough bread, pasture raised butter, and great northern beans cooked in a made from scratch stock. And we opened a 2010 Tempernillo Reserva. 

Now go through the process with me: