johnnymnemonic

IDK why it took me 2 years to find "uncle roger". LOL. I'd imagine you can put pulled pork or pulled beef in egg fried rice.

Cooked a prime brisket and 4 pork shoulder butts in the KK42 this past weekend. Rub on pork is just salt and course black pepper (after an ACV spritz). Brisket is McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning. This cook is for Christmas gifts. I like to give (and the family likes me to give) frozen BBQ on Christmas. It's consumable, it's something they'll definitely use. It's better than the BBQ people can get in most places they live. This time, I did what I normally do when I cook pork. Pull and bag in vac seal bags put bags in ice water bath to cool it down fast. 1 hr later after it's nice and cold, vac seal in chamber sealer and put them immediately in freezer. Pork BBQ tastes like it is right off the smoker when you warm up in sous vide and cut the bag open. I have been doing this for years but upped my game with the KK and the VacMaster VP215 that I bought in 2021. For the beef I did a similar thing except I didn't slice in pencil width pieces, I sliced in larger pieces that would fit in the vac seal bags. This way hopefully since it's not already fully sliced, when it's warmed up and sliced it's still (hopefully) almost like it was fresh off the KK. I have never had brisket turn out almost the same when warmed up, but I gave it the best chance possible. This was one of the best briskets I've ever done (and definitely best one that has ever come out of my KK). This is maybe the 5th or 6th I have done in 2 years on the KK. This picture is about halfway through the cook. When it fits, I've been doing everything on the upper grate these days. The results on this cook were amazing. I will continue to use this same setup. I use a Thermoworks Billows, temp 225. I put the pit temp gauge on the main grate, food on top grate. The cooks just keep getting better on the KK. 2 years - not sure how many cooks I have done for BBQ (probably 15-20), maybe 100 total cooks, and it feels like the KK is just now broken in. Cheers! - hope everyone is having a good leadup to the holidays. Oh one other note. I love the 42, b/c look how much I can do just on one grate, and it was all absolutely perfect.

did the whole cook on the upper rack in this case.

Cooked the cusseta chicken last night for a dinner party (recipe in prior post on this thread). Kk42, basket splitter set up with charcoal in the center. As you can see, indirect with foil on main grate. Food on upper grate. Used thermoworks billows for temp control. Took about 90 mins to fully heat soak the grill. Temp at 325, used cold smoker attachment with pellets for a modest amount of clean smoke. Basted the chicken every 15-20 mins per recipe. Cooking time - 2 hrs. Results were awesome. This recipe does not produce crispy skin due to basting and vinegar in basting sauce but the flavor is great. If I were trying for crispy skin it would be air drying the chicken overnight, cooking with a dry rub, probe the chicken, no opening the lid, start a little higher maybe at 350, and allow the temperature to creep higher towards the end of the cook. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think there's any wrong way to cook in a KK. Try it all! However, as far as keeping the grill clean I feel after 15+ years of Kamado use that they are relatively self cleaning, so you don't need to worry so much about keeping the grill clean. Flavor and convenience though. Do what works best for your preference. That said (about keeping the grill clean) on my 42 since it is so huge, if I'm cooking indirect I usually put something under my food if it's not over the fire just b/c if I'm only using half (and the same half) of my massive grill for a long time, whatever is dripping down isn't burning up. And if you're real persnicketty about the smell/taste of animal fat burning in the fire (and depending on which type of animal fat).. there's that.

I do the same except I use that "Harry Soo" charcoal method and put the wood at the bottom of the charcoal basket (always chunks). No complaints. I won't lie, every now and then I use the cold smoker attachment if I'm worried. But especially for huge chunks of meat like Pork Butts and Brisket, the wood is in the fire. The 2 things I use in the cold smoker are wood chips from my own yard when I got a hickory tree cut down (tree company gave me a huge bag of chips that seems to last forever), or I use some high quality pellets - got several different ones. I don't use it often, but usually when I do it is for that cusseta chicken or al pastor or shwarma or something smaller than a massive piece of pork or beef. I find that big stuff still tastes great with wood in the fire. Smaller or more delicate dishes, I control it more finely using the cold smoker (or with no wood at all) - charcoal tends to have all the flavor I need. I think my aversion to smoke pot is only the extra effort. One day I might give it a try. I won't deny that the idea is good. And I'm sure the results are good - "it's a KK after all". Now I have the disney song "it's a small world" stuck in my head. It's a KK after all It's a KK after all It's a KK after all your barbecueeee roooooocks!

If I had a pan of potatoes I would have done this same technique indirect with the lower grate in place and foil on top of it, pan of potatoes on the main grate, then chicken on the upper grate. But - Best results I have had so far with my KK 42 with spatchcock chicken is actually direct heat but the chicken on the upper grate so that you get that really nice radiant heat from the dome to crisp up the skin. The chicken is so far from the fire I didn't need to go indirect (but see note above - I'd use indirect with the potatoes). Anyway - I forget exactly how long my last cook took but it was around 90 minutes give or take 10. Temp something like 375 to start and you can let it creep up toward the end if you want - last 20 minutes or so to crisp it up. I usually just cook until it's done and don't worry about increasing temp but I aslso haven't done spatchcock chicken but maybe 5 or 6 times since getting my KK. I have done it on the main grate all but one time. I have done it indirect just by virtue of having the fire on one side with the basket splitter and the chicken on the other side of the grill with drip pan underneath (that was OK). But direct heat works even on the main grate. Main grate still isn't that close to the fire. I turn it once about 25-30 mins in and again after another 20-30 so that at the last part the skin is up. But using the upper grate is how I have gotten the best crispy skin. I'm no expert, I just love my KK - never had chicken as good as what comes out of the KK. The BGE is fine just slightly less moist and not quite as flavorful. I have this chicken recipe that came from my hometown that is my favorite if I am putting smoke on the chicken. On the KK I don't turn the chicken every 10-15 minutes either. -- CUSSETA CHICKEN RECIPE for 4-6 halves: 3/4 cup oil 2 cups vinegar (1/2 pt) 10 tsps salt 3 tsp poultry seasoning 2 tsp black pepper Bring to rolling boil, remove from heat. Brush on chicken and turn every 10-15 minutes. -- I also don't always use this recipe. I have done a dry rub. Typically spray chicken with ACV, then coat with a combo of Lawry's seasoned salt and lemon pepper. Coat the chicken at least 1 hour but up to several hours (like overnight) beforehand. I have this cooling rack that fits inside a baking pan. I put a couple chickens prepared this way on that and air dry them in the refrigerator for one to several hours before cooking if I rub them like this. I haven't tried baking soda like some people do in order to get additional moisture out of the skin. I'm sure I could really get them crispy but for me it's about flavor. The above recipe from my hometown area has vinegar that you're actually brushing on the bird during cooking so you can't expect crispy skin with that one. On the other hand the dry rubbed one has some really good crispy skin if done on the top rack near the dome.

I had the same issue initially in my kk42 @Mcdddy. The worst time was when I was cooking 4 pork butts and I kept the KK open to wrap all 4. To make this as good as it can be (and I feel now I control temps really well) is modifying my procedure. now when cooking multiple pork butts I: go ahead and rip off the piece of foil or butcher paper on my side table open the grill, grab a pork butt, and put it on the butcher paper immediately close the lid finish wrapping the butt. Put down another piece of paper/foil open lid, put the wrapped piece back on, grab another one and put it on the paper immediately close the lid repeat In other words if you keep the lid open as short of a duration as you can, it'll be much better. Leave it open the whole time you are wrapping and your temp may spike +100 degrees and be difficult to bring back down (at least this is my experience). Like other folks posting, I don't mess with my cooks much at all. Billows goes on from the beginning. Before putting food on at 225 I make sure the grill has been fully heat soaked. With the KK42 that might be 90 minutes. Once I put something like pork butts on I don't even open the grill for at least 6-8 hours (or more! - with a pork butt sometimes I don't even wrap until resting!) But when I wrap I follow the above procedure and it definitely minimizes the temperature jump. I still sometimes see my KK go up from something like 225 to 250 after wrapping but to me that's not much. Also sometimes the foil produces more convection so it can read a tad higher without having anything 'wrong' or 'different'. If you're wrapped and you're probing the meat, then to me 25 degrees is no biggie either way. The KK keeps so much moisture in, one thing to try is just not wrapping, especially if you're consuming immediately. I vac seal mass quantities of pork and when I am doing big cooks I wrap just b/c it creates a little more consistency (and the bark isn't as good when it's not fresh).

@Tony8919 I have owned a large BGE for 14 years. I still use it once in a while and don't intend to ever get rid of it. But my 42" KK is amazing. The only thing I ever question is why I didn't do it sooner. It was because of the money, but it's some of the best money I ever spent. Don't wait several years like I did. Be happy now. KKs exceed expectation. When you unbox your very own it is absolutely unreal and impressive. I can cook food that it almost as good on my BGE - just because I have used it for 14 years. My 1st cook on the KK was better than my cooks with years of experience on the egg. The results are consistently better on the KK and you can see and taste the difference in the food. The first time you use one you will see.

prayers/thoughts for a speedy recovery, Dennis - sorry that I missed this a couple weeks back. Checking this forum has become sparse due to work. Follow that PT plan to a tee!

I re-visited. You get more control with the splitter in, for sure. And having the splitter in is probably the only acceptable way to do it if you're using the lower grate. I get higher / quicker temperature spikes without it. If you like to grill with the lid open, you can leave the lid open longer with the splitter in place. One day perhaps I will make a video on the difference. Easier to show it than to write it. But anyway. I'd consider no basket splitter to be "viable". One reason why maybe I had acceptable results is lighting with a looftlighter. I always light the center of my charcoal and I think that naturally pulled some air through adjacent charcoal in my pile without the basket splitter, so I didn't have so much air "going around" the charcoal. But - now that I have gone back to the splitter, I can see how it's more "ideal". question: is it considered mandatory to put the screws in the basket splitter? Call me the "lazy" 42 griller.

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@DennisLinkletter good point. When I'm smoking I do fill the firebox. When grilling, I haven't had an issue without the splitter, but I will re-visit.

Agree, I think the adventure is as much fun as the destination. “Just cook it” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am sorry [mention]Poochie [/mention] . You may remember. For a while I had buyers remorse. My original order was for a 32. Dennis had a 42 cancellation and the rest is history. I feel I would have very similar experiences with the 32. I probably would not have been able to do over 100 lbs of raw pork at the same time but otherwise very similar. Also I feel the 32 being smaller might be the better smoker. Although I have done some great things with the 42. Def superior to “the green one”. It is not about “need”. And if you already have a 32 I know how much you love it. Keep loving it. Move the KK and love the KK 32. I still wonder what it would be like if I had the slightly smaller one. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk