johnnymnemonic

Normal everyday type stuff here - some asparagus and some chicken. Chicken prepared with simple spritz of Apple Cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and parsley flakes. Seasoned about 1 hr prior to grilling.

all of these look amazing and fun! thanks for sharing!

Yep I used wide foil all the way across the lower grate. Essentially allowing the fire / smoke to come up front and back - wide foil leaves about a 1-2 inch gap all the way across front and back which is perfect. I had the two big drip pans that came with the kk42 as well as one smaller one wedged in one side that covered most of the lower grate. I can take a picture once my grates are clean of the arrangement - soaking them now. I would say this setup did not catch 100% of the grease but close. The KK is certainly no worse for wear. All of the bbq came out great, too. Just a crapload of work. Started the cook around 10am sat. Was finally done at 4am Sunday. I held done butts in a hot cooler. Had one with an ice water bath going to cool it down quickly as I pulled it and put each butt in vac sealed bags. I pulled 3 butts worth and bagged the 12 -15 bags, allowed the bags to cool in the cold cooler for 30 mins, then cleaned the utensils and repeated the process until done. Hot bbq stayed hot. Pulled Q cooled down fast. Now I have around 50 vac sealed bags ready to roll. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Grill view is blurry because it is dark but as you can see the results are great. First couple butts off the smoker are perfect. With this many they are not all done quite at the same time but the KK never disappoints. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Will post pics. It is so many I am not interrupting the cook to wrap through the stall. Worried the heat will kick up too much. The kk holds in so much moisture it should be totally fine to bring them all the way up without wrapping them —wrap for resting in a coolers (plural) while I pull it all and put it in bags. This is for an event couple weeks from now. Pull, put in bags in ice bath, vac seal. On may 7th warm them up in sous vide bath gently. Gonna be great. I have done this same qty before a year ago but did 2 cooks of 6 on main grate. Due to time constraints I figured max that kk out. After a year and a half of experience on this thing I have ultimate faith. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How many 9+ pound pork butts can you fit on a kk42? Whelp, I got 12 on right now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

🤦‍♂️sorry @Bunji! Looking forward to seeing how it goes with your first batch. I haven't done Jerky yet on my KK and would love to try. Was thinking of seeing if my Thermoworks Billows would work for that low of a temp.

That's customer obsession right there. Thank you so much for doing that @DennisLinkletter. For the record, as I was about to to set it up, I bailed on the rotisserie because of the large circumference. I probably could have used a bunch of twine to make sure it stayed together, but I thought maybe as tender as the KK cooks things pieces of a bird that big might come off. I may try it next time. I didn't take pictures the last time I did chickens but I'm really starting to get rotisserie chicken dialed in on the 42. The last batch had crispy skin and was so incredibly juicy. Best dang chicken I ever ate.

@Bunji, @BigO made a good post and a youtube video on Jerky.

I didn't spatchcock it. This massive of a turkey spatchcocked wouldn't fit on any pan I have so I just cooked it whole. I decided not to brine it: reason - 30lb turkey wouldn't fit in a 5 gal bucket - also wouldn't fit well in my yeti. Could have used a different cooler, but - I decided since the bird was injected not to do anything to it prior and just use an old recipe. This recipe (attached PDF) is how my grandparents always grill roasted their turkey back in the day. Just salt, pepper, parsley, oil, vinegar. I used a bit of lowrys with the salt for a little extra flavor. Worked well - great flavor. At the grate I had my billows at 340. Dome temp around 400. The skin on top actually broke - almost like the cap of a pork butt. I found that interesting. 30lb turkey cooked in about 3 hours. I wrapped it in foil and put it in a cooler when it was done (until I carved it to serve lunch). It wasn't the best turkey I have ever had - this large of a turkey - some of the bird just wasn't perfectly moist - but - it certainly wasn't dry. Flavor was awesome. Dark meat was awesome. Really really good for a frozen turkey that I got for only $15. granny_grilled_smoked_turkey_onepage.pdf

starting to feel like a spatchcock. don't want to risk it.

I almost got cold feet when I started reading online, but I'm definitely going to try to rotisserie this massive bird. I'm not worried about the equipment as much as people saying the bird will fall into the fire. Is that because the rotisserie forks start to come out of the meat? If I screw the forks down real tight it should hold, right? Also - How does a turkey that has a rod through the center get into the fire? Does the rod just work its way through the bottom of the turkey after a while if it comes off the forks? Anyway - I'm going to get it on there as securely as I can after I truss it well but also add twine around the body. For better or for worse. And I will take pictures. This is probably a ridiculous way to proceed and I should just spatchcock it. But I'm livin on the edge. I have many vacuum sealed bags of pulled pork BBQ from my cook the other night if it goes south. Anyway - those who have had their turkey fall into the fire - tell me the story - I want to understand how this happens so I can both set the turkey in the forks as securely as possible and monitor it properly.

BBQ in the dark (pictures are not good but why not). Just basics. 4 pork butts, 4 chuck roasts on bottom. Bad Byron's Butt Rubb (mustard binder) on the pork. ACV and montreal steak seasoning on the beef. Beef and Pork BBQ to send to my brothers-in-law up in NYC for the holidays. Turned out great.

I'm encouraged. I think I will try the wet brine and the rotisserie. I'll have backup if I ruin the bird in the fire, but I agree, the 42 should be up to the task, and I think I can make sure the rod is tight when I put it in. I might get a few extra degrees of heat while I have the KK open futzing with making sure the rod is placed well, so I will heat soak at a lower temp and if the cook starts a little high, that won't be a problem. I will let you know how it goes - I will brine in the yeti 24-36 hrs. Should be really good. Really appreciate the input @Tyrus @tekobo @C6Bill @tony b

@tony b I have the regular rod fork combo, not the basket. My rotisserie rod for the SBB 42" is 1/2". . @Tyrus I have the onegrill heavy duty which is supposed to go up to 75 lbs. I think it would work but I like the suggestion about spatchcocking the bird insetead. Since my big 30 pound bird is frozen it has already been injected. I have heard mixed reviews on trying to brine one that has been previously injected. I was thinking about dry brining. But I am wide open to suggestions. What is this citrus brine you speak of, Tyrus?

What do you reckon the rotisserie capacity is on my KK42? After thanksgiving there was a massive 30 pound turkey and they were practically giving it away at the grocery store. Frozen. But I have a bunch of people coming over in a couple of weekends. Do you think the roti on a KK can handle 30 lbs?

Nope. I'm an experienced kamado user and I do not open my lid very much at all, nor make big adjustments to my vent settings or anything else. "If you're lookin' you're not cookin'". I typically open my grill for smoking briskets and pork butts 1) to put the food on. 2) to wrap if I want to wrap. 3) to take the food off. In this case I was doing brisket and pork butt at the same time, so I was opening the grill a little more often (wrapped brisket and pork butt at different times and of course one meat was done before the other). I'm guessing it's because when I was wrapping the food I left the lid open. The temp rose and stayed around 300 for the rest of my cook, so I do think you are right that I fed the fire when I opened the lid for a couple of minutes which is a pretty long time with as big of a grill as this is - that's letting a ton of air in. The image below shows you where I set my damper on my billows for low and slow, even in the big 'ol 42. I only open this 2 or 3 clicks which is about double the opening when I'm doing 275. I may not know where my top damper should be. Maybe I could have closed it just a bit more. I know where mine needs to be too for low and slow- been very successful at 225-235 and the grill staying very low and fully heat soaked on long cooks. It's just those mid temps. It'll hold 350-375 rock steady and won't rise much. It'll hold low and slow. I just haven't gotten it dialed in yet at the 275 temp. I feel like it always wants to be at 300. Which isn't a big deal - like I said in my original post it's in the ballpark. I will try to figure out a system where I'm reaching in and grabbing a piece of meat and closing the lid back quick while I'm wrapping my food, then opening it back quickly to put the wrapped food back on and see if that helps. Look man, I'm not knocking the product - it's the best product I've ever used - by far. ESPECIALLY for grilling - well and smoking a HUGE amount of food in an actual Kamado - I mean there's nothing else you can use that cooks as much food and isn't a stick burner or a huge rectangular box of an electric smoker or something. I'm just saying "temperature control to a single degree" doesn't seem to apply to the 42. that's all I'm saying, and I think it's true. This means I might be buying another grill from you soon..... Like maybe a 23 ultimate.

Yep, you want one of these: https://www.thermoworks.com/billows-mounting-kit/. (click "universal"). SKU: TX-1611X-M3 And if you don't have one of these, get this, too. https://www.thermoworks.com/tx-1609x-bd/

I haven't cooked on my BGE for over 2 months now. I have had my KK about 5 months. (42SBB). I still like the BGE, I can't lie about that. What I love about the KK is all the space. And because it is so thick, it really does make better BBQ. The 42SBB is an awesome awesome grill (and pretty good smoker). I can give a full review one day on that. food quality - better than perfect - even with smoking. My main gripe is "temperature control to a single degree" like the quote by stephen raichlen. I feel smaller KK models may be better with this. Low and slow - no issue. When I'm going mid-temp like 275 even sometimes when I'm using the Thermoworks Billows WITH the damper, sometimes I'm getting 300. Do I care about this? not really - it's in the ball park and totally fine. I have been doing this kamado cooking long enough to know you don't mess with it too much. And - I'm totally satisfied TBH. I just made brisket AND pork shoulder at the same time yesterday. Both turned out super well. Congrats on your purchase! You will not regret it.

2 chickens on the rotisserie. This setup started b/c people don't like the smell/taste of drippings burning up in the fire. To combat this, you split the basket. The drippings mostly go toward the front b/c the rotisserie is spinning in that direction. What's not straightforward about the setup is just taking the basket splitter components apart and using them a bit differently. The divider plates would normally slide on rods. The rods have been removed. The divider plates normally fit into the grooves of the steel oval side plates. With this, the divider plates are moved out a little wider. The steel oval pieces (instead of resting on the basket) are actually resting on the ceramic firebox above, and on the tops of the divider plates. Anyway it is pretty easy to do. You just need something to hold the divider plate up at a right angle in the center. McJudsten used a deeper oblong pan with sides that were closer to 90 degrees. I had a rectangle pan, but it was too wide and not deep enough. So I used a loaf pan and then rested an aluminum pan on top that I bent so that one side would support the divider plate at a right angle. Anyway if you're willing to fiddle for a few minutes you'll find something that works.

A little 'electric lettuce' eh?

Looks pretty good to me. The taste is all that matters anyway!

Jake, I'm a big fan of "Rum and Cook" - thanks for doing it. Your spatchcock chicken recipe rocks, and I loved the pork butt (yoder vs KK), etc. Those comparison ones are good. Loved your review on the cordless looftlighter. Even though you had the tube turned around backwards, your video on the cold smoker for the KK gave me an informative intro. My favorite is the one where you just tell people how to light the fire (Dennis's people actually sent that one out in my intro e-mail along with the KK manual before my KK got to me.). I'm not a beginner at Kamado cooking, but I like your beginner videos. Like the one about how you clean your KK - I bought some of the zep degreaser that you recommended for the outside of the KK before it even arrived. Been using it - It works awesome. While considering responding to this post, I just popped onto youtube. Haven't been there in a while due to just being busy. I saw you had some new ones for brisket and pork butt - need to check those out. I get something from almost all your videos. Just keep going, man. Thanks again. -John

As long as the KKs that happen in vegas don't stay in vegas...

Gorgeous @Myklnz! Congrats and happy KK'ing. I have used my green egg only once since my KK showed up and I can't remember why. I guess if I do some things for a crowd I might use it again, but it sure has been lonely.