BARDSLJR

Peeps and pilgrims: My teak side tables have gotten a bit weather-beaten over the last year or so in the harsh Denver conditions- and, well, I didn't do anything to protect them ....But now it appears I have a LOT more time on my hands, so I thought I would sand these back down to natural wood grain and finish them with ...what? Tung oil? Is this the recommended approach? Dennis? And for future preventive maintenance?

I agree some experimentation is generally a good approach, kind of like: “ don’t just follow the recipe, taste the dish as you are cooking, as often as you can.”

Although wouldn't the downside of cooking more rapidly, at higher temps, be less complete breakdown of the collagens and therefore tougher meat, and the potential to dry out the meat? Isn't that why most barbecuing/smoking recipes favor lower temperature in the 225-275 range?

Good to know (about the temps and results). My brisket cooked at 300* for almost the whole 12 hours. It is worth noting that John Mueller, who has a high barbecue pedigree, cooks his briskets at 400* (!!!) and apparently they turn out just fine.

Thanks. Just get the Aaron Franklin book or master class and do what he does.....

Tony B: yes, I think you are quite correct about the heat setting. Dennis told me sometime back to only fire up a limited portion of the charcoal/wood reserve- he suggested "a baseball size", and then get the KK to the desired temp and turn the top vent all the way closed, then open it up maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 turn and stabelize the airflow/temp. I am still fine tuning my technique, since I am surprised at how quickly the KK ramps up sometimes. Once it gets to 300*, it is very difficult to get it back down to a 250 or so range. I would like to get to the point where I can run it at 225 (perfect for babyback ribs) but I need to improve my low-low technique. As to the wrap: yes, I put the brisket on at 300* (here's where I wish I could have dialed it back to 250-275) at 11PM and go up around 4:30AM and wrapped it tightly in butcher's paper, a la Franklin's instructions. It was about 165-170* at that time. It stayed in the KK until 11AM, when it finally hit 203* and I took it off, left it on the cutting board to rest for 90 minutes before tried it. It was very, very good. I gave 2/3rds to my daughter and her family (husband and 3 kids) and we had some for lunch and again for dinner. Done with brisket now for a few weeks!

BTW, I should have mentioned, it is COLD here in Denver right now: mid 40s in the day to high 20s or so overnight. So the extended burn life of the 32" KK is really that much more impressive. I think I am getting the hang of using the KK, but it is so VERY efficient and well-insulated, that the challenge is to pre-heat it only to the level you want to stabelize at, because if you overshoot it, it is very challenging to bring it down again. The 32" KK is a real thermal beast.

And as an observation of secondary importance, but interesting....I started this burn around 9:30 last night using huge Komodo Charcoal (chunks the size of my fist, maybe half the size of my head) and big chunks of post oak (I can seldom get post oak here in Denver, but some turned up at Walmart and I just went out and checked on the 32" BIg Boy is still pegged at 275*....very impressive!

I’ve been getting these from Oliver’s Butcher here in Denver. They are beef chuck ribs which my butcher there says have better flavor than plate ribs. It certainly is a LOT of meat, and really rich. I think one of these racks could feed four people ( or, as used to say in Louisiana, two hungry Cajuns.)

This started as a 15 lb prime brisket ( thank you, Costco): pretty much followed all of Aaron Franklin’s methods for trimming, slather, seasoned with 50/50 salt and pepper. Into the 32” KK at 11 pm last night, off at 10:45 this morning at a perfect 203*. Got up at 4:30 am and wrapped in butcher paper. Used large lump Komodo charcoal and post oak. Temps were 275-300 ( would have preferred 250-75, but what the heck). Impressions: I usually don’t have access to post oak and use fruitwoods. This is noticeably more of an acrid smoke flavor (in a good way) than the sweetness I get from the cherry or apple. I think it is a better match for the beef brisket, though I will stay with fruitwoods for pork. Bark was excellent, brisket completely done and tender. After really ruining the first 4 briskets I tried, the last two have been excellent...I think I’ve got this.

Howdy, K-K peeps: attached is today's project, about 13 lbs of beef chuck ribs, smoked at around 285-300 with post oak for seven hours. They are no resting, wrapped in butcher paper in the igloo cooler, and will be served later with some nice sides for Sunday dinner. Some days, life is good.....

I am thinking of doing a suckling pig later this summer, and this would of course involve buying the rotisserie grill basket and using it in conjunction with my existing rotisserie motor. It's not immediately obvious to me how you set this up (though I haven't done much study yet): can some of you who have rotisserie setups take pictures and post them so that those of us who are new to this can see how it sets up and how it works? Thanks in advance for all your help.- Jim

This is a cooking "related" question. I am still getting the finer aspects of using my new 32" KK, and this question relates to how you set up your charcoal basket and your burn to both manage the temperature level and the length of the burn. I -so far- haven't been able to stabelize the temp at anything below 250*- 225 would be my preferred for ribs and shoulder. I am also wondering how you organize your burn for a long cook- say 12-16 hours. I use a propane wand about 3" long to start my charcoal. Do you....start with a small active area in the middle or on one end? Light a line across the length of the charcoal basket? Light up the whole thing and choke off the air supply? How many of you primarily keep the bottom vents in the same position and regulate air flow by by screwing/unscrewing the "top hat" up and down? Or the reverse? Your insights would be greatly appreciated.-Jim

I think if you are going to pay that much to start with, the uptick for the 32" is well worth it relative to the additional flexibility. I got the 32" and love it....three separate cooking levels, I think I could do six large briskets or 8 to 9 pork shoulders. Right now I have six baby back ribs on (and need to go check on them) but last time I did nine with no problem. Love, love, love, my KK. Thank you, Dennis and crew!

Interesting...I did almost the same thing today, babyback ribs in my new 32" KK. I wish I'd taken pictures....First of all, my routine in my old RJ Komodo was 2 hours at 225-250, spritz and wrap in foil for 1 hour, take out of foil and finish for 1 hour. Today, on the advice of one of the other KK Members, I omitted the foil part. I also started half of the ribs on the lower level and half on the main. In the future I will use the main and upper grill. The lower level works in a pinch, but the section that was directly over the heat source (even above the heat deflectors) was still cooking too hot, too fast. I have to get this dialed in....one or two racks were underdone at 4 hours, the 2 that started directly above the heat were getting overdone. The rest seemed to do relatively well- I am waiting for feedback from the neighbors who are my testers. The smoke taste was good, not overdone. I used a combination of pecan and apple. For a first cook, I could say this was close. I think it can be SO much better with some fine-tuning. At least this batch of sauce was a 14 on a scale of 10 (I will share the recipe with anyone who wishes). Next time, pictures and finer tuning.

My favorite roaster in Salt Lake City, Jack Mormon Coffee (their motto is "we're on a mission") uses a bank of five or six small roasters that look like oversized blenders. I think the maximum they can do is a kilo at a time. I would bet you could find them for sale with a little research. Jim, Denver

Okay, this was actually much, much simpler than it sounded as my wife relayed what she thought Dennis told her. In actuality, it is one simple motion: grasp either side of the table close to the body of the KK and pull straight up. The table lifts out of the bracket (it would have been a LOT easier to install if I had known they come apart: some instructions or a simple schematic in the shipping package might be a good idea) and stores inside the 32" KK. No big deal at all. Mystery solved. Jim

Metallic Bronze 32" Big Bad in Denver, Colorado (Stapleton). Drop me a note/PM if you want to see it. Jim

So we tried to get the cover on the 32" with the side tables the other day and it didn't fit; everything else in the manufacture has been damn near perfect, so I was surprised but sent Dennis and company a note. Dennis called back and gave my wife instructions (I wasn't home) -something about folding the side tables up and back. Daneta is smarter than the average bear (and I am sure smarter than I am) so I am sure we will get it figured out, but just for this neophyte's sake, does anyone have any pictures of how this thing works with folding the side tables back to accommodate the cover? I really, really love the build quality. This will be an excellent inheritance for my son-in-law or grandson at some point which I hope is far in the future. Jim in Denver

Has anyone had success using a "Meater" remote thermometer with a Komodo-Kamado? I was quite excited to try it out yesterday when I did my first cook, a couple of butts for pulled pork. I finally conlcuded, by process of elimination, that the "Meater" just dosn't have a strong enough signal to transmit to the app on my phone through the heavy ceramic of the KK. Any thoughts? Jim , Denver

Excuse me. "DUE" respect. I can't believe I wrote that. My mother, rest her soul, would rap my knuckles with a long wooden spoon for that.

Well, since you all asked for pictures... I got my new 32" metallic bronze delivered last Friday and spent most of the afternoon uncrating it, and with the help of two of my neighbors, got it up the improvised ramp onto my back patio without incidence. The weather in the meanwhile until Thursday has been the total S***s here in Denver, so Friday was my first chance to use it and I was doing pulled pork for a family dinner last night (and to repay one of the two helpful neighbors). I thought I would be clever and start the fire the night before, when I went to bed, and that I would get up in the morning and just pop the butts (pork) on the already warm smoker and have a go at it. Unfortunately, I am still learning the proper setting and control, and I squeezed the airflow just a leeeetle too far down, and sometime over the course of the night it went out and was cold when I got up at 7 to start my cook. So I lost an hour restarting and stablizing it. Ces't la vie. The pork butts got rubbed down the night before and had created a really nice dry marinade for the meat (1/2 Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust to equal parts brown sugar, sea salt and pepper). The butts went on around 8:15 and stayed around the 250*range all day. At 5:30 they were still only about 160* in the stall so I upped the temp to nearly 400* to finish by 7PM. A full 12 hours at 250* would have been better, but you do what you have to. Happily, the results were EXCELLENT. I mean, maybe the best I have done on either my former Kamado (Johnson) smoker or my Lang stick-burner. Really, I could not be more pleased, and my family, always the best critics I have, couldn't say enough goo things about the pulled pork. I am a happy boy. And here are pictures:

I had one of these, a #7 , blue, just like this one. With all do respect to the manufacturer....it doesn't compare in design or build quality to the Komodo-Kamado, which is why, in part, it is also a lot less expensive. Mine lasted 8 or 9 years in the Salt Lake weather (I should have gotten a cover) before it started spitting off tiles and the top hat piece developed a crack down the middle. I wish I had better things to say- in the early years it worked well and made excellent barbecue. But especially if you are missing parts, as noted earlier, I would walk away from this one. And frankly it can't EVER have been $3,000....no one is so dumb that they can't look up the new retail price.

I just got my 32" (metallic bronze) last Friday and got to use it yesterday for the first time to do a couple of pork butts for pulled pork. Ten hours later, I could not have been more satisfied with the purchase. It was a LOT of money, but even this first try produced really, really excellent barbecue. You are absolutely going to love your 32". Besides the ease of use, speed (of warmup) and stability, the 32" has an unbelievable amount of cooking space. I think one could easily fit six briskets or shoulders in one cook. Congratulations. Plan on spending several hours uncrating it and you might need some help to get in from crate into final position, wherever that is going to be. Jim, Denver

LOVE New Orleans in particular and Louisiana in general. We lived in Baton Rouge and New Orleans (my wife was state head of Public Health and they had their offices in the CBD, so we kept an apartment in NO for four years). We go back every few years for a week to eat (went for anniversary two years ago) and I always think that you have to diet for a week before and a week after a week in New Orleans. I go down to Lafayette every year for the Festivale Internationale (Jazzfest has gotten too big!). Elizabeth's in Bywater is a favorite place. (Also lived in Shreveport for 8 years, though there is some debate as to whether it is really Louisiana or East Texas.) However, the difference in humidity levels down there and Salt Lake/Denver might have something to do with whether foil-wrapping is less necessary for the ribs down there. Geaux Saints! ( We wuz robbed!)