Braai-Q

Welcome to the club. Don't be intimidated, it's a great experience. You just need to have a strategy for getting it into position. You may have seen some of my comments on other threads but machinery is the way to do it if you can. Dennis has done a great job on the crate and unboxing experience - you know when you use a tool or something that is just right and it's obvious that someone spent a lot of time thinking about how to do it properly. That's just the crate. Top tip - find the crowbar in the package first. Dennis supplies one with the crate - think it's underneath. I forgot (there was a 7 year gap between me getting a second one) and I used my own. I then burnt the crate and found it in the ash and as I looked at it, the realisation dawned on me. Here's what you can expect - the lorry had to park up the road outside my neighbour's house to allow the telehandler room to get it off the tail lift.

I'll measure them for you in the morning if nobody else has replied. It's currently pouring outside and at 11pm, I share the dog's reluctance to go out in it!!! 😄 The internal dimensions on the product page (see below) should give you what you need - 32 x 22 inches which sounds about right. You'll need to legislate for the different types of grill depending on what you want to store - one has side handles, another a hinged front with handle to allow charcoal to be added mid cook.

Think it's a UK term, I hadn't heard it before I came to the UK. In Southern Africa, there is lamb, sheep, mutton. Much simpler.

If the pizza steel fails, I'd thought something from Roemertopf might be my next port of call.

Teach me for using my iPhone to reply. Hoggett is Hogget. Didn't spot the autocorrect. One of the not so awful interventions autocorrect has made.

I don't know if you'd have enough latent heat in the walls of the KK. The one problem with using the walls of your KK is that if you achieve Naanvana (Naan Nirvana, geddit?) 😁 you're going to want to reproduce it and then you'll be looking at a 42KK that you'll need to keep pristine just for doing naan. In all seriousness, I think the pizza steel might be the best approach but it's the airflow that I'm puzzling. I feel I have three parts to three different puzzles in approaching this - I have excellent reference points for quality from India and East London so I know what it should be like from a taste and textural point of view. I know the general heating conditions and have made them in a Puri. I have a KK and a pizza steel. Just talking about this makes me want to hit the Lahore One in East London for a fix. Anjum is such a great guy, if I asked him, I reckon he'd give me a lesson in how he makes his naan. They are perfection.

I wasn't being a grammar pedant, hope I didn't offend. Absolutely not my intention. I'm on a virtual conference this week and it's a 10 hour a day programme for 4.5 days. While fascinating, it's a marathon of streaming and while you are interacting with people, it's quite serious and intense. I think I just amused myself with the thought of rolling in to my local DHL service point with a 32 and saying 'I'd like to send this overseas on priority'. I should mention that our local DHL service centre is a weird outfit - the agent insists on picking the size of box that your items will go in before he will even entertain a conversation. I made a thinking outside the box joke once. Didn't land well.

It’s an easy recipe and I think it would work well with mutton. Mutton is so underrated. I wonder if hoggett would work as well? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So, I wrote up my Jamaican Goat Curry recipe as it seemed a popular request. It's an amalgamation of the work of 2 Jamaicans (1 a friend and the other a contributing writer to Food52) so I can't claim it as my own although I've made a few little tweaks here and there which I've detailed below. Once you've made it a few times and have a good feel for it, you'll likely make adjustments to your taste. I think marinating it makes a difference and a variation I haven't tried (but is on my to do list) is to marinade and then grill on the KK. Once sealed, then mix with coconut milk (around step 5) and finish in the Dutch oven on a slow cook for a few hours. I've not done this yet but I think it would be a superb variation and impart some smoke into the meat. I think I wouldn't be able to help myself and would just end up just eating Jamaican Goat Kebabs! FYI: @tekobo @RokDok @jonj @sovsroc Ingredient List 1-1.5kg diced Goat Meat (can substitute for Lamb). Depending on what is available, you can also use shanks and leave the bone in for additional flavour. With a low, slow cook, the meat will collapse off the bone. Fresh Lemon Juice (approximately half a juicy lemon) Approx 0.5 cup vegetable oil (adjust to eye, see notes below for method) 2 teaspoons grated ginger (peeled) 2 teaspoons crushed garlic (2-3 cloves) 1 Medium onion (sliced) 4-5 Tablespoons Curry Powder (see notes below on flavour profile) 1 Teaspoon White Pepper 1-2 Teaspoons Fresh Thyme (chopped) 2 Spring Onions / Scallions (sliced) 2-3 Potatoes (medium sized) 1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar 1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste (double concentrate preferably) 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (can substitute to taste) 1 Tablespoon Bouillon Powder Salt + Pepper (season to taste) 1. Squeeze lemon juice and massage through the meat. Set aside aside for no more than 5 minutes. Depending on how much time, you can amalgamate steps 3 and 4 into the uncooked mixture and leave it to marinade (covered) in the fridge for at least 2 hours. If so, reduce the salt, pepper, curry powder and oil by half and introduce what you reserve when you've put the mixture in the hot oil and start to cook. Bring the mixture to room temperature before cooking. 2. Heat oil over medium heat, then add the meat. Saute and keep stirring until the meat is browned. Start with 50% of the oil and add a little more as you go to prevent the dish from becoming too oily. 3. Add curry powder, stir through the meat until fully coated. 4. Add the garlic, ginger, white pepper, onions, thyme, tomato paste, green onions and pepper. Stir through for 1-2 minutes. 5. Pour in sufficient water to cover the meat and bring to a boil. Leave to simmer until tender. If I want to make a creamy version to cut some of the heat of the Scotch Bonnet, I'll replace water for Coconut Milk to enrich the sauce. I tend to use a slow cooker for this dish but it'll work absolutely fine on the KK in a dutch oven - about 110°C - 120°C for 2-3 hours. 6. Cook for approximately 2-3 hours and approximately 30 minutes before finishing, add potatoes and bouillon powder. If you want to thicken the curry, cook it for longer but ideally (particularly if you've added coconut milk), you'll have a dense sauce already so will be looking for a tender, soft potato which still retains its shape. You can make adjustments with water or more coconut milk to preference. Some tips: The curry powder and the Scotch Bonnet are key to the flavour profile of this dish. I like hot food so slice the Scotch Bonnet and throw it in with the seeds. I find the Scotch Bonnet has a characteristic flavour so would rather mitigate the heat of it through coconut milk or serving it with yoghurt, not including the seeds or reducing the quantity I add to the dish. Jamaican curry powder has a strong turmeric base, my preference for the recipe is Portland Mills Jamaican Curry Powder which is still made in Kingston. You can make it from scratch but it's quite an involved blend and as I don't use it beyond this dish, adopted an authentic, high quality pre-made curry powder as second prize. Be warned that the mix is very strong smelling and will taint your fridge if you don't seal it properly. Curried cheese or butter has never caught on for a reason. Not that this has ever happened to me. I just hope my wife never reads the forum otherwise this is going to haunt me. 🤭 Serve with plain pilau or basmati rice but traditionally, it's served with Caribbean Rice and Beans. I like it with a simple rice as the dish is so flavoursome. Top with fresh chopped coriander and greek yoghurt on the side for those who may find the heat too much. Let me have some feedback once you've made it or any suggestions to improve it. I look forward to pictures on the Everyday Misc Cooking Thread.

I read this as you were celebrating the arrival of the KK tomorrow in which case I had visions of Dennis sending it in a very large DHL box! 🤭 Best reason for making a celebration ale.

<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 50%; height: 50%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/QILiHiTD3uc' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Aah. Well, that didn't work. 😁 I think there are some limitations in terms of how Invision Community interprets third party embedded video or Dennis has configured the system to work in a particular way.

Just copy paste the URL in. The forum will interpret the code automatically and display the embed with key frame preview and title. If you want the video to start at a specific timecode, play the video, pause it at the desired start point and then click the 'Share' button underneath the video. If you select the check box underneath, it'll say 'Start video at x:xx' which should be the timecode you've paused it at. You'll know it has picked it up because the URL will be appended with t=XXX (x being the second count to that point in the video). You can't control the dimensions of the video coming into the forum using the method above. I'll have a play quickly and see if the forum accepts standard Bulletin Board convention to control the size of the video thumb but this may be what you need already. Hope this helps.

No probiem, I look forward to seeing the results of your endeavours but I imagine that it's a bit like brewing, you'll get drawn deeper in. If there is anything specific, just send me a direct message and I'll share some info out of the books. You won't be able to use a rib rack for fish. Unless you're doing a whole salmon and slow smoking it perhaps but there are other and easier ways of doing it.

I was just teasing you Tony.

Tony, the only question I have about this picture is why is the KK covered and not running? 😀 (Our nights are drawing in and our clocks go back next week so I feel your pain).

Great story @Sir Bill. It reminds me of Oysters in the UK. They were once peasant food and cheap protein used to pad beef pies. The suggestion of putting oysters in a pie today would be seen as sacrilege.

Books are useful for recipes and I have quite a few but if you want to know how to drive the 32, the KK manual should be enough in concert with this forum. Hot Coals is useful and has an interesting historical account of the KK in a depth of detail that I've not seen anywhere else. It's purely focused on the KK. Also take a look at The Essential Kamado Grill Cookbook as another cooker focused book. Under distance selling, you can return in 14 days and Amazon do free returns if you're not satisfied so pick a few and see which works for what you're looking for. In the UK, quite a lot of the titles tend to only be available from Amazon. Don't discount the value of YouTube as a learning resource, there are a couple of great channels which walk you through the process (although cookers used may vary) of various cooks. Take a look at All Things BBQ for a Texas Style Brisket cook - high quality production values with the advantage of showing you elements of a cook that don't translate in printed form and the meat preparation can be useful as butchers in the UK don't tend to prepare brisket in this way. The first time I ordered brisket, it arrived without any fat on it despite declaring up front it was a 15h slow cook. So I found a good video to share of the meat prep and then the butcher understood. Translation of US/UK butchery terms and cuts can also produce challenges but I've got a decent network of suppliers now so it's much easier. I've also learnt quite a lot of butchery in the process. The Komodo Kamado YT channel is also excellent with Steven Raichlen. I'd suggest his Smoked Brisket Tacos. You can get excellent tacos from Gran Luchito in the UK if you don't want to make them yourself too. There are plenty of other YT BBQ channels but this is a quick starter. I've also learned quite a bit on Amazing Ribs which was started by Meathead Goldwyn. His book offers a 3 month trial access to AmazingRibs.com as well and the forum prides itself on sharing everything 'except our toothbrush'. Rubs are pretty straight forward, just ensuring you pick a rub appropriate to the meat you're cooking is key I'd suggest and you might need to lay in supplies of a few items that you might not normally have in your larder. I like Pitt Cue a great deal, it's also a UK book so you're not messing around converting anything which is my frustration with US cookbooks. I don't want to be fiddling with a calculator when I'm prepping. I'd recommend getting a digital thermometer as essential kit. Whether you get probes and something like a Guru, Fireboard or Meater is something that you can make your mind up on later but you need to be able to accurately determine internal temperatures. I'd recommend Thermapen Classic but there is huge choice out there. I'd suggest the following books to start you off: Meathead Pitt Cue Co: The Cookbook Project Smoke Low & Slow Pitmaster Myron Mixon's BBQ Rules

I have that book too, great recommendation. I'm really up for trying Naan in a KK. I've made them in a Puri Tandoor - an Indian friend has one and showed me he does it. I think using the Pizza Steel is the way I'd do it. In a Puri Tandoor, you slap the dough to the sides of the clay walls. I can't see that working on the KK.

I was fishing around in the freezer and discovered that I had a dairy cow brisket. This was Thursday. I put it on last night and gave myself the perfect opportunity to test the new Fireboard 2. Simple homemade rub (think it's a variation on Meathead's brisket rub). 110°C for 14 hours. The temperature showed 1-1.5°C variation throughout the whole cook on ambient and then held with no further intervention for a further 16 hours. The app on the FB2 is really well thought out and a pleasure to use. I smoked it using whisky barrel wood and should have soaked it for more smoke but didn't want to overpower the cook. Lesson learned for next time. Soak the wood. I did it on the 19KK as I feel it has been neglected of late. It emerged with a lovely wobble, bark and smoke ring. Once I'd wrapped the brisket and it was resting, I put the last of our tomato crop in to roast - they're predominantly green - around 4 kilograms of San Marzano and Cherokee Purple. That'll be turned into a salsa - a 'Tomatillo' Salsa Verde. I have no idea if substituting green tomatoes for tomatillo will work but we'll see. I recently ordered some Angus & Oink Scotch Bonnet ketchup with some regular AO BBQ ketchup. I wasn't paying attention to the labels (the bottles are identical) when I plated and served myself a liberal dose of Scotch Bonnet. Mrs BQ described the smell of it as 'scorned and angry'. Fortunately, I can handle hot sauce but I'm suffering from a cold at the moment and my sense of smell didn't detect it. Male bravado is a fine thing and I think I've intimidated the cold because my sinuses have since cleared. So if you like a hot sauce, AO Rampant Angus Scotch Bonnet is pretty good and has a depth of flavour versus just being about the burn. Even better if you have a cold it seems.

I'll dig out a couple of recipes for you Bill and add them to the recipes section. There is a book called 'Hot Coals - A User's Guide to Mastering Your Kamado Grill' where they dedicate the first chapter to the history of the Kamado. It might be what you're looking for. Here's the chapter introduction: “To better understand the configuration and workings of the kamado, it is important to take a closer look at its history. We weren’t satisfied with the version of its history as told by many websites and manuals of modern kamado brands. These often consisted of a vague reference to a Chinese cooking device dating from the Qin dynasty, followed by a glowing story about the founder of the brand in question. We went on a quest, looking for kamado references in books on culinary history and cooking techniques. We also researched a score of obscure online sources, coming across interesting websites from both Japan and the United States.” There are a good 40 pages dedicated to the subject going from fire to modern times - Dennis gets a couple of pages where the KK is described as: “This design led to the Komodo Kamado, the ne plus ultra of the kamado world. The Komodo Kamado cannot be moved without heavy machinery and the price is enough to give even the most enthusiastic kamado user pause. However, some of the most world-renowned grilling champions swear by it.” I'd reproduce more but it's copyright work so need to be respectful of that. I've linked to the US Amazon store for the title but I'm sure you can pick up a copy on ebay, Abebooks or similar.

Take a look at a Fireboard as well Jim. I recently got a Fireboard 2 and I've been impressed with the quality and functionality. You can use your own fan with it as well. It's a more polished product in my view. If you're starting from scratch, you'll need a Fireboard 2 Drive.

I cook a few dishes on the KK which are Asian but they're primarily grilled and interchangeable with a Konro, things like Yakitori, Bulgogi and Tandoori but they're generally distinguished by the marinade I apply and components like Mirin, Soy, Sriracha and spice blends. My experience of Indonesian is limited to Satay and Ayam Bakar (grilled chicken). Southern Indian Tandoor Lamb Chops with Pomegranate are sublime on the KK. I can also recommend Nasu Dengaku which is miso glazed aubergine/egg plant and the smoke from the charcoal imparts wonderful flavour. I tend to use White Miso for it. If you've never tried it, I'm happy to share a recipe. I've got to write out a recipe for Jamaican Goat Curry for the forum so don't mind adding another to my to do list. I can't think of anything that is low and slow like a brisket but I reckon you could do a Shichimi Togarashi spice blend rub on a brisket. There are variations to the mix but I think it's more easily bought than made. The link I've embedded is just to give you an idea, I don't think it's as authentic as a Japanese created version.

Nicely put Tyrus, palpable enthusiasm right there. Yeah, several bodies, several lenses. Different purposes, different outcomes. I think you reach a point in your skill with anything where you gain the ability to discern finer nuance. Or you could just embrace the Dunning-Kruger effect and spend a lot of time on Mount Stupid (peak confidence/little knowledge). I feel I'm on the slope of enlightenment and quite often, I find myself sliding down it after I read a couple of posts on here. I'm always available for taste testing which is the only way to resolve this conclusively. 🤭

I got that. I just used Lang as an example of the type. 🤘

You're right. I've always been a believer in having the right tool for the job and choice is a fine thing. My wife is understanding of this philosophy. To a point. I think it was cars or camera bags that instituted the draconian 'one in, one out' rule. Genuinely curious as I come from a place of no experience cooking brisket on something like a Lang. Do you feel the difference between a KK and Lang is born in the ease of achieving a consistent result, flavour or the enjoyment and ritual that comes with it? Are the results similar if you know how to use each pretty well? Cooking is a bit like photography I guess. You're judged on the result, not the process that got the result.