Hitman

I may also need to be a little more careful about sealing the KK airtight after the cooking is done. I read a post about not sealing the top vent too tight when the cooker is hot, may have gone a little overboard and left it too loose. Lots to learn......but lots of fun too. Gary

OK, I know how to post pics, but how do you post thumbnails that can be clicked on, and viewed full size?

As the saying goes, cleanliness is next to goofiness, dangerously close to obsessive compulsive behavior! I am a neat freak, so I clean everything. I am always polishing our silver, use chrome polish on my toaster, and have several boxes of car polishes, wax, various cleaning products. One thing that surprised me was when I looked down into the firebox, saw that I completely burned up a whole basket of Cowboy lump. So much for being able to re-use the charcoal.

Saw this idea mentioned in another thread, went right out and tried it. The 24" diameter plastic pan is sold at Home Depot, Lowes, and other hardware outlets as a water heater drain pan. It has a one-inch drain plug, but you will need to get a one-inch PVC cap as well. Works well, is shallow enough that the water will just cover the grill grate. I added some white vinegar as well, let it soak overnight. Just a minute with a standard wire grill brush got the grill pretty clean. I also cleaned the heat deflector base with a little Bon Ami.

Thanks for all the great advice. I think I will get one of those torches, will check my local Home Depot, use Amazon as my fallback. I have a little cast iron smoker box, will use that for my chips (upside down per Dennis's suggestion). I plan to continue to put water plus maybe a little vinegar in my drip pan. Perhaps the consensus is that it is not really needed, but I like the idea of the extra moisture, and that it will make cleaning the pan easier. Also, no need to keep wrapping the pan in foil. I also got one of those 24" shallow pans for a water heater, found it to be very convenient for cleaning the grill. I'll post some pics later today.

Cooking time was a little over 2 hours. Took the meat off at 150 degrees, probably should have waited until 155, but the wife was hongry! We cut off the end pieces, popped the rest back on the grill for 5 minutes. Perfect. Very juicy and tender, flavorful as well. Keep getting time-outs from ImageShack, so I'll post the photos later.

One hour in, dome temp has inched up to 310. Top vent is open 1 turn, bottom vent cracked just enough to slide a dime in the crack. Meat temp is now 117. I think I will want to pull it off around 150. The roast was marinated in Levi Stubbs pork marinade for 3 hours, then rubbed with Grill Masters pork rub.

Pork loin roast (6-rib) is on the grill right now. I definitely need to refine my technique. First step was getting the charcoal lighted. I used a starter packet, put it on top of the charcoal basket, with a chimney partly full of lump charcoal over that. The chimney lit up OK, got some lumps going pretty good, then I dumped the chimney load on top of the charcoal basket. So far, so good. Next I wanted to get the KK heat soaked. I put the heat deflector on (bad move). I should have waited, but like a dummy I also put some wood chips on the fire. Lots of smoke as a result. By the time the KK got up to 250 degrees, all the chips had burnt up. Bad. Next I put lower grill on, and the drip pan filled with a cup of vinegar and a cup of water. Then the upper grill with the roast on it. Temp is right now sitting at 275, internal meat temp is 75. Per JeffB's advice, I wrapped my thermometer wire in aluminum foil to protect it.

Dale's sauce is da bomb! My standard marinade for almost anything was soy sauce and garlic, but Dale's is way better, far more complex. It's especially good for steaks ---- liquid steak in a bottle. I find that it is not nearly so salty as soy sauce. I often use it in recipes as a substitute for soy sauce, for that very reason.

You got my vote!

For "full size" photos, I click on the "Add image to post", browse on your 'puter for the photo you want to post, then resize to 640x480. For example, here's a pic of FireMonkey:

Thanks again for the helpful hints. I will try leaving the lower vent half open (EZ to remember) and control the temp with just the upper vent, see how that works for me. No, I did not put the heat deflector in at the same time as the chicken, but it was sitting on top of the lower grill. Next time I will put it on the charcoal basket, per your suggestion. The Kingsford Competition charcoal was pretty crummy. I put a little more than a full (large) chimney load in, and it was completely burned up. Today I picked up two bags of Cowboy lump (only type of lump they carry at Home Depot), and completely filled the basket. Not sure what I'll be cooking tonight. Question 1: How can you plug the small hole in the side of the cooker --- I think it's for the rotisserie shaft? Question 2: Can I use that hole for the sensor on my digital cooking thermometer? If I do that, and place the sensor into the meat, will it accurately register the meat temp, or will it be affected by the interior dome temp? Guess one way to check is to compare its temp reading with the Tel Tru.

All you flyboy throttle jockeys need to come up to the DC area and visit the new Air & Space museum exhibit in Chantilly, VA, adjacent to Dulles Int'l airport. Here's the two MIGs they have on display.

Problem I would see with a whole suckling pig would be keeping control of the drippings. Those little suckers generate GALLONS of liquid fat as they cook. I used to live in Hawaii, and watched how they cook the pigs luau style, by wrapping them up, cooking them in the ground. When the pig comes out, the result is much like pork soup --- there is that much fat. Sure is tasty though!

Chris, check with Dennis. There's a really nice, brand new Mixed Matte Green 23" OTB sitting in my driveway, just needs a little TLC and a new home!

Did some chicken thighs tonight, using a recipe from the Naked Whiz website. Somewhat oriental marinade, lots of soy, ginger, and garlic. I subsituted Myers dark rum for the bourbon, only marinated for two hours. Started with a partial basket of Kingsford Competition charcoal, because that's what I had on hand. Used a chimney to start some coals, dumped them on top of the basket. Lots of smoke at first, but tapered down. Stabilized the temps at 350 for over 20 minutes. Had the lower grill with the heat deflector, and the drip pan above that. I put some soaked cherry wood chips on the coal bed, put the chicken thighs on the upper grill, closed the lid. The temps dropped immediately from 350 to 225, took almost 10 minutes to get up to 350 again. I opened the bottom air vent to about 50%, had the upper vent open 2 full turns. I flipped the thighs after 15 minutes, ended up grilling a total time of almost 40 minutes. Meat temp was 160. The chicken was extremely moist, but the fatter thighs were not quite cooked through. Next time I will try heat soaking the grill to 400 degrees, then opening the vents enough to recover back to 400 within a fe minutes, then cutting back the air to stabilize the temps. I can see that temp control is key for repeatable results, need to gain some experience. BTW, the chicken was absolutely delicious, just not quite perfect.

GOT IT! Thanks for all the help. I'm headed out to the store right now for my first grill --- chicken thighs. I'm gonna use a recipe I got on NakedWhiz from one of the EggFest cookbooks. The KK is temporarily sitting on my side porch, as my rear patio is crawling with siding installers. Photos to follow.

OK, now I'm getting a little confused. From JeffB's first post --- what is the difference between the sear grill and the lower grill? I have looked through the Photo Inventory of Gen II OTB Accessories shown on the Features and Accessories page, and I don't see a "sear grill". I also don't see an extra "sear grill" in the components that came with my KK. From JeffB's second post --- I think I am following this, as it says to put the heat deflector on the lower grill, then put the drip pan on top. But then I think there is a typo, because it says to remove the upper grill, drip pan, and heat deflector as one unit, and I think it should say to remove the steaks from the upper grill, then remove the upper grill and set it aside, then remove the lower grill, drip pan, and heat deflector as one unit. Then I could remove the heat deflector and drip pan, place the lower grill back into the KK (or the sear grill, whatever that is), and then when the heat is at a peak, sear the steaks on the lower/sear grill. Do I have that right? With regard to MGuerra's post, I could do that with my trusty Weber I suppose, but would prefer to learn how to do everything on my KK. Anyway, thanks everyone for your helpful advice!

Chris, your method sounds perfect. I have a big party coming up, am planning to grill some thick tenderloin steaks, maybe also some tri-tip. Here's a practical question. To cook at 200 degrees on my KK with indirect heat, I will need to use the heat deflector (doubles as a pizza stone). When I bump up the heat at the end to get ready to sear, won't I have to remove the heat deflector? That could get a bit dicey! Gary

Thanks for the tips --- mguerra has also done so via PM, so thanks to you both. I have removed all the grates, baskets, and assorted hardware from inside the cooker, and pulled the pin from the lid. I will take great care with cushioning the cooker to make sure no tiles are damaged. I was somewhat astonished by all of the different items that come with the cooker, several of which I will need to research. What is needed is an "Owner's Manual", perhaps in a downloadable PDF format. I'm sure that much of the relevant information is already available on the website, but it would me nice to have it consolidated into a more convenient format. I am planning to take a bunch more pictures, and then post them onto a website where everyone can see them. This website tends to be a little slow, and doesn't handle large-format photos very well.

New KK was delivered today without a problem, sitting in my driveway next to the first one. Hope Dennis sells it soon so I can have my driveway back. I had the same delivery driver as before, so he was pretty patient while I took the top off the crate to make sure there was no damage with this cooker. Luckily, it was perfect. Here's the two cookers, side by side. Note that by this time I had almost completely disassembled the shipping crate. I loosened the 8 wood screws at the bottom, broke out the bottom board, and was able to lift off the entire crate by myself. Then I completely disassembled every board, removed all the screws, etc. WHen I was done I had the four vertical 2"x2" posts which I can use tomorrow to move the cooker. I am having new siding put on my house, and my contractor called today to say they would be delivering the siding tomorrow, and starting the install on Thursday. He said his guys would help me move the KK into my backyard and onto the patio. Here's a better view of the cooker. It is a very nice powder blue, with no greenish overtones. So much for the "Fire Opal" as a name. I removed all the innards and the dome spring, so it's all ready to be put into position!

Thanks for the tips!

"Saphira" should be delivered tomorrow. The first "cracked" KK is still sitting in my driveway, blocking the entrance to my stairs. Hopefully the delivery guy will move it out of the way before he wheels up the new delivery. This time I am going to pry off the top pf the crate, make sure there was no damage, BEFORE I sign the delivery papers and let the truck get away.

I'm hooked on "Saphira". Cool names are nice, but it would be even nicer to have an actual KK on my patio. Still waiting....