benobas

Been a while...got sucked into work and then lock down. I’ve also limited myself to KK on week-ends otherwise the waist will know no limits. Glad to see that everyone seems well 🙏 Some pics below including my first ever fish, first ever rotisserie, first ever split basket - opened three new chapters in KK delights.

Forgot to add the last salad, green papaya. The kids complained that I spent all afternoon cooking and all they got was pasta.

Have moved recipe trials to the orient. First go at Chicken Satay and Chicken Teriyaki (next time I’ll do more than two skewers!). Served with Satay sauce, Teriyaki sauce, Nasi Goreng and Coriander salad. Used good ol’ Pestle and Mortar instead of liquidiser. Took a long time...

New Year’s Eve porchetta with roast tomatoes and onions. Will defo do again.

Looks amazing. How long did you cook and at what temp? Did you put any liquid in the roasting dish?

I live in the UK and four years ago was poised to upgrade my barbecue to a Green Egg. A US colleague said I should get a KK instead. I probed and upon learning of the weight, cost and need to import, I said he was crazy. As it turns out I didn’t get the Green Egg but also never forgot the KK. This year I bit the bullet and got in touch with Dennis. He was always available and helpful as I was making my decision. He was patient when I was freaking out about having wired $7k to Indonesia while my beautiful cobalt blue KK was sailing the seas to the UK. He set me up with a customs agent and transporter who delivered to my door. THANK YOU DENNIS! Taking the KK through the house I cracked a glass door and cratered two floorboards. (BTW I manoeuvred the KK 23” Ultimate alone including up and down steps so it’s possible in case anyone is wondering...and I am sure it’s possible to do so without damaging your house if you don’t have rotten floorboards, etc!) Witnessing this, my wife demanded we change the outdoor decking for flagstones as she thought the KK would collapse the decking (I suspect she always wanted the flagstones). Because of work I can only barbecue on week-ends but I spend every day thinking about what I am going to barbecue, how I am going to do it, what tweaks or tricks I’ll try, which tips from the Forum I’ll use....Come the week-end I’ll fire up the blue octopus as my kids call it and have the best time whether it’s an overnight low & slow or a quick blast grill. I do it whether it’s sunny or raining, warm or cold. I do it whether it’s for one person , two, five, nine or fourteen. Heck, I look forward to doing it when it’s snowing. I do not do social media (no Facebook, Twitter, instagram, etc) but some of the UK KK community got in touch to welcome me. The warmth and the passionate, friendly community are amazing. So I now do social media, but only on the KK Forum. The KK is by far the best gift I have ever bought for myself or for anyone in fact. Even my wife reluctantly admits it’s enhanced our weekend meals. The exciting thing is I have so far only experimented with a few cuts of beef and pork plus a duck. Lamb, goat, venison, chicken, pheasant, partridge, goose, the worlds of fish, vegetables, pizzas, bread and so forth are still waiting. I cannot believe that I waited four years. That was really crazy. I’m still a beginner but if anyone in the UK (or anywhere) is hesitating in their choice or has questions please drop me a line.

First successful reverse sear. Cote de boeuf with garlic, rosemary & thyme. I ditched the temperature probes and did it on time and touch and a bit of luck. Super fun to have the KK firing vs low & slow!

20h (no crutch, no butcher paper) and still half a basket left at the end. Quite satisfying and good fuel for the poker night. Though I will definitely try the 350F method next time. Did I read that the Forum prefers chuck to brisket? If so, shall experiment.

Ok, I’ll give it a go. Thanks, all

Mac, what do you use for steel grills? My wooden scraper leaves more black than bronze exposed...

Haven’t posted for a while but have enjoyed the exploits of others. Since last time, one successful duck, one ok rib of beef (too done for me to the delight of my wife but still great flavour), three simultaneous failures (beef cheek, ox tail, beef shin) where I didn’t have enough time and increased the temperature at the end to race to the appropriate internal temp ☹️. V excited for tonight as am tackling brisket overnight again with the coffee rub this time.

That’s a cracking roast beef, Mac. Gonna try that next Sunday.

First ever ribs, first KK cook under rain. Super satisfying. No problem to get KK going and then held steady for eight hours. Just Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper on the beef ribs; Kansas Tribute rub and sauce on the pork ribs. Even my mother ate them without a knife and fork!

Second time doing pork belly. Last time I couldn’t get the crackling right. So this time I started at 300C to puff up the skin quickly then reduced the temperature to 140C for 3h - did before KK was heat soaked and put in cold grill grates and the deflector stone slab to absorb the heat inside. Gave it another blast at 300C for 15mins at the end. Sweet & spicy rub - sugar, cayenne, garlic, onion, cumin - with just a bit of olive oil and salt for the crackling. Great fun.

First post but not first cook. Have been learning by trial and lots of error over the past 3 weeks. First brisket - 3.5kg post fat trimming; simple salt and pepper rub with some thyme & rosemary; oak chunks; 225F for 12h; 1h rest; KK23 performed amazingly overnight as meat went in at 23h30. Not enough time to get through stall as I had to take out when guests arrived (181F internal). Nonetheless very satisfying. Next attempts will trial Texas crutch vs. 300-350F method I’ve seen on the Forum.