John T

Never had difficulty getting charcoal lit and our KK up to temperature in cold weather (sub freezing included). Ours sits on a covered deck, out of the rain/snow but otherwise open to the environment.

Nice looking cook, but regarding the cold start - from the experts on this forum, I understand that the initial (white) smoke that is emitted isn't particularly tasty. (Lots of eye burning wood alcohol in the smoke.) The gurus say that best practice is to wait for blue smoke before putting the meat into the KK. I confess to often jumping the gun, and the results still taste good. But Dennis' words stick in my head. Perhaps meat could spend a half hour in the freezer before going into the KK to lengthen the time it absorbs smoke. John

Late, but for future reference, we found the piece of paper with the brine recipe we used: 2 liters water 3/4 cup kosher salt 1 cup brown sugar curing salt-- 1 tsp/5 pounds of ham

Some years ago we smoked a piece of pork that we first brined for several days. Came out well. Right in the middle next to the bone the curing liquid didn't quite penetrate but it tasted fine. That suggests injecting brine in addition to soaking could be a good thing to do. I'll see if I can find the brine recipe we used. (Probably nothing fancy -water, salt, sugar, curing salt)

yup, I have one of these IR temperature sensors. I guess I just need to be more patient and wait until the floor temp is really really hot.

So we ended up with the Alfa 5 Minuti and have tried pizzas twice now. Still on the learning curves with pizzas - those done in our KK tend to cook the bottom faster than the top, and in the WFO the top faster than the bottom. We'll get there eventually, but may not have many clothes that fit by then.

Please tell, which Deli in Plymouth. (We are just south of you on Cape Cod :-))

You folks are like the devil with temptations 😉. Okay, which of these is the better companion to our KK Supreme? Alfa 5 Minuti Forno Venetzia Pronto 500

To clarify, any association with Mr Rogan could turn people away. My post referred to the adage - if you lie with dogs, you will get fleas.

Be careful when lying down with dogs.

Just two flat sheets of pasta, dollops of filling on the first sheet, wet slightly between the dollops, lay the second sheet on top, press and cut apart. Then cross your fingers that the pockets don't come apart when boiling.

For pasta that starts with flat sheets of dough, we use a simple hand cranked adjustable roller with a couple cutting attachments. Dough made by hand. But for extruded pasta (tubes of various shapes), you would need a machine.

Over this past weekend I tried my idea of placing the smoke pot below the charcoal basket. Used the MSR SS pot as my cast iron one was a bit too tall to fit below the charcoal basket. The MSR was set on 3 SS screws (laying horizontal) as standoffs. (The holes I drilled in the pot are on the bottom.) I was cooking a 2.5"-thick cowboy steak using reverse sear. Better part of an hour at ~230F (steak on the warming rack with aluminum foil on the rack below shielding direct radiant heating), followed by a rest while Babe heated up to 400+ then the sear). The steak came out great, though I didn't see or taste much smoke. Looking at the wood chunks after cool down, they don't appear to have fully carbonized (still see some brown color). So I;'m interpreting all this as the pot didn't get hot enough to get the wood chunks smoldering. Perhaps my taller cast iron pot being taller and in contact with the charcoal basket would get hotter? But for the little guy its back to burying that smoking pot in the charcoal.

I have been trying both the MSR SS pot and a cast iron pot (repurposed mussel cooker, photo below - after removing the wooden handle and plugging the hole). I like the size of the MSR (the cast iron pot takes up a significant fraction of the charcoal basket in our 21" Supreme), but struggling with the duration of the smoke output. This got me wondering if there might be enough radiant heat for a ~large smoker pot to sit below the charcoal basket - with standoffs so the holes on the bottom are not blocked. Would also have to avoid blocking the KK air intake. Thoughts? John

Yeah, I use an LL - works fine. Probably not quite as fast as a torch, but with the built in blower, it's a one step operation. But my thumb does get a bit tired holding the trigger down - it isn't a turn on and walk away operation.