Loquitur

You'll thank me for sure, Tony. I know you like to entertain and what could be better when entertaining than being able to serve a side perfectly cooked that you can put on a couple of hours before your guests arrive and know it will be perfect at the time of serving without you having to pay any attention to it after it is started in advance!! About your cooker being difficult to clean, hopefully sauteing the rice in olive oil or butter for the pilaf will help with that.

I never make plain rice - only pilaf. I pull out the insert and put it on my stove burner and saute the onions, garlic, spices, brown the rice, etc in olive oil and then put it back in the cooker with the requisite liquid. I have to watch it carefully while on the burner and stir frequently since its like a cheap aluminum pan but the results are well worth the effort. It's only a few minutes in the beginning that you have to pay attention getting it started and then you're home free in terms of having it perfect at the time of serving.

I have a cheapie model Aroma rice cooker and I love it. It makes perfect rice every time plus keeps it warm in the same perfect condition for a long time. So I can put it on at the beginning of prepping dinner or even earlier and leave it for an hour or two while I am doing other things - such as having cocktails. I love my pressure cooker too but thats another subject. Susan

My pick was for the leader as well, so far anyway. Susan

Beautiful birds, gentlemen - thanks for the treat!! Susan

Didn't anybody cook their Thanksgiving Turkey on the KK? Let's see 'um!!!!! I had high hopes of doing mine on the KK but was traveling on Thanksgiving Day and arrived home for my cook to over a foot of snow plus ice and darkness.So I did it in my kitchen and didn't take any photos.

Wilburpan: The color on your duck is gorgeous!! And thanks for posting the video of the duck on the BGE. Very interesting. Tony: What happened to the short handles on your upper/sear grill? Can you still cook on the short handles close to the flames with them bent in like that? Susan

Doc: My husband Bruce is crazy about fly fishing.He is currently in upstate NY flyfishing for Steelhead in one of the Lake Ontario tributaries and, believe me, its COLD out there!! You posted a picture once of a fish you caught with details of the gear you used. I showed it to him and he thought it was great. You wouldn't believe those tomatoes were green and hard as a rock when I had to pick them due to a frost several weeks ago. We have a short growing season and I always have close to 100 green tomatoes at the end. I have this technique of letting them ripen in the house in cardboard coffee carriers which keeps them from touching each other and makes it easy to identify any that are leaking or rotting. They make great sauce which I put away for the middle of winter - not as good as just picked off the vine but way better than what you can buy in the store. The Thai hot dragon peppers are chugging along. I have to say I'm totally enjoying this project. Susan

Wilburpan: Can't wait to see that duck!!!!

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/8-qt-oval-digital-pressure-cooker?a=1575412&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=WX2*0421711000000&pm2d=CSE-SPG-15-PLA&utm_medium=PLA&utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=CI&gclid=CO6xuMbersECFUMV7Aod4XYAJw I got this one because I can set the pressure at 15 psi to can my garden tomato sauce instead of freezing it. And I like the extra capacity for my soups as well as the oval shape. It is out of stock now until Dec 1st but I can't find it in stock anywhere else under $200, or the similar Big Boss in stock anywhere else, so I will wait for it. I will be traveling for two weeks this month so its not that bad. The problem was that it had a huge dent in the shell. I sent pictures to customer service and they sent me a label for the return no problem.

Doc: i can't wait to try it!! Ordered the pressure cooker but it arrived damaged and I had to return it so I'm having a short delay. Susan

Was thinking about doing the pickled quail eggs with curry sauce to bring to my sister's house this weekend so I went online to check it out further. Turns out there are some tricks to boiling quail eggs because the yolks are large in proportion to the whites and this wasn't mentioned in the show. So check it out if you want to do this recipe so your boiled eggs remain intact.

Tom Kerridge did two classic pub snacks in the last episode which were pork scatchings and pickled quail eggs with curry sauce. He referred to it as "brilliant beer food" so this is for Tony, bgrant and our other home brewers. I couldn’t find the recipes online but this is how he did it. Pork Scratchings – Took a skin from a pork belly out from the fridge so I presume it was air drying in there. Cut into one inch squares, place in bowl, salt liberally, sprinkle with white wine vinegar and toss. He said the vinegar makes the skin tight and the salt draws out the moisture. Place the squares on a rack over a pan in a single layer. Bake in a hot oven 30 min. They looked beautiful when they came out of the oven – brown and super crispy but not at all like the puffy pork rinds you can buy at a 7/11. It was funny that he reached over and popped one in his mouth, seemingly unconsciously, while he was making the pickled quail eggs. Pickled Quail Eggs w Curry Sauce – pickle mix was water, sugar, vinegar, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cinnamon stick and star anise. He was looking for the quail eggs to be soft boiled so he only boiled them for 2 min and submerged them in ice water. Peel eggs and soak in pickle mix two hours. For the curry sauce, in a saucepan heat curry powder in oil (looked about 2 or 3 T), add tomato puree (looked like tomato paste to me about 1-2 T), big pile of chopped red onions, big pile of chopped white onions and two chopped tomatoes. Cover and simmer 30 min. Puree in blender and pass thru a sieve (he commented that he knew the sieve was “cheffy†but that he liked it smooth). Add chopped chives and toasted onion seeds (?), pour into a squeeze bottle and drizzle over the eggs. The curry sauce was a pink color and looked delightful on the tiny eggs. Looked to me like this could all be done in advance except for the actual baking of the skins.

Thanks for the tip, bgrant. I went on you tube and watched some beer making videos and it seems to me that there is a lot more action in making beer than hot pepper sauce. I have nothing added to the peppers to aid in the fermentation besides water and salt and a cabbage leaf over the top of the peppers to keep them submerged. I will keep a close eye on it.

Very professional looking,Tony!! Here is mine in progress. It's my first attempt and I am very encouraged after a slow start. Nothing was happening for a few days and I thought I killed everything between using my tap water which is from a municipal supply and probably full of chemicals and my house being closer to 60 deg than 70 most of the time at this time of year. But after the third day it started to rock!! I hope I have this cap contraption in correctly. I have no clue how this is supposed to keep oxygen out but let the CO2 escape. These are my Thai Hot Dragon peppers plus 3 poblano's to beef up the flesh a little bit. My plan is to do half of it with fish sauce and half of it with rice wine vinegar. I have an issue with commercial bottled hot sauces being to vinegary so I'm excited about being able to get away from that.

Thanks for the fascinating post, Wilburpan. I love Korean BBQ but the few times I've tried to make kalbi or bulgogi, I feel like I don't have the right balance even though I use the fresh Asian pear. So I'm delighted to hear that I should try a bottled sauce from the Asian market!! Also would be very interested in hearing about the recipes and techniques for the side dishes sometime.

My cable provider just picked it up in the last year or so. I will post about anything I try.

Doc - have you tried any of the other functions of this appliance - such as using it as a rice cooker or slow cooker? It's an intriguing thought that I could replace some good sized appliances with this all in one and get the feature of pressure cooking along with it. I'm interested in your rib technique also. I've basically given up on ribs because they are, by far, the most erratic cooks I have with the KK. There seems to be no telling whether they will come out fantastic or horrible and, unfortunately, they are more often horrible than fantastic. Seems like maybe I could get ribs back in my cooking rotation with this.

Thanks for the tip, Tony - that would have worked fine for me if I knew about it. My KK goes into hibernation after the Thanksgiving turkey except for maybe an isolated cook here or there for a rib roast or steaks if its not too dark and cold and icy that day. I do put the cover on the KK for the winter but just didn't get it on soon enough last year. Valuable lesson learned.

I haven't had a problem with my turkey drippings burning but I use one of Dennis' round stainless pans on the main level grill with the turkey up on a rack. It's a good thing since I love my smokey turkey gravy from the drippings. Your beautiful turkey is making me excited about my Thanksgiving turkey this year.Last year my top hat was frozen solid to the dome and there was no way it was going to open no matter what I tried so I had to make it in the oven.

Gorgeous turkey, Parrothead. Did you use any smoke wood? I misread the word beast for breast in your first post so I was super surprised to see a whole turkey in your picture- sorry about that!!

Yikes!! I buy pork necks at my farmer's market for soup stock which gives a sweet undertone to the soup. But its nothing like a butt!!! Giving this further thought, I buy pork neck bones for my stock - not pork necks. Probably a huge difference there.

Heph: What did you coat the skin with? My olive oil never gets the skin nearly that brown even at the 400 temps.

Tony: It's on the Cooking Channel but its a BBC production so its way different in tone and look than the typical shows produced by Food Network and its affiliates. I stumbled on it checking out the schedules for the new fall TV season and set up a Season Pass thinking I could always use some new ideas for wings, shepherd's pie, fish and chips, etc., which I'm very fond of. It was nothing like I expected but I was blown away!!! If you are using a DVR be sure to set it for New and Repeats. These episodes are new in the US but they may show up as repeats since they first aired in Britain last year. Susan

Is anybody else watching this cooking show - Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food? A very interesting and likeable fellow with a show geared toward cooking at home. He describes himself as "not a salad kind of guy" and says he runs the only pub in Great Britain that has been awarded two Michelin stars. On the show I saw last night he did a center portion of beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes and Yorkshire pudding and I must say the finished product looked spectacular!! He marinated the beef in molasses overnight, seared it in a pan in oil and and then butter and then put it in an oven at 55C which is 130F for 45 min commenting that you could leave it in the oven for much longer if necessary since it would never overcook - like the sous vide concept. Also he had some awesome tips for the roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. I can't wait to try them.