Loquitur

Re: Temperature Probes

The wireless feature is super cool because you don't have to be at the grill to know what the temps are. But it seems like the manufacturers haven't worked the kinks out yet, at least for the dual probe models. Doc and I had the probes of our ET 732s short out after a couple of uses and there are several Amazon reviews citing the same problem but tcoliver has had better luck.

Susan

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

The wireless remote thermometers are really helpful to me because my KK is not conveniently located and its often a hassle for me to have to check on it. I have a rambling old house (two houses merged into one) on a small corner lot in a village with only one possible location for a patio. And, both my kitchens are located a lloonngg way from it. I love my Stoker but don't use it unless I'm doing a really big cook. I had high hopes for the ET-732 and it worked well the 2 or 3 times I used it until I did the tenderloins. I think I'll have Santa bring me an Oregon Scientific single probe and continue to use the pit probe of the ET-732, even if its reading 50 deg too high. What I really want to know with the pit probe for these cooks is whether there has been a change requiring me to attend to the KK, primarily before it gets heat soaked at my target temp. I just use my thermapen for grilling, which is the majority of my use of the KK.

Slu and quedog - what kind of plug do you guys have for the probe hole? Can somebody post a picture of it?

Susan

Re: Rib Roast pic

Wow, mk1 - that's really beautiful looking meat to my eyes at 126 PLUS a reverse sear!! I would have thought it would be much more well done at that point than your image indicates.

Susan

Re: Whole Beef Tenderloin

Thank you, David - that's high praise indeed! You wouldn't want me after I told you it took me two hours to trim and tie those three roasts!! But it was fun and I really enjoyed doing it.

Doc - don't waste your time. I did some online research and apparently it is a common problem for the ET-732 to work a couple of times and then the probes short out and start reading read way too high. Maverick says its from exposure to excessive heat or moisture but I don't think anything like that happened to my probes. Maverick sells replacement probes for $12.00 each but I'm not going to bother if I'm only going to be able to use them a couple of times. I sent an email this AM to Thermoworks to ask whether they have plans for a similar product. Some of the single probe remote wireless thermometers are pretty inexpensive these days, like from Oregon Scientific and Taylor, and I'm considering buying two of them, one to use in the food and one in the grill for the pit temp. Do you still like the one you have from Oregon Scientific?

Susan

Here is a picture of the three whole beef tenderloins just taken off the KK which my sister asked me to cook for a holiday party she held yesterday. This was the first time for me cooking this cut of meat and I was a little nervous about it but the KK did the lion's share of the work and it came out beautifully. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of the roasts sliced and plated, which I did at my sister's house, but it was the hit of the party. I trimmed them, cut each one into 2 roasts, a larger one and a smaller one, tied them, seasoned them simply with salt and pepper and a slathering of olive oil and seared them at 500 on the sear grill for 90 secs per side on each of four sides doing three of the six at a time. Then I stabilized the KK at 400 and roasted the three smaller roasts on the inverted sear grill near the dome with the three larger roasts on the main grill under them. Since I fried my 4 Stoker probes cooking my Thanksgiving turkey, I used my ET-732 but the temps were way off. I set the temp probe on the upper grill, so it was near the Tru Tel, and the food probe in the smallest roast on the upper grill. The grill temp was reading about 60 deg higher than the Tru Tel and the food probe was reading 20 deg higher than both my Thermapens, which were measuring exactly the same. The ET 732 was telling me the roast was at 120 deg after being on for only five minutes and it was actually 98 deg at the time!! But I sat with the KK during the whole cook and starting checking after 15 minutes. The smaller roasts took about 20 min and the larger ones about 25 min. I'll have to check if the ET 732 probes can be calibrated. They weren't reading crazy high like mine have in the past when they are fried but they definitely weren't right. This is a highly recommended cook - easy, quick and impressive!!!

Re: kk tool accessories

Those are beautiful gloves - I wonder if anyone has a good selection of sizes. I noticed that the mitts come in an 18" length.

Re: Thanksgiving 2011

This was my third KK stuffed Thanksgiving turkey. I was prepared with the first 2 to remove the stuffing from the turkey and continue to bake it in the oven to get it up to temp but I didn't need to. The difference with this one is that the stuffing was so tightly packed, at least in the big cavity. The stuffing in the small cavity in the back was at 160 when I took it off the KK so I didn't bake that part further and had good samples for comparison. I really liked the texture obtained by finishing the stuffing in the oven.

I'm going to send my four fried probes to Rock and see what happens. I think I read somewhere that he can rebuild them and its less expensive than buying new ones. I'll report what happens.

Thanks, Doc. Somehow I don't feel like such an idiot when someone else makes the same dumb mistake!!

Susan

Re: Thanksgiving 2011 Sorry for the lousy cell phone picture but here is my 15.5 lb turkey, brined, air dried, stuffed and KK'd yesterday. It was not quite done yet in this picture but not far from it. It was excellent, thank heavens, which redeemed the fact that the cook was a nightmare - ALL MY FAULT, of course. So as a lesson of what not to do when cooking a turkey, here is what happened. I haven't tackled installing my new gasket yet so I am conscious of how much charcoal I use since I will burn whatever is in the basket. So I only filled it half way, mostly with the end of a bag containing a lot of small pieces and a little bit of a new bag with big pieces. I knew the fire wasn't burning just right because my Stoker couldn't keep the temp at 325 but it was cruising along at 310ish, which I hoped would continue to the end of the cook. But after three hours the temp started to fall and I knew I had to deal with it. I removed the Stoker probes from the turkey and bent them over the side of the KK to the outside rather than pulling them out of the probe hole completely. It took me some time to remove the turkey, the grate and the heat deflector while everything was really hot to move the coals around and while I was doing all that, the fire flared up just under the probes where they were bent over the KK to the outside. When I loaded the turkey back onto the grill, I put all the probes back but the temps were then reading in the 300's so I think I fried all of them!!! An expensive mistake to say the least. I am hoping maybe Rock will rebuild them for me or something. So take a lesson from me: Fill the basket and completely remove the Stoker probes from the KK!!!! Some other notes about this cook: This is the second year I put some stock in the roasting pan at the beginning of the cook and found that the thighs and bottom of the turkey cooked at a faster rate than the breast. I watched this throughout the cook and when I removed it from the KK, the breast was 155 and the thighs were 170. I attribute this faster cooking of the lower part of the turkey to the steam from the stock. It works great in helping get the breast and thighs done at the same time. As you can see, I really stuffed this turkey to the max. It was smaller than I anticipated and I wanted to use all the stuffing. The stuffing was only 140 deg when I took it off the KK. So I removed it from the turkey and baked it in the oven at 375 for about 20 min and it came out really great. It was crispy all over on the outside and moist and succulent on the inside, full of the flavor only cooking in the bird will yield. I think I will remove it from the turky and bake it in the oven for the future no matter what the temp in the bird when I take it off the KK.

Re: grilling with minimal lump

90% of my use of my KK is for higher temp grilling and I love the Weber baskets for conserving charcoal.

http://www.webergrillaccessories.org/im ... olders.jpg

I use one of them or two of them pushed together, depending on how much heat I want or the quantity of food I'm cooking, sitting on a brick in the KK basket so they are close to the sear grill. You can also place them on the sides of the KK for use with the rotisserie. Fill them with lump and light it with a torch - works great!! I just wish I could buy a sturdier, higher quality version of them. I've been expecting to have to replace them since I use them so frequently but they have held up surprisingly well. All I've had to do so far is bend the tab with needle nosed pliers to keep the pieces together. I highly recommend them.

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details

Those are very instructive pics, Camel City!! So what temp did you settle in at? It looks wonderful - much nicer

than the smoked cheeses I see at my local markets. Can't wait to hear about how it tastes!! Maybe you should

do a preliminary quality control testing???

Re: Flashback

Oh yeah, Whiz - that's it!! And you don't need that high a heat for it to happen if you have nice rib eyes standing by. Love the video - especially the music. You are indeed a man of many talents!!

Thanks to all of you for responding. I didn't realize the burst could be short lived if handled properly. If it happens again, probably more like when it happens again, I'll be prepared and not so afraid. Actually, I was cool, calm and collected while this was happening. It was afterward when I brought the steaks in the house that it really hit me.

Susan

Re: Flashback

I'm sorry for not describing this better but there are some perfect pictures of it on the internet if one of our high tech members would be so kind as to post it for me. I just got a new laptop with Windows 7 and don't have a clue how to do it. To find it, http://www.greeneggers.com, forums, green eggers forum, type in flashback in the search box, First "Flashback" 4/6/2011 (the first result of the search), photos are by Photo Egg 4/7/2011 and its the second and third pictures. That is exactly what was happening except I was afraid to open the lid that high. As soon as I opened it a half inch or so and saw the bright orange light, I closed it and repeatedly tried again after a minute or so. It really scared me!! I've made lots of rib eye steaks on the KK before, albeit not as nice as these, and they've always come out perfectly. It broke my heart to dump them not to mention my poor husband had to deal with my hysterics!!

Susan

I had major flashback issues going on last night. My cook was delayed because a friend stopped by unexpectedly. By the time our visit ended it was getting dark and I was in a hurry because I wasn't set up for a cook in the dark. I had two really nice rib eyes and to get the KK up to my preferred sear temp quickly, I opened the rear door in addition to having the front door, wheel and top damper open. I put the steaks on when the tel tru was 450 but forgot that the rear door was open. After a minute or so, I glanced at the tel tru and it was up to 650 which reminded me that the rear door was open. So I shut eveything down and and went to open the lid to remove the steaks until I had control of the fire. Knowing it was really hot in there, I cracked the lid just the slightest bit and the fire flashed - so I closed it immediately. I kept trying every minute or so but as soon as I cracked the lid, the fire continued to flash. This happened about 7 or 8 times before I could open the lid without a flash. Needless to say, my steaks were incinerated and went straight in the garbage. I didn't have much charcoal in the grill when this happened - just two Weber baskets full pushed together sitting on a brick to bring the coals close the surface of the sear grate.

I'm thinking now that I exacerbated the situation by flooding the fire with oxygen each time I tried to open lid. Is this right? Is this a problem with hot fires and pizza making? What is the recommended course of action when the fire is out of control in this fashion?

Susan

Re: Review of the 2011 Komodo Kamado 23" OTB Gen 2.4 Ultimat

Wow, Whiz!! What a thoughtful and thorough review - just awesome!!

Re: Rack of Lamb 2 weekends ago

I hope you don't mind me asking for the details of that recipe - we love lamb and that looks fantastic!! Did you cook the racks in that upright position the whole time? Was your probe OK over the open flame?

While I'm here, thanks for the info on your Stoker IP address. I will check it out with my tech next time he's at my house.

Susan

Re: To Rotis or Not To Rotis

Wow - using the same knob as the draft door really dresses it up!! I hope Dennis will let us buy them. Thanks for the pix!!

Re: To Rotis or Not To Rotis

My new KK just came with a stainless steel plug with 2 silicone o-rings....

Cool!! Can you post a picture of it?

Re: To Rotis or Not To Rotis

Its more of a hassle trying to protect it from the weather than putting it on and pulling it off the KK - definitely less than 2 min. I agree totally that its easiest to control the Stoker online - not to mention just plain fun. But I have to use the buttons to get started because my router constantly changes the Stoker IP address on me and I have to go in there manually with the buttons to find out what it is on any given day. After that, I control it with my computer all the way.

Susan

Re: To Rotis or Not To Rotis

The Guru buttonology is easier but the Stoker more accurately controls the temp. Navigating the menus and entering inputs is a weirdo process on the Stoker.....I prefer the stoker' date=' but have to relearn it every time I use it.[/quote']

Doc:

Funny you should mention the buttonology on the Stoker. It works

exactly like the remotes for my Lexicon theater processors. When I got

my first one years ago, it annoyed me to no end that I had to get out

the manual to make the slightest adjustment - especially when people

praised the product for its versatility and intuitive user interface. But

then, all of a sudden, after a couple of years, I caught on to it. If its any

help, the middle 2 buttons with the arrows are for scrolling through the

options, the far right button is the select button and to the left of the

arrow buttons is the escape one level button. So you are mostly using

the arrow buttons to run through the options, then you move over to the

right to choose something, then back to the arrow buttons to further scroll through the

new choices, back to the right to select, etc. And if you make a mistake, you go

left of the arrow buttons to escape and go back to where you were or, if you

keep hitting it, you get back to the beginning.

Susan

Re: Smoke's Vibrant Blue

Quite the inaugural cook!! Next cook, don't forget the camera!!

Re: Smoked Egg Pate

Anton: Here is a link to the recipe http://www.primalgrill.org/recipe_detai ... isodeID=35.

It's really very simple - eggs and mayo with the additional flavoring just being the smoke. The 30 min smoking time was perfect for a distinct smoke flavor that was not overpowering. I chopped the eggs in the food processor per the recipe but mixed in the mayo by hand without measuring it. I also did not add the optional lemon. Since you like deviled eggs, give it a try - I think you will love it!!

The crock pot pot was fantastic for traveling with the pork and keeping it warm. If you don't care about the color the Hamilton Beach model was preferred by some reviewers because they felt the lid fit tighter for traveling with items like soup. http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-6- ... 516&sr=1-4

I saw Steven Raichlen prepare a smoked egg pate on his Primal Grill TV show recently and it caught my attention because he commented that his crew couldn't get enough of it. I've seen quite a few of his shows and didn't remember hearing him make a comment like that before, plus he said you could boil the eggs ahead of time and it looked like it would travel well so I decided to bring it to a family gathering as an hors d'oeuvre. Here are the eggs with 3 4 lb boneless pork butts smoking at 275 with cherry wood: After 30 minutes I took them off per the recipe. They did not develop nearly the color that Raichlen's eggs did on the TV show but I probably should have known to do something to develop the pellicle though there was nothing in the recipe about it.

Here is the finished product - about half the eggs for the gathering. I thought it was delicious but it's odd - kind of a love it or hate it kind of thing. I will be having some fantastic egg salad sandwiches this week! I bought this crock pot for the party to help with transporting and serving the pulled pork and loved it!! It has a "keep warm" setting which held it perfectly. Also, the crock part can go in the oven, microwave and dishwasher. A great Amazon purchase for $30.00 and free shipping. I have it dedicated to BBQ. http://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-SCCPVL6 ... 32149&sr=8

Re: Smoke's Vibrant Blue

Spectacular, Dana - congrats and welcome!!!

Re: Costco Kobe Beef Patties

Susan' date=' always use a full basket of lump for any cook. You may only wind up using a little of the top layer, but fill it up.... ".[/quote']

My KK is leaky because my original gasket is shot. Dennis sent me the new one but its been too miserable outside even here in New York to even think about installing it. So I'm burning 2/3 of the lump I put in the KK no matter how much it is. It's the main reason I'm so thrilled with the Weber baskets. If I can make it airtight with the new gasket, I'll be back to filling the KK basket and will see if I can get that inferno going with the lid up.

One of my favorite features of the KK is the ability to grill close to the flame since we like beef well seared and crispy but rare inside - like 118.

I may be imposing on you tomorrow since I'm doing my annual pork butt cook for a family get together. It's my third time doing a pork butt so I should have it down by now but it still makes me nervous and its so comforting knowing this group is here.

Susan

Re: Costco Kobe Beef Patties

Susan' date=' I brought the KK up to 275 for an hour prior to placing the patties in on indirect heat. I left mine in for about 15-20 minutes, and the other for about an hour. I then removed both. Configured the KK for high heat bringing the dome temp up to about 550. I seared on the lower grate for about 60 seconds per side. Mine was medium rare, and the other was well done but still moist. Peter[/quote']

Thanks for the details, Peter. I will definitely try that technique for my brother.