Loquitur

Re: Costco Kobe Beef Patties

A few comments about searing.

Your dome temp is only a very indirect indicator of the temperature down at the actual sear level.

To sear you just need what I refer to as "a good hot fire". The actual measured temp is not too critical. You will get a raging hot searing fire in just a few minutes by simply leaving your KK lid open. There is no need to close the lid and wait for the temp to come up. The blazing fire will come up faster with the lid open. You don't need a heat soaked KK to sear. Searing is done with the direct fire, not the radiated wall heat, with the lid open, in just a few moments.

So, when you want to do the reverse sear, take the meat off, leave the lid open, put the sear grill down there, wait a few minutes til the fire is blazing, and sear.

Doc:

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or not but my fire doesn't get blazing hot, at least as blazing hot as I want it, without closing the lid and waiting for the Tru Tel to come up to a minimum of 400 - with higher being better. And it doesn't take long at all - about 15 minutes after a good zap with the torch. Maybe its because I'm cooking small quantities with the Weber baskets set up on a brick so that the height of the lump is the same as the height would be with a full KK basket of lump without the firepower of a full KK basket of lump. In any event, I find this technique reliable and repeatable. Two minutes a side with my reshaped thicker burgers on the lower sear grill and they are perfect. I've tried leaving the lid open but it just doesn't get that hot. I can tell just by holding my hand over the flame.

Susan

Re: Sylhet Red Chicken Curry (sous vide and grill)

Be still my beating heart!!! Syz - that looks fantastic and I know my husband, who likes to sweat when he's eating Indian of Thai food, would love it. I just might have to get one of those Sous Vide Supreme Demi machines. To give me an idea of its capacity, how many of those chicken legs could you sous vide at a time?

Susan

Re: Costco Kobe Beef Patties

Slu: As a test, I did not reshape the burgers I cooked last night except to compact them a little bit to make a rounder shape and they cooked up fine. I have been reshaping them to make them rounder and thicker and have had no problem with them falling apart. I can feel the softness and tenderness of the meat in my hands as I reshape them so I handle it very gently. I do, however, put them in the frig after reshaping for a half hour or so to let them set up.

I'm curious about your indirect technique. What is the temp and time for the rare and well done burgers prior to the sear? I will be making these for my brother soon and he will want them well done. For my husband and I, they are done after the sear. I seared the ones I did last night for 30 seconds less than normal since the out of the package burgers are thinner than the ones I reshape.

Susan

Re: Robust and Hearty Meat Loaf

Doc - very interesting. Raisins in savory dishes is new to me except that my little old lady Italian neighbor up the street makes meatballs with raisins and pine nuts and they are delicious!!

Re: Costco Kobe Beef Patties

It says American Kobe beef. Anyone compare these to real kobe beef? I"ve never had the nerve to order the real stuff' date=' lol.[/quote']

I have two burgers defrosting right now. The actual package from D'Artagnan says:

Wagyu Beef

Raised Without Added Hormones or Antibiotics

All natural feed - no animal by products

No Artificial Ingredients

Minimally Processed

I've never had Kobe beef so I can't compare but these are really great burgers. All they need is a

good, hot KK sear and they come out crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside.

They have terrific flavor and they melt in your mouth!!

Susan

Re: Robust and Hearty Meat Loaf

I love your recipe posts, Paswesley - please don't feel hesitant. I go to the recipes on this forum before anywhere else when I'm looking for inspiration or just something new. The combination of mustard and raisins sounds very interesting so I will definitely try this meatloaf. And, I get the biggest kick out of the huge quantities you cook!!!

Re: My Steak Technique

Larry: Is it fair to say that you salt the steaks for less time than the original article recommends? I tried this last year when you first posted about it but I got distracted and left the salt on an extra twenty minutes or so. Needless to say, I ruined the steaks but I want to try again with a timer around my neck!!

Re: Costco Kobe Beef Patties

FYI, Costco has the beef patties on sale. A case of 24 (9oz each) is now $99 which includes two-day air.

Thanks for the link, Slu. My husband and I are huge fans of these burgers and I was just checking on them at the Costco website last week. They were $159.00 so this is a killer deal.

Slu, just wondering - do you reshape them or use them as they are straight from the package? I'm tempted to try them straight from the package but it seems to me that the patty might be too loose to turn. Oh, and we like them rare, too. Actually, they are our most favorite KK meal.

Susan

Re: KK *should* be here by the weekend!

....I decided in May to purchase it and surprise him. Two months later' date=' it's almost here and he has no clue....jaeger[/quote']

What a lovely surprise - I wish I could be there to see his reaction to this incredible acquisition!!! Pulled pork is a wonderful cook but it takes a long time if you use the classic low and slow technique. Doc has helped me on a number of occasions with my pulled pork and it has come out great. If you have that time, it's a number one choice, but if you don't, let us know what kind of time you do have for the first cook and this group can walk you through something else that will be fantastic.

Susan

Re: Bronze Behemoth Game On! 2

I used the new Maverick ET732 last night' date=' it is a very nice upgrade to the 73. The on off switches are external so no need to take the little door off the back like before. The BIG plus is the transmission range! It is so far superior to the old unit you won't believe it. A big improvement.[/quote']

I tried mine for the first time this week too and also thought it was much superior to the old 73 model. I can see using it alot for everyday cooks to monitor the KK coming up to temp while I'm in the house prepping considering my kitchen is a long way from my KK. Did you try the pit probe holder that came with it? I didn't know what it was until after I already had set up the probe in the grill with an alligator clip. The two hole design looks like it would support the probe better than anything I have now so I'm looking forward to trying it. Hope the new probes can handle the heat as advertised. The only thing I didn't like was dealing with those small screws to put the batteries in.

Susan

Re: What is your KK's name?

My autumn neblula/bronze metallic tweed KK is named Havana after leather, cognac and cigars.

Susan

Re: What was my daughter thinking?

Get her a book on how to train your dog.

ROTFLMAO!!! Sorry, folks, just can't help myself.

Re: Wireless Stoker Released

The description says it has a new two piece design with front hood to improve weather resistance. Does that mean the new one doesn't need the rain gear any more?

Susan

FINALLY....A Good Chicken Cooking chicken is the one thing I've been struggling with on the KK. It's been particularly frustrating because my former gas grill made fantastic chicken. That grill, a Vidalia, was designed for indirect cooking with a burner on one side, a water pan on the other side and vents to promote convection air flow. So I've tried a couple different things with the heat deflector in place trying to duplicate the chicken I've cooked in the past and then basically gave up since I make so many other things on the KK which are outstanding. I just got my adjustable pins for the rotisserie and picked up a couple of 6 lb chickens for it but then saw Firemonkey's post and pictures in the Chicken Fat topic about cooking chicken on the upper grill at 400 deg direct, which I decided to try feeling lazy about setting up the rotisserie deal. It came out fantastic!!! All I had on it was olive oil, Montreal Chicken Seasoning and a little salt and pepper. After 45 min I turned it and it looked sooo beautiful. I would have taken the temp then but both my Thermapens got wet and were reading the air temp funny so I just figured I would keep it on another half hour since it was a large chicken. When I took it off, both "wet" Thermapens were reading 20.0 in the breast, which was probably 200, so I thought I really overcooked it and it would by dry. But I was still happy since I knew I had the basic technique. I'm trying to show with the 2nd picture from the bottom of my platter that it wasn't dry AT ALL. I did not baste it during the cook or do anything at all except let it rest about 20 min. after it came off the grill. Thank you Firemonkey!!! Chicken is back!!

Re: Turkey on KK

Very nice' date=' love the color, did you tent with foil during the cook to maintain that color?...[/quote']

That bird is lovely indeed!! I'm thinking that light mahogany color is from the cherry wood - at least that's what I've read. I bought a bag of cherry wood chunks for that reason but haven't tried them yet.

Susan

Re: Best Smoking Methods With KK?

Let us know how you make out. Just be sure not to light too many coals since its a low temp cook. I like to do about a tennis ball size of coals in the center. And I throw a wood chunk in there too because the smoke reassures me that the fire hasn't gone out before the temp dial starts to move. It will still take a little time to get it up to your temp since you have a small fire - maybe a half hour - but its way faster than bringing the grill up to temp with the vents in the more closed positions. The first step in shutting down for me is to close the lower door but leave the wheel open and close the top half way. Then I just watch the gauge and adjust from there since I know ultimately where the vents need to be. You will feel your way and the more you do it the more predictable it is.

Re: Best Smoking Methods With KK?

.....By using your knuckle to tap it shut' date=' I'm assuming this means that you have the vent pulled out at the bottom and your using your knuckle to close it a little? I haven't ever pulled it out to allow airflow... I've just turned the damper with the wooden handle to regulate airflow.[/quote']

Opening the dial all the way on the lower vent and also pulling the door out a few inches is a great way to get your fire up to temp quickly, along with opening the top vent most of the way. But you need to start shutting it down when you get to within approximately 50 deg of your target temp. This works well for me even for low temp cooks, though I light only a very small area of the lump. If you wait for your fire to get to 230 with the lower vent opened the width of a dime and the upper vent open only an inch or two, you will be waiting for a looonnnggg time though these are the openings that will maintain the 230 cook once you get there. I shut down in two or three stages, top and bottom vents, for it to stabilize and then fine tune with the top damper for a 5 or 10 deg. adjustment if I need it. I watch it closely to be sure it never goes higher than my target temp. After an hour or so when KK gets heatsoaked, you will have to adjust the temp again to cut down on the air flow further. After that you should be set. And if you don't have time to fool around with it, a Stoker or Guru does a fine job.

Susan

Re: Best Smoking Methods With KK?

C-West:

1/2 a turn of the top damper is way too open for a 230 cook. To keep it that low you need to just

have it opened maybe an inch or two and adjust it for fine tuning from there.

Susan

Pastrami I had a 4 lb corned beef taking up room in my freezer so I thought I'd try my hand at pastrami. I soaked it for an hour, applied a generous amount of cracked black peppercorns and coriander seeds with a little Montreal Chicken Seasoning, and cooked it at 325 deg according to Doc's sticky post re fast brisket. It took 2 hours to get it to 160 and another two hours in the foil to get it tender. It was super spicy which is good for us. Now if I could only get my hands on some killer rye!!

Re: Online Source for Lump Charcoal

I have the solution to your heavy bags. Come to Montreal for a visit of our beautiful city. Stop by our place for a bbq and some drinks. Close by here there is a market where they sell Royal Oak in 4kg (8.81lbs) bags for $7.80 each. You can load the car and go home full and happy.

Hephaestus:

Thank you for the lovely invitation - I will take you up on it for sure, maybe next summer. Montreal is one of my most favorite cities. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there 35 years ago and we have spent many 4th of July extended weekends there at the Jazz Festival. It is a beautiful city indeed!!

Re: First Wings

Thanks for posting that, Quedog - they look really good. I have tried a couple of techniques but have not been very impressed. Truth be told, on the few occasions I make them at home, I drop them in a deep fryer and they come out really crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I will try on the KK again on the main grill at 450, which will be a new technique for me.

Here in the northeast, its hard to find a selection of hardwood lump charcoal at any time of the year so I have been ordering Royal Oak online at doitbest.com and then picking it up at the local affiliate to get the free shipping. I like it alot except I would prefer a smaller bag so that I could handle it easier. So today I just ordered 12 10 lb bags of Ozark Oak for $8.95 a bag and free shipping since the order is more than $99. This charcoal has a high rating at Naked Whiz website - higher than Royal Oak. I'm anxious for it to arrive. Just thought I'd post about it for others who might need to order online. The site is http://www.grillstuff.com.

Re: Best Cut of meat for "Pulled Beef"??

I've been eying this recipe for Pulled Beef from the Big Green Egg forum. I have not tried it myself yet - a bit much work for my taste - but it is well received over there.

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?o ... ail&id=431

Sorry, everyone - I had no idea when you clicked that link you would be brought to a sign in page - that is really obnoxious. When I tested it, I got straight through to the recipe and didn't give it a further thought. In any event, its the same recipe that Kravnh posted below Clay's Pulled Beef.

Re: Pebble tile or Square tile?

Here's a vote for #1.

Re: First Rotisserie Cook: Very nice

[

I just picked up some Weber Char-basket Charcoal holders:

.......... for 15 bucks from amazon it was a worthwhile purchase.

I love these baskets and use them all the time. They solved my problem of going

through lots of charcoal for small cooks since I'm mostly only cooking for two. I

sit them on a brick to support them and raise them closer to the grill surface. If

I'm only doing a couple of wursts or chicken breasts, I only use one of them and

if I want more heat for burgers or steaks I use them both. My bag of charcoal

lasts much, much longer now than it used to. I'm anxious to use them for the

rotisserie, too, but my basket doesn't fit and I'm waiting for the adjustable pins

to arrive.