Loquitur

That plan all sounds great except I'm not sure a 375 temp is high enough for a crispy skin for a 12 lb brined breast. My guess is that 400 deg. would be good and it would be done in about 2.5 hours - but you need to internally monitor the temp. I think a target of 155 IT or so would be fine since it will continue to cook after you remove it from the KK, more so at the 400 higher temp than a lower temp. Also check it periodically for color, which depends on various factors. For example, I like to coat the skin with olive oil, which does not brown the skin as much as butter. It will be fantastic- the issue is with the skin and whether it will be brown and crispy. So just keep an eye on it.

If I can chime in here, are you interested in a brown and crispy skin? If so you will have to up the temp significantly. If you are just going to pull the skin off and discard it, then the lower temp is not a problem. It will cook faster than you think, especially since its brined. And it will be smokier than you think since poultry really absorbs the smoke flavor, even without any added smoke wood. The juices will be great for gravy but it will be a "smokey" gravy even if you don't add smoke wood. Some people love this, including myself, but some don't, such as my husband, so I have to make two gravies when I do turkey on the grill, even though I don't add smoke wood, one regular gravy with butter/flour/stock and one smokey gravy with the KK turkey drippings. I usually do whole turkeys but I did a breast recently, 9 lbs, brined for 36 hrs and air dried for 6 hours. After 2 hours at 350 deg it was almost done at 152 deg IT but the skin was light and flabby so I upped the temp to 425 for 20 min more when I had to remove it since it was at 160 deg IT. The skin was starting to brown a little at this point in spotty areas but I pulled it off and dumped anyway it since it was so unappetizing. But it was still juicy and delicious inside. Let's us know how it goes and pictures too if possible.

That's a perfect steak in my book! Amazing you can get there from a frozen solid steak - would never have believed it.

I like to cook chicken direct on the KK at temps of 400 or higher only turning it one time and the greater distance between the coals and the bird gives a more gentle heat. I had some brown sugar in the spice rub and it probably would have burned at a lower level at those temps for that length of time. Plus the radiant heat from the dome helps to crisp the skin.

spice rubbed chicken thighs

That pizza with the artichokes is outrageous!! When I see gorgeous pies like these, I actually think its worth the trouble to make them from scratch and use a ton of lump to cook them on the KK. My own pies, not so much.

Tony: I clicked on your pictures to get an up close look and they didn't get big. Is that on purpose? Beautiful pies anyway!!

I store them vertically with no problem, and the grills vertically as well.

Dan: Thanks for a fascinating post!! "Being 1/2 Italian I grew up surrounded by home canning, sausage making, gardens, etc. so sausage making is in my blood." LOL - me too - EXACTLY - except from my maternal grandmother rather than my mother. And I'm still dreaming about actually making sausage, especially Italian sausage!!! And did they have fig trees??? Susan

I have hundreds of Thai dragon hot peppers in my garden that I need to do something with. Normally I grow jalapenos and make hot sauces from them but I don't know if these peppers would be good for hot sauce because they don't have hardly any flesh. The walls of the pepper are very thin - kind of like a cayenne pepper. Habaneros and ghost peppers - WHOA - too hot for my blood!!!

Is there anything in particular that your friend likes to make? I'm really interested in the whole charcuterie idea and had my husband buy me an electric meat grinder for Christmas a couple of years ago but I haven't opened the box yet. If I'm ever so fortunate as to have more time on my hands, I'm definitely going there - especially after my great experience with the bacon and seeing things like Dan's Andouille sausage.

If you can build something yourself there are lots of possibilities. Dennis sells a storage cabinet with a dedicated place for each of the grills and the accessories. Some of our members have made their own as well and maybe if they see this they would be kind enough to post their pictures. They should already be on this forum somewhere along with the schematic of Denis' storage cabinet. Some people say their gas grills provide great storage for their Kamado accessories. For myself, I keep the grills, extra charcoal basket, various heat deflectors, stones, rotisseries baskets, racks, torches, ash shovel, grill floss and brushes, grilling utensils, gloves and other numerous misc KK items in a large covered, plastic deck box. Its not particularly attractive but its wide enough and tall enough to hold the grills standing up along with everything else, I can empty it out periodically and hose it down and its only a step or two away from my KK. Note: I went looking for some threads from our previous forum re storage and they are not coming up or are 404 page not found so they aren't all here. But I did find this one showing Denis' specs and Tucker's cart. http://komodokamado.com/forum/topic/1895-outdoor-cabinetscarts/?hl=storage

Dan: They look fantastic!! Tell us more about making them - what you used to prepare the meat, what kind of casings, stuffing the casings, etc. They are remarkably uniform - very professional job!!

It's mostly a direct cook and the longer distance between the coals and the birds gives a more gentle heat. Plus the radiant heat from the dome helps crisp the skin. At least that's my theory.

This was my first attempt at bacon and all I can say about it is that it is outrageous - maybe one of the best things I've ever done!! .What surprised me so much is how professional it came out. Nobody would ever think it was homemade. Then again I did use the pink salt which contributes to the familiar taste and texture of commercial bacon. Only this is soooo much better - like a super premium artisan brand that you might pay $30/lb for. And the very best way to eat it, in my opinion, is on its own. I scratched the bacon jam idea as soon as I tasted a quick, pan fried slice wanting to save it for weekend breakfasts but I had already cut a pound of lardons for fresh pasta carbonara. It was very good but next time its all going for breakfast slices, which I like to bake, pure and simple so it can shine without competing flavors. You are gong to LOVE it!!! This was my recipe which I chose because it called for a 3 lb belly so I didn't have to do any arithmetic: 3 lb belly 40 g Kosher salt (3 T Morton or 5 T Diamond) 1 t pink salt 40 g brown sugar (3T) 1 T black pepper Cure in zip lock bag in frig for 7 days turning once every day. Then rinse, dry and place, uncovered, on a rack in frig for two days to form pellicle. Smoke, skin side down, at 200 deg until IT 150 deg - about 2 hrs.(Mine smoked more at 225 to 230 which came out fine). Rest on counter for 10 min and then remove skin.Chill before slicing.

Cornish Hens ready to go on the KK Cornish ends ready to come off the KK Crispy on the outside, moist, tender and delicious on the inside. Stupid simple recipe - spread with mustard, sprinkle with cayenne. 1/4 splitter basket raised direct 400ish until crispy and finish on the indirect side.

Beautiful job, Chris!! Can't believe you are already cooking like a pro on the KK!!

A 13 lb belly - YIKES!!!!! That must have something to do with it being good to live where the pigs are!! I bought the biggest belly I could find for my recent cook and it was 3 lbs. Please take pics of the process when you are assembling this beauty inc ase any of us venture there. The good thing is that it seems you could do a lot of it ahead of time so you only have to do the actual cooking on the day you want to serve it. I take it that chuck pot roast was different from the chuck roast you did on the KK in the first post of this thread?

Never saw a roast marked pot roast around here. Interesting how things differ in parts of the country. I can get porchetta roasts in some supermarkets and my farmer's market which, for them, is a rolled and seasoned pork roast with an elastic net around it. But its nothing like that porchetta roast you want to make with the belly wrapped around the loin. Can't wait for pictures of that one!!! Very impressed that one of the reviewers said it was the Bon Appetit Recipe of the Year!! Susan

Quite a show, Doc - looks like fun!! Glad to have you back!!! Susan

What cut are you guys referring to as a pot roast? Just asking because my experience is that a pot roast is a braised chuck. And its mighty tasty!!!

Picture of the roast beef on the KK is at post #324 above. This is the final product. Came out perfect!!

That looks delicious! I've about written off the center cut pork loin since the last two I did on the KK came out terrible - tough and dry. They were cooked to 135 deg and one of them was even brined. Your cook gives me hope.

Just sitting here wondering - what makes the baking stone more suitable for baking than the heat deflector? I have three round heavy ceramic pieces of different size and thickness and 1 KK shaped one. I don't use them since I haven't ventured into pizza on the KK yet and prefer a metal implement as a heat deflector but they seem very similar in composition.

The dinosaur style beef ribs are tough to find around here but I come across them now and then in the supermarkets or in my farmer's market, which is where these are from. They were especially meaty, except for the middle 2 rib section. I've also had the experience of buying a large pack of them to find out the ones on top looked really nice but the ones underneath were so trimmed they weren't worth the effort to cook. So I never plan on them - just buy them when I have a chance and consider myself lucky.