Loquitur

The top vent being 1/2 turn open is way too much for a low temperature cook. I set mine at about one inch or so from being closed. It will take a long time for the grill to get to temperature with these settings but it won't overshoot. Once you get some experience you will be able to open the vents more to get the temperature up to where you want it more quickly and then set the vents where they need to be to maintain the low temperature. Susan

Re: Prime Pork Chops Normstar: What do you have on the outside of those chops to give that lovely crust? It looks wonderful!! Susan

Re: Banned OK - I'm able to get on again from my cell phone.

Troubles on the forum again. Just tried to get on from my cell phone and I got a notice that I am permanently banned!!! Susan

Re: Thermoworks Bluetherm Duo Appreciate all the info, Dave. I have a birthday coming up in October and this will go to the top of my list. I think this would be good to have for those times where I don't need my Stoker to control the pit temp, especially since it seems so easy and quick to set up and use, and for high temp roasting, which fries regular probes.

Re: Thermoworks Bluetherm Duo Dave: Thanks for the pics. Can you give us some more info about the range? The Thermoworks website says the range is 70 feet line of sight, which implies you have to be outside with it, but a quick web search says general Bluetooth range is 30 feet thru walls. I don't have any Bluetooth devices so I don't know how it would work for me. I would be unhappy to spend that kind of money and find I can't use it to monitor the grill from inside my house. The 30 feet thru walls range would be fine. Is it a problem to get the angle on the penetration probe through the KK port? I love that you can use these probes at higher temps!!

Re: I'm all in!! Michael - they are upside down here too. I'd love to see them right side up!!

Re: Thermoworks Bluetherm Duo It would be great if you would post a picture of the probes and of the whole thing in action!!

Re: Thermoworks Bluetherm Duo Which probes did you get with it? Susan

Re: Heat/Ash Shield -- which way is up? Interesting - that's what used to be called the heat shield. Dennis sent me one because my wooden knobs were crumbling from my higher temp cooking and it solved the problem. I guess that's now a combo item -heat shield and ash deflector? I got the ash screen with my older model KK and wasn't able to figure out how to use it. Does anybody with an older model KK use the ash screen with the heat shield?

Re: Heat/Ash Shield -- which way is up? I think they were for something to do with the roti. Can somebody post a picture of how the ash screen should go? I've never used mine because I couldn't figure out how to put it on. But I pull out my door a lot to get the grill to heat up fast and each time I do, a little pile of charcoal or ash falls out. It isn't hot or anything but its hard to clean off my brick patio. I was just thinking a week ago they I should find that ash screen and put it in and here are posts about it!!

Re: Barbacoa de Borrego I know it doesn't appear so from the pix but did you put your banana package in a foil covered pan? Did you cook it at 325 in the KK the whole time? Your post prompted me to attempt a mini version of a longish leg of lamb cook. I have a 5 lb bone in leg of lamb in the frig now in a Greek style marinade. My plan is to roast it tomorrow, 425 uncovered in the kitchen oven for an hour (30 min per side) and then move it to the KK at 325 for 1.5 hours tightly covered, 1 hour loosely covered, and 1 more hour uncovered. I'll toss some peach or plum smoke wood in when it is uncovered. After this, I'm expecting it to have a roasty crust and to pull. I'm also planning to do some potatoes, swiss chard and raisins in the same pan in the latter stages of the cook. If it turns out any good, I'll post. Thanks for the inspiration!!!! Susan

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details Cook's Illustrated has a variation of your technique that I have tried and it is very good. I think they call it High Temperature Roasted Butterflied Chicken with roasted potatoes. Glad you confirmed that the raw potato is pliable enough to put something between the slices.

What is the difference in the cook between using the heavy ceramic heat deflector that comes with the KK and a lightweight pizza pan? Ever since I saw LarryR do it on one of his KK videos, I've been using a foil wrapped pizza pan for the heat deflector and I haven't noticed anything troublesome in my cooks from it. I definitely prefer it because its so lightweight and easy to handle plus the grill heats up so much faster. Am I missing something? What do you like to use as a heat deflector? Susan

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details One more note. The potatoes fan out as they cook. Right after slicing they won't look that way. Just mentioning it so someone doesn't try to pull the slices apart while the potatoes are still raw.

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details YES!!!!! You put the potato on the counter. Then put the butt end of the butter knife on either side of the potato - lengthwise. Then cut across the potato crosswise. You will have perfect slices which are all the same depth but not so deep as to cut through the potato and ruin the effect. Plus, you can do it quickly without worrying about the cuts. I'd love a pic of your set up with the giant rollings pins!! Susan

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details Doc - when you are slicing these potatoes, you need to stop the knife before it gets to the bottom or you will have cut down too far and the potatoes will fall apart. Slicing the potato between the butt end of the knives lets you slice quickly and still keep the base of the potato intact with the top fanning out slightly.

Re: More Sear basket fun Dennis hit it out of the park with the basket splitter accessory because it bridges the gap to make the KK a perfect vehicle whether you are cooking for two or for a group. I don't consider myself a tree hugger but it used to bug me that I had to use the energy to heat up the whole basket of charcoal and then cool it all down for a small cook like two burgers. It seemed like such a waste. And I didn't feel putting less charcoal in the basket was an acceptable option because it increased the distance from the coals to the sear grill preventing me from the kind of sear I like. Reusing the left over charcoal is fine but like Tony says, you still use way more than you need. I actually had thoughts that maybe I made a mistake buying such a big grill that took so much charcoal and investigated buying a mini or small Big Green Egg for the majority of my cooks. NOT ANY MORE!!! The KK now is great for everybody whether you are doing a quick, small weekday grill or a large roast or an overnight low and slow and everything inbetween. I strongly recommend that you also get a charcoal basket for the splitter. You will use it more than you think and you won't have to be pushing partially used up coals around the basket to set it up when you go from full basket to splitter basket. Thanks, Dennis - this was genius!! Tony - you better start looking for a storage place for the Grill Dome. I can't wait to hear what you think about it!!

Re: Charcoal choices? Being in NY's Hudson Valley, lump charcoal is not a product readily available even in the summer months. For quite a while I was odering Ozark Oak in the small bags with free shipping for $100 order and liked it very much. But the price has increased significantly so now I'm back to using Royal Oak, which I also like. I can get it with free shipping to my Do It Best hardware store about 20 miles away and pick it up except I can only get it in the big bags, which are harder for me to handle. Susan

Re: More Sear basket fun

Re: Barbacoa de Borrego Peter: So how was it? It looks incredible!!

Re: More Sear basket fun

Re: Potatoes and Leeks I wasn't going to post this cook because it is more of the same of my 1/4 splitter basket, sear grill, 425 dome, 2 min/side rib eyes. But the potatoes and leeks that I made to accompany them were fantastic and I know your ladies and daughters will love them. They are fairly light for a potato dish and the luscious texture from the leeks and onions belies the fact that they don't have much butter or any cream in the prep. 3 leeks, white part cut in half and sliced in 1/2" lengths 3 onions, sliced 3 T olive oil 1.5 T flour 1.5 c chicken stock 8 potatoes sliced Hasselback style 2 T melted butter Season to taste as you go In an ovenproof skillet, saute the leeks and onions in the olive oil over med heat about 15 min. Mix in the flour and cook a couple of minutes. Add the stock, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens. Add the potatoes. Spoon 1 scant t of melted butter over each potato. Place the skillet in a preheated 400 deg oven or on the KK and bake for about 1 hour. My potatoes were small so they were done in about 40 min. I turned the oven down to 150 and left them in there for at least another 45 min and they didn't suffer at all for it. Note about the potatoes: Slice them between the butts of two butter knives or whatever else you have handy so you don't cut down too far on them. Do ahead note: You can do most of this ahead of time. In the morning I did the leeks and onions completing the sauce step and left them on the stove, and also sliced the potatoes and left them in a bowl of cold water. When it was time to roast them, I brought the leek/onion mixture to a simmer on top of the stove, added the potatoes and butter and slipped the skillet in the oven - easy as can be. Enjoy!! Susan

Re: More Sear basket fun The basket splitter not only has the vertical divider which you see in the picture but also two horizontal grid dividers so the basket can be set up with half the depth of charcoal. This has lots of variations - the full width of the basket at half depth (1/2 basket) or half the width of the basket at full depth (also 1/2 basket) or half the width of the basket at half depth (1/4 basket). For small quick cooks, half the width at half the depth (1/4 basket) works great because it heats up fast, cools down fast and barely uses any lump. Roasting a chicken is a longer cook than a quick grill so you might want to use half the width of the basket at full depth - which is the full depth splitter configuration referred to above. I use it all the time and like it so much that I bought an extra basket so I can have it dedicated to the splitter. Susan