remi

Short notice dinner plans last night resulted in a 3.3kg porchetta on the roti. Good times.

One of my favourite meals to cook on the KK is paella. Especially since moving to our new house, which has an induction cooktop. Steel paella pans are never perfectly flat, so induction cooking is a pain. And then there is the mess. Cooking a paella outdoors, over fire, is one of life’s great pleasures. And that’s all traditional paella was- a rice dish cooked over fire in a pan. Having spent some time in Valencia, I’m well versed in traditional paella- and often make a traditional inspired dish with chicken, green beans and sliced Roma tomatoes. At other times- I go maximalist. Tonight, with my parents visiting from interstate, was maximalist. Chorizo, chicken thighs, baby calamari, prawns and mussels with Roma tomato, saffron, spicy smoked and sweet pimenton, fresh rosemary from the garden and green beans on top. My friends always complain that I say that each iteration of a dish was the best ever. They have a point. Nevertheless this was the best paella ever- smoky, spicy, redolent of the aromas of fresh seafood and herbs, the bitter crunch of the soccsrat from the bottom of the pan. Sharpened up with a healthy squeeze of fresh lemon over the top. Heaven.

Hi Dennis, Reading the tariff news out of the US is a big shock- with Indonesian made goods subject to 32% tariffs as of yesterday's announcement. I can imagine this must be very stressful for you as a small business owner, so just wanted to reach out and hope you are able to weather the change in circumstances, as I suspect the US is overwhelmingly your largest market. Hang in there!

Had some good friends over last night and they requested brisket. Picked up a monster 8kg (17.5lb) brisket with a 4+ marble score. Given the size I decided on an overnight cooking session at traditional low and slow temp (225F). Only the second time I’ve done that, as I usually do a 285-300F 8-9hr cook during the day. Estimated it would take 12-14hrs, allowing for a long rest. Put it on at 11:30pm, it was ready for wrapping at 9:30am, and came off at 2:30pm, so 15hrs all up. 4 hr rest in the esky (cooler). Couple of racks of ribs as well, served with salad, coleslaw, roast potatoes, horseradish cream, smoked salsa and espresso BBQ sauce. My god- it was far and away the most amazing brisket I’ve ever experienced, even the flat was so fall apart moist and tender that it almost defied belief. Don’t know if it was the low and slow, the quality of the brisket or the long rest- but I’m only ever doing brisket this way from now on. Very happy guests!

Friends round for lunch today. So I knocked out my favourite type of steak- Bistecca Fiorentina. Two dry aged giants, 1kg each. Served with no kneed bread, and various salads. Hamburgers sausages and chicken satay for the kids. Everyone happy.

Article in the New Yorker (which I read religiously) from yesterday. You should be able to read an article or two even if you're not a subscriber. https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/texass-barbecue-schism?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_022225&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=5bd673d724c17c1048009e3d&cndid=31743442&hasha=ea1bbe9353ddb689f176238dc56a56db&hashb=7577ec2df4dd2955524926196a0becd0d644330a&hashc=f2d650972f36e75c3202cd4aa8fe3354391bc7de543a2e91d53c8b4fe6d5f983&esrc=AUTO_OTHER

Couldn’t decide whether to do a pulled pork or a brisket… so made the smartest decision and did both. Pork was a bone in neck, home made rub mix. Brisket was smallish and mainly point- rubbed with Meat Church Holy Cow. Few post oak wood chunks, 250F, closer to 285F for the last few hours. Amazingly, after 10hrs they both hit around 205F at the same time. Some coleslaw, pickles, espresso BBQ sauce. Had the pork as sandwiches tonight and then the brisket for dessert- plenty of options for leftovers this week!

Kids requested pulled pork- made do with some boneless shoulder from the local organic supermarket…. It was no Boston Butt but still did the job!

Looks great! There are a few of us Aussies on here, welcome- it's a great forum.

Finally mobile enough after breaking my leg to venture into the backyard… have spent the last 3 days tidying the front yard and backyard. Our house no longer looks abandoned! Unsurprisingly am completely shattered with exhaustion- but did manage to fire up the KK for a nice mixed grill tonight… corn, vege basket with potato, sweet potato, broccoli and asparagus, beef sausages, chicken satay skewers, marinated lamb ‘lollipops’ and a couple of eye fillet steaks. A big hit with the family after a long hiatus!

Good choice of KK! Same as mine. Just used the clip to secure the thermometer- easy peasy, no issues after 3yrs!

Just curious- am I missing something here? Is the concern about rain mainly relevant in places which also snow/ freeze- in which case the KK would be subjected to freeze/ thaw cycles in any cracks that develop? Perhaps I've been lucky, but 3yrs in, the exterior of my KK looks pristine and is crack free. My KK sits completely uncovered on our patio, just outside the kitchen window. All the better as I can appreciate its beauty. Any dust etc gets nicely washed off when it rains. Much better than looking at a cover (every cover I ever had on my previous BBQ's ended up covered in spider webs/ bird poo and other unpleasantness). Yes- my side tables need refinishing every year because they are exposed to the weather, but the same is true of all outdoor teak furniture. Now- being in Melbourne, our rainfall is modest, and it never freezes- so obviously I am lucky in that regard. But logically, my tiled and grouted KK offers the same water protection as my tiled and grouted bathroom. I would also be worried that a cover would impede ventilation to some degree and increase the risk of mould developing during the hot and humid summer months.

Can chime in to answer a few of your questions: - vent settings are the same no matter how much charcoal is in there: the volume of charcoal burning at any moment depends only on airflow, which is what your vent settings do - I use alfoil on the bottom grate (just wrapped on), and usually also have the drip tray on top of that, with my low and slow meat on the main grate - Once the KK is up to temp, there should be no dramatic change in the temps unless you are frequently opening and closing the lid. As they say- if you're looking, you're not cooking - You don't need to worry about whether the coals are burning in one spot. It is a low and slow indirect cook, the coals can burn wherever they like - For most low and slow applications, it is only the top vent that matters- for a low and slow the bottom vent is barely cracked to the width of a pencil, 225 is top vent just off the seat, 250 or so perhaps another 1/8th turn (or less), 1/4 turn or just past that and you will be closer to 290-300... this is a rough guide, take an afternoon to play around slowly- make the change, observe and don't fiddle such that you can build confidence of where your temps are - Don't obsess about the difference between dome and grate temp- on a 10hr low and slow cook these will equalise soon enough Hope that all makes sense?

I can second the recommendations already given. For a long and slow cook, it is completely fine to use a full basket. Then you use foil +/- a drip pan on the lower grate to set up your indirect zone. Obviously make sure you are using dry and good quality charcoal- but I have used at least 5 different brands of lump, and this method works just the same with all of the brands I have tried. With a full basket, light one small area of charcoal (grapefruit sized as Dennis says) and walk away. I usually have my vents wide open, and as soon as I see the dome temp shift above 100F, I set my vents to my desired temperature. Set and forget.... never mess with or check anything ever again. Always at temp for a low and slow within 60min. Like most frequent users, I have a good sense of where 225/250/275/300/350/400F are on my top-hat in terms of degrees of turn. In more than 3yrs of very frequent use, I have only had the fire die once. On a very windy night the charcoal seemed to burn from where I lit out to the left-hand edge, and burnt down all the charcoal in that area, seemingly with no way to get back to the rest of the bed. Truly bizarre, and a one-off. If you're still not sure- set up a call with Dennis, he will set you right. This should be a non-issue... in fact, the absolute ease of temp management is what sets the KK apart. Like many here, I've never used a controller/ fan/ bellows- and don't see any need to.

All these meals you are all cooking look so amazing... I'm out of action for 1-2 months at least as I broke my leg almost 2 weeks ago, and as the only KK user/ cook in our house I'm going to have to live vicariously through you guys until October or so. So keep the great photos coming!