braindoc

David: Dustin at Real Sharp Knife. I don’t recall the details but will try to get those for you.

I just splurged on this Nigara Hamono raindrop Damascus gyuto with custom handle, from RealSharpKnife.com - highly recommended. Considering that my birthday splurge last April was a 32 KK, this wasn’t too bad.

Hope there will be some heading to southern New England.

Are these the “quenched” pans or unseasoned?

Last March, I was also trying to decide between a 23” and a 32”. I was leaning towards the smaller but my wife said go big. What clinched it was speaking with Dennis and hearing that there was a 32” on the ship, available due to a cancellation. I had been using a large BGE for about a dozen years; I sold it before the KK arrived in June and do not look back.

Big fan of reverse searing. For cuts > 2 inches I’m looking for 105° F. Usually, I’m doing this inside and will start in a 200° oven and finish on cast iron as hot as I can get it. If the cut is not as thick I’ll take it out a few degrees lower. Yesterday I cooked a 3 lb American Wagyu tri-tip from Hunts’ Point on my KK. The grate temp was about 235°. I took the meat off and got the temp up to about 475° and seared on the inverted top grate for a couple of minutes per side.

Sorry if this is not the right place for this question. Received an email from Emile Henry with a recipe and link to the Gustus Vitae website. Has anyone used their products? They are also sold on Amazon and elsewhere, but the email noted there is a 50% off coupon [TDAY50] good through 11/25.

The cook was pushed back a day. I did it like a brisket, mostly at about 240°F, wrapped at 168° and pulled at 204°, about 7.5 hours total. Not bad at all. Sorry, but no photos.

@5698k - Thanks. What do you think, about 5 hours total??

Been a little while since I’ve posted or cooked with Grendel. Between planning a thrice cancelled trip to Italy next month (complicated by the demise of Alitalia after 4 years in bankruptcy), a surge in medicolegal expert work, and a major software change in my office not much free time lately. Anyway, I have a 4 pound Lone Mountain wagyu chuck roast that needs to be cooked tomorrow. The boss does not want to serve it shredded. What are my options?

The meat went into the KK at about 7:30AM, 275°F dome temp. At about 6 hours the bark looked good; the brisket was reading 170°. I wrapped it in butcher paper. It reached 203° maybe four hours after that. It had a nice jiggle. I let it rest, wrapped in a towel, in a cooler until we were ready to eat around 8PM.

You inspired me. I found our bottle of Ocucaje Pisco and added some to Meyer Lemonade. Too tired after an afternoon of chores to actually mix a fancy drink. Delicious!

Now for the postmortem. The brisket was a big hit. My best ever, according to my wife (yes, I know she’s a little biased). The photos don’t really do it justice. The flat was juicy and the point was absolutely melt in your mouth. The rub was sea salt, pepper, and some cayenne. We started inside with apps - smoked salmon on mustard butter toasts and shrimp. Then outside for dinner, tablescape curtesy of my wife. Started with an intermezzo - lemon sorbetto in Prosecco and grappa. Sides were a hash brown potato casserole (no photo) and a Malaysian fruit and vegetable slaw.

Thanks guys. Not that I’ve done all that many briskets, but I mostly have been influenced by Aaron Franklin. After getting his book, I switched from foil to pink unwaxed butcher paper a couple of years ago. The recipes I saw did not give any particular justification for foil so I will go ahead with my original plan. BTW, @Syzygies, the meat is Whole Akuashi Wagyu Brisket from Derek Allan's Texas Barbecue - a splurge eased with $50 back from Amex.

Planning on smoking a brisket tomorrow. It will be about 10 lbs trimmed. Rather than the usual low and slow at about 225°F I want to try for a faster cook at about 275°, perhaps a little higher. I usually wrap with pink butcher paper. However, the recipes I’m seeing all say aluminum foil for the wrap. So, in the context of this somewhat higher than usual temp, what say you all? Butcher paper or aluminum foil??

Hasegawa! https://mtckitchen.com/search.php?search_query=Hasegawa&section=content

Thanks @tony b. We were so busy yesterday (planning a trip mostly), I didn’t see this until well after the cooking started. I wound up doing low and slow. Here’s a shot of the flanken - delicious. I was distracted when I took the chicken off and didn’t get a pic, my bad.

I’m blushing. Thank you. Here’s a slightly different angle.

Here is tomorrow’s goal for Grendel - a 5 pound roast chicken and about 5.5 pounds of marinated flanken cut beef ribs. I was planning on using a vertical roaster for the chicken. I know that these thin-cut ribs can be cooked quickly over direct heat, but I’d like to smoke them low and slow. Had good results that way once a few years ago on the BGE. How should I set-up my 32 KK? Which grates? What food goes where? Cooking sequence?? Temps?

When we started looking at the KK back in March, I was thinking a 23” but my wife convinced me to go up to the 32”. By chance, while texting Dennis with some questions he let me know that he had a 32 available (a cancelled order) on the ship so I pulled the trigger. The alternative would have meant waiting until the fall. Others have commented about this - IT IS HUGE (and ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS). I cannot imagine needing more cooking space; even the 32 is overwhelming, but we do not do much large-scale entertaining. Good luck with this decision!

Here is some information about the Al Forno pizza. It is quite good, especially the spicy oil pie that is available off the menu. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjzqK_YwNTxAhWsmeAKHVB3AtgQFjAPegQIKBAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.saveur.com%2Fbest-grilled-pizza-rhode-island%2F&usg=AOvVaw27KE0bUyXvq5MadavGKOGo

Has anyone grilled pizza directly on the grates? I’m thinking about Al Forno style pizza. This Providence, Rhode Island restaurant is often credited as the birthplace of grilled pizza, back in the mid-eighties I think.

Hi tonyb- I think I figured out the rotated photo issue. As I was posting yesterday I noticed that when I imported an “actual” size photo it imported correctly. If I reduced the file size, it imported with a 90° rotation. I’ll let someone else can figure out WHY that happened.

Four small thin pies. Cooked at about 560°. This was the first high temp cook and there was some venting, but no loose tiles. My wife was following the Al Forno recipe fron their book Cucina Simpatica. Overall, we were pleased with this first effort. Happy 4th!

If my Massachusetts neighbor C6Bill wasn’t afraid of thunderstorms a few days ago, then I figured I shouldn’t be afraid of a little rain (actually not so little as it turned out) yesterday. We had about 6 pounds of pork belly strips that needed cooking - salt, pepper, smoked paprika - and several hours at about 225-235°F. I’d forgotten how filling this is. Lots of leftovers. My wife will use some to make a big batch of pasta sauce.