David Chang

43 minutes ago, tekobo said:

That looks lush @David Chang. Is yours an Alfa Forni wood fired oven?

@tekobo yes, wood and lpg gas.

some wood fired action on the alfa today.

i think i've made pizza once on this thing. every other cook has been non-pizza.

baton bread 

yakitori skewers (roast, dip in tare sauce, roast again)

hasselback potatoes

garlic haricot vert

chilean sea bass (tarragon buerre blanc)

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Cheesehead_Griller said:

I have a quick question about the BBQ Guru fans. Do they fit into the port on the KK without need for an adapter. I assume so but I just wanted to very before I place my order. 

fits exactly, and with a rubber gasket

for anyone who wants to expedite their fall into the rabbit hole, here’s a list of mostly japanese knife retailers worldwide for your viewing pleasure, and probably your wallet or partner’s displeasure..

 

**EUROPE**

1)    Sharp Edge - Slovenia

2)    Cleancut - Sweden

3)    The Sharp Cook - Greece

4)    Knives and tools - Netherlands

5)    Japanese Natural Stones - Denmark

6)    Meesterslijpers - Netherlands

7)    Oryoki - Germany

 Selected Knives - Germany

9)    Skarpe Kniver - Norway 

10)    CouteauJaponais - France 

11)    Couteauduchef - France 

12)    Japaneseknives.eu - Netherlands

13)    Karasu Knives  - Amsterdam, Netherlands

14)    Knife Garage - Italy

15)    Steelinkitchen - Italy

16)    Hamono.nl - Netherlands

17)    Fazzinicoltelleria- Italy

18)    Whetstone.fi - Finland

19)    Dictum - Germany

20)    Japonskienoze.pl - Poland

21)    Foodgear - Denmark

22)    Acute Angle Shop - Lithuania

**USA and CANADA : **

1)    Hocho Knives - Florida

2)    Carbon knife co - Denver

3)    Bernal Cutlery -St.Francisco 

4)    Knifewear - Canada 

5)    Sharp knife shop - Canda

6)    REALSHARPKNIFE - New York

7)    Knife toronto - Canada

 Knife merchant - USA

9)    Japanese knife imports - California

10)    Chefknivestogo - USA

11)    Ai and OM knives - Canada

12)    Tokushu Knives - USA

13)    Sugi Cutlery - USA

14)    Tosho knives arts - Canada

15)    Stay Sharp - Canada

16)    Strata - Portland

17)    Cook's edge - Canada

18)    Fuku knives - USA

19)    Burrfection store - USA

20)    Aframes - Hawai

21)    Coutelier Nola- USA

22)    District cutlery - USA

23)    Cutlery and more- USA

24)    Epicurean Edge - USA

25)    Fine edge cutlery - USA

26)    Korin - USA

27)    Rodriguez Butcher Supply -USA

**Japan :**

1)    Hitohira

2)    Jikko Cutlery

3)    Japanny

4)    Miura knives

5)    Chubo knives

6)    Japan tool

7)    Meisyou-knives

 Zahocho

9)    Ichimonji.co.jp

10)    Tsubaya

11)    Kama-Asa

12)    DeSakai

13)    Tower Knives

14)    H and K

15)    Kabuki Knives

16)    Kiya

17)    Washindou

18)    Chef's Knives Japan

19)    Yuisenri

20)    Japanesechefsknife

**UK retailers :**

1)    Niwaki

2)    The sharp chef

3)    Kataba

4)    Cutting edge knives

5)    Knivesfromjapan

6)    Kitchen Provisions

7)    Chefs locker

 Japaneseknifecompany

9)    Knivesforchefs

**Rest of the world :**

1)    Knives and Stones - Australia and USA

2)    Migoto Cutlery - Australia

3)    Pro tooling - Australia

4)    Zanvak - Australia (sharpening supplies)

5)    Japanische-kochmesser - Switzerland

6)    Cutboy - Thailand

7)    Chefs edge - Australia

 Chefs Armoury - Australia

9)    Knifeline 

10)    Kitchintools - Singapore

11)    RazorSharp - SINGAPORE

14 hours ago, braindoc said:

 

gorgeous gorgeous handle. who is the handle maker? i cant make out the composition. looks like rosewood ferrule, silver spacer, horn?, ? wood, silver spacer, and rosewood again on the butt?

roasting coffee is fun, and i guess worth while if you are roasting like a kilo. this time with help from fireboard pro. 

the thing with this setup is you can't really hear the cracks due the thick concrete walls of the kk and the noisy motor.

Brazil Natural 250g in 207g out. 

Columbia Washed 250g in 208g out. 

Ethopia Sidamo 250g in 208g out. 

 

 

 

 

 

speaking of knives, i received this lovely hap40 petty today from the US. i've never owned hap40 steel before. 

i see a lot of yt videos of slicing paper for sharpness. but you can't eat paper, so i prefer to slice stuff you can eat like this saucisson 🙃. this blade is capable of cutting even thinner but i don't have the dexterity. when the travel restrictions lift, i want to go back to japan to do some knife shopping. it sucks to buy online sight unseen for this kind of stuff..

 

40 minutes ago, Tyrus said:

Is the top part what you might refer to as a "Gabby's grill"? If it is I haven't seen one with a nice decorative bottom as that. It certainly covers the bases for having a Santa Maria on the rooftop. Now if only I could only be half as organized. That camera must have moved or should we call you Bond 007?

the attachment is made by titan great outdoors, but it's very similar to gabby's grill. the bottom is a totally separate fire pit on its own. they just happen to marry nicely together..

3 hours ago, Poochie said:

Jujube...now that brings back memories. My grandmother had a huge jujube tree in her yard and we'd eat those things every day when visiting.  The fruit is sort of like a mini apple with a nutty pecan type taste.  I'll bet the smoke from the jujube wood is sweet smelling. By the way, I love your setup!

every time i eat one, i don't know what i'm eating...is it an apple? a nut? 

 

@tekobo i have the drawer static kind of air fryer. but they don't stay flat. it will curl up into odd shapes. if flatness is needed, maybe cook them between screens? but never tried this method..

 

@tekobo simply place inside the air fryer 180-200 and 10 min to start (i recall cooking for longer but can't remember the time) and cook until the fat renders and the skin turns crispy. season when done. but it will take a lot of chicken skins to make a snack size bowl. prepare to open windows because of the smoke. 

yes, baking powder works.

but for crispy chicken skin, which really is the best part of the chicken,  i don't bother cooking a whole chicken for the skin. i just buy bulk chicken skin and air fry it. but i don't think you can buy just the chicken skin in the americas, in asia, you can buy just the skin in bags and it's crisps like pork rinds. 

it's weird, but in the US, which the poultry industry processes an insane amount of chicken, you can never buy separate parts like skin, testes, crowns, cartilage, and all the offals. i guess its for the yakitori asian market. 

sorry i'm late to the discussion. i read the op has already bought knives, but i wanted to chime in after sharpening and repairing my stainless and carbons today. 

i think anyone who appreciates knives should own two sets. one german stainless for everyday household use. and the another carbon/japanese set for personal use. and whatever you choose to use should be sharpened by yourself on whetstone. this way you discipline yourself to maintain them, especially the carbon ones. but it's hard not to get carried away by expensive knives with pretty handles. i have some that i never use because i treat them like baseball cards, which for a knife unused is pretty useless..

but the best thing about knives, especially the carbon variants, is that they are a joy to sharpen, and it makes you feel really good running the blade through a paper test like cutting air in half..

yes, aka, zabuton. haven't tried it. 

 

1 hour ago, Cheesehead_Griller said:

Would this fit through the port hole? It may be the determining factor if I buy the Fireboard 2 Pro or Fireboard 2 Drive. 

yes, i have (or had) the same probe. you just pull out the clip with some pressure. and slip it back. gently squeeze the clip with some pliers if it gets too loose. 

this probe failed on me and fb says they only have 6 months warranty. 

so i bought thermoworks probes instead. thermoworks seems to have better construction and a huge selection of thermocouple probes. they also have a silicon spool that fits the +- plug nicely. magnetic too...

 

On 2/9/2021 at 11:22 PM, jeffshoaf said:

If you have or have used one of these types of grills, what do you like and dislike about them?
Any changes you'd make to the one you have if you could?
 Do you stick with lump or do you use wood? It's a brasserros worth having?
 Any links to sites with discussion of techniques for this type of grill?

sorry i'm late to this thread. i've always dreamt of completing my trifecta of kamado-pizza-oven-argentine grill. but i live a residential rooftop building, so i don't think management and my neighbors will like it if i start a bonfire just grill some steaks. so i got this little santa maria grill attachment that was made for a weber kettle, but i managed to make it fit on a fiberglass fire pit, so anyone who's chilling on the sofa and wants to grill a piece of chicken or marshmallow can just do it themselves comfortably seated..

i don't like the noisy scratchy ratchet clanking noise the attachment makes, but it's cheap so its expected. 

i'd probably get a full size grill if there are no restrictions, or have one built into a kitchen. 

i burn apple, pear, lychee, peach, jujube, or whatever wood i can get that is suitable. i use charcoal baskets to hold the wood in place. it allows me to split the fire to the sides or combine it in the center. 

 

 

some fish and shellfish from the market today.

the fishmonger was pressing me to buy a horsehair crab, but it was too much for the two of us..

live local sea bream. grilled whole and served with olive oil lemon and salt. (we like to keep the scales on to protect the fish from the heat.) but it was a pain to hold it above the charcoal. you can't do it on the grate or else it will burn..

live surf clams from japan. grilled on the half shell with garlic and butter.

live abalone from south africa. grilled with lemon and salt. 

live scallops from scotland. grilled on the half shell with butter and garlic. 

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Poochie said:

Absolutely beautiful, David. That must have been a hell of a meal!

we're table top grilling again tonight since it was so fun. this time is seafood. pics later..

삼겹살구이

korean bbq at home with japanese pork belly and banchan, my wife prefers this kind of bbq. slow paced and bite sized. i was hoping i didn't have to do all the grilling, but i ended up doing all the work. 😑 i did't have any binchotan so i just used regular hex charcoal. too much flareups, i need to order some binchotan from taobao next time. 

got to use my new blenheim forge chinese cleaver today. this blade is super nice..

 

 

 

 

 

 

couldnt wait, so i brewed a pour over and pulled a shot today. 

definitely a shade darker than i like for pour over. need to remember it grows darker the next day. lots of espresso crema from the pull. but for a milk espresso drink. very smooth and easy drinking. thing is impossible to replicate until i settle on the proper kk temp for roasting so its not another 40 min roast…

delicious nonetheless. pardon for the garbage latte art👌

i haven't had enough cooking time on the KK to give a full review, but i was using KJ and weber products before. 

i think the cooking experience is similar to a KJ, but the KK keeps heat like a refractory pizza oven. 

the build quality is excellent. but i don't consider it a luxury product. i think a kk costs exactly what i expect it to cost for what it give you. i can say the same with kj or bge. you get what you pay for. 

from where i live (asia) KK service is also excellent. i had parts sent to me in less than two weeks. but i also had positive cs experiences with KJ vietnam and Weber japan, just slower. 

there's not really any diy assembly for kk. even the metal cart for my 19 came fully assembled, which coming from years of buying garbage on amazon and ikea, was a total shock to me. the millwork is also excellent. KK makes very nice teak accompaniments for the grill. 

edit: i forgot to mention, you get extra parts on all the user replaceable parts for your grill with your purchase. i don't know of any company that does this. 

@Cheesehead_Grillerthe drum i got was made for those little table top ovens with rotisserie attachments. i had to pull off tabs on the sides to make the holes bigger to fit my spit. but the latching mechanism is rather weak and i felt like if you put too much beans inside or roast bigger things like chestnuts, the door might just bust open. RK drums make better ones, but they are much more expensive. 

i was advised by a local coffee roaster that the weight loss i experienced was typical for medium roast, but similar to dry ageing meat, you won't get the same yield. i haven't done the math, but i think the cost for me to roast myself is a little over 1/4 the retail of shop roasted beans. but i also need to factor time. and i would only do this if i was cooking something else. i don't see burning charcoal just to roast coffee alone.

first time roasting coffee ever. i've been waiting a long time for the motor and it finally came. 

equipment: rotisserie drum (amazon), tritogenia variable speed motor, thermometer gun. 

beans: ethiopia sidamo

goal: medium roast to 210-215c (bean temp).

what happened: motor speed was 55 rpm (max). dome temp 350-380f. after 20 min, still looked greenish. upped temp to 400-420 dome. finished roast in about 38 min. longer than i had anticipated. 250g in. 210g out. 40 grams of chaff and moisture loss? color looks pretty uniform. i was happy with the result, but i have no idea how it's going to taste. i did not hear any cracking. maybe it was the thick walls of the kk, but i put my ear against the exhaust and heard nothing..

i was told i need to degass for a few days, even over a week if i want to run it through my espresso machine. 

does anyone know how to upload video? i can't seem to do it on this forum..

 

1 hour ago, Poochie said:

Nice grill marks too!

yeah just don't ask me for crosshatch grill marks. parallel lines is all i can manage..😂

1 hour ago, C6Bill said:

I’m still just using my oven in the house 😬

me too, but i am preparing for the apocalypse and upping my baking skills untethered to the grid..😄