David Chang

@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..

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

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

i think with a 32, you have more clearance away from the heat. if you are following a recipe, i wouldn't mind having a peek at it..

what is an IDK oven? right now, the kk is not giving me the color, rise and shape i am accustomed to. i scored for a rabbit ear but it doesn't want to open up. it's expanding in places i don't expect expansion, like on the narrow side there's a split for no reason. and the ice cubes i throw in gives like maybe 2-3 minutes of steam and its gone..i think the burnt side can be adjusted for by lowering temp and turning midway. but the rest..i dunno... even when i thought i was baking under temp, i wasn't expecting such a fierce heat from the right side. this was with the cheapo drip pan the kk came with and the thick baking stone as barriers. so maybe next time, i might try the replicate the environment of a dutch oven. heat soak the kk. drop the loaf and ice in. close off the vents so there is no open flame and let it steam and bake in retained heat. rotate the loaf and open the vents the second half of the bake.

crumb structure is decent. shame it was burnt. i checked on the kk an hour later and its still keeping temp. i guess if i really want to do this again, i would just let the kk soak to temp for like 2 hours and shut all the vents and cook off retained heat, no flames. or i can just use my kitchen oven…

second try, another fail. this time i split the charcoal on the right. placed the loaf on the left. i got to my baking temp but still dropped 50 degrees after putting on ice and dough. so in a 40 min bake i discovered the same strange elephant foot type of rise and the charcoal side of the bread was completely scorched. the bottom was cooked ok. took an internal temp reading and it was around 210. i usually pull at 190. so even though i thought i was undercooking it, it was overcooking and burning. i didn't want to turn it thinking my temp would drop even more. this was over an hour of managing the fire. kind of it's exhausting and disappointing because its so easy on a normal oven.

grilling some dinner after a week of non stop rain..

@tekobo thanks for showing me your original dry ageing thread. what is the logic behind coating the meat in fat during ageing? is it to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria? added flavour? keeps it from over-drying? thanks.

@jeffshoafyeah i was planning to use my wine fridge but it did not get cold enough and i don't know how to hack it to make it colder.

oh i thought i did a search about this subject before starting a new post. i would have just contributed to your thread. thank you!

Few weeks ago, i tried this with umai bags on a boneless ribeye roll. it was 3 weeks in and looking good, so i got more ambitious and added a picanha and pork rack. I had grates under each piece to allow air to circulate. Placed a usb fan inside to expedite air circulation and a water pan to add humidity. All the sudden, the fridge went out on me and I lost everything. The fridge compressor did not fail, but it did shut down because I think the fan was messing with the fridge thermometer. The compressor was constantly running, so I think it just decided to shut down before it broke itself. Had a tech look at it and it was working again, nothing was wrong. I think I want to try this again, but without the fan and water pan..and with one piece only. I've read that 30 days is not enough for a noticeable difference in taste, that you need to age 60-90 days for stronger flavours to develop. But you also end up with even more moisture loss and less yield. So a large bone-in piece would be ideal. Does anyone here dry age meat at home? Either with a dedicated cabinet or in your fridge with dry bags?

it's been raining here all week. if i used the kk on this bread, it would be 375-400 grate temp. 25-30 min. no steam pan. https://www.chopstickchronicles.com/wprm_print/7360

@C6Bill the weber go anywhere was my gateway drug to the world of bbq. nice looking steak. kinda what i wanted for dinner but my wife said no.. anyway baked another shokupan loaf in the normal oven. this really is gourmet wonder bread 😂

how do non-US customers order charcoal from kk? i tried to order some with my grill and couldn't because it was a hazard to ship. i think i need to be a distributor of kk charcoal and get an import license or something..

wood fired pork chops, some sides and a shokupan loaf

@C6Bill yea i pulled mine around 202. but i have made better ones in the past that were hot and fast on a little weber go anywhere..

for redundancy on longer cooks, i use a usb c power bank to power the unit. can't say i've ever ran it on battery alone with fan for 18 hours+. the manufacture says 30 hours but too many variables to consider, outside temp, fan speed, backlight on, etc. fb will default at 20% max fan speed off internal battery. to achieve higher fan speeds up to 100%, you need to plug in to a power source.

i emailed fireboard cs about a thermocouple probe with a loose connection. they tell me probes have a 6 month warranty but they will replace it as a courtesy. last time they also send me a replacement magnetic base, albeit it was the same crap base. this is all expedited dhl service from america to asia. that's pretty good support..

yeah i run a fb 2 pro and guru fan. but looking back, i don't think i've ever had a successful brisket or pork smoke that i was happy with eating. they are cuts i rarely buy because it's expensive in hk and we need a ton of people to consume it. but i really need to master low and slow before hot and fast..

@Poochiewas testing the setup but i have a bad habit of making dry anything that takes time. shoulder, brisket, etc.

first pork butt/shoulder on the 19 kk hot and fast with a horizontal charcoal split. had to refill the small basket section once during the cook. 1.6kg took around 5 hours at 300. i didn't wrap, but maybe i should have because the pork was dry. or use a water pan next time? do people do that with kk? paired with some homemade masa harina tortillas and nachos.

it's not a perfect fit due to the cover plate touching the fire ring. i would need to make a new cover plate to make it nice and neat. but i doubt i'll make one..

well, i spoke too soon. it looked good in the office. but when i took it home, i didn’t consider that the fire ring gives me no clearance for the cover plate. part of the edge is too long to rest on the basket evenly. its not a total fail, i think it still works. but in the horizontal position, i would need to fashion a new cover plate or make a foil drip tray as shown… in the 30/70 position, the cover plate needs to be grinded slightly to sit properly. in the 50/50 position, it sits ok. unfortunately i cant bring the grill to the machinist to test out. i’m going to run a small pork butt tomorrow, see how it goes in the 30/70 position. curious to know if that little charcoal will last a hot and fast cook with no refill.