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bwright

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About bwright

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core_pfieldgroups_99

  • Location
    Pasadena, CA
  • Occupation
    Retired Professor of Political Science

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  1. Guess you have it better down under. In the US it is very hard, if not impossible, to find pork loin with the skin on. I have tried several times to get cracklin on various things but always failed. I hope someone has a secret.
  2. Really good idea with almonds. Might also work with pistachios. I oftn use grey poupon mustard on my pork loin with fresh herbs. I never thought of the mustard as an adhesive but now I will. But the yogourt sounds great. We often use a yogourt sauce with a little lemon juice and fresh mint leaves for our lamb. I will now try it as an adhesive. If I try pistachios I will let everyone know how it worked.
  3. I have tried over and over to get my Guru to work on my home network to no avail. Any suggestions? I am not exactly tech ignorant but not a programer either. It works fine on adhoc but the network is so limited that I have to have my IPad really close to the unit. So I am stuck there when I would like to do other things. If it were on wifi mode using my local network I could use it anywhere within range in my house.
  4. Re: Lighting Looftlighter It is sometimes a bit aggravating that the switch has to be held down continuously but I don't think small hands would be an issue. It only takes a bit over two minutes. The other option would be to have a simple off and on switch, but the air coming out the end is very hot and it would be pretty dangerous. At the point where the switch is it is about the diameter of a flashlight using D cells. It takes very little pressure to keep it on.
  5. Re: Lighting Looftlighter After my last post on this topic I have changed my mind. I now use the looflighter exclusively. I don't put it in the bottom. I merely place it on top of the lump and after less than two minutes I have a good fire.
  6. bwright

    Cooking salmon

    Re: Cooking salmon I had some problems with the day because I had to leave. So after three or four hours I had raised the temperature only a little bit. When I came back I raised temperature gradually ultimately reaching about 240 in the kamado and 170 or so in the salmon center. I left it to cool overnight. When I tried to take in off the grill it stuck everywhere. I had not greased the fish but had oiled the grills. Suffice it to say that I lost most of the skin and thus the appearance I wanted. The trout were a bit overdone. Next time I will put something, maybe sorrel leaves from my very large sorrel plant. But it does taste pretty good. I might also leave it in the brine for a shorter time.
  7. bwright

    Cooking salmon

    Re: Cooking salmon I just put king salmon (Scottish farmed so supposedly ecologically sound), steelhead (farmed by who knows) and rainbow trout (farmed again). I have cooked a lot of fish on the KK and smoked some from time to time. This time I am preparing for a xmas party and wanted a lot of smoked fish. I like pretty heavily smoked and fairly dry smoked salmon and trout. I have had a lot of success in the past with trout. So, instead of being smart and checking the forum before I started I did it my own way. Brined all of the fish overnight in just kosher salt and lots of water. Stuck them on the lil Isla, the salmon on the lower rack also filled remaining space with some of the trout. Steelhead and rest of salmon on top grill. Mostly cherry chunks but also some other stuff, probably lemon and guava under the heat shield. I did not leave the fish to dry before putting them on. But I am starting at a very low temperature (between 100 and 110 F) and hope this will dry it. It seems to be forming some pelliciles now. After consulting forum I added some lime juice (have abundance of Mexican limes on my tree). I intend to keep it at this temperature for as long as practicable, take some out and freeze it to destroy possible parasites) and up the temperature on the rest until I get it to at least 145 internal temperature. Unfortunately, as I was putting this post together the temperature rose to 124 degrees and I can't seem to get it back down even by closing top draft and nearly closing bottom. Any suggestions about how to keep it lower? Will report back when done. Hope I will figure out how to put in pictures by then.
  8. Two great ducks by "king of ducks" aka greybeard".
  9. Re: Lighting Looftlighter Yep. When I got the KK to replace my old Imperial I bought one of these. I had always used simply newspaper in the Imperial but though I needed something more impressive when I moved into the KK aristocracy. It works pretty well, either from above or through the removed door. It takes two or three minute to get it started a bit and then have to wait another few till I have a full fire. To be honest I have returned to simply putting four or five pieces of newspaper in the basket but sometimes use the Looftligher. I have a plug right by the KK so this is no problem for me. I have a knee replacement and back problems so putting the Looflighter in the bottom is a pain (literally) for me. I do sometimes also use the looflighter when I don't get a good start with the newspaper or just to goose the temperature a little. A nice, but probably, superfluous device. I guess a Guru or similar would solve some of these problems but I am still a bit old school except for the Looftlighter.
  10. Any ideas? I am cooking a very small goat today, about 3 1/2 lbs. Marinating w/white wine, thyme, lime rind and juice, garlic, onion, Jamaican mint leaves, salt and pepper. Guess I'll do it pretty slow for medium length of time. Trying to mimic cabrito from Guadalajara, MX. Will let you know how it comes out. Any thoughts on goat welcome. Going on in an hour or so. If you know anything and happen to be on line give me a call at 626 577 7852
  11. Re: Barbecued Jalapenos! Molacajete. I use mine to grind together, for example, hot chile (lots of kinds either fresh or dried), garlic, cilantro, salt, pepper (including szechuan), mint, etc. as a rub or the base for good ponzu which I use to baste whatever I want to cook, especially any kind of poultry.
  12. Re: Questions about the 19.5 inch Komodo Kamado I have the smaller one. It has been mostly adequate but I sometimes wish I had the larger one. My 20 lb Thanksgiving turkey was something of a problem but it was one of the first times I used the KK. As to the moving: My delivery was scheduled simply to the driveway. I told the driver of the truck that I would make it worth his while to get it to my backyard and on my deck. There is one small step, a relatively long ramp and the one larger step. The driver had a screw dolly (or whatever it is called). He easily rolled it back the sometimes rough concrete driveway but then the first problem arose. It was just a little too large to get through the gate in my fence in the crate. So we uncrated it and i t rolled through fine on the dolly. The next hiccup was that my very short step was just slightly too high for his dolly to lift it on. I should mention that I had been suffering from a serious back problem and unable to lift more than twenty pounds. My friend, a contractor and therefore not always reliable about time, had not shown up. But the driver was able to tilt the KK enough to get it up the first step. He then simply pulled it up the ramp with me just staying behind to keep it from rolling back. Complaining all the time that this was the hardest delivery he had every done, he managed to get it up the ramp and then was able to tilt it again enough to roll up the larger step and it then rolled very easily along my deck. I did make it worth his time. The long and short of it is that it is actually possible for one strong man and an old fart who can't lift anything to move the smaller KK with no other help. I am sure that two able bodied and determined guys would have had no trouble. I had been very worried about it but was determined that I would get it up by hook or crook. A little hard cash solved the problem. My contractor friend (yes, we are still friends in spite of it all) had talked about getting four of his guys to come do the job. But since this would have taken at least eight man hours (their main work site is nearly an hour from my house--the joys of Southern California) it would have been overly expensive. I am an old fan of the Imperial Kamado and was kind of sad to give it up after over thirty years but the KK is really wonderful. My first wife was fine too but the second is marvelous. The same for the Kamados but at least I don't have to pay support for the old one that is now in the hands of one of my friends.
  13. Email or private message and come by most any time. Look closely and you can see that my Welsh Terrier, McCool can get behind the kk.
  14. I got my blue KK Lil' Isla for my birthday in 2010 (actually got it just before Thanksgiving though the actual 79th bday was a bit later. I have been a Kamado fanatic for what must be nearly 35 years. I started with an original Imperial from Pachinko Palace. I eventually bought two more of these as I had cracks in the original and somewhat broken firebox. The old "don't pay attention after first lighting it with newspaper and thus getting it so hot that it cracked big time" game played itself out with both of the "newer" ones. I went back to the original which was actually a much better Kamado and used it, eventually replacing the firebox. I was still using it when the new KK came. I simply couldn't bring myself to put my old friend away so it sat there unused until last Saturday. One of the replacements whose top had cracked and I had fixed it with epoxy and kiln cement also sat on the deck. I offered the newer one (the more seriously damaged but fixed one) to a friend who had been my student back when I got the first one. I was worried about getting it loaded in his vehicle so I tried taking it apart. When I got to lifting the firebox it broke into pieces. So I offered him the original instead if he would take both away. In spite of my nasty orders not to try to lift the firebox from my old beloved original he did it and, as I predicted, it too broke into several pieces. He pledged to glue it all back together. But I found that the Kamado King now sells the Imperial as well as parts for them so he has now ordered a new firebox. I noticed that the Kamado King's website gets a bad review from my browser protection. Does anyone have any experience purchasing from him? In any case I am a real Kamado fan and now committed to the most beautiful thing in my life, after my dog and wife. Come to think of it, she is the second wife (the first one threw me and the old Kamado out years ago) and much better than the first. (The dog is another matter). Maybe the new Kamado love will follow suit. By now I have used it for chicken, duck, goose, steak, pork roast, smoking trout, etc. My most happy surprise is how easily I can grill a steak, top up with the smaller grill on the lower level. I had long ago given up on the Imperial for this purpose so I am thrilled with this new possibility. Maybe I can also get rid of my old friend the cast iron grill too.
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