myself888

First Pork Butt EVER! Rather than start a new topic, this one ('First Pork Butt on the KK') seemed perfectly fitting for us as well. Neither my husband nor I have ever cooked with charcoal prior to buying our KK and we've certainly never cooked a pork butt - which turns out to be a shoulder? Anyway, we read Cruzmisl's tutorial to get some instruction and then improvised. Step1: rubbed a 6.5 pound butt and let sit overnight in fridge - uncovered Step2: forgot to pull it out to bring to room temp Step3: started a full basket of lump at 8am placed heat deflector on basket drip pan with foil on lower grate stabilized the temp at 250° Step4: placed butt on main grate around 8:30am and let cook for 9 hrs Step5: drained fat from drip pan and made a sauce with the fond, broth, wine, and butter - next time I'll add honey so it's more like a BBQ sauce. For us, this was the best way to learn about charcoal and the KK temp control process. We played around quite a bit with the top and bottom dampers to see how the temps would change with the slightest turns. We also learned that as long as you do a proper preheat and keep your temperatures fairly stable, you don't really get that ashy charcoal smoke - that has been my biggest fear of charcoal. Anyway, we were very happy with the results, but do look forward to making more and perfecting our process - next time lower temp and more hours. And the time after that, we want to try beef shortribs. I'll check the forum for advice. The funniest part is my husband's almost uncontrolled desire to open the lid and look at the meat. Does Stokker make a probe with a camera? Gidget says she likes our new KK too! P.S. - luckily a couple we're friendly with was able to join us for Saturday dinner. Tim brought over this amazing BBQ sauce that he gets when he goes back home to Kentucky each October. LeBayou Gourmet BBQ Sauce - yummers! And for the wine lovers, this meal was paired with a 2002 Stryker Sonoma County Cabernet, 2004 Steltzner Stags Leap Merlot, and 2005 BV Tapestry Reserve Napa Valley - yep that's three bottles for three wine drinkers!

I bought a ton of veggies at the farmer's coop the other day and needed to cook them up - onion, sweet potato, rutabaga, parsnips, beets. Never having cooked over charcoal, I am a bit intimidated and worried about over smoking stuff. Turns out I got little to no smoke. I'm pleased with the results, but will try to impart a bit more smoke and heat next time. These are not grilled veggies, but roasted, so not a lot of grill marks but tons of concentrated flavors. The onions came out so sweet and caramelized! Beet tacos here I come! Process: 1/3 basket of coals with heat deflector Burned off all smoke for 20 or so mins. Placed veggies and cooked 1 hour Dome temp stayed around 350°

Babies and Puppies That's easy. It gives perspective without having to put your own fat ugly self in a picture. Now the picture in everyone's mind when they read my posts is of a cute little fur ball instead of a fat, middle aged old hag. When I finish my new KK diet and look more like Jennifer Aniston, I'll start posing next to the KK for all my cooking photos.

Congratulations you're the proud parents of a bouncing baby 530. We were so desperate to cook on the grill last night, but it just didn't work out. At least we managed to burn a few coals and get it up to 300°.

Plank cooking Hi LarryR, I've tried cooking fish on the planks as well and the only thing that chars is the plank itself if you don't get it fully saturated. I have a favorite fish market that cooks salmon on their grill (no plank) with nice char marks and it doesn't fall apart. They just swipe the grill with some oil and brush a garlic butter blend onto the side of the fish that goes down on the grill. 1. Their grill is very close to the flame 2. The heat must not be very high because the oil would be pointless at anything over about 375° or 400° 3. It takes about 15 mins from start to finish, so again the heat can't be all that high We get our KK on MOnday, so I'm going to be experimenting a lot. Fish is definitely on my list.

FAQs So it's really funny that I got hit with this since my work life is all about being annoyed with people who don't read my documentation and FAQs. Nonetheless, I don't see an FAQ about my issue, so I thank you for the help. I'll try clicking that thingy on the left next time.

I hope I've posted this in the right spot. I have a question about using the forum. When reading a topic, the bottom of the screen has a dropdown box where I can indicate to show oldest first or newest first. Is there a way to set a default so I always see newest first? I'm so excited to read the latest posts, that I can't scrolling, selecting and waiting!

Ha, that is a bit confusing. I was born and raised on a farm outside Edwardsville, IL. After a move to Southern CA, then Massachusetts, we have settled in Northern CA. I can't wait to drive the neighbors crazy with the yummy smell of smoking food!

We bought a KK I want to extend a big THANK YOU to all the forum members who take the time to post comments and pictures and recommendations. Without you, we probably would have skipped right on past the KK - "too expensive" "too extravagant" - but here we are the proud new owners of the Matte Terra Cotta. An now I'll practice posting a photo. I can't wait to show the before and after pizza making photos.

Hi Bev, good to meet a fellow Midwesterner and Domino. I have been making my own pizza for a couple years now and needed something to perfect it, so I just bought a KK. That should do the trick.

Food porn is right! Everything looks so good.

Sacrificial Shirt Thanks so much for your sacrifice. My husband and I watched this post together. We do reverse searing with our steaks and can see how this would easily work for us. Start the coals as for a low and slow with less air, then when we reach internal temp, pull off the thick cuts of beast and stoke up the heat. This looks very straight forward and you didn't even need to use a lower grill. Thanks so much for your help. The only problem we had was that we were eating potato leek soup while looking at your tasty steaks.

Finding spices My son's girlfriend is Thai/Cambodian and she uses tons of really interesting spices when she cooks - don't ask I don't know what they're called. But I can help you find them as she ordered some fun stuff for me as a Xmas gift last year. The company is out of Seattle, WA and is called World Spice dot com (this is only my second post, so I can't give you the actual website link) ;-p

We decided to install an outdoor kitchen to replace our portable gas grill. We were going to go the whole way with an island, cabinets, and 36" gas grill insert. We are plumbed and have been using natural gas with our current grill. We are now looking at the KK because our friend is a loyal customer (he has two), but don't want to always have to use charcoal for cooking. I understand that the KK comes with a gas connection, but is that just for lighting the charcoal or can you actually cook with just the gas? We live in Northern California which means we don't use the oven inside the house 9 months out of the year. I currently bake bread and make pizza on our portable gas grill and am hoping the KK will make this process more efficient. Naturally we will also do the classic grilling of meats and veggies, but I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has the gas option that it is works well. Also, is there a place where people post general pictures or do I have to look in individual posts?