Paswesley

@tony b I was using it for the first time. I was surprised at how mild it is. There is very little unusable lump, too. Naked Whiz gave it his best rating. If you order from Grilla Grills, there is no freight charge when you buy more than two bags. I have found a new every day lump. Royal oak is so expensive now! Overpriced, in my humble opinion.

@SmallBBQr, Thanks for the info! I have a really good butcher locally in Baltimore. Perhaps he can pull some strings and get some bison meat for me. Haha, that warning against drying out the meat reminds me of a rookie mistake I made a few weeks after getting Mable back in 2010. I attempted a low and slow with a 12 pound sirloin tip. After about fourteen hours, and I did no mopping nor foiling, it was fit only for use as a slightly greasy medicine ball! (or cannonball!) 

Just googled poutine, and I see that it is not a sauce at all, but a popular Canadian fast food dish. Still curious about it, though. 

@SmallBBQr, ever do anything with bison meat? Any recommended sources for really good bison meat?

Pulled pork on Mable is hard to mess up! I am curious about a tasty sauce idea, though. I will look up your ketchup poutine. I have to warn you though. No pretensions at being a chef or gourmand. Just a backyard cook! 

@Aussie Ora, and @MacKenzie, thanks for the comps and kind feedback. It was moist and delicious, and I am about to go and make myself a sandwich right now.

It's Food Porn time! Here are a few pics of the finished product prior to being served. I included the clavicle bone so you can see how cleanly the meat came off. It was smokey good and so delicious and did not hang around very long. As a rule of thumb, if you want more than a few bits of met swimming in the remaining au jus, then don't be late to a meal featuring KK cooked food!  Isn't it delightful, the smoke ring that a KK creates? Hope you enjoyed my post!

That is one of the amazing things about how Dennis has engineered these KKs. You can have a runaway temp, which was caused by my failure to do my spring maintenance, and still easily rein in the fiery beast and settle down for a routine cook. And by routine, of course, I mean DELICIOUS!

The potatoes are still baking. We tested one potato which was not quite ready. The pork was just taken off about 5 minutes ago and is resting in the foil for a few minutes. I am curious about the flavor because I am trying out a new lump brand: Rockwood Lump. I expect it will be very tasty. I will pull and taste soon, and post a pic or two. Thanks!

Beautiful view, Kooker, dogs, etc. You must have had some anxious moments getting down that slope with your half ton beauty! What is her/his name, the KK that is?

I had in mind to smoke a couple of pork butts low and slow. I had not cooked on Mable in about a year, due to a number of factors. I had not cleaned her since the last cook, nor had I done any routine spring maintenance this year. To make a long story short, Mable remained true to her pedigree, all the fault was mine. I first became aware of an issue when I could not stabilize her temperature. After seven years of set and forget simplicity, I was not expecting her temp to continue to climb. I knew that air was getting in somewhere, though. I discovered the problem was the knob on the back door. it was loose and unable to be tightened with fire in the cooker. I MacGuyvered a quick fix using some Gorilla tape. Fortunately, Mable had not stabilized at 300. After the improvised repair, I was able to slowly back down the temp to 210 over the course of the next two hours. The problem started around 2:00 am, and by 4:30 am I was able to get some shuteye. As I type this, the temp is about 240 and the meat is 163 degrees. I anticipate a delicious pulled pork dinner, thanks to the incredible engineering that goes into these cookers. They are engineered to be airtight, but it does take some routine maintenance to keep it that way. Once the air leak was sealed, Mable was as happy as a clam at high tide. I am posting a few photos to support the verbiage. I will post a finished product pic or two.

Note: I just went out and took pics 7 and 8. Internal is 168. I will foil at 175.

Years ago, in 2011, I think, I simply used fireplace cement and cemented the back door shut on my Mable (Ultimate 23). If Gennis has come up with an engineered solution to this issue, I want to be able to acquire it. Thanks!

These look really tasty! I will try this recipe.

Great idea, Bryan I have only cooked pizza once in the five years that I have had Mabel. This contest is a good incentive to get me cooking pizzas!

As luck would have, I do have a finished product pic! One of the neighbors who was to receive a butt is out of town. So, I pulled it and, voila! It is not my intention to promote any particular brand of barbecue sauce and I am not affiliated with any company. I am really pleased with how it turned out, especially the bark pieces and the underside meat where all of the juices had intensified the flavors! Man oh man! I am going to the bakery tomorrow and get some of those chewy crusted, soft inside kaiser rolls. G'night, all!

Sorry, guys, for you who want a plated pic. As is so often the case, fine cuisine photography was outpaced by familial voracity! Three butts went to neighbors, and ours vanished like the morning mist when the midday sun has kissed it.

Hi, guys! Thanks for the compliments. It never ceases to amaze me, the way that raw meat is transformed by heat and humidity (and a few spices) into such a wonderfully tasty thing! I wish you were hear to share a plate! It would be great if you could smell it, because the odor is so mouthwatering. I have not eaten more than a taste because I was too sleepy and fell into the rack for 40 winks. Now that I am up, if I may paraphrase the Incredible Hulk, it's chomping time!

7:30 AM:

Sleepy, man! Total cook time, 12:45. I have provided some food porn. I can't begin to describe the flavor, but it is soooo good! Do yourself a favor and try this. BTW, I was using RO charcoal with chunks of hickory wood for smoke seasoning. Enjoy the porn!

3:30 AM update:

Nine hours into the cook. Internal temp 177, Mabel steady at 255. Butts were foiled and returned to the cooker to finish. I am shooting for 193. Included are pics taken at 9 hours in, 177 internal. The taste is very complex, rich, and earthly and yet fruity from the honey. I can't wait to pull and place on a soft bun!

Update 7 hours in:

Internal 160; Mabel steady at 245. Pics below.

@ckreef: Welcome into the family! LOL They say that a gun is the great equalizer, but I beg to differ. I think gravy is the great equalizer. Many is the so-so entree that has been saved by a truly remarkable gravy or sauce being paired with it! Truth be told, some are so delicious that one is tempted to get a bowl and spoon and eat it like a soup! LOL! 

@CeramicChef: Thanks for the thumbs up remarks! I decided to do right by Mabel. She is royalty, and I couldn't have her slumming with just any old setup! LOL!

BTW: Three hours in and I have so far resisted the temptation to lift up Mabel's lid and take a few peeks- just barely, though. Internal temp is 118. I had originally thought that she would cook at 230, because that is where she was setting when I put the meat in after 4 hours of soaking. I did make a few tweak adjustments, though. She is sitting right at 200 degrees, and has been there since I put the meat in three hours ago. Dennis, Dennis, man you are alright. Anybody who can engineer a cooker that can make food taste this good, and make cooking this much fun, is a-okay in my book!

@ckreef: Thanks for the compliment. I tend to like wet rubs on most foods. At my core, I am really a gravy guy. I used to lick my plate when I was a kid. I liked gravy just that much, and wet rubs remind me of gravy, you know? Gravies and sauces are, well, delightful!

@Robert: Sounds about right. Inner ring is 500 to 27,000 BTUs and the outer ring pushes it up to 65,000 BTUs. The main issue with these horses is to keep them from getting the bit in their teeth, so to speak. This stuff puts out a lot of HEAT! It took me years of "honey dos" to compensate for buying Mabel. The outdoor kitchen should keep me in honeys well out into the middle of the century!!! 

Fingers tightly crossed! This is a first try. My wife is Asian and they do simply scrumptious things with peanut butter sauces. I just now put the little cubbies on. In my eagerness, I broke a temp probe. Had a spare though- Whew! Internal meat temp at 59. Mabel soaked at 235. I think it's time to visit Sapporo Japan- 2 or 3 times!     

@Bryan: She's okay, "She's a harbor chick!" Dennis has her very well insulated. There is a set of doors below the sink, so she has to sit out a bit to allow the doors to swing completely open. Thanks for the kind words. We are loving our new home! 

Hi, KK family. It has been a long time since I hazarded a sharing of one of my cooks. A lot has changed since my last post. For one thing, we have moved. We recently finished installing a patio and outdoor kitchen. Mabel will be doing all of the charcoal cooking and we have some Alfresco equipment to handle the rest, I decided to cook some butts today, and I will share a few of them with neighbors. Here is what I have done so far.

• 4 Boston Butts, wet pack with a total weight of 36.5 pounds
• Peanut Butter and honey based rub. Nothing fancy here. I whisked together 12 oz of creamy peanut butter with about 2 oz of clover honey. I added 4 T of mayonnaise and 2 oz of Mother's raw apple cider vinegar. Whisked some more. To this I added approx. 1 T each of turmeric, lemon pepper blend, garlic salt, and a few other odds and ends that my granny told me about.
• As I type this, Mabel is slowly soaking to about 220-230, while the butts rest. I am attempting to add some pics. I will update as the cook progresses.

Note: I have included a pic or two of the outdoor kitchen section of the new patio, just in case someone may like to see it. 

@Dennis Linkletter: The company that I got the outdoor equipment from is called Affordable Outdoor Kitchens, in Millersville, MD. The owner is Kevin and I sang your praises to him. He was very impressed with the build quality and cooking potential of Mabel, especially when I told him about the wide range of sizes and that any of them can be built into the hardscape or counter. He said that he would look you up. Let me know if you want to follow up. that was about 2 weeks ago.