Paswesley

Re: Mable's First Birthday Cook Thanks for the compliment. The rub is just some Lawry's seasoning salt, cumin, coriander, dry mustard, powdered garlic, a proprietary curry blend, and a couple odds and ends. Here is the pic I just took. The potatoes are done. The birds are 162 internal, and I have just cranked Mable up to 375 to finish them off. I will try to infuse some hickory smoke into the pic, but some may be lost in the digization process. Here is the done pic and the plated pic. Sorry, no garnish today. It smells too good to fiddle with visual aesthetics. Signing off. Paswesley

Forum Family: I just had to cook something to help Mable to celebrate her first birthday. We adopted her on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, at 3:45 pm- a whopping, 615 pound baby girl! To honor the day, and to celebrate the enormous impact that her arrival has had upon the gustatory aspect of our family's life, we decided to cook Roast Chicken Mabellesque. This humble dish with the fine sounding name is prepared very simply. Two five pound roasters are washed and prepped with sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and certain spices in the cavity. Thereupon, the slightly damp exterior is generously rubbed with fresh drippings from this morning's bacon. A rub of secret spices (among which cumin plays a prominent role) is lovingly applied in a manner reminiscent of shiatsu massage. As you can see from the photo, a few sweet potatoes agreed to be sacrificed, so that the chickens would not feel put upon by having to face the heat alone. Follow up pics are pending- if I can get them to load, that is. Paswesley

Re: Nearly Ran out of Coals during overnight cook Yes, my experience has been that a basket with smaller pieces will burn out faster than a basket with large to medium chunks. You did not mention the type of charcoal you are using. Some brands of charcoal have a high percentage of smalls and fines. Avoid those brands. Check out the Naked Whiz's excellent rating site. Finally, if you do not take care to pack your charcoal carefully into the basket, there can be fairly large air pockets, i.e empty spaces in the basket. You are on the right track in your conclusions, though. May i suggest that for all future low and slows, place large to medium pieces into the basket until it is completely full, taking care to eliminate any open pockets in the coal. Assuming your KK is properly air tight, this practice will ensure that you do not run out of charcoal before your food is done. You will be an old hand in no time. Paswesley

Re: Residual KK heat I almost licked my iPad's screen. That looks goooood! Where is my piece?

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! Wow! Sounds like this is going to be a product worthy of its producer. Have a great 4th Dennis!

Re: Gonna buy one Monday!! If you take an iPhone pic, (iPhone 4 definitely prompts you) the email wizard will prompt you as to what size the file should be. The uploaded pics are not HD, but they are adequate for our purposes. Paswesley

Re: Holding low temps My $0.02 worth: I have found that you must make your adjustments before your KK gets heat soaked at a higher than desired temp. It is very hard to back down temps once heat soak occurs. Also, a set temp rises slightly, cooking au naturale, as the cooking meat temp elevates. This can be as much as 20 degrees or more during the latter stages of certain types of cooks. Finally, make certain that the draft and ash doors are absolutely tight. I ran a bead of hi-temp Permatex around Mable's back ash door to seal it shut completely. Mable sends her best wishes.

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! @Dennis: I congratulate you on your overwhelming sales. I understand that you are swamped. Still, it's been a few weeks since we heard anything about the charcoal. Will we be receiving a shipment this summer? Thanks, Anton

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! @ teddysurf: "I second that emotion!"

Re: First anniversary of my 50th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Dennis! I wonder what KK birthday cakes taste like?

Re: New Member/Owner in the Nation's Capital Brian, welcome to the family. I live in Severn, which is close to you. I know from experience with my own, that your wife will not regret giving her buy-in to get the cooker. Congratulations!

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! Great local KK guys! Any others in the area interested in a share? With these rising gas prices, there is no telling what the FOB charge will be from the west coast.

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! Are there any KK owners in the greater Baltimore/Washington DC metro area who are interested in a pallet share? I want some of this charcoal! Paswesley

Re: Getting the KK to 500 degrees In addition to what has already been suggested, try starting your charcoal in a charcoal starter. When I want to build a hot fire quickly, I partly fill the coal basket and then put the remaining charcoal (enough to completely fill the coal basket) into an old-fashioned charcoal starter, the kind that you can get at Wal-Mart for a few dollars. Start a fire in both the cooker and the charcoal chimney, so that both are going together (a MAPP style torch works best). Open up the top hat and pull the draft door about an inch away from touching the frame. In about fifteen minutes, depending on the ambient temp, the charcoal in the starter will be redhot. Dump this hot charcoal on top of the coals that are already burning in the cooker, add your grates and close the lid. You should have a 500 plus degree fire in about 20-25 minutes. It will not be heat soaked that quickly, but you will have 500 degree air inside the cooker. Hope this helps. Paswesley

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! Awesome, Dennis. I want some- now.

Re: Happy Easter from all of us at KOmodo Kamado Happy Easter, belated, to you and yours, Dennis. Happy to hear of your continued great success. It is well earned. I second tnt's motion re the charcoal. Paswesley

Re: Old School Easter Ham @Quedog and Cook_Shack: Thanks, guys. Happy Easter to you, too. Mable sends her warmest regards.

I come from the old school when it comes to the main course on the two most important holidays on the Christian calendar. Turkey at Christmas and a great big, juicy ham for Easter. So, I had to put Mable to work. I have no pictures because I had more honey-dos to do today than you can shake a stick at. Nevertheless: Mable's client was a 21.5 pound sugar cured ham, extra lean, with very little fat visible. Indirect heat was my method, using the great idea that somebody posted- to foil wrap the bottom grill to super size the indirect heat area. I steadied her at 305 and put the ham on with 46 degrees interior temp, with the drip pan in place, of course. My only seasoning was allspice sprinkled evenly but lightly over the entire joint. I placed it on the upper grill, on the short side.The meat was placed fat side down, with a Redi-Chek inserted, and Mable began to do her thing. At about two hours into the cook, with an internal temp of 85, I foiled the ham on the top and sides only, leaving the underside open. The foil remained until the inner temp was 144, at which point I removed it until the target temp of 150 was reached. I eagerly removed the ham from Mable's capacious maw and hustled it inside. I could barely wait during the rest period before I had a little taste. How can I put it? SUCCULENT, JUICY, FRAGRANT, DELECTABLE, MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH TENDER! And all I put on it was allspice. I have to go to bed now, get up at 3:30 am and go to the 5:30 am sunrise service. I will be delivering the homily. I cannot help thinking about Mable's latest accomplishment now, and I look forward with great anticipation to our afternoon repast. Happy Easter forum family! Paswesley

Re: Three Extruder Machines are in the House! @Dennis: You mentioned mid-Spring as a possible target date to ship out your first pallets of extruded charcoal. I know you are busily cranking out siblings for Mable, but mid-Spring is about three weeks away. Are we any closer to getting our hands on some of the good stuff? Paswesley

Re: Order placed and now the waiting starts..... There you go. There is a lot to be said about thrift, especially in this economy.

Re: Order placed and now the waiting starts..... How right you are, Doc. My Grand Classic 5 burner that I bought from Costco seven years ago is still in great working condition. However, it has not cooked a single item since Mabel took over the patio last summer. I am, indeed, using the old grill to store items. The various grills from Mable stack nicely on the grill of the gasser. The big lid keeps out the elements very well. I think I will fire it up every now and again when I am missing that subtle gassy aroma that our foods used to exude.

Re: A very happy, happy man! Welcome to the KK family. Now, don't be afraid to use it. It is beautiful, but as a Maserati is a work of art designed to be driven, so is a KK a work of art designed to cook with. Bon Chance!

Re: Waiting on my Cobalt Blue @Syzygies: Those hep cats were really jumping in that video. Is that a young Dorothy Dandridge sitting on the piano and soaking it all in? Also, can you phonetically indicate how to pronounce "Syzygies?" Or, is it not intended to be pronounced? Thanks

Re: Hickory Charcoal @slu: Thanks for the charcoal tip. We are all ever searching for the perfect cooking fuels. I have located the company and will post a link to their page below. I am going to order a bag and test it before I order a large amount. I am tempted to order a pallet on your recommendation alone, but personal taste is involved... I look forward to testing it. Here is the link to their homepage: http://www.charcoalcompany.com/cart.html

Re: Whatcha think? OTB Shaped Heat Deflector This is a great idea, Dennis. I am curious about how this change in shape will affect convection, if at all. I say make a working prototype and see what comes of it.