Cookie

Love those little hole in the wall places that pop up on holidays....the best.

Along the same lines, I'm still a huge fan of using the KK for a reverse sear... I heat soak it for at least 90 minutes to 200F, put my 1 3/4" - 2" steaks on the upper rack and slowly bring them to an internal temp of 118F-120F. While they steaks are in the KK, I get my weber gasser blistering for a quick 30 second sear per side at the end of the cook. This results in a product with none of the grey bands, flavor from the KK, and a nice cross thatched sear to make em' look good. Here is the scale I use for determining when to pull the meat for the sear, depending on how our guests want their meat done: 105 For Bleu 115 For Rare 120 For Medium Rare 130 For Medium 140 For Medium Well 150 For Well To get to medium rare takes about 20 minutes with the KK at 200F. To get to well done takes about 40 minutes, so time your cook accordingly.

It has been 3 years since I made the initial post in this thread. What new gizmos, cookbooks, and KK related products that are not already mentioned should be included in our KK aresenals? Personally, I have found Fruita wood to be the best quality for smoking. It is not dried out, smells awesome, and is far superior than most of what you find in your local hardware stores / hyper-marts. http://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/ Some more of this will be on my list this year.

Those look and sound amazing!

Re: Pork Ribs Yum, looks great.

Re: Smoking wood I'm hooked on their peach at the moment....use it stand alone for ribs, been mixing with a bit of hickory on pork butts, etc. Love Love Love it.

Re: Definition of OTB Doc, that's like putting my two year old in a candy store and then telling him he can't have any. Cruel.

Re: KK Covers coming? Dennis, I hope the new covers will be made with authentic Sunbrella? I have to say, my cover from Johnny, that is now over 3 years old, and bakes everyday in the hot Singapore sun, looks as good as the day he shipped it to me. Sunbrella is good stuff. I've had to replace my Weber covers twice in that same period of time due to the fading. They end up looking so bad next to the covered KK that I am shamed into replacing them... I should probably spend some time on the web to see if anyone is selling Weber covers in Sunbrella.

Re: High(er) heat Prime Rib Correct

Re: Pizza Stone - direct or indirect? Pizza stone on main grill, no deflector....500-600 dome temp, let the stone get heat soaked and hot before you start cooking.

Re: wood as fuel Here is what Dennis has had to say on the subject:

Re: Ribeye Roast cook Doc, you realize that last post was your 1500th? Impressive, and thanks for all of your contributions to the rest of us in the community.

Re: Christmas Pork I think Santa is bringing me three vintages of Pappy Van Winkle for Christmas (no it isn't Scotch, and while I have many bottles, my KY heritage takes over during the holidays and I go for bourbon). I have yet to decide on what cut of meat will be worthy...

Re: Pork Crown Roast w/ spicy sausage stuffing That looks great!

Re: Lid open or closed? I reverse sear by starting with the meat way up top in a heat soaked dome that reads 200F. I like the flavor I get in that position. I pull the meat out at 120 and immediately sear for 30 seconds per side on my weber gasser that is already per-heated to 700F and oiled. This yields med-med rare steaks.

Re: Cooking at High Altitude with Big Green Egg Maybe it was a difference in the ambient temp outside? Cold? Maybe it wasn't really heat soaked and operating at the dome temp as early in the cook as your low altitude cooks?

Re: 7lb Turkey Breast Did you have the heat deflector sitting on top of the basket handles, or were you cooking direct? If cooking direct, you will cook considerably faster than if you had the deflector in... If you have the deflector in, you will be slightly higher than the dome temp, but not lots... Maybe one of the guys that have a stoker or guru can give you a better answer as some of them will tell you the pit temp, grate temp, etc...

Re: Smoked Pork Belly Peppered Bacon Pork Belly is the rage in Asia right now... Every restaurant I go to seems to have it in some shape or form. However, what I had the other night that was very interesting was a maple glazed bacon, served as a side dish. It was an Aussie chef at a boutique steak house. It is hard to explain, but imagine maybe 6-8 slices (two fingers wide) of bacon, I'm guessing they were tied together prior to cooking, and when cooked, the slices "gelled" enough to (again I'm guessing) remove the string for serving -- creating one unified slab. It was served not as a stack, but on the long edges of the slices. Again I'm guessing, but I'd say it was smoked in a stovetop smoker (or already smoked bacon), then baked, then given a quick flash on their grill to give a little caramelization to the maple glaze. It was one of the best sides I've ever had with anything. It went great with the ribeye, asparagus, mashed, etc. I would go back just for that dish. I'm going to try my own version in the KK. If anyone knows exactly what I'm talking about here, or has a recipe, please send it my way.

Re: Set up help You could adapt this for your lamb: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5075&p=43979&hilit=Cookie#p43979

Re: Daughters third bday today Thanks, that cook looked so good that I just went to the freezer to pull some ribs out for dinner, only to realize I'm out of stock.....hmpf. Bone-in ribeye it is.

A few of my friends have purchased KK's. Without fail, I get hit up for a "how to" guide on pork shoulders. The guide below is taken from my emails. It is lengthy, but is intended for guys that just uncrated their KK and have zero experience, not only with the KK, but with lump, KK extruded, etc. I know seasoned (no pun intended) KK vets have their own outstanding tried and true methods, but my newbies have all had success with this, so maybe I'll get motivated and turn it into a video at some point. Meat / Preparation 1. I usually order a 3-4KG Pork Shoulder (bone-in) from the butcher in Chip Bee Gardens (Holland Village). He is expensive, but only guy I have found for that understands exactly what I need for this cook. I use cheaper guys for other cooks. It will shrink a fair bit during the cook, but will be enough for a dinner party and some leftovers to help nurse a hangover. 2. If your butcher hasn't already, use a sharp knife to score the layer of fat on the top side of the pork shoulder. This will keep it from tightening up during the cook. I always ask the butcher to do this for me, and he knows what to do. 3. Use 1/2 - 3/4 cup of a dry rub to coat the outside of the pork shoulder. Use your fingers, massage it in. I think the rub described in this link is identical to what I use out of one of my cookbooks: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food ... index.html Komodo Kamado Setup I always start with a full beer close at hand. 1. Fill your charcoal basket full, but loosely (you need room for air to flow). If you are going to use a smoking wood, place a chunk in the bottom, a chunk in the middle, and reserve a chunk for the very top, to be added after you have established a good light. You do not want to have to restock during the middle of your cook (it is a pain), and more importantly, it is important to have a full basket for airflow purposes. Air coming in through the bottom vent follows the path of least resistance, and if you don't have a full basket, you may lose your light early in the cook -- has happend to me a couple of times when I was skimping on charcoal in the basket. 2. Open the bottom vent all the way and the top vent 4 full rotations. 3. Light about a tennis ball size patch of charcoal dead center on the top of the charcoal pile. Make sure it is good and lit / glowing if you can get it there with whatever you are using to light your charcoal. I use a propane torch. Another option is to use a charcoal chimey to light a tennis ball size and then dump it in the center on top. I always burn top down, not bottom up. Another option if in a pinch is to use a side burner on a gas BBQ (if you have one) and hold the charcoal with tongs (that are insulated in the handle) to get it lit. You get the idea. 4. Place the small stone heat deflector that came with your KK, centered, directly on the handles of the charcoal basket (I wrap mine in foil for easy cleanup after it has been dripped on). Close the lid, keeping the vents open as described in #2 above for 10 - 15 minutes. This establishes a good light and airflow pattern. You may want to set a timer because you don't want to go any longer than 10-15 minutes. If you overshoot on temperature, it takes forever to come back down. 5. After 10-15 minutes, close the bottom vent to just a hair more than credit card thickness. Close the top vent completely, and then re-open to 1/4 turn. This may seem crazy, but I promise you, that is all the airflow that you need to achieve your target temperature of 220F-225F. 6. Take the one wood chunk you've reserved for the beginning of the cook and place it directly on the hot spot of your lit charcoal. Put the bottom and main racks in, keep the elevated top rack out for now. 7. Close the lid and and the wood chunk you just placed on top is going to start smoking with a thick white smoke -- which is not good smoke for your food. While this "acric" smoke is burning off, the KK is also getting heat soaked, which you want it to do before adding the meet. 8. Let the KK come up to the desired temp of 220F - 225F. This will take 45 mins - 1 hour. If it takes much longer, you may not be lit, in which case you need to go back to step 3. 9. Once at temp, place the upper rack in the KK and place the pork shoulder, fat side on top, on the upper rack. With the fat on top, the pork self bastes with its own juices. 10. Place a drip pan directly under the pork shoulder with about an inch of water in it -- there is much debate amongst KK owners about whether or not this is required. I always do it. 11. Close the lid, crack open another beer. If your temperature is slightly off now, don't worry, you had the lid open while you put in the pork and drip pan, it will sort itself out in about 20 mins...don't touch the vents thinking you need to fix the situation. 12. If you have a 3 KG Pork Shoulder, you will want to start checking the internal temperature 7 hours into the cook. Typically it will be done in 8-10 hours, but you don't want to miss your target desired internal meat temp of 195F. Actually, you want 197F, but the meat continues to cook once out of the cooker. 13. Remove meat once it hits 195F. Wrap it in foil first, then wrap it in a towel. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Pull off and discard visable fat, meat will pull easily with a fork. Serve it up with your favorite sauce and sides. The hardest part is getting it lit properly (your propane torch is your best friend here, don't be shy with it in the beginning, I spend a good 5 minutes just lighting that tennis ball portion of charcoal in step 3). Once it is lit, it will maintain temperature at 225F on one full basket of charcoal for days!!!

Re: Would you buy a used BGE XL for $700 ? I wouldn't... If you are thinking about a second cooker for a second home, I'm guessing a second KK wouldn't break the bank, and you'd have a superior cooker that looks a hell of a lot nicer. My wife and I can't get past the GREEN stucco look of the big green egg. I won't argue, the BGE can cook a fine meal, but why bring down the property value of home #2, when you could imrove its curb appeal with another KK? I'm just sayin'!!!

Re: Help Needed - New KK YouTube Channel Better late than never...done.

Re: Reverse Sear for Rib Eyes I heat soak to 200F and 1.75" steaks take about 20 minutes to get to 115F internal. I pull them and immediately sear for 30 seconds each side on a pre-heated oiled weber gasser that is already holding 700F. This yields medium to medium rare with sear marks that are impressive.

It was a Big Bob Gibson dinner at our place last night... I've done the BBG ribs several times, always great results, but went for two additional dishes out of the cookbook last night. The honey-balsamic vegetables were excellent. The bacon wrapped / basil stuffed prawns were out of this world. I made a batch of 30 as the appetizer for 4 of us (thinking they'd last a night in the fridge for some leftovers today) -- WRONG. Devoured, and could get "best new dish of 2012" added to my repertoire. I also made the BBG red sauce for both the ribs and prawns. Ridicoulous, I'm still thinking about those prawns...if you've got the cookbook, try them, if you don't and you want the recipe, let me know. Brian