LATrapp

Re: Smoke Daddy I think the smoke daddy's appeal is cold smoking. It would be great to hear if anyone here has used it. Definite interest here. Tribeless- I always soak and would recommend it.

Re: Rib Roast pic Looks amazing! and a very clean looking grill!

Re: SS Rack for cold smoking I'd actually be interested in figuring out an external smoke box that can cold feed smoke via ducting into the bottom draft door. It would be much easier to regulate temps independent of airflow. I would hesitate making a SS briquette holder based on only one shape of charcoal, however, if it's something that can adapt to other ECC's then I'd be interested.

Re: Brands of jerky cures? Thanks Firemonkey, great idea. Unfortunately, then ECC I have at the moment are solid cubes with no holes to stack them on the wire. I'll figure something else similar out but that looks like a great method. Dennis, I just meant that with the top damper almost closed you will be getting the temps that you want however you will also be holding in the moisture that you are trying to evaporate from the meat. The tricky part then becomes getting enough airflow to dry the meat while at the same time not raising the temp. I'm looking forward to trying to find that sweet spot!

Re: Low temps The secret to low temps is to not to light much coal and close down the top until you can just barely see smoke leaving.. if you have airflow, it won't go out. 175-180 is do-able. Never tried lower.. Looking to do some jerky in the next few days. I understand what Dennis is saying about keeping the top damper closed for low temps, but isn't that counter-productive to the necessary airflow for drying out the jerky?

Re: It's here! I love that color! Almost went for it. I agree with Mguerra. I'd almost recommend some sort for pad for the entire area of the KK.

Re: Hawaiian Luau/Kalua pork Cook_Shack- Thanks for the reply and link. I will now seriously consider purchasing a banana plant. I'm in So California, so it should have no problem. The reason why I would still need to foil with the pre-frozen leaves is just that the quality of them is so poor. I might as well be trying to retard evaporation with chicken wire. Having fresh leaves would be incredible for a variety of purposes. Specifically, I'm thinking about: Misi Luki Banana I'm a fan of the smaller fruits and hoping that they would be closer to a plantain. Do you know anything about them? Could be great on the grill!!

Re: Hawaiian Luau/Kalua pork I tried my Luau pork one more time. The basics: .6% salt at 50-50 split between Hawaiian red and black sea salt. No other flavorings added. I highly trimmed the butt of fat. Maybe a little too much. KK at 225 degrees with heat stone and tray filled with water on top. Butt on main grill. Smoked with a chunk of Kiawe wood for 45 mins then wrapped the butt in banana leaves and tied. I find Kiawe to be a much sweeter and more pleasant smoke for pork and chicken and even fish than 'mainland' mesquite. Although Kiawe is in the mesquite family, it's really quite different to me. I ordered the Kiawe here: http://www.hawaiiguava.com/kiawe-smoking-wood.html Frozen banana leaves can be purchased at ethnic foods market. I found that only the interior leaves in the packet were in good condition and dark green, so I would recommend two packets of leaves to sufficiently wrap one pork butt. I am still hoping to find and use fresh banana or Ti leaves. After about 12 hours, the temp stalled at 160. Due to time constraints, I unfortunately had to pull at 17 hours at 165. Great flavor but a bit tough. Of course, that was before reading THIS article on bbq stall.. Next time I will foil wrap the already leaf wrapped pork when it reaches 150 or so. And the pics:

Re: Must Read "physicist-cracks-bbq-mystery" Wow, game changer! I sure wish I had read this two days ago! I had a 6 hour stall on a large butt over the weekend. Thankfully the KK still kept things nice and moist)

Re: Los Angeles area pallet share I received a PM that charcoal pickup should be available at KK's warehouse in Carson rendering a LA pallet share unnecessary. Dennis, can you confirm?

Re: Los Angeles area pallet share I would be in for up to 8 of those if you're willing to split it up a bit. Is the shelf life of charcoal pretty much indefinite?

Re: Gas Lighter Useful or Not Worth It? Thank You Having only used propane, is there a major advantage to picking up a mapp tank next time I need a bottle?

Re: Using a Dutch Oven (cast iron) on the KK? Anyone use the Keep in mind that if you want to keep your seasoning on a black un-enameled cast iron, you don't want to cook anything acidic like a tomato based dish or citrus chicken etc. Enameled can handle the acid, but they are not necessarily easier to maintain. Baked on stains can be VERY tough to remove (bar-keepers friend can help) and you also have the potential for chipping on the enamel. I use both in the KK but for different purposes. One of my favorites is a wood fired cast iron skillet breakfast with skillets for eggs with fresh rosemary twigs, bacon, etc. Breakfast is amazing in the KK!

Re: To Rotis or Not To Rotis I also highly recommend the baskets in this post: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=4216&p=38219#p38219 They create a gap for drippings so they don't fall into the coals.

Re: Bronze Behemoth Game On! 2 That corn sounds so good!!! Someone should put together a cookbook from all of the tips on this forum!

Re: KK *should* be here by the weekend! Congrats!!! Wow, what a surprise!!!

Re: Hawaiian Luau/Kalua pork Thanks Syzygies. The Ti leaves are usually available at some specialty food stores (Murakai out in CA), but any florist can also get them with a bit of notice. I also have a bit of Kiawe wood, available online, which is the Hawaiian variety of mesquite that is traditionally used for their Luaus. I'm thinking about doing a test run this weekend and will certainly report back! Any other advice out there would be greatly appreciated...

Aloha! Wondering if anyone has tackled some Hawaiian Luau Kalua-style pork! I'll be using a bone-in butt and hopefully some fresh Ti leaves. Most of the recipes I've been looking at mention just hawaiian red sea salt and not much else. Any other suggestions on the seasoning of the meat? Garlic, Aloha Shoyu, Bay leaves, etc? Skin on/off? I distinctly remember a some crispy skin bits at the last Hawaiian luau I attended although that might be more suited for a whole pig roast. Also, has anyone incorporated Ti leaf cooking with the KK? I see many mentions of wrapping the pork in Ti leaves then foil. But these aren't KK related. Many recipes list liquid-smoke which is almost blasphemy with a KK, but if it's wrapped in Ti leaves and foil, maybe it's necessary? Or would you recommend smoking unwrapped for a bit and then wrapping? I will probably be using lump since I can't find any ECC, but I'm open to suggestion on wood suggestions. Thanks in advance for any advice, tips, etc.

Re: are cloth awnings over a KK ok? How high up is it? I'd definitely give it some thought. I agree with the other that you should be fine with general use, but there have certainly been a few times that my KK is shooting sparks while getting up to a high temp. I doubt it would catch on fire, but spark marks probably wouldn't be welcome either. Personally, I wouldn't want to think about my awning every time I open the lid. Are there any other materials you can consider? Luckily Sunbrella isn't insanely expensive so maybe you could give it a shot and see how it works out. I have a similar awning (not over the KK) and the one piece of advice that I would give if it's fixed is to give it a slight angle if possible.

Re: First Rotisserie Cook: Very nice Looks great!! I just picked up some Weber Char-basket Charcoal holders: I've used them once on a single chicken and they worked great. Don't know how evenly they would cook on 2 chickens but I think they would be fine. They fit right into the fuel basket, leave enough of a gap so the fat does not hit the coals. Direct heat! I place a cast iron skillet on the floor of the KK filled with liquid to catch falling coal bits and the drippings. You will need to place an unused piece of coal under each of the baskets to prop them up and and keep them level but other than that they are very easy to set up. I'm guessing that something similar can easily be made, but for 15 bucks from amazon it was a worthwhile purchase.

Re: Congrats to Chris Lilly 2011 World Champion Conga-Rats!

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details Thanks for the info! I can't stop staring at that photo...

Re: Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details WOW!!! That looks amazing. I have an extra brined point that might get the same treatment this weekend. Great thought on the salt test. I'm wondering how much that 36 hour soak knocked down the salt level. If for example, it started as an 8 on a 1-10 scale, what do you think it ended up at after the soak? What temp did you pull it off?

Re: My KK needs a sidekick!!

Re: EZ Que Rotisserie Info! Weird- It looks like someone edited my post above with an answer^ Lol, I'm guessing Dennis hit 'Edit' instead of reply... In any case, I'll take a picture of my motor and repost.