ThreeDJ16

Original OBT here since the beginning. The sear grill absolutely for high heat cooking if you like a char on your burger or steak. Some folks have called it a reverse sear, but you can cook on the main grill close to the temp you like, then slap it down on the sear grill and give it those marks and char the outside. Personally I see no need for it and cook pork chops, steaks and burgers on the sear grill 100%. You will need a long spatula for burgers on the sear grill as it gets freakn hot. Long tongs work for pork chops or steak. Warning on letting the grill get up to high temps and closing up vents and the lid. A starving fire will create a backdraft effect if you open the lid under these conditions (and this is any grill). We used to have some vids done at a safe distance to show it. Personally I just keep the lid open, hit it with a torch, cook, shut it down and walk away. But don't close the tophat tightly with it that hot, just barely enough to seal or come back before it cools and crack it back open a bit. Makes it easier to open next time. As for drip pans, it just depends. For chicken, I prefer the main grate, open the tophat a few turns to keep from being so smokey, close the bottom vent to a tiny sliver (as these babies are tight and can almost be completely controlled from the bottom damper) and let the juices create the smoke for the chicken with no drip pan. To me it gives it a nicer skin and mimics pit cooking. Doing a really greasy butt can be more of a challenge, but I've done it and ribs before. Just need to keep a closer eye on things, which is easy to do with a pit thermometer. You'll see a spike if a flame up happens, but usually because all the hot air is pushing out of the top, the inlet air is very restricted, it keeps it smothered down pretty good. I have a love / hate relationship with the rotisserie. It does work fantastic, but to me it's a lot of setup work and I'm lazy (which is why I have one grill setup for high temps and another for low and slow...😎.). Even worse for me is the cleanup. It's too big to soak all of it in my sink at once to get off the charred bits, so takes more effort than I like, which is none. So being honest, I never used it much. But I probably have one of the first rotisseries ever made for this grill and pretty sure there are improvements now I don't know about. So can't comment on the current versions, but unless you have a big wash tub or sink, I can't imagine cleanup is any easier....and again, I'm lazy...LOL. 🙄 So that's more about me than anything. I hate cleanups. Anyway, I've owned every type of grill that I know exists and these babies are the most versatile on earth. You can use it for high temp, direct, indirect, low and slow, brick oven, pit cook and even cold smoking. Never seen another grill that does it all like a KK, but even more, does it all so amazingly. You will love getting to know everything you can do with babies. 👍

I'm happy to be back. When we talked on the phone the other day, I mentioned part of this newest round of PT (it's an at home computer based program) is setting goals. My first love was always cooking. Started at age 7 and was the hardest thing to give up. So it's been one of my goals to get back into life by starting back cooking and maybe starting next spring...LOL...yard work. And to be more precise, you, Majestik and myself were the forums first admins....setting it up from scratch with PHPBB. I do not miss that crap nowadays. Being an admin is a completely thankless job...LOL. So thanks to the current admins for keeping things pretty close to how we originally set it up (and adding all the nice new features with the new forum software). Also, cool new Website.

HAHAHA....I had to chop back a few elephant ears just to use the KK. The grown in look is because I've barely been able to take care of keeping the grass cut. Still haven't worked my way back up to using the weed eater again. Maybe soon, but there are just some things that hurt my back much worse than others. Pushing the mower doesn't lay me up for days, but I'll pay hell the rest of the week had I broke out the weed eater. I'm actually surprised the ivy hasn't completely taken over my backyard in my absence. But thanks, I'm not one for fancy presentation, just good food. Spinach is one of the few greens I absolutely hate. Those on the plate are curly mustard greens. I'll eat turnips and collards too. Not real fond of kale, but just can't seem to acquire the taste for spinach The bi-corn was just what was available as I usually go for the silver queen (sweetest). Most of the farmers I know had a bad year with rain coming in way too late. So no idea if it was local or not. Either way, it was really good and still sweet. If you've not had pressure cooked corn or greens, you're missing out big time. I usually take a small ham hock (settled for a few scraps of country ham on hand), pressure cook it down with half an onion for 10 minutes. Then the greens and the corn both only take 4 minutes at pressure. I was lazy and just layered the steam trays, greens on bottom and corn in top tray and cooked them both at the same time....LOL...lazy but it worked. Veggies retain so much more of their natural flavor and nutrients by not cooking them to death. So many people I see cook greens half the day to get them soft and by then they have a dull green look instead of bright. To me the pressure cooked corn is also sweeter. Here's what my backyard looked like back when I could take care of it properly. Now it's an unruly small jungle.

Man I forgot how good it is having home cooked meals. Guess doing it is like riding a bike as it's all coming back in a delicious way. Mustards and bi-corn were great pressure cooked sides. Gotta love 4 minutes side items...LOL.

Bumping up this old topic since it has some recipes which I used today. And YES, it's an old ass thread.....LOL. Think this was started before I created the recipe section....can't remember now. But old doesn't mean irrelevant. At least I don't think so, especially being old myself. 🤣

FYI, this wasn't a review post. Found it interesting someone now makes a starter similar to what I made myself many years ago. And not everyone has the luxury of being able to stand, hunched over a grill, even for couple of minutes while it's lighting. All it takes is one dumbass not paying attention to rear end you and change the course of your life forever. So the extension and hanger built into my starter is absolutely invaluable now, where it was a convenience before.

Of all the ways I enjoy chicken, pit cooked leg quarters are my favorite. It's pretty crazy that it was cheaper for me to buy the whole chicken than a couple of leg quarters....oh well...chicken halves it is. To simulate pit style in the KK I basically just do most of the control with the lower draft opening and not restricting the top damper as much. Also cooked directly with no deflector between it and the coals. Nice season rub, I use Rox rub or basic poultry season (both should be on the forum) and keep spritzing it with vinegar. Pretty simple but great tasting. Mustard based sauce if desired for the S Carolina chicken experience. Recipe for my Muddied Mustard sauce should also be on the forum. Oh and I usually cook at 275 to 300 as that seems to get you close to fall apart chicken, but not so ridiculously dry breast meat. Most likely the breast are going in some chicken salad anyway. Quick pic of the start.

As someone on Facebook reminded me, it's to the point now that I could rotisserie a bird over the birthday cake......LOL.

Oh man, that's definitely going to be on the short list of foods to cook soon. The wife and I both love shrimp and grits. For some reason all the restaurants around here ruin the dish and make it into a pseudo casserole which ruins the shrimp. I make up my grits separate, add a little cheese if you like, cream cheese even better. But to me the key is how you make the sauce. I start with some spicy ground sausage, render it down and remove to a side dish. Quickly saute the shrimp in the sausage renderings and then move them off to the side with the sausage. Using gravy flour, I make up a light roux and stir in heavy cream as it thickens. The key ingredient is a few dashes of Tabasco sauce and then add the shrimp and sausage back just before serving. Otherwise, overcooked shrimp are rubbery...blah. Ladle over the hot grits and dig in.....Mmmm. Only thing extra that makes this even better are either hush puppies or crispy fatback....both if your looking for that heart attack sooner rather than later. 🤣 Yup, that made up my mind just typing this. Wife is gonna go nuts when she hears I'm going to make this soon.

Sorry, no KKs used in the making of this meal, but I will be firing up one of the beasts tomorrow for some chook halves. Plus it's just been ridiculously hot for a while. Hoping for some rain and cooler weather soon so I can do more outdoor cooking. For my birthday dinner I decided to cook one of my favorite dishes since it's not available locally. Schnitzel A La Holstein, potato salad and gherkin salad. Mmmmm. Wife thought it was her birthday since it's also one of her favorites too. The pork cutlets were tiny, even after taking a pounding. Didn't want to look like a pig, so only put one on the plate for the pic....😮...but let's just say there will be schnitzel sandwiches this weekend too. Safe to say my wife definitely thinks I've not lost my touch since I had to fight her away for a quick pic. Nothing fancy, only the finest paper plates for us...LOL. But the meal was fantastic, which is all I care about anyway. 😉

And? Last I checked lighting a charcoal grill was still a thing...LOL...or have I missed something new and the charcoal spontaneously combusts when you're ready to cook?

Sorry, reply notifications weren't turned on. But no, that isn't a second hose, it's ceramic insulation over an ignition wire for the piezoelectric start. It was a harbor freight hand held torch which I modified and added a SS tube connection and bent some SS tube to get it down to the charcoal area. Added a length of ignition wire and covered it with the ceramic insulation for those times I walked away and it go a little hot too fast....LOL. What do you know, I actually found someone who makes something similar now. Still like mine better since it mounts to the side of the grill and my tube fitting allows adjustment to position it exactly where you want it. But still interesting someone made one...LOL. No curling iron looking fire starters for me......😁 Somewhere lost in my shop should be two more of the SS hangers and SS tubes as I made up several to start. Was going to sell a few years ago. But no idea if HF carries that model torch anymore. Who knows, I probably have some of them stashed way too. Funny how often I run across stuff and I'm like, Huh, no idea I had that. The mind is a terrible thing. https://www.amazon.com/JJGeorge-Grill-Torch-Charcoal-Starter/dp/B076HSB7MM?pf_rd_p=13a36307-d519-46e7-8f10-90b6cb959823&pd_rd_wg=HP3JZ&pf_rd_r=14SW4SECSGJTB7YNXSTZ&ref_=pd_gw_cr_simh&pd_rd_w=s4Xji&pd_rd_r=0af44f81-4453-4080-9b17-20eb9bd43c5c

Everything I've read states moisture below 20% is good and the wood don't care how it gets there. I mean we've been using dried wood for smoking and cooking long before big box stores. Typical time is supposed to be 6 month in a dry location for proper moisture levels.

Misread... But yeah, I'd never use green wood (nasty chemicals) or even wet wood. We've used wood that we dried ourselves for many years without issue. My subdivision has lots of pecan trees and they (used to know) I got the pecan limbs around here...LOL. That stopped years ago unfortunately. I need to get with the groundskeepers again and see about getting a limb or two. Pecan was my favorite smoke wood.

Yup, I learned that lesson many, many years ago. But still never liked oak. It could simply be the variety of my oak tree too, since it's the only type I've tried. To be honest, there's lot of cooks I use no additional smoke wood at all. Tastes change over time.

Just an FYI, I have tried oak as a smoke wood and it was nasty. I had some very large limbs that had to be trimmed from the huge oak tree behind my house. So I sawed them up and let them dry out in the shop for a year or two.....yuck...wasted effort. Screw it, cut me some good tasting trees down....LOL. Though the coffee charcoal does sound very interesting. I think you started doing it right about the time I had to stop cooking for a while. Maybe one day I'll have to give it a try. I still have two boxes of your CEL around here too.

LOL.....oh well. I'm happy just to be using charcoal again.

That pic is just crazy....man the surface area. I can't wrap my head around how many butts you could do on main and upper grills with this thing. Beautiful beast there. And even more KK grills in Ga....awesome.

Man you can tell I've been out of the game for a long time when I've never even heard of these charcoal brands. All I could get locally was Cowboy, which sux and Royal Oak which is still what I use. Might be a few new ones now that there are some specialty outdoor stores in the area. I still have two boxes of Dennis' CEL in which I did the 85 hr run time on one load. I bet the new stuff would run even longer. That was pretty crazy as I never expected 85 hrs and that was an original basket load, which was smaller than the new baskets. Bet the new stuff and the bigger baskets would push over 100 hrs at 225.

Nice to see GA represented more! It used to just me and Tony Oliver in GA for the longest time. I'm just down the road in Augusta. OMG that is a monster of a grill. I have two of what I guess he calls the supremes now. I think back then they were just originally called OBT grills. Man, seems like a lifetime ago...jeez time flies now. Was gonna do some leg quarters today, but it hit 101 and I don't think the charcoal would have been needed....LOL. Too hot for me, at least until this storm blew in. Dropped 25 degrees for an hour or so. But taking an extra long weekend next week and planning on firing up both grills for my birthday weekend.

I've made that a few times, but add a few spices to it. I'd rather my German potato salad instead though....Mmm. The wife loves my green bean or gherkin salad. Both really simple to make. Basically a small dollop of sour cream, dash of vinegar, dill weed and celery seed. But both get better with a night in the fridge.

Beautifully done. That is making me hungry too.

Wait, did I miss the finished pics somewhere? I've been waiting to see some pics of Shepherd's pie? I love making cottage pie since lamb is harder to come by here. Er, rather I used to love making it....LOL...hopefully again one day soon. Taking my cooking rehabilitation slowly....🤕

Man, it was even better today.....LOL. Of course the recipe makes so freakn much, I'll be sick of it soon enough. Just two of us eating, it goes a long way.

This is pretty cool. I used to make a lot of sauces that called for Worcestershire sauce, the powder would make an excellent substitute. Just found it on a couple of spice websites and Amazon. Never really looked at a local store.