Porkchop

HOLD ON TOBIAS!!! i think there is a little "communication breakdown" going on; between a very slight language barrier and the different ways americans and europeans cut up pigs, we may be confusing some terms. if that is an actual picture of what you got from your butcher, IT IS NOT WHAT WE CALL "PORK BREAST". what you have there is PORK BELLY; we cold smoke this and slice from the top to make BACON. please compare the picture you submitted to the picture at the following link: http://www.theotherwhitemeat.com/hotnewcuts/porkbreast.aspx notice how lean this looks in comparison to what you have there? the "pork breast" comes from inside the picnic shoulder; your belly comes, literally, from the pigs underbelly, just behind the spare ribs. see the chart above and then look at this detail: i don't know how you would cook pork belly; i have no experience. a cure and cold smoke would be best, but i've never done that before. good luck! here's a link to "makin' bacon" http://www.3men.com/bacon_making.htm

check out the pic closely guys! this is a pork BRISKET FLAT! who'da thunk it?? i submit the following as an "experimental application" for preparing this. i'll try it if i can find them around here, but haven't seen them yet: 1) brine with favorite brine overnite 2) rinse and rub down (reduce the salt to compensate for the brine) 3) cover with bacon on the top 4) set up for indirect with drip pan 5) low and slow with hickory 4-5 hours (think rib times) 6) slice like brisket i bet the smoke ring on this will be really neat looking. also, you might be able to skip the bacon since its brined. if somebody tries something like this before i'm able to test it, let us know... they are pretty small compared to brisket, so i'd watch the time.

i have no experience with "pork breast". if it's anything like "bull breast", or brisket, you're talking low and slow. IF IT WERE ME i'd try 250 for about 1.5 hours per pound. when you get the pork breast, post a pic. maybe that will help...

nice homemade pit dude! did you do this yourself?

hey leaddog: i've done lots of cooking on steelies! you'll love ceramics if you enjoy sleeping while the butts sweat in the cooker. no babysitting the firebox. do you use lump, briquettes, or are you a "stick burner"?

just to get back on topic: tri tips! i think we did these at like 600+ on the lower searing grill, and did 5 min a side, then put on main grid indirect for another 5. pulled at 130 (and climbing) for a PER.FECT. medium rare. another (cheap) favorite of mine is top round london broil. grilled to rare and sliced THIN to WIN! i might just give this a try this weekend... while i didn't necessarily think i needed a lower searing grill, i'm finding out how much i like having it! many of the kk's "options" are like that; once you try them, you NEED them!

et tu, saunka?? i've heard them both as well. my movie-star/rock-star looks have always been a curse

i've gotten the "jerry" remarks ever since junior year college (1988). even today, when i go to school sporting events for my son Cody, there's a guy i run into there just knows me as "jerry". my regular waitress at TGIF calls me "jerry" too, and always gives me a hug when i leave (very cute girl!). i'm a "hunka hunka burnin love!" the grill that the tri-tips are searing on is the high-gauge searing grill that dennis recently made. firemonkey - we share a resemblance? i extend my heartfelt condolences the textured finish on my kk is very nice. makes the mexi-k version look sloppy in comparison. it is very even and sanded smooth. i really like it!

thats an awesome pic! yeah, with high temps, eventually the whole pile just goes nuclear, but as it's starting, i've observed it kinda starting towards the rear, even if i dump my hot starter coals in the middle. of course, i've done 3 whole cooks now, so i am an EXPERT! what temp did you have the cooker at with that? looks like a bed of hot lava!

Tri tip pics from sat 9/2 here's some pics from wes (saunka). we had tri tip, roasted peppers, tortillas, beans and wes' special cole slaw (the BEST!) here's the pics: this is a great pic of the hot coals! notice that they are burning hot more towards the back, under the upper draft. a fire management technique to think about (as i've notice this happening more than once) is to light the fire up towards the front of the cooker and let it work its way back towards that draft. i'll be trying that next slow cook. two yummy tri-tips!! putting peppers on the grill for roasting me and my KomodoKamado!! just a great pic that wes took of my shed and pin-oak tree...

yeah, 12 hours is waaaay too long! butchers know how to cut meat, but not always how to prepare it. cant wait to see the finish TL!

dang it dave, cant believe you beat me to the punch while i was typing!!

i'm sure you'll get plenty of replies here, but i'll be first! i ordered June 30, and received my OTB last thursday. i should have received early August (8/4), but my cooker was held up in customs. this was not a problem for me, but if you are concerned with this kind of wait, you may want to make sure to purchase one that is already in one of his US warehouses (FL or CA), in other words, already in stock here in the states. as far as communication, dennis' replies to questions have always been timely, one or 2 days at the latest, but USUALLY that day. keep in mind the time difference! he's usually checking out the board early morning or late nite. when uncrating my cooker, i nicked some of the finish i emailed dennis asking what i should do, and he replied the next morning to let me know that he had included a "repair kit" that includes some of the black textured material. i found that (didn't know at first what it was) and just haven't got around to it yet he even included a crowbar for uncrating and a socket wrench for adjusting the spring on the back. you don't even need your own tools! dennis is not only incredibly responsive to questions, but suggestions as well. it seems that the heart of his business philosophy is to anticipate the needs of his customers before they even ask, and to be there when they do ask. feel free to PM or email me with any other questions you might have; i'll be happy to help!

Wes (Saunka) is coming down to my estate tomorrow for grilling and picture taking. wes is a phenomenal photographer with a great eye, so i can't wait to see what he produces! we will be feeding Larry tri-tips and roasted onions and peppers! and other stuff! making pulled pork nachos for an appetizer. anybody else have grand plans! this is the last big bbq/grilling holiday for the year, so the bbq police will be out giving tickets if you don't get out there and grill! sanny, i KNOW you aren't letting your paramour or that sweet puppy dog go hungry this weekend, right! you always take some nice pics of your cooking!

commisioned by the young man in the photo and produced as payment for the loan of his camera: the chili-cheese bacon Knappburger! a 2# slow smoked hamburger patty covered in bacon and chili-cheese sauce. overall estimated weight: 4# more photos at http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n45/porkchop_uiuc/Knappburger/

WOW! that looks awesome! i really think these guys look great without the extraneous "hardware" and bands on the exterior, don't you?

that is hilarious, because i do the exact same thing. i have engaged in conversation with folks in line ahead of me with Kingsford or (ech) Matchlight and let them know all the crap in briquettes and how good lump is. my wife hates when i do it! anyone in the real (not www) world that i start in on about "grilling", fuel is the first topic to cover!

nope. not a problem. easy as pie. in fact, cause the grill is recessed, when one of the burgers tried to get away from my spatula, the "wall" stopped it. i've lost burgers and rollaway brats like that before great thing is not having to lock open any prop tubes. before, when i was in a hurry, i'd just hold the dome open with one hand and flip with the other, which was a bit inconvenient. having to spend time just locking one prop tube open can be a problem when you are in a hurry, esp on a hot cook. more and more, i'm thinking that spring loaded hinge is more than just a convenience; i really really like it! wes is coming down saturday for TRI-TIP and more pics! that will be my first hot cook! the burgers and chops were 250 with smoke. oh, incidently, another thing is that the spring is user-set. i have mine deliberately set so that the dome doesn't come up all the way; i don't want it to bounce at the top, so i have less tension in the spring. once i've used it awhile, i might adjust the tension to get just a little more height.

harsh dude! cowboy works fine for me. i PREFER it to extruded lump, actually. i also do use royal oak from wally world. cant get the others you mentioned from around here...

somebody showed me how to work the camera yall! see the whole album at http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n45/porkchop_uiuc/Cooker%20pics/? here's a taste! burgers & porkchops! the burger in the middle is 2# and is the payment for borrowing the camera! Larry begs for food... what i had left after 25(!) hours of cooking. started with the pile just level to the edge of the firebox! egads! lots more pics coming to my soon-to-be-updated website, in the way of comparison with my mexi-k! stay tuned!

is he offering it for the same price? if so, you should jump on it, and either prepare per "prime rib" or cut into thick steaks and grill to taste. a slow cooked prime rib is wonderful, but you shouldn't count on an overnite cook for it; it is much more tender. lots of fat, but not lots of connective tissue. i would GUESS a roasting temp of about 300 for several hours with a savory herb crust til the internal gets to around 130 or so for rare. i'm sure others here have good recipes for prime rib; not really my bag tho. too expensive for this porkchop...

well, a beef brisket runs anywhere from 9-14 lbs. and goes around 16 hours (ballpark) around 250 deg. if i were experimenting, i'd start with a 12 hour cook and leave yourself time to go all the way to 20 if you have to. i would also cook indirect, with a drip pan and heat shield. go with 250, check after 12 hours. if still tough, go longer.

to be honest, i've wanted to reply, but feel a little intimidated by the differences in identifying cuts of meat, and the differences there may be between american meat and european meat. first, that long a cook for such a small piece of meat is too much, regardless. i dont feel able to advise on how else to cook this piece tho, except just to say "don't do it for that long". second, there's no way to draw a comparison between a 3# hunk of beef shoulder and a 23# chuck roll. because of the mass and shape, the chuck roll will cook entirely differently over low-heat and long hours. while i would prepare a 3# chuck roast by braising or stewing, i would slow cook a 23# chuck roll in a dry environment. part of this has to do with giving the connective tissues time to break down. i won't go into it cause it bores most people, except to say that by the time you would be able to break them down with dry heat, the 3# roast dries out, while the 23# roast becomes tender vittles.

Just to make it official, and have the post in the right place for them that are comparison shopping, I AM A HAPPY CAMPER!! what makes me happy? while others are running their gurus or whatever, have alarms set in case their fire goes out, or gets too hot, i am sleeping in my nice warm bed, dreaming of pulled pork goodness! I also have (for now) a #7 textured from another mexico-based company and have cooked on it for 4 years. before that many steel cookers, bullet and offset style, and even home-made. this. cooker. is. the. ULTIMATE. end of story. go check out the main page at www.komodokamado.com and check out the design improvements on both the classic and OTB's. these are not cosmetic, itsy bitsy changes. double gaskets, upper stack gasketing, fine airflow adjuster on the lower draft, spring loaded upper dome, and a dome lock that seals your cooker like a tupperware bowl! you have complete control over airflow, and by extension, temperature. DONT BUY THIS COOKER! just move along and keep telling yourself how difficult it is to produce awesome, slow cooked pork and brisket! keep worshipping me and my Q from afar. don't pay attention to that man behind the curtain...

For what it's worth... boring old pulled pork... fantastic! easy peasy cook. turned up the temp to 250 around 8 this am to ensure finish on time. pulled all at 5 pm (25 hour cook) got about half my coals left (which is just crazy). temp control is way too easy! so, here's the crappy pics. there will be some better ones. im hoping that there are some on the borrowed camera, but cant tell. here we go... the two cookers side by side... the belly of the beast!! i took nine pics! these were the best of them. sorry. looking forward to my next cook!