Firemonkey

Re: Anyone ever heard of this before? I actually think that this could serve purpose in a KK. We have all had to shuffle items around on grates at some point, either because a fire burned off towards the back more than the front, or we needed to use more than one grate. I could absolutely see using it with a few racks of ribs, and a tray or two of ABTs. But, I think the video is a bit over reaching when they talk about steaks and burgers bursting into grease fires and such. So yeah, If I had one of these it would definitely see some use on larger cooks.

Re: Joining the Happy line Absolutely pull out the rubber stopper, there should be a hole in the center to thread your probe through, though I usually don't bother with that. The probe port doesnt allow enough air to matter the few times I am using a probe, and I am too lazy to deal with sliding it on and off each time. You will still need to straighten the bend a little to get it to fit easily. Not all the way, just straighten it by 15 degrees or so.

Re: Joining the Happy line The tree in the center is a Norfolk Island Pine; behind that you can see the trunks of a couple of palm trees. The one on the left edge looks like an African Sumac, but its hard to tell for sure in the picture. The Redi-Check probe will probably not last long pinching in the lid repeatedly. I have a couple of those thermometers, and the probes come with a 90 degree bend in them. You have to straighten the bend out some to get them to fit through the hole. The original poster may not have done that, or never noticed the probe port under their side table in their excitement to get cooking.

Re: Baby Back Ribs Low and Slow or Turbo That depends on what kind of charcoal you were using. Some brands are definitely smokier than others, and the bulk of that smoke is released when it is first lit. I use Royal Oak, and the smoke settles down once the grill gets settled in at temp - maybe an hour or so. If you have some of the extruded coconut, that stuff barely smokes at all. Try using the leftover charcoal in the basket, too. Most of the initial smoke burns off on the first burn, if you have a half a basket left, it will be far less smoky the second time around.

Re: EVO Grilling and Searing Cooker featured in top 10 Grill It looks cool, but you lost me as soon as I saw that it was gas powered. But...If you need a supercharged frying pan, the EVO looks like the one to get.

Re: KK's NorthernMost Accolade Welcome to the party. I have always said that if I were either younger or single-er I would be living in AK. But my family has an aversion to cold. Personally, I have an internal nuclear furnace, so I stay warm anywhere - TOO warm most of the time here in FL. You can always add another layer or a blanket if you're cold...but there is only so much you can take off when your hot without getting arrested!

Re: Estimated cook time - sirloin tip roast Good advice above. I would also go high temp and slice thin, like this: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2930&p=27094

Re: Beef Jerky That piece in question would have been eaten already in my house I'm not a food scientist, but I would have no qualms eating that piece of meat. My personal belief is that bad microbes would have been killed by your marinade. As for shelf life, are you planning to do large batches, and stock them for a survival scenario (Mayan doomsday is this year, you know)? If not, just store it in the fridge if you have doubts. How about passing along that recipe for the jalapeno juice marinade? It sounds like a winner.

Re: Wood Chips/Chunks I drilled a 2 Qt dutch oven as a smoke pot. I usually light the grill, then go into the garage and fill the pot with various woods, and then a couple tablespoons of flour and water in a snack sized ziplock to seal the lid on. This whole process takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes, and once the lid is sealed, I place the pot right on top of the lump. After that (for low and slow), its business as usual for the cook. I start the grill with a torch, one nice hotspot right in the middle of the basket, and that is where I place the pot. Im often impatient, so I may start a little more than most people do initially. I sometimes will get a tennis ball sized hot spot going for a low and slow, because I know that when I add a cold cast iron pot, and cold grates on top of it, as long as my airflow is set correctly it will not overshoot my 250 target. When I do this, the smoke will take about 45 minutes or so to start going. I let the pot come up to temp along with the grill. I suspect that your preheated grill may not have had enough heat being generated in the fire to get the pot heated and wood burning. Once heat soaked, a bunch of the heat from the KK is being radiated from the walls. Also, it took a certain amount of your 3 hours just to warm the cold iron pot. Try placing the pot on the fire when you light it, and let it get heated up along with the grill. I will also that I am also a fan of mixing chunks into the lump, and always get great results. I got the 2 Qt dutch oven to use as a smoke pot based on posts here, and wanted to give it a try. Do I use it every time? Nope. Sometimes I am too lazy, sometimes I want more "pit" flavor, but sometimes I need a milder smoke - and that is where the pot comes in handy. Not everyone I cook for enjoys the same level of smokiness that I do, so using the pot I can strike a compromise. I also have a bunch of smaller branches that neighbors trim from their peach tree, which would burn up too quickly if tossed in the lump. I all I could get was chips, I would definitely use the pot often.

Re: Wood Chips/Chunks What... like that is a bad thing?

Re: Wood Chips/Chunks If you like milder smoke flavors, take a look at szyzgies smoke pot idea. It forces all the smoke down through the fire, resulting in a milder, smoother profile for a given wood. Just search for "smoke pot" and you should find a few threads, some with pictures.

Re: Getting pizza stone off Since you are cooking the pizza on the upper grill, why not just leave the stone on the upper grill and remove the whole thing by using the handles on the grate? If your gloves let too much heat through, it should be no problem to use a rag along with the gloves when lifting the grate.

Re: Beef and Venison jerky I dont have the instrumentation required to test this, but my favorite recipe is one of Alton's. Modified by using the lower sodium soy sauce and omitting the liquid smoke. But I am curious to know if the Worcestershire is acidic enough to do the job. Next time you have your meter out, maybe you could mix 1T Worcestershire and 1T soy sauce and see what it says? 2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 2/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce 1 tablespoon honey 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Re: Beef and Venison jerky My latest rig is two rods of threaded steel, I clamp them between the bars of basket floor using a couple of big washers and nuts. Much more sturdy than the grounding wire was. I need to see if I can find some threaded stainless rod...I'm using plain steel now.

Re: Beef and Venison jerky So doc, are the sodium and acids in the marinade enough to do the job alone?

Re: Beef and Venison jerky I've never used the tenderquick for jerky, only to preserve the color in my pastrami. But I have to ask if all the salt (soy), and worcestershire (acid) soaking through thin strips of meat for 12-24 hours wouldn't kill anything alive in there, anyway? Ironic we are having this discussion, while I'm looking forward to getting home and slicing steaks off the roast thats been sitting uncovered in my beer fridge for the last 3 weeks I should probably be concerned there, but I'm gonna eat it and smile!

Re: Beef and Venison jerky You want to use a lean cut, as the fat will not dry out and let your jerky get rancid. Beyond that, I think it just depends on what you like. My personal favorite is to get a whole sirloin tip roast, which you can find for about $3/lb. Primeats will have to give the rundown of the various cuts in there, but there is some connective tissue inbetween the various muscles that come together to form this roast. I remove all the connective stuff and slice the outside muscles to make jerky, or stew/chili meat, then save the solid muscle in the middle for roast beef or pastrami. I like my jerky dense, and sort of chewy - but still where you can bite through a piece without too much yanking. Sirloin tip comes out like this. I have also used eye of round, because they looked much easier to cut into strips - no connective tissue inside - but the resulting jerky was more like rawhide. I cut the eye of round with the grain, so maybe going against the grain would help. To get end results to my personal preference, I cut about 1" wide strips to about the thickness of a pencil.

Re: Beef and Venison jerky Yeah, no matter how much you THINK you have, it never lasts long enough!

Re: New Hot Grill Grabbers Hey Dennis - How about making the bottoms a few bars wider, so it would be easier to lift LOADED grates?

Re: Smoking question I'd probably put them in a foil pouch and nestle that on top of your hot spot in the coals. At the temps your talking about, the fire will spread very little. Scattering them about would mean most of them would not get used. You could also use the charcoal pan method...put your chips in a pie plate, and then add a handful of charcoal to get it all going and also help keep your temps more manageable. See the recent post from Whiz, he used this method to smoke the cheese.

Re: Coffee wood impressions Right. The mesquite charcoal is a perfect example. It leaves a different flavor, but it's not the acrid nasty stuff like the raw wood would leave.

Re: A little help The Lazzarri may very well be your issue. I used to order whole pallets of lazzari charcoal and split it with a few guys. We were getting the foodservice bags (40# each), which is mesquite lump. Mesquite is notorious for sparking like Vesuvius at high temps. Lazarri also makes oak lump, but when I contacted them about getting some, they told me it was only regionally available. If you're using mesquite, that will also explain the abundance of smoke. Try a bag of Royal Oak or other hardwood lump, and your results will likely be very different, even using the exact same process.

Re: Coffee wood impressions Must be all those cigars

Re: Coffee wood impressions

Re: Covering your KK You can contact John, (johnnyboy on the forum) at coverworks@hotmail.com