Firemonkey

I have the same device, which I haven't used in ages. I found it in the Walnut Creek, CA Barbeques Galore. More interestingly, I also saw a curious thing there called a Green Egg, which brought me down a long and winding road (KoFF! KoFF! ) leading here, to our beautiful Komodo which I'm flying home to see tomorrow. ah, yes. I know that road well From experience, that is gonna be one long plane ride!

Re: multi-tasker Not overkill at all. I cook fish and seafood all the time where it only takes 10 minutes or so on the grill. You can light your fire and have it nice and hot within 10 minutes, cook your dinner, and shut the whole thing down when you are done. There are some pictures of salmon and swordfish on this page: viewtopic.php?t=2835&start=45 Thats the beauty of a ceramic. You can just keep it full of fuel and use as needed without much effort.

I would even step up to the pro-comm if they would just update the case to an aluminum water resistant one, like the competitors. $700 is kind of steep for what it is, especially compared to the cost of a stoker. But convenience/ease of setup is worth *something*. Well, maybe not $500, but something.

That sucks. The Maverick, as cheap as they are at least allows you to manually set your temps - and it goes up higher than I have ever wanted to set it...at least 300 degrees. You can usually find them cheap in the warehouse clubs this time of year, and sometimes at lowes or Home Depot. For $10-12 they are disposable, though I have yet to have to toss one.

Yours is a KK stone. The doc has one of those too (right?) but he got in a hurry one day to get cooking, so he filled a square wok with lava rock, and started the science experiment you see above I never clean mine, either, doc, but its just a black disk. I flip it over each time, so the dirty side guts burned clean. Do you never cook inderect at higher temps? Or are those globs just crispy hollow shapes now?

IF you just want to measure the cooker temp, stick the probe in through the tru-tel hole when you are cooking indirect. That way you can monitor the dome temp from inside. I will do this with a spare maverick when I do an overnight cook. I set the meat done alarm at about 270 so it will alarm if the temp runs up while I sleep. I dont worry about the fire going out...that just doesnt happen. I dont have the 2 probe maverick, but i have a few of the single probe units that i found for about $10 each a couple of summers ago.

Try Imageshack. They have a toolbar you can install that has a shell extension. You can just right-click on your images through windows exporer,and upload them (even several at once). They will automatically resize to whatever dimensions you choose, and when they are done uploading, a web page opens with the images previewed, and all the URLs listed in one spot, so you can copy them. The toolbar link is right on the forum posting page if you want to try it.

I have a couple of Mavericks, with the 90 degree probes. You just have to straighten the bend slightly and they will fit and work fine. They bend easily.

Re: skewered tandoor chicken Why would you want the upper flipped, long legs up on the main grill? Syz was wondering aloud about how he could cook some tandoori chicken on skewers with no grill contact. I offered the idea of resting the skewers across the long legs of the upper grill. Typically, if you want high indirect heat, you go as high up in the dome as you can, so i was explaining that he needed to use the lower grill for this suggestion, as the bigger handles hit the top. Dont worry, they dont need changed

Did you ever get a picture of your smoke pot in the basket? I am trying to decide which size to order. I have to shop online; im not home long enough to hunt them down in person

skewered tandoor chicken One idea - when you get it unpacked, you will find that the upper/sear grill has a set of long legs, and a short set on the reverse. The long set is intended to act as handles when you place the sear grill down on thop of the lump basket. If you place the sear grill on the lower grate, you will be able to rest skewers across those handles. With the deflector on the basket handles, you can get a nice hot indirect cook with no contact. The upper grill doesnt fit on the main grill upside down; the handles will hit the lid.

Ikea?? Thats the first time I have seen a KK requiring assembly! It this the new norm, to have the top ship separated from the base? Im excited for you syz. I'm looking forward to hearing your reaction to the quality comparison

No reverse sear here...the grill is already heat soaked because I have been roasting baked potatoes on it for 45 minutes or so before the steaks go on. I sear them over very hot coals for about 90 seconds on the lower grill, rotate them 90 degrees and let them go another minute or two. Then flip them, and do the same thing on the other side. After rotating on the second side, I close the grill up tight, except for about 1/4 turn on the top hat to let the smoke out (I usually toss in a small chunk of grape vine when the meat goes on). They stay in the closed up grill until they are the desired firmness* - about medium for my family to eat it...they would have it well done except the cook doesnt allow it *I cook steaks by feel. Technique illustrated here

Man, those are my favorite, and yours look damn tasty. It almost looks like you put some bacon on a couple of them. I need to plan ahead a little more so I can make them in my 2 days home.

Whoa...that is a little bit too ferocious for me.

Hmmm...Autumn nebula...possibly the stone pattern?

Skinless roasted chicken Another roasted chicken, this time skinless. Nobody in our house eats the skin, so I wanted to try a skinless roasted chicken, to see how much more of the flavor got into the meat. I blended apple cider vinegar, grapeseed oil, thyme, rosemary, basil and oregano in the magic bullet. I poured this over the chicken and let it marinate in a bowl, breast side down for about 2 hours. Roasted just like usual, with some peach wood. It came out very juicy, not dry at all. I will be trying the skinless apporach a few ore times, with various seasoning blends.

I picked up another sirloin tip roast at Sams, so that I could make another batch of beef jerky. These roats are big, so what I typically do is separate the meat from the fat layers. After trimming and slicing, that leaves me with a bunch of thick-sliced jerky strips, a couple pounds of stew/chili chunks, and I save the middle section to make roast beef. The roast I like to make is a seasoned version of roast beef, cooked over a hot direct fire, called "pit beef" in the Baltimore area. Its a local favorite, and if you try it you will know why. I posted the recipe in another thread (Pit Beef). This roast was seasoned and allowed to stay wrapped in plastic for 3 days before being cooked on the fourth. It was nothing short of awesome, with a super thin crust, and incredibly tender and juicy. The Jerky was chewy and flavorful as always. The technique and recipe can be found here: Beef Jerky

Steaks, potatoes, and zucchini

Pork Tenderloins I have been quite busy of late, and just realized that I had taken lots of pictures, but hadnt posted yet. Lets start with some pork tenderloins, one rubbed with Walkerswood Jerk seasoning and one sprinkled with BBQ rub, quickly grilled on the upper grill with some sweet potatoes:

Its smoke flavoring. You can smoke your own dry seasonings if you . Im not sure if thats how your particular brand does it, but you can certainly put a tray of dry seasonings in a smoker and it will pick up flavor.

Yes, the current boatload represents the latest tweaks. The KK comes complete. You will have 3 grates, The upper/sear (reversible), the main grate, and the lower grate. You will get a heat deflector and a stainless drip pan, too. Also included are a stainless rotis bracket, and the rods that fit into the sealed bearings on the KK. Should you desire a rotis, you just need to order a basket/motor from EZ Que. I didnt have a K7 but I suspect the size will be similar; I am sure others will chime in. The KK comes with a stainless guru port already installed, and filled with refractory. If you have a power draft, you just knock out the plug and are ready to go. No need to run wires over gaskets, or drill holes. The KK has a 5/8 inch stainless tube through the side of the grill, at grate level to accommodate probe wires. You will get a silicone plug to fill the hole, and the plug even has a small hole in the center so you can run a probe wire through it while installed. The 5/8 inch hole doesn't affect airflow even when open, but the plug is just one of Dennis's little details. The gas option is a tough call...I have the gas, and used it exactly once to start a fire. In contrast I used the gas to start my K5 every time. The difference for me is that the KK comes with a real burner...that is, a heavy cast iron burner. The K5 came with a shop built thing that was like a bunch of Bic lighters when in use. The K5 gas burner was small and high off the floor of the grill. The KK gas is big, and low in the base, about an inch or two off the floor. The KK burner, if left in place after igniting lump, will fill with ash, and need to be removed and the ash dumped out before next use. That's just too much inconvenience for me. I find it much easier to start the grill with a small propane torch. There are a few threads around here that show how people have made brackets to hang them on the side of the grill so you dont have to hold them while igniting the lump. The KK burner would be useful if you actually wanted to cook on gas fuel, but not too practical for ignition, IMHO. As for the temp limit...I have had mine run away before, and it survived. The refractory material is rated at something ridiculous, like 2000* for the inside layer. Of course, I generally sear steaks at about 600 dome, and on the lower grill that is plenty hot enough. These are made of real refractory blends - not concrete and lava rock. You will feel like you are trading in a Sanford and Son pickup for a brand new BMW when you see a KK up close.

Whats your address so I can send you mine

That about sums it up I was humbled last weekend, too. I was staying with friends in MIssouri for a few days and they requested that I grill up some football party vittles. I had forgotten how much err...fun, it was to grill on a weber kettle

I agree with the others that the bottom line is simply "did YOU like them?" They certainly looked perfect, but if they really fell off the bone when you were cutting them apart, then I would agree they went too long. But I can assure you that your mistake is far better than what you will find in most resturants! Its probably time for a warning...the more you learn to use your grill the less you will appreciate dining out. The list of things that are just never as good when ordered in a restaurant keeps getting longer. It starts with steaks and BBQ, then its downhill from there. Now, what I need to know is how on Earth your grill still looks brand new inside after all these rib cooks?!?