Firemonkey

A pizza peel is the big paddle that you use to move pizzas around. The dough recipe I use is posted in this thread, its very simple and easy: http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2928

...and on Friday there was a feast Sams club has whole beef tenderloin for a little over $5/lb , so brought one home to make beef wellington, but after I started trimming I decided it might just become steaks. These were some of the end cuts, from when I trimmed it. I accompanied with what has become my standard fare lately, baked potato and spinach salad. Since I also had some big fresh tomatoes, I went with baked tomatoes on the side, too.

That was an older design - an all-in-one door, on older models where the gas still went in from the front. Since Gen2, there is a smaller, dedicated door in the rear for the burners.

After 5 hours, no, of course not. But after an hour, with a hot fire and 600 degrees at the dome, there will be a fairly significant difference. Watch your temps closely next time...I dont think its a huge difference, like 20-30 degrees, but see if you can measure it the first couple hours.

Nope, those came of the fridge like that. Not sure where they were cooked, the wife did it...I have no recollection of them being cooked.... (how am I doing? Will the jury buy it?)

I am assuming that you are starting with a ball of dough? Here is how I do it... -Dust your counter with flour. -Take the dough ball and set it right in your flour container. This will let just enough flour stick to anything that will be too wet to work with. FLip it over so now two sides are floured. -On your counter, flatten the ball to a round disk using the heel of your hand, then with the tips of your fingers press down firmly into the dough further flattening it (think of the shape of your hand if you were palming a ball). Using your finger tips like this is similar to docking the dough and helps prevent bubbles. -Take your fingers and press a flat area around where the crust should be, so you have a thick ridge of crust, a thinner area, and then a thick center disk. Now you should have what looks like a small pizza with a thick crust in the center -Pick it up, and using the knuckles of your curled under fingers, stretch the center section of the dough outward in all directions. -I am guessing that you dont want to toss it in the air to stretch the outside into shape, so you can stretch the crust section in a similar manner. -Lay it onto your peel, which you have already rubbed with flour, and do your final shaping there. If its too big in one area, lift that edge and allow it to pull back into shape some. Once its topped and ready to cook, lift one edge, blow a puff of air under it and it will be ready to slide right off onto the stone. I use a flat aluminum pizza pan to remove mine from the grill, since the peel will likely be occupied by the next pizza ready to go. I also dont like cutting on my peel, I like to keep them as smooth and dry as possible so they slide easier, so the pan works out well.

JB, make the pie on the peel. When you are ready, take the pie out and load it into the grill. Go back inside and make another pie on the same peel. When its time for the first pie to come out of the grill, you just slide a pizza pan under it and carry it in. Once they are cooked you can pick them up with just about anything, including a pair of tongs to drag them across the lip of a sheet pan if thats all you have.

Nice looking pizza Robby. Do you have the upper/sear grill? If so, try putting it on top of the main grate next time, so your pizza is cooked up high in the dome. You get to use more of the collected heat up there. That big stone does take some time to heat up. I usually put it on right after I start the grill and let it heat up along with the grill for about 30 minutes. The top side looks nice and browned, was the crust undercooked on the bottom?

Steaks, baked potatoes and spinach salad All my favorite things

Another chicken Same as above, cider vinegar and oil (3:1) poured under the skin and allowed to marinate for about an hour. Cooked on the upper grill, indirect with HD on the basket handles.

Jerky redux Since the trial run for jerky was successful, I decided to try again on a larger scale. The technique was the same, but this time I used a 6-7# eye of round roast. I had to use twice as much marinade, and a few more racks to get it all on the grill. I used some small S/S condiment cups on each cookie rack to hold a disposable pizza screen. This was a big batch and it was more than enough to share. DJ got some in the mail, since he likes to do his jerky in the oven without smoke. He didn't like the smoked flavor, so I guess he will still be doing it in his oven Thats okay though, I tried the eye of round on his suggestion and found it a little *too* tough, even for jerky. The sirloin tip was much more to my liking. I also took a bag along on my trip to snack on during long flights or in the airport. Majestik and I had dinner and a few beers while I was in San Diego, and I gave him the rest of the bag I had. He must have liked it because he ate most of it for desert on his drive home Cherry wood this time: The big stack: This ought to last a while:

I picked up a whole pork loin from Sams over the weekend, so I butchered it up into a few meals worth of chops, a couple pounds of boneless country "ribs" and saved the center section as a roast. I had baseball practice with the son tonight, so these chops were quick and easy. Made some diced red potatoes with onions and green pepper to go with, and finished it off with a spinach salad. A whole meal fully cooked on the KK (except the spinach which was wilted in a bowl on the stove) in under 30 minutes. Bona fide KK cooking

A new shipping quote may be a good idea, too...fuel prices are much different now than a year ago

Nice looking chuck roll, JB! These cuts are probably more forgiving than a butt, so you can push the temps up a bit and still get awesome results in half the time if you want. I think Majestik (seldom seen around these parts anymore ) posted a few chuck rolls where he cooked at 325 or 350, and still came out great. http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewt ... chuck+roll There was also a thread around xmas of 2007 where leejp (?) did some temp testing and decided hotter was just as good since they are basically dripping 1/3 of their mass out of them.

The sea water was so much more exotic

So how did your sea water brine experiment work out?

Absolutely, chunks are the way to go. They will smolder and produce much more smoke than the chips which are just burning away too fast. How much depends on what you are cooking. For steaks, I might toss in a smallish chunk a couple minutes before i put the meat on the grill. For longer cooks like butts or ribs, i will mix a few chunks throughout the lump basket so it provides smoke throughout the cook.

I think he even has a video of a flashback (intentional using pulleys and rope) on his site. That was kind of like the BBQ equivalent of the drivers ed movies from high school

Yeah, the only time I use a drip pan is when I am cooking indirect with the deflector, and i only occasionally get scorching - usually only on the most sugary of rubs. I think oversizing the drip pan is contributing to your burning of the drippings, too. More surface area for it to dry out and burn.

Mine is 90% clean...The inside is definitely clean, but the bottom may have some discoloration from where it sat on the lower grill and the bars went across. I sometimes line with foil, if I know I am doing an especially messy cook. Other times I let it ride naked. More often, I use a disposable foil pan - the small ones you get from the Chinese carryout work perfect under a roasted chicken - and just toss them in the dishwasher. Much easier to manage than the big KK drip pan, which is only used under suitable large chunks of meat. With the foil pans, if they are just too messy to contend with, you can toss it. I save all the foil pans I come across for this purpose - pie pans, carryout containers, the big frozen lasagna pans, etc.

So whats the recipe on that rub, Larry?

I dont see why not - Its probably not going to hurt, I can remember boiling lobsters in sea water when I was a kid. But you might be picking up some kind of flavoring from the sea water, at least more than you would get with processed salt and water. Maybe that will be a good flavor, and then you can start exporting your local seawater for the rest of us There is only one way to find out, right Be sure to tell us when you try it, and post afterwards so we know if you lived through it

Yep, that is correct, JB. The dough will only stick for the first 30 seconds or so, after that it cooks enough to release clean. The only thing that will stick on the stone is any cheese or wet stuff that you shake off while sliding the pizza onto it. BTW, a little trick to get the pizza sliding easier - just before you are ready to put it on the grill, lift the edge of the pizza and blow a short puff of air under it. You will see it lift up with the bubble under it. You'll have it sliding off no problem. Dont forget to rub your peel with a little flour before you start!

You need some more coffee this morning, JB. Its there, check the pictures again.

Pit beef is a regional version of roast beef that you find around Baltimore. Its charred roast beef with a savory, spicy crust, and a juicy center. As a native Marylander, it has been a long time since I had some, so I decided I would give it a shot on the KK. I used a chunk of sirloin tip roast, and a rub recip adapted from one of Raichlens recipes. For those interested, here is a nice article by Raichlen and recipe from the NYTimes: Article here I would have used the rub recipe from the article, but I didnt have any seasoned salt on hand, so I used Tony Cachere's creole seasoning instead. Here is what I used for the rub. 2 tablespoons Tony C's creole seasoning 1 tablespoon sweet paprika 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon thyme I coated the roast (about 3-4 pounds of sirloin tip) and wrapped it in saran wrap. It went int he fridge for 2 days, turning it over once or twice a day to keep juices moving. I got the KK nice and hot, RAGING hot, about 550-600 dome. I had the door slid open 2 inches and the top hat open 1.5 turns. The meat went on the main grate, directly over the hot fire. Flip it every 15 mins or so, and cook until you get the internal temp you want. For me, it was 130 since my family will cringe at very rare beef. Pull the roast off and let rest until slightly warm. Slice as thin as you can across the grain and make into sandwiches with horseradish sauce. Horseradish sauce is mayo and prepared horseradish at a 2:1 ratio, with a splash of lemon juice and fresh ground pepper. If you have a slicer, now is the time to break it out. I dont have one (yet!) so I cut the roast into smaller chunks and fed it into my food processor with the thin slicing blade on it. I went full scale Maryland-ite and dressed some fries with cider vinegar and Old Bay to go with it. For a relatively tough cut like sirloin tip, you will be impressed with how juicy and tender the sliced results are - Very Tasty!