Firemonkey

Thats a long commute, but you can come by whenever you want. Im only home on weekends and in the heat of the summer, though I suspect you can get some mighty fine fish tacos right where you are! You dont find them on many menus in this part of the country though, which is too bad. Im doing some fishing in the Atlantic this weekend. Maybe I can snatch-up a fat catch and we will have a regular fiesta!

Easy...Juniper berries!

I think they call it "alcohol"

So whats on the menu? I am doing steak and chicken fajitas with guacamole and all the trimmings. And we cant forget plenty of frothy margaritas Im making a huge batch of skirt steak (a whole COV package from BJs), so the family can foodsaver it for the freezer and reheat it when I am out traveling. The meat is marinating right now, but I almost had a scare...I ran out of "standard" tequila while making such a huge batch of marinade. I had to top it off with some of the good stuff! Pics will be forthcoming, depending on how many of the aforementioned margaritas I consume in the meantime

Nothing fancy, just some burgers and grill potato "skins". Thought maybe it would inspire someone to go cook something and share The skins are actually just potato planks that have been lightly oiled, salted and grilled. I topped them by request form my son, who has been asking for potato skins ever since he had some at a restaurant some time ago. I just put on some bacon bits, cheese, and just a few pieces of finely chopped jalapeno when they were almost done grilling. Then after they come off the grill add chopped green onions and sour cream. Burgers are standard recipe: meat, onion, thyme, japapeno, worcestershire and maybe a little a-1. Seasoned with thyme leaves, coarse salt and pepper before grilling.

Had some good looking fresh tuna steaks on sale at the local market. After I brought it home, I was in the mood for something a little different so I tuned it into tacos! Normally, I would use something like Mahi for fish tacos, but these were really tasty. The marinade and the addition of some sweet fruit makes these really good. Here is the marinade for the fish: 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons vinegar (I used rice, because I was out of white) 2 tablespoons lime juice zest from one lime 1-2 teaspoons honey 2 cloves garlic 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon Old Bay 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon hot sauce Marinate the fish for a few hours, depending on how delicate the fish you are using is. I marinated this tuna for about 4 hours. Prepare some fresh Pico. I like to keep it simple here: onion tomato (I used grape tomatoes) a little jalapeno (no seed or membranes) green pepper cilantro a splash of lime juice Finely chop everything, mix it together, and let it rest for a couple hours. I made a white sauce with sour cream, and added: lime - cumin - hot sauce - old bay - chipotle flakes and a little adobo sauce from a can of chipotles After marinating the fish, skewer it up and grill it. I also grilled some pineapple chunks (would also be good with mango or papaya) and tomatoes to go along with it. Once everything is done, flake the fish into smaller pieces, and assemble into tacos. Ready to cook: Ready to assemble: Ready to eat!

WWRJD? HAHA! You're old enough to remember the Steve Miller Band. Sing along with me here... This heres a story about Richard J and Laura too Two swindlers with nothin better to do Than steal sailboats, sink 'em, then get sued And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose They headed down to, ooh, old Ensenada Thats where they ran into a great big hassle Laura took the orders but no product left the castle Tricky Richard took the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run

I thought so too, but I was deferring to the manual. Since I have never seen it, I didn't want to contradict it I wish I had done an extended break in on my "other cooker". Maybe with a 4 or 5 year 250 degree speed limit (which I would still be respecting) it would have kept the thing from getting cracks all over it, and then all I would have to worry about are loose tiles (and stuck damper tops) In the spirit of disclosure, the above statement reflects my experience with a POSK, not my KOmodo.

Looks like a revision to the manual is in order

A brisket out of the chute is going straight to the big leagues! Pork shoulders are much more forgiving, and will also get you much of the way through that break in. A forgiving cut is a good thing if this is you first time at the helm of a ceramic grill. Its easy to figure out, but a shoulder will survive a temperature spike, or any of the other things people experience while climbing the learning curve, much better than a brisket will. My advice, pork shoulders first cook, ribs second cook, and then go to town with whatever you are in the mood for BTW, there is no law that says there needs to be food in there for the whole 24 hour break-in cook, so you could just let it burn after you remove your first cook and be searing steaks on day 2.

I agree that there is likely no significant difference between lighting from the top or bottom. With controlled airflow, you are only dealing with a fraction of the potential fire at any given time. That means there is plenty of time for the burn to spread in any direction to maintain the temps. That said, I think I prefer burning from the bottom, at least when I am going to cook at roasting temps or higher. Just my opinion (today), and not anything that I can back up with solid observations. I just think I got a more even burn when I used the gas burner to start the grill. I say "think" because its been several months since I have actually done so. See, once your grill arrives, you will have no shortage of theories, or recipes, to test for yourself

Jeff, I have employed all of the lighting techniques that you have mentioned, except in my case I used the newspaper to light a chimney outside of the grill. I thought the newspaper ash would be blowing around in the grill. Here are my comments on each method: Newspaper - too much work and the ash can be problematic in the grill. This method is kinda slow to get going, too. Gas burner - very quick and easy. You just fire the burner a minute, and go. This is how I would light my POSK, and initially my KK (each has a burner of its own). A fast, clean and simple way to ignite as much lump as you want - low fire, short burn. Hot fire - just run the burner a few minutes more. The KK burner is attached to a solid door, and is airtight when turned off and closed. You need to pull the door out an inch or so when you run the burner, so it can get air to mix with the fuel. I also got a spare solid door so I can take the burner out completely. My qualm with the KK burner for ignition was that it quickly filled with falling ash, and you would have to remove the burner to shake the ash out. Not a big deal, but I had one of the first Gen2s to be shipped, and the gas door was barely bigger that the burner. It was a pain in my case to get it out and back in. Dennis has since corrected this, so it should no longer be an issue. The KK burner is a genuine burner, and as such is fairly large. Therefore I choose to keep it out of the grill so it doesnt take up so much room in the ash compartment. If you have the burner coming with your grill, give it a try as your igniter. Especially if you have a solid door and you can swap it out after you have it lit. That way, you have the best of both worlds, a clean burner and lots of room for accumulated ash. Torch - This is what I am using now, courtesy of DJ Fabricators, llc. Its fast, convenient, and clean. The only place i can say the gas burner would be preferred is when trying to get going on a hot cook. With the torch, you can light a few spots, let it spread, and stir it around and be going in 5-10 minutes after that. With the gas burner, you could run the gas for 5-10 minutes and be ready to roll. I havent tried using the gas alone to cook with, but the wife has been after me to fill the tank so she could use the grill to do burgers or chicken breasts while I am out traveling. Charcoal is outside of her skillset, so I have been meaning to give gas a try. I will let you know when I do...or you can let me know, since you will likely get around to it before i do

I have never tried adding charcoal through the door, its just too easy to take the grill out to fill the basket. I have occasionally used the door to add smoke wood. With the deflector in place, its just a matter of getting the wood into the gap, up against the lump. I keep a stick or my grillfloss nearby to help it find a spot. I cant imagine trying to add lump through the trap door with food in place. The dust and mess would be all over the grub!

A truly dedicated grillmaster would dismantle and sacrifice the water heater for the necessary part

I did burgers today too, except on the main grill. BTW, I use tongs on burgers, too. Just lift from the sides and flip. If there is a little bit of sticking going on, then the closed tongs can easily be slid under them to get them unstuck.

I havent ever really given any thought to the side to side orientation of the KK grates. I have access to walk around 3 sides of my grill, and find that I do stand off to the sides when scraping the grate with my grillfloss. But I always cook from the front. I do use tongs, almost exclusively, and only use a spatula when doing a large piece of fish, so the current orientation works fine for me.

I'm glad to see the captain was able to avoid crashing it into a bridge, and got you home dry

Re: Thanks! Yup, grab the two probe model, mine works fine (at least it did the last time I used it). Don't cheap out like someone we know (eh em..their username initials are FM) and buy two single probe models...hehehehe. But I agree with Amphoran about the range. -=Jasen=- Dude, I have 2 of them as a matter of redundancy! I dont use them both at the same time - or maybe I did once?. They had them on sale for like $12 last year, so for that price having a spare makes it almost disposable. I get a litlle better range than that, but it will occasionally drop the connection if you go move into a dead area with the remote. The biggest problem, is that it doesnt alarm when it loses signal!

Mike, you can get a Maverick redi-check remote thermometer at BJs for about the same price. It is comparable to what you have, but it does add the ability to set your own target temp. I just wrap my probe loosely in foil when I use it - never had any issues. Maybe you could try the foil?

Fire! Well, the mail lady brought me a toy yesterday. Not sure where this came from? This thing lights a grill faster than the Nam Sang catches power lines! Quite impressive just how much sharp, blue flame this thing emits. I am going to need to get a few more tanks just so I can play with it! The fruits of DJs labor...some grilled vegetables and some mango-chipotle chicken sausages

Im going over on a work assignment in a couple of weeks. Not sure if that would be over my baggage allowance

mike, whats kind of rack is that in your K? I have never seen one like that? I have the lower bracket, and main grill for mine, but nothing that goes down into the lump holder?

I do, but i can wait until something else is headed my direction

I think the orifice size is a product of the gas pressure you have at your installation location. Here is one chart showing size/pressure/btu relationship with various orifices. http://www.grillparts.com/howto/btu_guide.htm