Firemonkey

Give these guys a try, they are based in San Fran, and have a distribution centers around the us. http://lazzari.com/ We get ours directly at the Orlando distribution center for $12 a bag (40#) You may be able to get it shipped a little cheaper if they are closer than New England. BTW, that was the same price i got for a pallet of wicked good shipped to Orlando. Dont be afraid to give the cowboy a shot. Yes, its lumber scrap, but its priced accordingly and cooks just fine. You may find that you dont mind the cowboy for the price and convenience

I dont think anyone here faults another for being lured into the Johnsons trap. Just as everyone else has echoed, our issues are with the Kompany and the deceptive manner in which their forum (business as a whole) are managed. I have a #5. It has issues, it can still be used, and could use some repairs, but the arrogance and deceit of Richard has sent me on the warpath. I enjoy food from a K, KK, and even BGE. But the johnsons have put such a distate in my mouth its hard to overcome. Bottom line, this forum is open to all. Say what you feel, nobody is faulting one another for having a different grill (right Sanny ). We enjoy the photos and recipes equally. What you wont find here are rabid sycophants that berate you when you have a servcie issue. And you probably wont see too many servcie issues on the forum because Dennis actually provides service after the sale, and stands behind his product!

Why remove it?? You state the facts. You dont rant about how you invented cookers, words, charcoal, or the Internet itself. RJ continues his charade of being in Thailand, yet you cite specific details to show otherwise. What you speak is the truth. Thats not trashing RJ, thats informing the masses. Since RJ makes baseless claims, then deletes any comments that refute him, there is no foul in using your own platform to speak out. I doubt we will see any challenges here, but if there are any, it is good to know we wont be reading a one sided conversation on this forum.

...or you could use it to hold all the tiles that fall off your POSK before the buyer comes to pick it up

It holds small amounts of lump together for a short cook. Dennis doesnt ship them anymore, since its just as easy to fill the big basket and kill the fire when you are done.

You might as well just set up a webcam - It will be easier than posting pics of all the different cooks you are about to enjoy!

If your in Central Florida feel free to drop a line if you want to kick the tires. If I am home, Ill even fire it up for you. Behold the quality that is KK, and see first hand why Friends dont let friends buy a POSK!

Looking rather tasty! Better than the deli case! Did you season them, or just smoke them? Tell us some techniques!

The glaring differences dont stop there, either. Check back in after you cook on your KK for a month or two, and really see what you have been missing! BTW, if anyone in Central Florida wants to see the differences up close and personal, they are welcome to stop by. RJ wont respond to service inquiries, so I figure I will get my moneys worth by showing of fhis handiwork.

Richard can try and copy every feature and detail he can from the KK, but the bottom line is he will NEVER, EVER be able to come close to that kind of service.

Yep, I asked about it last time we ordered. They dont stock the oak here, so we would have been facing up against the shipping monster again. FWIR, the guy at Lazzarri didnt even want to quote me what it would cost

Just for your comparison, I called Wicked Good this week to see what it would cost to get about 1500 pounds of lump sent to Florida (Its almost time for another group order, and I was shopping alternatives). The price per 22# bag, in the quantities we were discussing was about $9.60. The freight, delivered to a commercial loading dock was about $5 per bag. That was just the freight from CT to Orlando, plus a 20% fuel surcharge. Shop locally if you can. If you decide you want to buy in bulk, find the closest distibution center. You can begin by contacting the company of whatever seems most readily available in your local stores. You may also try contacting restaurant wholesalers...like produce distibutors who may supply local restaurants that cook over fire.

Welcome to the party, Saucier. Ill second what beerco says about lump. Find what you have locally, and go with it unless its just horrible stuff. Some people do mail orde$r their lump, but shipping is almost always outrageous. I coordinate with a group of local people, and we order wholesale from a distribution center in town. We end up with Lazarri mesquite lump for about $12 per 40# bag - we dont pay shipping since the manufacturer stocks it at this warehouse. We can also get stuff off the shelf, but just for comparison, Royal Oak is about $5 for a 10# bag. As one who does stockpile lump, my advice is to get what you can off the shelf, as you need it unless you find a really good deal that makes it worth storing. The KK comes with a heavy heat deflector, which sets right down on top of the lump basket for when you want to do indirect cooks. Whether or not you use it depends on what you are cooking. Sometimes, you cook direct over the fire, other times you bake or do indirect. Check out the cooking pictures and recipe section, and you will see discussion and examples of each. I have the gas burner, and for me its a convenience to light the lump with. I think tcoliver actually cooks with gas, but he is the only one I can think of that uses it for more than ignition. Its a convenience, and I find a chimney on the other end of the scale...somewhere near the PITA designation. You want a simple alternative, without getting the burner...use a MAPP torch. You can get one cheap, and you can light 3 or 4 spots on your lump in about 90 seconds.

Yep, and it drives me crazy every time! I dont know why I can never remember what the trick is Curly, did you pull the whole thing? That last pic looks like it could be good served like pot roast!

Is that meat done yet?!?! Wheres the during and after pics?!?!

Drives are mechanical devices...Its not if but when they fail. I replicate all of the stuff I really care about to different physical devices. But that means computers all over the house. I have been telling myself for a couple of years its time to consolidate to one mothership. It would probably only be used for pictures and music, maybe a little bit of video, but when you can get region free DVD player that supports divx, xvid, and everything else for $30, why bother! I have 2 DVRs and get everything but the latin channels on Directv, so I wont do TV. There is something to be said for skipping the DTV bill and downloading the shows you want to watch, but I need to keep DTV for the Extra Innings and Sunday Ticket packages. Plus, there is the convenience of having it all right there. When you work with computers all day, there is somethign zen-like about one remote, and a couple button presses I do download TV shows to the laptop occasionally...gotta have some in flight entertainment!

ash grate goes inside the draft door. there is a small handle on it, so you can insert it at an angle from the front, then pull it snug into place from outside. it sits far enough inside so it doesnt interfere with the door operation.

Damn, you werent kidding - you REALLY do need that beer! ...btw, my last overnighter was on COWBOY I own no guru, and I still slept with confidence. I awoke to the same cooker temp I went to bed on, and had 2 great pork shoulders when I pulled them!

Shoot, I bet one side of that cooker is full of iced down beer!

PC, why not just a replacement weber charcoal grate, off the shelf at the hardware store instead of the rusted LS? I think Mike is doing something similar, maybe with two at oppsing directions to hold smaller lump? Maybe even just setting it on the ledge without a firebox at all would work??

If it wasnt made of steel, I would even consider giving that a whirl! I wonder how big your brakes would need to be to stop that rig if it were ceramic?!

Im imagining something along the lines of Samuel L Jackson wailing "Black Snake Moan"

Why would you spend your weekend doing that instead of cooking?? KKs come with the grout pre sealed at the factory

Sorry, I realized the pictures (once they appeared) didnt show the setup. Here is the pizza setup with pics: viewtopic.php?t=353 The grill that sits on the firebox is actually a dual purpose upper and sear grill. If you stand it on the long legs (handles when you have it down on the lump basket) then it sits up high as an upper grill. You can see me using it in this placement on my baby backs thread. There are 2 ridges in the KK that hold racks, one commonly called the lower, the other is the main grill. They only fit in one position...that is, the main grill wont fit down into the spot for the lower grill. The lower is not big enough to rest in the position of the main grill. If your main grill is in pieces, you can get by just fine by using the lower grill, if you have it, and then placing the upper grill on top of it. You will only be about even with the base of the grill, but that will be fine. I would probably try a stacked stone like I show in the pizza thread the first time. Its been my experience that the thinner stones tend to burn the crust if you dont insulate them from the heat source. To set up for indirect, just place the KK stone directly on the lump basket handles...no grill needed to hold it. When I do indirect with meat, I sometimes use the lower grill to hold a drip pan, but unless the cook is really greasy (like pork shoulders) I dont bother with the pan. I should mention that when I do bread, I dont really put the stone on the basket handles, but instead use it to make a double stone as is shown in the pizza thread. This was the only way I could get good results on my POSK, and hence, its just the way I have always done it. I havent really done bread on the KK yet, but I did do pizza using the same setup, and had good results.

the thread is old, so the pics have expired, but here is my setup (from my POSK) http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewt ... =sourdough basic jist: indirect, with either a thick stone, or one stone and a pizza stone as i describe. check out the bread section...there are lots of good pics in there.