Firemonkey

Just dont be looking for aggregate to mix into your refractory mix!

I can see the benefits of the folding legs, but I agree that I think a fixed leg is preferrable. Maybe something as simple as a set screw could accomplish both? Having the legs on the perimiter of the grill is far more important, as it allows use of the grill underneath. With smaller items, Im sure you could work around the areas where the legs sit, but with larger items, that could be quite difficult

Only in our love for BBQ, which manifests itself in the waistline...But the resmblance stops there - I have short blonde hair

porkchop, are all your grills standard 1/4"? The pic of the steaks on the lower grill looks like its a heavier guage - Illusion? Seeing some of the textured grills in the wild, I am beginning to like them a bit more. What is the coating?

hey, porkchop... Your next to the last pic, you and Larry (amd me too) kind of have a similar shape Poor Kong is in the background peeking over the shoulder like an unloved stepchild.

Hmmm... that rib orgy couldn't have anything to do with it, could it?

I have friends in town visiting, so there is a slab of ribs and a rack of ABTs rollign right now. I roasted some potatoes to make some carribean stuffed potatoes with. As soon as the ribs and ABTs come off, the will be replaced with 3 racks of baby backs and the stuffed potatos.

Wow - It rains every day here in the summer, hard too. I dont think I have experienced any of this. Maybe the hot sun dries things out enough for me?

So what did you go with, J?

I think the brand is "home accents", but the box has big yellow letters that says "gourmet" on it. They can be found in department stores or places like Bed, Bath and Beyond. They work well, and unless you do something stupid to shock them (like put it in a already preheated grill/oven) they dont break. You can kind of see the box here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0007057867 I have never had anything stick to the stone at all. I have a peel that I definitely use flour or cornmeal on, but found parchment to be a ton easier with freeform bread. After punching down and shaping dough for the final rise, I put it on the peel. After sitting on the peel to rise, I found that getting it off the peel and onto the stone caused the dough to collapse some. But with the parchment under it, they slide right off, and I get the added benefit of being able to move them around on the stone, too.

I use my gas door all the time, but only to start the fire. I have a regular door that I use when cooking. I dont think you will have any problem using just the gas door for all your cooks, but you will definitely want to have something in there for a door. I am curious to hear how your gas door performs...please let me know when you try it.

Thats the same thing I do...since the K brand stones are pretty porous anyway. I get the 15" stones when they are on sale (usually around the holidays). The were only $8 each last time, so I bought a few. One for inside, one for outside, and a spare. I just broke one 2 days ago after I baked the sourdough. I took it out to use the K for fish, and when I put it back in, the K was still too hot, so it snapped in half. I still use them as long as they will still sit together cleanly. One idea - I have started baking on parchment paper directly on the stone. If you do this, then the pores in your stone shouldnt give you any trouble.

David - Can you still get the wicked comp blend locally? If you like it, get it now, as its not being produced currently. I think the reason was that some of the wood used can no longer be harvested. I tried a bag of both the comp blend and weekend warrior, and truthfully couldn't tell the difference between either of them and the K branded lump. (all were given to me) Since I am always using mesquite lump that cames in 40# bags from the foodservice produce distibutor, all of them seemed to burn for quite a while in comparison.

Sanny, I saw the close-up pic of your guru door on the other forum, and was wondering what the wingnuts were for? Hows that thing work? I like the silicone plug - kind of like an aftermarket low-adjust knob...'course those come standard over here I would have asked this on the other forum as well, but I have Persona Non Gratis status over there

I dont know, tlinders results look normal to me. He says he filled to the rim of the lumpsaver. After 3 hours at 350 that doesnt look bad at all. If he were doing a longer cook, i would expect the coal up above the basket - possibly near the top of the firebox.

The terms are interchanged freely, and the same stone can be used for either. Personally, when using it for a deflector where there will be significant drippings, I will use a pan above it. Also, I use a regular pizza stone for bread/pizza. Even if it gets covered with drippings, it will burn clean in a high temp cook.

Forget about toiletries, check this out... Some of you may have heard that Dell is recalling several million laptop batteries. Apparently, they carry a risk of fire and explosion. There have been 6 or so that have exploded, so they are finally going to do something about it. Check out these pictures of one that was caught on film (way back in June) http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550 Now, as the article suggests, what if that happened in flight?

Re: Sourdough Man, thats a loaded question! The discussion around sourdough starter can be about the same as making ones own beer - lots of ways to get there. The starter culture I used was only about a week old, and I started it with the naturally occuring yeast in a bag of organic flour. Not that I am into organics by any means, but the organic flour culture gets kicking much quicker than with the bleached all-purpose stuff. I fed it with some peach honey, because its what I had, but the peach flavor is long gone. Once you have active starter, the bread is simple: Make a dough using about 2 cups of bread flour, 1 1/2 cups of starter, and a teaspoon of salt. Add whatever you need to get a smooth elastic dough (flour if its gooey, water if its dry). When you have a nice elastic dough, let it rise in a greased bowl covered with plastic. After an hour or so, take it out punch it down. I put it on the counter and press it down, then use my fingertips to poke it down to about 1/3 its volume. Shape it into a loaf, let it rise a little more, while you heat the grill. When the grill is hot and the bread has risen sufficiently, in it goes.

This area wasnt getting any love, so I decided I would go ahead and get the party started. I was craving some sourdough bread to go along with my blackened salmon for dinner, so I set out to make it on the K. I didnt take pics along the way, since watching yeast grow isnt very exciting, but I did take a picture of the finished product: I used my pizza rig to bake it. That means that I have the K supplied deflector on the main grill, some 1" spacers, and a regular pizza stone on top of the 1" spacers. I heated the K up to about 425 dome, and baked it for about 20-25 minutes. Nice crewy crust (I misted it for the firmer texture). You can see a small dark circle on the bottom of the loaf...That is from one of the aluminum pucks that I was using as spacers. They conduct the heat up from the thick stone to the thinner one that I actually bake on. If I had an upper rack, I might be able to get away with baking directly on the K stone, but on the main grill, I cant keep it from burning up my crusts without using 2 stones. Made up some Jalepeno butter, spanish rice and brussels sprouts (those were frozen - Green Giant in the Butter Sauce are the bomb!)

Staying home would be less money, and a bunch more work, too! But I would be able to cook more ...flying nude....hmmm, for a minute I thought that could be cool. Then I quickly realized that in all my travels, I can count on one hand the number of times that I would have wanted to see the person next to me sans attire. All the rest..yikes! The one who REALLY had it rough were the people coming from Britain. No laptops, no ipods, noise cancelling headphones...worse than detention in 8th grade! I hope they are loading more liquour on board!

I hear your pain. I was at home watching these events unfold, but intead of being worried of impending doom, I was plain outraged at the additonal BS that my own govt is subjecting me to. Check my baggage for travel size toiletries (I carry a 1 oz bottle that I refill with my own shampoo, and a small tube of toothpaste)- Please! Now, if I traveled like my wife, with no less than a gallon of cumulative substances, I can see the argument. You cant buy a drink in the terminal and carry it onboard?! WTF? Are the airlines going to ramp up the beverage service since they have been relying on the BYOB model for so long? I fly over 100K miles/yr, and I dont worry about terrorists crashing my plane any more than I worry about being broadsided by a bus on the way to the airport. But rude and abrasive TSA goons are a sure thing. Maybe it wouldnt be so bad if they didnt cruise the local fast food chains for recruits, and hired service minded people who were at least literate? (Probably will revoke my clear membership, now) I am on the downhill side of my slow season (July/August) where I dont have to travel very much. My next trip is to Pensacola in 2 weeks, and I am going to drive it (440 Mi each way). I also have 2 more trips back to Pensacola (Navy/Marines are big customers) in September, but I am planning on flying for those. Not that flying is any more convenient, I have to connect in DFW or Chicago to get there! But that accrues AA miles Hmmm....I wonder if I can buy a grill with those? I know I can get one with Holiday Inn/Intercontinental points - They offer a personal shopper service that will get you anything you want for points. Problem is, redeeming for mechandise or retail gift cards goes for about 35K points per $100. The same 35K points will get you a night in a cabin over the lagoon at the Intercontinental Bora Bora (about $550US). Not quite a bargain anymore is it

hehe...a bargain for the $10 deposit they charge. I think porkchop will live down the pantied bigfoot pic before I live this one down, but if I am drinking beer, its going to be Bud Light. I just plain dont like the taste of what you would call "real beer". I went through a dark beer phase when I was younger, but I can hardly stand it anymore. I have a friend who happened to be a customer, and so I tried to make sure he always got pretty good service (things like after hours support and immediate server changes, etc.) As a thank you, they hooked me up with a subscription to the beer of the month club. 3 bottles of 2 varieties from each of two different breweries a month. It stays in the beer fridge until people visit, they think I am the beer connosieur, I dont think they notice that I am drinking the cheap stuff Occasionally, I fdecide some of them are pretty good - usually the lighter stuff or the reds, but things like Harpoon's munich dark and Oscars chocoalte oatmeal are destined straight for marinades or brat-boiling!

Sorry...cant help you there! Maybe you could get curly to post a pic of his manly physique? That would be more motivational than anything Men's Health could produce.

'Round these parts, I only get upset when you pinch the bark off. Any other butts are fair game.

I would have to call that melee a draw...but the tie-breaker goes to Curly for first strike.