tony b

I fell in love with Barcelona! The food scene there is just "stoopid!" Every little neighborhood joint is excellent. Spaniards eat out a lot, so if a place isn't very good, it doesn't survive long! And don't get me started on Tapas! What's not to love - buy a beer, get free tasty snacks!

My normal routine is to check the 3 holes to see that they're not clogged. Place my wood chunks inside. Mix up the flour/water paste in a plastic sandwich bag (I buy the cheapest ones I can find, as this is all that I do with them). The consistency should be like PlayDoh (for folks that can remember playing with that stuff as a kid?) Pipe the mixture around the edge of the lid, smearing it out with a finger to close up any gaps. Place the lid on the pot and smear any mixture that oozes out around the seam to make sure to get a good seal - it's essential for the smoker pot to work properly. I light the coals and place the smoker pot on top of the lit area. Off to the races!

I have a Guru. I set it up to go right from the start, right after starting the fire. Let the controller & fan do its thing. Most overshoot problems come from windy days and getting vacuum drag across the top vent. Best way to prevent that is to have the top vent barely off its seat and to close the damper on the fan output to less than 50% closed. Since doing this, I've rarely had an overshoot problem on a long low & slow cook.

The fire gets hot enough that putting the AL foil pouch directly on it will cause it to oxidize and get very brittle - as you found out. Heavy Duty foil will work better, especially double wrapped. 2 Holes is plenty. That all being said, I'm a smoker pot guy almost all of the time on low & slow cooks. My rare exception is doing jerk chicken - a pouch of pimento wood pieces, leaves and berries (aka - allspice). The cook is too fast for the smoker pot to come up to temp and start producing smoke before the chicken gets done. YMMV

Fanfare music - dut, dut, dah, da! PBW* to the rescue! A couple hours soak in a warm PBW solution and everything will just wipe off with a paper towel or sponge. * = Powdered Brewers Wash: PBW Cleaner (fivestarchemicals.com)

I bought this manual air pump just for this purpose! Works great. It's rather shocking the first time you "blow up" a duck! LOL https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FE9CGE

As long as it's you that's rusty and not the KK!! LOL

Meat Candy!!

@jeffshoaf makes some excellent points, as do the others in this post. My +/- 50F comment was about not fretting if you're cooking temperature is not exactly where you aimed. As noted, don't try and chase the temperature. You'll just get frustrated - and it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the final result. I 2nd the comment about the amount of charcoal in the basket - it's the amount of charcoal that gets lit, not how much total is in the basket. Snuff the leftovers for another cook. One of the benefits of the KK. I generally only use a single sheet of AL foil on the lower grate for an indirect cook. All you're trying to do is block the Infrared radiation of the fire from reaching the food. You only need to cover as much of the lower grate as the footprint of the food above to allow airflow. If you wrap the foil ends around the grate rods, you shouldn't have any issues with the foil moving about. Another thought about using any temperature controller & fan units - keep the damper on the fan output fairly closed (1/4 open). Make the fan do the work to push the air through the grill. Keep the top vent just barely open, open it just until you see smoke escaping. One of the things that can happen (a chance that this is what caused your spike) is that a good breeze blowing across the top vent can cause what's called "vacuum drag" and actually pull more air through the grill than the controller wants, leading to a "runaway." Once the grill temperature gets a few degrees above the controller's setpoint, the controller quits effectively working, as it can't lower the temperature back into the control band. You're at the mercy of Mother Nature at that point for the breeze to calm down and the fire to die back down so the controller can take over again once the temperature recovers to the setpoint. Keeping the top vent and fan dampers mostly closed will help prevent that runaway from happening.

Couldn't tell the difference between the pictures. You have a good camera on the phone! Stay safe, @MacKenzie!!

And just in time before Lee blew in and possibly caused some of them to break off and damage your property. Smart move.

One of our "cardinal rules" here in KK land is "Don't chase the temperature." Folks think they have to keep making adjustments in their vents to hit a target temperature. One of the basics of BBQ is that a precise temperature is not required - there's no "magic" temperature for perfect BBQ. Rule of thumb is +/- 50F of what you're aiming for is "close enough for government work." I think @Syzygies was on to something about the size of your initial fire. You said, "When opening the lid temps want to take off." That's counterintuitive to my experience and the old BBQ saying of "If you're looking, you're not cooking." as opening the lid lets out heat. The short infusion of fresh air from opening the lid (unless you keep it open for a while) shouldn't cause a spike in your temperature. One check on this is to see how much charcoal you've burned through on a short cook, like ribs. If you've burned through most of the basket, you probably had too big a fire to start with. A chimney full of lit charcoal is way too much fire for a low & slow cook in a KK. Another variable is what charcoal are you using? You didn't say in your post. Most quality lump hardwood charcoal burns fairly slowly and evenly. Some of the cheaper stuff (i.e., Cowboy) which is made from scraps, burns up in a flash and very hot. Give Fogo or Jealous Devil a try. Many of us here on the Forum use those charcoals with good results. Keep us posted on your experiences and we'll see if we can get you on the right track.

Folks in New England and Eastern Canada, stay safe, too! Lee is coming!!

Been thinking about cooking some lamb lately. This might have tipped me over the edge!

WOW! That's all I can say! Stay safe!

A culinary trip to Tuscany. Pork loin stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, provolone and herbed Boursin cheese. Zucchini dusted with Italian seasoning and a nice pasta side dish with mushrooms in a spicy vodka sauce, nice green salad on the side.

You Geaux, Robert!

MAPP torch with the weed burner extension like @Syzygiesand a FiAir blower. Unfortunately, the FiAir blower is no longer available. This one from Zippo is very close. https://www.amazon.com/Zippo-40488-Fire-Bellows-Regular/dp/B07H3P6RT2

Dizzy Pig had said some time ago that they were closing their retail store in NOVA. Not surprised.

Facebook post says that the local corn folks will have corn today, but I have golf league this afternoon and won't be cooking tonight. But, glad to see that they're back in town today! 🌽 @C6Bill - totally agree - it's not really summer until the local corn comes in!

I agree. I'm in the mayo/aioli camp for fries. There are some commercial ketchups that aren't overly sweet (Trader Joe's Organic or Sir Kensington (is a bit high on the salt though), or just whip up you own.

So, take this to the extreme and just cube up the butt and skewer it to maximize the surface area, if all you want is bark!

@MacKenzie - understand "lateness" this year. Local corn folks have suspended harvesting due to the excessive heat, but also the severe lack of rain has slowed the ripening of some of their fields. No corn this past weekend. They hope to resume harvesting soon. btw - that bacon looks heavenly!

OH MY! Those are HUGE! I doubt that we can get them here in the States? OK, found a source, but DAMN!! they're expensive! Carabineros Prawns - Buy Online - Next Day Delivery (brownetrading.com)

Must be a 42" thing. Mine doesn't have screws.