tony b

Cooking an egg properly is one of the hardest tasks in a kitchen. That's why many restaurants ask applicants to cook an egg as part of the interview.

From the good ole internet: Some people use a pin to make a small hole in the shell at the large end of the egg before they put the egg in the water. At the large end of each egg is a small air space. When you hard cook an egg, this air heats up, expands, and escapes through pores in the shell—but not before the egg white sets. This leaves the egg with a flattened end. The best explanation that I could find for the decreasing amount of water being added when cooking more eggs was that the higher number of eggs increases the cold surface area inside the cooker, condensing the steam back to water, which drains back to the heating element to repeat the cycle until all the water/steam eventually escapes out the top as the eggs warm up/cook. So, with fewer eggs, more steam escapes early in the cooking process, so you need more water to start with to compensate for the added losses.

Yep.

Awesome, indeed!!

That would be Syzygies!

Welcome to the Obsession! A brisket, right out of the shoot - damn! that's confidence!!! In all my years on this forum, I've never heard of anyone having buyer's remorse after pulling the trigger. Now, some folks ultimately sell theirs for various reasons, but never because they regretted doing it in the first place.

For folks that are interested - that would be you, ckreef! (LOL). Here's my source for tajines - both kinds - cooking and serving. https://treasuresofmorocco.com/moroccan-kitchenware.html?p=2 You can get them from the same source on Amazon, too. https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=tajine&i=kitchen&rh=n%3A284507%2Cn%3A3737331%2Cp_6%3AAZ24I9M1PA8YH&dc&qid=1579198131&rnid=331544011&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1 @Syzygies- those recipes are pretty spot on. I had used up all my cilantro in the fridge or I would have added that at the end. The green harissa was my substitute. I like to use both the green and black olives (especially the oil cured ones). I have made preserved lemons in the past (not hard, just takes about a month in the heavy salt/lemon juice brine.) https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_preserved_lemons/ Or be lazy like me and just buy them. https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=preserved+lemons+moroccan&crid=2QXXKDKHBY2OJ&sprefix=preserved+lem%2Caps%2C191&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_13

Crappy weather, so I was cooking indoors last night. Had been wanting some Moroccan food, so I did a chicken tajine. Pretty traditional setup - marinated the chicken thighs (boneless/skinless) in green Harissa and EVOO for 3 hours, then seasoned with Berbere spices and browned in the tajine, removed the chicken and then browned the onions and garlic. Return the chicken thighs to the tajine and then add the green and black (salt cured) olives, preserved lemon peels, cherry tomatoes, chicken stock, lemon juice and Ras El Hanout. Here's the new twist - the recipe called for chickpeas and at the end, you mash half of them into the liquid to thicken the sauce. Well, I didn't have any cans of chickpeas/garbanzos in the pantry, but I did have some hummus in the fridge, so I tossed a couple of TB of that in to make the sauce - worked like a charm!! Served over saffron rice, with a nice side salad and crusty bread. Toss in a glass of chardonnay and call it din-din!

Very nice. A word of caution - those sear temps are a bit high for the MEATER probes. Would hate to see you damage them right out of the gate.

Made a nice quesadilla with the leftovers for lunch.

Bucked up and wrestled the frozen cover off the KK last night (freezing rain and snow over the weekend) to do a nice fajitas dinner using a skirt steak (Thanks, Jon!) marinated in tequila (why not?), lime juice/zest, cilantro, green onion, garlic, EVOO and SuckleBusters Gunpowder. On the KK, direct, with mesquite @ 350F. Plated up with all the fixings, including some Hatch chiles that I'd roasted and put up last summer, and a nice bowl of chile beans (under the cheese!)

Only probe out there that will do this! That's why I backed it during their Kickstarter funding.

As if - pfft! You're the MASTER of beefies!

Can't wait to hear how it all turns out - I just know it's going to be fab!

Yep! Very Tasty!

Nice thing is that since you did 2 birds, everyone gets their favorite!

There's always vacuum sealing bags. That's how I keep my bulk spice buys/gifts as fresh as I can. Example, my purple crack shipments.

Sounds very interesting. I'd be willing to try it but they are sold out of the small containers and only have 1 lb plastic jars right now. That's probably a lifetime supply.

Looks good, but how did they taste? Preference?

You're pressurizing the inside of the KK (more air going in than can escape via the top vent), so the smoke is just finding another path to escape. You can either back off on the fan or you can bump the top vent open a tad. If you try the latter, watch your temperatures to make sure that you didn't overdo it.

YEP! Same is still true for us veterans.

I've never cooked one at 400F, but I have done "hot & fast" at 325F. The stall was much shorter and I couldn't tell any difference in the final product over doing one at 250F. My best advice is to try one for yourself and see how you like it?

The benefit of higher temps like that is that you power right through the stall. That's usually where the biggest difference in cooking time comes in; you're not stuck at 150F - 160F for several hours in the stall.

Another thing that you'll learn very quickly is that it doesn't matter if you nail your target temperature or not. Most cooks are so forgiving that +/- 50F on the cooking temperature doesn't matter on the final results. Don't sweat it!

The fun part of this adventure is the learning phase. It's easier than it sounds. The best way is to set up a full basket of good lump charcoal, light a small spot, set the top vent just barely off the seat, sit back with a cooler of your favorite adult beverages and see where the temperature stabilizes. (Note: the bottom vent just needs to be open a bit, as it doesn't control temperature, only the top vent does that. You just need to let in enough air in the bottom to keep the coals going.) Then move the top vent in 1/8 turn increments, letting the temperature stabilize each time. Take notes and viola! you have mastered KK temperature control. The results are repeatable. After a short time, you'll toss the notes, as you'll just know your grill and how to set the vent for the temperature that you want.