tony b

Took advantage of the break in temperatures yesterday to get to have dinner on the deck, which I hadn't been able to tolerate for almost 2 weeks! Uncle Dougie's marinated chicken with zucchini kabobs and leftover polenta (it's on a grill mat and it still wanted to run off and into the fire!) Cooked direct on the main grate @ 350F. Plated with a nice chenin blanc/viognier blend and a nice salad.

@bgrant3406Sounds more like a PE exam than a quiz to screen out buyers for his grill! I've often thought that building a 3-D finite element model of the airflow and temperature profile of the inside of a KK would make a great Master Thesis project!

After reading the Naked Whiz article, I think the design flaw here is the oversized fan. It will be very hard for the controller to maintain a tight band on temperature around the setpoint (target pit temperature) blowing 4x the airflow that the 10 cfm Guru fan blows. By the time that the PID sees the temperature hit the setpoint and stop the fan, you've blown a lot of air into the fire, so it's just naturally going to overshoot your setpoint by a large amount; unless their controller has a ramp function and can see rate-of-change and stop the fan short of the setpoint and let it coast in. It didn't appear that way to me, from Whiz's chart of the temperature response to opening the lid. MacKenzie, if you end up having your friend make you an adapter plate for the fan unit, see if they can build in a damper so you can throttle down this massive airflow. @ckreef - eagerly awaiting the results of your tests. Would love to see your test matrix.

Well, our heat wave here broke over night. Dropped 20F since yesterday! I was pouring beer at an outdoor homebrew festival over in the Quad Cities yesterday and the heat index at 2pm was 107F!! Front came through late afternoon and it starting dropping in temp and there was a breeze that really helped during taking down the bar and tent.

You might "stump the chump" with #2! Maybe that one should become the "tie breaker" question - lol!

I'm probably asking the obvious, but will the electrical plug on the Guru fan fit in the Signals controller port? If not, could you wire up an adapter set to match each plug? Would that adaptation be easier than trying to retrofit the spring to work in the KK?

Not yet, but might have to give it a try before next year's dinner. Thanks for the tip!

I'm falling in love with the meat from Porter Road. Tonight I did the Denver Steak. It was even better than the Bavette that I did the other night. Can't wait to try the Picanha that I bought for an upcoming Argentine dinner party! Cooked indirect on the lower grate with a mesquite chunk. Veggie kabobs on the half-grate. Dome at 350F. Plated with chimichurri sauce and a side of cheesy polenta (parmesan, black pepper boursin, and a splash of white truffle oil). Kebabs were drizzled with a nice aged balsamic vinegar!

If you think that I'm close to Vale, then you need to go back and study geography a bit more! LOL I'm just a bit more than halfway there from your starting point. Per Google Maps - you're 1200 miles from me, and I'm almost 900 miles to Vale. Unlike New England, the states out here on the prairie are huge!

It's probably soot covered if you've done more than a couple of cooks in it.

Hoping to rekindle my love for grilled octopus during this year's vacation to Barcelona in September. If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must surely go to the mountain!

Love Black Ops (and many of their other rubs, too!)

I've used the pasta made with beet juice, from various sources, including homemade, but it doesn't retain its color when cooked. Everything wants to turn brown. I've done red lentil pasta. I've cooked the pasta in beet juice. This technique of using a bottle of red wine in the pasta water seems to work the best of anything that I've found so far, after many years of trying. I will likely call this "the best that I can do" and move on.

Yes, I have far too much invested in flamingo gear to switch gears now. But, Pink Panther would make a fun theme, too! "Excuse me, but is that your minky? Do you have a lysounce for that minky?" "Does you dog bite?" Started many years ago on a whim as a fun theme for a dinner party, based upon the prank at the time of folks covering your front lawn in the plastic flamingos, we're talking dozens!, with the provision that you had to make a donation to their charity to get them to come back and remove them. So, I was inspired to take to the next level. Took a long time to collect all the gear - plates, glasses, decorations, etc. Even now, I'm still adding stuff to it as I run across it. Now friends and family gift me items that they find out and about.

Indeed! It is the inspiration for this dish, but I try not to have the same consequences for my dinner guests - and me!

Amazing grilled octopus! I fell in love with it in Greece last year. But, I can't get it here in landlocked Iowa!

Saturday was this year's fabulous Pink Flamingo dinner. Appetizer was a salmon mousse, with house cold smoked salmon, with beet crackers. First course is always shrimp (Flamingo's favorite food!) cooked on the pink hibachi grill. This year I tried a new trick to get pink pasta - I cooked it in red wine. Had some color, but still searching for the perfect technique. Shrimp was marinated in ponzu and the pasta sauce was a black and roasted garlic butter sauce. Main course was grilled Flamingo (chicken thighs marinated in Alabama White Sauce with a bit of Uncle Dougie's wing marinade tossed in for the color.) I did manage to get a shot of them on the grill. A bit fuzzy on this shot - was running back and forth between the indoor kitchen and outside. Plated with Madagascar Pink Rice. Dessert was homemade strawberry ice cream, with Pink Flamingo sugar cookies. Still packing away all the decorations and stuff until next year's dinner!

Decided to give the folks at Porter Road meats a try after reading about them. https://porterroad.com/ I like how they do the unusual cuts, so I decided to try a Bavette steak. They recommend a hot direct grill until medium. I tossed on some coffee wood chunks and cooked it on the lower grill. Dome was reading about 400F. They recommended serving it with a chimichurri sauce - twist my arm on that one! I had also cooked an ear of corn on the half main grate before tossing on the steak. Served along with some mushrooms and a side salad and a nice Pinot Noir. Next up on the menu will be their Denver Steak.

Nice that Dennis is making the pieces smaller and easier to use. The "logs" of cocochar can be easily broken by hitting 2 logs together, but you don't have much control over how they break, size-wise.

Straight-up Cuban - mojo (blood orange juice, tons of garlic and oregano). Nicely done!

I'm eagerly awaiting my shipment of it. I've never used it, so I'm not much help other than what others on the Forum have said about it. I have the chunks of the wood. I tend to only use them on beef or lamb, if I want a more subtle smoke than say mesquite or post oak.

Seriously slick! Max Flex is the way to go!

Preaching to the Choir, son! Preach on, Preach on!!