tony b

If you really want a very high temp sear on a steak, take your upper grate, flip it upside down and place it on top of the charcoal basket handles - that's the "sear grate" configuration. There's a substantial difference in temperatures between the sear grate and the dome thermometer of several hundred degrees! So you don't need to crank up the dome temperature much beyond 400F to get a good sear on the sear grate. Another tip, flip the steaks about every 15 seconds, turn 90 degrees after the first 2 passes if you want the "classic cross-hatched" grill marks without overcooking the steaks.

Very nice, MacKenzie. Last night's dinner was a Korean BBQ Chicken pizza. Slathered the chicken breasts with gochujang and seasonings and roasted indirect @ 350F, along with an ear of corn (direct). Ramped up the KK to 400F in the dome and heat soaked the pizza stone for an hour. Par-baked the crust. Then sauced with a mix of tomato paste, gochujang, and honey. On goes the chopped chicken, cut off corn, and mozz. Sprinkle of sesame seeds on the outer crust. Back on the stone until the cheese is nice and melty. Topped off with some kimchi and green onions. Another lovely night on the deck to eat outside.

Of course you would, Bruce - you always need another "trophy" in the collection.

MacKenzie, your photography skills are amazing!! Those are magazine quality pictures.

Wasn't shocked at all - both of those charcoals are amazing (IMHO), especially the Marabu. Wish you'd have tossed in their Brazilian Eucalyptus lump - that's been my fav so far from their Premium line.

Very nice!

Like someone commented - you trying to take over for The Naked Whiz??

Reverse sear is usually @ 325 - 350F for the roast (indirect), then I open up the vents to get a good sear (direct) on the lower grate.

Just barely off the seat, so long as I see wisps of smoke coming out. If it's closed too tightly, I'll get a stream of smoke coming out of the temperature probe plug or even around the vent door when the fan is running. Even with the lower flow Guru fan, I never run it with the damper wide open. It's usually less than 1/2 open.

True, but most of us have tossed it and don't use it at all. No risk of the thermometer falling out.

Definitely pics! I'm biased, but prefer the cradle (or standard rod/forks) over the OktoForks (just not a fan). I have a 23" which means that my charcoal basket is round, so I can orient the basket splitter in a front/back orientation, perpendicular to the roti shaft, so the chicken is rotating in/out of the fire zone. I'm in the 375F - 400F range on most chicken cooks to get a crispy skin.

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.