tony b

Definitely a find for sure!

I've gone as long as 2 days in the marinade. Basting during cooking also up's the flavor.

Can't wait to see the pics of the final results!

I'm lost on the whole bolting thing?? My smoker just plugs into the guru port, easy-peasy! You must have one of the new dedicated smoker ports on your KK.

Could have been much worse - along with the lobster, you could have gotten him used to Wagyu steaks!!

See, it was "shake-n-bake," but I didn't help!

I've tried many of the classic heritage breeds - they are all excellent - NOT your other white meat! We have a local butcher shop that specializes in these breeds, along with higher quality beef and the owner raises the lambs. It doesn't get much better than that!

I have to say that that's one weird ass song! Trust me, I listen to a lot of outside stuff, but the dude is seriously messed up!

Looks like you did sort of a "Shake-n-Bake" on half of those wings, MacKenzie. What was the prep?

1 & 2 - just experiment with your setup for the types of smoking you want to do and gauge it from there, is my best advice. 3 - I've never tried it, so I have zero experience with using natural convection with the smoker. 4 - just use my regular Kevlar gloves to take it out and replace the plug. I usually dump out the pellets into an old terracotta planter and put back into the KK to snuff them out. 5 - see #4. Sounds like you're well on your way with this new toy!

Sorry to hear about your pooch! It's really hard to let them go, but you knew it was time. Do the same to your POSKs - a nice quarter-stick of dynamite from your local fireworks purveyor and make putting them out of your misery a spectacle. Post videos, please! Were you surprised that the quality of what you received from RJ didn't live up to expectations??

Never tried the Jake's, but was a HUGE fan of Weekend Warrior - Competition Blend.

Charles, that is stooopid good!

Yeah, it's pretty good, but the pork is better! There are more pigs in Iowa than people - by a large margin!

I forgot to ask - did you cook the two butts to the same internal temperature (IT)? Just trying to eliminate variables.

I'd have to do a little research, but I've never heard that theory before and it's not intuitive to me why that would be the case. However, I normally don't do any cooks that low (below boiling point), so don't have any practical experience to share.

Weird "parallel universes" story. Recipe that I gave Aussie was developed at Cornell University (NY) in their ag program right after WWII to promote folks eating more chicken. The Alabama White Sauce developed by Bob Gibson back in his day was completely independent, from what all I've read about both stories. They are similar, both are riffs on mayonnaise, but I find the Alabama version to be a bit on the sweeter side, whereas the Cornell chicken, as Aussie noted, is much more on the vinegar side. Glad you enjoyed it, Aussie! Cheers, mate!

I'd eat that!

The basics are the same regardless of grill size (I have a 23"). First, always fill up the basket to the top (or even up to the handles), that way you never have to worry about running out of fuel on any cook. Temperature on a KK is all about airflow, which is almost totally determined by the top hat/vent position. You only need to open the bottom vent enough to supply air so your fire doesn't go out. Once you have your coals lit and well established, the bottom vent doesn't have to be open very much to sustain your fire for a low & slow. You'll need to open it a bit more at higher temps. For a low & slow cook like you are asking about, you don't need to start a lot of charcoal. Hit the charcoal with your propane wand in a single spot and light an area about the size of a tennis ball. Use a blower of some sort (old hairdryer, leaf blower, or specialty device - I have a FiAir.) to really get the coals glowing strong. I tend to light the coals near the back of the basket, but I'm not sure that it really makes that much difference, as once the burn continues, it's generally in a fairly random pattern. Good quality charcoal is a must, as well. Some of the cheaper brands, such as Cowboy, are made from scrap lumber and burn up very quickly. Most of us here on the Forum use high quality lump charcoal, such as Fogo, Rockwood or similar. Royal Oak lump - not the briquettes, will do in a pinch. Dennis' extruded coconut charcoal is probably the best out there, burns very hot, lasts a very long time, but can be a pain to light. Don't fret exact temps. One of the best pieces of advice we can give folks new to this style of cooker is - Don't chase the temperature! You can drive yourself crazy trying to make subtle adjustments in top vent position to hit an exact temperature, when it really doesn't matter that much at all. Plus/Minus 50F will not make any difference the quality of your cook. Some folks here (me, included) like to open the vents more than what's needed for their target temperature to help speed up the heating of the grill & grates at the start of a cook. Then, set the vent to the position for your target temperature as you get close (within 50F), because once you heat soak a KK, with all its thermal mass, you won't be able to bring the temperature back down easily if you overshoot it. But, if you do, live with it and just rock on - especially with an adult beverage, and everything will work out just fine.

I bought the smoker attachment mainly for doing cold smoking - no fire in the grill. Also, the Syzygies smoker pot will generate smoke for a very long time and it's a cleaner smoke than just chunks on the coals and you don't have to replenish it during a long low & slow cook. That's not to say that I don't just toss a few on top myself, but generally only on short cooks (less than an hour). YMMV

I think Aldi's is a weird store - with the mashup of being a grocery store and a hardware store? I agree, I'd much rather trade this new Aldi's for the old Fresh Market any day! They carried both my Dukes mayo and Michaels of Brooklyn pasta sauces. And had by far, the best quality seafood in this area. But, without a regional distribution center, they just couldn't make a go of it out here.

You all crack me up! Had a lovely Cioppino at a local restaurant the other night - one of my favorite seafood dishes. Plan to make a smoked salmon (not my homemade smoked salmon unfortunately) dish with puff pastry tomorrow night for dinner. Just another protein in my repertoire!

I'm thinking that I need to take my top vent off and clean some "stuff" out of the chimney area, as my top vent settings are drifting off of my "standards" - taking more vent opening to hit the same temps. Mind you, this is after a couple of years since I last did it when I did my last spring change-out. For others, what I'm referring to here is that if you have your KK on a deck, which can flex as you walk on it, the top vent can jiggle a little from the vibration/flex of walking around the deck near the KK and cause your temps to drift off of what you want. So, the simplest fix for that is to put a spring on the threaded rod on the top vent to provide a bit of resistance/friction so it doesn't drift. If your KK is sitting on a solid surface, like a patio, this isn't an issue. This is one of the very few "maintenance" issues that you have with a KK.