tony b

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!!

Was gonna bust on you for narc-ing the lady out, but I see that Mass has legal cultivation now. Another reason not to move to FL!

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??