tony b

Well, not having any benchmark for how close to original I got, but I have to say that this is some seriously tasty sh!t!! I mixed up the rub and couldn't stop myself from sampling it - it was that good! This one's a keeper - a big THANK YOU to @tekobo ! (btw - the unsalted dry roasted peanuts worked GREAT!) A quick shot of the skewers. I cooked probably twice this many, but I was hungry and was sampling them as they came off the grill - LOL! The key/trick seems to be to hold back some rub and dust them again just before taking them off the grill. I hit them right after they started to sweat. Brilliant! Oh, as a comparison, I did one skewer with my standard Satay rub. Both are good, but surprisingly very different flavor profiles. Won't say one's better than the other. In fairness to the Satay, I didn't have any peanut/coconut milk sauce for it, which might have made the comparison closer. DAMN this is fun!

Well done, all 'round!!

OK, my Donabe pot arrived today, so I had to give it a try. First, mine is glazed on the inside, so I didn't have to season it. Nice bonus. First pot of rice was a bit of a miss - had the heat too high and scorched the bottom of the rice in spots (not the yummy crust, black = burnt!). Tossed it out and started over, being careful not to get the heat too high this time. (btw - threw off dinner schedule by about 45 minutes in the "do over.") But, much better results the second time around. Nice fluffy individual grains of rice. I did plain water this time, but going forward, I'll revert to my standard of using stock. Here's a couple of pics - pot cooking on the stove and the finished rice. I have to say that this was some very tasty rice, even plain. But, who am I to question a culture that's been cooking rice for several thousand years!

I finally got nice enough weather to fire up the KK and do a pizza that I'd planned several days ago. Sorry, it's purchased pizza dough, but I did make an uncooked tomato sauce for it. It's a 4 cheese blend - fontina, mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan. Sliced cherry tomatoes dressed with a splash of balsamic vinegar (too early for any from my garden yet), but I did use the basil off my plants. 2 hour heatup/soak @ 475F with the pizza stone on the top grate. Parbaked the crust for 5 minutes, as the uncooked sauce is a bit waterier than a cooked one and didn't want soggy pizza. After the parbake and assembly. Almost done on the KK. Up close and personal. A couple more minutes and viola!

I had a visitor yesterday - not a bear, thankfully, just a cute chipmunk (ground squirrel). He was just helping out getting the grill ready for supper!

I also have alderwood planks for salmon. Both are nice.

I was expecting to see a hoagie, not a sausage platter.

Huge fan of the white sauce chicken. While I've done BBG's sauce (store bought & homemade), I'm really partial to Cornell Chicken. It's also a white sauce - a variation on a very thin mayonnaise, but with a lot of salt - so it's a cross between a sauce and a brine.

A word of caution if you're buying cedar shingles (or similar) at a hardware store for use on the grill. That wood has likely been treated with fire retardant and is not suitable for cooking food. Best to stick to the ones sold in BBQ stores to be on the safe side.

That's just wrong!

Charles (aka ckreef) built a retort for making his own charcoal from local wood.

I was gonna do a pizza on the KK tonight, but bailed out because of the rain. It's supposed to clear up tomorrow, so I'm hoping to do the pizza then. The suya experiment will be on Saturday.

Bought some unsalted dry roasted peanuts at the market today, along with nice thin sliced beef bottom round. So, if the weather cooperates (been raining for days now!), I hope to give the Suya a go. Will be 2 experiments - finally gonna break out the yakitori grill and try the new charcoals I bought for it months ago!

After reading some more and seeing some recipes for the spice rub, it's probably more similar to Ethiopian Berbere than Satay. I was wondering if you got Planters "dry roasted" peanuts and rough chopped them, that they would work in the Suya spice mix instead of the kuli-kuli?

@tekobo - how similar is Suya to Indonesian Satay?

The secret is the pink butcher paper wrap after the stall. @amusedtodeath - I think the Wagyu beef had as much to do with your success as following Franklin's technique did. As Aaron says in his book, buy the best cut of meat you can afford. He only uses Prime at his restaurant.

Hear, hear! I want to have some idea that I'm going to be OK with plunking down $120 for a ceramic pot that will only cook 1 cup of rice before I jump into the deep end of that pool! https://toirokitchen.com/collections/unique-style-iga-yaki-donabe/products/kamado-san?variant=45954685774 I made some pretty damned good rice tonight in a 1 cup Calphalon pot. Owned it for decades.

Now that's the only interesting idea that I've seen yet for Vegemite/Marmite. Makes sense, especially if you thin it out a little, like the consistency of mustard. @tekobo - I've have no doubt the Marmite wings were nasty; BUT, how were the Nigerian spiced wings? What's the spice rub called? Is it available outside Nigeria or is it a family recipe? If you're looking to add serious umami to some wings, go with Korean Gochujang (fermented soybean paste with chilies). I'm addicted to the stuff!!

OK, I succumbed to the power of the Forum and just ordered a ceramic rice cooker. I bought one of the less expensive ones to see if I like it better than my electric rice cooker. If I really like it, I might plunk down the coin for a nicer one.

Never done a grass-fed brisket, but have tried a few steaks. They taste more "beefy," but tend to be a bit chewier, due to less intramuscular fat. I think the ideal mix is a pasture raised cow, that is finished on a corn diet for its last couple of months.

I'm just the opposite here right now, MacKenzie. It's in the upper 90s - way hot for this time of year. Hoping my stuff doesn't burn up in this heat. Some of my tomato and pepper plants are flowering already.

You can't screw up a pork butt, even if you try to. Easiest BBQ cook in the book. Nice ceramic pot, Bruce. What's involved in seasoning it?

Love the outer banks!