tony b

I will - NOPE! Yeah, the black garlic cloves are almost like gummy bears in texture. I just got my 2nd order of them. I absolutely love them in mashed potatoes! Great suggestion, Robert. Haven't made a batch of red beans and rice in a while and I have both andouille and tasso in the freezer. Maybe Monday (when else? LOL!)

Beat ya to the punch, MacKenzie. We had a very light dusting here last night. At first this morning I thought we'd just had a heavy frost, but looking closer, it was snow. None in the yard or driveway, but on the roof, deck and on the truck parked in the driveway. And the high today was 28F. Yeah, winter's here! Didn't stop me from firing up the KK for dinner tonight - a nice pork steak. Sorry, no pics, wasn't in the mood to drag out the camera.

I do have to admit, they are one of my "guilty pleasures," as the crust is very good and there's loads of chicken chunks in it. The only fault, believe it or not, is not enough vegetables! I'd be OK with a little less gravy and more veggies.

Depends on the pie and the cake - I'll take a Red Velvet cake (my fav) or a German Chocolate one over rhubarb pie (hate it!) any day! Now if we're talking Dutch apple or pecan pies, then, maybe it's a toss up?

Love the "Mad Max" angle - especially the saw blades!! I see a lot of Santa Maria style tri-tips getting roasted on that baby!

And here I am having a Marie Callendar's frozen chicken pot pie for lunch!

Only happened once, but it was epic! Sort of like poor Jon's slip & slide adventure with the whole pie! The crust stuck and I jammed real hard with the peel, only to watch the cheese and topping slide half-way off the pizza onto the peel. Fortunately, I was able to get the crust off on the next jab and reconstruct the pizza back in the kitchen. Not the prettiest pie ever made, but at least I got to eat mine, unlike Jon!

I'd eat that steak in a heartbeat! And who doesn't love pie? Nicely done, Shuley!

Or, while trying to get the pizza back onto the peel to take off, watch as the cheese and toppings slide onto the peel, but the crust sticks and stays behind!

I assume that you meant using the basket splitter when doing rotisserie cooks? I've done that and oriented the splitter parallel to the rotisserie shaft, so as the food rotates, it's going into and out of the heat zone, makes for a bit slower cook, but more even, as the food spends less time in the hot zone. I had the fire in the back half of the KK, but it really doesn't matter that much, I wouldn't think. For the life of me, I can't find any pictures of a cook using the splitter; only ones that I can find of rotisserie cooks are with the full basket, some have an infrared drip pan on one half, which is sorta the same thing, but not going to help you, seeing as you won't have the drip pan. I have a couple with the smoker pot in place, which kinda serves as a deflector on that part of the basket. This one shows both - smoker pot in the back and the infrared drip pan in the front.

Nice batch of smoked cheeses, MacKenzie.

Sorry, Jon, but I had to laugh out loud at your story! Too funny! Lesson learned, my friend! I'm sure it won't happen again!

Welcome to the Obsession! Nice looking KK. Can't wait to see pics of it in action!

MacKenzie, that breakfast sammie is just sick! @Bruce Pearson - my best advice, not knowing the dish you plan to use it in and the size of the cook, start with a few drops (think of using it similar to hot sauce), mix it in, taste it, keep adding more drop-by-drop until you get it where you like it. One of the fundamental rules that I have learned in cooking over the years is to "taste, taste it again, then taste it one more time." Most cooks just put everything into the pan and don't taste it until it's on the plate and then wonder why it didn't come out the way that they planned (either under or over seasoned.) I keep a jar full of tasting spoons by my stove. Bought a dozen cheap teaspoons on Amazon. One of the smartest things I've ever added to my kitchen!

Nice job, Aussie. Got me Jonesing for some beef, but we're supposed to have thunderstorms late afternoon, so grilling might not be in the cards tonight!

Can SECOND the duck fat popcorn! It rules! You will not go back to plain butter ever again!

A big SECOND on the duck fat popcorn!

Great looking duck, Shuley! Please tell me that you save that wonderful duck fat for some special use? If you've never had potatoes roasted in duck fat, you have been missing out! I have been thinking about doing another Peking duck lately, but when I went to the market the other day hoping to get one on sale after Thanksgiving, they only had 1 left. It was one of the pre-brined ones with that 12% solution stuff, so it wouldn't have worked for a Peking duck. Unfortunately, the Asian market where I used to get them (with heads still on) has closed, so I need to find a new local source. To quote one of my favorite lines from "A Christmas Story" - "He's smiling at me!"

Nothing like a good "pig picking" as we say down South!

Stay away from Cowboy - it's total crap - scrap lumber that burns up in a flash. I used the Whiz's database to scope out new brands that I run across before I buy them to see if he's rated them and what he thinks. Like you said, many of those listed aren't widely available (or discontinued.) If you look closely, many of them are just re-branded Royal Oak, especially supermarket brands and even BGE.

Love the hunting/fishing twist on the Fleur de Lys design, very unique!

I've tried many, currently my "go to" is Rockwood. I like it over Fogo, which has too big of pieces for my liking (I'm talking very large chunks that need to be broken up to burn well.) Royal Oak lump is a back-up, since it's cheap and I can get it several places locally; only one BBQ store carries the Rockwood, and it's way across town, so it's a journey for me to go there. My previous favorite was Weekend Warrior, but they went out of business due to a fire in their facility. Humphries is good, but it's hard for me to get without paying out the nose for shipping. I love Dennis' cocochar, but I tend to hoard my boxes, as it's cost prohibitive for me to get more. I only use it on very long cooks, like butts and briskets. Check out the Naked Whiz's database for lump charcoal - http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

Thx!

It's one of my favs, right up there with the Purple Crack. It's sweeter than roasted garlic and the consistency is like a gummy bear. Like Purple Crack, they will stain your foods - in this case black and not purple.

Just to follow up on MacKenzie's post - the reason to pull out the dome thermometer in cold weather when not in use, is that it will under range (go below the lowest setting) and throw off the calibration. I have seen as much as a 50F offset in readings. While it's an easy fix to re-calibrate the thermometer - loosen the hex nut on the back, put the probe into boiling water and rotate the dial to read 212F (or whatever boiling water temperature is at your elevation), then re-tighten the nut on the back. You can also throw off the calibration if you leave the thermometer in the dome if you go super hot (over range). This is what I did once - was planning a super hot sear of a steak, cranked open the vents and went inside the house to get stuff ready, came back outside to see the dome thermometer reading 200F and going WTF? Only to open the dome to a roaring fire - the temperature had gone all the way around the dial (estimate was around 1000F). Threw off the calibration big time!