tony b

Great story, Jon. Easy way to suck up to the Boss!

Crazy, PJ. Only been to Cabo as a day stop on a cruise ship. Did get to see a whale and had the lobster tacos at Sammy's at lunch, along with the house margarita! Cabo Wabo, baby!

Another winner, MacKenzie. And fresh pasta, too? Dahhaamm!

Killer tenderloin, MacKenzie.

You guys! I was lazy and didn't want to fire up the KK to cook one silly baked potato! Went into the convection oven, simpler! FM, the CI article that went with the recipe talked about those variations (except using the grill part) and why they didn't think they worked as well. Oiling the skins at the start inhibits the cooking process by trapping the steam inside the skins, leading to less fluffy results. Adding the oil for the last 10 minutes only was considered the best compromise to fluffy interiors with crispy skins. The dunk into the saline solution was also chosen over trying to get the salt crystals to adhere to the skins. As the water evaporates it leaves a thin film of salt on the skins that doesn't fall off so easily, but gives enough salt to be noticeable. Just quoting the CI article. YMMV

Haven't you guys heard? 60 is the "new 50!" That's my story and I'm sticking to it, since I'm gonna be there in 8 months!

So True!!!

Thanks, Ken. What I might do is hook up my local BBQ store with them and see if he wants to switch suppliers, since Wicked Good is having production issues.

I'm using my Guru less and less lately and my Maverick more. I've never used the Guru on any cook under 4 hours, only on the really longer ones, especially anything overnight. I sleep better with the "security blanket!" I also tend not to use it on any cook above 275F, just the lo & slo's. YMMV

After my original POSK #7 started to crack (didn't shed many tiles, however) and I was having to patch it up just to keep it going, I was immediately sold on the KK. Cost never even entered into it. I just wanted a better ceramic grill that I didn't have to fret over keeping it functional. Never looked back with any regrets whatsoever!!

Using my second bag of FOGO right now. Biggest pieces of lump I've ever seen and not just one or two, but a LOT! It's a tad harder to light than some other lump, but not as hard as CocoChar. Since my local supplier of Weekend Warrior can't get it for the foreseeable future, this will be my "go to" charcoal, even if I have to buy it on Amazon. But, I have Prime, so the shipping is free at least.

Great tips, MacKenzie. I was a bit concerned about adding the starch water, but I was making almost no progress trying to process them dry. I only added like an ounce of water. Like I said in the rib post, great minds, I was already contemplating ricing them instead of using the processor. I think the next round of experiments should be - rice only, add malt flour, SV; versus rice, process to glue, add malt flour and SV. Given that the ricing process opens up the cell structure pretty well, I was wondering if you need the "make glue" step using the processor?? This is why I LOVE cooking so much - you never stop learning something new every cook! Speaking of, I tried the Cooks Illustrated technique for "Perfect Baked Potatoes" tonight, and I have to say BRAVO, it was excellent. If you don't get the mag, here's the basics: Prick the spud a few times with a fork (some debate over the necessity of doing this), wet the skin in a saline solution (2 TB salt to 1/2 cup water) - don't need to soak, just roll the spud around to thoroughly wet the skin (you're only seasoning the skin), into a 450F oven on a rack (allows airflow) until the IT hits 205F (about 45 minutes), remove spud and paint the skin in vegetable oil, return to oven for another 10 - 15 minutes to crisp up the skin. Now, here's the critical step - remove spud from the oven and cut a shallow X into the spud. Using mitts, dish towel, etc., push each end inward to break open the spud and let the steam escape IMMEDIATELY after removing from the oven. Will be my "go to" method for baked potatoes going forward.

Great minds, MacKenzie. After my adventure (see my post in the SV thread), I'm was already thinking the next time, I'll rice them and not use the food processor. I was using my mini-chopper (Cuisinart) and the motor was struggling at times on both the low and high speeds. Using the ricer will eliminate the need to add any liquid like in the processor.

^^ +1 Spot on advice from MacKenzie!

AWESOME! Now I have no excuse not to smoke 4 racks at a time and put them up in vacuum bags and freeze to SV later!

Sometimes we all feel that way!

Forecast for Christmas Day here is 50F. Crazy!

Thanks, all! Ken, I think we're gonna dodge a bullet this time. Forecast for the next week is OK. A bit colder, but no white Christmas this year. We are actually having some moderate flooding right now, as all the precip has been rain and not snow! First time using the Cimarron. Initial impression was it was decent. Jury is still out pending a bigger cut of meat, like a full rack of ribs or a butt. Being smaller, individual ribs, I didn't go too heavy on it not having used it before.

Killer looking pork butts there, Jon! You will be shocked when you look inside and see how LITTLE charcoal you actually used to do this cook!!

Ken, love me some Valencia, as well as the Cholula. Have a bottle of Valencia sitting on my counter as I type this. Used it in a shrimp ceviche for the Christmas Party last Saturday.

Woo, hoo!! Let the fun begin! Pictures, pictures, and more pictures!!

You might want to check the calibration on your thermometer now that you over-ranged it. I did the exact same thing on one of my first high temp sears and my dial thermometer was a good 30F off afterwards. Easily resets - loosen the nut on the back, stick it in boiling water and see how far off you are. Grip the stem with a pair of pliers and turn the dial accordingly to get back to 212F. Then, carefully tighten up the nut with the pliers, while holding the dial steady. Stick it back in the boiling water to recheck it. Repeat, if needed.

Tonight's dinner - country style pork ribs and the experimental SV creamy potatoes. Ribs done with Cimarron rub, indirect, @ 325F on apple wood. Pulled at IT of 190F. Rubbed. On the KK. Done on the KK. Done, close up. Plated. (Note the 2 versions of the SV creamy potatoes. See my post in the SV section about that experience.) Money Shot.

OK, so I experimented with this tonight. I'm going to start off by saying it's "not my thing." I may have done something wrong, but I did not like either the texture or the flavor. Texture was like porridge, almost like a potage (potato soup). Flavor had a sweet edge to it from the malted grain. Being a brewer, I picked up on that right away. Pics are posted over in the Cooking Pics section with the rest of the dinner, but here's the process that I followed. Tried to duplicate what MacKenzie posted. Boiled two cubed russet potatoes (290 gms) in salted water with a couple of garlic cloves until just tender. Drained, then put them into the food processor still steamy hot. Had some difficulty get them to process. So, I added some of the boiling water (since it would also contain some starch). Processed the beegebus out of them, into a paste. Added the 1% malted diastatic flour (2.9 gms). Into the zip bag. Pressed out the air. Into the SV bath at 126F for 30 minutes. Then ramped up the SV bath to 167F, let it go for 5 minutes once it reached temp. Pulled the bag out of the SV bath. Did 2 separate treatments once out of the bag. One was a simple butter, S&P. The other was my standard mashed potato mix - butter, sour cream, Boursin cheese, salted chives, and S&P, except I did not add any half-n-half/cream/milk. The added ingredients did a lot to mask the sweet edge, but did nothing to tighten up the texture. So, did I miss something along the way that gave me this result??

Sounds like totally shitty weather, MacKenzie. We're just the opposite here. Crazy warm for this time of year. It was in the low 60s on Sunday! No White Christmas in the forecast for us this year.