tony b

Nice one Remi! Great to share BBQ - it's what it's all about! @MacKenzie - stellar, as always!! It's getting dark early enough now that I have to use my portable light on the KK.

Bingo! I once made 5 different colors of ravioli for a fundraiser banquet for 60 people. Not a walk in the park.

Start with the Atlas hand cranked pasta roller, with a couple of cutters for fettucine and spaghetti. (The Kitchen Aid mixer attachment is WAY overpriced!) You'll also want to get a drying rack, unless you plan to cook it immediately. Use good flour made for pasta. You'll need a sizable workspace, too. Rolling out pasta takes several feet in length of workspace. And, it's easier if you have 2 people - one to feed in the dough and turn the crank; and the 2nd person to catch the pasta coming out of the rollers and lay it out flat. It's really not that difficult, once you get the hang of it, to make basic pasta shapes. Ravioli - well, that's a different ballgame altogether!

On the longer cooks, lightly spritzing the meat with a liquid (apple juice, cider vinegar, water, wine, bourbon, etc.) periodically (hourly) will help promote a bit more smoke adherence, as the moisture will attract smoke and the evaporation process will cool the surface of the meat and help, as well. Just be careful not to overdo it and wash off your bark.

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Normally, I cheat and start with a pre-brined corned beef from the market. Soak it overnight in cold water to knock down some of the saltiness. Pat dry and rub liberally with dry rub of coarse black pepper, crushed coriander seeds, hot pepper flakes and celery seeds. Hot smoke with hickory and post oak. Since you're starting from scratch, I'd recommend a standard wet brine with whole black peppercorns, juniper berries, red pepper flakes and bay leaves. Brine in the fridge for a week, then proceed as described above. Good luck and post pics!

Welcome to the [wait for it] OBSESSION! Can't wait to see the pictures of your uncrating.

Being the butt of one of Poochie's jokes is generally seen as a high honor - my 1st hand experience! 🤣

Looks great, @MacKenzie.I'm ready for breakfast now!

@tekobomight be the authority on this one, having owned most sizes of KK, but my gut tells me that while it will take proportionately more fuel to heat soak (given the increased surface area/volume), but once at temp, it probably will take roughly the same amount of fuel to maintain it as other sizes. At that point most of the BTUs from the fuel are going into heating up the food - which is independent of grill size, and directly about the amount and size of protein that you're cooking. Assuming that all KK wall thickness is the same across the portfolio, a larger grill will lose a bit more heat than a smaller one through the walls - again directly due to increaded surface area. However, given how efficient they all are, it might be difficult to determine how much more fuel is needed to maintain temp in the larger sizes. My conclusion - don't base your decision on which size to buy based upon the difference in the amount of charcoal that it will use. Size choices are about personal budget, and the amount of food that you need to cook at a time and how frequently? Dennis can guide you through this decision without ANY concerns about being up sold to spend extra money.

Excellent start. No worries, you'll be just fine with these starting cooks. Pictures, please.

Jumping right into the deep end of the pool. Well done!

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Yes, that is a classic POSK K7 (I used to own one.) You do NOT want this grill - at any price.

@johnnymnemonic - WOO, HOO!! Can't wait to see this thing uncrated!

Yep, older wines like that can be hit or miss on how well they age and when they "peak" in maturity. A roll of the dice sometimes. This one was a hit! I actually have some 30+ year old stuff in the cellar. I'm surprised that I didn't drink more of the older ones during the lockdowns? Jerk pork chops last night. Chops were marinated all day. Direct on the main grate at 325F. Aluminum pouch of pimento wood chips, leaves and berries (aka - allspice) for true Jamaican flavor. Ya mon! Plated with roasted Yukons (perfect!) and sautéed green beans with jerk seasoning. Sorry, no 25 year old wine tonight - just a "house" rose.

Friday night here is generally Steak Night. Last night was no exception. Prime grade ribeye cap, seasoned with Gunpowder and Dizzy Pig Raising the Steaks. Direct on the lower grate. For the "reverse sear," I went caveman on it and held the steak just above the coals with the tongs for about 30 seconds on each side - nice crust. (Note: I would have used the sear grate, but when I was setting up the grill, I noticed that it was not very clean, so I opted out of using it.) Plated with cauliflower "rice," sauteed shrooms and side salad. Splurged and opened a 25 year old bottle of Ridge Zin from my cellar - still holds up!

2nd that. I like to use the basket splitter with the fire in the rear for rotisserie cooks. Just my preference.

The biggest difference between the KK with cold smoker and the pellet grill is that you're not relying upon the pellets in the cold smoker to be the heat source in the KK. It's just to add smoke flavor. If you're doing a "hot smoke" then you have a fire going in the charcoal basket in the KK. If you're "cold smoking" then you don't want the heat anyway. Apples & Oranges in my book. YMMV

Not nearly as bad as we teased Bosco about tracking his boat. I specially remember one pic of containers falling off the boat into the water - brutal!!

Sounds kinda Hawaiian with the pineapple. Maybe make them with Spam instead of the sausage to be truly Hawaiian! 😄

@5698k Robert, those pig shots look like a winner. Did you do anything special, or are they just the standard recipe?

That had to be "puckering" watching your KK floating in the air like that? Glad to see that it "landed" safely! You're going to have soooo much fun with this new setup! Can't wait to see pics of your first cooks on it! What's on deck for the virgin cook?

And he would know! 😄