tony b

You've set the bar pretty high with that first entry, ckreef, but this isn't your first rodeo, either!!

Glutton for punishment, I suppose!

Not very forgiving when they are that thin! Almost impossible to get one medium rare. Carryover heat alone will make you miss the mark and they are too thin to try and stick a thermometer in to check doneness.

Guinness was my dog's name. He was a sweet puppy dog! He is missed.

Not Harsh, Tough Love! Be a Mensch and own up to your own mistakes! Unless, that is, you plan to run for public office in the near future??

I refer to it as Bunny Munch (Saw a bag of those baby carrots with that name on it once, and it stuck!) And, oh yeah, nice cook, ckreef! Tasty looking burgers and steak'ums!

Sorry, Poochie, no help here. I don't have the side tables on mine.

Thanks, Everyone! Had one of the leftovers for breakfast this morning with a poached (sous vide) egg on top. Pretty damned yummy, if I do say so myself! Will definitely be doing this cook again soon. As tinyfish said, lots of variations to try out!!

Got it on Amazon. This model is discontinued, but they still have some in stock. The price has doubled since I bought mine, so seek out cheaper versions. But beware, some with the built-in striker have reliability issues. Mine has done well so far. Just read the reviews (if any) before you buy!

Inside the sausage! I wanted to see how the sausage would work solo, so I didn't wrap the outside in bacon. Definitely a variation that I will do in the future, even if there's bacon in the filling, because - you can NEVER have enough bacon!!

OK, so I finally got this cook in. Slowly working off my backlog of cooks. Here's my mis en place - ground chuck (85/15), so I planned to add a couple of Tbl of butter to get closer to 80/20, with the Sucklebuster's SPG, mushrooms, onions, cheddar cheese, the sausage is from my buddy's company - it's a bacon and blue cheese sausage, the slabs of cheese on the right are Raclette. Planned to do 2 versions - with sausage and one just mushrooms, onions, and cheeses (hence, the extra blue cheese. Note: ended up not using the Boursin.) First one stuffed, with beer can. All assembled, with their Raclette top hats! Onto the KK, with another yummy ear of local corn! KK at 375F, indirect, with smoker pot of bourbon barrel and mesquite. All done! Plated, with that yummy corn, salad with homegrown tomato, a nice rose wine, a sourdough roll, and beer chips! Yes, chips made with beer!! Money shot! Now for the real porn, sliced open! Have to admit, this was a pretty tasty burger, despite no pickles, mustard, tomato, bun, etc. Love the idea of being able to riff on the filings. See lots of potential future cooks!!

Hallelujah!! Thanks and Praises!!

Oh no, buckwheat, not buying that one at all! My theory is too many adult beverages while typing!

Another nice cook, tinyfish! Nothing wrong with that brisket at all. I've fallen in love with the butcher paper. Mine came out crazy good; even the leftovers are the best brisket I've ever cooked!

LIke others have suggested, load up the shipping crate with boxes of cocochar, I think you can get about 15 boxes on the top. Most economical way to ship it. It will last you a long time if you only use it for the really long cooks (> 6 hours). Since you ordered the basket splitter, get the second charcoal basket to go with it. Just swap them back and forth with the full sized one. Make thing so much simpler. I just got the new pizza stone design (conforms to the shape of the top grate). Loved the original round one, but it didn't fit my grate so well and got beaten up over time. A "must have" if you like doing pizza, breads, etc. on the grill or want to learn how!! Hang on, you are in for the ride of your life once your KK arrives!!

Was a chimney guy for decades, but based upon the feedback here, I've switched over to the propane torch. I went with this one. http://www.bernzomatic.com/product/jt850-lawn-and-garden-torch/ Like that it's long so you don't have to get down inside the KK to light it.

Poochie, Poochie, Poochie - what ARE we going to do with you??

You're killin' me, Poochie, killin' me!!!

Pictures, man, pictures!! We're addicted to food porn on this site!! MacKenzie, just waiting for that next burger cook, this time on the KK with those awesome smooth cheese slices you made!!!

It was! What you didn't see plated was the second helping of the pasta and another piece of chicken!

Panko has always been my "go to" breading for chicken up to now. Definitely give it a shot, as I think you'll like it, too. I'm thinking the tater flakes might have been better with some seasoning added. I didn't add any this time, as I want to have a clean test case. Same with the pork rinds; didn't get the BBQ flavored ones, but the plain ones. Plus, the marinade is so chocked full of flavor that you really didn't need to add anything on top of it. But, that could be the next experiment in this series - flavored breading, but dial back on the marinade, maybe just the White Sauce or Cornell style. Plus, I've got one more breading to try - crushed Ritz crackers.

Go for the butcher paper wrap, Wilbur! It's freaking amazing!!! I think that you'll really like having a Guru; I know that I do. I only use it for the really long lo & slo cooks. Still go manual for everything else. So, it's not exactly woosing out. Have only done a couple of full packer cuts in my time, but the flat usually finishes ahead of the point; hence, folks separating the two, cubing up the point, and back onto the smoker to do Burnt Ends, aka Meat Candy!!

OK, so I tried this tonight, but not with wings, but legs and thighs. Was a chance to try out another idea that I'd read about for breading chicken - crushed pork rinds! First the chicken was marinated overnight in a 50/50 mixture of Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce and Uncle Dougie's Wing Marinade. 2 pieces were coated in each - potato flakes and plain pork rinds (pulsed in food processor) On the chicken - potato flakes on the left, pork rinds on the right. Onto the KK, direct on the upper grate, 350F, with smoker pot of pecan and peach woods. After 45 minutes, ramped the KK up to 400F for the final 15 minutes. Off the grill - potato on the left and pork rinds on the right. Plated with more of that wonderful local sweet corn, angel hair with herbed oil (basil and sage from my plants) & parm, salad with homegrown tomato, and my fav summertime wine - Vinho Verde. (Note: the sourdough rolls didn't make the photo shoot.) Money shot! Conclusions: both produced crispy crusts. It was easier to coat the chicken in the pork rinds than the potato flakes, which fell off easily. The pork rinds brought a bit of bacon-y flavor, while the potato was fairly bland in taste, it was a tad gritty in texture. Being in Iowa and not Idaho, I'm giving the win to the pork rinds!

Can't wait to hear how that brisket comes out. Mine was crazy good! Made a sandwich with the leftovers today, it was still crazy good!