tony b

Yeah, FM - there's still a few of us old POSK owners on the Forum!

Hey Firemonkey! Where you been dude?? Been a while since you last posted. Hope this is a Welcome Back moment!

Sorry for the initial soap box, but the National Pork Board did us all a great disservice when they came up with their campaign of pork as “The Other White Meat†back in the late 80’s. To make us all think that pork was suddenly “healthy,†to shore up declining pork sales as more and more people gravitated to chicken, they convinced pig farmers to concentrate on breeds and farming practices that yielded leaner meat, i.e., not much fat; hence, not much flavor, which was also lighter in color. So, the pork processors began compensating by brining all their pre-packaged pork cuts in the supermarket, e.g., Hormel’s Always Tender, to keep them “juicy†and “flavorful†to compensate for the lack of fat. Fortunately we’ve re-discovered that “real pork†is seriously better tasting and a lot of small producers are reverting back to the original heritage breeds, like Berkshire, and sustainable farming practices (no growth hormones or antibiotics). So, I give you tonight’s dinner – locally grown Berkshire pork chops! Notice this meat is NOT WHITE! And look at that yummy fat! Thought they’d be a good trial for the Cimarron Rub that tinyfish turned me on to. On to the grill. Since I love smoked pork chops, thought I’d simulate that by putting the chops on while the KK was coming up to temp and light a chunk of peach wood to cold smoke the chops before they started to cook. Tonight’s side dishes – curried rice pilaf and a squash and mushroom medley (some assembly required) – zucchini, yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, garlic, Herbs de Provence in white wine and S&P. Done “en papillote†– in this case in an aluminum foil pouch. On the KK, direct, at 300F for about 20 minutes, remember the chops when on about 30 minutes earlier at about 100F as the KK was heating up. 3 small peach wood chunks for smoke. Off the grill and ready to plate. Plated and ready for Dinner! So, moral of the story, seek out your local, small farm, meat producers and support them! Life’s too short to waste it on bland, factory farm raised meat!

You rock! Love that everything in this recipe is by weight, including the water (and in metric!).

Gorgeous hunk of meat, MacKenzie! And, I won't make any comments about the broccoli in the mac & cheese! I know what that got me the last time on the nachos!!

You won't regret it. It's become one of my "bibles" in my cookbook rack!

Great looking spread! Did you bring home any hardware?

Killer looking pie, MacKenzie! I think that we're all as eager for you to get your KK as you are! We can't wait to see all the great cooks that you will being doing on it!

Nice looking cook Wilbur. Yes, timing dinners can be crap shoot on long, lo & slo cooks! Better to start way early and hold it in the cooler than having guests standing around drinking up all your booze waiting to eat!! My theory is the lack of sugar in the rub contributed to the lighter color on the bark, emgiii.

Stunning! Now I see where all the working capital for the KK business comes from!

I have their book - Beginning Sous Vide. It's great! I highly recommend it.

Yeah, right - no pasta, but how many hasslebacks did you eat! Nice cook!! If I had fridge space right now, I'd be all over those Umai bags!! Local corn is starting to show up at the roadside stands. I did ears each day over the weekend, straight onto the grill in the husks. Nothing better!!!

Great pics! My fav was the pooch "guarding" that brisket! Good boy! Hope he got a piece!

The difference between a KK and a BGE is like night and day! After your first cook on the KK, the BGE will be on Craig's List!! Just sayin'!!

I have a Guru with the 10cfm fan. Works great for me. Not familiar with Stoker design, but the Guru fan has an adjustable damper in the outlet, so you can throttle the flow to meet your needs.

Kinda. I used it to season a pan-fried boneless porkchop for breakfast yesterday - tasty! Still haven't put in on any actual Q yet, but on my list of upcoming cooks.

Here's the link that compares all the grills, if you hadn't found it on the main website. http://komodokamado.com/pages/compare-grill-s-features-and-specifications There's only 31 sq in of cooking surface difference between the two, not counting the optional lower grate on the 21". That's about half a sheet of paper! If you add the lower grate option, the total difference is only 54 sq in, or 3/4 of a sheet of paper. The price difference - $580 will buy a lot of meat and charcoal.

Don't forget to post those pics of that virgin cook (and all the others on your list!) Enjoy the ride!

I eat those raw!!! Can't wait to hear how it comes out actually cooked!

I'll ditto MacKenzie and DaveyR. I tried them but wasn't Wow'ed. They didn't last very long/wear down quickly. I'm a Grill Floss guy now.

Cold, MacKenzie, seriously cold!

Syz, that's just too damned funny!

So, MacKenzie, you've moved from Canada, eh, to Wisconsin, you betcha!

You're missing the point. One of the beauties of SV cooking is that it is so forgiving; you don't have to set a timer and wait for the bell to go off to say "Done," then scramble to prevent it from overcooking. You have a range of time, which allows flexibility to plan the dinner on most foods. Some things are a bit more precise, such as seafood and eggs, where the time does matter more, but for almost all meats, you can just set it up and serve it when you're ready. Hence, the ranges given in the book for the Flank Steak. (btw - those are 4 different cooking options - pick 1.) How many BBQ cooks have you done where you think you know how long it will take to get done, work backwards to a "start time," only to get to suppertime and it's not done yet? That's why most of us have learned to start way early and hold food by wrapping in towels and putting it in coolers until serving time. SV cooking is doing the same thing, it's holding the temp for you until you're ready to serve it; +/- an hour or two doesn't usually matter at all. Can you say that about cooking in a conventional oven or BBQ grill? NO, you can't. Why? Because you are cooking the food at 2 to 3 times the temperature that you want the food to finish at, so time is very important, otherwise you severely overcook the food if you don't remove it from the heat source promptly. As far as KK cooking goes, there is a lot of flexibility in cooking temperatures and we don't cook primarily based on time, but final internal temperature of the meat. For example on beef briskets - some folks like lo & slo (which is actually a range of temps and not a precise value), while others do hot & fast, or go Texas Crutch. There's no one "right answer." There are just too many variables involved in BBQing for scientific precision - meat quality (fat and moisture content, toughness), food shape/thickness, environmental conditions (windy, wet, cold), energy content of the charcoal, etc. That's why great BBQ is such an art, not a science. I'm an engineer, and will always think like one, but it's not essential to my being a good cook. At least, in my not so humble opinion!